the red pill

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...

For the last few years I've used a montage to help churches reflect on the year past, and here is this year's. It's an easier one than in years gone by, the stories this year seem to have been written in marker pen on billboards, rather than in pencil in the margins. A small prize to the first person to corectly identify each person or story here. My prayer for you in this year ahead is that you'd know true prosperity; that you'd have enough to meet your needs, and the needs of those God puts in your way.

Our prayer for last night's midnight service, as we watched and waited for the light to break forth in darkness: We pray with and for those who this night await the Saviour of the world to be revealed. Lord, in the midst of the darkness, Let your light shine. We pray for the children who will be born this night, in conditions that are hostile, inhospitable, uncomfortable and temporary. We pray for the women and men, whose children will be born in an alien land, in a place they seek refuge, hope, peace. Lord, in the midst of the darkness, Let your light shine. We pray for those who this night undertake jobs unseen by others, who in the midst of their toil and labour, in the humdrum of their everyday life, need a revelation of the divine, and an assurance that they are not forgotten, not overlooked. We pray for those who have no work, who face redundancy, or whose work and financial future seem uncertain and insecure. Lord, in the midst of the darkness, Let your light shine. We pray ...

John & Olive on 2churchmice's blog posted a thought provoking article today. Some readers may know that churches are now required to register as charitees (something many of us have not needed to do until now) and the Charity Commissioners are working aplan to get all churches registered by 2012 (starting with those who have an income of over £100,000 and then working down). One of the areas of concern for many churches has been the need to demonstrate that they have some public benefit, a necessary condition for charitable status. Well, the Commission has published its report into the matter and you can download the .pdf here. John & Olive write (in the midst of a longer and brilliant post): Now the report is out, it looks as if the Charity Commission has more confidence in the transformational power of the Gospel than some Christians, as they clearly state that ‘Charities whose aims include advancing religion do not have to undertake secular activities in addition to thei...

So, it's been a while since I posted (holidays, church and advent busyness etc.), so today I'll post twice. Below is the results of a couple of evening services reflecting on Habakkuk, and here I'll bring you up to speed with a few things. I have finally got around to watching "Constantine", the Keanu Reeves movie. I thought it was fun, some cool ideas and reflections on heaven, hell, the nature of angelic creatures (Gabriel was brilliantly re-imagined). Keanu is Keanu, he only has one style, but it really did suit this film I thought. I disagree with just about all the theology in it, but love the way that faith stories and ideas can be fodder for a mainstream movie, that there was a lot of theology in it at all was a cool thing. I watched that film on my iPod, the first time I have, and it worked well, I watched it over the space of a couple of days, wherever I could catch 5-10 mins, so in coffee times and those occasional slack moments. The screen amazed my wit...

A few weeks ago I led a 2-part series on Habakkuk in our evening services. The first week was a kind of bird's eye view, looking at the setting in the minor prophets - what they were, why they're often ignored, and why it's important to grapple with them - the situation Habakkuk was writing into, and a brief overview of the book. In the second week we looked at how Habakkuk raises questions about God's compassion, his presence and his judgement. And we saw how God dealt with these questions. Habakkuk's response to the situation he saw with his own eyes, and the conversation he has with God is to write an outpouring of praise, a psalm, meant to be read with passion. Our response to the message, as a congreagation, was to write our won psalm, with people being invited to submit a line, or comment, or scripture. What follows below is a copy of those comments, arranged a little, and is the reult of our reflection on Habakkuk, the world we find ourselves in, and what we ...

Please support this latest appeal by the DEC, phone the number above or click on this link. Please, just do it now. You can find out more here.

*Spoiler Alert - I will reveal some of the plot in this post* I was loaned a copy of The Shack by William P Young recently. Over the course of the last few weeks I've been reading it as spare time allows, and finished it this week. So, what to make of it, and it's popularity? Well, in reply to a friend who asked for a quick response I penned this: It's not entirely without merit, and there were some interesting thoughts that caused a few moments reflection. I did, however, find it quite sentimental. I guess if you imagine putting "The Road Less Travelled", "The Celestine Prophecy", "The Search for Significance" and "A New Kind of Christian" into a blender and whizzed "The Shack" is what might result. It's a good story, and it does involve and pull the reader in and along, but I'm not sure it's saying anything that an up-to-date reader of contemporary Christian thinking would have read better elsewhere. Oh, and it...

A great, haunting and moving sound, with a vid that plays with expectations and prejudice - I'm wondering if there's a place to use this over Advent.

As I watch coverage of the US election I am continually alarmed at the way the american public is stereotyped as middle-class liberals who support Obama, or big business and working class patriots supporting McCain. Add to this mix perceptions around sex and race, and this campaign has at times revealed an ugly underbelly of people's perceptions (as well as the reality) around voting motivations. This morning I found this article from the BBC's website. Matthew Price has been following the McCain campaign and came across "Cupcake" an "unusual" Obama supporter. May God use videos like this to prevent us from falling into the trap of assuming we know about people by the way they look or sound!

I'm copying below the contents of a letter sent on behalf of a group of bloggers (of which I am part), who are concerned at the treatment of David Walker. It's an issue that raises many questions about free speech, fair comment, and the censorship of blogs, bloggers everywhere ought to be concerned. Here's a quote from the group's facebook page outling things briefly. On 22nd July cartoonist Dave Walker was issued with a 'cease and desist' notice from SSG, giving him just a few hours to remove all posts about SPCK/SSG from his Cartoon Church blog, or face libel action. Dave complied with the request, though the posts contained nothing libellous. 2 other bloggers were issued with 'Cease and Desist' notices: one on the same day as Dave (Phil Grooms SSG/SPCK blog), another the day after for republishing some of Dave's posts (Sam Norton). Both have disputed the claims in the letters, and have not taken down any blog posts. So far, the threatened response...

Check out the link to The Ongoing Adventures of ASBO Jesus on the left there... Brilliant stuff Jon, and I'm pleased to reproduce it here.

This evening we've reached chapter 3 in our evening series on Ephesians, a letter from Paul that I love, that excites me about church, and that I think is foundational in building a church that intends to fulfil its destiny in Christ. At the end of the chapter Paul writes down his prayer for his reader/hearers, and it ends with these words, "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations for ever and ever! Amen!" (TNIV) as a response to this, we spent some time writing prayers, spreading them out around the edge of the meeting space, and then walking around, pausing, praying, kneeling, standing, weeping and allowing faith to rise, that God might indeed want to answer our prayers, in ways that will bring glory and honour to his name. I promised the folks there that I'd make a note here of the prayer requests, so that...

I came across a news item this morning, and had mixed responses to it: News article from the BBC A church in Indonesia is preparing and then selling evening meals for their Muslim neighbours to break fast. They serve them in the church, and invite a local imam to come and say the fast-breaking prayers. Could this (should this) translate into the UK, or is the current lack of sensible discussion and understanding too much of a hindrance? One of the things that challenged me most, and where I guess I'd need convincing would be inviting the imam in to say prayers. I've been reading and reflecting on the story of Jesus feeding the 5000+ and loving that there was no theology check before that particular communion. What thoughts and reactions do you have to this story?