Trumps..

As I type world war three is breaking out on the other side of the road.. my housies are arguing about PDFs and JPEGs which is the downside of living with geeks!

Meanwhile in my niche and juvenile world the Christian scene has imploded today! Us "Brits" are getting very flustered about something that Pastor Mark Driscoll might have said about us having no good young Bible teachers.. I'm not going to get too into that just now- but might in the future.

But this spat has trumped an earlier one: as I turned on the radio at early o'clock the dude was Ekklesia was saying on Radio 5LIve that the Church of England has gotten into bed with Satan. I'm not going to get into that just now- but might in the future.

That spat overshadowed the first bit of church related news I saw this morning. That was the Archbishop of York talking about child quality of life. Something that matters. Something that will resonate down the generations. And something that has been trumped in the zeitgeist by trivia (I say that more about the Pastor Mark stuff than about Jonathan Bartley).

2012: what will this year be like?

So I need to put newly pampered fingers to keys to throw out a few thoughts about what 2012 might bring for me and the world.
There won't be much about me: save to say this will be a year where I will be trying to discern what happens post curacy. There are a whole bunch of Yorkshire things I want to do and I am (if I can find my credit card) about to sign up for my second half marathon!

As for the world..

Well- I don't think it will end (but in reality who knows).. I do think it will feel like it might be in various areas of the world. I think there will be some kind of Euro related crisis in June/ July that will foundationally rock our own coalition..

I'm proper excited about the Olympics. I think we will do it well!

So thats my thoughts: at some point I will reflect on this crazy year!

O Master Grant..

Ever had one of those moments when the words of a hymn/ song/ chorus that you had pretty much dismissed suddenly hit you right to the core. I had one of those moments this week. I was in my bosses licensing service on the other evening.

The words:

Make me a channel of your peace
Where there's despair in life, let me bring hope
Where there is darkness, only light
And where there's sadness, ever joy.

Oh, Master grant that I may never seek
So much to be consoled as to console
To be understood as to understand
To be loved as to love with all my soul.

As I stood, fully robed, fighting back tears the gravity of the day caught me. The afternoon had been spent conducting the funeral of someone who had taken their own life. Over 100 people gathered to- well what do people do at funerals- pay their respects? have their hearts torn open again?

They gathered and these words (originally St Francis?) were mine to inhabit: that I might bring hope where there is despair. In this season of dark nights and this era of dark days to be a bearer of light somehow.. I found myself praying this as a prayer- hoping only that somehow I had functioned as that for assembled mourners.

Days like that day take their toll. I need space after to reflect. Space is hard to come by in Christmas week but I have 36 hours to sit back, take stock and let this week's events take their proper place..

DC and that speech...

This is a risk: overnight a number of (mainly male) Christian leaders have let their pre Christmas toes curl up in delight as David Cameron has said the UK is Christian country.. which isn't what he said.. nor did he actually say Christianity should be the thing which reverses a moral collapse.. but these are just two of the reasons why he should have kept his mouth shut!

Hate what I say or not- I'm not sure I care. But here's my take..

First: bless the celebration of the KIng James Bible.. but lets be clear (see what I did there)- this version of the Bible was allowed (authorised) to pacify a tide of far better/ more literal translations which were just too subversive for Monarchy. Thus when DC suggests that Monarchy and its restriction are from this text he needs to be careful (oh sorry whichever lackey wrote this needs to).. Don't talk about government values around a translation that was allowed to put down the aspiration of the masses.

Second: please talk about language.. it was beautiful. It has shaped language. Let us be grateful for that. But let us also remember that language has moved on and even when it was written the tone of it is loftier than the education of many. It certainly is now.

Third: a nun tweeted earlier (now theres the 21st century for you) "The idea of 'vaguely practising' Christianity (Cameron) is absurd. If we're practising we're not vague, however much we fail." DC falls into the modernist trap of thinking its about what goes on in our head that gives us faith. I no longer think thats the case. It allows rabid secularists to pull the mumbo jumbo card. Christian faith is not a set of tenets or a moral code (another error). It has to be embodied- as we follow God incarnate.

I'm going off piste a little here.. but DC seemed to be back on the idea of religion as somehow pacifying the masses.. stopping us being terrible to one another, by doggedly following a moral code. Naive, at best; feudal at worst, he has missed the point.

This faith that I follow has at the heart of it the notion that everyone has equal worth in the sight of God: the great leveller. From that basis the follower of God can value people equally... and thats the shaping point of our politics. Thats what Christianity has to offer right now. You don't have to look far to see how as a nation we have lost that sense (follow has tags on the BIg Fat Gypsy Christmas to see how a secular society doesn't value everyone as equal). I am inclined to believe that DC's policies do not dignify people as having equal value- others may disagree.

My final point is this: I think we need some people to give most people permission to believe again. I think people do- but a very small number of very fierce people tell us that we are deluded if we follow a God. DC was right to point out that actually most people do believe. I wish it was someone else who had given that permission..

I'm not sure that all publicity is good publicity. DC has put in his twopenneth which I hope does not allow media to write off anything that is said over Christmas.. I hope churches don't use his speech as a good thing. I hope that someone gently point sour that CUF who he praised, was set up after his predecessor decimated the inner city.. I hope he finds something more than vague practice..