In the Room mk II

As everything in life seems to nowadays, In the Room has become obsolete, and I have upgraded to word press. I've long thought Wordpress looks like a better platform than blogger, and so this weekend I've taken the plunge. Essentially it will still be called In the Room and it'll be the same mix of musings, music, movies, Christianity and any other things that come into my head, it just looks prettier and is easier for me to use!You can find the new blog here (www.grahamintheroom.wordpress.com)
Hope you continue reading and enjoy the new look!
See you at the new page!
Graham

Let Down (and hanging around)

12 years ago today Tony Blair wrestled power from the Tory party in an unprecedented electoral landslide that left the defeated party in disarray for the best part of a decade, promised change and a fresh start for everyone in the country. Somewhere along the line, it all went wrong, and I've been wondering why?

Labour have been in power for nearly half of my life, but given the way the polls are looking and Gordon Brown's sorry attempts at governing, it looks like 2009 could be the beginning of the end for the current Labour administration. If I'm honest I'm not sorry about that either. My politics is naturally left leaning, and in that sense Labour should be my first choice party, but it isn't. More than anything they just leave me feeling let down, let down by 12 years of false dawns, failed new deals and empty promises.

It all could have been so different. I'll happily admit that I was too young to vote in 1997 (by 4 years), but that doesn't mean I wasn't excited by the potential of New Labour and Tony Blair. I knew I wasn't a Tory, and I knew I found John Major dull, uncharismatic, bereft of ideas and out of touch. The promise of 'things can only get better' combined with the euphoria of that day was intoxicating- we really felt things were going to change for the better. Tony was a bewitching character, a politician the like of which I'd never seen, and an engaging personality (something I found to be true when I heard him debate in the flesh at Oasis HQ in the last general election). After all Labour had a huge majority, they could do what they liked and they were promising so much- a new kind of politics (sound familiar David Cameron fans?)- and yet they fell so far short.

There are various themes that arise from the reign of New Labour that I find symptomatic of the disappointment I feel in them, and the way they failed to capitalize on the opportunity they had;

Style over substance has to be the first one. Instead of transforming the NHS, education and social welfare they threw money at everything, installed layers and layers of bureaucracy and squandered the opportunity of a generation. Yes, things have changed on the surface, but at their core have they improved? I'm not sure they have. Take education for example. Literacy levels are up, schools have higher funding and more pupils stay on post-16 than when Blair came to power. However whether the education system has improved qualitatively I think is a different question. From what I saw on my PGCE and when I visit schools in my current post I'm inclined to think it hasn't. Teachers work their fingers to the bone, but are weighed down by paperwork, unnecessary assessment and constant red tape. The freedom of the individual teacher to express their skills and abilities in the best way for each individual class has been suppressed by the constant demand to teach to test. To quote David Cameron (who I think was quoting someone else) "constantly weighing the pig doesn't make it any heavier" It's like the government wants to micro manage every element of the services it provides, giving no freedom at all to professionals who just want to get on with their jobs,and that is to the detriment of each of those professions and the people they serve.

Secondly there was the 'special relationship' between Tony Blair and George Bush, that so perfectly illustrates how the lust for power and influence overpowered common sense and just doing the right thing in number 10. With his Stateside ally Tony saw the chance to punch above his weight as a statesman and influence global politics in a way he otherwise couldn't. The longer he stayed in number 10 the longer these characteristics came to the fore as he strove for his'legacy' to write his name in the history books, regardless of what that cost in terms of Britian's global standing and integrety. By being the lap dog of one of the most hoplessly inept Presidents in history, Tony Blair condemned this country to an illegal war, decimating our human rights record by taking part in torturous 'extraordinary rendition' and of course causing the relentless humiliation we are subjected to in Eurovision every year!

Worst of all is the way it feels like New Labour abused the trust of the British public (and me!). To start with there was Alistair Campbell and the spin machine, the introduction of top-up fees, then the WMD's and the invasion of Iraq, the David Kelly affair, the handling of the economy, the erosion of our civil liberties under the anti-terror banner and the countless personal misdemeanours of politicians who came to power partly on an anti-sleaze ticket. That's just the headline errors for me, on a deeper level New Labour have further eroded the reputation of British politicians to the point where it can really go no lower and is second only to that of bankers. The sad thing is both Blair and Brown seem so self righteous I'm not convinced either of them would see this.

That's not to say it was all bad, the minimum wage was a positive move forward, the economy was booming for a while (although we now see how shaky the foundations of this were) and the Good Friday peace accord in Northern Ireland was an amazing achievement, to name some of the positives to come out of the past 12 years.

I realise that some of this will make me sound like a closest Conservative, but I'm not. I just think New Labour have taken the idea of 'big government' to a place where it becomes a hindrance, rather than a help, for society and have failed to live up to so many of their promises. I suppose its only natural a party that has been in power as long as Labour stagnates and I just hope they don't take as long to recover from the electoral beating that is sure to come their way as the Conservatives did from '97.

