NiCK'S SANCTUARY

Calling in the Night

2012-01-21T16:25:00.001Z

Seeing as there was only a handful of people at church last Sunday, I thought I'd transcribe my talk on the call of Samuel in 1 Samuel 3, for the wider world to ponder.

Have you ever heard the joke about the burglar and the curiously named parrot?

A burglar broke into a house one night. He picked up a CD player to place in his sack and a strange, disembodied voice echoed from the dark, saying, "Jesus is watching you."

He nearly jumped out of his skin, clicked his flashlight off, and froze. When he heard nothing more after a bit, he shook his head, clicked the light on, and began searching for more valuables. Just as he pulled the stereo out so he could disconnect the wires, he heard, "Jesus is watching you."

Freaked out, he shined his light around frantically, looking for the source of the voice. Finally, in the corner of the room, his flashlight beam came to rest on a parrot. "Did you say that?" he hissed at the parrot "Yep," the parrot confessed, then squawked, "I'm just trying to warn you."

The burglar relaxed. "Warn me, huh? Who in the world are you?"

"Moses," replied the bird. "Moses?" the burglar laughed.

"What kind of people would name a bird Moses?"

"The kind of people that would name a rottweiler Jesus."

At church last Sunday we were looking at the calling of Samuel. Now Samuel held a unique position in the history of Israel; he was considered to be the last of the judges and the first of the prophets. In his adult life he would be responsible for the anointing of both of Israel's first two kings and would wield great influence among his people on behalf of God. However, the Samuel we meet is not that Samuel yet; he's only just beginning his journey and all those things ahead of him? He probably would not even begin to conceive any of it happening. This Samuel is a mere boy who had been raised in the house of God in Shiloh ever since his previously barren mother kept a promise to dedicate her first child to the Lord 12 years ago.

I think that Christians who have been raised in a denomination that supports infant baptism can relate to that part of Samuel's story a little, because in the same way that Hannah committed Samuel to God before he was of an age to choose for himself, many of us have been the beneficiary of a similar act of commitment through baptism (albeit less drastic for our parents).

What is interesting about the first part of the passage is that even though Samuel had clearly spent several years in the presence of God's most learned representatives; even though he has been involved in the service of God all through his childhood and even slept in the house of God, despite all these things... verse 7 tells us that Samuel still didn't know God.

Then late in the night, Samuel heard a voice calling him in the night... and it wasn't a parrot.

The first real point I want to make stems from this. Like Samuel we need to to be prepared to listen for God's voice... even if like Samuel, we don't feel we really know him ourselves on a personal level (there's no shame in admitting something like that to yourself, in fact I'd argue that it's a good, honest place to start your spiritual journey from). We are told in the passage that in that particular time in the history of God's people, it was spiritually speaking a barren and quiet time - there were very few visions and revelations. There are times when we all feel like that ourselves... you may be experiencing it in the church you worship at yourself at the moment. Yet, in a world that doesn't get any quieter and demands more and more of our time and attention, it's all the more important to find that oasis in the desert, a quiet time of contemplation where we can make ourselves available to God. Even if we can't hear him speaking consciously, it is good to build this discipline within us because God always speaks to us on an unconscious silent level too.

Samuel had his own close encounter with God during the night... so can we.

Samuel in response to what he heard, sought out Eli thinking it was he who called him. Eli, probably feeling quite grumpy about being woken in the middle of the night (an experience I'm sure those of you with children will only be too aware of), tells Samuel to "shut up and go back to sleep!" Eventually though, even Eli realises that Samuel isn't being random or annoying for the sake of it... he understands that it is actually God who is summoning Samuel.

This is the second point I want to make. We need to communicate with one another and take each other seriously when it comes to the things that God says to us and lays on our hearts. If you feel God has spoken to you or otherwise inspired you, you should take courage and share it with someone you spiritually trust and pray through it with them or a small group. Similarly if someone comes before you and is brave enough to share something they feel God has given them with you, it is important to listen... to hear them out and show respect. Let's be honest, it is not always comfortable for us to share such things, as they are often deeply personal and there is always the threat of that nagging doubt "did I make it up?" That is why it is all the more important that we treat one another with respect over such things. We need to build one another up in love.

At the end of the passage, Samuel heeds Eli's advice and responds to the voice that has been calling him... and there the reading at church stopped. However if you know this passage and you read on a little further you will know there's a little more of the tale to tell. You see Eli's sons (priests in their own right), were wicked men who had been embezzling temple offerings and prostituting the women who served at the sanctuary. Eli was the high priest and responsible for the spiritual leadership of his people. The fact that he stood by and tolerated his sons' terrible behaviour (he did criticise them but he never committed to a course of action that would have stopped them), put his whole household on a collision course with God. The message God gave to Samuel was a prophetic word of judgement on Eli's family line.

My final point is this: if we feel God has laid a clear course of action before us, or placed a calling on our hearts... the just like Samuel we need to have the conviction and courage to act upon it. Samuel was a 12 year old boy who was challenging the authority of the most powerful man he knew... it can't have been easy, yet he obeyed God anyway... because having finally discovered who God was in a very real personal sense, he trusted his source.

We may question the value God places on us in a given situation. Why does he ask us to carry a particular burden? Our human frailty and insecurities can often tell us that we aren't good enough, we aren't capable of the task or journey set before us. Aren't we the wrong choice?

However the gospel and psalm readings set for the same day remind us of God's omniscience. He knows our hearts; he knows our thoughts and feelings; he knows our deeds; he knows our limitations and most of all he knows what we are capable of if we turn from our obsession with effort and rely on the abundance of his supreme grace.

I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency].

Philippians 4:13 (AMP)

Some questions for you...

Do you feel God is calling you at the moment?
How do you find time to listen to God?
Do you often share (either listening or speaking) with others about what God is saying?

Awesome Movie Speeches #1

2012-01-19T23:57:00.000Z

Over the past few weeks I've been trying to mentally put together a list of clips from cinematic history that echo sentiments that resonate with me, speeches that are moving, inspirational and/or contain nuggets of wisdom that have shaped my ideology as it stands today. I was going to make this into a list filling a single post... but then I don't think that would do the speeches justice... it would somehow rob them of power. Similarly, would anybody seriously sit and watch video clips for half an hour to an hour? I don't think so. So I've decided to segment it and periodically examine one at a time. The first clip I have chosen is Charlie Chaplin's closing speech in The Great Dictator:

Why I think it's awesome:

I think this speech sums up my own political attitude wonderfully. Chaplin described himself as a political nonconformist and eventually found himself exiled from America on account of his views. He clearly believed in a higher form of democracy with the brotherhood of man at its core. The Great Dictator was obviously made as a satirical response to the rise of Adolf Hitler and the film is a splendid mockery of Hitler's maniacal policies. This parting shot at the end of the film is also magnificent riposte to them. However, I would go much further than that though because the relevance of this speech has endured.

The speech also reminds me that democracy has to be exercised all the time... because if we do not speak up for ourselves on everything that matters to us... others will presume to do so for us and in most cases they will taint it with their own warped private agenda. The main reason I like this speech though, is that it fuses human passion, religion and reason together as allies... rather than polarising them as enemies. I truly believe that the world would be a better place if we learned to accept our whole nature rather than focusing on a single aspect of it. The brain is an instrument of two hemispheres - the logical and the intuitive. If we focus on one of these two elements, we rob ourselves of half a life. In terms of consciousness, human beings are children of two worlds - the spiritual and the scientific; in my opinion, we should all learn to fearlessly explore both these vast territories.

Chaplin magnificently fused the realms
of the emotional, spiritual and intellectual

That said this speech is not without its flaws, it seems to suggest in places that our pursuit of technological advancement can save us. It can't. Technology is only as good as the people who develop it... and as fearfully and wonderfully made as we are... we do make mistakes and have a tendency to elevate self interest to a position that isn't healthy in a world that we share with others.

My favourite part of this speech comes when Chaplin starts to invoke John's gospel... as the camera zooms in, it feels like he is not just speaking from his heart but that he is becoming a conduit for a greater thought.

So there it is, the Barber's Speech from the Great Dictator - as universally important and relevant today as ever it was when first broadcast to the world.

Do you have any favourite movie speeches that you'd like to recommend I watch?
What do you think about this speech?

SOPA on a Rope.

2012-01-19T00:09:00.001Z

Those of you who have gone to the effort of trying to reach pages over at Wikipedia today will have been greeted by the following lovely image:

The Wikipedia Blackout

In fact, Wikipedia were far from alone. Many major web players including Google, Twitter and Facebook have to a greater or lesser degree come out to voice opposition to the proposed SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act) bills being considered by the United States House of Representatives and Senate. Scenting blood after the bills received a political setback, the web companies have united and pressed forward with an unprecedented attack in the hope of killing the bills... to hang SOPA on a rope.

On the surface, the basic intention of the bills is to curtail piracy of US media intellectual property on foreign websites and protect the interests of the media entertainment industry... but the problem is that the legislation is just far too clunky.

While Wikipedia has gone dark for a single 24 hour period, there is a very real threat that free expression across the Internet could be at threat and the lights would go out everywhere. As far as I understand it, Web organisations would be responsible for policing their own users for infringements against the act... and preventing the use of offending material on their websites. Taken to extremes this could very well effect everyone. Do you ever link to a video on YouTube that has not been uploaded by an official source? Everyone does, I've seen my wall on Facebook alone get flooded with unofficially sourced clips from my friends.

It doesn't matter if you are American or not, if you are using a US registered companies platform... SOPA covers you too... Could countless Facebook and YouTube users find their accounts suspended/restricted if SOPA or PIPA passed?

And what of the blogosphere?

I don't think I'd be safe... in no way do I encourage or endorse the acts of online piracy, but regular readers will know that I constantly use music or video clips to illustrate points that I make. Were SOPA or PIPA to become a reality, I have to consider that Blogger/Google might be forced to take steps to stop this kind of behaviour.

I truly believe this would drastically choke free expression and freedom of speech on the Internet. In a speech to the Leveson Enquiry this week, Ian Hislop defended the freedom of press on the grounds that politicians and commentators should balance one another out... too much power in the hands of one is bad news for society as a whole. I'd like to add another party to that concept and make it a triumvirate - the public themselves... us. We are constantly receiving messages from the media and from our leaders but we are not mere receivers of what they have to say, we are in fact transceivers. We have the ability to form our own intellectual and emotional opinions based on our own interpretation of the facts. We ourselves have a voice... a voice that has as much right to be heard as any newspaper editor, film maker, pop star or politician.

Twitter, Facebook, blogs - all of these comprise a major part of that voice... as we have seen only in the last year. When people decide to take hold of a message and spread it, nations can fall and rise again. In fact it is happening now... many thousands of people are becoming mobilised in response to Wikipedia's stance. It has become a talking point and perhaps now the real fight has begun. Were the bills to pass... a lot of the content that has motivated people could be silenced.

At best, SOPA and PIPA represent an ill thought out way of controlling a wild cyberbeast that has outgrown the entertainment industry's limited understanding and outdated business model. At worst, the bills are a cynical ploy by people behind the scenes who fear a Western version of the "Arab Spring", to put a mechanism in place that limits the online exposure of people with highly malcontent views. I'm not prepared to make a pronouncement that heavy but I do think it's worth keeping in mind.

While concluding I'd like to share a quote by Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg which has earned him in excess of 350,000 "likes" and nearly 72,000 "shares". He said:

The internet is the most powerful tool we have for creating a more open and connected world. We can't let poorly thought out laws get in the way of the internet's development. Facebook opposes SOPA and PIPA, and we will continue to oppose any laws that will hurt the internet.

The world today needs political leaders who are pro-internet. We have been working with many of these folks for months on better alternatives to these current proposals. I encourage you to learn more about these issues and tell your congressmen that you want them to be pro-internet.

Obviously as a British citizen I cannot have a direct say in US Law, but as this is is something that affects my own rights and lifestyle, I do believe I have a right to request my own MP (via Email) and Government (via this petition) do all that they can to exert pressure and express my political dissatisfaction at this move. If you believe in a free Internet and enjoy and benefit from making use of its vast resources... I strongly urge you to consider doing something along the same lines.

So, please let me know:

What do you make of SOPA and PIPA?
Do you intend to make your opinions known to your own political representative?
Do you think the bills will pass?

Necessary Diversions

2012-01-13T18:27:00.001Z

I've been thinking a lot about how some diversions can be incredibly important, even if we don't know it at the time.

Sometimes on "The Way" we have to go a bit out of our way.

Having got home from work incredibly late last night, I found my way wandering towards the supermarket to pick up something that could vaguely be described as dinner. On the way there I ran into a friend's dad who was returning from the pub. This particular friend has had a few problems and has been off radar for a while, so I decided to enquire as to how he was and chatted to his dad for a few minutes. In the course of the conversation I discovered that my friend was in the aforementioned pub. We went our separate ways and I continued to the supermarket. I was going to text my friend but in my heart I believed the right thing to do was to go and meet him. Having left the shop I made my way to the pub, found my friend and chatted to him for about an hour or so... checking up on him and putting the world to rights.

We don't live to ourselves alone and sometimes we have to accept that on our own personal journeys, situations or opportunities are going to arise that require us to go off on a tangent into unexpected places or circumstances.

If we look at the Bible there are plenty of examples of this. Some come through an act of God, others come through consequence and still others come through a conscious decision. To quote just a few of these examples: Joseph was diverted from life at his father's side by his brothers' choice to sell him into slavery; Moses was diverted away from Egypt and into Midian after he beat an Egyptian oppressor to death; Elijah was diverted to Mount Horeb after pronouncing judgement on the prophets of Baal; Jonah diverted himself when God called on him to preach to the Assyrians in Nineveh... and the apostle Paul was diverted to Macedonia by the Holy Spirit, when he tried to get to Bithynia.

In each of the situations listed above, God uses the traveller's change of direction to bring about a change in their character or their calling... or to directly benefit the lives of the new people he encounters. Joseph ascended to position of power where he became an instrument of salvation both for Egypt and his own people. Moses was brought to a place where his fugitive self would dwindle as he learned how to become a shepherd... first merely with sheep... but later a shepherd of Israel. many generations later, Elijah found himself at the exact same spot - both geographically and emotionally. Elijah had just witnessed the might and power of God manifested in an awesome public display, he had every reason to feel confident; yet he found himself fleeing in terror at the threat of repercussions to his ministry. How many of us have experienced that very same emotion? How many of us have ridden the crest of a spiritual wave and felt overexposed, naked and vulnerable when the momentum has ebbed away? I would wager it happens to a great many people.

Jonah's notorious disobedience resulted in an arguable enhancement of his prophetic ministry. When God called him to account and caused him to end up inside the belly of a great fish, Jonah found himself stewed in its gastric juices. He repented, was delivered and became the inheritor of a literal "big fish" story. The city he was being sent to (Nineveh), was a centre of Dagon worship at the time. Dagon was to all intents and purposes a manfish god. Imagine how much his gastric bleached appearance coupled with his bizarre account would have amplified his message and ministry.

When Paul tried to travel from Mysia to Bithynia, we are told the Holy Spirit would not allow him to cross the river Rhyndacus (which served as the border). We are not told quite how that worked... but the subsequent vision that Paul received led him in the direction of Macedonia instead... which led to a series of eventful stories from his ministry... not least of which was his miraculous "non-escape" from jail.

However, my favourite diversionary story comes from the ministry of Jesus:

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

Jesus Restores a Demon-Possessed Man
They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.
When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!”

Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

“My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.

A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.

Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man—and told about the pigs as well. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.

