simply Marvellous

Every now and again I come across a film  that lifts the spirit. Once is such a film and Marvellous is another. Last night Kate and I were looking for something to watch on T.V. and I had seen a trailer for Marvellous, thought it looked interesting, so persuaded Kate to watch it. The film is a biopic of the life of Neil Baldwin and it is glorious. Neil is someone who many have dismissed as having 'special needs' and yet his life affirming attitude to situations and people demonstrates that time and again he is the one ministering to the needs of others.

Marvellous follows Neil's exploits as a circus clown, his work at Keele University and his time as kit man with Stoke City during the tenure of manager Lou Macari. Neil's relationships with his mother, clergy, friends and footballers are explored with humour and humanity. The subtitle of this blog is 'reflections on faith, family, film and football' and in a sense that is what Marvellous is all about. Neil is a Christian and his faith is portrayed with a sympathetic touch, rarely seen on television or in film, as is the vicar with whom Neil develops a lasting friendship. There is some gentle ribbing about the Anglican Church but it is portrayed in a positive, even affectionate, light.

Neil's mother is the rock who sustains him through life and the portrayal of the relationship is beautifully judged, particularly his mother's fears for Neil as she approaches the end of her life. Some of the moments between the two are heart-rending, not least when Neil is visiting his mum in a care home.

The film experiments with format in a way reminiscent of Dennis Potter. In several scenes the masterful actor Toby Jones, who plays Neil, is in character in dialogue with the real Neil Baldwin. There are also scenes with Lou Macari, then manager of Stoke City, commenting on some of the incidents portrayed in the film. These never interrupt the narrative flow and enhance our understanding of Neil's character and relationships. There are several moments reminiscent of Woody Allen's Zelig.

Football is central to the film as it is to Neil's life. A committed Stoke City supporter, Neil strikes up an extraordinary relationship with Macari leading to his appointment as kit man. At one stage Macari even plays Neil in a testimonial game against Aston Villa and later comments that Neil is the best signing he ever made at Stoke City. There is plenty of cruel banter from some of the footballers and at one stage a player calls Neil a 'Mong', however, Neil gives as good as he gets and there is an hilarious incident when Neil takes his revenge with the players' underpants. A favourite moment is a scene recounting an incident when Macari is interviewed about a new signing he has made. The genuine video on which the scene is based is embedded at the end of this post and I defy you not to laugh.

A recurring theme is the way that Neil mentions famous people who he knows. Others dismiss his fantasising only to discover that he really has met these people, can count some as genuine friends and has the pictures and signatures to prove it. In the end you feel that these people felt privileged to have known Neil rather than the other way round.

Marvellous is a wonderful account of a life well lived and enriching the lives of others. Kate summed the film up when she commented at the end that it was everything Ricky Gervais's Derek tries but fails to be.

And here's that video as promised:

the return

The injury ravaged club is experiencing a crisis as their depleted squad enters the most important part of the season. And so, in the spirit of selfless service and following the example of Paul (he scores goals) Scholes and Thierry (why use your foot when you can use your hand) Henry, I am delighted to announce that I am coming out of retirement. I will be offering my services to my old club Highwood Badgers and though my legs have gone and I can’t see without glasses I expect to play a holding (the opponent) midfield role. My range of Sat Nav passes remains undiminished as I spread the ball around the back garden and unerringly hit every mound of dog mess; my finishing remains deadly from two inches out with the goal keeper unconscious and I can just about squeeze into an extra large old nylon replica shirt.

On second thoughts, why settle for second best? I think I’ll stand for the office of Prime Minister and follow in the high kicking footsteps of the legend that is Eric (Le Roi) Cantona.

To save & invest don't talk to Nat West

My young son has raided his money banks and discovered he has large amounts of dosh in small change. He assiduously bagged up the coinage and trekked across to the local bank with his mum to convert his change into notes. Unfortunately the cashier in the local branch of Nat West informed my wife and son that since they were not customers she was unable to help them. Big mistake. I presume this is bank policy, in which case it is very short sighted for they have just rejected a potential customer.

My son may well have been interested in opening a savings account. No doubt Nat West, along with the other banks, will be touting for his custom when he starts work or heads off to university. They could have rejected a budding Richard Branson or future dragon from the den for all they know.

On returning home we tried to contact customer services and were led into the nightmare maze of options and menus on high tariff call charges that is the money spinning feature of so many companies. We gave up trying and I fired up the blog.

When I left school I went to work for Nat West. I got out in 1980 and headed off to pursue a brief career as a drummer, just at the time when the whole banking industry switched from being a service to a business hell bent on maximising profits at their customers' expense.

