It’s that time of the week again when I send out prayer requests to the SPEAK Network. I’ve been a bit slack with them of late, and even more so with posting them here, but here are the two requests I’ve received for the week of 4^th October:

1. For the Big Dress campaign:
   • Sharon and Hannah from the Network Support Team are about to write to some celebrities who they hope will want to support the Big Dress campaign. Pray that they will be able to clearly and concisely explain the Big Dress and how it relates to trade justice, and that the celebs will want to get involved and support what we are doing.
   • Letters will also soon be going out to the network and loudspeakers to ask for donations for the Big Dress. Please pray that these will be well received, and that people will be generous with their money. Please also pray for other avenues of funding that are currently being pursued, including applications to outside organisations.
   • Please pray that someone would want to take on the role of Big Dress Tour co-ordinator when the Big Dress goes on tour round the UK and further afield.
2. The new SPEAK mailing should have been dispatched at the weekend but wasn’t quite completed. Pray for the Norwich group: that they manage to get it packed soon and that God would be with them, and that they would enjoy their time together stuffing envelopes. Thank God for their willingness to serve the network in this way, and pray that He blesses them.

The intention of the SPEAK prayer e-mail list is to enable people from across the Network, and groups in particular, to support each other in prayer. If you’d like to sign up, or if you're a member of a SPEAK group that you think should be represented then please drop me an e-mail. Prayer requests for next week by Monday (11^th) evening please. It’d be really great to hear what some groups have planned for this term.

Dear Sir Richard,

Thankfully I don’t have to travel on your trains very often, but every time I do I can’t help but feel sorry for those that use them regularly. Last Friday I travelled out from Leeds on the 11:10 to Cheltenham Spa and returned yesterday on the 11:12 from Cheltenham to Leeds. Whilst neither train was late, I can honestly say that your Virgin Voyager trains are easily amongst the worst designed pieces of engineering I’ve ever had the misfortune to use.

First off, the trains are far too short. How anyone ever thought that four carriage trains would be adequate on busy Intercity routes formally served by 125s is quite beyond me. There simply isn’t enough space, either seated our standing, and this problem is further emphasised by the plethora of other design faults.

Secondly, the onboard information systems are just useless. Most of us are used to a system of information on paper tickets and notices replaced after each journey, but you have done away with that in favour of an entirely electronic system. One of the major benefits of indicating seat reservations with tickets in the seat backs is that one can instantly tell at a glance from either the platform or vestibules whether there are any free seats in a given carriage. Using your digital displays one must examine the screen above each and every seat individually. Your end of carriage displays vary constantly, but never appear to show what one wants at any given moment. You have scrapped the paper notices indicating train routes, and there isn’t even a toilet availability indicator like those found on older trains. I recommend fitting large colour coded lights to the seat backs (red for reserved, green for available) and large clear signs indicating the coach letter, leaving the displays free to show route information. Oh, and why, oh why, are your carriages numbered A, C, D and F?

Finally, despite having spacious toilets, the remainder of the Voyager train feels unusually cramped. The aisle between the seats appears narrow. There is very little leg room. Seat backs feel steep and the table appears too low, yet there still isn’t room for a soft drink bottle from your shop to fit in the cup holder without hitting the back of the seat in front. Overhead luggage racks are too small for anything more than the smallest of bags. There’s barely space to move in the shop, let alone space for a queue, and anyone queuing through a doorway will find the doors constantly closing on them. And I’ve never managed to use the at seat audio, as the controller is just too awkward to use when sat next to a stranger. I don’t understand quite how, but the corridors between coaches feel even more cramped when standing than on the old slam-door trains still operating around my parent’s home on the line out of Charing Cross. I think it has something to do with their being less doors and an almost total lack of either natural light or fresh air.

I hope you find this constructive, but for the meantime I would be prepared to take a longer journey where possible rather than suffer the ordeal of these trains again.

It seems that some spammer has started spoofing this domain in the from fields of the junk he’s sending out. In 24 hours I’ve received over 1000 bounce messages from addresses I didn’t write to returning messages promoting various erectile remedies. If you were the unfortunate recipient of one of these messages, then I’m sorry, but it’s nothing to do with me. Annoyingly, this also means I’ve had to remove the default e-mail alias on sphericalbowl.co.uk, so if you want to e-mail me you must now use only the james address at this domain, or your message will likely be bounced.

I’m off to Greenbelt in the morning, so they’ll be no updates over the weekend (not that I imagine you were expecting any anyway).

I have a long list near my computer of interesting topics I would like to write about, and a few vague ideas about what I want to say. Recent experiences, world events, social commentary, that sort of thing. All of those, though, are far too difficult to write about, and make maintaining this site seem a bit too much like real work. It’s far easier just to make trivial observances every couple of weeks. So, I’m sorry to those of you who might be expecting something worthwhile—maybe I’ll get to it eventually. In the meantime, here are some thoughts about a few films I’ve seen recently:

• First up: I, Robot. Of those of you that know me, many will have heard me complaining at great length about this film in recent months. I take it all back. While it’s no cinematic masterpiece and there are boring moments, it is entertaining and it’s not the offence to the memory of Isaac Asimov that I had expected. Asimov’s robot stories date from a time before microprocessors, and before widespread knowledge of the realities of computing. Asimov’s robots are genuine thinking machines, not programmable computers who can do only what they are told. In writing an updated story for a twenty-first century audience the film makers have altered the few things that now appear inaccurate in Asimov’s future vision. The biggest change, and the one with the greatest potential for offence, is the sacrifice of something Asimov portrayed as benevolent to modern paranoia for the sake of a more dramatic plot. However, despite these differences, the film does owe more than I had expected to the book, and the robot code names introduced at the start of the film will immediately tell those who know the book what kind of territory we’re in.
• Stigmata: This film I did find to be offensive, though I don’t know enough about the issues it attempts to cover to comment on it in great detail. I’ll be adding them to the list I mentioned earlier for possible exploration in the future. I know it’s not theologically sound and, despite not being a Catholic, I didn’t like the way it presented itself uncovering the truth about some kind of genuine conspiracy.
• And finally, The Village: This one I actually liked. In my opinion it’s far and away M Night Shyamalan’s greatest work to date, though a quick glance over the IMDB message boards shows that not everyone agrees with me. It has been said by many that Shyamalan’s recent work is cursed by the success of The Sixth Sense, which has left millions of viewers playing guess the hoodwink rather than enjoying his films. The Village has definitely been a victim of this, which is a shame as Shyamlan’s filmmaking has matured immeasurably in the last five years. Whereas the whole appeal of The Sixth Sense hung on those last few minutes, The Village is a complete film with a story to tell rather than just a surprise to hit you with at the end. It seems there are almost as many interpretations of what the film is about as there are viewers, but to me it was a beautiful tale of loss of innocence. That moment in all our lives when we discover for ourselves the truths in the legends our parents taught us. If I’ve a criticism it’s that for what seems like a religious community we know surprisingly little about their beliefs or the part they play in village life. Really, though, I’m nit-picking and if you can put aside your pre conceptions I guarantee you’ll love this film.

