sand art

This was part of our candlelight service tonight.

knight in shining armour

Earlier in the week I was due to go to the Pantomime with the Guides and other Leaders. They'd organised hire of 2 minibuses to transport us all there and back. I was first to arrive at the meeting point. No sign of any minibuses waiting for us - they are usually outside ready for pick-up. I started to wonder if I was in the right place. Then another Guider arrived, so I felt a bit better... until she said 'Where are the minibuses?'
Off she went to get the keys, only to come back saying we only had one minibus (which was hiding round the back) as the other had an electrical fault. PANIC! How were we going to get the other 14 Guides to the panto? I had my car, another Guider had her car, a parent who was going was happy to take some girls, but that still left us a few spaces short. A quick phone call to mrPM and he agreed to be our knight in shining armour and take the remaining Guides.
He did get to see the panto (first he's been to in years) so there was some recompense for missing his tea (although I did give him a choccy biscuit at the interval).
Another step in my masterplan of turning mrPM into an honorary Guider ;-)

What a good idea...

Yesterday we had a party. Not a Christmas party, just a 'get to know the neighbours' sort of get-together. We had the added incentive of MrPM's home-baking* to encourage people to come.
At 2.15 MrPM was worried. "What if no-one comes? We'll never eat all this ourselves," he said. ("I'm sure I could have a good try" I thought...)
By 3pm we had 10 adults and 6 kids plus mrPM and me, all tucking in to baking and conversation.
"What a good idea" people said, especially those who'd just moved in to the new houses across the road.
"What a good idea" people said as we found out who lived 2 doors away.
And the doors between our sitting room and kitchen got alot of comment too.
"What a good idea" said the people in our row, whose houses are either identical to ours or the mirror-image of ours. They'd all liked this feature in the show-home, but the builders had decided to take it out when they built our row of houses. It seems mrPM and I were the only ones who had asked if it were possible to get such a door put in when they were building the house. It cost us a bit extra, but we wanted the circulating space.
"What a good idea," mrPM thought after everyone had gone, and all the toys had been tidied up (apart from one piece of Jenga which remains missing...), "we've got the neighbours talking to each other."
"What a good idea," I thought, looking at all the baking still to be eaten... ;-)

* lemon dribble cake, cider honey cake, orange biscuits, brownies, lemon slices and chocolate almond macaroons

carols

MrPM thinks only advent carols should be sung before Christmas. While I understand the sentiment, it does only leave 12 days to get all the Christmas carols in to, which isn't very long. So I'm waiting until he's not around, then playing my carol CDs to get in the mood for Christmas...

Here is one of my favourite carols - I sang it in choir when I was at school, then a group of us from our last church sang it a few years ago as a special Christmas item. It still gives me goosebumps.

Bethlehem Down

new songs for old

I've just realised I'm getting old.
I've just received my copy of Songs of Fellowship 5 (music version) and was looking through it. The first thing that struck me is how many of the songs are actually old (and still fairly well-known hymns) which have been 'tweaked' ever so slightly. It appears that by adding an extra line or two, you can then re-copyright the song and get royalties for it.
So I found myself muttering that the old tunes were fine and didn't need anyone mucking around with them.
This is actually rather hypocritical as I occasionally come up with new versions of tunes for well-known hymns myself ;-)

However, when I got to 'Immortal invisible, God only wise' I spluttered to a halt. Why?
Because the first verse goes:
Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inacessible hid from our eyes.
Most blessed, most glorious, the ancient of days,
Almighty, victorious, thy great name we praise.

But the chorus that's been added basically says 'there is none like you, Jesus'

Jesus immortal? Well, that has to be a yes and no.
Invisible? Hidden? Inacessible?

Like I said, I'm getting old and nitpicky

essay

I've finally finished reading Jesus and the Victory of God by NT Wright. It was good, but didn't half take some getting through (all 700+ pages of it). So now I'm deep in other stuff, all so I can write an essay about the resurrection.
I thought it would be easy - believing the resurrection happened was (and still is) the cornerstone of my faith. I'm with St Paul on this one - if the resurrection didn't happen, then we are to be pitied. Not necessarily for still being dead in our sins, but for being complete idiots. The more I read, the more I realise what a stupid idea Jesus being physically resurrected from the dead is. Surely ANYTHING has to be a more sensible explanation than that?

So far the alternative explanations I've come across are:
1) Jesus wasn't crucified. That's the Muslim view - that Jesus was assumed directly into heaven (cf Elijah, Enoch) and someone else was crucified instead. God simply would not let one of His messengers get treated so disgracefully.
2) Jesus didn't really die, he revived in the tomb. The problem with the 'swoon' theory is that firstly Romans were pretty good at killing people - they had had alot of practice crucifying people - and secondly how would an almost dead Jesus convince his disciples that he was the Lord of life? I've seen people with major blood loss, and they don't exactly look bursting with health.
3) Jesus did die, but his body was tossed into an unmarked communal grave. It explains why the tomb was empty (no body there in the first place) and also why the body couldn't be produced. But it has to be combined with something else to explain why the disciples suddenly started preaching resurrection.
4) Someone stole or moved the body - Joseph of Arimethea, the disciples, the authorities - take your pick! Again, it explains an empty tomb, but not preaching resurrection.
5) some sort of hallucination/ vision. In this version, saying Jesus is risen means "I've had an experience of Jesus and he's still with me" and no physical resurrection is involved. Or it was a bereavement phenomenon. Stories about the empty tomb were later fabrications.
6) a combination of 5 AND either 3 or 4

NT Wright was really helpful in explaining that at the time Jesus lived, there was belief in a bodily resurrection of all the righteous at the end of time. Ongoing existence of the soul was not called resurrection. And there was no hint that any one individual would be resurrected before the general resurrection. So if that's the case, why would anyone interpret a vision as meaning Jesus was resurrected? Other visions in the Bible don't get interpreted like that, they are understood to be visions, and accepted as such. Similarly, when Rhoda opens the door to Peter after he gets out of prison, she doesn't conclude he's been resurrected, she thinks he's a ghost.

There is an unspoken imperialistic strand in alot of what I've been reading: "In our modern scientific age, of course we know better than to believe such stupid things. They were uneducated and lived in premodern conditions and therefore naturally believed all sorts of outdated things". Except, according to the gospels, seeing the empty tomb didn't make any one think Jesus had risen. They thought someone had stolen the body, or moved it elsewhere. When Jesus appears to them, he does things to prove he's not a ghost. Which to me, suggests that the disciples (including the women) knew that dead people stay dead.

Of course, you then get in to the whole question of how reliable are the gospels, when were they written, how much is hearsay etc etc etc
But alot of that discussion depends on presuppositions as to what is 'reasonable' and what isn't. As does the disussion about the resurrection. Ultimately it boils down to whether you think that if there is a God they might intervene in the affairs of the universe on occasion (ie perform a miracle). If you do, then the resurrection is more plausible than the alternative explanations. If you don't, then even being there yourself as an eyewitness at the actual moment of resurrection wouldn't convince you.

Any thoughts gratefully received (especially if you don't agree with me - just keep them polite ;-) )

quick joke

Not posted for ages as been away alot and busy. One of things I was away at was a pastors' spouses get-together, when the following joke was told, to sounds of rueful agreement....

What's the difference between a pastor's spouse and a wheelie-bin?


The wheelie-bin gets taken out once a fortnight....