Towards the end of the 1970s Marconi's, a major local industry at the time, switched it's employees from a weekly wage paid in cash to a monthly salary paid into a bank. Each employee was told to open an account with a local bank and subsequently issued with a cheque book backed up with a cheque guarantee card. I had to print up many of these cheque books in a machine designed by Torquemada. No advice was given on how to manage or budget with this change to income and unsurprisingly some people couldn't handle it. Customers would come in part way through the month to explain that they had run out of money. As cashiers we were instructed to offer customers in such circumstances either a loan or better still a shiny new product called an Access card. In other words, we didn't give advice on how to handle finances or manage their debt, we were told to encourage people to take on further debt so that they became more dependent on the bank.

When I handed in my resignation I had an interview with the branch manager. He told me that though he was sad to see me go he thought I was doing the right thing. During our conversation he explained the changing nature of banking. One small example was the way that in the past a perk of the job was an occasional round of golf with a valued client. Now, he told me, he received regular instruction from head office as to which clients he was to entertain and he had to report back on the outcome of this aspect of his work and consequent results. I think he would have been happy if he had never seen another golf club in his life.

You will not be surprised to hear that when I left employment with Nat West one of the first things I did was to change banks. After my son's recent experience I don't think we will be going back.




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An easy mistake #gb10 #gb11

Our first venture into the world of camping as a family was attending Greenbelt 2010. I have to say it was not a great success and when I tentatively (no pun intended) explored the possibility of a return to Cheltenham for Greenbelt 2011 I was greeted with a resounding no!

Could it have been the five miles of walking as we trudged back and forth from the car park with all our gear because cars were banned from the site due to the rain soaked ground? Perhaps it was the near subzero temperatures at night on an August bank holiday?

Maybe it was the hour long queue to get a token so we could get a place for our young son in the children’s activities another hour later. We gave up trying in the end and he had a rather boring time saved only by his spotting the chap from ‘Rev’ filming outside a toilet on the Sunday morning. Unfortunately D had never seen Rev but he has seen the Pirates of the Caribbean series and kept calling out ‘look it’s Lord Cutler Beckett’ as Tom Hollander tried to record some footage.

Possibly the booking of a tent in Tangerine Fields only to find it was pitched by a very muddy patch on a major walkway was an error of judgement. Our nights were punctuated with unwary campers screaming as they ended up in the mud or banged into our tent as they sought to avoid said muddy patch. It didn’t help when friends informed us, once we were on site, that they had booked a T F tent before and would never do it again because of the noise.

Before leaving for Greenbelt I’d checked out the leisure centre facilities in the area and printed off a map. So on the Sunday morning, after an uplifting communion service, we jumped in the car to head off for a swim and a shower. Following the directions we  eventually arrived at a very grand looking set of buildings but didn’t give it a second thought as this was Cheltenham. We trudged up to the entrance in our grubby clothes and wellies. The doors to the centre slid open and we were greeted by a couple of smart looking young men in spotless tracksuits. I asked for a family ticket for a swim and was informed that the pool wasn’t open until 2pm. I explained that according to the website the pool was open all day. I was asked what website I’d looked at. ‘The website for Cheltenham Leisure Centre’ said I. ‘Ah’, said they, ‘This is Cheltenham Ladies College’. How was I to know they both used the initials CLC? Anyone could have made such a mistake.

The young men at the college were very helpful and gave us directions to the leisure centre which, when we finally arrived, looked more like a municipal facility than the other CLC. Anyway, we had a great time in a near empty pool, the kids had their first experience on diving boards and I enjoyed a very long, hot shower and refreshing shave. During our time in the pool there was a very heavy downpour over Cheltenham which finished just as we arrived back at the racecourse.

My wife had a particularly traumatic experience with the toilets at GB10 which I might recount in another post.

Thinking of all my corporeal and virtual pals who are at Greenbelt 11 and praying they have a great time. Missing meeting up for a chat and cuppa in the Tiny Tea Tent but not missing the rain, camping and sleepless nights. Greenbelt 12? Let’s wait and see.

Not so Fantastique Maitre Renard

This is the sight that greeted us on our return from holiday in France. An empty chicken run, save for a few feathers scattered across the apple strewn ground. Our remaining four chickens, Snowdrop, Pebble, Dusk and Hazel had been despatched by a fox.

I could understand if this had happened in the Spring when vixens scavenge to feed their hungry cubs but this seemed like an act of wanton destruction. The urban/suburban fox doesn't just kill for food but seems to be consumed by a blood lust that drives it to slaughter for the fun of it. The vandal leaves a trail of carcasses to be cleared up by the devastated owner or, in our case, the unsuspecting chicken sitter.

We are used to handling the demise of chickens; some die from an undiagnosed illness and others are despatched once their laying days are over. Our delinquent Labrador Bramble has on occasions bumped off the odd chook when we forgot to put them away at night. However, there is something infuriating about the bushy tailed vagrant who turns up in dead of night, does his work and is on his way before his crime is discovered.