After something of a last minute decision, I’ve spent the last week at Soul in the City. Hopefully I’ll have something to say about it soon, once I’ve managed to collect my thoughts, but for the moment, here are this week’s SPEAK prayer requests:

1. Pray for the big dress campaign:
   • Pray for financial provision for the campaign. £15,000 is needed for an inflatable frame to give the dress shape and allowing it to be easily transported and erected.
   • For members of the Network Support Team who will be giving interviews to BBC local radio stations. Praise God for the opportunity, and ask that He will speak though them and that it will open up further opportunities for coverage for local groups and the dress.
2. Continue to pray for Vocal Training. Numbers are currently too low, and the Network Support Team need to decide whether to cancel. Whether or not the event goes ahead, there will be a financial loss, which SPEAK cannot afford. Pray for God’s provision.
3. Pray for wisdom and guidance for Zanna and Louise from the Network Support Team who will be attending a festival in Holland this weekend to talk about SPEAK and what’s going on in the UK. Pray that this will open up new opportunities there.
4. Pray for Rik, who’s trying to start a SPEAK group in Lancaster. Ask that God will provide a few committed and enthusiastic people to work with him.

I did something silly. They did just slash the prices though. Here’s hoping they can keep up with demand this time…

Thank you to everyone who sent me positive feedback on the first SPEAK prayer e-mail last week. I’d been hoping that over time we would begin to see prayers answered and that reporting them in subsequent e-mails would be an encouragement to the whole Network. Amazingly, there’re successes to report already!

Prayer points for this week:

1. Praise God for the successes in preparing for Soul in the City. Some of the Network Support Team prayed that the first people they phoned would have the stuff they needed, and they did! Continue to pray that everything else will come together as Zanna, who’s been organising it, is going on holiday.
2. Pray for an administrator to work in the Network Support Team. They urgently need someone with the passion and the skills to start as soon as possible.
3. Pray for SPEAK’s financial situation—they're struggling a bit just now.
4. Pray for people to go to Vocal Training, God especially, but also people in the network. The speakers are amazing and have much to teach us.

At the SPEAK Flower Model event back in April I volunteered to co-ordinate a Network Prayer E-mail that would go to strategic people in the network every week. I’ve finally managed to get my act together enough to send something out, but it’s now July—not the best time for student groups. The plan is to run on a test basis until September, and then go for a full launch, sending this to SPEAK groups up and down the country. Anyway, here are this week’s prayer points:

1. Vocal Training, September 3^rd-7^th, that it will be a key time of inspiration and information for the network.
2. Summer Festivals, for the stalls telling people about SPEAK.
3. SPEAK has just been asked to run a prayer walk and repentance service as part of Soul Survivor’s London Soul in the City event. It’ll be running 7-9pm in on 27^th July and 3^rd August with up to 1,000 young people.
   • Thank and Praise God for this amazing opportunity for SPEAK to have a huge impact upon the next generation.
   • Pray that the young people would hear and be able to discern what God thinks and feels about the injustices caused by the arms trade, debt and world trade; that they would be stirred to act.
   • Pray for the logistics of the event: For a good relationship with the police who need to be contacted about having a service in Trafalgar square and that Trafalgar Square would be available to use for the service; for the timing of the whole event, moving 1000 people around 3 prayer stations; that many people will volunteer to help steward; that a sound system and globes will be provided; that we will find a photographer to photograph the repentance service to hand to a government leader.
   • Pray for strength and peace for all those working on this event, as time is short.

OK, first off it seems that I once again find myself in the position of having to apologise for the infrequent updates. Sorry about that.

Secondly, I’ve thus far resisted the temptation to post the above button on this site; partly because it wasn’t something I really saw as within the site’s scope, and partly because the fact that I believe in the BBC more than most other media organisations doesn’t really warrant the phrase I believe in the BBC standing on it’s own. However, it seems that the government have hired yet another blairite Murdoch crony with no clue about new media to try and tear the corporation down. This time I have to say something.

The Graf Report was commissioned by Tessa Jowell in August of 2003, just over a month after the death of David Kelly, and a matter of weeks after the opening of the Hutton Inquiry. The author, Philip Graf, was Chief Executive of Trinity Mirror until 2002. BBC media correspondent Torin Douglas reports that Graf’s report pleases almost all, and then goes on to cite Hugo Drayton and the British Internet Publishers Alliance. The BIPA is an alliance of some of the largest old media conglomerates who’s sole objective for the last six years has been to attack the BBC’s online dominance, with little regard for the clear fact that the BBC leads because of the superiority of it’s content. Hugo Drayton, for example, is from the Telegraph Group. Other BIPA members include Capital Radio, EMAP, Guardian Unlimited, Independent Digital, News International and Trinity Mirror. Unsurprisingly, where they’ve even bothered to cover it, Graf’s report has received a resounding welcome from the whole of the mainstream British press—and the greatest praise comes from a political lobby group who for three years worked on Graf's behalf!

The Independent reports that the BBC web site is now used by a quarter of the adult population of the UK, and also that Simon Waldman, director of Guardian Unlimited, had been hoping for a rather more drastic response from the BBC. There is no specification of exactly what he would have liked, but unsurprisingly (again) there are hints that a dramatic slashing of the Beeb’s online presence and a fair number of redundancies would have been considered a good place to start. Guardian Unlimited is the ninth most popular web site in the UK. bbc.co.uk, I think, is the first.

Does Graf’s report please almost all? It seems to me that, like Hutton before it, Graf pleases everyone bar the licence fee payer. We know that the vast majority of web traffic is over web sites owned by only a handful of companies, and don’t get me wrong, that’s something I’d like to see change. Once upon a time there was a dream that web would bring true freedom of speech, unhindered by the bias of trans-national corporations. Make today a day for independent web sites.

Gossypium.co.uk have updated their range. I got a new catalogue in the post yesterday. It’s a huge improvement over the old one, and there’s a hoody that I’m really quite tempted by. There still don’t seem to seem to be such things as ethical socks or trousers, and their web site still makes the number one mistake of web design, but it’s a good start.

I had some really great news yesterday. I got a letter in the morning post telling me I had been offered a place on the Transform:City programme. I went for an interview on Friday which I didn’t think went as well as I might have hoped, and wasn’t as informal as I had maybe expected. I was told at the start that it wouldn’t be like an interview for a job, but having been through training in recruitment and selection it seemed every bit like a job interview. The structure of the interview was every bit as we had been taught, except that we would probably have used a desk.

I don’t know how many applications they get, or how many trainee places they have. I’d had quite a few informal conversations with the organisers about how it might work, and what I might do; some of which were with people who were on the interview panel. I hadn’t been looking forward to having people I knew analysing me in that way, though ultimately I guess it wasn’t to my disadvantage. I’m going to need to start thinking soon about where I’m going to find the money to live off while I’m doing it, but if this is the outworking of God’s plan for me to serve him in Bradford then I guess I have nothing to worry about!

Though, apparently, at the rate of this year’s earnings, it will take me 88 years to pay back my student loan.

A couple of new web sites of note have sprung up over the last week or so. The first, The Dry Road, is by Aaron Bennett and has content from a range of contributors whose names may be familiar to regular readers. I’ve some ideas for submissions, but I’m not sure when I’ll have the time to commit them to bits. The second, The Tarmac Situation, is by Glen Campey and is along similar lines as The Great Pink Earmuff Challenge. Both sites have issues that need to be addressed, but their authors seem keen to do just that, so congratulations to them.

As if that wasn’t enough excitement for one day, thanks to Blogger’s relaunch, I now have a comment system on this site. You’ll have to bare with me while I work out how best to set everything to meet my tastes, but henceforth comments will be enabled on most posts. The new Blogger has bought quite a few other features as well, so I intend to use the next couple of weeks to look at some of the issues that need to be addressed on this site.

What is activism? (with apologies to the SPEAK message board)

Activism is for middle class kids, to allow us whose parents were nearer the middle of the political compass to feel good about ourselves by venting at our Mail reading friends without ever actually having to do anything.

