Wednesday 24 December 2014

Love Actually???

"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion’s starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don’t see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it’s not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it’s always there – fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge – they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I’ve got a sneaky feeling you’ll find that love actually is all around."

Love Actually appears to have quickly become a Christmas classic for some people. Whilst there is no doubt that it divides opinion (is it simply a feel good reflection of people's Christmases or emotional schmulz?) it does raise a somewhat interesting question and that is do we live in a world dominated by love or something else? What is it which lies at the heart of the world we live in?

For some people there is nothing which lies at the heart of our world. It came from nothing, it will return to nothing and what happens in between is nothing more than what happens. Love happens because some people choose to love but in the same way some choose to hate, some choose to be angry, some choose to use people. Life is a random mix with nothing at its centre.

For others the world is hard and grim. It is survival of the fittest and so life is fundamentally a survival challenge. It is often tough, the world is often hostile and we have to battle through it as best as we can. Find the little pockets of happiness we can whenever and wherever possible. Love may provide some of these pockets but it is equally likely to provide much of the hostility and hurt we so often experience.

Love actually is clear what it thinks. The dominating thing in our world is love. You don't have to look hard to see it and it is that which repeatedly flows out of us. Our natural desire is to love. Now much though it may pain me to say it the Bible agrees. The heart of humanity is love and it is love for one very specific reason. The heart of humanity is love because we were made in the image of a God who is himself love. The Bible could not make it any clearer - People love because God loves.

Now anyone can say they love someone but God is a God who actively loved us. That is what Jesus coming to earth is all about. It is about a God who loved is enough to come into this messed up world as a baby and ultimately die so that we could be welcomed into God's perfect family of love. Broken though humanity is it keeps reverting back to the image in which it was made. We cannot help but express love and if you look around you I guess Love Actually is right you really do see it all around you. So it is right that at Christmas we repeatedly are surrounded by love - We send messages of love, we watch films about love, we spend time with people we love because as you catch a glimpse of the God who loved you enough to come as a baby it is not surprising that love is at the heart of how we celebrate this.

Saturday 24 May 2014

Subtext and Rain


So last night I went to see play performed and written by some University Students entitled Subtext and Rain. I have to say as way of an introduction that I was pleasantly surprised by it. It was well put together and kept me engaged throughout.

As the title may suggest this was a show of themes. The subtext was key and as such worldviews were portrayed but rarely articulated. One of the key ideas which came across again and again was the idea of isolation. As we entered we were encouraged to write down secrets which played a part in the performance and throughout the play again and again the idea came out that no-one really knows us (and perhaps we don't even know ourselves).

This was seen as an overwhelming experience. This sense of isolation, or not being understood, was often portrayed as too much. The water (rain) is rising around us and we're struggling to stay afloat.

This was only one of many themes within the play but it got me thinking about the play as a whole and it struck me that like so much that I watch it was again a play which was willing to diagnose and highlight problems but unwilling to even venture a solution. The sense of isolation highlighted in the play was never addressed. So we identify a problem but offer no solutions. We are nervous to offer solutions because who am I to say anyway - The problem is that mere diagnosis is of limited use.

As I look at the gospel I see the problem of isolation, of loneliness regularly presented but I see a solution offered as well. We are isolated as we seek to present a different face to that we have. We are isolated as we harm other people and are harmed by others and withdraw. We are isolated but this is not the end. The work of Jesus was specifically to rebuild these broken relationships. The security offered by the gospel enable us to be open and vulnerable with people rather than mere actors working hard to portray the version of ourselves we want others to see. This is why so much of what Jesus talks about relates to how we relate to others.

The bible is clear - Isolation and loneliness are realities but the gospel offers a promise of something different/something better. Subtext and Rain could not offer this and so what you are left with is an entertaining and engaging diagnosis which leaves you aware of the problem with no idea how to address it


Saturday 17 May 2014

True Detective Part 2 - Light and Darkness

WARNING - SOME STRONG LANGUAGE


Rusty - Tell you Marty I been up in that room looking out those windows every night here just thinking, it’s just one story. The oldest.”
Marty: “What’s that?”
Rust: “Light versus dark.”
Marty: “Well, I know we ain’t in Alaska, but it appears to me that the dark has a lot more territory.”
Rust: “Yeah, you’re right about that.”
Rust: “You’re looking at it wrong, the sky thing.”
Marty: “How’s that?”
Rust: “Well, once there was only dark. You ask me, the light’s winning.”