As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”
Mark 4:35-5:19

Most people treat these two stories above as separate isolated incidents. I find this strange as the narrative clearly indicates that the stories flow into one another. I have long held the belief that Jesus got in the boat and faced the fierce squall because he was travelling to meet and release the Gerasenes demoniac. Not only that, but it appears this was also the one and only reason he did it... because no sooner had he driven Legion out of his victim, he was back off in the boat again to raise Jairus' daughter on the other side of the Sea of Galilee.

I think this is fantastic because it demonstrates that there are no mathematics, numbers or equations in God's compassion. Everything Jesus does is motivated by love - amor propter caritatem (love for love's sake). Whether the cause is one person... or the entire human race, the cost is never too high. Jesus put himself and his apostles in harm's way, for the benefit of one individual (at least I'm sure that's how the apostles saw it at the time).

The needs of the many...

In Star Trek, there is a wonderful philosophical revolving door that mirrors this concept. In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Spock lays down his life to save everybody aboard the Enterprise. As his body begins to fail due to being saturated with radiation poisoning, he presses himself up against the glass partition that separates him from Captain Kirk and points out that he did it because "the needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few... or the one". It's a touching and very sad scene and the philosophy behind it has caused the line to be quoted frequently ever since.

The needs of the one...

However in the very next film in the series - Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, this very concept is turned completely on its head as Captain Kirk and the rest of the main characters risk their careers, the USS Enterprise and their very lives in a desperate bid to recover Spock's body and reintegrate it with his katra (soul), which is residing inside Doctor McCoy. When the resurrected Spock asks Kirk why he did it, Kirk replies "Because the needs of the one, outweigh the needs of the many".

One of the great traps religions often fall into is a focus on the collective at the expense of the individual; this leads to a bureaucratic form of management that is more suited to machinery. On the other hand, other religions fall into the other pitfall of focusing on personal enlightenment and development which can become a form of isolationism if done out of context.

Neither of these concepts really match the one that the Church was modelled on. As a Christian, I believe the great thing about a relationship with Christ is that value is place on the individual as well as the collective. The model the Church is supposed to follow is that of the body. As Paul so eloquently demonstrated in his first letter to the Corinthians, though we make up one body we equally have our place and have our own value. If one part suffers or has a need, the rest of the body suffers or shares that need. If you injure your leg,you will shift the weight of your entire body to ease the burden on that leg.

We are not machines and we are not amoebas. If we are truly serious about being a body... a family, then we need to accept that we too will sometimes have to "shift weight". We can't always go our own way and do our own thing. Yes, we may have a certain calling or way of doing things... but being a Christian means accepting that we can be diverted from these things for the sake of Christ.

I'd love to hear any thoughts you may have... specifically with regard to (but not restricted to) the following questions:

Have you ever been significantly diverted by God in your Christian life?
Do you have any personal examples of "The needs of the many are greater than the needs of the few"?
Do you have any personal examples of "The needs of the few are greater than the needs of the many"?

Pillow Talk!

2012-01-07T22:15:00.000Z

Last month I had the privilege of playing a part in my first flash mob.

It was an event organised by the RSC and the production company Dusthouse, to help in the making of a trailer to promote the Royal Shakespeare Theatre's forthcoming production of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew.

The basic idea of the trailer would be to illustrate the central theme of the battle of the sexes by way of allowing volunteers to indulge in a pillow fight. I caught wind of the details via the Internet during a Friday lunch hour and with very little time to organise myself, I ran off to BHS, purchased my weapon of choice (a fairly plump and sturdy pillow), and after work had finished, made my way to the "battlefield", or as it is more commonly known... The Royal Shakespeare Theatre".

The Gathering

When you are doing something that seems a little nuts, there is always a gut wrenching fear that you will be the only person who shows up... and that even if you do, you will be the only person above a certain age with the audacity and level of shamelessness required to make a very public fool of yourself. I needn't have worried, as I turned the corner from Bridge Street into Waterside I observed a whole host of people starting to gather outside the theatre as the allotted time drew nigh.

Apparently even the carefree and playful tradition of the pillow fight is not immune to the banal, frustrating red tape and bureaucratic spectre of health and safety; names were taken and pledges not to hurt anyone (much), were made. We also signed our lives away... if someone took our head or arm off in mortal combat, the RSC would not be legally accountable. Having said that, the bureaucracy did enable us to tally the number of combatants... which apparently exceeded 100.

The Face Off

It wasn't just a free-for-all and obviously we needed to be organised in such a fashion as to create a narrative for the trailer. We all arranged ourselves in a semicircle and looked on with several of the supporting cast as the fog of war descended and the two lead actors - David Caves and Lisa Dillon, scowled at each other menacingly one on one in a high noon fashion.

Once the main shoot concluded, we were promised several minutes of man versus woman unbridled chaos... but in true Monty Python fashion... not until the director blew his whistle. We seized the opportunity with both hands as the raw footage in the video below more than adequately demonstrates. At one point I found myself fending off four girls at once... something I never thought I'd say in life (heh heh). The feathers flew as blow after blow were traded and the mist blew in across the field of battle... well, dry ice anyway! Once the whistle sounded everybody jubilantly threw their pillows in the air in celebration... and then strolled off in unison to grab a well earned beverage.

The event received coverage in several major media outlets including BBC News and The Spectator. One photo in particular had the image of a very familiar figure clumsily throwing his weight around whilst berserking with his pillow. Yes if you glance over to the left, that is indeed me looking like a London rioter and locked in mortal combat.

So why am I blogging about this now? Well, The Taming of the Shrew is due for release at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre on January 19th; the trailer has been uploaded and you can now see our handiwork and polished fighting skills in glorious technicolour. The finished article is available to watch below:

If you are interested in booking tickets to see the play, you can do so by following this link. If you are interested in knowing more about the production, member of the cast has taken to blogging her own experiences behind the scenes and you can read her thoughts here. I should add that I am not an employee or in any way affiliated with the RSC... I just wanted to give back a little in the way of recognition, following an event that gave me a ridiculous amount of fun... and a great way to offload the stress of the working week on a Friday night. Personally I think we should do these kind of things in life more often.

So, when was the last time you took part in a pillow fight?

What would it take to get you involved in one?

What crazy unexpected promotional things have you found yourselves involved in?

If you have an answer to any of the above, or if you want to pass a comment on the gratuitous violence... do share it with me and send me a comment.

Unexpected Journeys

2011-12-25T17:44:00.000Z

Merry Christmas everyone!

I decided to write this post in response to a minor pang of guilt I experienced last night.

I was sat in the Midnight Eucharist service at church and listening to the vicar as he started his Christmas sermon. All was going well enough when he used a phrase... three little words that completely threw my concentration and caused me to tune out completely; just three words.

The phrase he used was "An unexpected journey". I have no idea how the next 5 minutes of the sermon went because I ended up mentally going here instead:

Yes, my mind had drifted over to The Shire. In fairness, I'm pretty psyched about The Hobbit, the trailer has only recently been released and I've been watching it quite a bit through sheer excitement. However whichever way you cut it, that probably wasn't the best time for me to choose to go off daydreaming... was it? Although... that said, some might argue my timing was perfect ;)

By way of recompense, I decided to write a little bit on The Nativity that filled the gulf left by my lapse in concentration.

It occurs to me that there are a number of unexpected journeys involved in the Nativity story. First you have Mary... the young virgin pledged in marriage to Joseph. I am sure the last thing she expected was for an angel to appear in her pantry and advise her of God's plan to bring about the birth of the Messiah through her. Then there is Joseph. I am equally certain that the last thing he expected while he was working on a door frame, was for his fiance to tap him on the shoulder and advise him that she was carrying a child... let alone God's own son.

What of the shepherds tending their sheep? Did they expect the night sky to erupt in an explosion of light and rhymes as angels pouring out of the heavens announcing the arrival of the Christ child? Of course not. Or the Magi? Even if in their ruminations and studies they had anticipated that such a special child was coming into the world... they had no inkling whatsoever into the manner that child would arrive... or where he would be born.

All of these people were faced with circumstances that felt very alien to them; and each of them were presented with a difficult choice. Mary had to choose whether she would be willing to carry God's child inside of her for 9 months and raise him to manhood knowing the potential difficulties society would throw at her. Joseph had to decide whether or not to honour his marriage commitment to Mary given the unusual story she was presenting him with... and the burden of raising and providing for a son that was not his own, while all the time hearing the jeers of scoffers and whispers of gossipmongers whose prejudice condemned his family. The shepherds had to decide if they were going to act on their trippy experience... possibly risking their already rubbish jobs, in order to see a baby whose significance they did not understand. The Magi had travel across half the Middle East picking up very expensive trade products based on a whimsical calculation over the movement of interplanetary bodies that might easily have proved baseless... especially when they got to Jerusalem and found things weren't as they assumed.

You see, with Jesus nobody knows what to expect. This was a key point that her majesty The Queen raised in her Christmas speech earlier today:

"God sent into the world a unique person - neither a philosopher nor a general, important though they are, but a Saviour, with the power to forgive."

It is as true today as it was then. In Jesus, nobody knows quite what to expect. People miss out on knowing and experiencing who Jesus is because they look at him through the lens of their own perceived wisdom and expectations. The Pharisees and Zealots failed to recognise Jesus when he appeared because they were anticipating a warrior king, a general. Similarly today, people mistakenly relegate Jesus to the same league as the philosophers and teachers of old - a line of thinking that C.S. Lewis robustly refuted in his Liar, Lunatic or Lord argument.

As a Christian I accept that Jesus Christ is far more than a decent man and a good teacher... but more than this I accept that his sovereignty as part of the Godhead and his role in my own life, give him the authority to step into my life and call upon me to set foot on unexpected journeys... to undertake unexpected things, constantly.

You may be reading this and not actually be a Christian and if so perhaps this is the beginning of an unexpected journey of your own. Confronted with the possibility that Jesus may be more than you imagine or understand him to be, are you prepared to invite him in and find out what his real agenda is in your life and the life of those around you?

Like Bilbo Baggins, if we set off on our own unexpected journey with Christ, we will find that we will have quite a tale to tell... and wherever our journey takes us, we too will be changed. To journey for Christ is to journey with him...

...and that changes everything.

Are you prepared to begin your own unexpected journey?

Sleigh Oddity

2011-12-16T22:21:00.000Z

In a moment of random madness, I found myself Christmassing up some classic rock hits... I think in my defence, that I was really tired at the time.

The most prominent one I decided to ~~massacre~~ have a go at, was David Bowie's Space Oddity. I decided to pay homage to the original song's theme by having Santa flying off into deep space at the end. I mean when you think about it, where does he go once Christmas is done? Is it really fair to suggest he only works one day a year?

For bonus points I decided to try and explain in a throwaway lyric, how it is that Santa can cover the entire Earth's surface and deliver to all good children on the planet, in a single night.

So here without further ado, I give you.... Sleigh Oddity:

The North Pole to Santa Claus

Eat your mincemeat pies and put your red suit on

(Dasher) The North Pole (Dancer) to Santa Claus (Prancer)

(Vixen) Commencing Christmas (Comet), space-time paused (Cupid)

(Donner) Check those presents (Blitzen) and may Rudolph (Lift Off!) guide you true.

This is the North Pole to Santa Claus

You've really made their day

And the children want to thank the jolly man

Now it's time to leave the fireplace if you can.

This is Santa Claus to the North Pole I'm climbing up the chute

And I'm squashed up in a most a-peculiar way

and my magic sleigh seems very far away.

For here am I stuck inside this chimney far above the hearth

Planet Earth is white on this holy silent night.

Now I've clocked 100,000 miles I'm feeling very ill

And I think my reindeer know which way to go

Tell those kids I love them very much, they know.

The North Pole to Santa Claus your sleigh bells stopped where've you gone

Can you hear me Santa Claus? Can you hear me Santa Claus? Can you hear me Santa Claus? Can you...

Here am I zooming off in deep space, far beyond the stars

Kids on planets new, need to get their presents too.

If you want to try singing along and seeing if it tracks, I've added a link to an instrumental of Bowie's original below.

Over to you... what classic songs of yesteryear can you rework with a Christmas theme?

Give and Take

2011-12-11T18:50:00.001Z

You can't have failed to have seen the new John Lewis promotional advert that has been inundating TV screens on all commercial channels for a couple of weeks now.

It's a very clever advert that tells the story of a little boy anxiously waiting for Christmas morning. Having all been children, we can immediately connect with the advert because we empathise with that gnawing sensation of our stomach tying itself in knots as the days agonisingly edge towards Christmas. It's a feeling we can all associate with.

The backing track of Slow Moving Millie's cover of The Smith's "Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want." harnesses the emotional connection and ratchets it up wonderfully.

However, there's a wonderful twist in the tale. When Christmas morning finally arrives, we discover the boy was not anxious about the presents he was going to receive from his parents... but instead he was desperate to give a gift that he has crudely wrapped up for his parents to receive.

Some Morrissey and Smiths fans have shown a lot of contempt for the fact that John Lewis chose to use a cover version instead of the original. They've also attacked Amelia Warner (Slow Moving Millie), for being one of the commercial cash cows that are engineered by the likes of Simon Cowell and ripping off a classic. I completely and utterly disagree with them. The melancholic nature of the original track makes the song extremely downbeat. It's a lamentation and almost resignation that life doesn't seem to ever go the way the songwriter wants. The cover seems to transform the sentiment and carry with it the hope that luck, consequence and fate will change and the wheel will turn. If you think about it in context, the advert actually needs this sentiment in order to work properly. For those who contend with Ms Warner herself, I would point out that she is an established songwriter herself and I would contend that having written songs that convey her own feelings, she has earned the right to channel someone else's. Oh and apparently Morrissey himself said he liked it.

The time of year being what it is, the advert got me thinking about the nature of expectation and giving and the way we perceive God.

As Christians, we live or lives in the context of eternity... and our hopes and expectations are set on heaven... Advent reminds us of this very fact. Even though this is the case, we also live temporal lives... our "earthly tents" and we naturally have hopes, desires, aspirations and expectations for the time we spend here too. If we aren't too careful there is a real danger that we become like children waiting for Christmas. We sit counting the hours, peeling away the doors on the advent calendar of lives and looking at the pictures... and we miss the moments.

While we wait expectantly and hopefully on God's promises... shouldn't we be more proactive and beneficial? Maybe we can learn a lesson and be like the kid in that John Lewis advert. Perhaps it is time for us to start trusting in God's promises... accepting that they will be fulfilled in the time he has deemed right in his wisdom. Having accepted this, perhaps we can instead turn our attention and contemplation to how we can serve him. We need to move the big red presents from the back of our wardrobe and bring it to God. While we wait on his goodness we can be sharing that same goodness to enrich the lives of others in a godly way. Inasmuch as we are expectant beneficiaries of God's blessings, we are also agents of such blessings... and we have a roll to play in distributing God's gifts & fruit to the people we meet in the world everyday around us.

For it is indeed more blessed to give than to receive.

But it also works the other way too... doesn't it? While we live in these shadowlands, following in the footsteps of an omnipotent God, it's easy to fall to the temptation that everything we do is solely for his benefit... particularly when times are tough. We would certainly not be the first of God's people to question his motives - the Bible has plenty of examples from prophets to kings to apostles. I think we have to take a look at ourselves an honestly ask the question: Is there a bitter seed of distrust in me that believes God is taking advantage of me?

Is there a part of us that considers God to be a kid pouting in the corner selfishly waiting for what he will get from us, without consideration of our mortal needs and desires?