The real challenge is to live the counterculture. That means having nothing to do with injustice, wherever we find it. Sure, if, like Naomi Branded Myself Klein’s kids from the Bronx, you wear Nikes, return them. But no activist does. What do we have to give up? Why do we have no stories like that one of things we have done that made the corporations quake? It’s not ’cause we’re flawless already. As Paul so nicely put it in Romans 3 all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. It’s time activists sat up and thought about what activism means. Or better still, it’s time we went outside and stuck our faces in the dirt and prayed about what activism means.

The other night at cell group we were having a bit of a chat about worship music, what it is, and what we liked. That was something of a sidetrack as the Bible study had been on Romans 1, looking at how Paul explains the gospel, and how we are bought to salvation.

When I came in I put on U2’s Achtung Baby from the point where I had paused it on the way out; I was totally struck by the words to The Fly. It’s pretty amazing, especially considering it’s from the album which often considered the point where their work started to become less Christian in it’s influence.

It’s no secret that the stars are falling from the sky

It’s no secret that our world is in darkness tonight

They say the sun is sometimes eclipsed by a moon

Y’know I don’t see you when she walks in the room

It’s no secret that a friend is someone who lets you help

It’s no secret that a liar won’t believe anyone else

They say a secret is something you tell one other person

So I’m telling you… child

Low Voice

A man will beg

A man will crawl

On the sheer face of love

Like a fly on a wall

It’s no secret at all

Gospel Voice

Love, we shine like a

Burning star

We’re falling from

The sky… tonight

It’s no secret that a conscience can sometimes be a pest

It’s no secret ambition bites the nails of success

Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief

All kill their inspiration and sing about the grief

Low Voice

A man will rise

A man will fall

From the sheer face of love

Like a fly from a wall

It’s no secret at all

Gospel Voice

Love… we shine like a

Burning star

We’re falling from

The sky… tonight

Oh yeah

It’s no secret that the stars are falling from the sky

The universe exploded ’cosa one man’s lie

Look I gotta go

Yeah I’m running outta change

There’s a lot of things

If I could I’d rearrange

Now, it’s clearly not worship music, in the traditional sense. But at the time I found it pretty amazing.

It’s not often I can say this, but I live in a truly beautiful area (even if it does rain a lot).

Again I find myself apologising for the infrequent updates. Sorry. I’ve made a couple of attempts at drafting articles, but I can’t seem to come up with anything that doesn’t read like a rant. I’ve spent the last two weekends at an Intercessors For Britain Prayer and Bible weekend and then a SPEAK Flower Model weekend: an interesting combination. I’m also making a third attempt at reading Tom Sine’s Mustard Seed Verses McWorld. Broadly speaking, the result is that I’m terrified. Where I thought I understood, I’m now confused. Where I was confident, I’m now uncertain.

I’ve always positioned myself in a place liberals consider conservative evangelical, but conservatives consider liberal. In secular circles most would probably put me somewhere left of centre, provided I keep my mouth shut when discussing certain issues. I’ve always been happy with that position. It’s let me stay out of traditional stereotypes, and anyway, surely it’s better to take God’s ideological position than a worldly one that takes a few of His values and compromises many others. It’s beginning to hit me, though, that such a position doesn’t really lend itself well to building strong relationships.

Of my friends; I consider some too right wing, some too liberal, most just too apathetic. Very few seem to be in that place of wanting to truly give God everything, and even less actually having the courage to go through with it. I don’t seek to blame God for my own inadequacies. I know already that the Christian must forsake all family and friends and daily take up his cross, but that doesn’t make the prospect any less frightening.

To make matters even harder, self sacrifice alone is not enough. In this place where I agree with no-one and in which I must seek to live entirely opposed to modern culture, I must also consider others as more important than myself, and keep love for those same forsaken family and friends absolutely central. Beyond even that, I must love my neighbour irrespective of prior relationship, or such week political divisions as mentioned earlier.

Now how does that work?

You know how sometimes you hear about violent films, then you see them and they’re not really that bad? The Passion of the Christ isn’t one of those films. I don’t really know what I could say that’s not been said by a thousand people already. I could probably pick holes in the theology, and there’s certainly some imagery I didn’t understand, but as films about Christ go it’s about the best I’ve seen. See it, make up your own mind, and then if it impacts you, maybe it’s a sign God wants you to do something more worthwhile than buy cheep tat.

Anyway, a few observations. You might not want to read them if you’ve not yet seen the film. Before I start; to say again that The Passion is easily the most accurate and powerful film of this you’re ever likely to see. With the exception of my third point these are all merely observations rather than criticisms.

• Is the woman caught in adultery generally thought to be Mary Magdalene? Have I missed that in the gospels somewhere?
• You can’t call this anti-Semitic without calling the gospels themselves anti-Semitic. From some quarters, maybe that was the point.
• There’s some quite blatant idolisation of Mary going on in this film. Given that there are a fair few moments which seem to come from Catholic tradition rather than scripture, that’s not entirely surprising. But Gibson seemed to be trying to be trying to explain away the clear Biblical evidence that Jesus had biological brothers.
• I was somewhat unnerved by some of the Satan imagery. I accept that could have been the idea, but I would have liked to have understood it. I’m thinking particularly of the bizarre child thing he’s holding in the crowd, and of the thing that growls at Judas after Jesus falls over the wall.
• The film’s strong point is definitely in the main narrative. The flashbacks revert to your more traditional cheesy Jesus style.
• What’s with the Jesus invented tables thing?

It’s taken me a few weeks to make something I wanted to publish out of this, so you’ll have to forgive the use of some now rather outdated references. Sorry about that.

About five years ago I went to Bristol for the annual Methodist Youth Conference. I only ever went the once, but apparently it’s quite a highly respected body if you move in certain circles. From what I can gather that’s mostly people who, for all their talk of ecumenism, are quite precious about denominational preservation. One issue that historically divides denominations is that of baptism and thus, perhaps unsurprisingly, it featured quite prominently on the youth conference agenda.

Recently Thomas has been stirring up interdenominational debate on Dan’s housemate James’s blog; Catholic and Loving It. One of the things he’s been asking is whether or not he should get baptised, and James has (quite rightly) been encouraging him. When I first started thinking about this post, I was ready to point out that while Jesus instructs his disciples to baptise in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, he never says you must be baptised in the same way that he says you must be born again. Since that time I posted a long passage from Hebrews, including chapter 10, verse 22 which makes the importance of baptism quite clear.

Ultimately, it is the question of whether I should be baptised that bothers me more. This can be argued two ways:

1. My infant baptism wasn’t biblical and therefore doesn’t count. I should do it again.
2. I was baptised as an infant and therefore do not need to do it again. It may even be wrong to do so.

This was the issue debated by Methodist Youth Conference. From memory, the argument mainly came from the line in the Nicene Creed stating I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins, placing a great deal of emphasis on the word one. To argue such a hard line from only a non-biblical source, particularly one so vague, seems a little odd. The Nicene Creed however, was written at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, possibly predating the canonisation of scripture. The question of how the Biblical canon was drawn up is something that has always interested me, now more than ever after reading Manifesto for a Revolution, and one to which I have never been able to find a satisfactory answer.

Assuming that we take the Bible to be the only authority on the matter, then I don’t believe second baptism is ever expressly forbidden, though it is quite obvious that it shouldn’t be necessary. If though, as is hinted at several times (1,2,3), it is not possible to be saved unless we have confessed and been baptised in water and the spirit in that order, then I have a problem. I do need to be baptised, and it wouldn’t be for the second time, as the first didn’t really count.