So why do we persist and plan to restock the orchard with another batch of chickens? Mainly because once you have tasted eggs from your own chickens there is simply no competition from the supermarket. The yolks are a dazzlingly rich gold and taste sublime. Cakes, pavlova, and eggs cooked every which way are delicious. You know that your eggs have been laid by chickens enjoying freedom to strut, scrape and peck and fed on good quality feed supplemented by kitchen vegetable scraps.

Chickens are also fun pets. Each chicken has its own character and lays distinctive eggs, they sort out a pecking order, flap around in dust baths and clear the weeds from under the fruit bushes. They are happy to get on with life with the minimum of fuss and care as all the average chook demands is a place to roost, a supply of food and plenty of clean fresh water.

Oh yes, and the one thing we failed to supply... Protection from the not so fantastic Mr. Fox.

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Be sure your sins…

Bramble, our recalcitrant black Lab with a taste for the chickens, had never encountered a cat flap until we moved to our new Rectory. He knows all about them now!

More goodbyes

Easter is a time that holds great significance for us as a family. Primarily, Easter is at the centre of our faith as Christians as we rejoice in all that God has done for us through the Lord Jesus Christ.

However, Easter also marks some important milestones in our family life. At Easter ten years ago I celebrated my last service at Becontree West in Barking and Dagenham, and it was an occasion made more memorable by the baptism of our son. This Easter Sunday I celebrated and preached at our last service in Great Leighs.

The whole weekend was very special. On Good Friday we met up with my wider family to celebrate Dad’s eightieth birthday in Suffolk and then later with Kate’s sister and brother-in-law who spent the rest of the weekend with us. On Saturday evening the parish held a farewell party for us and finally the Easter Sunday service. We were touched by all the kind words and generous gifts which will be treasured mementos of our time in the Leighs. Although we are saying goodbye to some very dear friends, we are only moving a few miles down the A12 and so will see them often.

Now we are looking forward in Easter hope to what lies before us in Great Baddow. At the moment it is difficult to see beyond the packing boxes and all the hassle of moving, but we already feel very welcomed and encouraged by the warmth of the messages we have received and by the prayers of people in our new community.

Time to go

Today was my last day in the Diocesan Office as I prepare to take up my new role back in parish ministry. I haven’t been very successful at clearing up my desk so will have to return to pack books and other odds and ends after Easter. Highlight of the day was a leaving lunch in the Cathedral Chapter house where I was joined by nearly a hundred friends and colleagues from around the diocese who I’ve been privileged to work with over the last ten years. It was great to catch up with people and to say thank you for their encouragement and support for lay education and training. I’m particularly grateful to my administrator Liz Watson who worked so hard to put the lunch together and to Canon Dr Roger Matthews and Bishop Stephen Cottrell who spoke at the lunch.

Along with the very enjoyable food and drink were some great surprises in the form of gifts for both the family and me and a card with many lovely messages. The gifts included a bottle of champagne (for Easter), a copy of Sir Alex Ferguson’s autobiography with a message from the great man and a cheque for an iPad 2!

So a moving day in many ways. I thank God for the partnership in the Gospel with so many across the diocese and look forward to it continuing in new ways in the future.

On Route 66 #SH2011

This year we forsook Minehead to visit Skegness for Spring Harvest 2011. It was a good call as the weather was dry and warm with a healthy dose of sunshine. Last time I went to Skeggie for SH it snowed. I mentioned in a previous blog the theme of this year’s celebration was Route 66 and focused on the Bible. As in previous years I haven’t planned a full review but offer some reflections on the experience.

Bible Reading: SH returned to its more established style of exposition for the morning Bible readings. I had been concerned that over the last couple of years these sessions had drifted away from engagement with the text and become little more than a springboard for the speaker’s observations and experiences. However, the series of readings based on the book of Malachi had a healthy balance of exposition and application and were ably led by Dave Steell.  During the four mornings we explored a variety of themes including worship, justice, complaint against God, money, sex and power. The teaching was accessible without being superficial. As I’ve mentioned before I tend to take phrases away to chew over and some thought provoking comments included:

Justice isn’t just about Mugabe or Libya. Justice is about when we go to buy a T-shirt for £1 and don’t ask how that’s possible.

Richard Dawkins’s ignorance about God is born out of the witness of Christians.

If we can’t honour our highest human covenant relationships, how can we expect to honour the rest.

The problem with tithing is that it often stops us thinking about our giving.

The mistake we sometimes make is to complain about God when we should be complaining to God.