Scripture teaches us that this is not the case at all:

"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

Luke 11:11-13

and:

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

Romans 8:28

If you do think that, then you are either in for an awful shock or a wonderful surprise on "Christmas Day". You see, I believe God is just like that kid in the advert too! While we may regard him with petty suspicion... he's sat there, not pouting about what he's waiting for from us... he's agonising over the wait to give us his good things. There are times when the time, the person or the circumstances are not right... and God has to patiently wait while he refines us or grows us or makes the necessary changes for him to be able to pour out his blessings.

And if we had any doubt at all about God's ability to give selflessly, then we need look no further than December 25th. At this time of year Christians across the planet recall with special affection the day that God became incarnate as man and gave himself completely and utterly to the cause of totally redeeming us.

I want to leave you with one more thought. There's another advert... a Channel 4 spoof commercial featuring Gordon Ramsay (promoting his Christmas cooking programme). It pretty much matches the John Lewis advert with one exception... as the little boy heads through the house to give his parents his lovingly wrapped gift, he opens the kitchen door to be greeted by Gordon Ramsay who aggressively sharpens some knives and curtly tells him to get peeling the spuds.

Let's not be like that.

If God has something really precious to give us... lets not lose sight of that. Let us not become so obsessed with our small potato spiritual shopping lists that we miss the really big things that God has for us.

It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Life's Too Short...

2011-11-24T22:08:00.001Z

... for chess, or so the saying goes.

In one of my "Sheldon" moments, I had a flash of inspiration for a new variation on chess. Where Star Trek brought the idea of 3D chess into the public consciousness, I have thought of going one step further... 4D Chess.

Yes it sounds crazy... and it is. However humour me for a brief moment here, I think I'm on to something. The idea goes something like this:

The chessboard is laid out traditionally however, after each turn the player rolls a set of dice. If they get a double, they must move the last moved piece "back in time". Essentially the piece occupies the same square by however many turns back are shown on the dice. If another piece occupies a spot where the time travelling piece ends up, it may be taken, however if the space is already occupied by a piece where the time travelling piece arrives, both pieces are removed from play. The other rules of chess remain unaffected.

I'd like somehow to give this idea a shot. I think it's rather complex and would probably work best in a computerised environment... simply because the logistics of moving pieces around in time could get quite frustrating... but a computer rendering doesn't suffer that problem.

So what do you think... insanity or genius?

Oh by the way... I also have an idea for 5D chess. ;)

Sometimes We Sting... Sometimes We Save

2011-10-25T22:59:00.002Z

In the past on this blog I have referred to a couple of images/anecdotes that look at the different behavioural attitudes we adopt in our relationships with people. What has been on my heart for a little while and what I thought I'd do in this post, is combine all three... and look at them together.

The first is a joke; an amusing anecdote that we are supposed to use to look at life when it gives us one of its occasional knees to the groin. The saying goes like this:

"Accept that some days you are the pigeon and some days you are the statue".

I know its a joke... but I have never felt comfortable with it. What it says to me is that when life drops a bucket load of guano on your head... its okay, because some day you'll be the one depositing the guano on somebody else.

The second is the infamous story (once referenced in Star Trek: Voyager), of a scorpion who wanted to cross a swollen river. Aware of his shortcomings and knowing that any attempt at swimming would result in certain death, the scorpion attempts to coerce a nearby fox. The fox being cunning and wise points out that its a stupid thing to do because the scorpion will sting him and kill him. The scorpion reasons with him and points out that if he does sting the fox, they will BOTH drown in the river and die... so it isn't in his interests to betray his unlikely ally. The fox can't fault the scorpions logic and allows the arachnid to hop on his back. The couple begin their crossing and all is going well. However, when the fox reaches the deepest part of the river... the scorpion rears up his sting and plunges it into the neck of the fox. As the neurotoxin begins to take effect and the creatures begin to sink below the waterline, the fox gives one last look over his shoulder, stares forlornly at the scorpion and asks "Why? Why did you do this? Now we'll both die!"

The scorpion answers "I'm sorry... I couldn't help it. It's just my nature."

That story is a constant reminder to me that we all carry an element of the fallen nature inside of us... that even when our intentions are good and honourable, some times we fall prey to the remnants of the sinful nature that lurk deep inside waiting for moments to strike... just like a scorpion's sting.

The last anecdote also contains an equally aquatically challenged scorpion who is in dire peril. This scorpion keeps slipping off a riverbank and falling into a river to his doom. Fortunately for him, two monks are washing bowls in the river nearby. One of the monks spots the scorpion and rescues him. In return for the monk's kindness, the scorpion... yep you guessed it... stings him before scuttling off. However, the scorpion is soon in trouble again and falls straight back into the water. The monk wastes no time in rescuing the scorpion again... and again. Each time he does so, he receives a sting for his trouble. This goes on until the monk's companion asks him "Why do you keep doing that? Don't you know that scorpion will just keep stinging you? That's its nature!"

"Ah..." replies the other monk "... but it is my nature to save."

Looking at those stories together tells us something quite profound about life. There are going to be times in all our lives when we mess up and hurt the ones around us - the ones who we care about... and who care about us. We can't help it... its in our nature (albeit a nature we need to resist). However if we strive with all our heart to adopt Christ's nature... the one that His Spirit calls us to, we can bear with one another's brokenness and faults with mercy and compassion... encouraging those around us to do likewise by the righteous examples God works through us.

Sometimes we sting, sometimes we save... how we feel about those two facts reveals a lot about our character and our relationships with one another and God. What it is NEVER okay to do is to be the pigeon. Everyone knows what it feels like to be the statue... everybody knows how bad it feels when someone bombs your life with emotional excrement. We all know what it feels like to be stung... so can we really afford to take a blasé attitude with others, every time we feel an irresistible urge to unfairly offload our rubbish attitudes on those around us?

We can't.

Sometimes we sting. When this happens (as it does), we need to recognise we are doing it, what is driving it and ask forgiveness in all sincerity for it.

Sometimes we save. We need to be watchful for those around us who are openly hurting. We need to go the distance and do what we can to help them out, even if it is just praying for them. They may sting you for your trouble, but never forget their value... or the fact that someday you may need a friend to save you in spite of your own stinging.

The Running Man

2011-10-16T23:00:00.000Z

In the past couple of weeks I've decided to take up running as a bit of a pastime. My current tactics are to run for approximately 30 minutes - one day on, one day off.

It's not something I've really done before and it already feels like it is taking some time to make any progress whatsoever. It is something that isn't helped by my stubborn attitude and disregard for regimens that are there to help build me up slow and steady. In my first week I was supposed to be walking for 90 seconds and running for 60... but I was literally deciding to run before I could walk and doing it the other way round... something I wasn't supposed to be doing until this second week.

I'm also being aided and hindered in equal spades by my iPhone and its random music selection. I find myself running/jogging to the pace dictated by the music rather than setting something that is comfortable for the length of time I'm engaging in the activity. It gets worse if a track pops up that spurs me on.... because I abandon any timing discipline and then just throw myself into pushing through the entire song at pace.

All this aside, I have noticed some benefit. I'm able to push myself for slightly longer for those songs for a start; I'm also shaving off the time it takes me to get round the course I've plotted out for myself. This is forcing me to look at ways to expand the distance I run because I'm in danger of coming in from my runs too quickly... I need to keep to that 30 minute window.

So what on Earth has spurred me into this formerly uncharacteristic course of action? Is it just a desire to lose a bit of weight and get fit... or is there more to it than that?

I have several reasons and yes, fitness and wellbeing are among them. However at the heart of my actions lies a far more fundamentally important reason. Ever since I have returned from Italy, I have felt a spiritual energy that has kept me buoyant and forward thinking. I don't want to lose or forget that... I need to remember. There are beacons in the distance that I need to be aiming for, beacons that at the moment I have no idea how to to reach... but at some point in the not to distant future I'm going to have to punch the core and make a break for them. However, I live in a quiet corner of the galaxy that has a habit of putting dreams and ideas to sleep... of subjecting you to a kind of spiritual oppression and putting you in your place... even if it's not the place you need to be.

More than this, I feel I've returned to a land of pessimism that needs to remember its own hopes and promises. There was a baptism in my church the other week and several people commented that "we'll not see them again". Furthermore, I also caught myself feeling quite glum at the prospect of worshipping in what felt like a godless environment... until I realised the magnitude of what those feelings do to you and fought back hard with a renewed sense of zeal and evangelistic vigour.

If you've ever seen the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Unforgettable", then you'll have seen a parallel of what I'm talking about. In the episode, the first officer Chakotay falls in love with a woman from a species who fade out of a person's living memory when they leave them. At the end of this particular episode, the woman Chakotay has a relationship with leaves... and as she does so, a the ship's computer memory banks and the crew's memories begin to lose the knowledge of who she was. Desperate not to forget the memory of this woman and what the time spent with her meant to him, Chakotay resorts to the most rudimentary of writing implements - pen and paper, in a bid to permanently record the memories before he loses them forever.

That is kind of what I am doing. I don't want to lose the memories of what I have felt, what I have experienced and what I have learned about myself... and until such a time as I find a way to commit to a course of action that honours those sentiments, I am determined to do what I can to hold on to what I have already attained. I also don't want to see what life that remains in my church, choked out of it... I want people to learn once again to look at the Son (sic) and not at the shadows.

And so I run... and I keep on running... pushing myself and reminding myself that every strained breath keeps the other, nobler, higher more distant aims fresh in my mind until an opportunity, a path or a choice appears that I can commit my energy to.

And I'm not just running with my body.

A few of us have been in the habit of praying weekly at church... but different people's commitments are making it hard to stick to the agreed time and day. This I decided was an opportunity and not a difficulty to overcome... and so I now do my best to pop in every work night, even if it's just for a few minutes, to make sure God gets more... not less out of the new set of circumstances.

I run now... to better myself in every way - body, mind and soul, in the hope that I can glorify God by becoming the man he wants to be as and when he chooses and to sustain the momentum that he put in my heart.

Do you hear a call to start running in some way today?

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Rights and Wrongs

2011-10-08T22:31:00.000Z

Several days after the Home Secretary - Theresa May literally let the cat out of the bag (bad joke I know), I thought I'd take a fresh look at what all the political angst is all about... namely The Human Rights Act 1998.

Many Tories including Theresa May and the Prime Minister David Cameron, are opposed to the current legislation because they believe it hampers the immigration service by protecting criminals and stopping them from being deported. Those who are against the Human Rights Act propose instead that the UK should have a bill of rights (similar to the USA), that outlines responsibilities as well as entitlements under law.

Before I go on, I just want to take a look at a summary of the Human Rights Act that you can find on the DirectGov website:

The Human Rights Act 1998 gives further legal effect in the UK to the fundamental rights and freedoms contained in the European Convention on Human Rights. These rights not only impact matters of life and death, they also affect the rights you have in your everyday life: what you can say and do, your beliefs, your right to a fair trial and other similar basic entitlements.
Most rights have limits to ensure that they do not unfairly damage other people's rights. However, certain rights – such as the right not to be tortured – can never be limited by a court or anybody else.
You have the responsibility to respect other people's rights, and they must respect yours.

Your human rights are:

the right to life

freedom from torture and degrading treatment

freedom from slavery and forced labour

the right to liberty

the right to a fair trial

the right not to be punished for something that wasn't a crime when you did it

the right to respect for private and family life

freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and freedom to express your beliefs

freedom of expression

freedom of assembly and association

the right to marry and to start a family

the right not to be discriminated against in respect of these rights and freedoms

the right to peaceful enjoyment of your property

the right to an education

the right to participate in free elections

the right not to be subjected to the death penalty

If any of these rights and freedoms are breached, you have a right to an effective solution in law, even if the breach was by someone in authority, such as, for example, a police officer.

I wonder... can you seriously look at that list and see anything wrong in principle? No. There isn't a single thing I would disagree with. As a Christian, everything I see in that list is covered by Christ's command to love our neighbour as ourselves.

You see in my opinion the problem often isn't to be found in laws themselves... but in the people who interpret them. I don't believe swapping out one law and replacing it with another would find any permanent effective solution. There will always be people who seek to manipulate law or exploit a loophole or create a legal aberration for their own devices and eventually civil case law gradually ushers common sense away and we find ourselves back at square one. This is not something that is limited merely to criminals and their defending lawyers... judges, prosecutors and lawmakers are equally guilty.

Take Theresa May's own words for example. She took the case of a Bolivian immigrant and cited cat ownership as the deciding factor in preventing his deportation. In fact it was not... even in her own quote she refers to a "they". In context, the Bolivian had an unmarried partner and the acquisition of a cat was merely used as an example of the things they had done together as a couple... it was not the driving force behind the judge's decision.

None of this is new... politicians, authorities and legal experts have been worming their way around laws and statutes ever since the gleaming rays of the dawn of civilization first warmed mankind's cheeks.

Christians should be acutely aware of this because in the Bible, The Pharisees practically turned it into an art form! I was reading up on Matthew 23 while writing this blog and it struck me that a lot of the patterns that Jesus criticised the teachers of the law for, are common to those in authority who are drawn to power and use legislation as a way of procuring or preserving it.

This is the problem you get in society when you literally "enshrine" the law but neglect to leave room for grace. The letter of the law takes over and the spirit of the law diminishes. Pretty soon you find yourself straining out gnats and swallowing camels or painting whitewashed tombs. Jesus summed it up perfectly... the most important matters in law are justice, mercy and faithfulness.

Sometimes I wish judges or people in the right circumstances just had the conviction and authority to just metaphorically tear up legal papers pertaining to a case and call it on its common sense merit. People aren't stupid, they often know when someone is feeding them a bucket of manure, they don't need a piece of paper to tell them. If a criminal or lawyer is twisting the words of the law to apply a level of protection or prosecution to imply something it doesn't actually mean... then I say it is this that needs to be changed and not the laws themselves.

I don't necessarily oppose the composition of a bill of rights... but I don't see why it should need to replace the Human Rights Act. The Act doesn't just defend your rights; if you abuse the rights of another, then the Act works against you too. In fact technically, the legislation could technically be protected against the politicians who wish to do away with it:

If any of these rights and freedoms are breached, you have a right to an effective solution in law, even if the breach was by someone in authority, such as, for example, a police officer.

That kind of suggests to me that if a politician (being a lawmaker and source of authority), tries to repeal the Act, then they are actually violating all of our human rights and are prosecutable themselves.

In conclusion then, I would support a bill of rights that accompanied and worked alongside the Human Rights Act, one that clarifies what society finds acceptable behaviour and expected responsibility... without removing or diminishing the rights of citizens under the current set up.

After all... the Human Rights Act is not just a bureaucratic bundle of papers imposed on Britain by the European Union. It finds its origins in the Declaration of Human Rights that Britain signed up to as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council with powers of veto. We helped lead the way... how great would the burden and sense of shame be if we turned our backs on it?

The Italian Job

2011-09-30T23:26:00.000Z

I promised a bit more of a general breakdown of my Italian escapade when last I blogged... something that wasn't restricted to any life lessons and that just gave an overview of what went on. Some points drift off into the cryptic... but as I said in my last post, some of what I'm reflecting on is for my more private blog. As I have gone on writing this... it has taken on a life of its own and has become something of an epic. You may want to read it in small doses.

Thursday 8th September

Got up early and burned rubber all the way to Kent. I was blessed in that I beat a rather nasty snarl up on the M40 that was reported on my radio about 30 minutes after I passed through. The M25 was a doddle. I met up with some of the people who were going to be my stalwart companions for the next week or so and boarded the coach... destination mainland Europe via my very first trip underneath the English Channel in the Eurotunnel. We emerged into the drizzly light of rainy France and raced the inclement weather into Switzerland. As we tried our best to settle into the night for some much needed sleep, I was awestruck by the silhouettes of the mighty Alps set against the backdrop of a curtain of starlight.