Both the Thirty-Nine Articles and the Westminster Confession of Faith, two confessions from fairly close to the time of the reformation, retain infant baptism as a sacrament of the church. By my interpretation their sole reason for doing so is that the child of one that is saved by grace is presumed saved, much as a child of Adam is presumed fallen—a principle which I don’t believe can be said to stand up either biblically or evidentially.

So after all that I’m no closer to an answer, though I do know that should I ever have children they won’t be baptised as babies.

There are 27,000 registered heroin addicts in Bradford. I’m beginning to get a sense of why God might have called me here. Maybe I’ll have more to say when that’s had some time to sink in.

There’s been a lot written about Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, both by those who’ve seen it and by those who haven’t. I’m going to hold off until I have, but this article from the Guardian is a little light relief from what most are saying.

I read this this-morning and found it quite encouraging:

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, It is mine to avenge; I will repay, and again, The Lord will judge his people. It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You sympathised with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.

So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while,

He who is coming will come and will not delay.

But my righteous one will live by faith.

And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.

Hebrews (NIV)

I’ve spent the weekend playing in the intermural—a competition of ten teams playing ten different sports over two days. I don’t play sport. I had to buy some trainers especially (something I didn’t want to do, as they’re now not expecting to ship the Blackspot until September). I ache.

The other thing I just had to mention was this quote from a Union Councillor in Thursday’s meeting. I was so amazed I wrote it down word for word:

Can you imagine the Union losing the license to run the FND in the Basement? That would be the most horrible thing in the world!

Union Council, 04/03/2004

For about a year now I’ve been helping out at an event called Real Hope at Sunbridge Road Mission. Every week there’s a free meal put on for all those that need it, with the ability to provide clothes, shoes, bedding and other necessitates when required. And every week a speaker come in and preaches, sings or gives a testimony. I’ve heard some incredible speakers over time, and the relationships the Real Hope staff have built up are amazing, but tonight really beat them all. At the end of his talk the speaker asked who wanted to turn their lives around by making a commitment to Christ, and between six and nine people (everyone seemed to count a different number) put their hands up.

It’d be really cool if anyone can spare some time to pray for these people—particularly one girl who I gave a Bible to and who was planning to check into a rehab tomorrow. Pray they will all overcome their various addictions and problems, and that they will get the discipleship they’re going to need. And pray that this girl (obviously can’t mention names online) will call the rehab and have no problems in getting there, and that she will read the Bible with God’s guidance.

A few thoughts on top-up fees:

• Firstly, according to Universities UK there is a funding gap of £8.7 billion between that which will be raised by top-up fees and that which is required because despite increased investment in the last couple of years, academics were still under-paid (Source: BBC). It seems clear to me that the only reason UUK would support a bill which they know can not solve their problem is because they believe they will later be able to remove the fee cap, either at committee stage in parliament, or fairly soon after it becomes law.
• Secondly, the argument that paying for higher education out of general taxation would be unfair is an entirely false one. No-one (with the possible exception of the Liberal Democrats, who have advocated a penny on income tax for education for as long as I can remember) is suggesting that there be an increase in basic rate of taxation to fund universities. Instead, the suggestion is that there be a higher top rate of income tax on any amount earned over £100,000 a year (66% of Labour party members’ preferred method of generating public sector funding, according to a survey for this morning’s Guardian). If we follow the logic that students go on to be rich and should therefore pay, then £100,000 seems a better threshold on which to proclaim someone rich than £15,000, don’t you think? The problem here, of course, is that it’s no longer the poor and the uneducated who would face the unfair burden, but the rich and the powerful and the people who had their education for free. People like Tony Blair, in fact. I don’t know the statistics for the number of people earning over £100,000 who hold degrees, but I suspect it’s close to 90%. And I suspect the majority of the remaining 10% employ or otherwise depend on people who hold degrees. It’s a fairly basic principle of taxation that you take from people who have benefited or will benefit in order to fund those who are benefiting.
• Thirdly, while it is true that the 50% in higher education target does seem to have been plucked from thin air, that is not cause to start closing universities. Everyone with the ability for a higher education ought to be able to get one, and get one without fear of a lifetime of debt. If that means 50%, it means 50%. If it means 100%, so be it. I’m not sure that would be practical just at the moment, but there was a time not long ago when people would have said the same of primary and secondary education. Some say times have changed and we can no longer expect the government to pay for higher education. We wouldn’t accept that argument for primary and secondary education, why should HE be any different? Our times are what we make them, and if we keep going this way we are moving backward, not forward. It’s also worth noting that William Edward Forster, largely responsible for getting education for all, was a Bradford MP.
• Fourthly, regarding the suggestion that education be funded from cuts to the defence budget; no-one is advocating losing the military—much as I might find the idea appealing. UBU submitted a motion to NUS conference which suggested reducing military spending to the European NATO average, saving £3.5 billion. We could save the best part of half a billion right away by ending government subsidies to the arms trade—an area which accounts for 3-4% of the British economy and yet is the second most heavily subsidised area after agriculture.

A few quick links:

1. The lent blog of Andii Bowsher—he’s been publicising it with messages to the bucu mailing list, which I’m sure is cheating. It could be called spam, or it could just be part of being a chaplain to the students. I’m not sure.
2. Neil Turner, who worked out who I am the other day. He’s, like, a proper blogger. I feel privileged.
3. Something about pink ear muffs, by Nina Carter-Brown. I’m not sure I really understand.

I’m off to Soundcheck very shortly. This is good, partly because it always is, and partly because it means I can’t post anything I shouldn’t about elections for at least four more days. If you can get to London on Monday, do come on the Day of Action against the arms trade. The SPEAK web site has all the details.

Father, you know that I’m facing a hard few weeks. I’m sure that the choices I have taken recently have been the right ones. Keep me full of faith, and don’t let me regret choosing the path to which you have called me. I’ve told everyone I’ll be fine but I know that’s only in your strength, for I am nothing. Help me get my job done. Don’t ever let me be concerned about my legacy. Above all don’t let me for one moment lose site of you, or spend less time with you in what will undoubtedly be a busy time.

The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.

Acts 5 (NIV)

For a couple of days a few weeks ago (some time in late January) I was considering re-naming this blog twenty-something single Christian. I drafted a post expressing something of what I was feeling at the time. It was never published, partly because I re-read it and was horrified by my bitter, self-indulgent whinging, and partly because it was really badly written. Now though, it seems that yet more of my friends could soon be pairing off, and the temptation to break from what I wrote before Christmas is ever greater.

It’s hard to keep your heart in the right place when it seems everyone you know is encouraging you to put it elsewhere. Apparently if I don’t I’ll always be thinking what if? It’s probably true—they weren’t far off last time. In the perfect world of my dreams, however, my ideal woman is the one with whom I have a joint calling. And I’d rather think what if? in one year than what if I’d stuck with that calling to Bradford? in ten.

I’ve been reading Manifesto for a Revolution by Alex Robertson; a look at the doctrine of the Kingdom of God and what it means, mainly through the parables of Matthew 13. So far I’ve found some parts wonderfully exciting, and others quite challenging. I’ve been trying to keep a list of all the questions it throws up as I read, partly so I’ll know whether they’ve been answered when I get to the end, and partly because I’d really quite like to talk/pray some of them through with other people. The biggest one at the point where I am now revolves around the Council of Nicaea, the conversion of Constantine, and the composition and inerrancy of scripture. Typing conversion of Constantine into Google led me to an interesting article on church history, but didn’t really provide any answers. I guess I should just try and finish the book.

