Pastor Bob's Musings

Diving into Daniel

2011-10-01T20:47:00.001+01:00

I’m preaching my way through the book of Daniel, and I’m just loving it. It’s so refreshing, so wonderfully post-Christendom in its approach. I’m relishing the hard work that is involved – those visions need some serious digging to understand. And it grieves me that so many preachers and teachers seem to be content to parrot ‘this is that’ drivel – ‘the little horn is the UN Security Council’ and all that sort of stuff. When they could be doing something really worthwhile! Some rather awesome graphics abound, though – like this guy, in his wonderful lycra girdle!

But there is some truly brilliant material to be worked through as well. Let’s start with the obvious. Ronald Wallace (Bible Speaks Today series) is good; so too is Joyce Baldwin.

Many thanks to Andy, who lent me the study notes from Spring Harvest from 2005: ‘Sing the Lord’s song in a strange land’ – because the notes led on to the book by Gerard Kelly: ‘Stretch: lessons in faith from the life of Daniel’. It’s honestly brilliant, and a must-read book. I love the way that Gerard’s prose is close to poetry so much of the time. And one line in particular stands out:

The truly anointed evangelist, I believe, is not the person who loves the gospel so passionately that they cannot help sharing it with people; it is the person who loves people so passionately that they cannot but want the best for them.

(He goes on: ‘I admit to having met evangelists who don’t even seem to like people very much, let alone love them.’

I’ve also found a great deal of helpful material – in a very different way – in the rather academic commentary by Ernest Lucas in the Apollos series from IVP. Hard work, but rewarding. E. J. Young (Banner) and Leupold (Evangelical Press) have been worth reading, but not quite as helpful.

Daniel 2 tomorrow. I may refer to Kelly’s idea of ‘acoustic faith’ – being people who are prepared to do the hard work of double listening – listening both to our culture and to God. I don’t think it’s really the main point of Daniel 2, but it is helpful. But I’m really grateful to God for the insights that have come from so many people travelling with Daniel. I hope and pray that I can add my small contribution too, and convey even a little of the excitement I’ve found on the journey.

And you know…

2011-05-22T15:32:00.001+01:00

Just posted this on the KMFC website. Ian composed and performed this song as a response to the theme I’m currently preaching on – exploring a vision for the church as a ‘God-shaped people’ – the heart of the Father; the hands of the Son, and the breath of the Spirit.

I think Ian’s song is brilliant, and the feel of the work is so refreshingly different from much of the relentlessly ‘middle of the road’ contemporary Christian music. Great job, Ian!

And you know… © Ian Davison 2011

Have a good rummage!

2011-05-21T17:18:00.001+01:00

Called in to visit a good friend in hospital today. And on the way home, Ang and I dropped in to the local Scouts, who were having a rummage sale. And came away with a few bargains!

In a bundle of books – 7 books for £1 – was a copy of Neil Postman’s book ‘Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology’

Neil’s book ‘Amusing Ourselves to Death’ was a great resource when I was looking at the impact of Postmodernity on preaching – and I’m confident that this book will be a worthwhile read too. He has a very accessible style, and communicates important topics with great ease. Seems ironic to be blogging about a book that has hard things to say about technology!

Second bargain was spotted on the table of broken and abandoned technology. A pair of Sennheiser HD 340 headphones:

Nice headphones - £120 or so if you could still buy them new, and often going for £50 s/hand. So happy to pick a pair up for £1, even if they could use a new pair of foam earpads. Nice sound, and quite sturdy.

So – more than happy with the afternoon, and I hope the Scouts are pleased with the event!

If you follow my blog regularly – do watch out for a new post next week which could break a new star onto the Christian Music scene!

Statistics!

2011-05-21T17:06:00.001+01:00

I’ve done a lot of statistics in my time. Every scientist has, and most other disciplines use them.

And I’m also convinced that women and men are both called to the task of proclaiming the gospel, and that includes preaching.

The third thing I’m sure of is that statistics can be misused – and here’s a wonderful example.

A new survey published at the International Christian Resources Exhibition, in Esher, for brand new women's magazine Liberti reveals that almost twice as many serve tea as ascend the pulpit.

"One in five women preach or teach within their local church - an encouraging number although nearly twice as many find themselves on the coffee rota," said Editor Bekah Legg. "Times they are a-changin' - but can we have a bit more, please?"

What’s missing? A figure telling you the proportion of men in the church who preach or teach. So there are more people on the tea rota than on the preaching team. So what? We have three times as many people preparing tea every week as we have preaching. Not arguing with the conclusion, but I am complaining about the rubbish use of statistics!

Congratulations, Gary!

2011-05-11T18:27:00.001+01:00

Big congratulations to one of our folk, Gary Sanders, who has become Mayor of Braunstone Town for 2011/2012. Gary has been active as a local councillor for several years now, and has been particularly keen to represent the area where he lives – Thorpe Astley – and to encourage the development of a true sense of community. Thorpe Astley was built without much in the way of community buildings, and Gary has worked hard to bring about the creation of the Thorpe Astley Community Centre, which finally opened on the 2nd October 2010.

Here’s Gary with the previous Mayor and other local folk at the opening.

So – Gary, we’re proud of you!

A God-shaped people

2011-05-08T09:02:00.001+01:00

I’m in the middle of preparing a short series on ‘Vision’. It’s one of those ideas that is frequently used as a hammer to bash church leaders with – ‘I don’t think we’ve got a clear vision of what God wants of us…’ And it always sounds presumptuous to reply ‘Well, actually we have.’ So I’m trying to explore vision, and what it might mean for us. And I’m discovering that it’s a lot more general than many people suspect.

Brian Stanley, in his recent ‘George Beasley-Murray lecture’ got things started. He made the point that our strategy for mission needs to be shaped by our understanding of the Trinity – that God as Father, Son and Spirit are the foundation on which mission rests. And so that’s where the whole ‘God-shaped Church’ comes from. (It has a double meaning – did you catch that?)

Over the next few weeks I’m going to break that down to see the effect that considering each person of the Trinity has on our understanding of what the Church must be – our vision for the Church. But this week is the ‘Big Picture’

Where we start is that the Father loves people. The missional directive comes from the Father.Then the work of Christ is to heal, restore and redeem. And the activity of the Spirit is to mediate that truth to the world. I’ve expressed this as ‘The heart of the Father; the hands of the Son, and the breath of the Spirit.’

Here’s a part of the chart that (over time) will grow to illustrate the whole thing:

(Created using the free bubbl.us mindmapping tool – well worth checking out)

Over the next few days I’ll expand on this, and unpack where a vision for the Church will come from. Come back and see more!

The year in song (so far…)

2011-04-16T14:21:00.001+01:00

I’ve been updating some of my records relating to the songs & hymns we sing in worship. And I thought I’d share the results with you.

This year so far in 24 services we have sung 137 songs or hymns. We've only sung repeats around 24 times. 43% were traditional hymns, and a further 23% were contemporary hymns - that is, they have several verses and tell a story. The remaining 34% were 'songs' - usually one verse, one idea.

If you create a 'Word Cloud' from the titles, where the size of each word represents its frequency of occurrence, then it looks like this:

(You can make Word Clouds like this at Wordle)

It looks pretty. And as it is only the titles that are used, it isn’t too revealing. But it does make me think – I would like to see a few words represented more – words like Justice, Peace, Joy, Hope, Light, Truth, Grace, World, Suffering – but this is how things are.

Anyone done anything similar for a different congregation? A discussion over at Musicademy last year raised the question ‘How many songs does an average church need’ – and there were very clearly two camps in the answers; one group (including me) that tends towards a very wide repertoire, and the other, usually more contemporary, that has a much smaller core list. Where do you fit?

Ever felt got at?

2011-03-11T20:59:00.001Z

Well, having just blogged about the arrival of the new laptop and the change of phone, I’ve been concentrating on getting ready for Sunday. First Sunday in Lent, and I’m focussing on the kind of preparation for walking with Jesus that John the Baptist urged on his listeners – setting aside everything that gets in the way, in order to be able to focus on Him.

Which is great. And then I get a link by email from the good folks at SermonSpice, who are great providers of really telling video material. And they have a challenging clip relating to Lent, and to the idea of fasting.

So – this one is directed at me, myself. Oh – and at my friend Julie as well – since she’s just got a new phone too!

A well-travelled parcel

2011-03-01T20:17:00.001Z

Well this is all very exciting. A couple of weeks ago we ordered a new laptop – from Lenovo, who took over the laptop business of IBM. I knew they were a Chinese company, and I was intrigued to notice that every time I spoke to them on the phone I got someone who spoke with an Irish accent. Their European Sales HQ is actually in Paris.

Eventually I received an email telling me that my laptop had been completed, and was on its way. I rang again, to find out how long that might take, as there was no delivery date, and I thought it might perhaps take a day or two from Ireland. The nice Irish guy gave me a UPS tracking number. And I’ve been spellbound ever since as I’ve watched the progress of my laptop – all the way from China. Here’s the tracking details so far (read from the bottom up):

Location	Date	Local Time	Activity
Warsaw, Poland	01/03/2011	18:41	Arrival Scan
Almaty, Kazakhstan	01/03/2011	18:28	Departure Scan
	01/03/2011	15:59	Arrival Scan
Incheon, Korea, Republic of	01/03/2011	12:35	Departure Scan
Castle Donnington, United Kingdom	28/02/2011	23:48	Package data processed by brokerage Waiting for clearance
	28/02/2011	23:48	Package data processed by brokerage Waiting for clearance / Released by clearing agency Now in-transit for delivery
Incheon, Korea, Republic of	01/03/2011	8:37	Arrival Scan
Shanghai, China	01/03/2011	6:05	Departure Scan
Shanghai, China	28/02/2011	20:15	Export Scan
	28/02/2011	19:34	Hub Scan
China	26/02/2011	6:22	Order Processed: Ready for UPS

Four countries, 20 hours and 5737 miles so far, and still another 931 miles to go. I’m amazed that there is any profit for anyone in all this! More to the point – all this is being done by air transport, and road in between. 7000 miles of travel just to get a laptop to me. Is it any wonder that many people feel we’re using the world’s resources too quickly? Have we just got used to everything being so cheap that we’re underestimating what all this really costs?

The world across the sea…

2011-02-18T09:11:00.001Z

[Warning – rant follows!]

I’ve just received what sounds like a wonderful invitation. In return for me doing a whole lot of free advertising (in blogs, twitter and Facebook), an otherwise eminently respectable Christian publishing house is letting me enter their wonderful competition. And the more I tweet, the more entries I get.

Prizes look great too – a free makeover for my church website. Software for Bible study – and there’s another rant coming about that, too – and worship backgrounds. Loads of good stuff.

Even the product that is being promoted looks interesting – although it doesn’t exist just yet; it’s technically ‘vapourware’. I’m deliberately using UK spellings throughout this rant – you’ll see why in a moment. I may well refer to things like ‘colour’, ‘favour’ and ‘licence’ just to make the point.

I’ll link to the product – just once – so you know what I’m on about. But please don’t start blogging about the competition; it only encourages them.

Why am I so cross? Because yet again – and this rant is about a different company – I’m being invited to enter a competition which is open to residents of the US and Canada only. And the only way to know this is to read that very small print in the ‘Terms & Conditions’ page that everybody skips.

The world does not end once you leave the 50 states!

It’s not as if it was difficult to send prizes to countries outside the US – most of the companies involved in giving prizes will happily ship anywhere in the world, and many of the prizes can be delivered electronically.

I know – there are probably laws governing this kind of thing. But for goodness sake – do the honest thing and put the exclusions somewhere obvious! emails like this have the opposite effect for me from the one intended; I’ll be inclined to recommend almost any product other than this one, even if it turns out to be good!

[/rant]

Customer Care?

2011-02-09T23:07:00.001Z

So – I’d emailed a complaint to a software company. If I’m honest, I was having a bit of a rant. It gets me hot under the collar when US based companies invite me to enter competitions (in this case, to win an iPad – cool!) and then when I’ve completed their questionnaire I get told that ‘only residents of the US are eligible.’ Here’s my rant:

So - yet another internationally advertised
promotion with a prize that is only available to
US residents. Do you have any idea how irritating
that is? Please stop doing this! I'd love to win
an iPad; it's the only way I'll get one. But I'm
not going to be able to do it this way, am I!

I get a reply which, while polite, is entirely irrelevant:

Thank you for contacting SugarSync Customer Care.
To be able to win the iPAD, you should be a resident of the US. If you are resident of US, I will forward the suggestion to the product management.

So I thought that merited another email, wondering if my Customer Care person had actually read my rant. And in response I (today) received the most wonderfully worded apology. Which I really feel deserves a much wider circulation – please feel free to share it with your friends. I promise I have not altered a single letter of this – it is exactly what I received:

Hello,

Thank you for contacting SugarSync Customer Care.

I apologize for the mail which you have received regarding the promotional offer. Actually our systems send the mails to the customers without our intimation. I am sorry for the incontinence that is been caused by us.

Please let me know if this resoles your
Regards,

I do believe my regards have been completely resoled by their incontinence, with or without their intimation. God bless computer translation programs!

The Nativity

2010-12-23T20:36:00.001Z

Watched the final episode tonight. And was struck by one detail. Mary and Joseph couldn’t find a place to stay – and the BBC decided that the reason for that was the scandal associated with Mary’s condition. Fair enough – that’s one reasonable line to take. At least we didn’t have a string of inn-keepers. But here’s the detail. Mary goes into labour, and Joseph – still riddled with doubts – tries desperately to find some help for Mary. And no-one will help. By implication, for the same reason they can’t find a room.

Let me jump ahead. Mary traditionally wears a vivid blue shawl. It’s her signature garment. And up until this point she’s had a serviceable brown headscarf. Joseph does find help – eventually. And the headscarf gets used to wrap the infant. So what does Mary wear now?

She’s given the headscarf by the woman who does come in to help. Who is a middle-aged woman, wearing brighter than average clothing, and who has clearly seen plenty of life. With bangles around her wrists and ankles.

The BBC have done a brilliant thing. The midwife who helps deliver the Son of God; who dresses the Virgin Mary in her own blue headscarf? She’s a prostitute. She helps, where all the other women refuse.

I don’t know if they did that deliberately. Or maybe I’m reading too much into the details, and I’ve seen something that isn’t there. But it’s how it struck me – and if the scriptwriters did that on purpose, then I applaud them. After all – it would be such a Jesus-like thing to happen.

Get yourself connected

2010-11-27T17:05:00.001Z

Thought I would post some details of the work we’ve been doing on the platform area at Church. We wanted to clear some space – so we’ve removed the remaining Choir pew, together with the panel that went in front. We’ve levelled the platform – the rear part of it – and we’re in the process of locating power and audio connection points in floorboxes around this new area.