Worship: One of the themes running through the Bible readings concerned our understanding of worship. I think there is a problem with the way that worship is often presented as being about the singing. Singing and music are an important and valued part of worship but worship is to be the offering of the whole of our lives to God. So when the person leading the singing is referred to as the Worship Leader it reinforces this partial understanding. I would prefer it if the person was referred to as the Music Director as that is a more accurate description of the role. To be fair this isn’t only Spring Harvest’s problem but an issue for the wider church.

This year the music was led by Ben Cantelon and he did a good job, drawing on a variety of material appropriate for the context of the celebrations. It helped that Ben didn’t have an album to promote and so it didn’t feel as if we were being force fed his own material. I did fear for my life at one stage when we sang a song inviting us to dance and jump; not a good move for those of us on the risers at the sides of the Big Top and I was not surprised when we were asked to stop jumping by a message on the stage screen (not that my pals paid any attention to that instruction).

Dave Steell gave a helpful example of the problem of defining the secular and the sacred when thinking about worship. Dave’s father had a huge record collection and the records were carefully categorised and labelled. One of the key categories was to distinguish between the secular and the sacred. What Dave noticed was that from time to time various artists were transferred by his dad from one category to another. So one week Johnny Cash was classified in the sacred, at another time he would be moved to the secular and then a few weeks later Cash was back in the sacred. As Christians we are called to see everything as sacred, belonging to God and honouring to him. That is a challenge to offer every aspect of our lives to God and it also challenges us to have a much broader view of what can be seen as reflecting the glory of God.

Have we not all one father? Has not one God created us? Malachi 2:10

There was plenty of space to enjoy time with family and friends, including the annual go-kart race and a daily splash with the kids. I gave the teaching zones a miss to do my own reading and thinking. Enjoyed watching lots of football, not least Man Utd’s win over Chelski and an evening vigil with the Bishop of Willesden as he watched his beloved Spurs go down to Real Madrid in the Champions League. A bonus was the free wi-fi courtesy of Costa coffee.

Lowlight of this year was the book stall at the resources exhibition. I realise that SH’s usual supplier has gone out of business but this year’s offering was not very inspiring and there were a couple of tables dedicated to different ‘versions’ of the Bible that chilled the blood. Prize for the worst offering was shared between the Precious Moments Bible and the Princess Bible. This fetish for creating different versions of the Bible has got to stop. If the Bible is for everyone then why do we have to manufacture these different versions to appeal to different groups? My suggestion to Bible publishers is that they waste less time creating these atrocities and devote more energy to making the Bible available to different communities throughout the world who don’t yet have the privilege of the Bible in their own language.

Two final challenging comments about the Bible that have stuck in my mind, both from Krish Kandiah:

The Bible should be a kiss of life but it is often heard as a text of terror.

You may be the only Bible some people get to read.

Thanks to the Spring Harvest team for all their hard work in preparing this year’s programme and theme. Next year’s theme is Church Actually: God’s Brilliant Idea.

For reflections on the second week of Spring Harvest at Skegness check out The Beaker Folk.

Route 66 #SH2011

Apart from being the title of one of the first songs I learnt on the guitar as a teenager, Route 66 is the title of Spring Harvest 2011. We’ve been going as a family for quite a few years and there is much I enjoy about the event. It’s a good family break, always a joy to spend time with friends and there is an excellent programme for the kids. There is usually something on the teaching side of the programme that I find refreshing and challenging, and plenty of time for good conversation.

Of late there have been a few SH developments I have not been so keen on: the worship has become more focused around the performance of the worship leader/band; the Bible readings have drifted from exposition to talk, becoming more like the evening celebration addresses, and there is still too much of the old pals act between the leadership team up front. I blogged about some of these concerns last year on a post titled Feast or Famine.

This year the Spring Harvest focus is firmly back on the Bible, hence the Route 66 title, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the team encourage us to engage with scripture. Gerard Kelly has been heavily involved in developing the material and his Bible Readings a few years ago, taking a multi-arts approach to help explore the text, were excellent. What I am not looking forward to is the Skegness climate as the last time we forsook Minehead for the East Coast it snowed.

I shall attempt to blog during the event and the Twitter hashtag is #SH2011 for those who want to follow. No news about a Tweetup yet but where two or three Twitterati gather…

Here’s Gerard Kelly explaining the idea behind Route 66.

Personal or Professional?

An interesting issue has arisen for me about the character and purpose of my blog. On Sunday it was announced that I will be returning to parish ministry and I immediately noticed a large increase in traffic to my blog based on Google searches. I’m fairly sure much of this traffic is from future parishioners so I had a bit of a panic and quickly checked recent posts to make sure I had not said anything I was going to regret. The post about my random album with a naked woman on the front cover caused a slight wobble, but my wife thought it tasteful so I figured there was not a problem.