I’m trying to fill in an application form for a programme called Transform:City. It describes itself as equipping God’s people in transforming Bradford and Leeds. The information pack that I’ve been given talks about equipping trainees to fulfil their part in God's plans, obviously with a specifically Bradford and Leeds focus. Given the vision God has given me for Bradford, and given how unprepared I often feel for that, it seems pretty much an ideal way of spending next year. It’s also run and supported by a bunch people for whom I have a very great deal of respect. I know I need to step out in faith and start living the life, but this seems the kind of guidance on setting out that I’ve spend the last two years looking for. The verse I posted on January 25^th is particularly relevant.

First of all, though, I need to get through this form. I’d expected something quite simple. My details, and maybe a couple of questions on why I wanted to do it. Instead, there are a whole stack of questions like what do you think God might be calling you to in the long term?, describe your relationship with God at the moment and please mark any level of involvement in alcohol, drugs, pornography, homosexual and heterosexual activity or the occult. I want to be honest, but I think it’s going to take a few drafts before I dare put a pen near the actual form.

Life is Beautiful. But it’s also cruel. And just when you think it’s all going well it shoots you in the back. Vicious—but the beauty always comes out top in the end.

Last week I was trying to figure out some of the key places to take my parents on tour of Bradford. I didn’t really know where to go as there’s not much to see. The old Wool Exchange was about the only place that sprang immediately to mind; a beautiful building, and a symbol of Bradford’s past riches, now a bookshop with a built in Starbucks. Once we were actually walking round the town, though, there was always something else to see. Bradford’s no longer just some place I studied. It’s been my life for three and a half years and God’s got plans for me here. Yet still I hardly know the place.

For three years I’ve thought that all the interesting parts of Bradford were demolished long ago; that the fact there are really only two shopping streets is a result of a history of bad planning decisions. While this is undoubtedly partially true, I realised on Saturday that there are plenty of curious back streets and interesting alleyways still standing. Between all the leisure arcades and pound stores there’s even the occasional interesting shop. With a little effort Bradford could be a great place to live.

Richard has re-built the Ian Hislop for Director General site as a Wiki. Head over to the With Us page and add your support. If you’ve not used a Wiki before, just click the EditText link at the bottom of the page and add your name/link in the same format as everyone else.

Having watched Question Time on Thursday, I would like to add my voice to the Ian Hislop For Director General campaign. I’m not altogether sure I’d want him there, but I can’t think of anyone better, and the campaign could be fun.

I’ve also decided that should I ever actually get round to switching to a more advanced blogging tool, it won’t be Pivot. Blogger is great because of it’s easy update anywhere functionality. Pivot doesn’t appear to work with IE5/Win and, as someone who’s been stuck on Windows 95 for the last week and a half, I’d find that somewhat frustrating.

I was at the second of the CU’s new Brink events last night and I picked up a flyer for UCCF’s Life project. It quoted the New Living Translation of John 3:18, which I’d never seen before. I was somewhat surprised as it seemed somewhat different from the NIV, and to directly contradict 2 Corinthians 5:10, and I’d always thought of UCCF as an organisation of reasonably sound theology. Cross referencing with Bible Gateway, though, it seems that it’s a fairly common interpretation… Just something I thought was interesting.

I can’t decide whether Lost in Translation is beautiful but sad, or sad but beautiful. Either way it’s the funniest film I’ve seen with Anna Faris in it.

A few people recently have asked me why Bradford? Every time I’ve started with the story of how I wanted to go to Bournemouth and study computer animation, how I didn’t get in, how I took a year out to apply again, how I nearly went to Cumbria College of Art, how I was attracted by the more diverse course here and how Simon persuaded me that Bradford was a good place to be. A string of coincidence and bad judgement.

Of course, in reality, that had nothing to do with it. God bought me here because he had plans for me, and I realise that now. It sounds so much more exciting that way. Perhaps I should think about the way I tell my story.

For the present, I’m staying right here in Ephesus. A huge door of opportunity for good work has opened up here. (There is also mushrooming opposition.)

1 Corinthians 16:8-9 (The Message)

If I’m terrified of jellyfish, does that mean I should dive into infested waters?

I’ve been trying to think of things I might like to do next year if I don’t re-stand. So far I’ve come up with two ideas:

1. Receive, and put to good use, giftings in prophecy and intercession so that I might be used by God to speak His will for Bradford into fruition,
2. Feed the hungry, give drinks to the thirsty, invite strangers into my home, clothe the naked, care for the sick and visit those in prison.

Preferably I’d like to do both.

I will pour out my Spirit on all people.

Your sons and daughters will prophesy,

your old men will dream dreams,

your young men will see visions.

Joel 2:28

OK, apart from a few issues with the style sheet, I think I’ve fixed everything I broke in yesterday’s reorganisation. I know I promised an update to the amd FAQ last June but, to be honest it's not something I really have time for anymore.

I want to try and get at least some of the remaining problems dealt with tonight, but in the meantime the IRC Bible and the Brick Testament are a couple of interesting Bible “translations” that I don’t think I’ve linked to before.

So I should have thought of putting this up here when I first got it last week…

Will you take the day off on Monday 23 February this year and come to central London for SPEAK’s annual Day of Action?

We are mobilising people to pray and campaign for an end to government support and promotion of the arms trade. The day will include a rally, a procession and a huge symbolic prayer action outside the Defence Export Services Organisation (DESO). This is a government agency in the Ministry of Defence responsible for marketing and promoting UK arms exports overseas on behalf of companies. DESO often pushes arms sales in extremely volatile situations and to countries engaged in bloody conflict, such as India and Pakistan. All this comes at cost to the taxpayer of £16 million every year!

Our aim is to have 600 people there to match the number of people employed worldwide by DESO. For the prayer action we will be kneeling in a makeshift war trench to pray and stand in the gap on behalf of the land and repent of the bloodshed caused by UK arms exports (Ezekiel 22v 30). We see this as the perfect opportunity to put SPEAK’s radical ethos into practice and combine campaigning, prayer, sharing our hope in Jesus, and repentance for our nation’s sins.

We want to model a different way of campaigning that comes out of hearts of love for Jesus and others, be they victims of British arms exports, or DESO employees. Together we can bring a clear and powerful message of peace to our government, the public and the media, that we do not want our taxes to be spent helping DESO to fuel conflict worldwide.

It promises to be an exciting and creative prophetic action. Please book the day off now if you can! What would be even more amazing is if you could invite some friends - just forward this e-mail on. We need lots of help from God and you to get 600 people along, so let us know if you can help mobilise more people.

When?	Monday 23 February, 9.45am - 4pm
Where?	Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, 235 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2.
How?	Pledge to be there on the website, or by contacting Beccie (020 7249 4309; beccie@speak.org.uk). You’ll need a packed lunch and to wear black clothes for the procession.
More information	www.speak.org.uk

Thanks so much for thinking and praying about this. I really hope that you can be there.

God bless

PS - SPEAK’s annual gathering, Soundcheck, exploring God’s heart for justice is happening the weekend before this (20-22 February 2004) in London. It’s always an inspiring time and it would be great to see you there as well.

Landslides happen when small stones start to move - David Alton

A friend has leant me some CDs of music by Keith Green. I’d never heard of him before, but it made me smile. I wasn’t quite prepared for the joyfulness of it.

