way out west

Candle envy?

"you use night-lights... Pah!"

OK I'm from a different "churchmanship" to these guys.. but you have to give them credit for giving it 110% on the Pomp scale!

The Complex Christ Blog

You will all of no doubt noted the launch of Kester's new Blog - there is really no point repeating anything posted on Jonny's Blog as everyone and his theologically and culturally aware dog reads the Baker Blog! (...and so they should!)... so all I'm gonna say is don't just read Kester's Blog... read the book if you haven't all ready - it is poetic and easy to read, inspirational and challenging and for me had the most "Yes!" moments since "A new kind of Christian".

40 days of contemplation?

This is wonderful!  Si Smith has published a cartoon reflection on Jesus' time in the wilderness (being contemplative ;-) ) entitled "40" it is available on mayBe web site.

Research?

I have spent a few moments this evening looking at some of the extreme anti-emerging church/contemplative spirituality etc, sites (it was either that or "Big Brother"!) and I've noticed a common thread... apart from the pervading atmosphere of fear (I got the impression, at times that they believe satan to be more powerful than God?!) they all seem to call themselves researchers... As I am currently undertaking my MA research this is a word whose meaning I feel fairly confident of... yet I see few signs of research (as I understand it) on these sites; a lot of polemic and guilt by association and assumption definitely, for example...

Why Does Eugene Peterson use the phrase "as above, so below" in his paraphrase The Message? Did he know about Ronald Miller's book, As Above, So Below? And if he did know about this well-known New Age title, does he agree with that book when it says:

"The spiritual dimension of culture is not an array of dogmatic world views ... but a spectrum of contemplative practices."( p. 3) or when it quotes Aldous Huxley as saying that mysticism is the "highest common factor" that unites all the world's religions and helps people to recognize their divinity within.(p.2) [from lighthouse trails "research"]

So use of a common grouping of words evidences tacit agreement... Anyway, I am sure these folk are genuine in their beliefs and I have had a number of discussions with anti-emergent folk... They hold their beliefs and I can respect them for that, but why do these sites use the term research?  The research seems to be reading a few books by writers that they agree with and doing a bit of cross-referencing... that is not research as I know it!  Perhaps they could try these definitions on for size? [from www.wordiq.com]

Basic research (also called fundamental or pure research) has as its primary objective the advancement of knowledge and the theoretical understanding of the relations among variables. It is exploratory and often driven by the researcher’s curiosity, interest or hunch. It is conducted without a practical end in mind although it can have unexpected results that point to practical applications.

Applied research is done to solve specific, practical questions; its primary aim is not to gain knowledge for its own sake. It is almost always done on the basis of basic research.

Surely research has at it's heart the critiquing of theory not the practice of looking for things which simply reinforce existing opinions and assumptions? So, why use the term?  Would it be harsh to suggest it is to add an air of authority to their pronouncements and the books they sell? 

Out of interest some of the things/people they condem as "evil" [their word]; Brian MaClaren (obviously), Thomas Merton (not surprisingly), Eugene Peterson (and The Message in particular), Rick Warren (and Church growth theories etc.), Labyrinths, Julian of Norwich, The Alpha Course (because it might lead to catholicism??? apparently Nicky Gumbel opnce met the Pope, and some Catholic churches do Alpha courses! Oh and according to one site, the God, Jesus, HS, etc.etc taught by Alha are not the "real" biblical ones), Youth Specialities, Willow Creek, Tony Campolo, contemplative spirituality (apparently the premise of C.S. is that all paths lead to God and it refutes the gospel message of the Cross!?), Catholics, well pretty much everyone apart from those whose books they sell!

House visit

I'm off up to Telford today to have a look around the house and to meet up with Rev Vaughan Sweet, the Rural Dean.  Vaughan is wonderful, he has worked like a trooper in sorting out the housing and the fabulous part is the people who currently own the property (who seem really lovely people) have had a difficult year with their oldest son having to come back from college suffering from an un-diagnosed illness which has left him without the use of his legs.  This means that they need to find a house with a larger bedroom/facilities downstairs and that has better (flat!) wheelchair access.  Vaughan has been able to arrange for them to live in an empty vicarage that better suits their needs until they are able to find/convert a suitable house.  He has also been able to offer pastoral support and to put them in touch with the local Church who can help in ongoing ways.  So not only has he found a great house for the project/us, he has put himself out to minister to the family... Top guy, oh yes, and isn't God good!