Friday 9th September

As we passed from Switzerland into the northernmost parts of Italy, the warmth of the sun greeted us in all it's intensity. We stopped for breakfast where I was astounded to discover that the game "the three cards" or "three bells" is sternly frowned upon in Italy... carrying an €80 - €500 fine for participation. In my tired state I also mistakenly thought that the Italians were obsessed with eating cod... as all the dishes were marked with COD. In fairness I was only looking at breaded white meat... but still, what a plonker I was! We made our way further south until we reached our first hotel. The town we were staying in was a bit of a tourist trap, but very pleasant. I went for a stroll on the beach with my first roomies on the trip - Michael & Tom. We narrowly avoided being conned into buying kites by posing for photos for each other while the persistent vendor impatiently hovered. Michael, Tom and I decided to go to the local supermarket to stock up on food and drink for our foray into Venice... but on our way back we overshot the hotel by about a quarter of a mile and had to trudge back shamefaced and swearing one another to secrecy. After our first evening session (held al fresco on the beach), we wandered up and down the main street and listened to a local couple singing British easy listening tracks in Italian at a local restaurant.

Saturday 10th September

This was it... the first real day of action. We were dropped off at a ferry terminal and cruised into Venice Harbour. I spent the journey there getting to a know a couple of the girls, sharing out my binoculars to anyone who wanted to take a peek at the city from a distance... and wondering if we'd spot anything/anybody connected to the Venice Film Festival which was reaching a climax that day. Nope... didn't run into any celebrity type creatures (not that I particularly care). We docked in the shadow of an immense cruise liner, toured St. Mark's Basilica together and then having reached the Rialto bridge, we fanned out and went off on separate adventures. Michael and Tom had no plan of action... so I somehow managed to get appointed as the tour guide. Having no better idea about where to go than the others, I fell back on my geek credentials and did what any self respecting nerd would do.... I came up with a hare brained ambitious quest to locate the chapel that was used to film the library scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (incidentally I miserably failed... it wasn't anywhere near our route). It was a privilege to stumble across a newly-wed couple as they emerged from church and boarded a gondola for their first trip together as man and wife. Having reached the furthest point (Venice's car park), we made our way back through narrow passages and back streets and were highly disturbed by all the masquerade costumes. We stopped off for a gelato (which gave us all brain freeze as we had to eat them very quick to avoid them melting in the heat). It was at this point that I saved Michael and Tom from a nasty bout of Weil's Disease, as I chastised them for washing their hands in the canal of all places... and got them to wash their hands in a fountain. Having extensively toured the canals and chapels on two of the adjoined islands, we made our way back to the rendezvous point ~~on Tatooine~~ at the harbour. Many of us were dehydrated and exhausted in the heat and took shelter in the shade provided at a local restaurant/hotel. That was until the grumpy steward shooed half of us off. So. If you ever find yourself in Venice, you may wish to reconsider dining or staying at the Hotel Gabrielli. A smaller but more speedy ferry picked us up and I had a particularly pleasant voyage back thanks to some friendly company and good banter.

Sunday 11th September

Our following day was spent in transit as we headed for the eternal city - Rome itself. Unfortunately at one of our stop offs, one of the girls had her purse snatched in the lavatories. This put a bit of dampener on our journey but we tried to keep one another's spirits up. Upon reaching our new hotel, I parted company with Michael and Tom as I was paired up with my new roomie, Ross. We quickly struck up a rapport and did some serious male bonding while watching the US version of Total Wipeout in Italian in our room. I was tired and beginning to procrastinate on a couple of things I had realised... so it was good to have some light relief both in terms of company and random entertainment. At the evening session I felt like a total utter nerd because I recognised the Voyager 1 image known as The Pale Blue Dot that was being used as a backdrop for the evening talk.

Monday 12th September

Today was the day we actually hit the centre of Rome...but not before playing a game of sardines by riding a train from an outlying station close to where we were staying. We were on the lookout for pickpockets (we had been warned about them operating in Rome), yet little did we realise that whilst we would have no incidents in the city itself... while we were away, the coach would be broken into and raided. Today I decided to hang around some of our colonial cousins led by Dan (a teacher from Australia). We made our way out to the Spanish Steps, where local vendors cheekily gave women roses "for luck" and then tapped up male members of the party for payment for their "gift". We then turned south and headed for the Trevi Fountain... it was an amazing sight to behold. Wonderfully crafted marble spouting water that glistened beautifully as it gushed and trickled through the stonework.

En route to the Vatican museum, we took a trip round the Pantheon... which had a mystical feel to it as you watched the sun slowly move round the central chamber through an aperture in the roof. I was sorely tempted to buy a replica Gladius sword from a local souvenir shop. It was real metal and a snitch at €81. However I was unsure of Oak Halls policy with regard to ancient weaponry... let alone the nightmare of getting a sword through customs on the way home! We realised at this point that we were short on time and so we ploughed on... determined to keep our appointment at the Vatican. Once we reached our destination, we were not to be disappointed. We navigated our way through seemingly endless halls containing sculptures, relics, maps, tapestries and frescoes. It was sensory overload. Fortunately for us there was a chamber of slightly less impressive modern art that gave us opportunity to recuperate and prepare ourselves for the Vatican's crown jewel... I am of course referring to The Sistine Chapel.

Words can't express the feeling of being there, they really can't. I stood there moving around the entire chapel with my head craning up and my mouth agape. It was a sardine tin again... as the place was crammed. We were also not supposed to take photographs... but I really didn't mind that. It was just an absolute privilege just to be in the place. I could have stayed there forever it seems.

Upon return to the hotel, I decided to take a private walk to the beach in the dark... wrestling with a few thoughts and some antipodean germs that were affecting my throat. I made it back for the evening service and had a long chat with someone who needed a bit of advice and a friendly ear. As a result of this my mini tour group was bolstered by one for the next day's visit to Rome. For some reason I holidays don't seem complete to me unless I'm actually contributing in some way to others.

Tuesday 13th September

We visited Rome again and it was my turn to play "Sherpa" once more. We stayed with the main group early on for a tour of some of the more subtle sights of the city. However upon reaching the Forum and resting in a gardened area (where incidentally, I managed to discover a truffle), we split up again and after a pit stop for pizza in a back alley and a bout of haggling over some maps with street vendors, we headed over to the Colosseum..... Oh you should see the Colosseum, Spaniard. Once a place of death and blood lust, it now bears a cross at its centre and is used to commemorate the memory of the martyrs who perished there. In fact the Colosseum is one of the monuments that lights up on the international day against the death penalty in October. It also lights up whenever a death sentence is commuted or a nation abolishes capital punishment. Like the cross... a symbol of death has become a symbol of hope and life. I wanted to have a look at the excavated monuments in that area but the other lads had not had opportunity to see the Trevi fountain and so... feeling I'd seen what I most wanted to get out of Rome and not wanting to deny my companions the opportunity of seeing something they really wanted to see, we yomped off down the road towards the fountain. Having reached our objective and run into some of the girls coming back the other way, we tarried a few moments, taking pictures and resting... before heading back to St. Peter's Square at pace in order to make the rendezvous. We missed the took a different route back to everyone else but it afforded us a better view of the Tiber so we didn't complain. We were utterly exhausted and dehydrated and so we stopped off for a drink and gelato. I was so hot and bothered and lost in thought, that I completely missed the playful flirtations of the waitress who served me... it's always the way isn't it?

Wednesday 14th September

I rose early and ascended to the hotel roof where I watched the early morning flights crossing the sun as they made their way to Rome's main airport, before joining several others in prayer. We bade farewell to the hotel owner who was really friendly and ran out into the road to wave the coach off... what a lovely guy! I was kind of spaced out on this day but I really appreciated our tour of the catacombs, seeing places where early Christians worshipped and were laid to rest in the times of persecution. I had an epiphany about St. Sebastian. He was supposed to have been miraculously healed of arrow wounds when he was condemned to death by archery. If this is true, then I believe the real miracle was what followed... you see Sebastian's survival gained him an audience with the Emperor Diocletian (who reigned during what was known as "The Great Persecution"). He was martyred shortly after this (permanently this time), so I believe it was an act of God's grace to give even the despicable Diocletian a chance to hear the gospel. We travelled north and made our way into the Tuscan countryside. When we arrived at our new hotel, I went for a reconnoitre around the area... gathering my thoughts, stretching my legs and looking for somewhere to chill out with the others later on.

Thursday 15th September

Today we travelled to Siena (hot on the heels of James Bond in Quantum of Solace). Although we didn't find any secret cabals or terrorist organisations, we did find a whopping great bell tower in the centre of the town off the Piazza del Campo. As we split into groups again, I bought a map,consulted with Michael, Tom and Sam about they wanted to do. We agreed we all wanted to get to the top of the tower (what was I thinking... I should have known better after Rome! No in all seriousness, I love climbing towers... I love getting a unique perspective of the world below). We decided to queue for that first as we knew it was a popular thing to do. It's a good job we did that because we ended up waiting for about 40 minutes... it seems they only allow a maximum of 25 people in the tower complex at any one time. It was a gruelling climb... I smacked my brains out in the first few feet on a low hanging stone, Michael was exhausted with the climb, Sam struggled with the heat and Tom started coming down with vertigo. The view from the top was worth it all though... you could see far across the Tuscan countryside and right down on the tiny ant-like people way below us. We realised we needed to get down from the tower as we were denying others the opportunity to go up. Tom shot off like a bull at a gate (I suspect the vertigo had something to do with it). I kept between him and the others. Pretty soon we were all at the bottom and we yomped off out of the maze-like back streets in search of a statue of Garibaldi. Along the way we were enjoying such scenes as the ruined medieval fortress and err... the car park we started out from (nice going Nick). When we got back into Siena, we sat down for a lasagna and lemonade at a local restaurant where we were joined by James and Fiona. Major embarrassment loomed as the guys wanted to split the tab... which was something the staff weren't used to when they game back, everyone realised it would have been simpler to stick to paying the single bill. At this point we had 5 minutes left before we needed to move on... and everyone did the noble thing and shoved all the money in my hand before promptly legging it. In I went to sort things out with the management with my pigeon Italian vocabulary... by the grace of God I somehow managed to pay the bill without being lumbered with the washing up... and I beat a hasty retreat in order to rejoin the others.

We moved on to rendezvous with the coach which was about to escort us to San Gimignano... an old town of medieval skyscrapers, on the way we paused at a covered ornamental fish pond where we cooled our feet in a freezing overflow... sublime. Once in San Gimignano, I just wanted to chill out... so I made my way to some museum steps where Kate, Rachel and I had great fun people watching and pretending we were invisible. I say pretending... but the really strange thing was that other people from our party were staring in our direction or passing within metres of us and yet bizarrely we remained hidden from detection. On the way I scoffed another mint/melon gelato and thoroughly worn out with the heat... chilled out for the rest of the day.

Friday 16th September

Today was the day we hit Florence. My initial plan was to go and see the David at the Accademia and then move on to the Uffizi Gallery... but I was reliably informed that this was liable to be impossible due to the intense queuing at both and the the sheer amount of time it would take to get round the Uffizi Gallery. Having acquired yet another map, I took my trusty crew and headed for the Accademia (now bolstered by yet another companion as the lovely Rachel opted to come with us). We queued for about 25 minutes (not bad considering the estimated time was 45 minutes). The Accademia was built specifically to host the statue of Michelangelo's David... as you gaze upon the statue, you can see how the light plays on all the statues musculature... it's a masterpiece. It pretty much blows everything else in the entire gallery away. A couple of other discoveries were made in the Accademia... Sam could knock out a decent tune on a 3 note harpsichord... and I appear to be a virtuoso on the Singing Fountain Bowl. We decided to grab some lunch from the supermarket over the road; however, while we were still waiting for Tom to finish buying food and Michael to exit the Christian bookshop... a strange man came up to Sam, Rachel and myself and started spouting German gibberish at us... but we did understand one word that he uttered... "hashish". Rachel and I kind of did a double take as we realised what he'd said... and with the others rallied together, we decided to beat a hasty retreat to a nearby piazza. I swear in all my born days... that's the first time anyone's offered me anything illicit/illegal. What a sheltered life I've led! You might have thought out troubles were over, but as we sat eating our lunch... we were pestered by a Roma beggar. I kind of felt it was wrong to give anything out as we'd been warned about Roma gangs and stuff like that. I did think for one moment that one of our party (mentioning no name lol), was going to give her a handful of Pringles... which I don't think would have gone down well at all.

We spent a little time in a cathedral at the centre of the city... and I loaned everyone the use of my binoculars so they could try and make out what was painted on the dome's fresco. We then reunited with several others and moved onto the main city bridge where lots of strange stuff happened. Firstly, Dan decided to grab a random stranger from behind (in the mistaken belief that the lady was one of our group) and totally embarrassed himself. Then, whilst I was window shopping with Rachel... Michael decided to chime in and ask if I was shopping for a ring! The temperature in Florence went up by about 30 degrees thanks to the glow from my cheeks.

Rachel then decided there was a basilica (Santa Croce) worth checking out further along the road... so the five of us made our way there. We discovered that there was an entry fee and so Michael, Tom and Sam decided they'd sit it out and get a gelato. Rachel informed me that the stained glass in this basilica was reportedly so impressive that a notable visitor once fainted as they walked in. Alas as we entered the building we discovered that the window was not visible due to restoration work. However I found the church to be very special in many other ways. It is the resting place of several notable people including Michelangelo, Gallileo, Machiavelli and Rossini. There was also a small altar commemorating Maximilian Kolbe (a personal hero). It seemed to me to be a nexus of things that mattered to me. It was a place of worship that paid tribute to the fields of reason and high culture... how wonderful. I'll never forget that place.

Rachel and I exited the church but the others had already cleared off, so we headed back together to the rendezvous point... unfortunately the coach was severely delayed though, so we spent time as a group chilling out by the river and watching the dodgy street vendors running from the police.

Back at the hotel, I really benefited from that evening's talk. It was all about God's divine providence... it really stirred me up and reminded me personally about what he has spoken to my soul in the past. I felt encouraged and restored in many ways... I didn't fully understand why until later, but I turned in on a very positive note that night. I had a very good chat with John as we sat in the corner waiting for Ross to crawl in with Arianna. Ross being slightly the worse for ware was hilarious.

Saturday 17th September

I think this was the day I struggled the most... I really did have a lot on my plate and what with the talk the previous evening, I didn't feel like I'd "finished cooking". I was still processing a lot in my subconscious and it made me feel a little withdrawn. Nevertheless we checked out of the hotel and started out for Lake Maggiore... via Pisa. I was feeling quite down on approach to Pisa and for the most part I kept myself to myself as I wandered around the leaning tower and church buildings.

As we made our way back to the coach park we were defended from the fake goods salesmen by an Italian touring band who burst from their coach and triggered a spontaneous song and dance celebration. It was wonderful - we danced, we laughed... they boarded our coach repeatedly and though we were utter strangers, our serendipitous meeting brought much jollity on both sides. It was just what I needed at that time. It was one of those timely random encounters that just lifts your day in a magical way.

We drove through a fierce squall as we neared Lake Maggiore.... a proper Mediterranean storm.That night I had another long chat with John, Jamie and Tammy in the bar. I spent the night tossing and turning with thoughts in my head and the chuntering, laughing and sighing of Ross as he slept in his bed next to mine. Any hopes of getting any sleep that night flew out the window when at 3:20am, a bunch of rowdy Germans checked into the hotel in the rooms opposite ours. Honestly... all the shouting and slamming of doors made me think the Gestapo were coming to get us!