Two bits of work needed doing. The monitor mixes needed to be split – I’ve built a small box to do just that:

And the floorboxes needed plates making with XLR connectors on them:

The large holes – for the XLR connectors and the cable outlet grommets – were all cut with Q-max hole punches

A wonderful piece of kit which cuts beautifully clean holes in sheet metal. And it’s had to work hard – cutting 36 24mm holes for XLR connectors. Unfortunately, although the joiner who did the work on the platform has done a beautiful job – check out his website here – the same can not be said for the electricians, who shall remain nameless, but who have bodged and mangled there way through the last few days. Hope we can sort it all out before the folk come to cover it with carpet!

Bread of Heaven?

2010-10-20T17:22:00.001+01:00

I know it’s always Angela who does the foodie blogging. But she urged me to blog about the holiday bread-making myself, so I shall.

One of the most relaxing aspects of a break from church work is the opportunity to have time to cook. And I do love baking bread – not with a machine, but the simplicity of doing it by hand; kneading, proving, knocking back and so on. So I’ve made a couple of sundried tomato loaves, and they came out rather well. Here’s one of them, sliced so you can see the texture.

It’s a really nice flavour – savoury, and goes really well with cheese. It’s an ordinary bread dough, with some of the oil from a jar of sundried tomatoes used as the oil. And a bit of tomato paste – or even ketchup – to give the bread that slightly pink tinge. Give it a go!

Manuel Gonzales Pavez

2010-10-16T16:58:00.001+01:00

THE world may have been waiting for a glimpse of Luis Urzua, the last miner to emerge from the Chilean mine to a hero's welcome, but to the trapped men, a real hero was Manuel Gonzalez, the first rescuer to venture down into their hellhole.

Mr Gonzalez, a rescue expert with state copper company Codelco, was a guinea pig, riding the Phoenix II capsule down to the shelter where he was mobbed by the miners, elated over their first outside human contact in 10 weeks.
His arrival signalled that their nightmare was ending. ''That's when they realised that they were all going to get out,'' he said afterwards.

When Luis Urzua, the shift foreman, rode the capsule to freedom, fame and the world's cheers for the salvation of all 33 miners, he thanked many of the rescuers at the top.
But six from the team remained far below.

They quickly unfurled a banner which brought celebrations to a frenzy: ''Mision cumplida (Mission accomplished).''

One by one they then rode up to the surface, leaving Mr Gonzalez alone for about 45 minutes to contemplate the rock shelter that easily could have been the miners' tomb.

Mr Gonzalez finally climbed into the capsule to follow his fellow rescuers to the surface, and as he reached the top the emotional team launched into a chant: ''Manuel Gonzalez Pavez, hero of the 33!''

President Pinera, who had stayed at the mine throughout the 22-hour operation to welcome each rescued miner, was on hand to greet him. ''The job is done,'' Mr Gonzalez told the national leader. (this report © AFP)

There's another man who rescued those who were lost and cut off. Not by 700 meters of rock, but by our accumulated weight of wrongdoing. Not from daylight - from the light of God's love and grace.
Just like the miners, we were incapable of rescuing ourselves. We too could manage to make a good job of surviving, but we were still trapped. We couldn't ascend to God - He needed to send a man to rescue us.

This man's arrival indicated that we were not forgotten, and wouldn't be abandoned. His arrival was the sign of hope, showing us that we would eventually be free.

And just like Manuel Gonzales, this man chose to put himself at risk for the sake of our freedom. And he wouldn't consider his own safety until each and every one of the lost was rescued.

He came to be where we are, that we might be where He was.

Unlike Manuel Gonzales, he not only risked death - he experienced death. But just like Manuel Gonzales, on the third day he returns. Manuel Gonzales, just before he ascended back up the escape shaft for the final time, said that it had been hard being separated from his family - even for quite a short time - 'but it was worth it, because we finally got this done.'

And Jesus said, as he gave up his spirit on the Cross, 'It is accomplished.' - 'We finally got this done.'

All together now…

2010-09-28T16:58:00.001+01:00

I’m at the BU Refresher conference – as are rather a number of other Baptist Bloggers, including Jim Gordon, Nick Lear, Geoff Colmer, new guy Chris Duffett and Julie Aylward. As usual here at The Hayes, we’re over-fed and under-exercised, but the teaching input has been great – excellent sessions from Jon Stannard, reminding us that pain is a necessary part of the ministry to which we’ve been called, and from Anna Robbins on cultural atheism and cultural nihilism. Can’t remember the last time that an extended quote from Nietsche featured in a meeting that I attended!

All the food – good though it is – got me to wondering. We see people on the streets on Friday and Saturday nights, wobbling around because they’ve drunk too much. Others suffer from eating disorders. Do Baptist ministers suffer from Binge Thinking? A few days away each year when we think and reflect like crazy, and then we come home, throw some of it up over our poor, suffering congregations, and then put the brain away for another few months, and get back to just doing the ordinary work.

If that seems familiar – and I suspect I’m guilty of it – then maybe I need to find a better way of consuming. Maybe I need to eat less, more regularly (“Amen!” shouts Mrs A. “Quiet dear – I’m being metaphorical!”)

Time to sleep off a few calories before the next session!

Follow up…

2010-05-23T08:18:00.001+01:00

A week or so ago we went into Leicester. Angela reports: “Bob bought two large buckets [for the Family Service] Unfortunately they did not fit into the panniers or the top box. So...

Apparently at least one person took a photo on their mobile phone!

I have to say the journey home was scary - but only because I was convinced that a million insects would be attracted to the yellow colour and zoom inside. [Actually only one fly managed it] The worst part was the magnification of the engine and road noise.”

Seemed worth re-posting after the previous post!

Bob of the week!

2010-05-19T13:06:00.001+01:00

You really do have to go over to Innocent Smoothie’s webpage – as I’m their ‘Bob of the Week’ this week! If you can’t quite make out the picture, I’ve repeated it here:

And the text reads:

This week’s Bob of the Week is Liz’s dad. To his parishioners, he is Pastor Bob but in leather clad outlaw circles, he’s known as Biker Bob. Here he is, wondering where to hang the weekly shop.

Thanks to daughter Liz for making me famous for 15 minutes!

Creative Challenge

2010-05-06T18:33:00.001+01:00

Picked up some copies of the 2010 BU Directory at Assembly. Swish new design:

In fact, I was so taken with the possibilities of the design that I immediately took a Sharpie to mine, and personalised it:

But I’m sure you can do better! Why not send me a photo (revbobuk@gmail.com) and I’ll award a prize to the best. My decision final, etc. Or include it in a comment. I’ll be looking for the design that makes the most creative use of the grid!

Yet another Baptist Assembly post

2010-05-05T14:20:00.001+01:00

Loads of people have blogged about Assembly this year. There’s a list here. And for the most part it has been really well received. I enjoyed Assembly too – usually do, mostly. But there’s something I don’t understand, and I rather dislike.

All too often there’s an undercurrent of ‘if only Baptist Assembly would reflect my style better’ about some of the posts. And one or two are quite unpleasant about it. One blog that described folk raising hands in worship as ‘giving a Nazi-style salute’.

And yet often one of the aspects of Assembly that people applaud is the variety of different voices. I liked some parts better than others. Prism doesn’t do it for me, and I get a lot from a more didactic approach. But I wouldn’t want Assembly to dump Prism just because I don’t ‘get it’ – plenty of folk do.

And that even extends to the main ‘opinions’ expressed. I disagree profoundly with some of them; but love the fact that people that I think are nutcases still make it onto the platform. My list of nutcases and bizarre opinions will not match your list, of that I am sure.

So maybe we would be wiser to laud the great bits – for me, as for almost every other commentator, Anne Wilkinson-Hayes’ Bible Study was quite superb, and gave me a lot to think through – and hold back on the brickbats.

The privilege of preaching

2010-04-20T09:19:00.001+01:00

Started two new series last Sunday – I’m looking at Christian maturity in ‘From Milk to Meat’ with the morning congregation, and ‘Living in the Last Days’ in the evenings. Both thematic, which doesn’t often happen, but the ‘maturity’ theme is one which has been on our agenda as a church for a little while, and I just felt like doing the other!

And all went well, and there was a sense of appropriateness about the timing. In the evening especially, as I was preaching about the way that believers should deal with death, and we’d just heard about the death of John Lovell, who had been a member of this church for many years.

John has been a deacon, has contributed enormously to the upkeep of the buildings, being of a very practical disposition, and has also worked for many years on the Holiday Club staff. He was a man of great integrity and openness, always prepared to speak the difficult truth, someone who always lived what he believed. It has been an honour and a privilege to work alongside him, and on many occasions he’s helped me to see things in a different light.

And I was reminded that what we see as coincidences are so often just the supreme wisdom of a loving God, who really does ‘work all things together.’

God is a great God – I cut down a load of tree branches yesterday, and they’re just lying on the grass this morning. Providing a perfect oppo rtunity for this guy to watch me at work. I know there’s nothing rare about a robin – but God didn’t have to make a world this beautiful. Just imagine – if this world isn’t yet ‘made perfect’, how incredible it will be when it is!

A Church full of people who speak to strangers…

2010-04-15T18:03:00.001+01:00

There’s a great story on Simon Jones’ blog today that I think every Christian should read.

Anne came for prayer, feeling that she had nothing to offer, that God was distant and that she didn’t amount to anything. She’s not a sophisticated woman. She struggles with poor health, but she remains as active as she can be. After we’d prayed briefly and generally, she told me this story.
One day she was at the bus stop by the crematorium in her town. She often speaks to people at bus stops, so when she saw a slightly dishevelled elderly man, she asked if he was all right. He said he was visiting the memorial for his wife who had died recently…

What really got me steamed up about this story – and I completely agree with Simon’s conclusions – is that there exists somewhere in this nation a Church leader who is advising his people ‘not to talk to strangers but do something useful in the church instead.’ What? Is he completely stupid? What world does he inhabit? In the dependable words of Charlie Brown - ‘Good Grief.’

Thankyou to all those folks who prayed for me following the ‘blessing’ I took for Alan and June. Alan died just before Easter, and we had his funeral today – with the pipes of the Seaforth Highlanders Regimental Association Pipes & Drums and representatives from the British Legion as well. The folks at Aylesham Court, where Alan was resident, have been a great support to them both.

Cybermen on holiday?

2010-04-12T23:02:00.001+01:00

Cyberman on holiday looking for bargains in a charity shop?

Can you think of a caption for this? I’d be delighted to have suggestions!

A bit of an old lag

2010-04-06T18:49:00.001+01:00

Just finished adding extra loft insulation – many thanks to Homebase for the really cheap offer on their rolls of insulation. It’s an exhausting job, but I hope now I’ll never have to do it again!

I’ve got a temperature sensing datalogger, Which I’ll leave here at Cornerstones to monitor the rate of heat loss. So if you come to stay, I hope you’ll find the place nice and toasty warm!

We’ve used this:

It’s really cheap – about £4 a roll – and does a great job.

Website help

2010-03-31T09:34:00.001+01:00

I’ve just been asked to help with a new website for a Christian organisation – won’t say which one just yet. But here’s the thing. I don’t want to give myself a job for life maintaining this site – so I’m looking for a solution that is easy to keep up to date.

Wordpress is one simple option – but it does still (in my opinion) need a tech-savvy person to keep an eye on it, as it does need updating from time to time, and there are plug-ins to be monitored. And underneath the skin, it is quite complex.

Using Dreamweaver along with Contribute is another possibility – but then changing the site’s appearance is again complex, and there’s a substantial investment in software. And everyone who will create content needs Contribute – so that’s costly.

At present I’m leaning towards one of the ‘managed’ services. There are some specifically ‘Church’ oriented ones, like ChurchEdit. And there are others which are more general purpose.

High on my list just now is Moonfruit, and I’m setting up a trial site to see how easy it would be to do what I want.

But I would be delighted to hear from other people of their experiences!

Always a vicar!

2010-03-25T20:25:00.001Z

The Leicester Mercury managed to report the blessing I did yesterday – you can read their report here – but you’ll notice that, as usual with the press, I’ve become ‘a vicar’!

Never saw that coming…

2010-03-24T17:14:00.001Z

In the great list of ‘things they never prepared me for in Bible College…

(I should explain – I never expected to be ‘prepared for everything’ by Spurgeon’s; I think College was more about making sure that the foundations – the biblical disciplines and way of thinking and acting – were properly in place, rather than covering everything that might come up. And that, I believe, they did really well.)

…today’s events would have to come pretty high up. A phone call at noon from one of our local Care Homes. A resident, who had been about to marry another resident, is close to death. Would I come and pray? Of course the answer is yes, so I say I’ll be there in 30 minutes.

Change my shirt, shave, grab a bible, and make sure I’ve got my phone with me. I’m a little disconcerted when I get to the Care Home to hear the very distinctive sound of bagpipes from within. And when I get inside, to be greeted by a piper in full regalia.

And that’s when the family explain that not only was the chap going to be married; he was due to be married today, and the registrar had declined to perform the service, as he wasn’t really able to make the appropriate responses. But would I conduct a blessing?

The decision wasn’t hard to make – I don’t see Jesus declining to bless people who genuinely seek him – but coming up with an appropriate set of words was a bit more of a challenge!

I’m glad I thought to involve the gathered family – quite a few of them, including several younger (I guess) granddaughters or great-granddaughters dressed as bridesmaids. They said their ‘We Do’ really well, despite many tears. And all in all, the impromptu service went well. But please – if you read this, remember to pray for Alan and June, and the family and staff at the Care Home.

The bagpipes? Alan loved the pipes, so they had arranged for three pipers to come and mark the wedding – so after the blessing, they squeezed into the tiny little room, and played away. Deafening – and I guess you must need Gaelic genes to really like the pipes!

Tools – update

2010-03-23T10:17:00.001Z

Thanks for the helpful comments. If they are useful, please feel free to download the PowerPoint versions – these have animation built in, so be prepared to click if nothing seems to be happening!

I’d appreciate it if you let me know if you make use of these – just an email to revbobuk@gmail.com would be nice. But there are no restrictions.

PowerPoint file

PowerPoint slideshow

Please note that these are Office 2007 files.

Pride (In the Name of Love)

2010-03-23T09:07:00.001Z

Well – the title is just an excuse to post the video – still think this is one of the finest rock songs ever. But it’s the ‘Pride’ bit that struck me today.

Had a great time with Scott Williamson last night – very moving pictures of the work they’ve been doing in Cusco and the surrounding areas, especially in the aftermath of the flooding there.

And as Scott was talking about the little ‘Cafe Iglesias’ that he’s leading, he was clearly really proud of this new community of the Kingdom, and really keen to be back with them.

