All the Fat belongs to the Lord…

In the fairly certain knowledge that Amy won’t check my blog between now and 5pm, when we are off, I can reveal this little known weekend destination. In fact Turvey is home to a small religious community, and although staying there would have been wonderful I didn’t think a convent would be the ideal setting for a romantic weekend…

Feeling much better now. After having a shouting match with youth minister on wednesday, countless chats with precentor, a particularly positive early morning (well it was for me) coffee with missioner, and a good day in the shop (they do happen) with pleasant manager I am now pretty much out of pathetic loser mode. Which is good because it’s getting tiring. Breakdowns don’t happen to 22 year old youth workers with happy lives, even mini ones. I’m planning a major one for second year of college, around Feb 2008-stay well away!

Or bring beer.

Warning – very cynical and honest post.

I did warn you.

Almost had a fantastic weekend. Saturday was lovely and restful, Amy spent hundreds of pounds (£65 getting a wedding dress dry cleaned!) and I made £40 doing some tutoring, bought a resource for 11-14s from the Christian bookshop (CPAS – seems really good) which then meant we had a productive and fun youth cell. Starting to really value Evangelist’s input to that group, albeit with his usual sense of urgency. I got very angry with him last week (well not with him, at him, when he wasn’t looking) when he asked me what “we” were going to do about youth cell, but perhaps it isn’t so bad having him on board after all (just wish he would ask first)

Family meeting was a truly blessed time (pronounced bless – ed). Amy was wonderful and although I chaired the meeting (it was her idea) without her support and input it would have sounded like a clanging symbol going on and on about what he wants. It turned out to be just what it was meant to be – a place where everyone could express their feelings and talk about what goes on in 13 Palmer Road. It was good to realise that most of my bitterness and anger towards evangelist were mostly misunderstandings and lack of communication. So now that I know how much making fun of him hurts him I won’t do it, and now he knows that staring at my speedometer (which mostly behaves itself) while I drive annoys me so he is stopping doing it. Youth also told us she wanted to be preached at less, which is noted (sorry). Youth and Evangelist seemed to become a bit closer too so that’s nice. Realised that because of his thick glasses and long bouncy hair, evangelist doesn’t find it possible to look at anything out the corner of his eye, he has to move his entire head in order to react to the smallest of visual stimuli. This is what produces the judgemental glare which seems to pinpoint your every move and condemn it as unholy and sinful and not fit for the kingdom of heaven, or something. Am I too paranoid? Because apparently he doesn’t mean that at all. I think a midnight visit with the hedge trimmer might be in order…

Anyone ever read Stress Family Robinson? It was just like the penultimate chapter.

Despite this he is still talking about Jesus constantly, and relating him to everyday household tasks. How can you tell someone who is an evangelist to talk about Jesus less? You can’t – it makes you feel and sound awful. Am I a really inferior Christian if I struggle with someone who can’t say he likes something without also saying he likes Jesus more afterwards? Am I too proud if I flinch when I hear Jesus being called nice half a dozen times in just 5 minutes? Perhaps I am opposing the spirit when I ask him to tone it down; when everything you say somehow gets related to Jesus (including the weather, how your grated cheese tastes, what juice you are drinking)? I feel so guilty for finding it annoying, and I used to just make fun of him for it. Now I have to find other ways to cope with it – any suggestions?

Sunday started good. Youth took communion for the first time (I administered) I managed to walk half way around the Cathedral with an empty chalice which was embarressing and then had to get some wine blessed by a priest. It was a fun service all in all. Was very docile in the afternoon then went to Cath Praise, which was ok. What really narked me off was that no one turned up to my presentation afterward. Does no one care about what I have spent my last year doing? Other than my wife and some guy from Milton Keynes who had nothing to do with the Cathedral there were three people there. There were approximately 60 people drinking coffee in the Nave at the time. Of course there are many reasons people wouldn’t have come, but I was still annoyed – no clergy turned up either, or anyone from the service leadership team. And then the youth minister tells me off for leaving my screen up – which would have taken him all of 15 seconds to take down, and he still left it for me to do on Monday morning. And then I get told off for letting youth reverse my car 2 metres outside the Cathedral. Not for any human safety – no, because the cathedral is a grade 2 listed building, and somehow a ford fiesta with the handbrake taken off can easily glide backwards and do untold damage, in a way that the 30 or so cars that drive down by the cathedral every day doing tricky parking manouvres won’t. Grrrrrr

