Interviewed by Andy Goodliff

If you're interested, you can read my interview with Andy Goodliff here...

A sermon worth reading

An excellent sermon here from Steve Holmes...

The first 'Prefab' in the country

I was talking to one of our neighbours the other day, and she mentioned in passing that we live next to the site of the first Prefabricated House in the country. At first I didn't know whether to believe her... But I've been doing some digging (not literally, this isn't Time Team) and it appears that this is indeed the case! Here's a photo of it before it was demolished.
It was an AIROH house, made of aluminium salvaged from crashed aircraft and melted down, and built by B.A.C. at their Weston-super-Mare factory.
According to our local history website: 'The very first prefab to be erected and occupied in the whole of Britain was No 125 Nibley Road, Shirehampton, which was officially opened on 18 July 1945 (only ten weeks after V.E.Day) by the Lord Mayor of Bristol (Councillor W. F. Cottrell). General Sir Frederick Pile (Minister of Works) came down from London to witness this important event, and Mr W. R. Verdon Smith (Director of B.A.C.) handed the key to the Lord Mayor. Mr Churchill had visited Filton in April 1945 to see the Airoh houses being built. They were most modern in every way, with central heating, up to date kitchens, built-in cupboards, and airing cupboard, and they even had a fridge, something unheard of in those far off days. The rent was fixed for 14/- or 15/- (70p or 75p) per week. The Airoh Houses were given a ten year tenure, but they formed the foundations of many happy homes.'

New Car

After 7 years in a 1.4 Astra, we've finally jumped ship and gone all Honda!

For those interested in such things, it's a 2.2 i-CTDi ES

Formula One New Season

I've been obsessed with F1 for as long as I can remember - which is (realistically) back to about 1982, (when Keke Rosberg won the championship, and Riccardo Patrese took a win in Monaco).

This weekend marks the start of the 2009 season, and I'm very excited...

So, to mark the start of the new season, I thought I'd share this video...

It's Riccardo Patrese taking his wife for a lap of the Jerez circuit in a Honda Civic.

OK, it's a 'Type R' and not quite the same as my new Honda Civic Diesel, but I like to think my driving gets a similar effect...

You can see it here with subtitles, but I think it's funnier without...

Avenged Sevenfold - Beast and the Harlot

Avenged Sevenfold, a rock band from California, produced the following tribute to Revelation in 2005:



This shining city built of gold, a far cry from innocence,
There's more than meets the eye round here, look to the waters of the deep.
A city of evil.
There sat a seven-headed beast, ten horns raised from his head.
Symbolic woman sits on his throne, but hatred strips her and leaves her naked.
The Beast and the Harlot.

She's a dwelling place for demons.
She's a cage for every unclean spirit,
every filthy bird and makes us drink
the poisoned wine to fornicating with our kings.
Fallen now is Babylon the Great.

The city dressed in jewels and gold, fine linen, myrrh and pearls.
Her plagues will come all at once as her mourners watch her burn.
Destroyed in an hour.
Merchants and captains of the world, sailors, navigators too.
Will weep and mourn this loss with her sins piled to the sky,
The Beast and the Harlot.

She's a dwelling place for demons.
She's a cage for every unclean spirit,
every filthy bird and makes us drink
the poisoned wine to fornicating with our kings.
Fallen now is Babylon the Great.

The day has come for all us sinners.
If you're not a servant, you'll be struck to the ground.
Flee the burning, greedy city.
Lookin' back on her to see there's nothing around.

I don't believe in fairytales and no one wants to go to hell.
You've made the wrong decision and it's easy to see.
Now if you wanna serve above or be a king below with us,
You're welcome to the city where your future is set forever.

She's a dwelling place for demons.
She's a cage for every unclean spirit,
every filthy bird and makes us drink
the poisoned wine to fornicating with our kings.
Fallen now is Babylon the Great.
[x2]

Megadeth - Blessed are the Dead

Long-lived heavy metal band Megadeth address the Book of Revelation in the following song:

Blessed Are The Dead

A great sign appeared
Under the stars and the moon
Sounds of galloping horses
On clouds of lightning and thunder

A dark gathering storm
To scorch the earth for many generations
A nuclear winter
Worse than any cold or holy war

A white horse on the clouds of death
A red warhorse to end all wars
A pale horse and pestilence led by a
Black horse with famine and scales

The doctrine of hatred
Nation will rise against nation
Wash me in blood and let me be
The firstborn of the dead

A crowned rider with arrows and bow
A red rider with a great firey sword
Flames come from the one called death
Horror and apocalypse follows

(RIDE!) Won't you four horsemen ride again
Before this kingdom is blown to kingdom come