Pride is one of those words that Christians avoid. Partly because we have a sneaking suspicion that all pride of any kind is sinful; partly because pride is one of those words in the process of being hijacked to serve a political purpose - ‘Pride march’ means only one thing these days.

Pride springs from desire. Man aspires to obtain a place for himself that he may feel honoured before men. He loves to hear praising voices and considers them just and true. He also attempts to elevate himself in his work, whether in preaching or in writing, for his secret self motive goads him on. In a word, this one has not yet died to his desire of vainglory. He is still seeking what he desires and what can inflate him.

Watchman Nee

But it seems clear to me that churches that are healthy are churches where the people who make up that church are proud (in the best sense) of what the church is. Yet all too often we put our energy into bemoaning the deficiencies of ‘the church’ rather than celebrating its imperfect splendour.

I happen to think the Church I pastor is brilliant. It’s caring, welcoming, compassionate and loving. It values the gospel, seeks to live it out, and declares it whenever it can. That’s not my accomplishment; all the glory for that belongs to the Holy Spirit.

We’re not perfect. There are plenty of things we don’t do well, and could do better. But God works through imperfection and weakness, so I’m not too worried about that. My prayer is that we remain humble enough to learn, conscious enough of our own shortcomings to change eagerly wherever we need to change – but that we remain proud of the kingdom community God is making us into.

Useful tools?

2010-03-21T09:03:00.001Z

Spent some time yesterday working on a chart which we’re hoping will help us identify ‘missing areas’ in our ministries. So I thought that I would share them here.

The basic idea is the recasting of the ‘Engels scale’ as an arrow – that discipleship is a process, which may or may not include a number of crises, but that we move in general from being out of touch with God through a time of questioning to some kind of response, and then through an increasing level of belonging and contributing until we reach the point where we not only minister, but we help others along the same path.

Of course it isn’t as simple or as linear as that – people have detours, go backwards as well as forwards, and often seem to jump from one end to the other. But it’s a helpful tool for understanding where our ministries fit – for we should be making contact with people who are at every phase of this journey.

So here’s the first arrow:

Which indicates those stages. And then we look at what kind of activity is required from the church at each of those stages:

And finally (and this one you will need to work out for yourself) we can locate our own church’s activities along that same line:

The whole document is available here as a PDF file – if you want something editable, you’ll have to leave a comment, and I’ll get in touch. I prepared the graphic using DrawPlus X2 from Serif.

All printed out…

2010-03-19T10:04:00.001Z

It’s been a mammoth effort getting them all done, but the print-fest of the last few days is over. Handbills for the ‘Awakening’ event on Easter Sunday evening – looking forward to this, Ben – and stencils for the big banner I’m doing.

Now I have to hope and pray that the congregation rises to the challenge, and gets down to inviting people. If you haven’t looked yet, pleas check out the Facebook ‘Event’ page for it, and take a look at the video clips.

And then there was printing the manual for the Roland M400 mixer I hope to be hiring for an event later in the year, so I know how to work it.

And that turned out to involve re-filling all four cartridges on the printer – even the black cartridge I had refilled last week. Why? Because all the handbills and posters for ‘Awakening’ are white on black, and they had chewed through the toner at amazing speed!

Perks!

2010-03-17T09:16:00.001Z

Had an amazing evening last night – Mike Howitt (Leicester Christian Praise) took me along as a guest to the ‘Inspire’ Men’s Christian Dining Club – an opportunity to eat a good meal, and listen to a speaker talking about his/her life experience.

So – first, the meal. The event is held in the ‘Taste’ restaurant at Leicester College – and the students on the (highly respected) Hospitality and Catering course there are the chefs. Here’s the menu:

Avocado, Vanilla poached Fig & Goat’s Cheese Salad

Home churned Pomegranate sorbet

Rump of Lamb, marinated in Rosemary & Garlic; Dauphinoise Potatoes, with a Port & Redcurrant sauce; Roasted vegetables

Baked American White Cheesecake with a Berry compote

It was quite superb – beautifully cooked, and very professionally presented. Even the coffee was good – and you know how much of a snob I am when it comes to coffee.

Then on to the speaker, who was Ally Kay, Director of Derby City Mission, former soldier with the French Foreign Legion, and co-ordinator of Derby City Street Pastors. He took us on a journey through his life – and a powerful story it was too. Really inspiring evening. And a group I’d recommend to anyone looking to introduce a friend to faith in a way that is free from ‘cringe’! There are contact details on the group’s website

Am I my Brother MFC9450’s keeper?

2010-03-13T09:11:00.001Z

Well, yes I am. The Church here generously replaced my array of inkjet printers with a very nice colour multifunction laser, as in the title. And as with most of these devices, the toner cartridges with which it is supplied are only part-filled – they’re the same as the regular ones (retail price around £85 each) but only do about 1000 copies.

I selected the Brother printer because it is easy to refill the cartridges – I get supplies from Toner TopUp – all you have to do is lever out a plug in the end of the cartridge and pour in new toner. And I refilled the black cartridge yesterday. But the instructions say that you should first empty out the remaining toner, which I did.

I was appalled by the amount that I threw away! So before I do a set of instructions for the refilling, I suggest that you start by resetting the little gear wheel that tells the printer that it is time for a refill – the ‘HL-4040 Flag Gear’

First – remove the toner cartridge from the tray. Pretty, aren’t they? I’m going to do the Magenta, but all 4 are the same.

Here’s the cartridge out and on the desk. That magenta coloured roller on the left is covered in toner – don’t touch it, you will get covered in pink dust. The end cover on the cartridge is secured by two screws – here’s my hand as I remove them!

(You can always click on the picture to see it larger)

And then carefully ease the cover off, leaving the parts underneath in place. Here’s a slightly blurred picture of those internal workings.

The grey wheel on the right is the Flag Gear – it’s kept in place by a spring. Move the spring out of the way, lift the gear on its shaft, and turn it back (clockwise) by about 3/4 of a turn. How much isn’t all that important, as the toner will run out before too long, and you’ll be doing this all over again. Make sure the gear is pushed back down on its shaft, and the spring is back in place before refitting the end cover. And you are done!

L’Chaim!

2010-03-09T09:06:00.001Z

Utterly unrelated to anything theological – or is it?

I was given a bottle of this:

It’s Genesis Ale, from the Schmaltz Brewing Company. Beer? Average – a Pale Ale, rather hoppy, a bit sweet. Marketing? Brilliant. ‘Chutzpah never tasted so good!’ ‘After 5000 years of civilisation, finally a microbeer with the chutzpah to call itself The Chosen Beer.’

Undone by Barth?

2010-03-09T08:43:00.001Z

Just finished reading Will Willimon’s book on Preaching – a short volume in which he reflects on the pressure to be ‘fresh’ or ‘new’ in preaching on the familiar stories of Easter – and, by implication and extension, on the pressure to be always ‘novel’ in our preaching generally.

Along the way he has a go at a number of contemporary US preachers – Joel Osteen, Rick Warren and the like – who indulge in what he calls ‘PowerPoint Preaching’ – the ‘Six God-given ways to improve your cashflow’ kind of sermons.

It’s kind of fun to read – but too easy a target to be worthy of someone like Willimon. Much more interesting is his discussion of time, and his understanding of the status of preaching. God’s time and ours are very different, and the world’s time – an orderly, managed progression towards death – is constantly striving to assert itself in the life of the church. God’s time appears to us to be anarchic, revolutionary, unpredictable. And the preacher needs to be reflecting that.

Willimon follows Barth very closely in his understanding of the primacy of the spoken word. And indeed he does that without bothering with any kind of justification – he simply asserts that Christ walks among the congregation as we preach; that the preached word, rather than the written word, is to be normative.

Which raises all kinds of questions. I guess if you are a bishop, then you get used to asserting things and having people listen.

I found the book full of contradictions. Willimon despises the church for selling out to modernity. He urges us to return to some traditional practices. But he also despises the fundamentalists for their failure to understand the scriptures. He asserts the highest status for preaching – but then makes it clear that by that he means good preaching – his preaching. It is (I say kindly) an arrogant book, in which Willimon speaks from above, taking pride in the strides he has made during his preaching career.

But it is also a stimulating book, with some timely reminders of the real dangers of novelty. Overall? I decree that this book is a 7/10. And woe betide anyone who disagrees with me, especially Rick Warren!

The Pomo shuffle

2010-03-05T20:02:00.001Z

Read a fascinating article today on the ‘Philosophy Now’ website (I’m curious – just why exactly is the ‘now’ in italics?)

The article in question is by Dr. Alan Kirby and is about the death of Postmodernism. It’s from 2006, but I hadn’t read it before – and it appears that I’m not alone. He makes some interesting points, and his closing paragraph is beautifully phrased:

This pseudo-modern world, so frightening and seemingly uncontrollable, inevitably feeds a desire to return to the infantile playing with toys which also characterises the pseudo-modern cultural world. Here, the typical emotional state, radically superseding the hyper-consciousness of irony, is the trance – the state of being swallowed up by your activity. In place of the neurosis of modernism and the narcissism of postmodernism, pseudo-modernism takes the world away, by creating a new weightless nowhere of silent autism. You click, you punch the keys, you are ‘involved’, engulfed, deciding. You are the text, there is no-one else, no ‘author’; there is nowhere else, no other time or place. You are free: you are the text: the text is superseded.

What interests me is that both Kirby’s ‘Pseudo-Modernism’ and indeed Postmodernism itself are, in my opinion, parasitic upon modernity – that is, they require and feed upon an underlying body. They require all the advances in technology that have created consumerist culture and that have then created the internet. They demand the instant communication that electronic means produce. It’s only in today's technological world that the Global Village could emerge. Kirby alludes to the ‘mash-up’ process – gathering snippets from here, there and everywhere. But without the internet, nothing like this would exist.

And this technological body upon which pomo and pseudo-mo feed is resolutely modern. It isn’t, it seems to me, the ubiquity of the global market, but the power of the scientific worldview in areas of technological progress. The creator of the reality TV show and the religious fundamentalist alike expect their mobile phones to work just as the scientist says they should, even though they may not understand how; may not even accept the axioms which the scientist relies upon in order to create that phone. The scientific progress upon which our philosophy turns is essentially modernist – and it has steamrollered the postmodern challenge to its validity by just simply being more successful.

You may well tell me that science itself isn’t what it was – that it’s no longer ‘logical positivism’, but with the advance of the new physics, of quantum and string theory and more, that it is itself deeply converted to postmodernism. But there’s a world of difference between the precise formulaic uncertainty of Heisenberg and the cloud of unknowing of Derrida. Heisenberg and the quantum physicists know exactly what they do not know; Derrida has no idea!

So I’m where I have been for a while now. Postmodernism is a conceit, an indulgence. It’s the intellectual fancy of a few, as they sit in the elegant salon of a beautiful cruise liner, kept afloat by a system of beliefs they reject and despise.

However, having said all that – when it comes to the thought patterns of our present-day world, we’re quite capable of living that kind of lie – of believing that everything is relative and that there is no meta-narrative, and simultaneously communicating that opinion to all our friends via Twitter upon our iPhones – which work because other people don’t believe what we do. Isn’t it just cognitive dissonance? We can live in post-modernity even when postmodernism is dead.

All of which is a rather indigestible lump, coming as it does after an extended blog-fast! For which apologies, and I hope some of that rant makes sense!

Face to Facebook

2009-12-15T16:21:00.001Z

Facebook is a great site, and I love being able to stay in touch with people. But there are also risks associated with being socially networked. And care is needed!

I’ve mentioned this guide before, from the folks at AllFaceBook. But as Facebook has recently updated it’s privacy settings, and the authors have revised it, I thought I would give it another plug.

So – if you want to know that your Facebook account is set up the way you want it, and the people you choose are seeing the things you want them to see, then go and read the article carefully, and implement the changes they suggest.

If you register with them, they’ll send you a downloadable version of the article – no charge – which I won’t post here, as you really should go and check out the whole of their website. Be careful out there among them English!

Music to celebrate with.

2009-12-14T12:41:00.001Z

A few other folk in the blogosphere have been tagging each other with bits of music that makes you ‘stand still in wonder’. I’ve not been tagged, but I’m going to share a piece that I’ve just encountered that made me stand still and wonder.

It’s on the ‘Musicademy’ blog, and you really will sense some of the true wonder of the season when you listen. I suggest you sit down before you listen!

On the subject of amazement: Engadget is always a great source of unusual, cutting edge ideas for gadget gifts. But I confess I was taken aback by this:

An iPhone holder to attach to your buggy! As Charlie Brown would certainly have added: ‘Good grief!’

Hospitality?

2009-12-13T15:42:00.001Z

I’ve been following the story of the Vogelenzangs in the news. The last report from the BBC makes interesting reading, as it seems to imply that the situation wasn’t quite as clear-cut as earlier reports.

Benjamin and Sharon Vogelenzang were accused of launching a tirade against Ericka Tazi at the Bounty House Hotel in Aintree, Liverpool, in March.

The couple had denied using threatening, abusive or insulting words which were religiously aggravated.

And at first it looked as if the couple had harangued a guest for her Muslim beliefs. Such, indeed was the understanding of odious journalist Rod Liddle in the Times this Sunday:

What happened was more or less this. The born-again-Christian Volestranglers run a hotel in Liverpool called the Bounty House, which accepts lots of local authority bookings. Ericka Tazi, a Muslim convert, and her husband booked to stay there, on the advice of their local council. When they came to check out on the final morning, with Tazi wearing her headscarf, they were subjected to some sort of interrogation as to their religion. It was not conducted on a terribly elevated philosophical plane: “You Muslims, then? That Muhammad bloke, he was a warlord, he was, a right bad’un. They’re all terrorists?” Perhaps not those exact words but something to that effect, it seems.

Except that the reason the judge dismissed the case was that he did not believe that this was what had happened.

Let’s be clear. If Rod Liddle’s version of events were to be accurate, then I would share his indignation. And I would want to say more than just ‘thinking, moderate Christians don’t behave like this’ – I would want to say ‘as one of the fanatical, evangelistic, bible-believing nutcase Christians I consider such behaviour appalling.’

But it’s far from clear that his version is correct. Now I know Liddle has never allowed trivia like objectivity or accuracy to derail the journey to his opinions, but I’m glad the judge is blessed with a little more intelligence:

Explaining his reasons for dismissal, Judge Clancy said Mrs Tazi's claim that she was verbally attacked for up to an hour had not been backed up by the other witnesses.

He also said the language Mrs Tazi used in the exchange "did not quite form the same religious view" that was put to him on the stand.

Judge Clancy said: "I'm not satisfied on the facts that this case has been made out."

And I guess I shouldn’t expect anything other than invective like the Times article. The Times has long been in favour of Christianity only when it provides meaningless, conviction-free ritual, and tireless in its efforts to ridicule anything that looks as if it might intrude into reality. But it does confirm my conviction: we should be outstanding providers of hospitality to all, not just to those with whom we agree. Liddle shouldn’t be able to find a hook on which to hang his hate, for we should be above reproach. Hospitality matters, and must be even-handed.