Sunday 18th September

We spent the morning prayer meeting sharing communion with one another which was a welcome change of pace. After my night of tossing and turning, I'd had a bit of epiphany about the "providence" talk, which helped me come to a personal decision about something I'd been procrastinating about... although fate worked against me doing anything about it until much later. Generally speaking, Lake Maggiore was more about kicking down and relaxing for me... I had no plan of action as to what I wanted to see, so I just tagged along for the most part. I made the severe mistake of not bothering to unpack my raincoat.... to which upon learning, Steve quite rightly called me "a muppet". I wasn't really thinking. Fortunately, Rachel shared her brolly with me and in fact it wasn't that bad... with only a couple of brief cloudbursts to worry about.

Enjoyed a bit of a random barn dance to celebrate our last night in Italy together and we all finished up singing Auld Lang Syne. As we broke up and headed back to the bar/rooms, I realised I needed to act on my decision and found myself unexpectedly doing so with a sense of determination.

Monday 19th September

Today we made preparations to head back to good old Blighty. Being up quite early, I treated Ronnie to a real Italian coffee... which seemed very sludgy. After breakfast, I spent time hanging round the shops in town with John (we did our very best to look straight), before joining up with Arianna and Ross for a coffee. We then shared a pizza together with more or less everyone from the trip. After lunch, we stocked up on snacky foods in the local supermarket... where I discovered that "God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman" appears to be in the Italian charts at the moment, as it was being played over the supermarket music system. What was that about??????

Sadly we bade farewell to Steve as we boarded the coach for our outward journey as he was flying ahead of us. This time as we hit the Alps, it was still daylight... so we were treated to an amazing transformation in scenery as we progressed northwards. It felt like we were passing into Narnia or the Misty Mountains... it was quite ethereal. When we finally reached an altitude that was level with the snowline, we made a brief stop and had an epic snowball fight. It was pretty surreal having come from sunny climes and wearing thin shirts, running around lobbing snow projectiles at our new friends. As night drew in, we shared a cup of hot chocolate together at the Swiss chalet where those of our number who were remaining on the Europe would be staying. We paid tribute one another (especially to Charis and James and our drivers who had led us in different ways. We then parted in bitter sweet fashion. It was sad seeing new friends faces disappearing into the blackness of night... I can still see Dan's outline as he waved us off illuminated only by the coach tail lights... and then fading into silhouette and becoming one with the background. Those of us on the coach still had one another, but there was a feeling that we'd been diminished significantly and some of us took it harder than others.

We huddled in the back and dealt with things in our own ways. Ross played with James' iPad and tried to excel at Fruit Ninja. James came and checked up on Ross, Jamie and myself on the backseat and shared some of his observations about our exploits in the week. Some of the girls started singing Grease hits. I didn't think Jamie would appreciate listening to the soppy stuff, so I loaned him an ear on my iPhone and we started singing praise songs... amazingly everyone else eventually joined in with us.

Eventually as the coach headed for Germany to pick up a spare part, we settled down to sleep (or did our best to). I had an amazing blessing at this point. I nodded off prostrate on the back seat and had a very powerful Biblical dream that was very relevant to my circumstances. So powerful was this dream that when I woke up it felt like the dream had actually physically happened. At first I thought my brain was playing tricks on me... but it gradually dawned on me that something else was going on and as I settled back into my power napping I trusted in God and just felt so richly blessed. Daylight shone through the coach windows and we were in France. We eventually arrived at Eurotunnel a couple of hours late. I'd managed to go the entire holiday without being bitten by a bug or critter... but as I queued at passport control, a little blighter nipped me on my leg. How annoying!

I enjoyed the trip through the Eurotunnel and got some important clarification on some things that surprised me... but also reminded me of some of the things I'd learned about myself on the trip.

And so as we rolled into Kent on Tuesday morning... we made our final farewells. Sam had missed his coach so I offered to take him home. Upon contacting his father, we arranged to rendezvous at Bicester services which was on my way home. I was grateful to God for his protection on the way home... I hadn't appreciated just how tired I was going to be driving back. I needed that pit stop in Bicester because I'd felt more than a little in trouble on the M25 and M40 at times.

Saying farewell to Sam was my last point of contact with my holiday... and as I wished him well, I switched on my radio and set course for Alcester with many treasured memories and new friends to think about.

I hope this detailed account hasn't put you off too much. I hope instead to have shared a little bit into what made my holiday such a happy and blessed time... and now I am back, I hope it is more than just business as usual.

God bless

Cartography

2011-09-24T22:20:00.001Z

I haven't blogged for a while mainly because I've not had the opportunity. For the best part of two weeks I've been lording it up in the sunnier climes of Italy.

I took part in another expedition with Oak Hall (who if you recall, I went to Israel with 2 years ago). The trip was very different in feel to the Israel holiday... but I enjoyed it very much nonetheless. Inasmuch as I felt God's presence in a very special and unique way in Israel... I again had an amazing personal encounter with him in Italy.

What has all this got to do with cartography?

Well one of the things that made my experience of Italy so different to Israel, was the looser more liberal way we explored the cities we visited. We kept more together in Israel, taking part in walking tours... whereas in Italy we were given rendezvous times and locations... and set loose into the enigmatic surroundings. What came as an unexpected surprise to me was that somehow I ended up becoming passively delegated as a leader by a few of the lads who had no idea or plan of action of where they wished to go.... but then, neither did I for that matter. However, I felt like I rose to the occasion.

On the very first foray (into Venice), I took hold of a crude map and consulting with my party, decided to head off on a tour of the islands that took in a number of churches en route. My aim was to hit a piazza in the north west that looked of interest. In actual fact it turned out to be the main car park for Venice itself, however it did afford us an excellent view of the main canal and a lovely wooded recreational park. As it happened serendipity was also on our side as we discovered when we stumbled upon Santa Maria Gloriosa church and were astounded to see a newly wed local couple emerging from the church and setting off on their first gondola ride as man and wife *sniff*, how moving.

A similar thing occurred on my second day in Rome where again I was charged with leading my troops to the Trevi Fountain. I'd already seen it the day before but the lads had missed out and so I promised to lead them there after we finished exploring the Colosseum. Arming myself with a map I set out across the back streets of Rome, using several landmarks to get me within shouting distance. We were running tight on time and so after our brief sojourn, we started yomping towards St. Peter's Square. Unfortunately haste led us a little off target and we ended up crossing the Tiber at the next bridge along from the Castle San't Angelo. However even this misadventure worked in our favour as in my opinion it gave us a far better view of the river than we'd had before.

I was charged with leading my intrepid band again when we hit Sienna. After a trip to the bell tower, we marched off to the statue of the Italian revolutionary hero - Garibaldi (which I had spied coming in on the coach and wanted to get a snap of for my Babylon 5 loving friends). This actually led us back to the car park... which was a little disappointing... but then we got to climb the remains of the old fort and got a great vantage point for looking at the town.

I really feel that these experiences brought out long hidden depths of my character. By nature I'm an explorer but experience has taught me to be far too cautious for my own good. If anybody bore a risk of burying their talent... it would be me. However, the lesson I feel God was teaching me most during the holiday was this:

Sometimes the path isn't always going to be clear... the roads you take in life and the places you visit, aren't always going to be obvious. Sometimes you just have to look at the map and decide that a certain feature looks worthy of taking a punt on... and set off into a degree of uncertainty as you make your way into the future. Maybe you'll merely end up in a car park... but along the way, think of the things you may discover. Nothing is wasted... nothing. A little courage reaps the greatest of rewards.... even if those rewards aren't always what you expect.

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps."

Proverbs 16:9

There are other things I'd love to tell you about Italy... my personal highlights and other things I learned or experienced, but I have a feeling some of that may be restricted to the Inner Sanctum. However if you would like to view a gallery of pictures I took, you can find them on Facebook and I will be trying to add them to Flickr at some point.

Blessings

Nick

An Idea for Doctor Who at 50

2011-08-29T22:16:00.000Z

Sometimes thinking can be like what I imagine fishing to be like. You can be sat there quietly contemplating nothing of significance, when all of a sudden an idea floats down the stream of thoughts that bites on your hook and all of a sudden you get all excited and start reeling it in like mad... eager to land your epiphany before it escapes into the murky waters of obscurity and amnesia.

A thought like this hit me just this afternoon (you can blame the bank holiday). I have no idea where it came from... I just knew that I needed to grab on and hold tight when it hit me. I had been watching a 5 minute summary video of all the Doctor Who episodes that have taken place to date and had been reading an introductory article that had been posted on my Facebook wall, which mentioned the upcoming 50 year anniversary.

Rumour has it that Steven Moffat has something special and massive in the pipeline, when one considers the way that next year's Doctor Who series has been spaced out to overlap with 2013 (presumably making the anniversary year a bumper one), you really get the impression he is making BIG plans. This led me to thinking about what I'd like to see in a 50th anniversary special... and how if it were a multi Doctor story, you'd get past the difficulty of Christopher Eccleston vetoing any further performances as The Doctor. For the 50th anniversary something REALLY special needs to be done. 50 is the one that every generation that has seen Doctor Who... will be around at the same time. If you go as far as 100, hardly anyone who watched at the start with William Hartnell will in probability be alive. So now is the time to pull the stops out.

And that is when... all at once, in a congealed mass.... it hit me.

A multi Doctor story doesn't have to feature all the actors getting together. They could do an 11th Doctor story (possibly a crossover with the Tenth Doctor), where The Doctor has to deal with an enemy who has been interfering in events behind the scenes in his previous adventures. The production team could film the live action segments as per normal and then create sets cleverly dressed up to look like some of those used in classic episodes. They could then green screen Matt Smith (and whoever accompanies him), into the background of several re-edited scenes from classic episodes (ideally one from each of his 10 predecessors). It may sound crazy and if it is executed poorly, it won't come off well and it will be rubbish... but if they get it right, everyone will be ecstatic.

Is it really that much of a stretch? I don't think so... after all, in The Impossible Astronaut, the production team did indeed dabble with the relevant technology in a scene involving Laurel and Hardy. In fact... could this little snippet actually have been an experiment on the part of the production team to see if they could push the envelope for such a project... on a BBC budget? I hope so.

Matt Smith as The Doctor, integrated into vintage footage of Laurel & Hardy

It isn't the first time it has happened either. The first time such a technique was used so seamlessly in the mainstream as far as I can recall, was the film Forrest Gump. Here's an example of it in a famous scene involving Tom Hanks actually interacting with footage of JFK:

The same technique was also used to great effect on television shortly after in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine anniversary tribute episode, Trials and Tribble-ations:

So in conclusion then, it can be done. I don't know if Moffat plans something quite so bold and ambitious with Doctor Who's 50th, but especially in the still relatively recent passing of Nicholas Courtney and Elisabeth Sladen, wouldn't it be a wonderful way to pay tribute to ALL the people who have contributed to the legend of The Doctor (on and off screen), since 1963?

Redemption - Doctor Who: Let's Kill Hitler

2011-08-27T23:19:00.000Z

The Doctor reappeared on our television screens tonight after an anxious wait of a couple of months... and he was back with a bang.

I had mixed feelings about A Good Man Goes To War (the mid series climax), there were many parts about it that I felt were fantastic but the ending felt a little disappointing and disjointed for me. Maybe I'm biased and I just didn't like how the big reveal was handled or where it was going. However I have to say that on its return, the latest Doctor Who episode pretty much blew my socks off.

It started with a hectic drive through a cornfield as Amy & Rory raced to rendezvous with the Doctor (who has as yet failed to rescue Melody); this was immediately followed by the arrival of "Mels", a lifelong friend of Amy who hast stolen a car with the intention of meeting The Doctor. There was a nice bit of foreshadowing here as Mels had driven through the "Leadworth Crop Circle" (the word Doctor inscribed in the corn by Rory's driving as he tried to attract The Doctor's attention), and crossed out the word by driving in a straight line.

Foreshadowing as Mels' driving crosses through The Doctor's name.

Mels then holds The Doctor at gunpoint and forces the TARDIS crew into an unscheduled journey which results in them materialising in Berlin, 1938 after a stray bullet damages the TARDIS. This ends up being a timely intervention for Hitler who is about to be "given Hell" by a squad of time travelling, miniaturised humans who travel around the universe in a humanoid robot "tesselator" meting out so called justice on history's worst criminals.

There are a few moments of humorous awkwardness (as could only happen when you travel through time and inadvertently save one of history's worst war criminals and end up locking him in a cupboard for his own protection), before we discover that Mels has been mortally wounded by a bullet and spontaneously begins to regenerate (honestly Steven Moffat has clearly gone for trecord for the amount of regenerations in a single series), as she takes the familiar form of Alex Kingston, we understand are at the beginning of River Song's story.

This is not the River Song we are familiar with however. This River Song is an assassin who is still well and truly under the programming of The Silence and still operating under her birth name of Melody Pond. The Doctor having foreseen the arrival of Melody takes steps to preserve his life... by disarming and hiding weapons; this proves in vain however, as Melody utilises a deceptive kiss laced with a slow acting poison. Melody runs away and causes havoc in a nearby Berlin restaurant as Rory and Amy give chase in a bid to apprehend her... closely followed by the tesselator whose crew perceive Melody Pond as a greater threat than even Hitler because she killed The Doctor (as seen in The Impossible Astronaut).

As they arrive on the scene of the restaurant they see all the panicked diners fleeing for their lives... in their underwear. Before they are able to act on this however, the tesselator miniaturises them and imprisons them inside itself at the mercy of its crew.

The tesselator begins to unleash its punishment on Melody, but is interrupted by The Doctor's lavish arrival and subsequent insistence that this stops. The crew of the tesselator cannot comprehend why The Doctor in his dying moments is displaying mercy to Melody when he possesses the knowledge that she is his murderer. Eventually they ignore The Doctor and proceed to give Melody "Hell". The Doctor in desperation and agony appeals to Amy and Rory to save her... which they do... but this in turn puts them in peril. The Doctor is in so much pain and is so weak that he is unable to do anything to save them... he desperately calls out to Melody to change her ways and save her parents. The TARDIS materialises within the tesselator in the nick of time... but its pilot is not The Doctor... it is Melody who has been taught by the TARDIS (and is indeed also a child of the TARDIS), who has heeded The Doctor's words.

As the Ponds rematerialise inside the restaurant, The Doctor's life ebbs away. He appeals to Melody to find River Song and pass on to her his final message and then breathes his last. Melody does not understand who River Song is... but Amy uses the tesselator to transmit an image of River Song... which convinces Melody that she is in fact one and the same. Realising the level of her mistake and understanding who The Doctor really is and what he means to her, River draws upon all the remaining regeneration energy inside her body to resurrect The Doctor.

"Hello Sweetie." River has a change of heart and brings The Doctor back to life.

I loved the central overarching theme of this episode... it was all about redemption. As Melody, River is exactly the ruthless, pathological killer that the Silence raised her to be and who the daleks were terrified of. Yet in spite of this, The Doctor still cares about who she will become and wants to prevent her from being harmed/killed. It doesn't matter what judgement or punishment others want to subject her to on his behalf, he sees her actions as answerable only to him. The following exchange perfectly sums this up:

The Doctor: What do you want with her?
Captain: She's Melody Pond. According to our records, the woman who kills The Doctor.
The Doctor: And I'M The Doctor... so what's it got to do with you?