A Heavenly Manifesto

A few weeks ago we watched a Delirious? video in Sunday club, and ever since then it has been running through my head, and the more I mull it over, the more it seems to be significant. Those of you familiar with the D: live experience will know all about Martin Smith's talky sections during History Maker, and I suspect you'll be quite fond of them too! During this one (from My Soul Sings DVD), he reads out Isaiah 58:6-7 from the Message;

"This is the kind of fast day I'm after:
to break the chains of injustice,
get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
free the oppressed,
cancel debts.
What I'm interested in seeing you do is:
sharing your food with the hungry,
inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
being available to your own families.
Do this and the lights will turn on"

Then he begins to talk about child traffiking, finishing by saying "If it is not acceptable in Heaven, it's not acceptable here"

The more I think about this, the more it seems a deeply profound statement, a heavenly manifesto if you like, for those of us who profess to follow Jesus Christ and be part of His kingdom. "If it is not acceptable in Heaven, it's not acceptable here" It goes wider than the context of people traffiking and right to what is at the heart of the kingdom of God. It is Christians living out their lives here and now, but as if we were in heaven, a place of joy, peace and justice where God is centre of all things and righteousness reigns.

Everywhere we look in this world, there is pain, suffering and injustice, but in Jesus and the gospel there is the answer, the kingdom of God, a kingdom where the world's values and standards are turned upside down, where love is the overriding principle and compassion is the modus operandi.

In this kingdom the first shall be last and the last shall be first, actions will speak louder than words and faith will move mountains. It gives the voiceless hope and makes the comfortable uncomfortable. This kingdom is counter-cultural, it is growing faster than any other and will never end.

I'll be the first to admit, the church, Christians in general, and myself in particular have not always lived up to this standard, and sometimes fail spectacularly, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't strive to meet it every day of our lives. Just imagine what the world would look if the people of God stood up and said "If it is not acceptable in Heaven, it's not acceptable here", if we prayed the Lord's prayer "your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" and then went and lived that out.

The world would be turned upside down in the name of God's love and what could be better than that? Take up the heavenly manifesto this week and see where it leads...

Arm Update #7

I have just got back from my first visit to Fracture Clinic in Morriston since having the Zoledronate infusions at the Nuffield, and it was a good trip.

Turns out the infusion is doing its job, and the Fibrous Dysplasia cyst is getting smaller as the Osteoblasts do their job and re-establish the bone tissues. The fracture itself is also healing well, but they said I would be in the cast for around another month.

The big shock was the state of my arm under the plaster! It was so withered and absolutely grim! The unfortunate job of giving it a clean and rub down fell to a sister who commented it was like I was moulting! I've got to say, despite that it felt great!







On a postive note my arm is now strong enough for my wrist to be exposed and used again. I am currently shaking imaginary hands in an attempt to strengthen the muscles and get them working well again. However properly exfoilating my hand and wrist when I got home was a gross job, that I'm not looking forward to repeating when the cast finally comes off!






My visit was also made more entertaining by an encounter with Ospreys hooker Marc Breeze who was sat next to me in the plaster room. He was sat in his training top and shorts, so I passed a diverting couple of minutes whilst I tried to figure out who he was- although to no avail- the Ospreys website provided the answer when I got back!

So the countdown to 12th May begins when hopefully my cast will be coming off and physio will begin!

Tom Wright: The Church must stop trivialising Easter

On Friday, the Bishop of Durham Tom Wright wrote a fantastic article in The Times. You can find the whole thing here, but I'll copy and paste a bit of it here to give you a flavour...

"Easter was the pilot project. What God did for Jesus that explosive morning is what He intends to do for the whole creation. We who live in the interval between Jesus's Resurrection and the final rescue and transformation of the whole world are called to be new-creation people here and now. That is the hidden meaning of the greatest festival Christians have.

This true meaning has remained hidden because the Church has trivialised it and the world has rubbished it. The Church has turned Jesus's Resurrection into a “happy ending” after the dark and messy story of Good Friday, often scaling it down so that “resurrection” becomes a fancy way of saying “He went to Heaven”. Easter then means: “There really is life after death”. The world shrugs its shoulders. We may or may not believe in life after death, but we reach that conclusion independently of Jesus, of odd stories about risen bodies and empty tombs.

But “resurrection” to 1st-century Jews wasn't about “going to Heaven”: it was about the physically dead being physically alive again. Some Jews (not all) believed that God would do this for all people in the end. Nobody, including Jesus's followers, was expecting one person to be bodily raised from the dead in the middle of history. The stories of the Resurrection are certainly not “wish-fulfilments” or the result of what dodgy social science calls “cognitive dissonance”. First-century Jews who followed would-be messiahs knew that if your leader got killed by the authorities, it meant you had backed the wrong man. You then had a choice: give up the revolution or get yourself a new leader. Going around saying that he'd been raised from the dead wasn't an option.

Unless he had been....The world wants to hush up the real meaning of Easter. Death is the final weapon of the tyrant or, for that matter, the anarchist, and resurrection indicates that this weapon doesn't have the last word. When the Church begins to work with Easter energy on the twin tasks of justice and beauty, we may find that it can face down the sneers of sceptics, and speak once more of Jesus in a way that will be heard."