You’re looking radiant!

2009-12-05T22:38:00.001Z

The local constabulary were camped out in our road yesterday, trying to encourage us all to mark our property with Smartwater ® so that if stuff does get nicked, then they know where it came from. And they had supplies at very low cost – so we’re doing just that.

But we felt very sorry for them, stuck in their van with no heater and no hot drinks – so we took them flasks of tea. And I rolled the bottle gas heater that I use in the garage down to help them keep warm.

Now this isn’t quite the right picture, but it’s pretty close. We’ve had this heater for years and years – and it is amazingly good. On full, it produces a huge amount of heat, and it will run for days on a single gas bottle. Even manages to warm up my garage on a cold winter’s day.

Glad to have warmed up a few coppers!

Christmas media

2009-12-05T12:57:00.002Z

Just a few moments peace in a hectic month.

One thing that has been good is searching for media content for the Christmas service.
Igniter Media have a really nice video clip which we'll use for most of our services as a 'welcome' this year ; take a look at their website for a preview - it's called 'We are here (Christmas)'.

And I've been learning a new song too - can't embed this particular Youtube video, but you can see it here; it's a Stuart Townend song, and really simple.

It's on his 'How deep' album - I've had to learn a few new barre chords!

Rushing into print…

2009-12-04T09:53:00.001Z

Had another of our ‘Men’s Group’ events last night – which either went well, or I’’m about to get the sack!

I suggested a film night, and then struggled to find just the right film. I thought I’d picked a good choice: ‘I love you, man!’

To quote IMDb – a great resource, by the way -

Friendless Peter Klaven goes on a series of man-dates to find a Best Man for his wedding. But when his insta-bond with his new B.F.F. puts a strain on his relationship with his fiancée, can the trio learn to live happily ever after?

The film was (I thought) a good discussion starter about men and their relationships. But it was also a little bit cruder than I had prepared for, and you never quite know how other people will respond. Especially when the bulk of the people present are church folk!

One interesting thing that came from the film is that the two main characters share a love for the music of 'Rush’ – about whom I knew nothing. So (thanks again Spotify!) now I’m immersing myself in Canadian rock! Sound a bit like Deep Purple to me. But clearly three talented guys. Just reading the Wikipedia entry left me feeling exhausted!

So what would you pick as a good choice of film for a Men’s Group? Love to know…

Wild Card!

2009-10-10T09:15:00.001+01:00

The Michael Card concert last night superb – in the end well attended, with around 140 there; but much more than a concert, this was challenging, a great evening of teaching, and everyone there was drawn in to the presence of Jesus.

Michael really is a humble man, a very natural guy, no ‘airs and graces’ at all. The songs were great, and in the gaps between he effortlessly incorporated some powerful teaching points – showing the way that people who came to follow Jesus left something behind; setting out so clearly in just a few words that Jesus came not just as a servant but as a slave to free those in slavery, and to show us that he could deliver us from the apparent freedom we have, which is really enslavement, and bring us to become slaves under his yoke – which is perfect freedom. A great evening.

Which it might not have been without such a splendid team here. Huge thanks to Lynda, whose commitment to this concert has kept us all on track, despite some hiccups; and with her to Jan and Carol. To Sophie, who has been a superb (and always cheerful) administrator throughout the summer months. Thanks to all those who prepared food, both as concert interval refreshments and for Michael and his team.

Thanks to Bob, Geoff and David, the FOH crew, who made sure cars were parked without mishap and folk were welcomed in from the rain. Thanks to Mike, whose help and understanding as the Church sound system was dismantled and concealed was invaluable.

A big thankyou to Ben Marshall, who helped us out of a tight spot – when the budget seemed to be spiralling out of control, he offered real practical assistance, and we were able to have a good digital mixer in place for the concert, which made a huge difference both to the sound and to the ease with which Mike’s sound guy got set up.

And I’m sure I’ve missed people. So thanks to everyone else who helped!

All is not what it xeems

2009-10-08T20:33:00.001+01:00

Years ago – actually, back in my Gillingham days (see a previous post for more about that) – I did the EE (Evangelism Explosion) course, and enjoyed it very much. EE is a teaching programme which helps ordinary folk by giving them a structure for presenting the gospel to their friends. The ‘classic’ EE begins with 2 key questions:

If you were to die tonight, could you say for certain that you would go to heaven?
Suppose you were to die today and stand before God and He were to say to you, "Why should I let you into My heaven?" what would you say?

I’ve felt for some while now that these questions just don’t make contact with people any more. Most of the non-Christian folk I meet start much further back - ‘Is there a God? Does God care about me?’ And there is no common assumption that ethical and moral issues connect with the nature of God. Heaven, to quote those 20th Century philosophers Rick Nowels and Ellen Shipley, is a place on earth.

So it’s exciting to see EE responding to those concerns, by recasting the course in a more relational form. An Australian initiative, XEE is EE for Generation X (!) – but ignore the media-sensitive tagging; it actually looks quite good, if still a little programmatic. I’m going to investigate a little more, and I’ll offer you all my opinions later!

Dear Prudence…

2009-10-06T10:09:00.001+01:00

It’s been rather heartening to have had so many messages of encouragement following our recent minor break-in. Facebook clearly has its uses! (By the way – if you want to keep in touch with us through Facebook, I’ve added a link to the sidebar over there>>>>)

But it has made me think about security. It’s a lot easier to talk about placing all our trust in Christ, finding our ultimate security in Him, than it is to do it.

I have insurance policies for my stuff, my home, my car, my motorbike, and even my life! I have indemnity cover to protect me if I do anything stupid at work, and I pay a sizeable chunk every month to provide for my future. I have locks on all my doors and windows, padlocks on gates, security lights in the garden, and alarms in the car, the garage and the house.

And let’s not get started on the security of my identity. I have more passwords than you can shake a stick at. (What is the origin of that expression?) And the hoops that I have to jump through to prove who I am to people on the telephone!

With all that in mind – where is my security really?

And what does this say about the things I value? If to value something is to invest time or money or effort in protecting it and keeping it safe, then the deduction to be made is that I value ‘stuff’ quite highly. Where is the boundary between faith and prudence to be found?

(I could start a whole new topic about Prudence. What has happened to her? Has Gordon dumped her? Did he ever really care for her, or was she just a passing fancy, to be discarded when she no longer appealed to him? And what does his wife Sarah feel about Prudence? Is he telling his children about Prudence? All this and so much more? We should be told!)

In case you’re interested…

2009-10-03T10:08:00.001+01:00

The Kirby Muxloe Free Church website (which takes much of my online effort) is worth checking out. We post sermons through Sermon.net and would recommend them.

The last post nearly had a discussion of Spurgeon’s approach to the printing of his sermons, until I discovered that I had completely mis-remembered it! So check out this great site about CHS and also remember to visit the website of my alma mater, Spurgeon’s College.

I’ve got multiple almae matres, if that’s possible. The other one would be The Queen’s College, Oxford. You should note that the Oxford college is the College of a singular Queen (founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield, and named in honour of his employer Queen Philippa – or to give her her full title, Philippa of Hainault, Queen Consort of Edward III of England.) The Cambridge college is usually written as “The Queens’ College”, conventionally because it was founded twice, by two different Queens. But the new guys can’t seem to make up their minds:

Everyone gets told that the name of Queens' College is spelt with the apostrophe after the final "s" because the College was founded by two Queens of England - first in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou (daughter of René of Anjou), wife of King Henry VI of England (the founder of King's College Cambridge), and secondly in 1465 by Elizabeth Woodville, wife of King Edward IV of England.

The use of the apostrophe in English to indicate the possessive is of no great antiquity. The earliest examples of the name of the College spelt with an apostrophe always have the apostrophe before the "s". The first example of the name of the College spelt with an apostrophe after the "s" was in 1823, in a printed and bound version of the form of service for the Commemoration of Benefactors, probably edited by G.C. Gorham.

The spelling changed from Queen's to Queens' in the calendar of 1831.

In Le Keux's Memorials of Cambridge, the author, writing about 1840, spells the name of the college as Queen's College, and appends a footnote:

“

A custom has arisen latterly of writing the name Queens' College, as being the foundation of two queens. This appears to us an unnecessary refinement. We have the authority of Erasmus against it, who always calls his college "Collegium Reginae".

"Reginae" is Latin for "of the Queen", in the singular.

Despite this complaint, the change of spelling to Queens' became well established in the 19th century.

The formal corporate title of the College is now:

The Queen's College of St Margaret and St Bernard, commonly called Queens' College, in the University of Cambridge.

which shows both forms of spelling. This is formally correct. The name of the college when qualified by the patron saints is spelt in the singular; the short-form name is spelt in the plural.

Ephemeral?

2009-10-03T09:49:00.001+01:00

cursory, ephemeral, evanescent, fading, flash in the pan, flitting, flying, fugacious, fugitive, impermanent, meteoric, momentary, passing, short, short-lived, sudden, temporary, transitory, vanishing, volatile?

This descent into the Thesaurus is the consequence of spending hours uploading sermons to our Church Website via the excellent sermon.net, which involves editing out all the musical material, normalising the volume, and adding date/time/scripture/title information. I’m getting quicker at this – although I do wonder why/how I’ve ended up with the job!

And it makes me wonder this wonder. How permanent is preaching meant to be? I have a high view of preaching; I do believe it to be a God-authenticated means of communicating the Spirit’s word for a particular situation. Even an exercise of the prophetic gift. But what happens when the sermon is written or recorded? It isn’t then the same creature – the event is different. It doesn’t become an epistle, nor even a book.

There is something essential about the ‘live’ nature of a sermon. Yet people are blessed, encouraged and helped. One lady recently talked to Angela about a recording of a sermon I’d preached, and said that she heard more in it than she did when she heard it live.

At the end of the discussion I suspect all that can be said is that God is sovereign, and uses whatever we offer just as he wants; but that’s a bit of a cop-out.

I guess my view is reflected in the half-hearted and chaotic approach I take to my sermon notes. They are scattered here and there. I’ve used books, loose-leaf files, at least four different note-taking programs. And I’d struggle reliably to locate any specific set of notes on a particular text. If I want to know what I said about 1 Samuel in June of 1998, I know exactly what I’d do – I’d ask Angela, who keeps notes!

So what do you do? And why do it at all? I’d love to know…

“But I never win anything!”

2009-09-23T14:11:00.001+01:00

Except that today I have! Great excitement – when I was at PLASA last week I had a long talk with the guy on the Canford Audio stand who was a representative of Ampetronic who are ‘World leaders in assistive listening solutions’ – hearing aid loops to the rest of us. We discussed the fact that a very high proportion of loop installations are poorly done – with no check on their performance. And he showed me their very neat little test device – the FSM Field Strength Meter.

This measures all the characteristics of the loop signal, and allows you to produce a comprehensive test report, showing compliance with the appropriate standards – IEC60118-4:2006, as it happens.

And I entered a competition to win one of these little devices. And today, a delightful lady from Canford rang to tell me that I had indeed won. Not bad - £200 worth of test equipment, that I could never have justified for myself, but which you can be sure will be put to good use!

Canford are superb suppliers – very knowledgeable, comprehensive range of audio gear – mostly broadcast related. And there really isn’t anyone who knows more about loop systems than Ampetronic, (based in Newark, so a local company, which is a plus) – so consider this a recommendation!

“The Clergy are like manure…

2009-09-23T13:57:00.001+01:00

…excellent when spread all over the country while doing their work, but when gathered together in a heap they stink.” Such, it is said, was the opinion of Bishop G.K.A.Bell of Chichester.

I hope he’s wrong – I’m just off to the East Midlands Baptist Ministers’ Conference at Swanwick. Not that this is a first visit – I’ve been attending (and even administering) such conferences for more years than I care to remember. And I have powerful memories of the old ‘Garden Block’ and the earliest Mainstream conferences. Shared rooms, bathrooms at the end of the corridor, ‘Tea Stations’ just one per floor, and mediaeval heating. It’s a whole lot more luxurious now!

Looking forward to sessions from Jonathan Edwards and Ruth Gouldbourne, and to the buzz of meeting with my colleagues.

It’ll be good to catch up with our new Regional Minister, David Rogers – I was a Student Minister back in 1982 at Green Street Baptist, Gillingham, where Tom, David’s father, was minister. Spurgeon’s sent me there because I had come to the College from a small Strict Baptist church (now usually called ‘Grace Baptist Churches’) and they felt I should have experience of ‘a more normal Baptist Church.’ Since the membership at the time was nearly 500, it never seemed quite that ‘normal’, but Tom was one of the finest communicators I have ever heard, and a real inspiration to me. I think that David Buttrick’s ideas of ‘Moves’ and ‘Plots’ were displayed in Tom’s preaching with consummate skill and real spirituality.

Tom spoke about the way he would take time on a Saturday, having finished his preparation, to preach his sermon in the empty building, imagining the congregation in place, remembering the people he would have before him, where they sat, and simply ‘soaking’ in the words he believed God had given him. And then when he preached it the next day, the sermon would appear to come effortlessly, naturally, with real intimacy.

Another of Tom’s gifts was his ability to use the sound system well. He had mastered the art of addressing people as individuals, not as a congregation. And you never felt that he was an orator; he simply spoke personally to you.

The platform had just been redeveloped when I arrived – a very wide pulpit, quite high (as it needed to be – the gallery was usually full). And Tom used every inch of the pulpit, walking from side to side. And on at least one occasion, climbing up on the edge of the pulpit, walking across to the side nearest the gallery, and having a conversation with Doreen, who was in the choir.

Cards on the table

2009-09-18T21:41:00.001+01:00

Which is an admission that this is a post designed to plug something. So let’s get that out in the open!

Next month (Friday October 9th) we have Michael Card performing at KMFC. Which I’m very excited about. He’s a superb musician, but more than that, he’s a really inspiring person, particularly when it comes to the relationship between human spirituality and creativity. There aren’t many dates of Michael’s UK tour, and we’re so pleased that KMFC is one of them. We’d love you to come and join us – tickets £12, contact tickets@kirbyfree.org to book. 7:30pm start.

Michael wrote a great little book - ‘Scribbling in the sand’:

“It was art and it was theater at the same time, but it was more. It was what he did not say that spoke most powerfully to the mob that morning. It was a cup of cold water for a thirsty adulteress and an ice cold drenching in the face to a group of angry Pharisees. To this day we have not the slightest idea what it was Jesus twice scribbled in the sand. By and large the commentaries have asked the wrong question through the ages. They labor over the content, over what he might have written. They ask what, without ever realizing the real question is why? It was not the content that mattered but why he did it. Unexpected. Irritating. Creative.” (From the Introduction)

Singer, songwriter and diligent student of Scripture, Michael Card is well known for the depth of his lyrics and the artistry of his music. But far more significant than the songs he has penned is the source of his inspiration--the creativity embodied in Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word of God.In this book Card explores the biblical foundations of true Christian creativity.