A quick google for information on him led me to an article by his wife. It’s not an issue I’d ever given much thought to before, and it certainly didn’t make me smile, but it seemed worth linking to anyway.

Richard Kirkcaldy has posted a list of some recent search strings that found his site. I’ve never paid that much attention to that section of my stats (almost everyone who finds me through a search engine comes by way of the amd FAQ), but he inspired me to take a look. Apparently someone found me this week by typing in belle and sebastian jesus Christians. I assume this cropped up because of my post on 29^th December, though I’m quite surprised that was enough to actually get me found.

Still, feeling curious, I went and entered that phrase into Google. I did turn up, but about three pages down. Half way down the first page of results was Stuart Murdoch’s diary on the official Belle and Sebastian web site (basically a blog, of sorts). The entries from around Christmas and New Year give about as good an answer to my questions as I guess one could hope for. So, thank you, whoever made that search, and I hope you found it too.

I heard a talk at a SPEAK event once on the phases though which the modern church has passed, and into which it needs to pass in order to be effective. I don’t remember anything that was said, except for that one of the phases was characterised by large scale worship events. Now, large events, such as last night’s Prayer for Bradford Prayer and Praise meeting at Bradford Cathedral, are all very well, but there is one major problem. When the event ends the crowds disperse, and head back into the world, and to their home churches. Everyone is fired up, and wants some way of putting their faith into action. This, also, is great. The problem is that as a church we have forgotten what it means to live by faith. No-one knows how to put their faith into action. I’m praying now that God will continue to use me for something dramatic. The worst thing I could imagine, after this week, would be that I slip back into a routine whereby it is not faith that I live by.

I don’t really know how to sum up the last week. I have been privileged enough to witness some of the most incredible things, both in the prayer room and out in the city. Here are just a few:

• Old men who’ve spent their lives in Bradford crying over how the city has been destroyed over generations,
• People repenting of their part in bringing the city down,
• The innocent prayers of young children, asking for things adults would never dream of,
• People praying for the return of a world renown to Bradford,
• People prophesying of Bradford renown as a beacon of God’s glory in the world,
• Amazing ministries receiving facilities desperately needed, but which it didn’t seem possible for them to obtain,
• A divided church working together for God’s kingdom,
• Unbelievable potential for more work,
• And best of all, faith that it will go forward.

I’ve been trying to work out whether in 2 Corinthians 2:3-11 Paul is refereing back to chapters 5 and 6 of his previous letter. It would have been very helpful if the people who complied the Bible had put in an appendix of letters to Paul. One day I’ll get a comments system that allows people to leave thoughts on things like this but, for now, please let me know if you have any any idea.

If you’re in Bradford and you’ve not been to the 24-7 prayer room yet, do try and get down there before Wednesday. Directions are in last Thursday’s post. Coming up the hill, it’s about half way up on the left hand side.

Last night I was trying to make some upgrades to my computer, but I ran into a few problems and until I can get hold of some extras my reinstall is going to have to wait.

Somehow the chain of links I was following about replacement power supplies led me to 101 Ways to Save the Internet. I’ve not been following the American election primaries, so I’d never heard of Howard Dean (mentioned in number 70) before. Apparently the nature of his campaign has made him very popular with bloggers. I’m not about to take any kind of position regarding him, as I’ve read only enough to know that I disagree with him on several issues I consider quite important.

What was more interesting was an article by Jim Wallis that I came across when I followed a link about why Dean is the only candidate Christians should vote for. The article, Dangerous Religion, discusses George W. Bush’s belief that he is on a mission from God, and how he appears to have confused Christ with America. Some of the quotes cited in this article (particularly the one from Bush’s speech on September 11^th 2002) should be exceedingly worrying to any Christian, and Wallis’ assertion that they could be considered blasphemous seems something of an understatement.

24-7 is now well under way. I came home the best part of two hours ago. I was going to stay a bit longer, but someone offered me a lift home and the whole night was covered, so I figured that this way I can go back earlier in the morning and still get stuff done tomorrow. I was going to update with some informational stuff about it in the morning, but I’ve got to tell the world how great it is now (I know only about three of you are reading, but I’ll tell you). If you want to go in at all, it’s at the North Wing Building on North Wing. The building’s not very obvious but it’s only a short road. Turn up on the hour and someone should be there to let you in. They might want to know your name and church before they let you into the building.

It’s Amazing. Unbelievable. God is fantastic! And I know that’s obvious. So often I’m still unprepared for just how amazing, but not as unprepared as I was this evening. I’m blown away by everything: God’s provision, His ability to follow through His plan, the amazing transformation of the building since last week, the people he’s used, the number of people who were there, even the way walking there seemed so much safer and totally protected just because of the blanket of pure beautiful white God had laid over Bradford.

I always plan these great theological treatises to post here: great discussions of the faults of the church, or of our entire world order. Then I get distracted by the simplest of things. A few days ago I was watching two collar doves flirting. It was the funniest and most beautiful thing I’d seen in ages. The two of them were sitting on the garden fence a couple of meters apart. One would sidle up to the other and start pushing her: just gentle nudges at first, then head butting her under the chin (if birds have chins). When I left the window they were flapping about, jumping over and on top of each other. I thought they’d like the privacy.

This afternoon I took a walk down to Knole, wanting to appreciate the green in Sevenoaks before I leave it all behind again. Half way up Blackhall Lane I met a blackbird foraging in the leaves on the grassy roadside bank. Sticking his head under the leaves, picking a few up, throwing them about then moving on; there didn’t seem much method to his search. We continued walking up the hill together. He never came closer to me than about a meter, and I never tried to make him. We parted company by the turning for the park. I was going in, hoping to get a good view of the sunset. He was going back down the hill.

As it turned out the sunset was obscured by clouds.

“Have you ever given orders to the morning,

or shown the dawn its place,

that it might take the earth by the edges

and shake the wicked out of it?”

Job 38 (NIV)

As a result of being given Matthew 6:25-27 today I was inspired to re read some chunks of my prayer diary. Reading my prayers from this time last year it was incredible how many either have been answered or are in the process of being answered. Just at the moment, the question of whether to re-stand is weighing somewhat heavy on my mind. I should probably be spending a little more time in prayer over it. From last year it was amazing how every time I considered anything else for this year God would raise Union Exec. I hope I haven’t wasted it.

Belle & Sebastian. I got Dear Catastrophe Waitress for Christmas (along with World Service by Delirious and () by Sigur Rós). I never quite understand where they stand, theologically speaking. I’ve had some interesting discussions recently around the subject of music, and the power it has over the human mind. I understand that Belle and Sebastian have in the past done something at Greenbelt. I’m not altogether sure what. From what I understand it certainly wasn’t a whole-band performance.

Now, playing at Greenbelt (in whatever manner you do so) doesn’t in any way make you a Christian, but it could be argued that lyrics like If you find yourself caught in love, Say a prayer to the man above, You should thank him for every day you pass do. The thing is that I can never help the feeling that Belle and Sebastian are in some way being ironic. I never feel that they are singing words like that with a genuine heart for the Lord. So the question is: are they singing what they mean, and if not, should I be listening?

I was just testing the links I was going to use for this post, and visited the Greenbelt website. I discovered that Mike Yaconelli was killed in a car accedent back in October. I know I’m somewhat late with this news, but it’s no less a tragedy for the delay.