Easter Sunday (on Monday!)

Sorry part 2 of the video is a day late, but had such a fantastic day yesterday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, plus a brilliant baptism at Caswell Bay I didn't get near the computer!


THAT'S EASTER Death to Life from St Helen’s Church on Vimeo.

John 20

The Empty Tomb

¹Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. ²So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!"

³So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. ⁴Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. ⁶Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, ⁷as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. ⁸Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. ⁹(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

¹⁰Then the disciples went back to their homes, ¹¹but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb ¹²and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

¹³They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"

"They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him." ¹⁴At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

¹⁵"Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?"
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."

¹⁶Jesus said to her, "Mary."
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).

Good Friday

It's Good Friday today, but why is it so good? Please take 3 minutes to watch part 1 of this video to find out why. Part 2 will be coming on Sunday!


THAT'S EASTER Life to Death from St Helen’s Church on Vimeo.

Romans 5:6-8 says this: "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Amazing! Yet there is more... It's Friday, but Sunday's coming!

The Youth Work Charter

It may surprise some of you to find this out, but currently the church is one of the largest employer of youth workers in the UK, with an estimated 8,000 full time employees on the books. These individuals are responsible for much positive work with young people that would not otherwise happen and make a huge difference in the lives of those they work with. The vibrant, exciting reality of Christian youth work is often very different from the gloomy picture painted by the media and pessimists in power.

The trouble is youth workers employed by churches do not have many of the safegaurds and protections that are afforded to those employed by councils, and in fact are subject to many other pressures too, such as a congregation to be accountable to as well as a line manager, a potential lack of professionalism/experience in their employers and the desire of the church to see increasing numbers in youth groups, a constant stream of conversions, baptisms and an abiliy to work 25 hours a day!

In response to these, and other issues, the Youth Work Charter has been commissioned and launched by Youthwork the partnership, a collection of various Christian agencies involved in youth work such as Oasis, Alove, Spring Harvest, YFC and Youthwork magazine, who aim to resource, support and encourage youth workers up and down the length of the UK.

According to the blurb "The Charter is meant to be a helpful way for churches to think through the key issues in employing a youth worker. It contains seven declarations churches make about these issues.

The seven areas come from the very real experiences of youth workers up and down the country: they reflect situations where youth workers, and the churches that employ them, can often find frustration, conflict or simply unmet needs."

The basic 7 points churches would commit to following are as follows

We will pray and support

We believe that our youth worker needs spiritual support in their work with young people.

We promise to pray for our youth worker and keep their needs a high priority in the church’s prayer life.

We will give space for retreat and reflection

We believe that taking time to think and pray is just as essential for our youth worker as organising events and meeting young people.

We promise to encourage our youth worker to use part of their schedule to give space for retreat, reflection and personal development.

We will provide ongoing training and development

We believe that learning the skills of youth work is an ongoing process and that it’s important to continually invest in professional development.

We promise to set aside time and money to provide this for our youth worker.

We will give a full day of rest each week

We believe that taking regular time off helps maintain our youth worker’s passion and energy for their work with young people.

We promise to actively encourage our youth worker to take a day away from their role each week to do something different.

We will share responsibility

We believe that having a youth worker does not release the rest of the church from our responsibilities towards young people.

We promise to encourage everyone to play a part in volunteering, praying for or supporting young people.

We will strive to be an excellent employer

We believe that it’s important to have clear structures and procedures for recruiting and employing a youth worker, and to provide supportive management structures.

We promise to follow good practice guidelines in the way we employ our youth worker.

We will celebrate and appreciate

To see the details in every point and find out more in general, please visit the website and have a read! There is also a campaign running alongside the launch of the document called We Love Our Youth Worker which aims to resource churches and help them put the charter into practice.

Now, feel free to call me biased, but I think this is a really positive document. I am genuinely blessed with a fantastic working environment, brilliant colleagues and plenty of support, however I am aware that this is not the case for all church youth workers. On average we burn out after 18 months, suffer from stress and many church youth workers are managed poorly due to a lack of professional structures.

Yes, the positives of the job generally outweigh the negatives, but its worth making people alert to the downsides of full time Christian youth work and how to deal with them. I believe this charter could go a long way towards that, and I hope that as many churches as possible take it up when it is officially launched on Monday...

How the congregation can help with youthwork

One of a series of cartoons about Youthwork by the brilliant Dave Walker. Any fire eaters out there for the return of Ignite in a couple of weeks?!

Romans 8:28-39

This week I have been meditating on Romans 8:28-39. Usually I would write something about how this passage in God's Word has encouraged me, challenged me and changed me, but on this occasion I will just post it, and pray God will speak to you too.....

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

More Than Conquerors

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then can condemn? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Amen!

Is this the worst England shirt ever?

Over the years I have found myself owning a large range of football shirts, more often than not, at least one of them was an England kit. It became something of ritual, that on the eve of a major tournament I would head out to the shops and spend my well earned cash on the latest overpriced offering from the FA. For me it was part of getting involved with the excitement of the tournament.