Yawn

Well, its 5 to 1 in the morning and I have just done my last interview of the day!  I recorded a piece for BBC World Service at 11pm and have just been grilled by Matthew Bannister and guests on Radio5 live...  It has been an extraordinary day, perhaps the strangest day of my life...  I have also heard that several TV companies (inc. the BBC) have approached the Diocese to explore the possibilty of a programme (even a series)! :-S

I don't know what has caught the imagination of the Press; a story about the Church actually doing something instead of arguing about women or homosexuals, the stats i.e. 1% Church attendance, the spirituality angle, the missionary being "sent" to the UK?  Whatever the reason, somehow we found ourselves riding a wave of interest - with more to come in August/September.  In some ways I feel a fraud, there are many others doing more radical mission/worship etc. maybe because this is a Diocesan appointment, maybe just because the Diocese & CMS got their heads together to put out a press release (though that was over a fortnight ago!) anyway, sorry to those who feel we have stolen their thunder, it was not intentional and I have no desire to be any kind of spokesperson!

One thing it demonstrates to me is how much the media listens to itself... my guess is that the Guardian article piqued the interest of BBC researchers in need of filler for the Today programme which seems to set the agenda for the days non-immediate news and from there it took on a life of its own.  It also shows that there is interest in what we (the Church) are doing outside of General Synod and if you are prepared to stick your head above the parapet your voice will be heard (sorry for the mixed metaphors - its 5 past 1 now!). 

Once again thanks for all the support; E-mails, texts, calls, comments and prayers... maybe tommorrow life will be back to normal, whatever that is these days!?

Good night and God Bless... and as they used to say in the old media days at the close of transmission... Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

More media!

Its amazing how these things snowball, since the Guardian interview...

• The Today programme
• BBC Greater Manchester
• Channel 4 News (want to film some pieces in Telford in the Autumn)
• Daily Telegraph
• Radio 5 live (Matthew Bannister's late night show at 12.30am today/tommorrow)
• An interview for a journalism student!
• [Update] a recorded piece for BBC World Service

The Telegraph reporter commented, when I said that I was a bit taken aback by all this interest that journalists were like locusts - they come in swarms... strip you of everything interesting and disappear looking for then next morsel, only to return when you produce more news!

[Update] Just had a TV company interested in following the first few months of the project!  This is getting a bit silly!  Oh well, God moves in mysterious ways!

Globalisation?

There is a fascinating article on the CMS web site by Jane Lee, written about her experiences on the recent trip to Bangalore...

Richard Smith speaks with a passable British accent, is more familiar with the street maps of city centres than the average Briton and knows that Eastenders’ Alfie Moon is besotted with Kat.

But he has never been to the UK. Oh, his name is not even Richard Smith. That’s his pseudonym at his workplace in Bangalore, India, where he answers mind-numbing questions from Britain like, “What time is the next train arriving from Cardiff?”

The 22-year-old’s real name is Previn Biswas and he is one of thousands of young people staffing the offshore call centres. He has been drilled extensively in British culture, British climate and British accent, only to lose his Indian accent and name in the process.

The article begs the question... does an exposure to Global consumerism mean a new kind of cultural imperialism?  A good number of those who travelled to Edinburgh last week would say so of course... but does it?  Many have said that the hours we spend in front of the T.V. have homogenised British culture e.g. the eroding of regional accents, others would say that exposure to previously unreachable places and cultures enriches us all...  I suppose that both may well be true and it depends on intention... celebration or comercialisation?  The BBC seems to go out of it's way (much to the chagrin of Daily Mail readers) to employ presenters etc. with strongish regional accents.  But here we have a story of cutural and comercial abuse.. maybe these places are not trainer manufacturing sweatshops, but there may be little difference... the employees seem to be simply tools for saving a few sheckels!  They don't count for who they are... there is nothing wrong with businesses tapping into the Asian market but there must be ethical considerations.. do unto others... it cannot be right to use them because they do not have the voice to complain or because they do not demand a living wage, can it? 

Missionaries used to be accused of cutural imperialism, now it is seeems it is the perogative of big business!  We, then have to reclaim the ground of inculturation.  As for Globalisation... where it is celebration and egalitarian, hallelujah... where it is commerce at the expense of culture (and indeed people) that is a different matter.

Guardian and Radio 4!!!

The media storm continues (LOL) this mornings article in the Guardian was followed swiftly by an interview on Radio 4s Today programme!  Thanks for all the E-mails and Text messages - it's really cool to have so much support... I'm not a natural media darling, nor particularly articulate - there are so many who would have done a much much better job!

[Update]  Blimey the last bit of the above post reads like an oscar speech!  I am being sincere... honest!

Guardian

I had some very "arty" photos taken by the Guardian yesterday [very strange ans somewhat amusing experience, made more so by the fact that the photographer was a William Shatner (Captain Kirk) lookalike!] ... apparently the article will appear in Mondays edition [gulp]