This is the final scene from the scene. The case is solved. Both have survived but it's been pretty grim along the way. The question is what was it all about? What is it all about? True Detective is as much a film about how you view the world as it is about a case. The conclusion is this. It's one story. the story there has always been 'light versus dark'

This is the story of humanity - there's good and there's bad. There's light and there's dark and which is prevalent? Well that depends on your worldview and your experiences. This story of light and dark always interests me because it is one of the central stories of the Bible. Just look at a few of the key moments in the Bible.

What does God create first? Light
What does Jesus say that he is? The light of the world
How is God described? God is light and in him there is no darkness at all
What happens when Jesus dies? Darkness descends
What are Jesus' followers called to be? Light in the world
What will happen at the end? God will recreate the world but there will be no more sun because he himself will be the light.

The Bible tells this story which humanity has been telling ever since. There is darkness in the world and darkness seems to have a lot more territory. So how will the light ever prevail. Well in Jesus light comes into the world. Perfect light in the perfectly good person and he offers forgiveness to people so that they too can become light. As such his followers seek to be light in the world but never wholly succeed until that last day when light finally prevails as God comes down and makes his dwelling with people.

So the story of light and dark continues but light will prevail because light came into the world in the person of Jesus. So ultimately Jesus says rejecting him is rejecting light and choosing the darkness and accepting him is accepting the light.

It may seem like the dark has a lot more territory - but once there was only dark so you ask me and the light is winning.

Sunday 4 May 2014

True Detective - Part 1

Over the past few weeks I have been watching the new HBO mini-series, True Detective, on Sky Atlantic and have had a few thoughts. True Detective is set in Louisiana in the states in what seem like a deeply religious area of the US. It follow two detectives (Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson) who work on a 17 year long case tracking a serial killer. It is a pretty bleak watch at points but also pretty spectacular.

In one of the scenes their investigation takes them to the tent of a travelling ministry type thing (which is frankly fairly ridiculous. As he looks around McConaughey comments at the group of people he sees around him. His main point - these people are unimpressive and unintelligent. Here he simply articulates a view held by many. If you are going to believe in God etc then you must be stupid. This got me thinking and I have a few thoughts.

1. As a Christian I am unconvinced that Christians are noticeably less intelligent than those who are not

2. It is however true that numerous religious institutions throughout history have sort to exploit people, including those who are vulnerable in some way, for their own ends. This is true of not just the religious but of all different types of people. Unfortunately people exploiting other people is a perennial part of human past and present. The meeting the attend did not really seem to reflect any intelligible belief but rather did seem to be about exploitation. I would distance myself from that.

3. My main reflection was this - So what? Christianity, if true, should not and could not be a thing which requires a certain level of intellect. It is a relationship with a God who made us and loves us. Not a test we have to pass or a qualification we have to gain. Whereas the rest of our world may run around after the rich, intelligent and famous - God does not care about those distinctions.

If Jesus is fundamentally about following Jesus then in him we see the perfect example of someone who was obviously not unintelligent (he may not have split the atom but he changed history more than the man who did), who did not seek to exploit anyone for his own gain but instead willingly gave up the riches and comfort of heaven to live on this earth and eventually be crucified by the people he came for and who drew all sorts of people to himself including those rejected and despised by the society he lived in, in much the same way that McConaughey had no time for the people at that meeting.

Wednesday 23 April 2014

Ben Folds Five - Philosophy


"I see that there is evil
And I know that there is good
And the in-betweens I never understood
Would you look at me I'm crazy
But I get the job done
I'm crazy but I get the job done"

So as I continue with my 'Naked Baby Photos' theme I move onto what is probably Ben Fold Five's second most famous song a video of which is included when they performed it on the Jools Holland show.



As you may expect from a song called philosophy it is no surprise that this song provides an insight into what I assume is/was Ben Folds view of the world which resonates so much with the world we live in. 
Ben Folds has little time for idealistic sentiment and so in this song we have a view of morality which is deeply practical and probably most of us can relate with.