Now I'm happy to concede England shirts have never been the prettiest of football kits, but the latest one, debuting in the game against Slovakia last night, has plumbed new depths.

It is so dull and unimaginative. Clearly its meant to be retro, harking back to English football's greatest moment 1966, with the giant 3 lions badge and bizarre collar. Instead it just looks like a chavvy t-shirt from Burtons or something Matthew Horne would wear in Gavin and Stacey!

The first thing Cat said when she saw it was 'isn't that the girls version?' which for me, sums the other major problem with this kit. It is REALLY feminine and cut in a very shapely fashion, which would seem to be a major error on the part of Umbro, as most people who buy this will be men with sizeable bellies!

But how does it compare to previous England horrors and classics- here are my top 3 of each.

Classics

The all time #1 England kit 1966

The Euro 96 shirt

The Italia 90 top
















Horrors


The Euro 96 away kit

The Euro 96 Keepers top

1997/98 home shirt
















For me, the sooner the FA get signed up with a decent kit manufacterer like Nike or Addidas, the better, as the 09/11 is one shirt I will not be buying!

Arm Update #6!

Today I have been at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Oxford recieving treatment for the Fibrous Dysplasia in my arm that caused this break in the first place.

Basically this involved a Zoledronate infusion, which sounds way more exciting than it actually is, and involved me being hooked up to a drip for 15 minutes while they pumped me full of aforementioned drug. This should solve the problem of the Fibrous Dysplasia by slowing down bone remodelling in my arm, i.e. inhibiting the cells that break down the bone, and allowing those that rebuild bone to work more effectively. There is also a bonus effect- it should make my break heal quicker...

Really it is a pretty harmless drug, and the only side effects tend to be flu-like symptoms, which so far I am not experiencing. It does however mean I need to increase my calcium intake- which is great! It is now better for me medically to eat more cheese, chocolate and creamy things and to drink plenty of Nesquik!

Now all that is left treatment-wise is straight forward fracture based and hopefully some physio too. At this point I'm praying nothing else will go wrong, but already I'm worried my treatment has fallen into some administrative limbo between Oxford and Swansea, so will be on the phone on Monday kicking some consultant's secretary butt!

In the mean time I'm travelling back to Swansea tonight and will be spending the weekend stripping wallpaper in our living room. Good times....!

Hip-Hopopotamus vs. The Rhymenocerous

I'm not a huge Hip Hop fan, but I make an exception for the genius that is Rhymemocerous

Calvinism vs Arminianism 101

Found this a really useful, basic explaination of these two viewpoints that can have such a strong influnece on how we understand our faith and how we read the Bible. It's 8 minutes long, but well worth your time... I also liked how Mark Driscoll (usually a fairly confronational kinda a guy) emphasised that this is not an issue that should cause division, but only promote loving debate and discussion.

Which side of the fence do I sit on? Well my middle name is John, so you could say I dont really have choice!

It was in the notes all along! AKA broken bone update

So it turns out the answer to the second opinion we have waited 3 weeks for was in my notes all along, and the doctors in Morriston missed it...

Along with 7% of the British population I have condition called Fibrous Dysplasia. Basically this means that in my left Humerus, fibrous tissue replaces bone and makes the bone very weak (you can find out more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibrous_dysplasia). This explains why my bone broke so easily, and the big lesion that appeared on all my scans. Essentially this is good news because the worst thing that can happen is I might break a bone (oh, now wait...) and it can be cured by a simple injection of drugs that inhibit fibrous material production and much drinking of milk!

All this was revealed to me by the very helpful Mr Gibbons at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Oxford where I had gone for a biopsy and the long awaited 2nd opinion. It turns out I did not need a biopsy to establish what the cyst is, as it was recognised and diagnosed on an MRI scan I had in 2005 at the Nuffield while preparing for surgery on my Arthritic elbow. It was the aforementioned Fibrous Dysplasia and was nothing to be worried about. There is some more good news that comes along with this diagnosis; I will not be having a bone graft, as if new bone was put into the cyst the fibrous dysplasia would turn it into more fibrous material, thus rendering the procedure useless, and actually counter productive in terms of my overall well-being.

This is pretty galling on a number of levels; firstly the answer was in my notes all along, secondly Swansea missed it, thirdly I twice came very close to having a pointless bone graft that would have been extremely painful and a waste of time.

However I don't want to dwell on the negatives too much, as overall it has been a very encouraging couple of days. The tumour scare is over, and soon to be sorted out and we are just left with the fracture to deal with. I go back to the Nuffield on Thursday to see Mr Rees, the man who operated on my elbow back in 2005, to discuss the fracture. It is possible over the past 4 weeks the bone has healed enough that I may not even need the plate any more. We wont know till we see the X-rays that were taken yesterday. But ultimately if after all of drama I end up with just an operation to put a plate in my arm and an injection to calm my industrious fibrous tissue I will be pleased!

I will update again on Thursday!

Guilt free Dairy Milk!

