Time to update the blogroll…

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blogroll

I don’t know how you discover new websites/blogs/interesting organisations with a web presence?

I have kept my blogroll to a fairly small list up till now, as I have only included people who I visit regularly. I have avoided the obvious ‘celebrity’ linkage for the most part, and tried to stay with people with whom I have either a direct connection, or others who I think have something really interesting to say.

But I realised that I often tend to connect with new things via other people’s blogrolls. That is what they are there for after all. As this blog has had more visits, I suppose there is an increased responsibility to see it as part of a wider stream of thought, information and inspiration, and to be a deliberate signpost for people who might be dipping their toes into this stream…

There are some issues/dangers in choosing to do this I reckon…

  1. Linking can be seen to be endorsing. Which I may or may not be of course!
  2. There is also a tendency to go for ‘reflected glory’ of others who have made a bigger splash in the Christian blogging world. I am determined to avoid this if I can.
  3. Wider linking in this way will miss out some folk who should perhaps be there.
  4. This blog will then become defined by the nature of it’s links- guilt by association.

Anyway, here are a few new ones I am going to add…

By chance, it seems that I have connected to very few female bloggers/thinkers, so I am glad to be adding-

Christine Sine’s blog ‘Godspace’– Doctor, author, gardener, wife of Tom, spiritual thinker, USA based…

Cheryl Lawrie and ‘Hold::this space‘ in Tasmania. I connected with Cheryl as she edited the material I wrote for Proost that became ‘Listing’. The blog is full of stories of the adventures of their community, alternative worship ideas, lovely poetry…

Maggi Dawn has been a name I have known for a long time- since my earlier days leading worship in the C of E. She is a musician, author and blogger, as well as a regular speaker at Greenbelt festival.

I have also decided to add some other well known names, as I think they have become ‘people of influence’ whose thinking is shaping a wider direction of travel.

Pete Rollins- writer, philosopher, member of IKON, Irishman and another Greenbelt regular.

Brian McLaren. Writer, pastor, songwriter, encourager, speaker, and gentle agitator. Enough said.

Jim Wallis and Sojourners– protestor, agitator, activist for the poor and oppressed based in Washington DC.

The Iona Community– a gathering of activists, thinkers and contemplatives based on Columba’s island of Iona, with roots deep into inner city Glasgow.

Hope you enjoy these links!

Regina Spektor- laughing with God…

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So, Glastonbury Festival is here again. Summer must descend into torrential rain…

And I will discover new music via the wonders of the BBC multi screen player, competing with my daughter for the remote control, lest she force me to endure any more Lady Ga Ga or Evanescence.

I enjoyed Regina Spektor this evening- interesting, creative and edgy, with a great voice. One song that caught my attention was this one-

No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
No one’s laughing at God
When they’re starving or freezing or so very poor

No one laughs at God
When the doctor calls after some routine tests
No one’s laughing at God
When it’s gotten real late
And their kid’s not back from the party yet

No one laughs at God
When their airplane start to uncontrollably shake
No one’s laughing at God
When they see the one they love, hand in hand with someone else
And they hope that they’re mistaken

No one laughs at God
When the cops knock on their door
And they say we got some bad news, sir
No one’s laughing at God
When there’s a famine or fire or flood

*Chorus*
But God can be funny
At a cocktail party when listening to a good God-themed joke, or
Or when the crazies say He hates us
And they get so red in the head you think they’re ‘bout to choke
God can be funny,
When told he’ll give you money if you just pray the right way
And when presented like a genie who does magic like Houdini
Or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket and Santa Claus
God can be so hilarious
Ha ha
Ha ha

No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
No one’s laughing at God
When they’ve lost all they’ve got
And they don’t know what for

No one laughs at God on the day they realize
That the last sight they’ll ever see is a pair of hateful eyes
No one’s laughing at God when they’re saying their goodbyes
But God can be funny
At a cocktail party when listening to a good God-themed joke, or
Or when the crazies say He hates us
And they get so red in the head you think they’re ‘bout to choke
God can be funny,
When told he’ll give you money if you just pray the right way
And when presented like a genie who does magic like Houdini
Or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket and Santa Claus
God can be so hilarious

No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
No one laughing at God in hospital
No one’s laughing at God in a war
No one’s laughing at God when they’re starving or freezing or so very
poor

No one’s laughing at God
No one’s laughing at God
No one’s laughing at God
We’re all laughing with God

Happy 500th Birthday John Calvin!

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So, this week marks the 500th birthday of John Calvin, something which, given the preoccupations of this blog, was something I did not think should pass unmarked.

Happy Birthday John.

You turned your world upside down, and we stand in your shadow.

Or at least we did. Some say it is time to walk out on our own adventure.

To make our own reformation.

Praying for patience and grace on our own modern versions of Michael Servetus.

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You can listen to a radio programme called Beyond Belief here that reflects on the enduring legacy of Calvin- half an hour of theology and reflection- well worth a listen.

Turbo consumerism…

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shopping

Interesting discussion on the radio this morning about turbo consumerism. Listen again here.

Neal Lawson, Political correspondent for the Guardian newspaper and chair of the left wing democratic pressure group Compass, spoke eloquently about his feelings that our society is increasingly addicted to shopping- the main leisure pursuit of the nation. Lawson suggested that our sense of identity, well being and status have become tied up in the getting of STUFF. We talk about ‘retail therapy’- where shopping serves a deep purpose in our lives in terms of attempting to define who and what we are.