However, this has made me think about the purpose of my blog and how I will use it in the future. I’ve already noticed that almost subconsciously I post less about my family and tend to keep that information for my Facebook page where there is more control over access. I also notice that I have been putting up more work related posts, particularly in connection with Bible Year 2011. Nevertheless, my blog is still a place where I can fire off my own reflections and observations, not just about faith but about football, culture, politics and whatever else happens to catch my attention.

So the question is this:

Do I keep my blog for my personal thoughts and opinions and roll out a separate blog related to my parish ministry? Or do I merge the two together?

I can see strengths and weaknesses with both approaches and notice that blogging colleagues have taken different stances. I don’t want to lose the character of my blog, such as it is, but I will want to post material related to my work in the parish that may be of little interest to a wider readership. Yet, there is likely to be a certain amount of overlap in material and there may well be things relating to our specific parish context that resonate further afield. 

Thoughts please…

Any excuse!

All change

I have a new job! It is being announced this morning that I’m going to become Team Rector of the Great Baddow Team Ministry. It’s a very exciting and challenging prospect and quite different from my lay education and training role in the Diocese of Chelmsford. This will be a massive change for the family. We’ve lived in our present home for the last ten years, so the children know little else and we will be sad to move from our village church, community and friends in the Leighs. It will also be hard to say goodbye to the fantastic team of people that I’ve been privileged to work with in my present role both in the diocese and at St Mellitus College. Nevertheless, we are really looking forward to what God has in store for us during this next stage of our walk with him.

Great Baddow is a large parish on the outskirts of Chelmsford, with three churches, two team vicars, several associate ministers, and a large team of lay ministers. I will be primarily focused on leading the ministry at St Mary’s and we know some of the congregation, having led a parish weekend for them a few years ago. I also work closely with some of the ministers and congregation through our roles in the diocese and look forward to sharing in ministry with them in a new context.

I’ll be blogging some reflections on my experiences of lay education and training and ordination training over the last ten years in due course. There will also be some observations about the crazy appointments procedures that the Church of England insists on inflicting on parishes and clergy, but that’s for another time.

A date for the installation hasn’t been finalised yet. We would value your prayers for us as a family and for the Great Baddow Team as we prepare for the move over the weeks ahead.

Matty Burrows – the wonder stuff

The FIFA Ballon D’Or football awards for 2010 are being announced tonight. Amidst the predictable nominees for the prestigious awards of player of the year, coach of the year, World XI and so on there is a surprise nomination for goal of the year. The candidate is Glentoran F.C. player Matty Burrows who scored a wonder goal for his club against Northern Ireland rivals Portadown. I lived in Belfast during the 1960s, just two streets away from the Oval where The Glens play and my dad turned out for them in his youth. The side has produced some great footballers including Danny Blanchflower, Peter Doherty, Bertie Peacock, Billy Bingham, Jimmy McIlroy, Terry Conroy, Tommy Jackson and Tommy Cassidy. Tonight could be another glorious moment in The Glens proud history. Here’s Burrows’ wonder goal.

Prime Time (rant alert)

I’m fairly relaxed about programme and film content on T.V. but there are limits. On Saturday night those limits were tested during the prime time family viewing slot on ITV 1 and to a lesser extent earlier on BBC 1.

First up Strictly Come Dancing: BBC1 6.30pm. Over recent years we’ve enjoyed watching Strictly as a family, confident in some genuine light entertainment as well as some heavy stomping entertainment. True, one has to cope with Bruce Forsyth’s decline and the producers keep messing about with the format. However, it’s great fun watching the likes of Anne Widdecombe and John Sargeant staggering round the stage, desperately pursued by professional partners trying to discover some semblance of rhythm or poise. Then there’s the pleasure in seeing someone emerge who discloses genuine hidden talent. This year has been no exception and we are looking forward to the final with, as Dr. Frank-N-Furter would say, anticipation.

Yet, I’m becoming uneasy with certain aspects of Strictly and I don’t just mean the sexism and ageism that led to the dumping of Arlene Phillips as a judge. There is a slight desperation about the way some of the male celebrities are encouraged to reveal their muscular spray tanned torsos before you can say the word Fleckerl. Certain female professional dancers appear to be in a competition to see who can wear the least without suffering a ‘wardrobe malfunction’. Then there are the dance moves that go beyond the subtly suggestive to the down and dirty. That’s fine in a film like Dirty Dancing (I think it was shown later in the evening) where it does what it says on the tin, but I’m not so keen on watching Matt Baker making sexual grinding motions towards his dance partner as she lies splayed on the dance floor at 7pm. Interestingly, the judges criticised Matt and Aliona for this particular contribution to their choreography, suggesting it was rather gratuitous.