Fairtrade fortnight is turning out to be a good one! not only is Starbucks going fair trade, but now Cadbury's has announced that from this Autumn all its Dairy Milk bars will be too! According to the FT "The confectionery group will certify 300m of its Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate bars as well as its packaged cocoa, at a cost of £1.5m ($2.1m), by the end of summer."

Unsurprisngly this news has been welcomed by the Fairtrade Foundation, and their chief executive, Harriet Lambsaid Cadbury’s move, which represents £200m in retail sales, would “throw down the gauntlet” to other big chocolate manufacturers. “It’s an iconic British brand ... This does really set the pace for the mainstream industry.”

It seems that the tide is turning, that major multinationals are realising fairtrade (and ethical trading) is becoming an increasingly important part of people's choices, and that they have to keep up with it.

Cadbury 's will now pay an extra $150 a tonne for Fairtrade cocoa to ensure farmers receive a minimum price, which is $1,600 a tonne. It buys nearly two-thirds of its cocoa from Ghana, and this will make huge difference to their lives.

However we should never sit on our laurels, and much, much more still needs to be done. We all still need to make the right consumer choices, lobby companies and governments and serve those less well off than ourselves. Proverbs 16:11 says "The Lord demands fairness in every business deal; he sets the standards" We who are Christians, Christ's ambassadors, must do the same.

Guilt free Starbucks!

I have a confession. I love coffee and I love Starbucks. I love Caramel Machiatos and Frappachinos, Mochas and Cafe Estimas. What I don't love though is their lack of ethical practices. For many, Starbucks, along with Gap are the torch carriers for all that is wrong with commercial globalisation, and therefore should be avoided at all costs. However generally I'm of the opinion that boycotting doesn't work as a tactic for change (see No Logo by Naomi Klein and Lift the Label by Tearfund), and positive action is a far more effective route to challnging the behaviour of multinationals. So I have written letters and emails asking them to expand their fair trade range, and usually that results in a nice letter, but aso a large degree of fobbing off and excuses.
Imagine my delight then when on Sunday we headed to Starbucks for a Frappichino, and discovered the following sign...



Its a little blurred, so I'll make it clear! In March all of Starbucks espresso will become fair trade! This is great news as most of their drinks (lattes, machiatos etc) are based on espresso, and therefore making this change will benefit the lives of hundreds, if not thousands of coffee growers and plantation workers. Also (and with much less significance) it means that we can drink Starbucks coffee guilt free! Hooray for Starbucks!

I realise there are still plenty of things wrong with the way Starbucks does business, and the homgeonisation of society is not a good thing generally, so we should continue to write letters, kick up a fuss and frequent independent coffee houses. But in the mean time we should enjoy this victory and enjoy the fair trade coffee!

Something a bit special...

Rapture Ready?

For the past few months I have been thinking about the issue of 'end times' and the theology that goes along with it. In some senses it is the first time I've engaged with these issues since I began (and gave up) reading the Left Behind series when I was a teenager. In the past I've shied away from this area because it is so intimidating intellectually, because of the unnecessary division it causes and because by nature I am much more of a 'here and now' kind of a guy rather than someone who spends lots of time thinking about what may or may not happen in the future.

However a combination of our trip to Israel and various conversations in its aftermath, my theology course and a request from Student Cell to study Revelation has piqued my interest and I have tentatively begun dipping my toe in this controversial water. At this point I would like to say I am still learning, I don't want to come across as dogmatic, and I certainly don't have all the answers, but there are some aspects of the way people deal with this subject that I find difficult to say the least.

Most of all I struggle with an obsessive focus on the 'rapture' and people trying to figure out when Jesus will return by reading contemporary events into the apocalypic predictions of Revelation. Let me qualify both those statements by explaining what I mean. One of the most popular strains of Christian thought in the US at the moment (prompted and strengthened by the ubiquitous Left Behind series) is that of the rapture, a moment when Jesus returns in secret and all the believers disappear, leaving behind crashed planes, motorway pileups and a momentarily baffled global population. What is supposed to happen next is 7 years of persecution for the church, known as the tribulation, and the rise of the anti-Christ before Jesus returns visibly and reigns on earth for 1000 years. In other words Jesus will return invisibly for his saints and then visibly with his saints.

For me the problem with this is, I see nothing in Scripture about a silent return of Jesus, and yet so many people believe it because of what they have read in the tomes of LaHaye and Jenkins. If you type the word 'rapture' into bible gateway you will find it does not appear in the TNIV, NIV, NKJV or ASV. I realise this is not a full-proof argument against the idea of a Left Behind style rapture, as the word Trinity isn't mentioned in the Bible either, and yet all Christians hold to the truth of that doctrine. However, it is something I think will surprise a lot of people, and means the evidence for a secret return of Jesus and rapture has to be explicit in other ways. I cannot see that it is.

The passage most frequently used to justify a two-stage rapture is 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17

"¹⁵According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever."

Nowhere in that passage do I see a two-stage return of Jesus. The Lord comes down, the dead rise first, and then all other believers join Him too, and we shall be with Him forever. Job done. In one stage. If this really is the best evidence for a 2 stage rapture then it is pretty weak. The strongest argument against this theory are the words of Jesus himself, in Matthew 24:30-31

^"30"At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. ³¹And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other."

