Modern day Robin Hood

Or maybe just a controversial priest. Either way, I like his style. Read the story here The fact that he protested about the Playboy brand being marketed at children was very canny too. Be interested to know more about him...

Nativities

Interesting piece here about the demise of the traditional nativity play in primary schools. What I find most interesting about the article is that the person advocating moving into a less traditional way of presenting the Christmas story (Ralph the Reindeer, Whoops-a-Daisy Angel and the Snowman at Sunset) is "Practising Christian" Niki Davies.
Chairman of the Muslim Forum however said:

Muslim thinker Manzoor Moghal accuses secularists of teaming up with practitioners of what he termed "political correctness" for the decline of the Nativity play.

"I can assure you Muslims do not take offence at Nativity plays," says Mr Moghal, chairman of the Leicester-based Muslim Forum.

"Britain is a Christian country and the majority of people are Christians. We enjoy your festivities and we like to learn about them.

"This is a mistaken, misguided and misrepresentative policy: we should celebrate the freedom to celebrate our faith."

Unique or worthless?

I realise that I have issues with finding a balance between feeling special and feeling like a small blob in an infinite universe.
I was an only child to a single parent and was fortunate enough to believe that I was the most special thing on the planet. This had its down side as you can imagine!
Growing older has given me wisdom enough to take out this dilemma and examine it occasionally and balance the delight in myself with a healthy dose of "you're nothing compared to the vast expanse of space". More frequently these days I need to do a lot more "actually, you know you're not that bad!"
Being a Christian compounds this dilemma. We're special- God died for us as individuals but that intimate relationship puts us in the direct spotlight of an all powerful God. We are made in his image, but everything we offer is like the painting of a 2 year old- loved but feeble.
Yesterday we had a sermon about a goldfish and an ice cream. On discovering that their pet goldfish was lying immobile in the bowl, the dad promised his son that they could have ice cream. The fish then started swimming and the boys talked about killing the goldfish so that they could still get the ice cream. The point was do we do things for others or for ourselves? This ties in with how we view ourselves. In a consumer led society, we believe we are right and that we have a right to whatever we want. As a Christian, we should put others first. What does that mean? I don't think it means always seeing yourself as a microbe in the universe. We still need to know our worth and value. It is with that foundation we realise how much we have been given and then want to give that away to others.
It's a hard balance to strike.

The Open Academy

I have heard quite a lot via the press about the proposal to turn Heartsease High School into an Academy, most of it seems to be negative. Most of my information previously about Academies has stemmed from Dave Gallop who used to work with Steve Chalke whose organisation Faithworks is behind the installation of Academies elsewhere in the country. The stuff that he told me about was very positive. I believe that the time has come for me to do some research and find out more about what Academies are and what it means for a school to become one.
I have had a very interesting conversation with Joolian about this document called "The Open Academy Draft Education Brief". It's a very interesting read outlining the ethos, specialisms and structure of the proposed Academy.
According to the Faithworks site a City Academy is:

A government initiative designed to promote new schools being developed through partnerships between central government, a local authority and a sponsor organisation (which could be a private sector company, voluntary sector organisation or faith group).

Some questions that have occurred to me:

• Is this what Heartsease staff and pupils want?
• Why does it have to be an academy?
• How will this impact the community?
• Can the ethos and aspirations of the community be altered in another way?
• Why are people so against it?
• What should my response be as a Christian, a parent, an employer within the current school and a citizen of Norwich?
• Should we be wary of wealthy Christians bearing gifts?
• What has been the impact of Academy status schools in other areas?
• And were they so opposed in their inception?
  

Plus I'm sure there are many others that I haven't thought of...
I would be really interested in hearing your thoughts about this issue. Please do leave some comments.

I love Sacred Space

Pentecost is about the Now. The Holy Spirit gives us the confidence to be where we are, possibly depressed, old, with sicknesses. We do not look at trees and say they have to be saplings. Ancient trees may have rotten branches but they have a beauty that comes from all the years they have lived. In the Holy Spirit nothing goes out of fashion; it grows, and never dies. The body may die, but you and I will not. When you are fifteen, you do not want to know about when you were ten. You are looking ahead, hoping to be something else. That does not give peace. Peace comes from knowing: I am fifteen, which means that each of those 15 years has added something to me. My successes come from what I did with my failures. I have survived some sufferings, and have learned from them. The Holy Spirit would have taught Saint Peter to think about the denial of Christ and crowing of the cock. He would rather have forgotten about it, undone it. Instead he learned to make it part of the Lord’s dealing with him, as much a part as Jesus’ tender words to him after the Resurrection: Feed my sheep.

Mr Beane- legend!

During the week, I think I was slightly controversial at our church's prayer meeting. During the pre-prayer conversation, the others in my group were talking about how Christians are unfairly treated in favour of other religions and how university CU's are being victimised. One person said we should be a people who stand and make a fuss about these things. I disagreed. I think Christians are good at whining in this way and I think this contributes to the bad press we get. I said we should stand up and make a fuss about the things that are really important like slavery and world poverty and be known for our positive stand on issues rather than moaning about things (look at the Jerry Springer case in particular).