Then it was over the channel for The X Factor: ITV1 7.30pm. This show is hard to watch and even harder to listen to at the best of times. It’s made more bearable by following the Twitter stream and full marks to a certain bishop from Liverpool who left the Twitterati in no doubt about his views on the qualities of the finalists. The kids enjoy X Factor and I’d rather watch it with them and discuss the merits of the latest victims of Simon Cowell’s bid for pop world domination, than abandon them to his machinations. What I hadn’t anticipated was just how far Cowell and chums were prepared to push the boundaries when it came to the performances of the guest singers.

Take That were O.K., though I nearly had a coronary when my wife declared that she wished she had tickets for their latest tour. Rumour has it Cowell stopped them singing a number called Kidz accompanied by dancers dressed as riot police. A spokesman for the band is quoted as saying: ‘It was decided after (the) afternoon's rehearsals that the timing and content of the performance was not appropriate so soon after the violence that erupted at protests in London’. Probably a wise move.

Rihanna and Christina Aguilera were a different story. I really don’t understand how anyone can say that this was suitable prime time viewing for the family. I can do without my young son being exposed to the joys of lap dancing clubs and burlesque shows at 8.30pm on a Saturday evening. I can do without my young daughter being encouraged to think that the only way for a female singer to get on in the music industry is to take off her clothes and bump and grind her way across the stage pressed between the bodies of other scantily clad women. And don’t give me the argument that Ms Aguilera was promoting a film; if she’d provided the soundtrack for the Exorcist I wouldn’t expect to see her covered in sores, strapped to a bed, head spinning and spewing all over the stage. All that was missing were the interminable adverts promoting Babestation and dodgy phone chat lines.

If broadcasters are going to schedule and promote these shows as prime time family viewing then they need to exercise some judgement and restraint when it comes to content. Both these shows were heavily trailed in the preceding days, attracted massive publicity and were likely to draw huge audiences given that one was a semi-final and the other the final. I don’t care if this is how these artists perform on tour, or if this is a taste of what their videos are like, I don’t expect it to be shoved in my children’s faces on early Saturday evening television.

Saturday evening was a good reminder that as a parent I shouldn’t delegate responsibility for my children’s television viewing and I can’t trust programme producers to observe mainstream broadcasting standards. It’s no surprise that the X Factor has attracted over 5000 complaints making it the most complained about show in ITV history.

I left blogging about this for a couple of days in order to avoid a rant. Sorry, I failed.

Proclaimers

Kate was listening to one of her birthday presents the other day, The Proclaimers The Best Of... One of the tracks is called I want to be a Christian, written by Sullivan Pugh. Craig, one of the Scottish balladeers, comments in the track notes:

We always loved it… My dad was Church of Scotland when he  was a kid and we had turned against it and when I said ‘I don’t want to go’ he said ‘Just don’t go’. It wasn’t a non-believing house but he was deeply cynical about the church and that’s how we grew up… but the idea of seeking to discover spiritual truth would certainly always be part of what I’ve done. The song says ‘I want to be a Christian’ – it doesn’t say ‘I can totally believe in it’, it says ‘I would like to totally believe in it’.

My young son listened to the song and when he heard the brothers singing ‘Lord I want to be a Christian’ for about the fifth time, he shouted out in frustration ‘Then become one!’. I think he’s on to something. Plenty of people say they want to be a Christian or wish they had the faith to believe, but in the end the only way to discover faith is by beginning to live in the story. As the psalmist says: Taste and see that God is good. Psalm 34:8.

I couldn’t find The Proclaimer’s version of the song on Youtube, which doesn’t really surprise me. However, you can find it on Spotify. Failing that you’ll just have to go out and buy the album, it’s worth it.

Ed, faith, marriage and kids.

Ed Miliband became Leader of the Labour Party last Saturday and almost immediately his personal life became public property, or at least that is what the media would have us believe. And so began the exploration of all things Ed including not just his political convictions but his religious beliefs and family life.

In interviews Ed has explained that he doesn’t believe in God, though he respects those who do. There is an interesting summary of Ed’s publically expressed views on faith by The Church Mouse. I think Mouse is a little more cynical in his comment than I would be in saying:

It struck Mouse that Miliband was probably attempting to follow Clegg's line that in some ways he wished he did have a faith, but unfortunately doesn't.  This is designed to make believers feel that they are respected and valued, whilst making non-believers feel that he's also on the side of reason and rationality, no matter how nice it might be to believe in these fairy stories. 
Patronising all round really.  If the truth is that he looked at it and decided it was not true, Mouse would rather he just said that.

I have plenty of friends who express their admiration, even at times envy, of people of faith while not believing themselves.