What I do see written about in the Bible, both in the Old and New Testament, is a triumphant return of Jesus that everyone will see and everyone will understand immediately. The reason all of this matters is because a two-stage rapture leads to much bad theology. Stephen Sizer sums it up well in his book Zion's Christian Soldiers, when he says "It is the reason many Christians don't seem to care about climate change or preserving diminishing supplies of natural resources. They are similarly not worried about the nation debt, nuclear war, or world poverty because they hope to be raptured to heaven and avoid suffering the consequences of a coming global holocaust. Like a sinking ship, the world is doomed. Therefore there is no point in preserving the world or getting involved in humanitarian work."Scary as it sounds I have come across this attitude in Christians in Swansea, and it upsets me. It is so diametrically opposed to the commandment 'love your neighbour' that I fail to see how anyone claiming to be a follower of Jesus can, in all conscience, adopt it as their own attitude.

Sadly the craziness doesn't stop there. Whilst looking into all of this I came across a worryingly popular website called Rapture Ready and when I looked it up my jaw hit the floor. It's main purpose is to calculate how close we are to the rapture using 'the rapture index' which takes over 40 signs from scripture, puts them into 4 overall headings and then gives them a score based on frequency, intensity or significance at any given moment. It then totals them up and tells you how likely the rapture is (FYI anything over 150 means 'fasten your seatbelts'!)

The biggest problem with this kind of theology/crystal ball gazing is that it goes directly against the teaching of Jesus and the apostles in the Bible. In Matthew 24: 36, 42-44

³⁶"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father... ⁴²"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. ⁴³But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. "

That seems pretty clear- no one knows, so stay alert and keep serving Jesus because he could be back at any time. Also check out 2 Peter 3:4,10 for further confirmation of this.

A lesser problem is that it makes the church (and by association Jesus) look silly when people make wild 'definite' predictions about the end of the world that do not come true. For example in his 1970 book The Late Great Planet Earth (which sold millions of copies) Hal Lindsey claims that Russia was the power destined to bring about Armageddon by attacking Israel. Seems possible in the midst of the Cold War, but by the time he writes The Oracle Commentaries in 2006 the Soviet Union had collapsed and his force for Armageddon conveniently morphs into a Russian-Syrian-Iranian Axis. It is clearly nonsense and we should not engage with this kind of self-serving prediction, that depends entirely on who the US is most aggravated with at any given time. Worst of all this kind of thing diverts our attention away from serving God into endlessly speculating about something the Bible makes clear we can never know.

The lessons I've taken away from this are twofold, firstly when faced with any kind of Christian teaching, however popular, investigate what the Bible has to say about it for yourself, rather than just assuming what you have been told is correct. Secondly live every day 100% for Jesus, every moment as if He were about to return and don't miss out on living for Him here and now because you are so concerned about when he might return.

Oscars 2009

2008/09 was a great year for films, and the Oscars this year seemed to be spot on too! Sometimes they seem a bit snobby and elitist in thier choices, often steering away from box-office successes even when they have been critically well-recieved. Thankfully there was none of this in 2009, as Slumdog Millionaire swept all others before it and took home 8 golden statues.

I saw Slumdog the day after it came out, and absolutely loved it! It definitely wasn't the feel-good movie the press were making it to be, but infact it was all the better for that. The darker side of the story gave it so much depth and emotional power, which elevated it above the simple rags to riches story that it could've been. Danny Boyle also won Best Director, and its easy to see why. It is stylish, original and really takes you on a journey with Jamal, Latika and the rest. I reckon he also deserves the Oscar for his past body of work which includes the seminal Trainspotting, Sunshine and 28 Days. His movies always have unique touches and are never dull! Its hard to imagine in the wake of all its sucess Slumdog was nearly lost to straight to dvd movie hell!

In another populist choice Pixar's latest offering Wall:E won Best Animated Feature. I loved this so much and have it on DVD, so am feeling good about it's Oscar as I took a bit of stick for owning it! Unlike Slumdog, Wall:E really is genuinely feel good, and although its beats you abourt the head with it's 'green' message, the story telling and stunning animation more than makes up for it! How the animators got so much character out of two robots who can't speak more than 5 words each is amazing!

In all the fuss about Slumdog it seemed to slip by unnoticed that Heath Ledger won Best Supporting Actor posthumously for his portrayal of the Joker in the Dark Knight. For me, this was well deserved based on the performance, even before you take into consideration the tragedy of his death. His Joker was dangerous, menancing, creepy and full of tics and nuances that made him seem so unhinged (and no doubt contributed to much of the press speculation around his death). I have always been a huge fan of Jack Nicholson's Joker in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman, but I think Ledger's turn surpasses it, and will probably prove to be the definitive word on the character.

There were lots of other interesting choices, Sean Penn for Milk instead of the favourite Mickey Rourke, Kate Winslett finally getting her Oscar (and making a surperbly ridiculous speech about shampoo) and the snubbing of Brad Pitt vehicle Benjamin Button. In short it was a vintage year for the awards, and I'm hoping for more of the same in 2010!