It could be suggested that western industrial society has always been consumer orientated, but at some time in the 80’s and 90’s we changed from a consumer society to a TURBO consumer society according to Lawson- a product of a culture that increasingly became credit and debt driven, and an economy that required us to upgrade our gadgets every 6-12 months in order to remain viable.

Lawson suggeted that people at the bottom of the income scale, who are unlikely to achieve highly in terms of education or employment invest a huge amount in designer labels- and this becomes a source of large amounts of crime.

None of us are unaffected by turbo consumerism. The advertising industry in all it’s multi layered sophistication, is intent on creating dissatisfaction with what we have, and what we look like, what our life is about, so that we might be more ready consumers of produce, gadgets and lifestyle enhancements.

shop window

On my drive back from Bute today, some familiar questions were rattling around in my brain…

Is there a way back from this?

Is there a better way to live?

Do I need a new phone/car(scrappage allowance none withstanding!)/TV/MP3 player etc etc?

If I/we stop buying these products, then is recession not inevitable?

But who is paying the cost for this mad lifestyle now? Is it making us happy? What about the huge inequalities within our society, and the insatiable need for raw materials and cheap labour from the majority of the world?

Where do I start, and can I really make a difference?

I suppose the interesting thing is that these questions are being asked by many in the wake of the recent economic upheavals.

And some Christians are raising their voices to suggest alternative ways to live. Check out Generous.

Time to stop shopping, and start living…

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Jesus shifts product…

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Hmmmm…

Is this just not a little too near the truth?

Because we have seen enough of this stuff-

But then there is all of this-

I wonder what the modern day equivalent of tipping over tables in the temple forecourt would be? It might be uncomfortable for us all!

Because if we understand Jesus right, I think we have nothing to sell, but much to give.

Ah, that delicious first sight of a crisp new book…

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listingcover

I got a box full of my new book from Proost today- the first time I had seen the hard copy of ‘Listing.’ It is published in small (but beautifully formed!) ‘pocket’ size.

Holding a book you have worked on for so long is such a self indulgent, narcissistic pleasure. It must be sinful… like lingering lustful glances or too much chocolate.

I hope people will like it, and find themselves drawn towards God. Otherwise it is just about fragile ego. And mine certainly is fragile!

Science/faith- apologetics worth chewing on?

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Thanks to Jason Clark for this link to Test of Faith.

The site is another attempt to find that dangerous interface between science and faith. It is based around the thoughts of Scientists who are Christians.

I have mixed feelings about projects like this. I have spent some time in the past thinking about the whole creation/evolution thing (here for example) and more or less came to the conclusion that science asked different questions to those needed by people of faith- typically the scientific ‘how’ and the religious ‘why’.

I also worry that there is much BAD science that is being used by Christians to ‘prove’ the truth of their interpretation of the Bible. I find these dishonest and highly selective attempts to squeeze the world into a narrow set of prejudices repellent.

But then I am not a scientist, and never will be. I write poetry that celebrates mystery. Those with a different, more analytical and precise mind set will always need a different level of engagement with these issues.

This proposed set of resources and film seem to promise much…

Here is the trailer…

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about “Science/faith- apologetics worth chew…“, posted with vodpod


Religion as poem…

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Came across this poem recently, by Catholic poet Les Murray-

Religions are poems. They concert
our daylight and dreaming mind, our
emotions, instinct, breath and native gesture
into the only whole thinking: poetry.
Nothing’s said till it’s dreamed out in words
and nothing’s true that figures in words only.
A poem, compared with an arrayed religion,
may be like a soldier’s one short marriage night
to die and live by. But that is a small religion.
Full religion is the large poem in loving repetition;
like any poem, it must be inexhaustible and complete
with turns where we ask Now why did the poet do that?
You can’t pray a lie, said Huckleberry Finn;
you can’t poe one either. It is the same mirror:
mobile, glancing, we call it poetry,
fixed centrally, we call it a religion,
and God is the poetry caught in any religion,
caught, not imprisoned. Caught as in a mirror
that he attracted, being in the world as poetry
is in the poem, a law against its closure.
There’ll always be religion around while there is poetry
or a lack of it. Both are given, and intermittent,
as the action of those birds – crested pigeon, rosella parrot –
who fly with wings shut, then beating, and again shut.

Not quite sure what I think of this, but liked the fact that it made me think!

poetry-t

Cycling down the road to hell…

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DSCF4047

I have been doing a fair amount of cycling recently in an attempt to up the fitness levels. I have taken the bike up some mountain trails- which has been fun as it is a ‘hybrid’- not a full mountain bike, and has no suspension.

Today however, we were picking Will up from a cub scout weekend in Lochgoilhead, so I took my bike on the back of the car, and Michaela dropped me off to cycle up over the pass and down Hells Glen.

Hells Glen has a steep single track road that winds down through precipitous wooded slopes. Cycling down there is a white knuckle ride, with mouth firmly closed against the insect life. It is so named because it was a place once black with the fires of smelting and charcoal burning- impossible to imagine now, as few obvious traces remain.

The climb out of the Glen up to the A83 at the top of the ‘Rest and be Thankful’ is quite something. It starts out kindly- climbing through leafy Birch forest next to a lovely stream. But half way into the 700 foot climb the slope goes brutal.

Which kind of brings me to an Evangelical moment…

The road to hell is swift and seductive, but the climb in the other direction is very, very hard…

And by way of proof, a few photies;

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