If you are still reading you probably see that I am not currently that happy. I will be I’m sure. Just a bad dose of feeling undervalued, not respected and extremely selfish. Oh and supremely ungrateful.

The main blessing in our lives at the moment is Youth, who is doing really well, despite many setbacks. Going to really miss her, she is so amazing to be around and she does so much for us as well. Her blog is a very encouraging read so in case you haven’t done alread do give it a go here.

Last night we found out our favourite restaurant is changing hands. it’s a really great tapas bar called Zest in the north of Leamington. We must have been 10-15 times, we have taken my family there, Amys family there, our home group there, celebrated the end of courses there and generally used it for everything. They always recognise us, they are quick, polite, and usually have a super rose wine. And because it’s tapas, Amy can have as little as she likes, and Tiffer can have as much as he likes, and it always works really well. And it’s very reasonable.

We were just saying how sad we were to be leaving it behind when we go to Cambridge, and then they told us they were off too. Such a shame. Starting to wish nothing was going to change. Starting to miss people from my last Church. This always happens before a big change – by July I’ll be raring to go again.

So am now doing Saturday things while my darling wife irons and watches the first episode of Big Brother, saying things like “oh, so they’re all gay this time” and “I don’t know whether to laugh or cry”;

Having a “family meeting” this evening after youth group – please pray for that as it is the first time evangelist, youth, wife and I are having a formal meeting to discuss the workings of this house. Might get a bit honest.

Friend of ours got married last week – Stephen Clark. We weren’t able to go to the wedding which was near New York because it was during term time (grrr) but here is a piccy of the happy couple;

we can’t wait to meet her. In fact, we can’t wait to see him! He is one of those people who stampede into your life and help you through some really difficult stuff, then runs off to Taiwan to start a family. Without him I doubt Amy and I would be were we are. *sniff*

Have a great weekend everyone!

Amy has dared me to put this up – and I am simply showing I am not chicken – do your worst!

(here’s a tip – click on the pic)

Off to work in the most exciting gift shop in the world in 10 minutes. Woohoo.

Bit depressed last night as realised all the Students are off in 2-4 weeks, and we won’t have another cell group with us all together. Also got slightly annoyed at one student telling the rest of them off because they don’t go to church on Sunday morning and they should all go to hers. I wouldn’t mind so much but actually she says it quite often and I am not sure it is brilliant etiquette to use one churches cell group to advertise another church – not that we are in competition or anything, of course not.

Taking Amy off for an evening in a week for the beginning of half term – we probably could have borrowed a cottage/caravan from our many wonderful friends but it’s the jazz mass at Coventry Cathedral on Sunday morning and we didn’t want to miss it so we are only going about an hour away.

It’s kind of a surprise, in that Amy doesn’t know where we are going, however it isn’t a surprise in that it is something she has expressed an interest in doing before. Note to all who might ever meet us this is the only kind of surprise Amy can be given. Run all potential surprises by me first to vet them. Surprise parties are right out.

Here is a picture of the local pub (where we will also be staying);

Thank you for all your kind comments about cottage. Apart from the rather pedantic contract and the fact that we might have to find another home for our 4 giant african land snails we are still very happy about it. Although the cottage doesn’t seem to have a name yet. Suggestions on a card please…

I have no idea if this is blog etiquette or not but I would like to formally welcome my Aunty Val, parents in law (aka Mama and Papa), sister in law (aka Cecily), and a clever student friend called Tom. Do feel free to comment – I like comments.