OK, so I went to visit the venue for 24-7 on Tuesday. I confess I had difficulty visualising it at first, but we could not have hoped for a better location. We’ll be using a vast early 20th century mission hall on North Wing. The painted facade and the barbed wire on the roof rather give it the look of a dilapidated warehouse, but once you step inside the hints of church building are everywhere. It’s being converted into some kind of Christian education/arts project. I’m not sure I really understood, but I’m sure there’ll be plenty of opportunity to find out about that once the praying gets underway.

The view over the city is amazing. It’s only from one small window, away from the main room but there will be some kind of signage as to how to get there. I’m having ideas for a walkway made of draped fabric, but I probably won’t be there for the setting up on Monday. I was also planning to put on line a list of churches that are covering time, so people would know who to contact to book a slot, but I’ve done something really stupid and I don’t know if the details have been e-mailed to me.

Having told everyone to contact me on my address at this domain rather than my work address over the holiday, I'd come home leaving Outlook running on the house server. Now all my personal e-mail is being downloaded every five minutes to a location 250 miles away, whilst I can access my work account just fine over the web. I downloaded the Remote Desktop Client for my parents’ computer but it seems that, in some rare moment of security consciousness, I disabled the facility to connect to the server.

One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike.

Romans 14

Merry Christmas

I’ve decided I don’t want to be a Christian any more. I want to be a follower of the Way. I know the Bible makes no real distinction, but the difference between what we now call Christianity and the model of what it meant to be church in the time Acts was written seems quite phenomenal. I was clearing out a backlog of old e-mail yesterday and came across a link to emergingchurch.info. Following a variety of links, and by way of an interesting article about Revive, I eventually came across 15 Theses by someone named Wolfgang Simson. I’d never heard of him before, but apparently he’s written a book called Houses That Change the World, which I’m now planning to read at the first opportunity.

The basic pretext for this article seems to be that the structure around which all modern church is based is fundamentally flawed. We rely on a system modeled on Old Testament or Pagan religions, not on the system of New Testament Christianity. We need a new reformation, bringing the church back to it's roots as a network of small communities, meeting in houses where real people go. We should be talking about the priesthood of all believers as a real thing. The job of a Pastor should not be to sit between man and God, that’s what Jesus is for; instead a Pastor should work together with Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists and Teachers to grow and network the whole church. And (I particularly like this bit) the Lord’s Supper should be a real supper with real food. Eating together is such a powerful act of community, and one which we are losing in modern society. And it’s the true, biblical way to take communion.

The only problem is, I’m a sucker for tradition—especially at this time of year. All the candlelit services, and the carols. At Christmas I even love the pews and the organ. And the church is full of people like me. We enjoy our regular Sunday praise and worship slot. We like the bring a friend events when it doesn't really matter if you don’t, ’cause someone else will. But the fact is, Jesus came and died for us. He showed us a better way to live, and then he died so that we might enjoy it. And if we know that, and we still keep ignoring it, something’s very wrong indeed.

Way back in the summer, when Jeffery John was all over the news, there was a lengthy debate on the d-fans mailing list about the rights and wrongs of allowing openly gay men to become bishops. Because of a whole bundle of circumstances (Glastonbury, moving house, starting a new job) I never found the time to participate in the discussion and, indeed, fell rather behind with all my correspondence.

In mid-August I went on holiday for the best part of two weeks. Ignoring for the moment the sense of utter panic I felt when I discovered my mobile phone wasn’t working, I made a determined effort to cut myself off from my usual world. Whilst there, however, I did take the time to write a fairly lengthy piece outlining my thoughts on human sexuality. I had intended to post the complete document both here and on the mailing list, but I never quite managed to work up the courage. Though I stayed well away from the actual issue of the morality of homosexuality, I did feel that, in certain things I said, I was rather putting myself on the line. After moving it from computer to computer and never actually doing anything with it, I finally deleted the last copy a few weeks ago. You can probably tell from the fact I’m writing this now that I wish I hadn’t.

The basic premise of what I wrote came from Matthew 5—Jesus talk on adultery during the Sermon on the Mount. I argued that there are actually three major human sexual orientations, not two as usually assumed. For the purposes of my argument I ignored bi, and the various Ts, citing instead heterosexuality, homosexuality and celibacy. Following on from much discussion on the d-fans list as to whether it was OK to be homosexual if one wasn’t practicing I argued that sexuality is characterised only by practice; it is our definition of practice that is at fault. Matthew 5:27 tells us that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. For a man to look at a woman lustfully would be sexual practice, characterising heterosexuality. For a woman to look at another woman lustfully would also be sexual practice, characterising homosexuality. Both would be equally wrong.

It would be impossible to be a non practising homosexual, just as it would be impossible to be a non practicing heterosexual. The only sexual orientation characterised by inaction is celibacy.

I went on to argue that humans are not born either heterosexual or homosexual, as is often supposed. We are born celibate; anything else is only temptation. And we have no place giving in to that, only submission to the Lord’s will at a time of his choosing.

So, basically, until we entirely rethink both the teaching of the church and the whole of our modern culture we have no place condemning anyone. At the time I wrote this I resolutely believed that to fancy girls was wrong, and that holy relationships could only grow from a mutual love for God. I still do.

Though I sometimes wish I didn’t.

OK, so after yesterday I did eventually go back to that playlist. I’d forgotten I’d put it together intending it to be encouraging, so it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. I’m now listening to Angel of Harlem by U2. I’m not sure if it was meant to be a Christmas song, but to me it’ll always be one of the best around. I was going to stick on the 24-7 Vision Mix CD after this, but for some reason I seem to have Anyone Can Play Guitar stuck in my head all of a sudden. Maybe I'll listen to that first.

I’m sure I had other things to say, but I’ve no idea what they were. They were probably to do with 24-7, but I went to CJ’s with Adam after church, and I’ve not had time to do anything about it. Adam’s got some pretty cool ideas for a prayer installation on homelessness though.

I was too slow swapping discs and All I Want Is You just started. I can’t skip that.

You say you’ll give me a highway with no one on it

Treasure just to look upon it

All the riches in the night

You say you’ll give me eyes on a moon of blindness

A river in a time of dryness

A harbour in the tempest

All the promises we make

From the cradle to the grave

When all I want is you

It’s dark. It’s wet. It’s windy. Everyone else’s gone home, the Union bars are all closed, and someone’s beating out a blues from the basement of the pub on the corner.

God is great. I was contemplating going back to my iTunes playlist from the other week, but instead I’m listening to the first disc of Access:d (I don’t have World Service yet). There is now a venue for the Bradford-wide week of 24-7 Prayer. It’ll be at the North Wing Building off Otley Road. I don’t know it, but apparently it has a fantastic view—perfect for praying over the city. I’m going to take a look on Tuesday. There will be continuous prayer from 11pm on the 31^st until midnight on the 7^th. The plan is to set up on the 29^th. I don’t know yet whether I’ll be back in Bradford that early, but I’ll most likely be here for the start. It’s going to be incredible.

P.S. That was an example of a blues track, not what they were actually playing

A friend recently introduced me to a strangely addictive game called Fly The Copter. Fancying a game while at work the other day, but unable to remember the address, I typed fly the copter into Google and was presented with a “genuine” weblog called South Coast Diaries. It’s all about two years old, so I’m somewhat behind the times, but it’s somewhat freaky. The blog only runs for a few months so it’s easy to read the whole thing. Suffice to say, that by the end I was somewhat freaked out, and the game doesn’t seem quite as fun once one learns what it was meant to be all about.

I’m not usually one to harp on about the “true meaning of Christmas”, largely because as far as I can make out it’s all about pagan rituals and capitulating to effigies of Coca-Cola personified, however this article from 24-7 Prayer, “Anyone for an ‘Advert’ Calendar?”, is well worth a read.