I hold fast to what I believe
Till I see my name in stone

Blessed are the dead

A white horse on the clouds of death
A red warhorse to end all wars
A pale horse and pestilence led by a
Black horse with famine and scales

The synagogue of Satan
Nation will rise against nation
Wash me in blood and let me be
The firstborn of the dead

A crowned rider with arrows and bow
A red rider with a great firey sword
Flames come from the one called death
Horror and apocalypse follows

(RIDE!) Won't you four horsemen ride again
Before this kingdom is blown to kingdom come
I hold fast to what I believe
Till I see my name in stone

Blessed are the dead

HT: Ruari

Apparently, scholars are 'in uproar'

According to an article in today's Times, scholars have descended to the level of small children. This may not surprise those of us who move in such circles, but nontheless it's a great story.

The 'weird theology' story, of the ilk that crops up from time to time, is that:

'Rachel Elior, a professor of Jewish philosophy at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, claims in a forthcoming study that not only were the 930 scrolls written by Jewish priests living in Jerusalem but that the Essenes as a sect did not exist.'

In itself this is barely newsworthy (well, it would be if it had any substantive scholarly basis, but...)

However, what takes the story to exciting levels of degeneracy is the fact that:

'The debate has even led to the arrest of the son of one proponent of the theory that the Essenes did not write the ancient scriptures. Raphael Golb, the son of Norman Golb, a professor at Chicago University, was arrested in New York this month for allegedly creating online aliases and conducting a campaign of harassment against academic opponents of his father’s theories.'

Having thus raised the bar on the debate, the reply from the mainstream scholarly community is entirely appropriate:

'“Almost seventy scholars accept the statement that one of the Essenes’ groups lived in Qumran, and some say we’re all morons and only they understand,” Hanan Eshel, a professor at Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv, told the Haaretz newspaper. '

HT: Ben

Lost in wonder love and praise

Will Alisdair Longwill and Nigel Coles be seeking the Lord's leading on the way home?

Will they place their trust in the one who has the whole world in his hands?

I hope so, because they put their trust elsewhere on the way up, and were really rather late...

ASBO Jesus on 'Crossing Places'

R.E.M. and the End of the World

R.E.M. Get all apocalyptic... (HT Polly)

R.E.M, It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

That's great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes, an aeroplane -
Lenny Burnside is not afraid.
Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn -
world serves its own needs, don't misserve your own needs.
Feed it up a knock, speed, grunt no, strength no.
Ladder structure clatter with fear of height, down height.
Wire in a fire, represent the seven games in a government for hire and a combat site.
Left her, wasn't coming in a hurry with the furies breathing down your neck.
Team by team reporters baffled, trump, tethered crop.
Look at that low plane! Fine then.
Uh oh, overflow, population, common group, but it'll do.
Save yourself, serve yourself.
World serves its own needs, listen to your heart bleed.
Tell me with the rapture and the reverent in the right - right.
You vitriolic, patriotic, slam, fight, bright light, feeling pretty psyched.

It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.

Six o'clock - TV hour. Don't get caught in foreign tower.
Slash and burn, return, listen to yourself churn.
Lock him in uniform and book burning, blood letting.
Every motive escalate.
Automotive incinerate.
Light a candle, light a motive.
Step down, step down.
Watch a heel crush, crush.
Uh oh, this means no fear - cavalier.
Renegade and steer clear!
A tournament, a tournament, a tournament of lies.
Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives and I decline.

It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.

The other night I tripped a nice continental drift divide.
Mount St. Edelite. Leonard Bernstein. Leonid Breshnev, Lenny Bruce and Lester Bangs.
Birthday party, cheesecake, jelly bean, boom!
You symbiotic, patriotic, slam, but neck, right? Right.

It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine...fine...

A Classic from Dave Walker

HT: Rhiannon

Blogging From Council

With due reference to Sean the Baptist's 'survival guide' to Council, some notable notes:

• 'Theologically speaking, this is the least-worst option.'
• 'Mission is not about thinking theologically.'
• 'Technically, this is what's called "a pain in the butt".'
  
• 'Many regional ministers don't actually like going to churches.'
• 'Despite appearances, I am apparently still alive.'
  
• At least one of the above is attributable to the GenSec.
  
• The Creeping Presbyterian has failed to put in an appearance, but have met some some delightful Swedish Lutherans.
  