This for me resonates very well with the central message of the Christian gospel. Our bad actions, our mistakes, our wrongness... these things are responsible for the death of Christ. He willingly underwent the crucifixion as a payment for the things we have done wrong... and all through his ministry and life, he made it very clear that we were not to judge others for the things that they get wrong... because in the final analysis all wrongs committed were committed against him. Even his dying words expressed to his Father in heaven, bore testimony to this:

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
Luke 23:34a

In tonight's Doctor Who episode, Melody/River is very much the enemy and yet The Doctor sees past that... he sees her personal value - what she means to him as a person... and the individual she will become. In the same way, when we don't know God and are gravitating in a world without him and knowingly or unknowingly in rebellion against him, we are described as his enemies. However... just like The Doctor, he doesn't hold this against us and instead chooses to see our value to him and the untapped potential he has for us:

"For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."
Romans 5:9-11

In the Bible when a person changes direction... they often gain a new name. Perhaps the most radical example of this is Saul of Tarsus. As much as Melody Pond had been conditioned to kill The Doctor... Saul had been trained to persecute Christians and we first meet him nodding in approval at the stoning of Stephen - the first Christian martyr. After having a personal encounter with the divine Christ, Saul did a complete U turn and became an apostle and apologist for the very belief he persecuted. He became known as Paul.

The taking of a new name is symbolic, it speaks of gaining a new identity... one that is free from all the baggage that went before. So in Doctor Who, Melody Pond takes the name of River Song and in the Bible, Saul takes the name of Paul. We too have a heavenly name; we may not know its pronunciation... but it exists nonetheless (this is a theme that Max Lucado explores at length in his famous book "When God Whispers Your Name). We can begin to know it if we listen to God and allow him to work in our lives.

In both the case of River Song in Doctor Who... and Paul in the Bible, we see that there is a price to pay in return for our redemption. River passed on all her remaining regenerations in order That The Doctor could live again; Paul realising the great debt that had been paid on his behalf committed his life to God in a very special way.

It's interesting that in both fiction and real life, we see a recurring theme - that the price of a person's redemption comes at great personal cost to another... one that usually demands a life. It's equally interesting that the beneficiaries of said sacrifice (be they fictional or actual), often feel an obligation to give something back to the individual or individuals who paid the price for them.

What sacrifices have been made for you, that have positively changed the direction of your life? What are you doing or what will you do in response to those sacrifices that honours the person/people who made it? Do you recognise what I consider to be the greatest sacrifice of all and what does it mean to you, personally? These are just some of the questions I hope you reflect on having read this article.

If you have any thoughts about tonight's episode of Doctor Who yourself, or if perhaps if anything I have said here has given you something to think about that you wish to share, I'd very much love to hear from you.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
2 Corinthians 5:17-21

Community

2011-08-23T23:57:00.002Z

I've been doing some thinking with regard to various things and want to revisit my previous post on the topic of the recent riots. As I mentioned before, I do see them as a symptom of something far larger... an inconvenient truth that is being swept under the carpet because it presents us with something ugly that we ALL need to deal with.

It was very interesting to see the different responses of Tony Blair and David Cameron with regard to their perception of the social problems at the heart of the issue. Cameron put it like this:

"The greed and thuggery we saw during the riots did not come out of nowhere," he said. "There are deep problems in our society that have been growing for a long time: a decline in responsibility, a rise in selfishness, a growing sense that individual rights come before anything else."

However Blair countered this by stating Britain, as a whole, is not in the grip of some general "moral decline"and that:

"The big cause is the group of young, alienated, disaffected youth who are outside the social mainstream and who live in a culture at odds with any canons of proper behaviour. And here's where I don't agree with much of the commentary. In my experience, they are an absolutely specific problem that requires deeply specific solutions."

In my own view, there is truth in both their perspectives... just not the complete truth. I do believe we have witnessed a moral decline in our society... but I think it is wrong to put this down merely to a blurring of the borders between right and wrong. I believe it is down to a shift in perspective of who matters. Western society has become decadent... and as we are increasingly dazzled by the sights and sounds of this material world, the still small voice of calm that speaks of mutual dependency and connectedness can get drowned out.

It is interesting how materialism actively encourages us to gravitate away from "us" and more towards "me". Just look at the products out there and how they have become named in such a manner as to glorify the self:

iTunes, iPlayer, iPad, iPod, iTeddy, iDog, iPoo (yes... there apparently really IS an app for that... ugh!), i Robot (well.. maybe one day, we can hope), and the Independent's sister newspaper simply called "i".

Everything it seems is i... i... i... or actually... is it really "ME! ME! ME!"?

It is at this point that I rather sheepishly look at the header of my own blog and ask myself if I am enthusiastically hurling stones whilst standing in a glass house. I don't think, but do call me on it if you disagree.

Community means looking beyond ourselves... together.

Yes, there has been a rise in selfishness... but I believe it is wrong for us to lay the blame solely at the door of disaffected youth. Is it not true that bankers and rogue traders have demonstrated a selfishness unique to them... one that led to the economic crisis we find ourselves in now? Is it not also true that the MPs guilty of misusing expenses for personal gain were also guilty? Or what of the energy firms who continue to push up prices regardless of the damage it causes to people who can scarcely afford to keep themselves warm in the winter months. Or how about greedy property tycoons who allow for house prices to inflate to such a level that only a select few can afford to live in them... and then they wonder why there is a crash because people can't reconcile their finances with the amount the property prices have risen to. The tendrils of self centredness creep in to every part of society and try to choke each one of us into turning away from the importance of community. Some are more affected than others, but make no mistake... it crouches at the door of all of us and we must do what we can to reject it or at least keep it in check.

When treating an illness, a doctor may prescribe more than one medication. One kind will deal with the root cause of the illness... whilst the other will act as symptom relief. It occurs to me then, that we too must do something to treat the wounds of our society. The problem of disaffected youth is a symptom problem and not a root problem. As Blair suggests, it does require a specific solution... but any work done to resolve it will be undone within less than a generation, if we do not at the same time treat the pandemic.

We've seen part of the bigger solution in the way many people have rallied to clean up, repair, restore and help victims in the wake of the riots... but it needs to go beyond this.

Community needs to be more than reactive. Community needs to be proactive.

We need to look beyond our cliquey little cells and our ivory towers and mingle. We talk about disaffected people or uncultured people, or irresponsible people... but how can anyone learn a culture unless someone shares it with them? How can someone belong... if others are not daring enough to go out there and invite... not from afar but shoulder to shoulder? I know what it is like to stand on the outside looking in... and I'm ashamed to say that I know this from a Christian perspective. If *I* feel that way and am part of the family of Christ, I can only imagine how someone who has no connection to the Church feel when all they see is a closed door.

One of the things I hate about modern politics is how it has become more and more about focus groups - looking at the specific wants and needs of particular groups and currying favour with them in order to gain power. I think this is counter productive; if we value any part of society over another... it breeds isolation and disaffection and groups with very different aims or attitudes begin to come into conflict.

Community must rise above this, it must be so much more than this. We need to draw the threads back together and learn that our actions have consequences for everyone else and not just a select few people who we meet regularly.

Community... it's a big word... isn't it? As it should be. If we truly value it, we must stop thinking in terms of our private universes. It is not enough just to think of yourself and/or your spouse and/or your children. Yes... these things demand time and maintenance but I put it to you that by robbing others of your own input in their lives, you in turn rob yourself of the help that can come from them in return.

Christ summarised the Law in two concepts - loving God above all and loving your neighbour as yourself. The apostle John went on to say that anyone who loves God but mistreats his brother man, is a liar. Now in the Old Testament, God gave his people a hard time through the prophet Malachi. He cautioned them that the difficulties they experienced were because they were not giving him what they owed him... but that if they changed their hearts and fulfilled their obligations, he would pour forth his blessing in amazing ways.

In a way, I want to draw all the points in that last paragraph together. Those of us who call ourselves Christians do our best to try and live in a way that pleases God, we try to give him the worship, the love, the time and resources befitting of a relationship with him. However... if we do that and don't invest time, resources and love in our brother man - our community, isn't that counter-productive? As much as Malachi's people robbed God directly... are we not doing the same indirectly when we neglect to benefit the lives of those around us?

One can be the loneliest number... and yet when we learn to use that number in the right context it is the least loneliest. The spirit of true community means understanding that we are all one... not just in times of crisis, but all the time.

We are one.

Disobedience vs Disorder

2011-08-16T00:00:00.000Z

I've been way too quiet on my blog in recent weeks, so I thought what better time to enter the fray again, than when the nation is up in arms with regard to the recent riots.

In fact I was partly inspired to write this article on the basis of a Freudian slip. Sunday's preacher had intended to describe the riots as civil disorder... but he accidentally described them as civil disobedience. Nobody really noticed it except me... and he admitted it was slip when we spoke after the service.

A rioter stalks the streets against a fiery backdrop of disorder

There's an extremely large gulf between disorder and disobedience. If we categorised the English city riots as civil disobedience, we put the perpetrators in the same bracket as activists such as Gandhi and Martin Luther King. Being somewhat a fan of the philosophies of the latter two, the contrast is glaringly obvious.

Gandhi developed a philosophy called Satyagraha which influenced the politics of civil rights campaigners such as King. Satyagraha as a philosophy is designed to nullify antagonism and injustice without causing harm to those who are the source of the antagonism or injustice. One of the founding principles of Satyagraha is that when appealing against a perceived unfairness in society, protesters should go to great lengths to uphold the other laws in society.


Gandhi and Martin Luther King utilised civil disobedience to demonstrate the rightness of their cause, without resorting to violence, anarchy or disorder

What unfolded last week then, was clearly not Satyagraha or civil disobedience... it was blatant lawlessness. People stormed the streets to unlawfully take what they deceived themselves into believing was their deserved slice of pie. Properties were destroyed, livelihoods ruined, passers by deceived, beaten and mugged... people fleeing for their lives and in some cases... losing their lives.... and for what? Had this been a genuinely political movement, order would not have been restored by a change in the weather, or the threat of more severe law enforcement... because when people believe something deeply wrong is worth fighting against... no cost is too high. What we saw was mere opportunism.

I am not certain the perceived catalyst for the events was entirely justified either. Whilst the death of 29 year old Mark Duggan at the hands of police marksmen was deeply tragic and the apparent misinformation to the press by the Metropolitan Police inexcusable; the fact remains that the man had an activated firearm in his possession, one that had a bullet loaded into the firing chamber. It is illegal. He had NO business carrying that weapon... and if you are going to walk around with a illegal, loaded gun... there are going to be dire consequences if/when the authorities discover that fact.

Some commentators have been quick to point out that it is the dire poverty of the perpetrators that fuelled their actions... and yet we see that it is not just the most deprived in society who are being brought to justice for the crimes. In fact, I would argue that there is a moral pandemic at the heart of our society... and wealth, or lack of it is not the root cause.

It is said that nature abhors a vacuum... and while this is true, I believe the same can at least equally be said of the soul (if not more so). Shun God and you leave the door open for other things to creep in. Each of us if we took a frank look at our lives could admit to areas or things where we know there is a lack of submission or deference to God. On an individual basis, this is bad enough... but what happens when a society neglects Godly principles? Are we seeing the first fruits of this now

The set readings at church on Sunday had been abandoned in favour of ones that better suited a talk on the week's events. This was the chosen epistle:

Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
Romans 8:5-11

The passage talks of those who live according to the flesh (living just for this life, without God's direction), as having their minds set on what the flesh desires. Are we going to be snobbish and suggest that this is a malady that only affects the poor? Of course not! Without divine guidance there is a strong temptation become like spoiled little children. We see what we want and if we can take it, we grab it... if we can't take it, we become envious... bitter and resentful. This isn't just about material goods either... it extends right out and permeates our interests, relationships and personal ethics. Without the Spirit's guidance

The Gospel reading was equally poignant but not touched upon in the sermon:

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."
Matthew 7:1-5

I think this verse is particularly important as a response to some people's reactions to the riots. A recent Downing Street Petition has requested that any rioter claiming benefits should have all their benefits removed. I don't think this will solve anything. If poverty is a part of the problem, then how will making people destitute change their ways? It won't. It will encourage further violence. It would be like the perceived wisdom of water putting out fire... except that this would be like trying to put a chip pan fire out with water... it would have the opposite effect and would instead be explosive. There were people far away from the cities... even in my Facebook feed, who were calling for the police and army to use LIVE ROUNDS on children. As terrible as the crimes committed were, do we really want to start shooting people dead in the streets? When people start acting in a feral, inhuman manner... do they really cease to be people? Or do we merely just say that to put distance between us and them... to comfort ourselves - that we are part of a quasi different species that is not associated with others who commit such acts? People are people... and you will never solve a human problem by treating another person being as anything less than human. It isn't easy. I think those found guilty of rioting/looting need to have punishments that reflect what has happened collectively and also point out the error in their perception. I don't think looting a shop in one part of London should be marked as a separate crime to the murder of a mugged individual somewhere else... because they were interconnected crimes... one facilitated the other. Irrespective of the length of jail sentence, It might be an idea to see the crime of manslaughter/murder added to the criminal record of those involved in any part of the riots. They need to know that their actions had consequences that resulted in someone losing their life. Or... having taken the spotlight away from the situation in the Horn of Africa... perhaps they should be sent away as unpaid aid workers for a time. If they truly feel they have nothing, perhaps they should understand what nothing truly means... in another context.

I have been deeply moved by Tariq Jahan's response in the wake of his very personal tragedy. Mr Jahan is a Muslim from Birmingham and during the riots, three young men were run over by a car and murdered. Mr Jahan helped administer CPR on the scene and discovered that one of the boys was his own son, Haroon. He had more reason than most to fly out in rage and curse those who stole his son from him... and yet, it was he who was appealing for calm and for the rioters to see reason and turn away from their actions.

In conclusion I'd like to reference my Bible notes from today. Selwyn Hughes has been discussing the positive example of the Early Church in Antioch, and how modern Christians should seek inspiration from that particular community in seeking how to relate to the world today... and how to rejuvenate the modern Church.

Today's reading came from Colossians:

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Colossians 3:1-17

The early Church knew in a very special way, how to connect with people. It appealed to people from diverse backgrounds, cultures, ethnicities and classes... and made no distinction. There are people out there who belong to nothing and nobody... or at least feel that way. We need to stop thinking of ourselves as we used to be and remember that we are all part of Christ's body. If we don't stop valuing our cliques more than our communities... how will we ever be able to reach out to them properly and with Spirit filled sincerity?

" Jesus paid much too high a price for us to pick and choose who should come"
Casting Crowns

Significance

2011-07-15T21:43:00.002Z

Take a look at the picture below and answer the age old question...

Is the glass half empty... or half full?

There are many questions in life that are beyond the remit of logic. If you looked at the glass above and only used logic to determine an answer, the only one it would yield you is that the glass is filled to 50% of its capacity to hold liquid. Logic is great for yielding answers that are dependent on calculation and quantifiable results. Yet when it comes to philosophical, theological or personal truths... logic reaches its limitation; it just isn't designed to make grand hypothetical sweeping gestures based on a personal point of view.

Let me get to the point. Last night I was browsing using Stumbleupon (a fantastic method of discovering a personally tailored, veritable goldmine of interesting web pages). Amongst the hilarious and poignant sites I came across... I found one bearing this photograph, which struck me in particular:

Are we truly insignificant?

From a logical perspective, I can't fault the reasoning. I cannot question the fact that there are billions of galaxies containing millions of star systems and that each one of us is but one tiny individual in a vast cosmos that progressively dwarves us as we move further away from our humble planet into the deepest depths of the universe. However... logic merely tells us the size and number of those objects, it is not equipped to make a conclusion as to their significance.

In essence what you are looking at is in fact another half full/half empty scenario. Allow me to reinterpret the same data and make an equally valid point to the contrary...

In a universe filled with hundreds of billions of galaxies...

Each of which contain hundreds of billions of star systems...

Many of which undoubtedly contain planetary bodies in orbit around them...

The third planet in orbit of Sol, is the only one yet encountered that supports an abundance of life...