As much attention has been focused on Ed Miliband’s family life. I think this is a matter of legitimate interest because in his Leader’s speech at the Labour Party Conference Ed spoke at length about the importance and value of family and family life, both for him personally and for society. Some have commented that this commitment to family didn’t stop Ed committing a public act of political fratricide, despite all his statements about how much he loves his brother David. Others have been quick to point out that Ed is not married to his long term partner and the mother of his child. It has also come to light that Ed had not been registered as the father on his child’s birth certificate.

In an interview on Channel 4 last night, Ed explained that he was planning to get married and when his second child is born he will register as the father of his children. He seemed very relaxed, if not laid back, about all this. There was one particular phrase that left me uneasy:

"Justine and I have a very strong bond and actually we've said in the past we intended to get married," he said. "I actually think the British people are very relaxed about whether we're married or not."

It may be a surprise to discover that the reason for my unease is not primarily because of what I believe about marriage as a Christian. I have clear views on marriage as a precious gift from God, but I don’t expect someone who isn’t a Christian to share that understanding of marriage. Nor is it the case that I think any less of Ed’s commitment to his partner than many of our politicians who are married. Let’s be honest, it hasn’t stopped some of them having affairs and others are so committed to marriage that they have decided to have several. No, what concerns me is that this ‘relaxed attitude’ might reflect a general ignorance about the legal state of those who are in committed long term relationships and yet not married.

My wife is a tutor and lecturer in law and she is frequently amazed and disturbed by the number of mature students who are under the clear impression that ‘common law marriage’ is legally recognised in this country; it is not. They assume that their long term partner and they enjoy the same legal rights as those who are married; they do not. The situation is clearly set out in this helpful statement: Marriage, cohabitation and civil partnerships. Once the students realise the true situation they are far from relaxed about whether they are married or not because a false assumption about their relationship has been shattered. Sadly, there are many people in our country who do not know about or understand the implications of not being married until something goes wrong and then it is often too late.

I am also uneasy about the relaxed nature of Ed Miliband’s attitude to being registered as the father of his child. Again, there are important legal implications arising from this situation. These  relate to parental responsibility and the rights of a father who is not registered as the father and not married to the child’s mother. If someone loves their child, then being relaxed about legal procedures that secure that relationship in law would seem pretty foolish.

Now Ed Miliband is an intelligent man and I would expect he is aware of the legal implications of not being married or registered as his child’s father. If he isn’t then that does not bode well for someone offering themselves as a potential Prime Minister, nor for the country they are seeking to lead. I would assume he and his partner have taken appropriate steps to mitigate the legal position. But it is not something to be relaxed about, as too many partners and parents have discovered at great personal cost.

h/t David Keen, Maggi Dawn, Bex Lewis and Martin Beckford for Twitter conversations on this topic.

Latest Harry Potter trailer

My kids can’t wait and neither can I. Here’s the latest trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.



Warning: contains offensive American reference to 'This Fall' rather than Autumn.

Greenbelt 2010 #gb10

A guest post by my wife Kate, who felt moved to pen the following reflection on this year’s experience of Greenbelt.

QUEUE TIPS

Queuing, queuing, queuing
I know its part of life
But when it came to Greenbelt
The problem became rife.

It started in the car park
And soon spread to the loos –
No matter you were desperate
To do your number twos.

They queued to get the best seats
To see the main event
Just to find the guy from ‘Rev’
Was in another tent.

And if you were a parent
You were queuing for the queue
‘Get there early’ someone sighed
‘Try 2002’.

Some of the old timers
Knew to come prepared
With chairs and books and flasks of tea
Shed Seven though were spared!

But patience is a virtue
A queue’s a chance to pray
Or start a conversation
And brighten someone’s day.

So next time stewards tell me
My wait has been in vain
I’ll thank them for their courage
And bless them in the rain.

Unless someone has queue jumped
Which justifies complaint
For though I am a Christian
I’m not a ******** Saint!

And some pics…

Blog mates: Pete Banks, Sam Norton, Me and Justin Lewis-Anthony

K & D chilling in the Tiny Tea Tent

Mr and Mrs Vicarage

The slough of despond: our tent was 2nd from the left

Keeping the flags flying

‘Militant skiffle’ from The Dodge Brothers

Boston Tea Party

I was in Honiton last week with the family and we had a very enjoyable lunch and coffee in The Boston Tea Party. The cafe is one of a West Country chain named after the C18th revolt by a group of colonists who emptied three shiploads of tea into the Boston harbour as a protest against British taxation.

Apparently there are a group of self described patriots in the U.S. who have formed the Tea Party movement. Their aim seems to be to protest against all the eminently sensible laws that President Obama has introduced including the Health Care Reform Bills. There was an attempt to launch a British Tea Party movement along similar lines back in February during the Conservative Spring Conference in Brighton. The event was supported by Daniel Hannan MEP. This is the same Hannan who has made a career out of travelling around U.S. television studios trashing the NHS. I haven’t heard much about the British version since and I guess it has been made redundant by the General Election outcome.