Appendix to Appendectomy

It is now almost a year since I was rushed into hospital to have my appendix removed. So this may be an appropriate moment to reflect on the experience.
Ruth Gouldbourne's excellent lecture on 'embodiment' yesterday has provided me with a framework for this consideration.
My (brief) stay in hospital was an event which touched both ends of my life.
As I waited in the ante-room to theatre, in pain and (so I'm told) dying, I found myself revisiting baby-hood: I was utterly, life-dependently, in the hands of others. It occurred to me as they prepared me for the anaesthetic that this could be 'it': I might not wake up. And what I discovered was that I wasn't so much afraid of death, as I was of the total loss of control, the loss of self-sufficiently. I am, after all, theoretically inches from death every time I ride my motorbike, but the difference there is that I can do something about it, it is my skill, my judgement, which makes the difference. In theatre, however, I was totally reliant on the care of strangers, my independence removed, my dignity compromised (have you seen those back-less nighties they make you wear???) and my intellect redundant. I had a momentary glimpse of myself as an old man...
In that moment, I turned to the un-named nurse (angel?) by my side and simply said, 'I'm afraid.' She in turn simply reached out and held my hand, and assured me that all would be well. A messenger from God, delivering the words of Mother Julian, touching me in my moment of weakness. In that touch I experienced the hand of Christ taking mine, and identifying with me in my physical frailty. It was, you might say, a sacramental encounter.

U2 - No Line on the Horizon

Absolutely loving the latest offering from (I put it to you) the best band in the world...
Musically sublime, lyrically moving and challenging with equal measure.
A couple of quotes to illustrate:

Moment of Surrender:

I tied myself with wire
To let the horses roam free
Playing with the fire
Until the fire played with me

The stone was semi-precious
We were barely conscious
Two souls too smart to be
In the realm of certainty
Even on our wedding day

We set ourselves on fire
Oh God, do not deny her
It’s not if I believe in love
If love believes in me
Oh, believe in me

At the moment of surrender
I folded to my knees
I did not notice the passers-by
And they did not notice me

I’ve been in every black hole
At the altar of the dark star
My body’s now a begging bowl
That’s begging to get back, begging to get back
To my heart
To the rhythm of my soul
To the rhythm of my unconsciousness
To the rhythm that yearns
To be released from control

I was punching in the numbers at the ATM machine
I could see in the reflection
A face staring back at me
At the moment of surrender
Of vision over visibility
I did not notice the passers-by
And they did not notice me

I was speeding on the subway
Through the stations of the cross
Every eye looking every other way
Counting down ’til the train would stop

At the moment of surrender
Of vision of over visibility
I did not notice the passers-by
And they did not notice me

White as Snow

Where I came from there were no hills at all
The land was flat, the highways straight and wide
My brother and I would drive for hours
Like years instead of days
Our faces as pale as the dirty snow

Once I knew there was a love divine
Then came a time I thought it knew me not
Who can forgive forgiveness where forgiveness is not
Only the lamb as white as snow

And the water, it was icy
As it washed over me
And the moon shone above me

Now this dry ground it bears no fruit at all
Only poppies laugh under the crescent moon
The road refuses strangers
The land the seeds we sow
Where might we find the lamb as white as snow

As boys we would go hunting in the woods
To sleep the night shooting out the stars
Now the wolves are every passing stranger
Every face we cannot know
If only a heart could be as white as snow
If only a heart could be as white as snow

Babylon and Byzantium

A group of us from College went on a 'School Trip' to London last week, to see both the Babylon exhibition and the British Musem, and the Byzantium exhibition at the Royal Academy. Both were superb, and well worth a visit!
Whilst there are too many highlights to highlight, nontheless, a couple of images stood out for me. The first is the wonderful 'Babel Revisited' by Julee Holcombe, from the Babylon exhibition. The second is the 'Icon of the Heavenly Ladder' from Sinai, in the Byzantium exhibition. Both, I feel, bear reflection.

On the Place of the Jews

I'm currently doing some work on Brian Brock's excellent 'Singing the Ethos of God', and he has a superb section on 'Luther, the Jews, and the Problem of Supersessionism'. And it got me thinking about how I might want to articulate the relationship... So, here goes... (gets ready to duck!)