Whether we think of ourselves as creative or not, all of us are created in the image of our Creator God, and thus creativity is a vital expression of our discipleship. With Jesus as his model, Card shows how understanding God's creative imagination leads to a lifestyle of humility, obedience and servanthood. And he invites us to follow God's creative call through worship and community.

Through Jesus, God has spoken to us in a word we can understand. Likewise, Michael Card has articulated the story of Jesus to others through his own scribblings in the sand. This book shows us how we can do the same.

It’s certainly a book I would recommend to anyone who considers themselves creative or artistic, and challenges us all to discover the creative nature of God within. And you’re welcome to borrow my copy!

Harvest

2009-09-16T21:10:00.001+01:00

This coming Sunday, we have our Harvest Thanksgiving. We’re in a setting that is a lot more rural than many, although few folk in Kirby have much to do with the land any more – for the most part it’s a dormitory village for folk who work elsewhere. Growing things to eat is for some a hobby/leisure interest – so that we can supplement what we buy with a few more interesting, tastier products which we have grown – and for others it is a campaign, almost a crusade, a part of a whole lifestyle choice.

But I think harvest is a time to remind ourselves that for most of the world this is neither a campaign nor a hobby – it is life and death. Which is why I am so grateful to organisations like

Operation Agri,

Tearfund,

Christian Aid

and the BMS. Operation Agri this year are looking at life in Bangladesh; Tearfund looks at the problems facing young girls who have to travel miles to collect water for their families; Christian Aid is concentrating on helping women in drought-stricken areas of India,

and BMS, with its ‘Harvest of Hope’ material, is focussed on helping people in areas dealing with the legacy of conflict – in particular, in Lebanon. I think it’s good to look more widely at issues of life and death.

We’re also going to consider the young people of our own communities – I’ve asked Ann Murphy, who is heading up the exciting ‘Street Pastors – Blaby District’ venture, to come and talk to us. You probably know about Street Pastors – but most projects are based in towns and cities. This one will be different, concentrating on working with the groups of young people who congregate (interesting that we should use that word!?) in open spaces around the area. Ann is going to get started soon blogging about the process of setting up such a group – I’ll let you know when that happens.

Our speaker today…

2009-09-12T22:04:00.001+01:00

…can be seen in the following picture. I mean, why do I get myself involved in all this? Here’s the audio gear in my garage, prior to loading up the car tomorrow morning for the village fun day. And I’m sure that the load of gear just gets bigger every year! At least two cars will be needed, possibly three when you add in four gopak tables!

Still, the weather forecast is reasonable (oh drat – forgot sandbags and waterproof covers.) And the day should be a good one. At least the sound will be good!

By the way – you should be assured that we’ve paid for all the relevant licences for the music, and I have prepared a risk assessment for the audio system!

All boxed in.

2009-09-10T22:42:00.001+01:00

So that’s done – the boxes are cut, painted, and the sockets fixed. Just need to do some labels, and mount the things on the wall now.

View Full Album

So – when that’s done, I’ll put up some pix of the completed Hall. I’m quite pleased with the boxes – I think they’ll do a good job of tidying up the cables.

Holy, wholly, holey

2009-09-09T15:59:00.001+01:00

As promised, a bit of DIY stuff. We wanted to get the roll of cables hanging on the wall in the large hall tidied up, so we need a custom designed box – one in the hall, where we put the sound mixer, and one on stage, where the mics, data projector and so on will be plugged in.

So I get a couple of diecast aluminium boxes from Maplin, and work out that we need 11 holes on one box and 9 on the other, and set about making the holes. Here are the two boxes with the connectors just resting on them, to check positioning:

We’ll have 7 3-pin XLR connectors, a VGA connector for the projector, a couple of 3-pin XLR connectors to send signal back to the powered speakers, and (for future expansion) a 5-pin XLR connector, which is standard for DMX lighting control.

So – I mark the boxes up with a scriber, and use a punch to mark where the holes will go. Then a 4mm pilot hole. But how to cut huge holes for XLR connectors? Answer?

A sheet metal punch. Our local (brilliant) pro tools specialist is Buck & Hickman – they have an amazing range of stuff – and they were able to provide me with just what I needed. Easy to use – just drill out the pilot hole to 10mm, put the punch through the hole, and tighten it with an 8mm hex key until it bites through the metal. Exactly the same principle as the craft punches that work with paper.

Here’s the first box with all the holes cut, ready to have them filed to exact sizes – the cutouts are not quite round, as you can see from the top right.

More pics when it is finished, but it’s coming along nicely. The sockets come, as usual, from the rather wonderful CPC, who not only stock everything at good prices, but their delivery service is second to none. I ordered the parts at 6pm on Monday evening, they arrived at 9:30 am next morning!

Doctor, I think it’s starting to work…

2009-09-09T08:24:00.001+01:00

Nice surprise a little while back. We’re just in the middle of refurbishing our main Hall, and it’s a costly business. But then, as Monty Python might have said, the only thing worse than having a building is not having a building. So it has been a case of ‘Repaint, repaint, and thin no more!’ for the last few weeks.

Coming up this Sunday is the Kirby Muxloe Village Fun Day – a great event, been running several years now. It started following the tragic death of a young lad, Kris Perkins, on his motorbike. His parents wanted to do something constructive to mark his death, so they started the fun day, which raises funds for community-based projects, especially those for children and young people. Come along if you are free! (1pm – 5pm, by the Village Hall)

So it was a really pleasant surprise to be asked this year if we would like half the profits towards our refurbishment – after all these years of going on about being ‘at the heart' of the community’, perhaps it is beginning to happen!

Folk in the church have been really supportive; they accept quite happily the Minister deserting the pulpit that morning in order to go and set up the PA for the event, and we cancel our evening service and have an outdoor service instead. And we put up a huge ‘Churches Together’ gazebo, and we’re baking cakes too. Not in the gazebo, I should add.

Maybe a little ‘DIY’ slot tomorrow about the Hall refurbishment, and a ‘Health and Safety’ discussion!

/Evening Service?

2009-09-08T10:51:00.001+01:00

[Apologies for the extended hiatus – just too much else to do, and if blogging stops being a habit, it tends to stop happening. Kudos to Angela for reaching 600 posts and 600 readers, though!]

So there we are. I ask my evening congregation – smallish, at around 20-40 people – why they came in the evening. They by and large replied that they come because they like a quiet, fairly traditional service with just a few newer songs mixed in. And they like more in-depth studies, but (on the whole) don’t want discussion groups or to interact with the passage.

But they would like more people there. Especially young people.

They say all this with no apparent sense of irony, and quite seriously.

But of course, I’m only asking the people who are there – and I really need to ask the people who might be there if it wasn’t like it currently is. And I don’t want to change it into something different, risking alienating the people who now attend, if that won’t make it more attractive to people who don’t currently attend.

There’s a lot to be said for having two morning services – a trad followed by a more contemporary.

Kevin Costner had this real sense of certainty: ‘If you build it, they will come.’ But I’m floundering a little, and would love to hear what others have done / would like to do and, even more importantly, would like to know why. Is there any real research on this?

Or should I just ditch the whole thing and encourage people to invite their neighbours round for a meal?

Screen if you want to go faster!

2009-06-06T15:21:00.001+01:00

Some while ago I mentioned that one of the Church installations I was doing used a Beamax R-series screen, which I thought was superb. Well, when the install was complete I sent off some pictures to Otto Tromm, at Beamax, and they have just added the pictures to the ‘References’ part of their website – do go and take a look. The elegant suspension system was engineered by Ernie Broadhurst, who runs Engineering Design & Supplies in Groby – I think he should market it commercially!

While I’m on the subject of worthwhile achievement, I ought to say (a bit like John the Baptist) that while I take credit for setting Angela (Tracing Rainbows) off on the blogging path, she has long since overshadowed my limited efforts, so I’ve nominated Angela for ‘The Bloggies’ – the Christian Web & New Media awards. Voting for the awards is done simply by the number of nominations – so you might like to consider nominating a blogger of your own choice. Submissions close on August 26th.

And on a more theological note, I was doing some research for tomorrow’s sermon – on the Church as ‘A Prophetic Community’ (yes, after ten years I’m finally preaching on 5 Core Values!) And I encountered a short article on Jesus as a revolutionary, which included this powerful quote:

Jesus was without a doubt a revolutionary, but he wasn't just a revolutionary. He was a revolutionary of revolutionaries. He didn't just turn the entire social, religious and political order on its head. He did it in a way different from every other attempt before him. Maybe that is why we are hesitant to give Jesus the title "revolutionary." When we think of revolutionaries we think of armed revolt, funny hats, and the color red. Jesus, however, led a nonviolent revolution marked by service. His revolution doesn't come by a sword, gun or bombs, but by a towel and turning the other cheek. See, Jesus was a revolutionary, but he wasn't only a revolutionary of society. He even began a revolution of revolution. He had Zealots among his disciples. These were revolutionaries "par excellence." They wielded swords and daggers and sought to overthrow Roman rule. Jesus liked their zeal, and to some extent their goal, but taught them new methods and a broader goal that subverted Rome but also included reconciliation with Romans.

It’s on a site called ‘Wrecked’ – and they describe their mission like this:

Wrecked seeks to awaken and challenge its readers to follow Jesus, the greatest misfit that ever lived, in a world that has been numbed by pop Christianity.
We want to help our readers embrace radical lifestyles in their local context and to connect to the world around them through engaging in incarnational living. In other words, if someone reads a Wrecked article, and nothing about their life changes, then we haven't done our jobs.
We do not just seek what is, but rather what should be.

Full of great stuff – another one for the blogroll, I think.

A bit of a laugh.

2009-06-04T08:41:00.001+01:00

Doing a school assembly this morning. And I wanted something with a ‘dramatic’ theme, as I’m going to tack on a plug for our Holiday Club, which is the SU ‘Showstoppers’ one. So here’s a story I wrote – feel free to use it if you like it.

I went to see a show in a Theatre. How many of you have been to the theatre? It was wonderful. There was lots of music, and lots of singing and dancing, and the lights were very... flashy, and the scenery on the stage was beautifully painted. And I listened to all the songs - and you know how it is; you come away humming the tunes. There was one bit I specially liked, with some clowns, and they were riding unicycles (bicycles with just one wheel) and juggling at the same time.

Well, when I came home, I knew that I wanted to be on the stage. I was going to be a great star. I could be famous! So I practised - singing in the bath, and dancing, and I practised particularly hard at the juggling. Which was a bit more difficult than I thought it was going to be. I mean, I could already throw and catch - how much harder could it be to throw three balls up at once? Anyway.

I had a friend - called Justin - who could juggle. So I thought I would go and ask him the secret of the juggling. So I set off to Justin's house.

On the way there, I met Mrs Appleby. She was standing looking up into the sky, and as I went past, I said 'Hello Mrs Appleby. I'm going to be a star of the stage and screen. I'm going to sing and dance and juggle for a living. Why are you staring into the sky?' 'She said 'My cat's stuck up in the tree, and he won't come down.' I wanted to show Mrs Appleby just how good my singing was, and she wasn't paying attention, so, as I was much taller than she was, I climbed onto a barrel and reached up into the tree, passed the cat down to her, and while I was still standing on the tree I sang her one of my songs.

'That's very nice, dear. But the cat's just run inside, and I think he might be frightened. Thank you so much for helping me, though.'

Then I walked a bit further, and I came across Mr Jones the Butcher. He was sat at the side of the road, looking puzzled, staring at his hand. I said 'Hello Mr Jones. I'm going to be a star of the stage and screen. I'm going to sing and dance and juggle for a living. Why are you staring at your hand?'

'My mobile phone has just beeped, and I'm sure it's a message from my sister - she's having a baby today - but I don't know what to push to see the message.' (Adults can get like that with modern things like mobiles) I wanted Mr Jones to see my dancing, so I showed him how to see the message, and then I did a little dance for him.

'That's lovely', he said. 'But I've got to rush - it's a boy! - oh, and thanks for helping!' - and off he went in his van.
Anyway. I got to Jason's house, and his mum was doing some cooking. She was trying to get the top off a jar of jam, but it wouldn't move.

'Hello Mrs Thyme. I'm going to be a star of the stage and screen. I'm going to sing and dance and juggle for a living. Is Justin in? And why have you gone all red?' 'No, he's gone out, dear. And this top is stuck.' So I opened the jar - I'm quite strong, you see - and asked her if she would help me with my juggling.

And after a while, I got a bit upset, and said 'If I can't juggle, then how can I be a great star? And Mrs Appleby didn't seem to like my singing, and Mr Jones ran away from my dancing. I'm useless!'

And Mrs Thyme said this.

"Not everyone is the same. And not everyone is good at the same things. Some people are good at one thing, like singing or dancing or juggling. And other people help in other ways - like you did with fetching the cat out of the tree, and sorting out the phone, and opening the jar. God's book, the Bible, says that we're like the parts of a body - one person is an eye, another a hand or a foot. And it's only together that we can do things, when we each use the different gifts God has given us to the best of our ability for other people.'

And that made lots of sense. So I'm not going to be a star of the stage and screen any more. And I went home dancing and singing - but a bit more quietly, and just for fun. And I still can't juggle!

Compare and contrast.

2009-06-03T15:46:00.001+01:00

Picked up a couple of SF books just recently, and I’ve finished both of them.

One was the classic ‘EON’ by Greg Bear. Tells the story of an artefact discovered in space just as a particularly nasty conflict comes to a head on earth. It appears, Tardis-like, to be larger inside than its external dimensions should permit, and this seems to both drive the conflict on earth towards destruction, and also offer hope of salvation. Intriguing, but stronger on speculation than on political science!

The other book, released in the same series, is Adam Roberts ‘Stone’. Which was a tedious waste of time – one of those stories where the ‘anti-hero’ has nothing about him to make you want to know why he does the things he does. Add to that a load of ‘Paul Daniels’ style science, and it has no redeeming qualities.

What amazes me is the blurb-writers ability to find positive quotes. For Greg Bear (no surprises) we have a recognised SF luminary – Brian Aldiss, no less – describing him as ‘One of the contemporary masters of SF.’ And for the other work: ‘Roberts is the king of the thought-experiment.’ (The Guardian – the newspaper, I presume, rather than some obscure religious periodical) What does that mean, exactly? That he can think daft things?

Ah well. There’s nowt as queer as folk.

Great book – prescient?

