the red pill

cartoon: ode to cart Posted using ShareThis With a hat tip to The Naked Pastor, loving this image and ode..

One of the people who I am linked with via the YouthMultiMedia group on Yahoo is Cheryl Lawrie, an artist / minster / creative thinker / writer / poet etc etc based in Melbourne, Australia. Her blog and website have been redesigned and put in a new location - if you've saved this to favourites in the past, you'll need to reset your link to this on [Hold::this space] The site is beautiful, and as a place to share her insights and ideas it works well. Go take a look and see espcially how Church, the arts and public spaces might come together in profound ways.

Last night the BBC chose to include Nick Griffin, leader of the far-right British National party, in it's weekly politics panel discussion “Question Time”. I guess it's the watercooler subject today, and I wanted to comment on it too. I thought Griffin did pretty much what any of us might have expected, he dodged difficult questions, smirked, and gave a far less than impressive performance. If the problem were him alone we'd have little to worry about. A man who can make amazing statements, like the one about the leader of a Ku Klux Klan group that was “an almost totally non-violent”is a joke. Isn't that like “Almost a virgin”, or “almost sterile”? After the show, on the “This Week” programme Kelvin Mackenzie said "I've never seen a television show in which you felt your stomach turning over. The guy was basically lying his head off to create an image that he was basically a conservative who just had very strong views about immigration." Given th...

Well, I hope you are in a place to sit for a moment at think after watching this. He's a very powerful performance poet, and I was moved by hearing this. Grace and peace.

With David Coffey, President of the Baptist World Alliance Sunday 11th October 2009 6.30pm Tabernacle Baptist Church, Wolverhampton An evening of celebration, encouragement and ministry for churches all across the Black Country. Tabernacle Baptist Church is on the corner of Dunstall Road and Stavely Road, Wolverhampton, the postcode is WV6 0NJ. For more information: Tel:(01902)428962 Email: tabbaptist@btinternet.com

Well, it looks like a wonderful location - the event in 2005 was truly awesome, and a real privilege to be involved with. Since then our family's grown and the flights will be far too expensive, so although we can't go, I do want to encourage you to be praying, even now, for this gathering next year.

I've been having probs linking to a youtube clip on this blog today - I'm not sure if there's a blogspot glitch, and it maybe that come tomorrow morning there will be the same vid posted three times. Anyway, here's the clip I mentioned in church this morning. Set aside the cynicism, as well cultivated as it may be, and see some astounding things happen. I long for the day when the church leaves the building, and when teenagers queue up to have believers bless them. See the video on youtube here.

I think this is about to go viral - at the time of posting this it had 7,125 views. Just how awesome is this? And, why am I posting it here? Because I think it has something to say about following the inspiration to go off the beaten track, to attempt the seemingly impossible and to rewrite the rules. Imagine the kind of church this guy would plant. Imagine a community that did amazing feats just for the sheer joy of seeing barriers of expectation being broken down, and who aren't put off by the words "but you can't..."

Wolverhampton's a great place to live, and a wonderful city to be a minister in. From time to time I'm going to include reviews of places that stand out in this city. For Mrs S's Birthday this week we went to Cataldo's Restaurant on the corner of School Street and Fold Street. We'd tried to get in on our wedding anniversary but they were full, and when we asked for a table for Mother's Day we discovered they don't open on Sundays – and I'm not going to complain about that! So, for this special birthday I got in early and booked us a table. The atmosphere was relaxed, the seating comfortable and the waiting staff quiet, polite and very pleasant. We spent a while perusing a very full menu, a great variety of pasta dishes, along with a good selection of chicken, meat and fish meals too. Cataldo's is a place that clearly believes in giving plenty of choice. I'm not a restaurant reviewer, so I won't offer a description of what we had, other than ...

I just downloaded Coldplay's latest album for free from thier website - you can too by clicking on this link.

Someone contacted me recently concerned that I hadn't blogged for a while. I'll write a longer update soon, but have been overwhelmed with life and ministry here (which has been very encouraging) and the process of getting the new manse ready to move into (which ought to happen next week). Thanks for the concern!

Here's ITN's Disasters Emergency Committee appeal on behalf of the people of Gaza. The debate over the BBC's decision not to screen an appeal still rages, and indicates that people are divided over the issue. Whatever your feelings about this, I'd want to encourage you to give, all monies are channelled directly through the 13 aid agencies: ActionAid, British Red Cross, CAFOD, Care International, Christian Aid, Concern, Help the Aged, Islamic Relief, Merlin, Oxfam, Save the Children, Tearfund, World Vision. These agencies buy what is needed and distribute it, many of them are already in operation in Gaza, have been there many years, and know the local situation intimately.

Next month sees the start of MovieChurch @ Tab. A few people have asked about the thinking behind this, so here's some of my reasoning. It's brief, and owes something to the thoughts of Steve Taylor at emergentkiwi. I begin with scripture, it seems a good place for a Jesus-follower to start! Reading the gospels Jesus is revealed as seeking to draw people into the Kingdom of God, identifying his role as to seek and save the lost, and giving his followers instructions to do the same. In Acts we see how the disciples carried this mission on, the growth of the faith community, and the expansion of the church beyond the realm of Jewish sect to faith for people of any people group / culture. By the time we get to Acts 17 Paul has been on missionary travels, calling people to follow Jesus, inviting them to become part of the kingdom. The second part of Acts 17 sees Paul in Athens, where he uses elements of the Athenian culture as a springboard for talking about faith, indeed he quotes...

Last weekend we celebrated the birthday of my son. It fell on Sunday, a day when Daddy is tied up, so we had a day out on Saturday before having a special lunch with friends on Sunday. As he's interested in trains and all things that move, we took him on the tram from Wolverhampton to Birmingham, and then went to the National Sealife Centre. When we left the aquarium, we walked back to the tram station via the International Conference Centre and were delighted by one of life's serendipitous moments. A band was playing a free Jazz concert in one of the bar areas, so we made our way to the back of the audience and caught a little glimpse of something wonderful. Here was a group of people, of mixed ages and ethnicities, playing together a blend of the most wonderful sounds. As we watched and listened I realised that the band were being led by the two elderly gentlemen in the middle of the room, both with large saxophones (I later discovered that the band were Andy Hamilton and th...