This is a good article in Asia Times on strategic questions.

This is a technical paper describing why technology (and finance) won’t get us out of the Peak Oil problem. (Man walks into hardware shop. Asks for Nails. Buys up the stock of nails. Comes back next day. Asks for nails. Salesman says ‘you bought them all yesterday’. Man says ‘I’ll pay double’! That’s what the economics perspective on Peak Oil reduces to.)

Here is the text of Ahmadinejad’s letter to President Bush. Fascinating stuff, like this: “All governments have a duty to protect the lives, property and good standing of their citizens. Reportedly your government employs extensive security, protection and intelligence systems – and even hunts its opponents abroad. September 11 was not a simple operation. Could it be planned and executed without coordination with intelligence and security services – or their extensive infiltration? Of course this is just an educated guess. Why have the various aspects of the attacks been kept secret? Why are we not told who botched their responsibilities? And, why aren’t those responsible and the guilty parties identified and put on trial?”

Whatever could he mean?

Actually, I’m being a bit naughty by just quoting that. What most strikes me in reading that is that here is a person who really believes – and it will be interesting to see if the US response (if any be possible) shows such an acknowledgement of the bounds of faith.

This analyses the impact of Peak Oil on UK Petrol Prices. Good news is that $200 per barrel price of crude only translates into a 50% price hike for UK drivers. (Yes, that is good news). The impact on the US will be markedly more severe – and the political consequences will cause those two elements of the Anglosphere to diverge further as well.

And on a lighter note, I always enjoy Mark Steyn. This is great on the Da Vinci Code: “Novelist Dan Brown staggered through the formulaic splendour of his opening sentence.” Quick plug – Learning Church, ‘The Da Vinci Code Debunked’, Sat May 20, 9:30 Church Hall.

In a couple of weeks, we are going to be singing the Stuart Townend song ‘In Christ Alone’ at both 9:30 and 11am services. I was first introduced to it at a home group meeting, and I found it 99% wonderful. The 1% that I didn’t like was the line ‘on the cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied’. I have been wondering whether to talk about it in the sermon, and explain why I don’t like it. I’ve even wondered about changing the line.

Turns out that I’m not the only one (see also the comments at T1:9 where I came across the story). As I mentioned before, I left the meeting with ++Rowan before the final act of worship, so I didn’t pick up the amendment that Chris had made.

What’s wrong with talking about God’s wrath? It’s undoubtedly Biblical. In part it is because of the doctrine of penal substitution (see my previous posts here and here). I have great difficulty with the doctrine of penal substitution, and the theology of divine wrath lying behind it. I find the theology of Julian of Norwich (there is no wrath in God) much more in tune with what I know of Jesus. Two main sources for my objections: this book by a former tutor (and big influence) which shows the diabolical consequences of the doctrine in practical affairs, and this book which gives a Girardian take.

Put simply, I think language of God’s wrath is about our own projections of our inner demons onto Him, rather than reflecting a truth about who God is within Himself. In Him is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

Why is Del Shannon’s ‘Runaway’ still such a brilliant song?

The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, who came that we might have life in our turn, abundantly.

I finished reading Grant Morrison’s “The Invisibles” cycle recently (warning: not for those liable to be offended). Started off brilliantly, but it faded a little. Yet that might just have been the impact of distraction from Easter matters, and my not giving the later chapters sufficient attention. I need to read it again.

But I had the most remarkable ‘vision’ just before falling asleep one night, having read about 3/4 of the series, where all our language was mobile fragments on the surface of water, and I was plunged through it, letting go of all the memetically inherited thought patterns that shape my view of the world (even the ones that I feel I have most made my own by independent processes), and entering something truly new and bright white light.

Of course, that was the end of the revelation. Tantalising though. I’m a man who is prone to visions, rare, but periodic. I think one is brewing. I seem not to be able to escape a sense of spiritual tension, like an overblown balloon.

Pluto, the god of the underworld, is the god of death and wealth, especially mineral wealth. Discovered and named in the early 1930’s when the oil industry really began to kick in. Now being reclassified as a ‘non-planet’ because it is too small. Fading back into the unconscious just in time. Of course, it’s just a coincidence. All entertaining explorations of the nether world need to be firmly tethered to the good sense of Chris Locke.

I didn’t realise that fundamentalism made me so angry. I have discovered something about which I am rather passionate. Probably because I have seen close up how much havoc it causes in people’s lives. It is the death force, a cancer in the Body.

Moby’s ‘Porcelain’ has really started getting under my skin in the last week or so.

Something else has begun recently, which eases my soul.

I sing my eldest to sleep.

Nada te turbe, nada te espante
Quien a dios tiene, nada le falta
Nada te turbe, nada te espante
Solo dios basta

How would you get the attention of church outsiders whose primary language is consumerism without being transformed into a consumer church?