And of the 7 billion people who walk, crawl and run on its surface...

YOU are the only individual who will ever exist in your own allotted time and place. Nobody will occupy the same point in history and geography as you. No one will ever see things quite the way you do... or dream the dreams you dream, or meet and influence other individuals at the same time or in the same way as you. As wondrous, amazing and beautiful as this universe is increasingly revealed to be... none of its great storehouse of treasures can compare to the truth of the simplest miracle - that each one of us is unique and valuable to the people we call friends and family.

Most of all (for those of us prepared to accept his existence), we are uniquely important to God. We are constantly reassured through scripture that our value exceeds many sparrows; that the hairs on our head are numbered; that God watched over us and took an active role in forming us while we were hidden away in the womb. So great is his interest in each one of us... that there is nowhere we can go to hide from his Spirit. Genesis describes how God saw that everything was good when he made it... but he saw that it was very good when humanity started to walk the Earth. Ultimately of course, God's passion for us as individuals was realised when he sent his Son to seek and save us when we were lost.

So yes, maybe you are enormously insignificant... but you are also tremendously significant.

It is all a matter of perspective... and whether the cosmic glass is half empty or half full. Sometimes we need to be reminded of both these perspectives.

"The beauty of a living thing is not the atoms that go into it but the way those atoms are put together. The cosmos is also within us. We're made of star stuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself." - Carl Sagan.

Injunctivitis

2011-06-11T23:11:00.000Z

"Injunctivitis? What kind of a title is that?" I hear you ask. You may be thinking that it isn't even a word. However, you'd be wrong... you see, I just invented it:

Injunctivitis - [in-juhngk-tuh-vahy-tis]

Noun - An immensely painful swelling caused when a desire for privacy results in an economically charged flood of litigation into the areas of the law and public conscience where common sense and responsibility usually reside.

In recent weeks we've seen names exposed on Twitter, in Parliament and eventually in the mainstream media as the fractious and bitter debate between freedom of speech and privacy hots up.

Proponents of injunctions and super-injunctions will tell you that those who take them out have a right to absolute privacy and that personal quarrels and disputes should be kept out of the public gaze. On the other hand supporters of the media will tell you that a country that supposedly espouses the idea of a free press (the UK is currently rated 19th in the World Press Freedom index), should not hinder journalistic investigations into the lives of people already in the public eye. It is a picture made even more obscure when you consider that to a certain extent, a lot of the big names who fall prey to press intrusion owe a portion of their success and good PR to the press in the first place.

We have a multi faceted problem, a savage beast with many heads. In the modern world, media outlets set themselves up in godlike fashion... they meddle in the affairs of "mere mortals", improving their fortunes by raising their profiles and giving them a national/international audience. However they are not benevolent beings... like the gods of the Classical Age, they are petty and utterly self-interested... having no concern for the lives of those whose lives they raise up. So, when it suits them and they find a skeleton or steaming pile of excrement (newsworthy or not), stowed away in one of their beneficiaries closets... they plaster it all over the front pages and bring the celebrity glass house crashing down. This isn't helped by the celebrities themselves... who are all too willing to subscribe to the good PR and lay the foundations for their own public downfall. Furthermore, the richer you become in material wealth... it appears that the number of people around you who have the power or the will to tell you "NO!" decreases and the slavering, gaping maw of temptation opens gaping wide to swallow whole and consume the unwise and unfortunate. When it comes to celebrity adultery stories there are also some people who have cottoned on to the fact that such stories are lucrative... and who therefore seek to become the stories (not in every single case, mind... but the culture exists nonetheless).

However it is perhaps worth taking note of the fact that there is one more head on the beast... ours. If the public took little interest in sensationalism, then the papers simply wouldn't sell. It is our insatiable desire to know about the lives of the rich and famous that is the catalyst for a lot of the other difficulties. We cannot point out the flaws in the system if we are not first ready to put our hands in the air and admit we are culpable.

Many would argue that sex is at the heart of the super injunction debate... but not me.

No. I would argue that the reason that so many people in the general public committed civil disobedience and joined in the exposition of the Ryan Giggs super injunction on Twitter had nothing to do with the act itself... but everything to do with equality.

How can it be right that any individual or group in this country should have the power to buy themselves a higher level of privacy than any other citizen? If the average person on the street commits an indecent, immoral or illegal act... they have no means to protect themselves in similar fashion.

It is grossly unfair.

It became even more unfair when lawyers acting on behalf of Ryan Giggs decided to take Twitter itself on. It is worth noting that this act was the tipping point. This was the moment when Twitter exploded the Giggs story... and this is why I argue the protest was about the injustice of privacy for the wealthy.

Twitter users shared the same notion as the Liberal Democrat MP "John Hemming (although it should be noted he has previous form as a serial injunction buster and was probably equally motivated by ego); they interpreted the legal action against Twitter as an attack on the common man. and assumed that Giggs was attempting to hold ALL Twitter users accountable. It was this very suggestion that led to the mass protest.

After all, if this were true... the question has to be asked: Is the dirty little secret of a single man worth taking the liberty of many?

The answer to this question is of course no, not at all. Although the legal action was perceived in this way... it is far more probable that the lawyers were hoping to put pressure on Twitter to gain access to the few individuals who instigated the leak. This was an incredibly naive strategy because Twitter has become a home for "Spartacus" movements. The evolution of hashtags and associated API has enabled its users to mobilise very easily over single issues... one only has to look back at the "Robin Hood Airport" incident to see this.

I do not believe injunctions and super injunctions should have any basis in law. They create a divisive two tier system... I have nothing but contempt for a court that values the keeping of a dark secret over the liberty of its ordinary citizens.

Silence will fall... or will it?

The harshest yet obvious truth to accept is that actually the role of protecting the children is primarily the role of the parent... not the Courts and not the State. Consequences alone should be enough to deter anyone from committing an act that will harm the lives of their own spouses and children. That is the responsibility that all parents are faced with. Even I know that... and I have not even been blessed with the responsibility of having either.

I firmly believe this country needs to relearn the importance of consequence. We all need to remember that a man stands and fall based on his actions... and we should be responsible with every gift we've been given and every burden we carry. Individuals need to accept that you can't have your cake and eat it... if you are committed, then you can't go running after other partners... or one night stands. News agencies need to take responsibility for the kind of stories they publish and be exceptional... not resorting to questionable methods to attain results and being sure of the facts before plastering suspects faces in every television/radio station, newspaper or website accessible in people's homes. Finally we all need to take responsibility for the kind of stories we want to hear about or read ourselves.

None of these things can really be legislated all of them require us to choose to act responsibility.

Ultimately in a democracy, our actions and choices define the zeitgeist of what is deemed acceptable or tolerable and perhaps as a society... that is the greatest responsibility we share.

Doctor Who: Matrimonial Bliss!

2011-05-14T22:12:00.004Z

Tonight's episode of Doctor Who was truly magnificent and was yet another timely reminder to the Whoniverse's fiercest critics, that the show is alive and kicking. Penned by Neil Gaiman and titled "The Doctor's Wife", the story focused on the intimate relationship between the Doctor and his "wife". It's a series highlight and features a solid story and some top drawer acting from Matt Smith and Suranne Jones.

The Doctor's Wife - a solid episode steeped in Who lore and rich in emotion.

As I'm sure you gathered before the show aired, the titular character was/is in fact the TARDIS. The master stroke that Neil Gaiman played was to hold a mirror up to the anthropomorphic relationship between The Doctor and his home/mode of transport. Many times we have heard The Doctor vocalise his attachment to the TARDIS, many more times have we seen him demonstrate it... on this occasion however, the TARDIS finally gets an opportunity to reciprocate and express its own affection for The Doctor.

The soul of the TARDIS is captured by a malevolent entity and lured into a "bubble" on the edge of the universe. There in the darkness, a being has quietly been luring Time Lords to their destruction... feeding off their power and cannibalising their body parts along with other aliens to sustain its servants. The Doctor arrives on this barren junkyard asteroid in the hopes of finding some good Time Lords who may have escaped the Time War and who can forgive him for his actions. It soon turns out to be a ruse however and the Doctor is trapped on the rock with his TARDIS personified in the form of Idris (played by Suranne Jones), as the malevolent alien entity known as "House" hurtles off towards our universe in search of more "food" in the physical TARDIS, with Amy and Rory trapped inside... subjected to it's evil tricks.

Back on the asteroid we are treated to some wonderful interaction between The Doctor and the TARDIS as they desperately try to cobble together a working makeshift TARDIS from the remains of all the other TARDIS hulks that have crashed on the asteroid.

Eventually they make it back to the real TARDIS interior in time for a final conflict. When all seems lost and Idris' body dies, the TARDIS' soul is released back into the console and reclaims her rightful home from the "House entity"... purging him.

We are also treated to the cryptic portentous message:

"The only water in the forest is the River"

This isn't the first time Neil Gaiman has used this dramatic tool. He did something very similar in his Babylon 5 episode "The Day of the Dead". Two things struck me with regard to this statement. Firstly that River's eventual fate was to be downloaded into the memory of the library planet in the episode "Forest of the Dead", I think the Doctor may very well be travelling there in the future to rescue River's essence (because both river and forest are referenced). Secondly the fact that there is only one kind of water present... and of course Amy also shares a water related surname. Does this mean that Amy will not be with the Doctor in the future... or that perhaps that there will be an impostor of Amy travelling with the Doctor at some point?

The episode succeeds as a whole because you really believe in the relationship between the Doctor and the TARDIS, so much so that in her "death" scene... I found myself welling up along with Matt Smith.

I think the episode is very much about treasuring the moments. One segment of dialogue in particular sums this up for me:

Tardis: Doctor? Are you there? It’s so very dark in here.
Doctor: I’m here.
Tardis: I’ve been looking for a word. A big, complicated word, but so sad. I’ve found it now.
Doctor: What word?
Tardis: Alive. I’m alive!
Doctor: Alive isn’t sad.
Tardis: It’s sad when it’s over. I’ll always be here. But this is when we talked and now even that has to come to an end. There’s something I didn’t get to say to you.
Doctor: Goodbye?
Tardis: No, I just wanted to say … hello. Hello, Doctor. It’s so very, very nice to meet you.
Doctor: Please! I don’t want you to. Please.

That scene really did have me weeping. Life is fragile... and the life we live in this world is temporary and all too brief. The knowledge that it all must come to an end is heart wrenchingly sad... most especially for those left behind. We should remember that although we eventually say goodbye to the people we have known and loved... that much more importantly we had the opportunity, the honour and the joy of saying hello to them in the first place and sharing a part of their journey too. As a Christian I believe that like the TARDIS, our loved ones may live on (by the grace of God). Although they are in a place where we can't commune with them... every so often the universe gives us a gentle reminder of who they were in order to reassure us of where they are.

The other thing that struck me in this episode is how everything that is truly important to us in life, requires a relationship. If we merely like or appreciate something... it is a one way thing and worthless. Friendships, partnerships, relationships, marriages, families, schools and even belief systems require a bond to work.

Even faith hinges on it. If salvation was just about us expressing our belief or even our love for God, it would be of little value.

The Doctor believed that he had chosen the TARDIS, yet it is now the TARDIS who tells him that as much as he chose her, she chose him. She wanted to go off on a journey exploring the universe and he was the only one mad enough or willing enough to do it... the only one with the same desire to be free.

Ultimately, that is what I think has to happen in a journey of faith. We may start out thinking it's a one way thing, a series of devotional acts towards God... but sooner or later in life we have an encounter with the God we are worshipping and he becomes real to us in a new way. When that day comes it changes everything. We learn that inasmuch as we think we have chosen God... he in fact has chosen us for himself too. When that day comes... it changes everything.

We, like the Doctor, may protest that we are not always taken where we want to go; God, like the TARDIS, gently reminds us that he always takes us where we most need to be. Just recently I had a personal experience that reminded me of this very thing.

At the end of the episode, The Doctor was deeply saddened that he couldn't communicate with the TARDIS in the same way any more... but is reassured when the controls start flipping and switching of their own volition. I am thankful that in my walk with God, that I don't need that kind of reassurance... you see God doesn't stop talking. True... sometimes he grows quiet... but it isn't because he is unable to talk to us, rather it is because we either need to rediscover our hunger for him... or because we are being encouraged to grow in faith in a hard but necessary way.

So I guess the questions I am asking tonight are.:

Who is in control on your journey through life?
Who has chosen who?
Is your faith or your life a one way thing?

May you be blessed as you seek an answer to those questions.

Oligarchy

2011-05-07T15:07:00.000Z

So the British public have decided to reject AV in yesterday's referendum. This has caused several politicians such as John Reid, to suggest that this destroys the argument for any form of PR full stop... and that this is a ringing endorsement of First Past the Post. The BBC twitter account @BBCBreaking suggested that Britain had chosen to "overwhelmingly reject" AV. Whichever way you look at it, I would suggest that is a distortion of the facts.

I think we need to get a little perspective here. Out of all those eligible to vote in the referendum, only 42% bothered to even show up. While this doesn't help the AV cause... it certainly can not be claimed as a ringing endorsement of FPTP, which if you add the missing numbers only had 28.5% actively voting in favour of it.

Does it also not strike you a bit odd that 32% can be considered a crushing defeat for electoral reform and yet 35% sweeps a party to power? If the referendum has done anything, it has highlighted the anomalies in our political system all the more clearly.

It is abundantly clear that the only "winner" was apathy (as always seems to be the case these days).

Yet politicians, the media and the public alike will hail the outcome or lick their wounds respectively... and sweep the elephant in the room under a conveniently placed carpet.

One of the reasons I am so actively opposed to FPTP, is that it introduces a form of oligarchy into our democracy... especially as things stand at present. Oligarchy is a form of government whereby the majority are ruled by the whims of a minority, a ruling elite. Oh sure, our electoral process is democratic enough in that you have the right to express your political preference... but when all is said and done, in the current climate whoever wins the day... does so with a minority backing them as first preference. While FPTP is a democratic form... it doesn't fit the politics of the UK for two reasons - diversity and apathy.

With diversity, the vote is split into a spectrum of colours. This currently favours the perceived right because outside of the Conservatives, there is no reputable right wing parties.... so they get the lion's share of votes. The left side is more fragmented... which causes problems for them... as more often than not it is their side that gets split. The trouble is that we have an electoral system that works best for two parties... and yet we have an increasing amount of political parties with varying degrees of respectability vying for our attention all the time.

The second problem is apathy. With 68% of people not committing their views to paper, their views are largely unknown. Proponents of FPTP will be eager to point out that it's their choice and their problem. This of course is true but it does not alter the numbers... or the facts - the vast majority of people who do not participate could easily take out any winning party.

My belief as an independent is that we need to take bilateral action to tackle both problems if we are to have a sensible democracy. Realistically, democracy hinges upon achieving the broadest consensus view.... something FPTP cannot give in our current political landscape. If you favour FPTP you actually favour oligarchy... you are actually saying "I don't care if most people completely disagree with me, if I get enough support I can impose my views on others". This doesn't sit easy with me... it has an amoral whiff about it. In my view it doesn't marry up well with the idea of loving my neighbour as myself. It does marry up with survival of the fittest and that is perhaps why it leaves me with a bitter taste in my mouth. Long ago on this blog I drew a comparison between the law of God and the "law of the jungle". First Past the Post has a kind of selfishness around it that I find quite distasteful. If we do decide to replace it, we will need to think it through carefully and choose wisely.