What a refreshing change to read about Mr Beane (no, not Rowan Atkinson!) well actually I guess he's actually the Reverend Beane, the Spixworth vicar who is quoted in the Evening News article:

“This whole idea about environmental concern is a really Christian belief.

“We believe we had a God who created the Universe and then gave to humanity this creation to care for.

“We are the stewards of creation and have to care for it, but sometimes we don't make a very good job. In our own small ways we can make a difference and together we can make a big difference.”

Case in point. What a positive way to deal with such a serious issue and what a witness. Mr Beane- legend!

Chocolate Jesus

Some of you may know of my love of art- I believe the production and appreciation of art elevates us above all other living creatures and shows how we mimic God in creation.
I was interested to read about the furore in New York surrounding the exhibiting of a sculpture called My Sweet Lord. It is a 6ft naked depiction of Jesus made out of chocolate. The artist Cosimo Cavallaro is known for using food in his art used 90kg of chocolate to make the sculpture. Unfortunately due to large Catholic/Christian protest the exhibition has been cancelled. I want to know why? Because the sculpture was naked or because it was made from chocolate and that is disrespectful? How is chocolate more disrespectful than bronze or clay?

What are your thoughts?

Sung Worship

Quite an interesting debate has opened up in a few blogs that I read about using songs and music to aid worship in Sunday services. It started with Joolian talking about a church having a service with all chart/secular songs. Then Heather picked up the baton thinking a little about the point of sung worship during services especially when it becomes a "hymn sandwich". The comments from Sparkles and Benvolio based on that post move the debate on further to "worship sets"- a 20 minute or more block of sung worship. Monty as a worship leader has interesting points to make here and on his own blog too.

Why do we have songs? In the bible we find singing and I'm sure I could find lots of examples but I'm currently reading Exodus and this passage was last night's reading:
Exodus 15: 1-3

The Song of Moses and Miriam

1 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD :
"I will sing to the LORD,
for he is highly exalted.
The horse and its rider
he has hurled into the sea.

2 The LORD is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will praise him,
my father's God, and I will exalt him.

3 The LORD is a warrior;
the LORD is his name.

It would seem that singing in some way expresses praise. If I had the time and the inclination, I would also pick out bible passages that show that singing expresses sadness, intimacy and exuberance (but I don't!). Singing in some way taps into our emotions and I would say straight to the soul.

Thinking specifically of using songs not written as an overt songs of praise to God, can these be a form of worship to a variety of people? There are a range of options in this complicated arena. Firstly, the people who wrote the song could be Christian or not. Secondly, the audience could be Christian or not.

It would be foolish to suggest that non-Christians couldn't write music that isn't spiritual or could be used by Christians, in fact historically, it has happened. Because it isn't dedicated to God in its conception doesn't mean that it isn't God inspired. Neil Walker used to constantly remind us that there is nothing "sacred" about some of the traditional hymns we sing as they are the old pub tunes/popular music of the Victorian era, grabbed by Christians to appeal to the masses and entice them to church.

Not all tracks composed by Christians are taken in a worship context. There are several examples but I remember a track by Plummet called Damaged that became a big dance hit a few years ago. The track was originally by Plumb but went "mainstream" when Plummet remixed it. I do believe however that clubbing is actually worship although the participants probably don't realise that! When Jesus talks to the woman at the well he says "You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks." (John 4: 21-23) So it is possible to worship and yet not be in tune with the Creator.

I do understand however that for some reasons, singing may not connect with everyone as a method of expression of worship. I think sometimes these reasons are to do with a lack of singing ability and I think that anything that causes people to disengage with corporate times of worship can be damaging. There should always be an alternative so a service shouldn't be all about singing and they aren't (usually). Maybe this is why "hymn sandwich" services have arisen.

I find this quote from Joolian interesting: Being spiritually uplifted by something familiar may not be worship. Music has that power and we just need to exercise some caution not to manipulate with it.
Does music have the power? Or is it the power of God reflected in the piece that stirs our soul, even if we do not know or proclaim Him? If something touches us spiritually, do we have to analyse that sensation? I am interested in this lack of trust for the way we feel things. I tend towards trust but after seeing a programme called Messiah by Derren Brown I am aware that maybe I should be a little more cautious in response to my feelings. (Derren took a group of self confessed atheists and using a series of techniques, induced a spiritual state in them that they attributed to God) I guess comparisions with the Toronto Blessing in evoking a hysterical response to certain stimuli are understandable.
If music has the power to manipulate us into a state of euphoria that may encourage us to believe that we are communicating with God, does this mean that we are not worshipping God? Is it possible to suggest that music does make us susceptible and this is why we use it? Then surely ANY music that puts us into that state is relevant to bring us to that point. So long as we reach that state, does it matter how we get there?

I realise that it's taken me some time to think about all these things and the post is already long and rambling but my conclusion is that sung worship engages the soul at a level that is unseen and in some respects unknowable. This is not however a universal experience and sung worship can be a struggle for some but I believe is a skill that they can aquire over time with patience. I think that the origin of the music is irrelevant mainly and we shouldn't be afraid to use "secular" music as an aid to worship.

Hope some of that makes sense...