the red pill

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