Hope that’s cleared the virtual air. I think I should start rating my entries wrt their appropriateness to different people groups. So I could have a U for posts readable by everyone, PG could be to warn parents things are going to not going to be to their liking, R for reality etc etc.

Well just so you all know, this is a “Christian blogging” post.

Simon Heron, an ordinand at Ridley Hall Cambridge has blogged the following (full text here);

“That there are far more single women in the Church than men is an oft repeated truism. It doesn’t take away from the fact that for some singles, their faith means that remaining single will end up being an aspect of their Christianity that will last a lifetime.

Genesis 2:18 reports God as saying ‘It’s not good for man to be alone’. So he made him a helper as a partner. This is Gods ideal. In a world that fails to hit the mark of Gods perfection by a long shot we shouldn’t be surprised that not everything works out as it was intended. But that should never destroy hope.”

I think I disagree. As in I used to disagree much more strongly but am less sure now. I am very fond of Matt 19:10-12, I quote (entirely out of context naturally);

“others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”

It would be a cop out to say that this saying of Jesus overrides the Genesis passage, but he certainly was overturning a cultural value that marriage was the highest order, indeed I have heard it was not possible to be a pharisee without a wife (probably sermon myth). Certainly being a single woman was the lowest anyone could go.

This teaching that being single is actually the better way to be (but only for those who can accept it) is almost ignored by most of the evangelical church, to the extent that singleness is entirely undermined by those who devote their time to ridding the church of it.

After all Jesus wasn’t married (or was he re:da vinci…) but as a scarily intelligent student pointed out to me, he will be.

Looking back, the most content period in my life was the month or so between becoming a Christian and aquiring a girlfriend. This was the first time I was content not being in a relationship in a very relationship seeking culture (mixed boarding school). Of course having a girlfriend/fiancee/wife is wonderful, but I am not afraid to admit that I am weaker than those who don’t (as are vegetarians and women apparently…)
Simon goes onto report that;

“The Church Times recently reported a survey among Christian singles where nearly half of them said they would be happy to marry a vicar/ette.
It can’t be the money.
Or the uniform.
Or the sociable hours.
Must be the house.”

Speaks for itself.

We got it! Yippee! Very happy about it. Been very grateful to God for being overwhelmingly kind to us. Perhaps he’s being extra kind to us before sending us up north in three years time…

So here it is again;

Come and stay, any who want to (unless you don’t know us, in which case get to know us first). Although if you come in July there will be no furniture 9and for the most part no tenants) so bring your own sleeping bag…

Because it is a bit remote we don’t think God is going to send many homeless our way (although we might be wrong) but we look forward to offering a more retreat house/short stay hospitality thingy which will be great. This has nothing to do with the fact that it only has one toilet.

The current tenant has been very kind and agreed to pay up until 26th June, so we only have to fork out 4 days worth of rent for that month – that’s still £93 but he is taking the bulk of it. If you ever find this blog thank you so so much.

A local pub with Adnams. The best moving present ever!

I just realised that if you archive your latest log, all the others are archived as well. You learn something new every day.

It seems everything is going to work out ok for thatch cottage, we just have to wait for final confirmation sometime this week. Other people might still get it of course, but we reckon it’s too remote forr any sane person (nearest shop 2 miles).

Really not too happy with this effort – it is now 3am the morning of the 10am service, and I need to sleep. It covers a few basic points rather basically, and puts things in a rather yucky way, and contains very little humour, but I hope it is relevant to the Lethbridges, who are having their second baby baptised (oh and the congregation too). Please let me know if it contains any horrible heresy or gramatical error before 9am and I will be very grateful.

We are going to go for the Madingley cottage because it is gorgeous and perfect and we love it. It is opposite one of the UKs best pubs. They have Adnams. Please pray that they let us rent it. Or just send them threats.