Today’s iTunes playlist: Till We're Old–Coastal Dune, Hallelujah–Jeff Buckley, Walk On–U2, Beautiful–Coastal Dune, The Wrong Girl–Belle & Sebastian, Closing Time–Semisonic, Tuyo Es Mi Corazont–Delirious?

Almost Famous is a beautiful movie, fantastically life-affirming and thankfully more positive than Chasing Amy which, on watching today, I had to leave at the point when Banky produces the yearbook ’cause I couldn’t bare to watch the happy ending fall apart.

I’ve left this far too long again. Adam Syrop has posted a load of his work online. Dandelion & Burdock is definitely worth a watch.

I finally managed to get down to the “Bradford Masterplan” exhibition. Some of the ideas are very exciting, though it took me three tries before I actually managed to go and look round the place. I heard that it would be open 10-12am on Saturdays, so I struggled down there after the FND a couple of weeks ago and arrived about 11:55. I went back the following week to try again, this time making sure as to arrive in plenty of time only to find they’d changed the opening times. The majority of the public doubt in the whole project seems to centre on Bradford Council’s ability to pull it off, and to maintain it once it's built. The first time I was in there one of the attendants was telling some visitors about a place in Sheffield that was done up and which apparently proves that the same could happen here. All we need is a team to go round every day scraping gum off the streets. It seems to me that what we really need is public confidence — something that’s going to be hard to come by if they can’t even open the exhibition at a time when people want to see it. I refuse to believe that I’m the only person in Bradford who works during the week. Oh, and there still doesn’t seem to be a web site for the project.

Oh, and while I remember, Richard’s got himself interviewed by Wired News.

I’ve gone far too long without posting again, and there are too many things I could write about. I could write about the SPEAK Northern Forum, like I promised nearly two weeks ago. I could write about the NUS Stop Fees Now campaign which, in the run up to Sunday’s demo, has been quite a feature of work these last few days. I could write about what I found in the Bradford regeneration exhibition or I could write about the progress that’s being made with the city-wide 24-7 prayer week. As it is, I don’t really have time to write much at all, but I’ll just say that I think this is a really exciting time for this city. We’re going to go prayer walking in the city centre at an unearthly hour of Friday morning, asking God to show us a venue for the prayer week in January. It’s amazing to see the way His Spirit is at work here in just the smallest of ways. Together those small things make the most incredible difference, and I just pray we’ll continue to see them in still greater numbers.

OK, so I’ve spent most of the day in London at a House of Lords reception hosted by the university Chancellor, Baroness Lockwood (read: the Department of Marketing and Corporate Communications). It was actually quite impressive; from what I can gather they have an event every year, with a rotating focus on different departments, somewhat nullifying my expectations of a corrupt jolly for School of Social and International Studies staff and a host of international diplomats. Baroness Amos, the keynote speaker, said nice things both about Bradford and about foreign policy — which I’m sure can’t quite match the government’s official line. Unfortunately I didn’t get the opportunity to give her a grilling about what happened in Cancun, but it was kind of fun.

Anyway, the main reason for the urgency of this post: While I was in London I apparently missed a good deal of local media coverage of the unveiling of Bradford’s new town centre redevelopment plan. I’ve heard speculation that it’s a hoax, but it’s scarily real. There’s coverage at the Telegraph and Argus, the BBC and the Guardian. I’ve not had time to read much of it yet, but I’m not sure of the way the whole focus of the project seems to be Leeds, not Bradford. I’ll have to take a trip to the exhibition on Market Street on Saturday.

Who ever would have thought that operating a candy-floss machine would be so difficult? It’s clearly a job for a trained professional. Last night was the Bras on Bars FND for breast cancer awareness, so the idea was that candy-floss would go quite well with the pink theme. Ours didn’t come out very pink at all, though we were kind of saved by the pink light. There’s definitely a skill in catching the stuff on the stick, and not on one’s arm, hair, beard and nearby walls.

Still more exciting things that that happened yesterday, though; I was at a meeting in the morning with youth leaders from all over Bradford. The meeting normally happens every two weeks, which is pretty cool in itself but the agenda for this particular one was a week of 24-7 prayer in January. The idea is that all the churches in Bradford come together for a week of continuous prayer as a start for the New Year. It’s so exciting seeing this come together, as it’s just showing how we only need to do so little and God will make great things happen. This in itself is an answer to prayer, and a total witness to God’s power, but just thinking about what could happen if it goes well is a bit much to cope with.

I’ve also just come back from the SPEAK Northern Forum, which was very good, and I feel a renewed inspiration because of it, but I’ll talk about that more later. I don't want to overshadow the great news of ecumenical 24-7.

I’ve had an e-mail from a friend pointing me to http://www.freepalestine.com/ and suggesting that I link to the site as a follow up to my post of August 21^st. I didn't have that issue in mind specifically at the time, but it’s certainly relevant to the passage.

We’ve spent today interviewing for a new General Manager for UBU and, unlike last time, have actually found someone we want to appoint. I’m praying he accepts the job, ’cause I’m not sure I could face going through the whole procedure again. Big thanks are due to my church, who very kindly lent us a data projector for the day at extremely short notice; after I’m sure I phoned half the university looking for one.

Oh, and bad news for those that care, and don’t already know. I’m impressed that this made the front page of BBC News Online.

Delirious? released a new song on mp3 the other day. MP3.com has been down for what seems like ages, but it’s back now and Majesty [Here I Am] is available to download. I’ve listened to it a few times now, and I’m definitely liking it more than the last album. The official web site is also providing sheet music, so they’re obviously trying to write stuff that can be used in church again. I can’t remember off the top of my head if there’s a release date for the album yet. It’s called World Service and I’m sure Dave Wood has all the details.

Something else I've been meaning to comment on for a while: There’s an advert on the back cover of the current issue of Adbusters. They’d probably call it an uncommercial or a subvertisement or something, and it’s actually self promotion for their blackSpot sneaker. I’ll let you decide for yourself whether that redeems it.

I'd not realised it'd been quite this long since I updated. Today marked the end of week two, so welcome week is fast becoming a distant memory. Thinking back now it's hard to pick out the highlights, though I guess for me personally the moment I returned a large bag to a student who'd lost it several hours earlier would rank pretty highly. Probably unusually for someone in my job, freshers' week was not by any means the reason I stood for election, and it seemed so strange after the whole summer to suddenly have a campus full of students again. Moments like that however, just make you remember why we do it. There were many things that didn't run as smoothly as they might have, and much that could be learnt from the experience, so I'm trying to find the time to write it all down while it's still fresh in my mind. I was hoping that time would stop moving so fast about now, but it hasn't really.

I must just mention the redesign at lordrich.com. It's table free, so many congrats to Richard for that, he just needs a doctype and it'd be perfect. Chris is nearly ready to go table free on his Kings Hockey site as well, I thought he'd launched it already, but it seems not. As I mentioned in my last post, all that time ago, at some time I will get round to designing this site.

I've been browsing CSS Zen Garden again, and been struck by just how much this site could do with some proper design. Rather than actually doing any, though, I went and contemplated buying a graphics tablet and thought of all the wonderful ways having one might help. If anyone wants to buy me stuff, an A3 Intuos 2 would be nice. Meanwhile, maybe I'll have time to properly work on this site after Welcome Week.

Apparently I'm the 524,010,283rd richest person in the world. It's probably a little out, as I wasn't all that exact when telling it my income.