Robbie William vs Martin O'Neill

I was reminded of this moment of genuis from Martin O'Neill whilst reading 442 magazine in hospital this week. Way to put Robbie in his place... Enjoy!

A short update...

So I am back home again. still not had the op done. After sitting for 10 days in a hospital bed I was told yesterday that the consultants in Birmingham will take another 5-6 days to study my scans, write up their notes and then come up with a pan. Needless to say I will be spending some of today writing an official letter of complaint....

Arm update!

Its now been a week since I last wrote an update on my arm, and as I'm sat at home on day-release, it seemed like a good idea to get some info out there!

On Monday (as you can see below) I got my bone scan and MRI, which my consultant Miss Topliss, said revealed the fracture was clean, and the cyst wasn't anything to worry about. I was told to come back to the fracture clinic the following day, and they would attempt to find me a bed and get the op done- so far, so good... They wanted to scrape out the cyst, do a bone graft and the put a plate over the fracture- a simple procedure we were assured, and once done I could be out in a couple of days.

It was at this point that my NHS adventure really began. I came back on Tuesday, and then sat around in fracture clinic till 1, when I found out there was one bed available in the whole hospital, and I was one of six people going for it. At this point I began to feel quite despondent, assuming at least one of those people would be old, infirm and more worthy of a bed than me!Thankfully though Dr Topliss must've fought a good fight on by behalf and I was the lucky one! So without a twinge of guilt for those I displaced I headed for my bed.

5 days later I am sat at home on day release, with nothing happening, no operation and a still broken arm. Classic NHS. On Tuesday I was all psyched up for the op, only for the consultant to tell me at the last minute they couldn't go ahead because they found a hole in the packaging of the plate kit they were gonna put into my arm, and it was therefore not sterile and couldn't be used- but I was assured it would all go ahead the next day.

Wednesday rolled round, I met with the anaesthesiologist first thing in the morning, got ready to go, only to be turned back again, this time as Wednesday's surgery team bottled it because of the cyst and wanted a specialist second opinion from a bone unit in Birmingham before going ahead. I've since been told this is fairly standard with unusual injuries, not because the surgeons are unable or unconfidant, but because of the pressure of potential law suits, and the safety net a second opinion provides for them. My scans were packaged up, and couriered to Birmingham, where ever since they have sat on a consultants desk being ignored, whilst I've sat in Morriston on a hospital bed, having much the same experience.

This is where we are, still waiting. I desperately hope that Birmingham get back to Dr Topliss tomorrow and we can get on with the op ASAP. I've enjoyed having time to chill out, unwind and read lots in my hospital bed, but it's beginning to get frustrating, and I just want things to start moving forward so I can begin to move forward and recover properly, instead of waiting in limbo with nothing being done.

X-Ray and Bone Scan

My x-ray and bone scan! Weird!

The latest news....

As some of you might have heard I've had an interesting couple of days and I thought it was about time I wrote a blog post to tell you all about it, and hopefully explain why this might be my last entry for a few weeks.

As I was walking home from church on Thursday I slipped on some snow and threw out my left arm to keep my balance- it worked and i didn't fall, but it also hurt- a lot. I got a huge amount of pain shooting through the top half of my arm and had to sit on a nearby wall for 5 minutes to gather myself. Next I phoned Pete, our minister, who I had just been in a meeting with, and he came to get me with the intention of going to A&E. Turned out though that i couldn't bend my arm enough to get into the car, so we called an ambulance. At that point i was thinking that my dodgy elbow had finally given up entirely, but had no way of knowing.

When that arrived i was given huge amounts of morphine and then taken to Morriston. After a bit of sitting around Cat arrived and I had some x-rays and got put in a half-cast- before being put on a trolley and taken to the Surgical Decision Making Unit where I ended up staying the next couple of days. It turns out I had basically snapped my humorous bone in half near the bottom end.The X-Rays revealed I had a cyst in said bone which makes it very weak and explains why such an innocous action led to such an extreme reaction.

At ths point the consultant told me the 3 options i faced to get my arm fixed. The first, and best case scenario was to scrape out the cyst and then do a bone graft from my hip into the hole and then it should just heal in a cast. The next option would be to put a plate over the cyst and pin the bone back together, and the last option was to send me to a specialist in Birmingham and leave to them.

However for any of this to happen they needed to find out more about the cyst, and that required an MRI scan. Annoyingly the machine was so busy, that after a day and a half of waiting they sent me home, and requested I come back on Monday to the fracture clinic.

So right now I am sat at home, drugged up to eyeballs, hoping that tomorrow I get my scan and we can start making some progress. I'll try to keep updating on here when I can, but in the mean time thanks to everyone who has sent messages of support, visited me, been praying and all the rest-I really do appreciate it!

Wordle- In the Room

Spotted wordle on Sammy's blog and thought it was really cool.
It takes the text from your blog and creates a word cloud that shows you what you really blog about!