OK so what do I think about Jews and Gentiles? I think the problem comes when we have an insufficiently realised eschatology. If we make participation in the kingdom of God all about what happens to us when we die, then we end up in a ridiculous, fruitless and harmful discussion about whether Jews can get to heaven without naming Jesus as Lord. However, if participation in the kingdom of God is about participation in ‘your kingdom come, your will be done on earth, as in heaven’, then it is about seeing the eternal kingdom breaking into the present through the activity of the people of God. Christians believe that the kingdom comes definitively in the person of Christ, but that the effects of Christ’s death and resurrection resound backwards and forward in time, across all races, calling and shaping the people of God. To give one’s allegiance to Christ is to give one’s allegiance to God as revealed in Christ, it is to reverse idolatry and give worship to the one on the throne in heaven, it is to take a stand against the principalities and powers of this earth, it is to refuse the mark of the beast and receive the mark of the Spirit. But, where does this leave the Jew who also directs their worship to the one on the throne in heaven? I suggest that it leaves them standing with the Christian, participating in the coming of the kingdom of God to the earth as idolatry is challenged and Yahweh is worshipped. Is Christ good news to the faithful Jew? Yes of course, because in Christ God is most fully known. Does lack of allegiance to Christ obviate allegiance to the one on throne in heaven? No of course not. Has the Christian church become the people of God? Yes. Are non-Christological Jews excluded from participaing in the coming kingdom of God? No.

666 - Definition by Adrian Plass

From the wonderful and hilarious "A-Z of the Christian Life" by Adrian Plass:

666: The mark of the beast. Not a bad mark if it's out of a thousand. About the equivalent of a 'C' pass at GCSE. Good try, beast - could do better.

Christ Getting In Shape For Second Coming

HEAVEN—Emerging from a grueling 90 minutes of cardiovascular exercise and light lifting for tone, Son of God Jesus Christ said Monday that He is "definitely on track" to achieve peak fitness condition for the Second Coming.

The Son of God spends each morning trying to attain perfect abdominal definition.

"If every eye is going to see Me, and all the tribes of earth are going to wail on account of Me, I think I owe it to them and to Myself to be in the best shape of My life," Christ said. "Right now I'm up to 35 minutes at seven [miles per hour] on the treadmill and benching about 165 [pounds]."

"I'm really starting to feel like I'll have the strength and endurance to move every mountain and island from its place," Christ added.

Since His birthday last Dec. 25, Christ has committed Himself to a demanding daily regimen of exercise and prophecy fulfillment. Each of His workouts, Christ said, starts with an hour of cardio, after which He focuses on two muscle groups, replacing conventional free weights with the Rod of Iron with which He intends to rule all nations.

On Mondays, Christ works His chest and biceps and completes three sets of 10 transfigurations. On Tuesdays, He switches to triceps and abdominals, and passes as many sets of Last Judgments as He can in a minute. Wednesdays are devoted to the back and legs, and Thursdays and Fridays are for core and flexibility.

Even Sabbaths are spent doing yoga, swimming, and basic strength-training isometrics such as push-ups, leg lifts, and chin-ups.

"There can be no day of rest," said Christ, His eyes filled with flaming fire. "Rest is for mortals."



The determined Savior has also forsworn His favorite high-calorie, high-carb foods such as fatted calf, loaves, and even His own body and blood, instead embracing muscle-building high-protein shakes and electrolyte-replacing sports drinks. And when temptation calls, Christ need only look at two pictures taped to His refrigerator: an icon of Himself prior to starting His regimen and a reproduction of Michelangelo's "Last Judgment" fresco torn from a magazine.

"The thought of being unable to seize the seven-headed serpent and hurl it into the abyss really keeps Me motivated," Christ said.

The Lamb of God said He made the decision to get in shape late last year when, after two millennia of relative inactivity, He realized that at His age there was "no way" He could return to Earth, judge the souls of the innocent and wicked alike, and reign over the Kingdom of God for 1,000 years without prior conditioning.

"The Second Coming isn't just Me sitting on a great white throne and judging away," Christ said. "I also have to make all of the stars fall and shake all the powers in Heaven. That's why I've been working a lot with the medicine ball."

Christ, however, admitted that centuries of heavenly grace had enabled Him to "really let [Himself] go."

"I can't lead the armies of Heaven looking like some flabby slob," said Christ, who declined to disclose His "before" weight. "That guy can't be the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. The faithful want a Messiah they can truly fear, not someone who's afraid to take off His shirt in public."

At first, Christ said He thought such a physical transformation would "take a miracle." During the first couple weeks of His exercise program, He couldn't work out on the treadmill for more than 10 minutes without gasping for breath and aggravating the old spear-point injury in His side. Now that He can deftly complete 20 ab-bench push-ups on the highest incline and almost as many chin-ups, Christ said, He feels more energetic than He has since His early 30s.

And not only has frequent exercise made Christ feel more healthy and confident, it's "cleared [His] head, which will really help [Him] deal with the massive amount of smiting and condemning."

Encouraged by His progress, particularly the increased definition in His pectoral and abdominal muscles, Christ is focusing all of His attention on visualizing the success of His Second Coming.

"Right now, it's all about Aug. 2," the goal-oriented Savior said. "And no matter how I look, there's no going back on this one like I did at the turn of the last millennium."

Source: The Onion