2009-05-21T13:31:00.001+01:00

Just read ‘Chart Throb’ by Ben Elton – and I think it’s a fabulous book. He takes apart the myth of ‘X-factor’ and mercilessly subjects it to ridicule. In the process, he predicts the rise of characters like Susan Boyle – cruelly called ‘Mingers’ – and even picks out the phrases, facial expressions and characteristics of judges and characters alike.

Now the subplots – a little bit of romance, a sleazy divorce, and the exploitation of the Prince of Wales – are a little contrived and artificial. But as that’s the premise of the whole book, Ben can be forgiven. And it is, as you would expect, unrestrained in the choice of language. But for all that, I would recommend it – X-factor will never seem the same again.

All strapped up!

2009-05-09T16:46:00.001+01:00

Finished one of the Church installs – so here are a few pics of the finished job. Speakers are strapped, not screwed, to the columns. The lectern mic is an AKG, with a shock mount – costly, but effective. The strapping can be painted to match the columns, and will then just blend in nicely.

I wouldn’t want to use column speakers without a really good speaker management system. The Behringer DCX2496 is excellent, and inexpensive, and through multiple parametric equalisers enables you to get the best out of speakers that would sound a little boxy otherwise.

The AT radio mic has had its antennae relocated to the back of the rack unit – that’s worked out well.

Oddly, I used a length of Musiflex that was left at the church, and took ages to spot a fault in the (previously unused) cable – must have been some hidden damage there.

More AV stuff

2009-05-05T17:29:00.001+01:00

Had a great time in Norfolk getting the house in order – that’s going fine. Except I had a disagreement with a curtain track that involved me getting the measurements wrong three times, and cutting the track to the wrong length to the point where it was too short to use, and had to be replaced. Muppet!

Back today, and since yesterday was a Bank Holiday I’ve been treating the day as a day off.

One of the PA installs I’m doing involves relocating an elderly Audio Technica Radio Mic into a rack unit. That’s easy enough – some rack ears fixed to the sides – but the long antennae are at the back of the unit, and need to be moved so they have room to stick out.

So I’ve made an extender – which means the antennae can be moved a bit. Particularly pleased with the heatshrink and general neatness of the terminations

Which you can see more clearly on this picture:

Then just when the day was going so well, my PC told me that I had missed a Dentist appointment – sadly, I didn’t see the reminder until too late!

The route to happiness…

2009-05-01T20:19:00.001+01:00

One of the church installs I’m doing at present involves the construction of a custom workstation. The raw material is an IKEA desk – which looks like this. I need to mount a 19” rack unit on it – that’s simple, as the rack just sits on top. But I also want to fix the mixer neatly.

The mixer is a Yamaha MG166, which is 19” rack width. So I decided to recess it into the top surface, using a router.

Routers are scary woodworking tools which make a) lots of noise b) loads of sawdust and c) really bad mistakes very quickly. But with lots of patience, measuring at least twice before I ever cut once, I worked out that I could just manage the right size hole between the frame supports of the desk. Here’s the hole, cut.

As you can see, it only just fits. And there’s a problem there. The mixer power connector is at the back – so I needed to cut away the rail (angle grinder) and reshape it so that there was room.

Then comes the moment of truth – what does it all look like assembled? Well, judge for yourself.

And here’s the power supply:

I’m pleased – The mixer can be screwed in place, and it looks really neat

Still here (and still crazy!)

2009-04-29T21:17:00.001+01:00

Apologies for the gap. Is it a lacuna? Anyway – what with buying a house, and managing without Associate or Secretary, the last few weeks have left no space for the blog, either here or on the KMFC website. And I’ve had a couple of church sound installations on the go as well – both now coming to an end.

One, a local URC church, has involved some custom mounting plates made up by a good friend (and local business). I used a Beamax screen – they are quite brilliant, and for most church situations, the Beamax manual screen is better value than a less well made electric screen. I especially like the way that it retracts automatically and without fuss. There’s a great video here:

Again on the audio front. My home studio has as its central component the rather useful Soundcraft Compact 10 mixer – which decided to blow up a couple of weeks ago. It’s not an expensive mixer, but it turns out that the service manual is costly – well over 50% of the price of a new mixer! Soundcraft’s customer service did help me out with a part number for the blown component, so when I get a little time I’ll have a go at a repair. But in the process of investigating alternatives, I installed a copy of Ableton Live Lite that I had knocking around.

I had a few problems with the installation; but Ableton’s customer service was superb, and had me sorted out in no time. And I’m very impressed with the quality of the tutorial material that comes with the program – even a musical talent-free zone like myself was able to follow it.

Finished off the soldering for the URCs today, as well as many other little jobs.

Including having lunch with Tom, Rector of the local C of E, and Steve, who is a Methodist Minister. I really value being able to eat with, talk with, pray with the other local ministers. And I’m grateful to God that ecumenical relationships today are so much less defensive, so much less combative than they used to be. I know there are many things we see differently. And we often speak a different language. But our common cause is really much more important than all that.

Anyway – nice to be back.

Shredding for England!

2009-04-13T17:46:00.001+01:00

The arrival of an objectionable European Election leaflet from the BNP has prompted me to deal with the huge stash of papers waiting to be shredded. The paper recycling bin is full of shredded waste – which considering just how compacted down shredded paper can be, represents an awful lot of pulp!

It’s a backlog of at least ten years worth of material – Ang and I are pretty diligent about recycling paper, but there often isn’t time to shred all the sensitive material, so that just piles up. All done now – and feeling very virtuous.

In the gaps, while the shredders (two on the go simultaneously!) were cooling down, I thought I’d tidy up in the garage, but instead I found jobs to do out there, so it’s worse than when I started.

Angela has posted on her blog about the sudden death of a good friend – Eric really was a special guy; he added humour, genuine understanding, gentleness and so much more to the life of the church here. He was always really interested in what other people had to say, and folk loved him. I’ll miss him!

At last!

2009-04-11T15:17:00.001+01:00

The Times these last few days has been full of the most awful twaddle about Easter. All the old stuff about the real miracle of the resurrection being the transformed hearts of the disciples; about it not mattering in the slightest whether or not Jesus physically rose from the dead. I despaired!

Now today they have redeemed themselves, by printing not one, but two excellent articles on the resurrection.

One from Tom Wright – hinting at his current theological hobby horse, which is our misunderstandings about eternal life, heaven and the rest, but for the most part just saying good, plain things. Excuse the long quote:

"Nobody, including Jesus's followers, was expecting one person to be bodily raised from the dead in the middle of history. The stories of the Resurrection are certainly not “wish-fulfilments” or the result of what dodgy social science calls “cognitive dissonance”. First-century Jews who followed would-be messiahs knew that if your leader got killed by the authorities, it meant you had backed the wrong man. You then had a choice: give up the revolution or get yourself a new leader. Going around saying that he'd been raised from the dead wasn't an option.
Unless he had been. Jesus of Nazareth was certainly dead by the Friday evening; Roman soldiers were professional killers and wouldn't have allowed a not-quite-dead rebel leader to stay that way for long. When the first Christians told the story of what happened next, they were not saying: “I think he's still with us in a spiritual sense” or “I think he's gone to heaven”. All these have been suggested by people who have lost their historical and theological nerve.
The historian must explain why Christianity got going in the first place, why it hailed Jesus as Messiah despite His execution (He hadn't defeated the pagans, or rebuilt the Temple, or brought justice and peace to the world, all of which a Messiah should have done), and why the early Christian movement took the shape that it did. The only explanation that will fit the evidence is the one the early Christians insisted upon - He really had been raised from the dead. His body was not just reanimated. It was transformed, so that it was no longer subject to sickness and death.
Now, suddenly, the real meaning of Easter comes into view, as well as the real reason why it has been trivialised and sidelined. Easter is about a new creation that has already begun. God is remaking His world, challenging all the other powers that think that is their job. The rich, wise order of creation and its glorious, abundant beauty are reaffirmed on the other side of the thing that always threatens justice and beauty - death. Christianity's critics have always sneered that nothing has changed. But everything has. The world is a different place."

And the second from John Polkinghorne, which talks about his willingness to investigate faith just as he does everything else in life, and to do that without fear:

I am entirely happy to approach the search for religious truth in a similar spirit to that in which I look for scientific truth. If the physical world often proves to be surprising, it would scarcely seem strange if the Creator of that world also exceeded our prior expectations.

And in a similar vein, here’s a link to one of the video clips I’m using tomorrow. I’ve discovered that I really like the material produced by ‘onetimeblind’ – and this is a good one!

Now that’s what I call a freebie!

2009-04-08T18:55:00.001+01:00

Had to get some tools and equipment today – I’ve got some speakers to install in a church, and they’re going to be fixed to some hollow pillars, so I plan to do this without drilling by using stainless steel banding, like you see attaching street signs to posts. I discovered Buck & Hickman, a great supplies company with a branch in Leicester, and ordered the parts, which I called to collect today.

The bill for all the parts came to just over £100. And if you spend over that much, you get a free gift. It’s a doozy – a Bosch SDS plus hammer drill – currently available online for £100!

So I’m quite pleased, really. It’s a lot lighter than the big SDS drill I’ve got, which is just too heavy to take up a ladder.

Subtitles!

2009-04-04T18:55:00.001+01:00

This is just a wonderful clip. Came to me via the Musicademy website. Brilliant!

A successful formula!

2009-04-03T23:33:00.001+01:00

Had a great evening with the newly formed Men’s Group. We had decided to have a go at a Scalextric evening – we appealed for as many sets as could be found in attics and garages; we arranged hot dogs and pizzas (yours truly in charge of catering) and we issued invitations.

Had 18 assorted blokes, of a wide variety of ages, turn up. Ian had done the hard work of inviting and organising, and I think he did a brilliant job. We had ‘blokeish’ music from my iPod, and the whole evening was an excellent chance just to chat, to play together, and to relax.

Thought it would be interesting to post the playlist from iTunes – what should I have added / left out?

The Chain    Fleetwood Mac
Crazy    Aerosmith
Uptown Girl    Billy Joel
Hangin' Around    Counting Crows
Whole Lotta Love    Led Zeppelin
More Than A Feeling    Boston
Chelsea Dagger    Fratellis
Valerie    The Zutons
Suddenly I See (Live)    KT Tunstall
How To Save A Life    The Fray
Speed Of Sound    Coldplay
Live Forever    Oasis    Noel Gallagher
A Design for Life    Manic Street Preachers
The Bucket    Kings Of Leon
Jet    Wings
Suffragette City    David Bowie
Space Oddity    David Bowie
Bohemian Like You    The Dandy Warhols
Bohemian Rhapsody    Queen
Na Na Na Na Naah    Kaiser Chiefs
Driftwood    Travis
The Boys Are Back In Town    Thin Lizzy
Smoke on the water    Deep Purple
Free bird    Lynyrd skynyrd
Brown Sugar    The Rolling Stones
Got Me Under Pressure    ZZ Top
Complicated    Avril Lavigne
I Want To Break Free    Queen
Highway to Hell    AC/DC
Ticket to Ride    The Beatles
Paperback Writer    The Beatles
Beetlebum    Blur
Country House    Blur
Born To Run    Bruce Springsteen
Hotel California    Eagles
Cocaine    Eric Clapton
Virtual Insanity    Jamiroquai
There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis    Kirsty MacColl
There She Goes    the la's
Smells Like Teen Spirit    Nirvana
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic    The Police

New facilities

2009-04-01T08:44:00.001+01:00

We’ve just added a sermon player to our Church website. Go to the ‘sermons’ page – link on the left – and choose a sermon to listen to. Some of the sermons also have my notes included. We’ve included John Weaver’s address from the East Midlands Baptist Association Day last Saturday, and other sermons will be added as quickly as we can manage.

So if you miss a week, you can always catch up. As well as listening using the player on our site, you can also subscribe to the sermons as a podcast and catch up when you are out and about.

If you fancy listening to some other sermons, then our library is being hosted by the good people at Sermon.net and there’s a huge library of other preachers to investigate. And if you run a ministry website of any kind, it’s worth noting that the facility is free!

A proper day off.

2009-03-30T22:59:00.001+01:00

Woke this morning thinking I should do some gardening. But as one of those people who would have been thrown out of Eden for incompetence rather than disobedience, I would rather do almost anything else. So after sorting out a few phone calls, and since it was a nice day, I got the bike out and rode into town.

(The picture is of me and the bike on a rare sunny moment on holiday in Belgium a couple of years ago. Sorry about the shorts!)

Wandered round a bit, had a great lunch at the ‘Real China’ Chinese buffet in the new Highcross – excellent value for money, and good quality food. Just a shame that if you order tea you only get one cup, rather than a pot which is normal in most other such establishments.

Then spent an hour or two being entertained by the end of the world – in the shape of Nicholas Cage’s latest film ‘Knowing’. Enjoyable enough, with a lightweight plot, pretty good special effects, and some solid performances from everyone except Cage, who mumbles and worries his way through. Never quite understood why he’s cast in action movies so often.

As often happens when I’m watching a film, I was struck by the number of illustrations it contains. There are loads of obvious biblical allusions, but there’s also a strong strand of surrender – Nicholas Cage needs to let go of his son in order to save him. And there is reconciliation, as he explores his relationship with his father (who happens to be a Pastor.)

But the biggest question the film raises is the one it explicitly asks. Is everything random; just chance? Or is the future known – somewhere, somehow, by someone? Is there any place for believing in something more – and is believing in life after death pointless?

Would be a good discussion starter for a youth group, this one.

How’s that going for you, then?

2009-03-29T08:37:00.001+01:00

I’ve been preparing for a sermon on the Transfiguration. And a phrase relating to Philip Pullman’s ‘Dark Materials’ has stuck with me. ‘We must build heaven here on earth; there is no other place’

Well, to all intents and purposes that has been what successive generations have sought to do in this country since the early ‘60s. Our nation has been effectively secular as far as government and business are concerned.

And while it is much easier to criticise than it is to create, I’m tempted to say ‘with 50 years in which to work, is this the best you can do?’ Is this it?

There are some really good things in our society. Good healthcare, for the most part. Freedom to express opinions. A high standard of living. Low infant mortality. A moderately tolerant populace, and a largely benign government. But many of the things we might call ‘good’ have been declining lately (credit crunch; civil liberties; tolerance?) and there are many who do not share the benefits of such an enlightened society.

It does sometimes seem to me that modern secularism is happy to point the finger, but less prepared to shoulder responsibility. Religion is to blame for all the world’s ills; but secularism isn’t to blame for Mao, for Stalin, for Kim Jong-Il or for Pol Pot. Religion has oppressed; secularism can bring freedom, but don’t come running to me if you don’t like what freedom looks like.