Robbie Keane- what a waste,,,,

Cost £20.5 million summer 2008
Great signing, great player
Just what the reds need to back up Torres
Might actually score some goals unlike Kuyt
Sidelined
Marginalised
Sold £12 million Febuary 2009
Robbie Keane

Everlong, Wembley, 6th June 2008

We were there!

Romans 12:1-2; A thought for the week

Place Your Life Before God

1-2 "So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you."

We looked at worship this Sunday in youth church, and used this passage from Romans 12. I love the way it's put in the Message paraphrase- its so simple and yet immensely challenging. This week take your "everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering" There is nothing that we can't do for the glory of God, there is no part of our lives that cannot be used to advance his Kingdom in some way. Being a 'Sunday Christian' and compartmentalising your life so God is stuck in a 'church box' is just not how its supposed to be. We need to think through the issues that surround being a Christian in our everyday lives, and lean on God for wisdom and strength, so that we might shine out like stars and point people to Him.

But this is not a one way street, as God gets glory from us living for Him, we find that we are being changed by Him, and that is amazing. Embracing what God wants for us is the best thing we could do, because He knows what He is doing and will change us from the inside out so that we might fulfil our God-given potential. Jesus said "I have come that they might have life in all its fullness", and isn't that what we all want? Going to church once a week will not bring that fullness, only living for Him everyday can bring that kind of purpose and satisfaction!

If involving God in every area of your life seems an overwhelming prospect, then just break it down a little bit, all we have to do is live for God one decision at a time, each day looking to Him to bring out the best in us. It is a marathon, not a sprint, that means there will be ups and downs, changes of pace, times when it's easy, and times when we hit the wall. In all of this we know God's grace is sufficient for all our needs, and there is nothing He cannot do!

Barack Obama: The Politics of Hope

It is no coincidence that Barack Obama travelled to his inauguration along the same train route that Abraham Lincoln took to his. Just as the 16th president had to restore his nation from the damage wrought by the civil war, Obama is dealing in the hopes and dreams of a divided nation, economically on it's knees and unsure of the future. After 8 years under George Bush, where America's stock has fallen dramatically on the world stage (literally and metaphorically) Obama, and all he stands for is a breath of fresh air. His rallying cry of 'yes we can' stands in stark contrast to the dark mood that currently abounds, and lies at the heart of his popularity. He has harnessed the power of hope, he has promised something different, something new, a better future.

Obama developed this agenda back at the Democratic convention in 2004 during the speech that brought him to the attention of the public at large and laid the foundation for his campaign 4 years later "Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope?... I'm not talking about blind optimism here -- the almost wilful ignorance that thinks unemployment will go away if we just don't talk about it, or the health care crisis will solve itself if we just ignore it. No, I'm talking about something more substantial. It's the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs; the hope of immigrants setting out for distant shores; the hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta; the hope of a millworker's son who dares to defy the odds; the hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too. Hope in the face of difficulty. Hope in the face of uncertainty. The audacity of hope!" It is a theme he has continued with his best-selling book 'The Audacity of Hope' and one that has got him to the most powerful office in the world.

Barack Obama is very deliberately standing in the line of Lincoln, Roosevelt, JFK and Martin Luther King, as visionaries and revolutionaries who changed the face of America, and indeed the world. He promises to unite people who previously stood divided and transform an ailing nation. In some senses this is a dangerous game, as it raises expectation levels through the roof, but then again nothing truly significant was ever achieved without the desire to see it happen. He is the first genuinely exciting political figure my generation can call their own, and if nothing else having young people excited about politics is a huge step forward in and of itself. He gives us the hope to get involved, believing we can make a difference, instead of breeding the cynicism and mistrust that Blair, Bush and the rest all engendered.

For me, the hope of Obama is that he will launch a program of progressive politics that will reconcile rather than divide, look to the needs of the people rather than pander to special interests (such as big oil or the religious right), and re-establish America's moral authority in world affairs, to say nothing of his environmental credentials compared to the blinding, dangerous ignorance of his predecessor. Obama has the potential to be one of the great Presidents, he is incredibly intelligent, very articulate and sure of his convictions. He has already changed the face of American politics, and I hope he continues along that theme.

However in amongst all of this excitement we need to be realistic. He faces the worst economic crisis for 80 years, is saddled with two difficult wars and has to undo much of the damage done by George Bush Jnr. The bottom line is Barack Obama is not the saviour of the world, but he does have the opportunity to make a positive difference. He has both congress and the senate with him, which gives him a great opportunity to drive through legislation and effect change in a meaningful way. The fact that he has promised to shut down Guantanamo Bay by executive order in his first week in power is a good start, and will hopefully be the first of many sweeping actions that do away with the worst excesses of the Bush era and replace them with something far more positive. There is a sense of new beginning, of fresh new energies brought to bear on the enormous problems of our time and it is good.

But it seems appropriate to end this post with a quote from Martin Luther King "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." There is no doubt Barack Obama is facing challenge and controversy, and how he deals with it will dictate the success or otherwise of his presidency. I just pray he can deliver on the hope he has brought into the White House, and proves to be the man of change he is seeking to be.