As for apathy... what do we do about it? Some would call for compulsory voting to be put in place, but is that really a realistic solution? I don't think so. An authentic democracy can never exist when it undemocratically subjects it's electorate, bullying it to make a decision against their willingness and freedom to choose not to participate... this too is immoral. It is clear to me that only a positive course of action will work. Politicians need to better engage with their constituents and perhaps be prepared to abandon some of their dogmatic views about how the country should be run... and actually let the electorate have a say in manifestos... make them malleable rather than rigid. I know plenty of people (myself included) who find themselves all at sea politically because we are in areas on the socioeconomic scale that have no representation and therefore whatever views we do have... are often seriously compromised when we come to vote.

In conclusion, PR is a part of the answer... but we must never confuse it as being the whole answer... or mistakenly believe it to be a panacea to solve all the problems in UK politics. Even at its best it will only give us a consensus from the minority who participate. It is only with a political renaissance, a reinvigorating of the disenfranchised voter... that we can truly revive democracy.

Then perhaps, at last... we can finally start to take more responsibility for our country and hammer the nails into the coffin of oligarchy and leave it in the grave... where it belongs.

"Ave!" AV?

2011-05-03T23:37:00.000Z

With only a couple of days to go before the local council elections and voting system referendum takes place, I feel somewhat obliged to blog on the topic. My primary aim in this is not to sway your vote in any way. I will be posting my own view, and will uncharacteristically nail my colours to the mast publicly... but don't worry if you aren't interested in hearing yet another person's take... because I will make a clear distinction before I go into that.

The point I wish to address is why you should go and vote on the subject of AV at all.... particularly if you feel ambivalent, nonchalant or apathetic about the whole thing.

The AV Referendum: How Should We Vote?

As you may know, I'm a strong believer in exercising the right to vote... even when you feel there is no "right" choice... I absolutely believe you should express your opinion by deliberately spoiling your ballot paper. I think it is lazy and disrespectful to all the people who have fought and in many cases died to obtain and preserve your right to vote as a free person.

For me, this belief is amplified when it comes to the referendum.

Why should this be?

It is simple. Referendums are curious political exercises... in many ways they deliver more power and say into our hands than a simple electoral vote. This is because when we are voting on a single issue (especially one as hotly debated as electoral reform), we are actually directly shaping policy. Whatever the outcome at the end of this week... Parliament will have to abide by it.

In an age when many of us have become sick and tired of being pushed around by politicians, many of whom exist within a detached bubble of irrelevance... when all of a sudden we are presented with an opportunity to directly manoeuvre the country's direction... we should grab it with both hands (and if necessary fight tooth and claw).

Having established that we should take part we come to the question.: how should we vote?

No... this isn't the bit where I tell you what I'm voting and try and sway you. Instead I want to make some very important points about the criteria we should... or more to the point, should not be using when making a decision.

I Will Vote In Line With My Preferred Party.
If you are thinking of making a decision based on this notion, then I humbly suggest you take another look at what you are doing. This would be a waste of your vote... you would not be exercising democracy, you would be acting like a robotic sheep. I have become incensed at the way certain parties have thrown all their weight behind one campaign or the other. The Conservative Party had absolutely NO business making the "NO" position the party line. Similarly I was disgusted with Peter Mandelson for coming out and stating that this was an opportunity for the British public to hurt the Government and give David Cameron a bloody nose. Tribalising the debate about electoral reform benefits nobody. It neatly avoids the issue and turns the vote into a farcical re-enactment of the last General Election... or a dry run for the next one. Both Government and Opposition are guilty of using this as an opportunity to damage their adversaries' credentials; they are making this debate about them... and not the country. They should be ashamed of themselves and need to be taught a lesson.
Voting X Will Benefit The Party I Am Most Inclined To Support
This is a similar argument to the one above (in fact, it is pretty much the same intent dressed up in a different way). The simple truth is that you are not charged with the mere task of voting for the outcome that benefits your personal ideology. That is extremely selfish thinking. Instead you are bestowed with a far greater responsibility - deciding which form of democracy is fairer for all.... even if it flies in the face of your own deeply held political convictions.
Tradition or Change for Its Own Sake.
This isn't a game... and you should treat the subject with appropriate gravitas. "It's always been this way, as far as I can remember" and "lets get rid of this just because I'll feel like I've achieved something" are once again invalid criteria. The former reflects an attitude of unmoving, overbearing parental imposition... the latter betrays a vein of recklessness and a desperation to make a mark without thinking things through. In both cases, any decision is dominated by ego and not by sound objective judgement.

Tempting as it may be to take any of the paths above, may I urge you instead to take the road less travelled by? When Thursday comes and you make your mark on the ballot... do so with objectivity and responsibility. Remember that this vote is not about them (the politicians) and it is not about you (personally), it is about all of us collectively. The decision you make will not be for part of our society... it will be for all of our society. Try to take yourself and all the public figures clamouring for your attention out of the equation. Research the basic facts and come to an informed decision.

The power is yours, the freedom and choice are yours... and the responsibility is yours.

Use these things wisely.

Don't "Choose Poorly". ;-)

***End of Main Post Scroll Down for Personal View***

Before I go on... I want you to know that my choice in the referendum is based on the criteria I endorsed above... I am not a hypocrite. As it stands, there are no parties (south of the border at least), that match me closely in terms of my politics... I therefore have nothing to gain personally by voting either way. My choice has been made entirely on my interpretation of what is best for the nation as a whole.

My personal inclination is to vote in line with the "Yes" campaign. At first this was on gut reaction. All my adult life I have not been happy with the first past the post system. It is a known fact that whoever gets elected always represents a minority; in fact in modern politics, the number of people who vote for any party are generally outnumbered by those who either spoil their paper... or do not bother to vote at all. I do not subscribe to the idea of enforcing a compulsory vote as a viable way of dealing with this problem... as I find it undemocratic. Much as I loathe people's laziness for not bothering to show up and vote... I respect their constitutional liberty and democratic freedom to not participate if they so choose. I do not begin to presume that AV will magically redress this imbalance on its own, I do believe it is one avenue we can explore to try and do something about it. If people are deciding not to turn up and vote because they know they are in a political stronghold... then AV would in part at least give those who feel disenfranchised some incentive to become involved once again. The NO Campaign will tell you that AV supporters are sceptical of its merits but they are far more sceptical of the status quo... and many see this as an opportunity to "start the ball rolling", a means to an end.

The NO campaign will also tell you that AV is not widely used... but really is this at all relevant? Should we be deciding the fate of our country based on what everyone else is doing? Are we really that lacking in resolve that we will follow everyone else? So what if only a handful of countries use AV... it isn't about them. It is about us.

The No Campaign states that AV will put more power in the hands of politicians because they will need to make back room deals and concessions to other parties in coalitions. This argument above all the others betrays the Tory agenda most clearly (it even uses the watchword term "broken politics" that was so liberally applied by the Tories in the last election). They know that ideologically, their list of allies is a lot thinner than that of say Labour or the Liberal Democrats. If you take a look at this analysis on the Political Compass website, you can see why the Tories would be rightly anxious about a system where coalitions are the norm rather than the exception. David Cameron has also stated himself that under AV, politicians would be more corrupt because they would have to make promises to everyone... that they couldn't keep, in order to be elected. This really is nonsense. Call me old fashioned, but I believe that a person should be elected to serve the majority electorate interest... and not make promises left right and centre just to secure power. I for one am not so much interested in a person/party's promises and targets as I am their ideology. When all the smoke and mirrors fade, I believe most people vote on a basic understanding of the traditional agenda and principles of "the big two". I don't want a politician promising me everything in the world... I want to know what their core standards are. If they think something is wrong and they aren't willing to commit to it, I want to weigh it up against my other choices... not have some schmoozer feeding me a bag of excrement for the sake of his own selfish political ambition.

The No campaigners will also tell you it is unfair and undemocratic. This is a misrepresentation. I would mistrust anyone who said either system were undemocratic. Neither is technically undemocratic, they are different expressions of democratic systems at work. Whichever system we use will always carry some level of unfairness for someone. What we need to establish is which is which unfairness we are most comfortable living with. Simply put... are we more comfortable with a current system that hands the keys to the country to a party that may win less than 20% support (going by 40% of a 40% turn out), or are we prepared to allow people who have had their first choice eliminated to have their second or possibly third choice counted?

I believe that the most important thing we need to establish going forward in the future of politics for this country is consensus. We live in a society that has been fragmented into diverse political focus groups who have radically different and sometimes opposing agendas. The only way we can establish a government that truly represents this diversity is to establish which party most are happy to live with. The saying goes that "you can't have your cake and eat it". Under First Past the Post there's a danger that "you can't have your cake or eat it". It's a bum deal... you get left with nothing.

Right from birth, we are taught about how to make compromises. Imagine you are a boy in a toy shop. You want to buy a flashing glowing giant Optimus Prime toy robot but your dad tells you you don't have enough money. You do have enough money for a Barbie doll, the other option is that your kid brother has a bit of money that would get you an Action Man if you were prepared to share. Are you seriously going to walk out of the shop with the Barbie? Because that is all you'll get out of First Past the Post. If you are prepared to make the sacrifice and combine funds with your brother that will get you something you can live with? That's Alternate Vote in a nutshell.... and that's why (petty squabbles in the campaigns aside), I've thrown my lot in with the Yes campaign.

In case I have not been concise, the video below was put together by the television historian, Dan Snow. It is by far the best, most positive campaign I have seen on either side of the debate. If you haven't made your mind up yet, I encourage to add this to your contemplation:

Doctor Who: Did I Say Epic? SPOILERS

2011-04-23T20:43:00.001Z

I've just been watching the Doctor Who season 6 opener, The Impossible Astronaut. I thought it was utterly fantastic and highly disturbing. When I said in my last Doctor Who related post that I thought the trailer was hinting at an epic series... I realise I wasn't understating.

Kudos to Steven Moffatt for taking a gutsy move and apparently killing the Doctor forever, in the very first episode of the new series. It's got people scratching their heads, reeling in shock... scribbling down theories... and reacting strongly (with some seeing it as a tool to curtail the show and limiting it to a certain length in terms of episodes).

Is the Doctor's number finally up?

I don't think that's the case at all... and if you do, I humbly suggest you've probably bought into a deliberate red herring and swallowed it whole. If there is one thing Moffatt has a tremendous talent for, it's ratcheting up tension and suspense... and this I believe lies at the heart of what's going on. How do you add peril to a character who is seemingly unkillable (at least for another couple of generations), well it's simple... you kill them (in The Doctor's case by completely bypassing the "get out clause"! That way you have this shadow hanging over the character for at least the next episode and/or possibly the whole series. A master stroke. One warning here - don't expect Moffatt to simply retcon the death away... he's not RTD. Yes he may use timey wimey stuff to explain the situation but he won't flip a switch and deus ex machina his way out of the situation. I think the likelihood is that as the episodes/series go on, we will gain more and more insight into what was really going on in that seemingly final exchange... that will give us a new perspective and the proper resolution.

I thought the Silence were utterly creepifying. The exaggerated head size and skull like facial features (sans mouth) made them look incredibly disturbing. Moffat has a penchant for plugging into our basest primordial fears and concerns in everyday life... and used this as inspiration for the Silence - how scary is an enemy that you can't remember even seeing?

The VERY sinister and creepy Silence.

The drama and suspense were neatly balanced with some top draw humour. The Doctor cropping up in history and drawing attention to himself in Enlightenment era art, a World War II prisoner escape tunnel and a Laurel & Hardy movie (complete with Fez), was good way to start the episode before taking a dark turn. The interaction between the Doctor and River was as usual flirty and charming... with the odd dash of cynicism on the Doctor's part. Calling her Mrs. Robinson was just brilliant though.

Next week can't come soon enough for me - Whomania is back... it is in full flow and it's going global.

I thought the episode was very appropriate for Easter Saturday. Firstly it reinforced what I was saying about Jesus and Brother Edward on Thursday... because the Doctor in this episode also finds himself in a situation where he knows his end is coming (he clearly knew who was in the astronaut suit and he knew exactly what was coming), yet the Doctor remained and accepted the fate put before him.

You also had River, Amy & Rory grieving and forlorn after the Doctor's demise, not knowing which way to turn or what the best thing. This made me think very much about how Jesus' companions must have felt, following Good Friday. If that wasn't enough you have the absolutely stunned reaction as the fourth invited party walks into the diner. Having just burned the Doctor's corpse... the mishmash of intense and varied emotions that hit Amy, Rory and River as they saw the Doctor walk through the door... perfectly mirrored the kind of expressions you might have expected from the apostles on Easter Sunday.

So as I said, all in all a great episode and a perfect one given the season.

I cannot finish this post without thanking the BBC for the wonderful, heartwarming and reminiscent tribute to Elisabeth Sladen (entitled: My Sarah Jane), that was screened on CBBC immediately after the episode... as well as the screen caption. I know some people will be wondering why the Nicholas Courtney (who playing the equally beloved Brigadier), didn't get a screen caption. I believe he will get one... the Beeb probably want to pay tribute to them respectfully as individuals and not cram them together like sardines. I also think Sarah-Jane's character is a very special one because more than any other companion or side character... she binds the classic and new series together. If you look at the tribute pages for Elisabeth Sladen you will see that she is appreciated by fans, new and old... right across the spectrum... that in itself pays tribute to the kind of sincerity and emotion Sladen brought to the role... and perhaps the biggest reason she will be deeply an sadly missed... but remembered and treasured with even greater fondness and respect.

Earth AND Heaven Day

2011-04-23T16:35:00.000Z

Do you remember that last year on Good Friday, Google decided to celebrate the birthday of Hans Christian Anderson? If so you may recall that a lot of Christians on the right got upset about it. Rather than get angry... I decided instead to draw parallels between one of Anderson's works, and Good Friday. I feel you should look for opportunities in everything. Well... just over a year later and Google decided to pull a similar trick.

Yep... Google decided to celebrate Earth Day. Now Google is obviously a secular company and has no obligation to do anything for Good Friday. I know that voices on the right are again upset... and me? What am I going to do this time?

I'm going to do exactly the same thing as I did last year - use Earth Day as a way to examine the importance of Good Friday.

Every year when Easter Sunday comes around, it is traditional in some services to examine the entire story of salvation. How God created a perfect world, free from sin... and how he placed humanity at the heart of his creation to act as his appointed custodians/caretakers. The Bible says that God commanded Man to subdue the Earth... but what it actually means by this, is that we were intended to use it's resources wisely in the service of God and Man.

All that changed with humanity's rebellion against God:

“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."

Genesis 3:17b-19

To put it bluntly... we stuffed up!

My belief is that after we strayed from God's initial command, we became selfish (and that our controlling nature and rejection of God is in fact what brings about the terms of the "curse"). This selfishness brought about an imbalance and rather than using the Earth's resources sensibly, we began to consume them in a manner that glorified ourselves but not God. Like parasitic leeches through the ages... we have taken and taken from the abundant things God has given us... but not given nearly half as much thought to what we should put back.

In our arrogance we claim the highest authority with regard to managing the Earth but this directly ignores what the Bible tells us:

"The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;"
Psalm 24:1

In the modern age there are a growing number of people who have taken the cause of environmentalism to heart... and this is commendable. However if we put environmentalism and ecology at the centre of everything we do... socially or politically, we still fall short because the problems humanity causes the planet are only a symptom of the greater problem that needs to be addressed in the human condition.

The Bible speaks of Jesus in these terms:

"The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross."
Colossians 1:15-20

It's clear to me that if everything was made by and for Jesus; if all things hold together in him and if he considered all things on heaven and earth something worth giving his life up for... then ergo he can be trusted to look after our planet. If we put our lives in his care, we can be sure that he will shape us into people who make this world a better place spiritually, morally, ethically, ecologically... anyway you look at it.

So as we remember Earth... let's not forget Heaven... because in his death and life Jesus reunited both.