‘Building heaven on earth’ – how’s that going for you, then?

emba day

2009-03-28T18:01:00.001Z

(which one person present misheard as ‘we’re having an ember day at our church’)

Anyway. The day all went rather more smoothly than I expected, with a huge amount of help from KMFC folk – who were making coffee, playing instruments, singing, doing the sound, directing cars, stewarding, cleaning up, helping with the children, shifting chairs and tables, finding extra loo rolls, and much else besides. I was really proud of the people here today – not least because of the way they just got on and did stuff without being pressed into it. And they didn’t just do enough to get away with; they worked really hard to do the very best they could. Well done, people.

Very taken with a bit of video, produced to publicise an event called ‘True Love Live’ at West Bridgford & Hucknall.

You can find more details on the emba website – one of a number of recently improved websites. The BMS website is also great, in particular the new BMS TV pages which have some great video clips to download and use in services. Here’s one:

Ada Lovelace Day

2009-03-24T14:14:00.001Z

Can’t let the day pass without a link to the ‘Make Magazine’ page celebrating Ada Lovelace Day. This really is a day that should be better known – Ada was a very significant figure in the development of computing, and her achievements should be celebrated. Forget Carol Vorderman, this is where it really got started!

‘I bloody love you…’

2009-03-21T17:58:00.001Z

A quote from “The Damned United”, the film about Brian Clough (played by Michael Sheen). Natalie Haynes wrote a brilliant article about the film, and the relationship between Clough and Taylor portrayed in it – called ‘The love that dare not show itself on screen.’ And it’s nothing to do with homosexuality, but in it she eloquently restates something I’ve been asserting for years – that the media really struggle to show deep personal relationships between men that are not sexual.

In the course of the article she says this:

Straight men are hardly ever portrayed in cinema as loving other men. My boyfriend tells me that this is because straight men rarely have deep relationships with other guys, and I do see that he has a point.

I don’t think this should go unchallenged. Many men long for exactly that. And I think (provocative comment coming up here) that some men have concluded, because of the lack of any convincing heterosexual examples, that the fact of this longing means that they must therefore be gay.

Male-male relationships have become polarised. Either they must be depth free, or they must be erotic. No middle ground. And we even attempt to read this value structure back into history – witness all the ludicrous attempts to ‘prove’ that David and Jonathan were gay.

It hasn’t always been like this. And maybe instead of concentrating on opposing the liberal media’s perceived ‘pro-gay’ agenda, the church would be better employed establishing exactly those model relationships that the media struggle to portray?

Borrowing words…

2009-03-20T08:26:00.001Z

I like words. I dare to think that I’m quite good with words – although the word ‘articulate’ is, bizarrely, one of the words I struggle to call to mind. So I don’t often find myself borrowing words.

But there’s a blog I read from a Scottish pastor that has a lovely tribute to his wife – so I’m linking to it here – just click on the picture. (Yes, I know it’s a strange title for a blog. But it’s worth reading!)

And I’m linking to this because I think just as much of my partner in life as he does of his.

Struggle.

2009-03-18T19:18:00.001Z

Haven’t felt much like blogging the last few days. Been trying to deal with some stuff, and it hasn’t felt like the kind of reflection I wanted to have ‘out loud’. But getting past that now. And I’m very aware that identifying one’s own character traits and dealing with them can be uncomfortable.

And that just prompted an odd thought. I guess mostly (if I’d ever thought about it) I assumed that Jesus was always perfectly self-aware, and in any case was the perfectly balanced human being – at peace with himself all the time. And that the prayer in the garden before his arrest and trial was a ‘one-off’ – that he can’t have had the kind of self-doubts and awkward existential questions that are commonplace for the rest of us.

But self-doubt is no sin; and dealing with the awkward existential questions is a part of growing up. So what kind of personal journey did Jesus have? We have so few glimpses – the temptations, and then we’re into his public ministry. But what did he reflect upon during those nights of prayer? And did he ever wonder what others thought of him? Did he struggle with his character, or with his inner life? Just how far does his being like us go?

You remember the Simpsons episode when Ned Flanders finally blows his top? I don’t want to think of Jesus like that – repressing everything that doesn’t look holy. But he was in tune with the Father in a special way; so I would expect a more healthy response to ‘self’ than I can muster.

At the moment just a question. So – enlighten me!

Breadsong

2009-03-06T08:25:00.001Z

I used this poem at a recent communion service, and found it really moving and helpful. Theologically, I find that I buck the current trend among Baptist ministers - I'm still rather a Zwinglian.

I know that I'm supposed to have embraced a rather more sacramental approach, but I haven't. I'm an unreconstructed fossil. But that doesn't mean that the eucharist is just a bit of liturgy to be done because we always do it. I don't believe there is a fixed connection between a theology that regards the bread and wine as simple reminders, and a practice that treats the eucharist lightly.

I'm also unconvinced by commentators who find in every scriptural reference to eating and drinking (especially in John) an allusion to the eucharist. But that's for another time.

The poem is taken from a brilliant work by Gerard Kelly called 'Spoken Worship' which should be on every worship leader's shelf. Not always easy to read, but really thought-provoking stuff, and designed, as the title suggests, to be read aloud in worship.

Several of Gerard’s poems are available online and I would encourage you to take a look at his ‘Bless Network’ website – it’s really inspirational

Breadsong

It's not in the bread
but in the breaking
that the mystery of God's story is told.
It's not in the seed
but in the dying,
not in the treasure
but in the digging for it.
It's not in the mountain
but in its moving.

It's not in the wine
but in the pouring out
that a new world is purchased
for the weary.
It's not in the cross
but in the crucified,
not in the nails
but in the nailing.
It's not in the grave
but in the rising from it.

It's in the giving
that the gift becomes life;
it's in the living
that the Word becomes flesh.

It's in this taking
this receiving,
this sharing of a supper,
this pointing to a future
that is promised
and paid for
and pressed into our hands;
it's in this everyday mealtime miracle
that the universe is born
to new life.

Easter video

2009-03-05T23:13:00.001Z

Thanks to a link on Collide magazine’s blog, I visited the new worshiphousemedia website – which is excellent. And came across this video, which their new site makes it very easy to embed here. Thought we might use this for our Maundy Thursday service this year. It was a bit jerky watching it first time through.

Multum in parvo

2009-03-05T20:24:00.001Z

which is, of course, the motto of Rutland. And possibly of my wife. It means ‘much in little’ and I mention it here because I’m preparing a series of short studies for our Deacons’ weekend (we’re off to Hothorpe Hall for a couple of days) from the book of Habakkuk.

It’s a real gem. Habakkuk the prophet is cross because Israel has gone to the dogs, and he tells God off about it. So God says ‘Ok, I’ll get Babylon to come over and do some smiting.’ Habakkuk has a bit of a hissy fit, as Babylon is known for enjoying the smiting way too much, and besides, they worship idols.

God says ‘Trust me. They’ll get theirs one day too. I have a whole world to look after, not just you lot.’

And H. thinks hard about it, and says ‘Right-ho. You’ve seen us through before, and I’m convinced I can rely on you to do it again.’

And in the process of saying that, he comes out with this sublime expression of faith:

Though the fig tree does not bud
       and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
       and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
       and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
       I will be joyful in God my Saviour.

(Habakkuk 3:17,18)

And it seems to me that those two verses are awesomely appropriate today – as indeed is the whole book. You can read it in ten minutes – go get blessed.

11 famous Belgians?

2009-03-02T20:03:00.001Z

There are days when it is important to lay claim to one’s heritage. I’m half Belgian, and proud of it. I know that there are far more than 10 famous Belgians – and that’s not including Poirot, who was fictional. Adolf Sax, inventor of Lisa’s favourite instrument; Eddy Merckx, the great cyclist; Mercator, the great cartographer; Baekeland, inventor of Bakelite; Django Reinhardt; Kim Clijsters; George Simenon; Rene Magritte; Rubens; Hieronymus Bosch; Jean-Claude Van Damme and even Audrey Hepburn were all Belgian.

And now it seems possible that both Cricket and Golf were played in Belgium before they were played in England!

Add to all that the fact that the Belgians are without doubt some of the finest brewers in the world, cake-makers and confectioners to rival the Swiss, and have as a national dish mussels and chips – chips that are (in my opinion) the best in the world.

Not quite so hot on theologians, though. Dominique, the singing nun, hardly counts. Perhaps there’s a niche I can fill! (the theologian bit, not the singing, that is.)

One excuse

2009-02-25T14:06:00.002Z

For the busy-ness lately is that we’ve been working hard on the Church website – Andy, our ‘webmaster’ has done all the technical stuff, and I’ve been doing a lot of the writing. We’ve moved to Wordpress, and that means it’s much easier for people other than the technical folk to contribute.

Please do take a look – and make comments where appropriate.

If you want advice on how to use Wordpress for a church website, take a look at Tim Hyde’s blog. Worth a read anyway – Tim is another Baptist Blogger – but he’s also a bit of a Wordpress guru.

Should a Baptist minister be a guru?

Sorry!

2009-02-25T07:50:00.001Z

but it has been a very heavy week, and blogging hasn’t been at the top of the list. Some while ago Catriona posed the question ‘why do you blog?’

I believe that I blog for a number of related reasons.

For the release of self-expression. Putting something down in words is cathartic, helps me to understand myself better. It’s the same as journal writing. I do that too, just as sporadically as I blog. My journal (kept, incidentally, with a superb program called ‘The Journal’ which I can’t recommend highly enough) has the advantage that it can include topics I wouldn’t dare blog about. So this isn’t enough of a reason on its own.
Because it’s a discussion – potentially at least. Bizarre, isn’t it, that the easiest way to have a relaxed, unhurried conversation with friends should be to have it in public – but it’s true. Rather like playing chess by post, a blog lets people respond to me at their own pace. And other people’s comments – or posts on their own blogs – genuinely help me.
Call it arrogance, call it hubris if you will, but I think in most of us there is a belief that we ‘have something the world would benefit from hearing.’ It is, to be frank, not a big drive, or I would write a book. But it is nice to see Google Analytics show a spike in the number of visitors. (vanity, vanity, all is vanity…)
And finally. In a world where the inter-connectedness of the web dominates so much of our conversation, the only effective way to discuss much of what happens is online. If I write a letter I can’t include video clips, hyperlinks or images with the ease with which I can do that online. It’s easier this way.

Two different worlds.

2009-02-17T18:47:00.002Z

I read Anthony Coppedge’s blog – Anthony describes himself as a Church Technology Evangelist. He’s currently seeking to make the point that any and every church should have a ‘strategy’ in place for the use of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Twitter has been very much in the news lately, with folk like Stephen Fry touting it as the new journalism.

Anthony says things like this:

The value of Twitter - and, really, social networks - continues to have further and wider impact on our culture. It’s simply not a matter of “IF” your church should be using them, it’s HOW STRATEGICALLY will you use them!

And that’s all well and good. You know me – I love making the best use of technology. And would claim to have been well ahead of the curve when it comes to ‘Spotify’ – the current ‘big thing’ in online music services. If anyone wants an invitation, and hasn’t received one, then just email me.

But Anthony isn’t living in any kind of real world that I recognise. There are plenty of people who are up to speed on these innovations – but there are far more who are struggling to get abreast of even the simplest aspects of the online revolution. This is a two-speed world.

So one organisation (which I won’t name) has me managing a website for them. And I’ve not received any new content for more than three years! They have a magazine – a very good one. But the magazine doesn’t print the website address. Their headed notepaper has neither email nor web address. And I suspect that many of their officers check their email on a monthly basis!

I have significant numbers of church folk who are very vulnerable when it comes to online safety. I’m continually referring people to Snopes or Symantec, or explaining how to use the Bcc: field, or educating people about the safe ways to share information on Facebook. Because people often don’t know – how would they?

This is a two-speed world. There are those who are in the know, and the others. And one of the dangers of a time like this is elitism – excluding those who are not as ‘into’ the latest technologies. Not everybody ‘gets’ this. And we mustn’t make it more important than it truly is.

I’m resolved…

2009-02-11T09:09:00.001Z

…to learn more about conflict, so I’ve just started working my way through Daniel Dana’s book ‘Conflict Resolution.’ A course would be good – Julie is presently in the middle of one, and you can follow her reflections on ‘Revmusings’

The book is well-written and interesting, although I’ve not yet been surprised by anything that isn’t obvious – still, long way to go yet.

Sorry about the change of layout – every now and again Blogger just refuses to let me edit my blog layout, and I have to choose a new template in order to restore the ability to add bits.

I realise that people will have very different opinions on the conflict in Gaza at the moment. But I guess we’re all convinced that the ability to express those opinions freely is worth making a fuss about. It’s good to report then that Philip Rizk, a blogger and peace campaigner, has been freed by the Egyptian authorities. His time in captivity was reported by his friend and fellow worker Ben White, who said:

“Last Friday night, after a peaceful, small-scale march north of Cairo in solidarity with the besieged Palestinians of Gaza, Egyptian secret police kidnapped one of the event organisers, Philip Rizk. Philip is an Egyptian-German blogger, film-maker and activist, who had previously lived in Gaza for two years. As I write this, no one has yet received confirmation of his location or had any communication with him…

However, Phil would be the first to point to the fact that what has happened to him is all too common in Mubarak’s Egypt. In fact, this “Mafia-style” abduction, and the Palestine focus of Philip’s work that made him a target for Egypt’s mukhabarat, draws attention to some larger developments in Egypt and the region.”

Ben is not, and wouldn’t claim to be, an impartial voice on the conflict – he’s recently taken evangelical author Patrick Sookhdeo to task for his writings on global jihad and Islamic Terrorism – but people shouldn’t be arrested without due process no matter how unpopular their viewpoint.

Don’t Panic!

2009-02-08T13:49:00.001Z

Yesterday I announced on Facebook that I had just finished ‘making a giant balance for the Family Service this Sunday’. I was besieged with comments (well, two anyway) implying that I was being cruel to said giant.

To set the record straight, I’m posting some pictures here. Here’s the completed balance in pieces, waiting to be transported. For those who are curious, please note that the fulcrum is a large threaded bolt, passing through a hard plastic sleeve which is a tight press-fit in the supporting timber board. Each side of the bearing is a washer, nut and lock-nut. And the back board is just hot-glued cardboard boxes, spray-painted white and lettered with felt pen.

Here it is in place – you can see the various captions I hung from the arms. You can probably guess that the one labelled ‘Jesus’ had some extra weights attached to the back for theological reasons!

And here I am in full flow, with the balance loaded. No giants were harmed during the making of this service. Incidentally, for the musicians among you – I hadn’t started playing at this point – it looks as if I’m attempting some frightfully adventurous chord high up the fretboard, but really I’m not!

Baptist Crimes?

2009-02-06T11:50:00.001Z

The BT arrived today. Now I know it’s popular to mock our denominational paper, but they do a great job of covering the vast spread of Baptist opinion in the UK. So there was a wonderful picture of Ian Green, looking amazingly ‘High Church’ in full regalia. (I was at Spurgeon’s with Ian – he’s minister at Yeovil Baptist.)