Here is my effort – please don’t hate me for it…

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I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

Good morning,

Today's talk is following on in our current series, which is looking at all of Jesus “I am” sayings. Jesus made many claims about himself, one of which being “I am the light of the world”. This morning we are going to explore this pretty mega claim.

Who here has ever been in pitch black darkness? Where were you? My wife and her family enjoy climbing mountains in the Pyrenees, and Amy talks sometimes of when she has been at the top of a mountain late at night when the sky is clouded over, and you can't even see your hand in front of your face. That is pretty dark. Terry Waite was taken hostage for 4 years back in 1987, and kept in solitary confinement with no natural or artificial light at all. You can understand why he now appreciates being able to see the sky than he did before his captivity.

Most religions have a festival of light. Divali is the Hindu light festival, Hanukah is the Jewish one, and Eid the Muslim one. Of course these aren't simply to do with light, there is more to them than that, but they all seem to agree on one thing. Light is a very good idea.

Indeed God seems to think so too, and in just the third verse of the bible God has immortalised the phrase “let there be light”. Light was made second, after the heavens and the earth, this is something the scientists can all agree on, the sun may well have formed after the earth all those years ago.

The human race has always reacted strongly to light. Since time began people have worshipped light, the sun particularly, and often light has been feared, because of the effect its absence would have on all of us. People have tried to harness light, either through fire, electronics, or art. We use it to capture memories, stored on film or digital media. Pride has often been described in terms of light, eg so and so thinks the sun shines out of a part of their anatomy.

Here Jesus is saying exactly that. This is not merely a poetic metaphorical description of himself; Jesus is here declaring that he is the light, not a light, the light. The Pharisees were appalled at Jesus speaking of himself so highly. This is not a claim to be taken lightly. But what did Jesus mean by this? Did he mean his followers need never buy a torch ever again? Perhaps he meant smokers need never buy another box of matches?

There are a few ways we can understand Jesus being the light of the world. The first is to do with searching. Jesus told many parables while he was with us, and most of us will be familiar with the parable of the lost sheep. Well at the same time as telling that story he also told this;

8″Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins[a] and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’

Notice that the first thing this lady does is to light a lamp in order to clearer see her coin. In the same way, we were lost to God, down here in our darkness. God could have ignored us, could have allowed us to continue in darkness. But he chose to send his son into the darkness to seek us out.

This painting is one of three by William Holman Hunt, and is currently in St Paul's Cathedral. It depicts Jesus knocking on a door, holding a lantern. The scripture that goes with this is from revelation, Jesus saying “I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me”. Jesus is holding a lantern because he is the lantern God is using to find us.

Some of us here might be still be lost to God. Perhaps it's time we started to at least look through the spy hole on the door to our lives, to see who this person is. God has certainly sought out Violet, and although Violet might not be old enough yet to open the door, God has certainly found her, and that is a fantastic truth which we celebrate today.

Jesus is also a light of judgement! That's a word we don't use much anymore. Gods light is so great that it exposes everything, good and bad, that is within us. I used to know the daughter of one of the engineers who worked on the first stealth fighter bomber. His area was the stealth work, trying to make the plane invisible to radar. They tested the plane at night time, and it worked perfectly, there was no way to know there was a fighter bomber circling above your heads. They then tested it during the daytime. It shone up like a star in the sky, so it was back to the drawing board.

We all have things in our lives we don't want others to see. Skeletons in the cupboard, dirty laundry, baggage, all names for that part of us we keep secret, and rarely allow anyone else to come near. Some of these things aren't our fault, some of them are. Because sin, the wrong things in the world are by very nature dark, Jesus light shows them up for what they are. 39Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” As people we are blinded by what happens to us and the wrong choices that we make, we struggle to see a way out. People who struggle with huge debts often talk about the misery and darkness that pervades into every area of their lives, those who have been betrayed cannot see how they will ever trust again. We feel trapped by our situations, and worried by the future, which often seems clouded. Jesus the light of the world has come to help us to see. In the film “The Matrix”, the human race is being grown by machines in order to produce energy, but all the humans plugged in to their system have the illusion of living in a world much like ours. A small group of people have been freed from this ignorance, and have made it their mission to help their fellow humans to see what is really going on.

