A little Friday wisdom

If your face is swollen from the beatings of life, smile and pretend to be a fat man.

Nigerian proverb

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Francis Chan, new Basic DVD teaching series, worldwide premier 13.05.10

Here in the UK it seems like the last month has been made up of many nights where we have listened to people talk about change. From televised debates to marathon election coverage, everyone’s been wondering how the future might look, asking whether we are on the verge of something truly revolutionary.

Well, last night in a small cinema just off Leicester Square, author, speaker and face of Basic (a new series of DVDs by the makers of Nooma) Francis Chan went one better. Instead of offering himself up as the pied piper for us to follow, he planted in the audience something far more precious and sustainable: the sense that with small steps but big hearts, we can be the disciples – and the Church – that Jesus intended.

If you put it down in words it all seems so simple: restoring a healthy fear of God, ditching the baggage we have rammed into our church services, breaking out of the me-first approach to life, opening up our homes, sharing our stuff and scrapping the idea that Christianity is a solo spectator sport. Simple, yes, but when you see it in action – and Francis practises precisely what he preaches – it has the potential to change lives in ways that no political plan could ever match.

This is nothing new. From the early apostles to the desert fathers, from Francis of Assisi to an underground army of Christians today, there have always been people who have made the decision to live the way Jesus told us to. All that Francis is doing is helping to turn up the lights, to show who else is travelling the road, and ask each of us whether we are ready to take the next step for ourselves.

Filed under: new normals

lost and found

Seems like this one got removed from YouTube soon after it was broadcast, but I found it this morning. Since I’m thinking about the power of percussion these days, it makes sense to see just how good it can get…

Radiohead – 15 Step (Grammy 2009)
by marcuspessoa

Filed under: the first domino

cruisers or charity workers: what type of tourist is worse?

Pity those poor fools who signed up for the Caribbean cruise that failed to alter its course after the Haitian earthquake. There they were this week, living it up with barbecues on golden beaches while the stench of death and suffering drifted by.

I just got an email from a friend at a charity who told me that for three hours today he was making plans for a trip to Haiti next week. I told him that I thought it was good that he’d since had the trip canceled. I wonder if there’s going to be a bit of a backlash against certain charities after the dust has settled. I know I’m feeling a bit cynical about it all.

You see, these times of national disasters are also times of great potential for charities like my friend’s. If they don’t appear to be doing things then their market share is threatened. Marketing is now a part of disaster relief.

Now, I know that so many of the charities do good work, and I know that people taking a cruise is also a reasonable way to spend your time and money. But the confluence of both on the island of Haiti right now makes me sad. In fact, I’m less disappointed with the cruise-ship tourists than I am with the disaster tourists. Ok, perhaps that’s a little strong, but I know that there’s considerable pressure to get some decent footage with logos highly visible.

What’s worse; near-total ignorance or mild exploitation?

Filed under: getting over myself

anyone up for dying?

I watched ‘The Age of Stupid’the other day and it didn’t quite do for me. It seems like there’s a limit to the amount of clips predicting our imminent destruction that I can happily watch. That limit’s about fourteen, by the way.

If you scream ‘THE BUILDING’S ON FIRE’ continually for ninety-minutes there comes a point when someone’s going to ask where the fire exits are. I only really counted one. It was a clip of George Monbiot talking about the need for massive civil action. Remember the fight against apartheid? The Civil Rights movement? The suffragettes? These are the blueprints that we have for turning back egregious problems. These are the footprints we must follow, marching in crowds of millions, forcing regime change, being ready to die.

And that’s the problem. There may be plenty of people dying as a result of climate change already, but is anyone up for becoming a martyr for the cause? Will anyone lay down their life for 2 degrees? Would any of us go to the grave for the right to have the luxury of our consumerist lifestyles utterly depleted?

No. I didn’t think so. Not yet, at least.

Filed under: the first domino

two bits to read

An interview with a nice guy from Christian Aid’s online magazine…

And something up on Soul Survivor’s imag.

And I took great delight in deleting my Twitter account today. I feel free. As a bird. Free to chirp and tweet without the need to wonder who might be listening to my noise.

And no, the full irony of that last sentence has not been lost on me.

C

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two noughties phrases i’ll be glad to bury

‘Worship leaders are today’s theologians.’
No they’re not. Theologians exist to unpack and explore and challenge and debate. That takes a lot of words. More than verse chorus verse chorus verse bridge chorus repeat to fade. Worship leaders are the ad execs of the church. They exist to entice and captivate, to draw us in. They do not debate or cross reference. They sell a relationship. And I’m all for that, just as long we don’t call it theology.

‘We are living to make Jesus famous.’
Bollocks. I mean, really, do we honestly think that’s something to dedicate our lives to? Do we think God’s the foreign exchange student in the corner, all acne and awkwardness, just desperately waiting for someone cool enough to come along and validate him with our approval? Would it all be better if only God got a little better at making himself attractive? Does God have an image problem? If so, you can bet it’s all our fault.

That’s about all I have to say.

Other than the fact that I’m done with twitter. And does facebook make my friends so dull, or are we all just pretty boring anyway?

Happy christmas.

C

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yup, i know that feeling

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you know, i think i’m starting to believe some of this stuff

PRESS RELEASE
www.dltbooks.com

Thousands to leave the Church of England

According to author Craig Borlase, recent headlines predicting an exodus from the Church of England are just the tip of the iceberg. In 2159AD– a new history of the Church written from the perspective of 150 years in the future – Borlase
predicts a split in the Anglican Communion (within a decade), the death of Christendom (by the 2050s), and the return of the Vatican City to Italian sover-eignty.

He also suggests that the state of Israel will come under nuclear attack, that Utah will secede from the United States and that the Church will be increasingly judged over its response to humanitarian and ecological crises.

‘The Church is heading for colossal change,’ Borlase explains; ‘we’ve tried to ignore certain issues for so long, but closing our ears and eyes is no longer an option. The latest news from the Vatican is just the beginning.’

But 2159AD is not all pessimism; Borlase thinks that Richard Dawkins will end up trading in his atheism for an obscure brand of Orthodox Christianity.

For more information, requests for interviews with Craig Borlase or a review copy of 2159AD, please contact: Primavera Quantrill, Marketing Manager at DLT tel: 020 8875 2815
email: primaveraq@darton-longman-todd.co.uk

Filed under: 2159 AD

2159AD

I’ve enjoyed the radio interviews so far – yesterday’s with BBC Merseyside was one of the nicest. Thanks, Helen…

What’s weird is what people are interested in. The things that I thought were controversial at the time of writing just don’t seem to bother people that much. So, yesterday was the first time that the Church’s future view on homosexuality got a mention, but only as an intro to another topic.

What does this mean? Are we already more accepting of things than I thought? Has the landscape change so quickly?

Nah. I just think that the press release didn’t cover that stuff.

Still, it’s nice to be talking about the book.

Oh, by the way, I always feel awkward when it comes to self-promotion, but I can now see that having a few reviews of your book on Amazon helps. So, I’ve got five copies of the book by my desk here. If anyone wants one, drop me an email and if you’re happy to then write a review and post it up there, I’ll happily send you one.

C

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