As I was sitting munching my lunch I found myself humming a song that I hadn’t heard for decades The Sensational Alex Harvey Band’s Boston Tea Party. So here it is.

Feast or Famine – Spring Harvest 2010

I’ve left it a couple of days before blogging about this year’s Spring Harvest in Minehead (week 3) as I wanted to take time to reflect on the experience. We got off to a rather stressed start as my daughter’s mobile phone was pinched by a psychotic seagull on the first morning; a fruitless search for both phone and culprit ensued, followed by the usual hassle of blocking the SIM card etc. My son wasn’t well on the first full day so I was rather tied to the chalet and dependent on Spring Harvest TV to keep up with events in the Big Top. By day two we were in to the full swing of the SH programme and overall it was a relaxing and refreshing time with the family and a smaller than usual group of friends.

The programme this year swung between feast and famine; some really good meaty material and some very insubstantial fare. The daily Bible Readings are a key component of Spring Harvest, attracting large audiences for sustained engagement with scripture. This year the readings were led by Danielle Strickland, a Canadian Salvation Army officer based in inner city Melbourne. Danielle is a gifted speaker and evangelist with a great sense of humour and some profound insights. However, I found myself wondering why we had a Bible reading at the beginning of each session because the passages were hardly referred to and served as little more than a spring board for what Danielle had to say. I struggled to work out the themes and left the sessions feeling I’d been entertained but not fed. The same was true of last year’s Bible Readings and I have a real concern that SH may be moving away from the more expository approach. These Bible Readings are becoming more like the talks at the evening Big Top celebrations and it is disappointing. In the past I have been challenged and encouraged by Bible Readings from the likes of Gerard Kelly and Jeff Lucas who have engaged with some difficult texts in a lively and imaginative manner and it would be a real shame to lose this aspect of the programme.

The evening Big Top celebrations were based on the book of Esther, a bold move given the nature of the material. A highlight of these sessions was the telling of the story each night by the Lacey Theatre Company. The speakers were a mixed bag and though some of the talks were substantial in content and application, others were, frankly, weak and a couple of speakers seemed to be very nervous and almost overwhelmed by the occasion.

The real meat of the teaching was to be found in the seminars. As last year this part of the programme was based around different learning styles; I blogged about the pros and cons of this approach last year and my questions remain. I opted for the Leadership Masterclass sessions led by Jeff Lucas and Neil Hudson and was not disappointed by the quality of the input and reflection on offer. Both leaders have an engaging style and addressed some challenging issues with a lightness of touch. Jeff in particular has the ability to communicate deep insight with what seem to be throw away comments. My approach at SH is to jot down striking phrases to chew over later and these sessions provided most of that material. Take for example the following:

What Would Jesus Do? is a question of crisis not character development.

As usual the children and young people’s programmes were excellent. As a family we are really grateful for the leadership teams who gave so much time and energy in communicating the love of God. Our kids are already looking forward to next year and my son now knows the story of Esther, when I guess many Christians don’t even know it’s part of the Bible.

The biggest disappointment of the week was the worship. Last year I thought the worship had taken a step forward with plenty of variety and a creative use of a range of appropriate material. This year the worship took a big step back. A narrow range of songs were used again and again and though the band were very competent musicians it all sounded the same. Loads of Edge type guitar intros reminiscent of U2’s I Will Follow had us playing guess the song and there was little in terms of variety of tempo or content. At times the worship felt like a concert in which we were invited to join in once we had worked out the tune. The worship leader has recently brought out an album, heavily promoted by Spring Harvest, and there was a sense in which the Big Top celebrations were in danger of becoming promotional events. I guess it is inevitable that an artist will push their own material but this was over the top in the Big Top. I longed to sing a more traditional hymn with a bit of depth to the theological content. I do wonder whether SH would be better served avoiding the celebrity big name worship leaders and those with an album to sell.

In between the celebrations, seminars and Bible Readings there was plenty of time for family, food, wine, swimming, the amusement park, go-karting, chatting with friends, watching the footy, reading and some sleep. Despite the reservations I’ve mentioned, we’ll be booking up for next year and look forward to experiencing again the delights of Butlins Minehead.

Details about Spring Harvest 2011 are now available and I think some of my concerns will be addressed. Gerard Kelly writes:

In 2011 Spring Harvest is going ‘back to the Bible’, to explore the treasure chest of texts. We won’t be doing it wistfully, longing for an age long past, but hopefully, positively – looking to the future and knowing that our Creator still speaks… Join us as we free the Bible from the cages we have held it in – and ask the truth of God, in turn, to set us free.