And an excellent article from Glen Marshall, which you can read on his blog ‘Nah then’ about the effects of a recession on the number of folk called into ministry. Provocative stuff.

I was also really taken by the advert from Balham Baptist Church – they have a really nice simple website design – for a “Senior’s Pastor”. I’m so thrilled to see that with just the one “senior” attending, they still feel it is important to have a set-aside pastor just for him/her.

But on a serious note – they have an excellent front page piece on Caroline Petrie, the nurse suspended (without pay) for offering to pray for a patient she was treating.

I’ve linked before now to Nigel Coles’ blog – and he reveals today that Caroline has been allowed to return to work. He says:

Great news about Caroline Petrie too – yesterday (before they received my letter I guess) the North Somerset Primary Care Trust have said she can return to work as soon as she wishes. So, if you’ve yet to contact them, please do recognize this piece of new first of all. Their website has a fairly good statement, but there is ambiguity there which suggests they will not condone a doctor or nurse offering prayer to a patient in the future, but I’m seeking some clarification on this particular issue.

Can I ask a question? Are we ready for the kind of society in which such an action is met by actual, continuing penalties – and how will we react? If Nigel discovers that just offering prayer to a patient won’t be tolerated, will Christians be prepared to go on doing it anyway, or will we stop, since penalties are threatened.

Derek Fraser (lead chaplain at Addenbrookes, and a Baptist minister) says in the BT article that he would never advise a Christian nurse to initiate a prayer or conversation about God:

“…there is the problem of people’s perceptions. Within this context, it is fraught with danger”

I don’t know what else Derek advises, so I won’t press the issue – but I can’t agree. Sometimes, surely, we just have to take the risk?

It’s right to press for freedom to express our faith – but we won’t always win. Have we become so used to that freedom that witnessing – sensitively and gently, but honestly none the less – when we know there will be a price to pay is too much to ask of us?

Here a min, Theremin, everywhere a min min…

2009-02-04T22:48:00.004Z

Some months ago, I got handed a plastic bag full of electronic bits, with the request that I have a go at fixing Liz’s boyfriend Jon’s kit-constructed Theremin.

The Theremin, for those who have never heard of it, is the instrument that makes the wonderfully ethereal noises at the start of Midsomer Murders. A proper one looks like this (left) and is, I’m told, the only musical instrument played without physical contact. Waving your hand near the vertical rod changes the pitch, near the horizontal loop to adjust the dynamics.

You can learn more (than you will ever want to know) here, but I struggled to get this thing working. In the end, I assumed that Jon had fried one or more of the FET (Field Effect Transistors) while making it, so I replaced them all – and it burst into song.

Jon’s Theremin is one of these from Jaycar, and the kit is nice and cheap! The Moog Theremin is also available as a kit, and looks cool (but costs a lot more – nearly £300!)

Whether the sound of the Theremin will make it's way into Monkey Steak stuff, I don’t know…

Nigel, we’re right behind you.

2009-02-02T19:52:00.001Z

Just to point people who follow this blog in the direction of the words written by Nigel on The Old Forge about community nurse Caroline Petrie. Nigel is Regional Minister covering Caroline’s church, and has sensible things to say about the whole affair.

What we’re actually talking about is an attempt to separate people into physical and spiritual beings rather than whole people. I don’t pretend to know a great deal about nursing, but I’ve known enough over the years to know that this is a common practice and part of a fine caring tradition which goes back to Florence Nightingale at least! What is more, nearly every Health Authority in the country has realised people have needs beyond the physical and that their physical remedies have limitations by the appointment of Chaplains – as do our Armed Forces, the Police, Prisons and the Queen!

I also realise Caroline is also merely putting into practice what I preach on many Sundays – don’t separate faith and work, take your faith with you, pray for opportunities etc.

Pray for Caroline – and for her church, and for folk like Nigel, supporting them. And expect the same yourself!

Room with a view

2009-01-31T17:39:00.001Z

Now maybe with hindsight it wasn’t a wise choice, but the space I use to reflect, to pray and to simply be quiet with God is also my sound studio; the room where all the PA equipment is stored. So it’s been jam-packed these last few weeks with gear from the install I’m helping with. But that’s been delivered now, and since the PA gear was mostly in the back of the car waiting to be put away after Dave Ford’s Folk Night – see Angela’s blog for photos – I decided to put my house in order, tidy up and fix broken shelving before ‘squaring away’ the PA gear, and (hopefully) getting my prayer space back.

Which I’ve now done. Just in passing – I love the expression ‘squared away’. I guess because I’ve read so much Hornblower, I’ve always associated it with the navy:

SQUARED AWAY - "from the nautical meaning of having changed a sailing ship's positions to that of the prevailing wind, with the yards turned at right angles to the deck."

I’m horrified that at least one online reference gives it a Masonic connection, which I do not believe for a moment – although ‘on the square’ is Masonic. But back to the room. Here’s the ‘studio’ view:

And here’s the end of the room I try to keep clear for prayer:

Just to celebrate being back in order, I said Morning Prayer – although it was 4pm. I know I could have said Evening Prayer instead, but I do like the Morning service, and I hope it’ll help me get back in the habit.

“T-nuts for two, and two for…”

2009-01-29T18:57:00.001Z

I think that’s enough singing. Finished assembling the Canford Pod today, and you’ll be pleased to know the correct instructions finally arrived. Last step was to fit the two rack strips. But as supplied they come without fixing screws, and the instructions imply that they should be screwed to the sides. I don’t like that – they have to support a lot of very heavy equipment, and as the side is 19mm chipboard, the strips will only be fixed with half a dozen short screws.

So I fitted 4 T-nuts each side, and bolted the rack strips with those. 20mm M6 bolts are a lot stronger than chipboard screws!

Here’s the pics:

There’s room in front of the strips if they want to fit a door.

Apart from that, the day has just been busy. Thursday is our ‘Coffee Drop-In’, and today it was packed out. There’s a group of folk who run it, and do a brilliant job – so, Tony, Stella, Roy and the rest of you, keep it up. Also present at the drop-in today was our ‘Community Support Officer’ (I think that’s the right title) – we’ve invited the police to use one of the rooms at the church as a base while they’re in the village, so they can have somewhere warm and dry; a place to eat their lunch and use the loo. And it helps build relationships with the local community as well.

Lots of people to visit, and Thursday is the day by which all the hymns, songs and readings have to be picked, so that they can be produced in large print. Never a dull moment.

Just poddling along.

2009-01-28T19:29:00.001Z

Another instalment in the Church AV install that I’m doing at present. Canford Audio are supplying the central element of the housing, around which the Church themselves will be constructing the rest of the desk. That arrived, flat packed. And it arrived without instructions! So, a quick email later, I’m in receipt of instructions. But they don’t quite correspond with the unit – the design has been changed. Never mind – there’s enough information there to get building.

Here’s the (almost finished) unit. I haven’t fitted the rack strips, as I don’t know if they are planning a door. And the top is just laid on loosely; I don’t think they’ll be using that.

The unit sitting on it is the excellent Yamaha MG206C-USB mixer. I ordered this a while ago, and it was out of stock. Digital Village (kudos to them) honoured the price I had paid for it, despite the trade price they had to pay having gone up substantially. Go there if you need stuff – and speak to Nick Romluc. They are honourable people.

The ‘Floor Pod’ (That’s what Canford call them) has adjustable feet for use on sloping surfaces.

Here’s a better picture of the Yamaha mixer. It has compressors on several of the mic inputs, and a USB connection for feeding to/from a computer.

I’d like you to get up out of your seat…

2009-01-28T16:06:00.001Z

…and answer me this. Last Sunday I preached a sermon about Jesus forgiving sin. And it seemed right to me to invite people to respond in what used to be quite a traditional way in evangelical churches. Wonderfully, several people did in fact do so.

What I’m interested in is how commonplace this ‘altar call’ is. And isn’t it interesting that it should be known by that name, when few of the churches that have this practice would consider calling any of their church furnishings an altar!

I guess that aspect is to do with the metaphorical laying of oneself ‘on the altar’ – altars feature pretty regularly in our hymnody, if not in our buildings.

When did you last do this? Does it happen often at your church? Are you in the position where a certain number of people can be guaranteed to come forward every time (I mean the same people, who always respond)?

And what does it say, theologically? Do you have strong feelings about it? I’m curious…

Not been quite so regular posting here over the past few days, as I’m also trying to contribute plenty of stuff for our Church website. I don’t know if I’ll make a habit of it, but I posted last Sunday’s sermons there, so if you want to read what came before the appeal, go and take a look. They’re labelled the wrong way round – the sermon on sin was the morning, but download the ‘evening’ link if you want to read it. The evening sermon was actually available on the internet before the sermon was delivered, which was a little weird!

New Church website

2009-01-23T08:32:00.002Z

Just a quick post to let folk know that we’ve moved our Church Website across to a WordPress platform, which means that Kirby Muxloe Free Church related stuff will go there.

If you have a moment, then please take a look – and email Andy, our long-suffering webadmin, with anything you find that needs fixin’

Music is good for the soul.

2009-01-22T17:15:00.001Z

And I’m keen to share good things. Received an invitation to try ‘Spotify’ this week, and I have to say I’m really impressed. You can use it like LastFM or any of the other ‘create my own genre’ kind of music players. But you can also simply search for artists, and play what you find.

Steph suggested I have a listen to James Yuill, which I did, and I’ve really enjoyed that – more than a dozen tracks on Spotify. Also just heard ‘My Princess Gone’ from Jah Mason, which I enjoyed.

I’ve got half a dozen invitations left – comment here if you would like to give it a try (first come…)

Before you install…

2009-01-21T17:16:00.001Z

I promised I would document the AV install at a local church here. Most (though not all) of the equipment has arrived – here are a few of the bits.

Yamaha power amplifier
Electrovoice ZX1 speaker
Floor sockets

I’ve fired up the main speakers with the Yamaha amp, and that sounds good. A smaller room also uses a Yamaha amp, this time with JBL Control-1 speakers, and this too sounds great. The JBL speakers are known to be inefficient – the spec figure is just 87dB 1W/1m, which with a maximum continuous power of 100W takes us to just 107dB SPL at 1m. The Yamaha amp is 275W/channel into 8ohms, so a bit overpowered, but very good quality.

The ZX1 is much more sensitive – 94dB 1W/1m, and 200W max continuous – 117dB SPL at 1m. But since I doubt that we will ever need to get anywhere near even the lower SPL figure, it’s all more than adequate.

If you look hard at the ZX1 picture, you’ll see a small screw at the bottom. That’s the screw that tightens on to the pole mount. By replacing the set screw with an M6 eye bolt, we create a point for a safety bond wire. Eyebolt shield fixings are ideal for this, as they are plenty strong enough for the load, and can also be used to fix into the wall, for the other end of the bond.

I don’t like using screws and masonry plugs for speakers or other suspended equipment, and where a fixing into a wall is needed, would use shield bolts in preference. My friend Ernie, who is designing and building the screen mounting, uses resin fixings – but then he’s got the gear!

Wood two – would not!

2009-01-20T14:11:00.001Z

Having posted about the wood scooter I took a closer look at Portugese woodworker Carlos Alberto’s website, and discovered that the scooter – named ‘Daniela’, I guess after the girl you see in the pictures - was in fact a companion to an earlier motorcycle, ‘Mota’, also constructed out of wood.

His more conventional stuff – staircases and so on – are beautiful; but not as striking as the vehicles!

Wood that I could…

2009-01-20T08:12:00.001Z

It’s almost a licence requirement for motorcycle riders that we should dislike scooters. But, while I wouldn’t want to ride one, I do love the classic scooter design.

So I had to blog about this astonishing piece of craftsmanship from Portugal. For all the details, head on over to ‘Make’ magazine – there are lots more pictures there too.

By one of those curious bits of synchronicity, this morning my daily Bible notes centred on the account of the building of Solomon’s temple in 1 Kings 6:

14 So Solomon built the temple and completed it. He lined its interior walls with cedar boards, panelling them from the floor of the temple to the ceiling, and covered the floor of the temple with planks of pine. He partitioned off twenty cubits at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from floor to ceiling to form within the temple an inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. The main hall in front of this room was forty cubits long. The inside of the temple was cedar, carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; no stone was to be seen…

31 For the entrance of the inner sanctuary he made doors of olive wood with five-sided jambs. And on the two olive wood doors he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid the cherubim and palm trees with beaten gold. In the same way he made four-sided jambs of olive wood for the entrance to the main hall. He also made two pine doors, each having two leaves that turned in sockets. He carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers on them and overlaid them with gold hammered evenly over the carvings.

I have no doubt that the urge to be creative – whatever the medium – is an aspect of the image of God in us. And when I see such astonishing creations, it really does prompt wonder and worship.

Stand and deliver!

2009-01-17T11:38:00.001Z

Here’s a useful money-saving tip. IKEA do a dirt-cheap uplighter – the NOT light. Comes in at under £5. It has several screw-together sections. It would be handy if it could be adapted to serve as a mic stand for those occasions when you need something tall but slender – recording a concert, or to stick in front of a seated Cellist.

So here’s the trick. Get hold of an adaptor from Maplin – the QN10L. Here’s a shot of one:

The adaptor will slip neatly over the thread at the top of one of the NOT stem sections. Use some epoxy resin to fix the adaptor to the top of the stand section. And then you have a completed stand.

Sorry about the tiltiness of this image – Jonny Baker I aint. The resulting stand can be as short as 15”, or as high as about 5” – more if you have more than one NOT, as the sections can be mixed. The base is good and heavy, so the stands are stable.

I had two spare – bought for replacement shades – so this was almost no cost, other than £1.99 each for the adaptors.

Getting ready to install…

2009-01-16T17:22:00.001Z

a sound/video system in a nearby church. Actually the church are doing the installation; I’m just supplying the kit and some advice. I thought I would keep a photo diary of the process here – so look out for some AV centred entries.

It’s a very small auditorium, but the church has wisely chosen not to use low-spec kit. So we’re putting in Yamaha power amps, a Yamaha mixer, a decent NEC projector and Electrovoice speakers. Should sound really good.

The ceiling is high and angled – wall-mounts for the speakers, and a custom-designed mounting plate for the data projector should add to the fun. I tried to persuade them to go for a centre array – better sound that way – but they thought they wouldn’t like the look of that.

The NEC NP600 is a super little projector – small, light, quiet, but 3500 lumens. And it’s LCD rather than DLP, which in my opinion is an advantage in a church setting.

I’ve used Sketch-up to prepare some drawings of the interior to plan things out – it’s a very powerful tool (especially for free!) but I’m useless at using it!