So Jesus is the light which exposes sin for what it is, and sets us free from it.

What else do we use light for? Well we use lights in torches and headlights and lanterns for guidance. Jesus was a guiding light also, and lived a blameless and good life, something which no one else has ever done. We could do a lot worse than follow his guidance, keep his teaching, and follow his commandments by loving one another and loving our God. How to do this of course is another matter, and of course it is a lot easier said than done, but it can be a very exciting and life giving challenge, one which we pray Violet will grow up into. Jesus didn't just go around being good however, he also spent much of his time campaigning for those who can't speak for themselves, the widows and orphans, the prostitutes, the marginalised and minorities, and we should be doing the same. Some of the most amazing beacons of the Church over the past two millennia are those who have stood up for social change, William Wilberforce who abolished slavery, more recently Mother Theresa and even Bono.

Jesus is still the light of the world today, and he wants to be all these things for us. But he also asks that we in turn are the light of this world, spreading his joy and love throughout the globe. There is an Orthodox Christian light festival, called the holy Fire, in the Holy Sepulchre church in Jerusalem. Every Easter Saturday many hundreds of Orthodox cram into the church building to watch a flame start from nowhere, which is then passed onto candles throughout the church building and out into the city. Whatever you may think of the miracle of the divine safety match, the symbolism is powerful. Flame flowing from person to person, causing jubilation and celebration as it leaves the church and goes out into the world.

In the baptism service baby Vi will be given a lighted candle, to symbolise her receiving the light of Christ. She is then asked to “shine as a light in the world”. It is our prayer that all of this will be true for Vi as she grows up, and that she will indeed be a light of Christ, loving those around her, caring for those in need, speaking to and for those who are in desperate times. Let's pray.

We thank you Lord Jesus that you are the light of the world, we thank you for dying for us on the cross so that we might receive your light, and share in your work here on earth. Help us, whenever we feel blinded by circumstance, or trapped in darkness, to allow your light into our lives. Amen

Anniversary!

Yes that’s correct – it has been 5 years exactly since wife and I got together. 9th May 2001. We then got engaged on 28th December 2003 and married 23rd July 2005. Sadly I don’t have a picture of that day but here is a bit of a crazy one of us singing “Baby it’s cold outside”, as is our bent;

So 6 months at school, 3 years long distance at Uni, a year down the road and another 6 months or so as man and wife – happy Anniversary dearest. It’s been a long 5 years…
(but of course it seems like seconds)

In other news – tandem still has a flat tyre – as I have managed to pop two of them by pumping them up too high. What is the point in having a maximum tyre pressure if you pop a good bar below it. Tsk. Youth is starting on Pathway soon, which is an alpha linked drug rehab thingy – absolutely brilliant if you ask me, the level of support is just astounding. We might be living in a beautiful thatch cottage in Madingely for the next three years but the downside is we would probably have to move in July, which doesn’t really fit (Amy is still working until mid July for example). Please pray for this if you can, as it is absolutely super duper wonderful and we want to live there so so much and it’s so us and I am quite emotional about it really.
Look it’s so lovely;

Not much else to report, Student Work going well, we had 11 at cell last week which included a couple of new Christians/seekers, the group was very welcoming but it is a challenge to be completely honest with one another when there are “others” in the room. It’s so rare we see new Christians around sometimes we worry we might scare them all off. Really well led, so pleased I chose Dave and Katie (your names are out there now guys, sorry just couldn’t be bothered to think up codes for you!)

Heliflower mentioned that I perhaps could have put playing the saw and riding a tandem into my list of 6 weird things. I guess I am so weird that I didn’t see them as weird. Oh well.