We see evil in the world - So we click the news on and we see 'evil' - murder, war etc - Whatever fits in your category of evil.
We also know that there is good - We see in our life real love, real affection - Whatever fits in this category.
So we acknowledge we live with this confusing world. It is goodness and evil all mixed together

The question is why is the world sop confusing? Why do we live in a world of irrational goodness and irrational evil? I have always found the Bible's answer to this compelling. The Bible says that God made the world and it was good - so the world will always contain goodness which we will see. But on the flip side the Bible also says that we rebelled against him and ever since then evil has come into the world and so we see goodness but the goodness is no longer perfection and so it is goodness tempered by evil. What we see in the world I see in myself. I see goodness and I see evil.

Ben Folds does not have a Christian world view and so his response is telling. He sees evil, he know's that there is good so what does he do... Well he get's the job done. This is the story of most of our lives. We see evil and goodness, we see a confusing crazy world, we can't quite work it out and so what do we do? Well we crack on. We get our heads down and we get on with life. In the words of Ben Folds 'Won't you look at me I'm crazy but I get the job done'. In a confusing world why try to make sense of it? Just get on with the stuff you have to do.

Jesus gives us a different option. Instead of ignoring the craziness of the world we live in we can look straight at it in the knowledge that we live in a good but broken world  for which redemption is possible. We don't have to ignore the mess because the story of the Bible is that God has a plan to sort it out.

Sunday 20 April 2014

Ben Folds Five - Emaline

So this week in the car I have found myself listening to 'Naked Baby Photos' by Ben Folds Five. This is a compilation of a mix of songs (some live some album tracks) which has some real high points (Eddie Walker being one of my favourites) and some lows (notably the middle section which consists of songs which barely deserve the name).

Anyway having enjoyed this I thought I'd blog a bit on some of the ideas which had really struck me when listening to this album. The first of these comes from the little known song Emaline which never made it onto any of their albums. The lyrics which have always interested me in this song are these...

She's dear to me, and so expensive.
Now I'm not talking 'bout money.
Money talks,
I hate to listen,
but lately it's been screaming in my ear...

...Don't let me walk away from Emaline.
For stupid reasons,
now I'm talking 'bout money.
Money talks,
I hate to listen,
But lately it's been screaming in my ear.

This seems to very effectively sum up my relationship with money. When money talks I hate to listen. I hate the control which money has over so much of my life. So the jobs I do, the things I do with my spare time, the places I see, even things like the people I am friends with or spend time with so many of these things seem so driven by money. I am friends with people who mainly earn comparable amounts. My social circles are dominated by people with similar access to money. The jobs I spend so much of my life doing are largely determined by the amount they pay. In so many ways money feels like the key determinant and limiting factor in my life. 

Now Jesus is completely radical in his approach to money. He doesn't seem to allow it any sort of hold over him. He mixes with all different types, rich and poor regardless. He doesn't seem obsessed by the acquisition of money or the use of money and so when money talks he is capable of not listening. Now this is key to understanding Jesus' teaching about money. Jesus teaches that as Christians we should be generous with our money. Jesus teaches that those who follow him should not love money. All of this is not Jesus trying to ruin our lives but actually encouraging us to not listen to the voice of money. Jesus says our lives should not be controlled by money but by relationships (with God and other people) and therefore the good news he brings is the good news of relationships which help us to listen less to money. Jesus' teaching on money is to bring freedom not ruin our lives.

I know this and I believe it. I see the way people's lives get taken over by appraisals at work and the thought of more money. I see the way people spend their lives complaining about how much money they get or trying to get more. I see lives ruined by gambling due to this love of money. I like Ben Folds hate it when I find myself listening to and being controlled by money but I have the same problem so often it feels like it's screaming in my ears. I don't want to be controlled by money but when appraisal time comes round I find myself obsessed by how much I might earn and the bonus I might get. When money is tight for a month I feel money screaming at me 'you need more, you deserve more'. When I have to say no to something cause we don't have the cash I feel money screaming in my ear 'just work harder, or give less then you could do more of the stuff you want'. I hate to listen but there are times it is screaming in my ears.

There is no easy solution to this (at least none I have found) but there is one key thing which will make it easier to not listen to the screams and that is to find something you value more highly.
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in afield, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." - Matthew 13v44
The way to quieten the voice of money is simply to see it as less valuable and the way to see it as less valuable is to find something of greater value. Jesus does not call on us to give up something we love as a form of self denial he instead calls on us to experience more and more of something better as we experience the forgiveness he offers through his death and the new life of knowing and loving God and people. 

You see money will always talk but when you see the life offered through Jesus' death and resurrection the screams will seem quieter.

Thursday 13 March 2014