The Diocesan publicity officer wanted some photos of our 9:30am service and the Learning Church (seen as some of the ‘successes’ of 2005). So I asked my friend Pat to put some together. First two from last week’s service, which I led.

This one is of me attending the service this morning (didn’t realise I was being snapped….)

And Saturday’s Learning Church (me in a very habitual pose):

And this one I took (32 in attendance, a little sparser than usual)

A good word for the Blair administration I think. What strikes me is the removal of Jack Straw from the Foreign Office. Is this because he was opposed to an attack on Iran?

Short and sweet, but it gets the point across.

Apologies for the wobbly image, I got a bit self-conscious (and I was using the zoom which made the wobble much worse…)

Anyhow, ++Rowan came to give a pep talk to the gathered clergy of Chelmsford Diocese this morning. Despite it being my day off it was well worth going to. He is SO MUCH the right man for this time. Some notes from his talk, and the questions afterwards.

~~~

Overall theme: the church is a pilot project for a new humanity, we’re here to show the world what God’s intention is for us all. He quoted a 2nd century theologian (didn’t say which) who argued “The glory of God is a human being fully alive”. He emphasised the joy of our faith, and how this was a reflection of God’s own overflowing joy. He quoted Queen Victoria (‘why should we have communion on Easter Day? it’s such a sad service’) as what needs to be overcome.

He argued that to be faithful, Christians need to be artistic, political and contemplative. Artistic in the sense of making a difference to their environment, engaging with it creatively, and engaging with what is meaningful (making meaning). Political in the sense of being centred on relationship, on transforming oppressive relationships into justice (‘seek the welfare of the city where you are sent’). Contemplative in the sense of delight and joy, taken up completely by what is present; we are made for God’s presence and THAT’S IT! God made us to be happy.

If we forget these things then we sell the gospel short. We so often forget the divine abundance. He mentioned the story in Luke 5 where Peter gets such a large catch of fish and his immediate response is ‘depart from me for I am a sinful man’. It is the divine abundance which reveals our poverty.

The church is called to be the soil in which flowers bloom. When Christians are enabled to be themselves, to show more deeply what it means to be human, that is sanctity. A three-quarter serious suggestion that the local church should celebrate their own saints (in living memory) as signs of the kingdom.

When we come to church, we shouldn’t leave any of our humanity at the door. There is nothing in us that the gospel cannot cope with. Catholic doesn’t just mean for everyone, it means for every bit of us (Cyril of Jerusalem?).

We are resistance workers. We resist the blandishments of the world, all that dehumanises. In particular we must resist bad religion, religion is prone to dehumanising, must guard against that.

Ended quoting the Psalmist [implicit reference here to Babette’s Feast I think, his favourite film] ‘Mercy and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other, that glory might dwell in our land’.

Then in questions:

Most creation theology is sentimental claptrap.

I don’t know what the Anglican Communion will look like in ten years time.

We need to remember that the church belongs to God – it’s not about ‘me’.

Is the Anglican church Biblical and faithful – yes, in exactly the same way as the church in Corinth!

The sign of a true church is not the absence of conflict but how conflict is handled.

The task of the baptised: pray, serve, repent, think, rejoice

A remarkable story about the last pope, who was asked about whether he was still able to write poetry, who responded ‘No, there is no context’. Something sad that the position deprives a human being of the context in which to write poetry. ++Rowan is still very occasionally able to write some.

The church is not ornamental hermits in the landscape for people to admire from a distance.

[Putting on his mitre and being official:] God says ‘forget the drama and listen to me… take the next step Christianly – don’t fall in love with our own drama and crisis’. How can the problems of the Anglican Communion be solved? Goodness only knows. [That provoked a lot of laughter – as did much of his address. Echoes of Girard and the satanic nature of spectacle there – I know he likes Girard, and James Alison.]

~~~

It was wonderful to be able to hear directly from him, and get an impression of his state of mind – much more positive than I had feared. He was given a very strong and supportive bout of applause right at the beginning, so I hope that he felt he was amongst friends. Unfortunately I had to leave before the conclusion (had a funeral to take), but I’m sure he would have been given another ovation.

The refusal to accept premature and easy solutions. That takes tremendous courage and rootedness in God. What a blessing to us.

See here.

Loved this bit: The worst of it is that extroverts have no idea of the torment they put us through. Sometimes, as we gasp for air amid the fog of their 98-percent-content-free talk, we wonder if extroverts even bother to listen to themselves. Still, we endure stoically, because the etiquette books—written, no doubt, by extroverts—regard declining to banter as rude and gaps in conversation as awkward. We can only dream that someday, when our condition is more widely understood, when perhaps an Introverts’ Rights movement has blossomed and borne fruit, it will not be impolite to say “I’m an introvert. You are a wonderful person and I like you. But now please shush.”