In an article ‘Spiritual spending’ costs women £670m a year in today’s Daily Telegraph (free registration required, fake details okay!), a number of ‘alternative’ forms of spirituality are listed, including reflexology, acupuncture, massage, reiki, and so on. Apparently women are spending a lot of time and money on these ‘to combat the stress of modern life’. Christianity and other religions don’t even get a mention.
As has been suggested by others, there does seem to be a hunger for spirituality that the modern world doesn’t otherwise supply. I wonder what it is that these new age techniques provide that is lacking in Christianity? Or, contrariwise, what is it about Christianity that is unwelcome? Commitment perhaps? An accompanying social message? Or is it ‘post-imperialism’ — Christianity having ruled the roost in the west for so long, many people would rather look elsewhere, or perhaps don’t see anything particularly spiritual about the faithful few at their local church? Perhaps they want to associate with people of a similar age and don’t find that (or think they won’t) at the church either?
0 CommentsThe BBC carries a report suggesting the possibility of ‘civil disobedience’ if the Church does not become more tolerant of gay men and lesbians. The claim is made by Richard Kirker, of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement. The report specifically mentions ‘hunger strikes’.
0 CommentsHomophobia in the Name of God is an article, notionally about same-sex marriage in Canada, but which contains some interesting criticism of the stance of conservative religious groups. The author, George Dvorsky of Toronto, suggests that the criticisms made by such groups are in fact counter-productive to their own cause, a view that I am inclined to agree with.
1 CommentLife’s Solution is the title of a new book by Simon Conway Morris, Professor of Evolutionary Palaeobiology at Cambridge University. The subtitle Inevitable Humans in a Lonely Universe encapsulates what seems to be the book’s central thesis: that on an earthlike planet, the patterns of evolution are such that they will eventually bring intelligent life into being, but that there are precious few earthlike planets in the universe.
I plan to make further comments as I read the book; meanwhile you can buy it here — it looks well worth a read, though it’s a fairly demanding work.
0 CommentsACNS reports a service of thanksgiving for the lives of the Melanesian Brothers recently murdered in the Solomon Islands.
A Service of Thanksgiving for the lives of Brother Robin Lindsay and his companions — the seven Melanesian Brothers murdered in the Solomon Islands – will take place at St Philip’s Church, Earls Court Road, London W8, on Thursday 18 September at 5pm. The service will be followed by a reception from 6pm – 7pm, during which an ecumenical announcement will be made.
Archbishop James Ayong, Primate of the Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea, and the Rt Revd Roger Jupp, Bishop of Popondota, will be present.
Further information, and details of some other services (including services at Chester Cathedral and Little St Mary’s Cambridge), may be found at the PNGCP web site.
0 CommentsFor a few weeks, stretching over the interrupted practices of summer, I have been ringing bell number 2 at a plain course of bob doubles (with a tenor cover). Tonight I had a go at bob minor, where the interruptions to plain hunting are dodges at 3/4 down, then 5/6 down, 5/6 up, 3/4 up, and make 2nds. We did two courses — I pretty much kept my place throughout the first, and began to lose my place halfway through the second. That is, I knew where I was, but I was mis-remembering where to dodge. I knew I was doing this and also realized that if I carried on I would come to lead in the right place, which is indeed what happened. Fortunately the ringers around me knew pretty much what they were doing.
Earlier in the summer, another ‘landmark’ reached was supervising a less-experienced ringer ringing up — I did this on two separate occasions (for two different ringers), and each time I first helped them control the rope, and then more or less took over from them. Perhaps not the best thing for them, but good for my hand-eye co-ordination!
0 CommentsIn his website Future Shape of Church Edward Green, an ordinand at Westcott House, Cambridge, explores what it means to be Christian in a post-modern world. This developing website contains a number of interesting essays, including one on sexuality and another on the need for the existence of God: ‘religion,’ he writes, ‘is a thing of value that can exist independent of the actuality of a divine being’. The site also includes essays and sermons by others, including Dr Fraser Watts, Starbridge Lecturer in Theology and Science at Cambridge University.
0 CommentsYesterday and today, ACNS, the Anglican Communion News Service, has announced and given details of the murder of six members of the Melanesian Brotherhood, in the Solomon Islands.
The six were Brothers Robin Lindsay, Francis Tofi, Alfred Hilly, Ini Ini Partabatu, Patteson Gatu, and Tony. May they rest in peace.
They were taken hostage by rebels in April after they had gone to investigate the reported murder of another brother, Nathaniel Sado, and to retrieve his body.
We remember those who give their lives in the service of Christ and their fellows, praying for their families, for the Melanesian Brotherhood, and for the people of the Solomon Islands.
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On Sunday morning, 6 July 2003, at the Church of All Saints, St Ives, Cambridgeshire, a Quarter Peal of 1260 Doubles (Grandsire and Plain Bob) was rung in 52 minutes. |
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| Weight of Tenor: 12–0‑4 in G | |||
| *Susan Bates | Treble | Michael V White | 5 |
| Marianne Baker | 2 | Christoper R Armes | 6 |
| Richard C Smith | 3 | *Simon Kershaw | 7 |
| Harold S King | 4 | John Marlow | Tenor |
| Conducted by Michael V White | |||
| * First Quarter Peal. Rung with 7,6,8 covering. | |||
| Rung for the Confirmation and Sung Eucharist celebrated by Keith, Bishop of Richborough |
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Practice at H Grey. Amongst other things I plain-hunted on treble to: Plain Bob Triples (easy by numbers); Stedman Triples [Correction: I couldn’t have been plain hunting on the treble in Stedman Triples, because Stedman doesn’t have the treble plain hunting; probably I meant that I was ringing the tenor cover to this method — rather different! perhaps Grandsire Triples?]; and hardest of all, to St Simon’s Triples.
In St Simon’s the order of the bells is different coming down to the front from the order going up to the back, which means that I had to do it by ‘counting my place’ rather than by numbers. I more or less managed it (and didn’t lose my place), which must mean that my ‘rope sight’ in Triples is nearly there. Going up to the back is fairly easy (using the principle ‘follow the bell that followed you’). On the way down to the front I can see 7th place, 6th place (only one other rope left), just about see 5th place (two other ropes left), 2nd place (one rope gone down), and just about 3rd place (two ropes gone down) — and try and ring somewhere right for 4th place!
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