St Stephen's House

Finished being Apologetic for a while and on the train home. (Currently 3 minutes late - a big improvement on 1 hour and 3 minutes on the way down. )
Been staying at St Stephen's House - a theological college for the CofE and part of Oxford University. Hadn't really thought about it but remembered when I arrived that it's seriously catholic. They talk about Popes a lot. Morning and Evening Prayer were "quaint". I counted 9 different pages to find per service to do all the psalms, collects etc. in what was actually standard Common Worship. I just read the feed off the website which puts all the text in the right place every day for you. (See here)

I reckon I spent 20-25% of morning prayer simply looking things up before I could actually start reading the bit I was supposed to be.

I get confused nowadays by having to find a board in a church which has a list of numbers. Then every time You sing you have to look up the hymn with that number in one of the books that came with the other books and papers. How quaint.

Psalms 71:1

Forsake Me Not When My Strength Is Spent


In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame!





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Location:Acocks Green

Apologetics

After a very pleasant day yesterday hanging around Oxford and sipping cappuccinos, it was down to hard work today. Morning Prayer at 7:30 followed by 4 long lectures/seminars on apologetics over the course of the day. We got off to a good start with Dr. Andrew Moore asking us to differentiate between "rational apologetics" and "witness apologetics" - the latter becoming increasingly important in post-Christendom.
Later we had John Cottingham talking about where meaning comes from. Got to talk to him in the common room, which was very interesting. He's a bit of an expert on Descartes so I asked him some questions about duality and the persistence of human identity, like you do. He agreed with me, or maybe I agreed with him. And apparently Descartes wasn't into Cartesian dualism as much as we think (like Calvin and Calvinism). (But not Hobbes.)
The last lecture was by college principal Father Robin (I am Fr Michael here, according to my welcome envelope). In keeping with the college ethos, asked about a contemporary Christian aesthetic, he thought it would be better if we all went "back to the source" - the Latin Mass. I do not. In fact, I think God likes diversity.

Now here's a bit of a psalm we had at morning prayer. Be thankful you don't have to sing it antiphonally, to an obscure chant, like they do here.


Psalm 103
Praise the LORD, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Location:St Stephen's house, Oxford

Oxford

Oxford is a bit fabulous. C.S. Lewis once told someone that heaven is probably a bit more like Oxford than his friend was imagining.

I'm here for a couple of days studying apologetics. So at last I can say I studied at Oxford (while omitting to say for how long.) The other theological college here was one I was going to look at for ordination training before God took us elsewhere.

Just been at the Sheldonian which I think is the place that Richard Dawkins is scared of debating Bill Craig. Excellent views.

Not sure about the relevance of apologetics. Christina Baxter didn't like them much, so missed out at St John's. I think it was the experience trumps an argument argument.

I suppose it's a balance between having a reason for the hope that we have but coming to Jesus like a child.


Proverbs 3:5 New Living Translation (©2007)
Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding




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Location:Rose Ln,Oxford,United Kingdom

Foundry

Went to a church called The Foundry this morning in Widnes.  Very friendly, and great start with good coffee and a danish in a big, airy room.  Had a quick look at the tech before the service - an iMac just like mine running the presentation software and a PC doing audio recording (which Tim reckoned would be distorting badly.)  A projector either side of a big worship space, with a big blank wall inbetween.  Which I actually found a bit disappointing.  First, there was no need for the screens at all since the wall behind was white.  And second, there was too much blankness, no colour, and nothing to look at!  Made me feel like visiting a Catholic church next time (watch out Pat!)  I was longing for some kind of pictures or colour or anything really.  Enjoyed singing To God be the Glory (Phatfish tune) but didn't know any other songs.  
There was an odd communion section with individual bits of bread and little cups of Ribena, which wasn't really explained.  
I liked the message from pastor Gary from Australia.  I was still listening after 45 minutes, but thought he could have made it shorter and more focussed.  Maybe that's because I'm used to something more concise.  But he made some good points out of Acts 3.  Mostly about stopping.  Peter & John stopped to talk to the 'man lame from birth'.  (Doesn't actually say they stopped - I was imagining how it would work if no-one actually stopped, but that was just being awkward).  Anyway, safely assuming they did stop, the message was about how God works when we are willing to be inconvenienced.


Couldn't find a verse in Acts 3 or anything specifically on inconvenience but I'm sure there is one.  Suggestions please!


BTW, I've fiddled with the comments settings now, so you should be able to leave a comment now even if you couldn't before.


Also, the grand prix was boring today and back to making F1 look a bit pointless.  Perhaps it is. 




Philippians 2:16
Hold firmly to the word of life; then, on the day of Christ’s return, I will be proud that I did not run the race in vain and that my work was not useless.

Justice

Read a post from an ex-colleague of mine who moved to the colonies.  Someone had put together an article titled "This is the problem with the American justice system".  There are actually two contrasted articles about convicted criminals.
One was a homeless man who'd robbed a bank.  He'd been given 3 bags of money but only took the $100 he needed (to stay at a detox center).  The next day he handed himself into the police because he knew he'd done wrong.
The other man was a CEO of a mortgage company who'd been caught in a massive fraud to the tune of $3 billion.

The homeless man got 15 years in jail, the fraudster got 3.  I don't know any more background than that, so it's difficult to judge, but it does seem a bit wrong.

Today's newspapers in the UK are carrying the story of the trial of Levi Bellfield for the murder of Milly Dowler.  A senior policeman said the trial showed a 'disgraceful lack of humanity' in the justice system, as the Dowler family felt they were the ones being put on trial, and now even regret the prosecution.  The trouble was that Bellfield didn't have any real defence, and so his lawyers had to resort to dirty tricks against the Dowler family to make any kind of case for him at all.
I have a weakness in that I always see good in people.  But it's hard to see it in Bellfield, a serial killer.

The other victim here was the criminal justice system itself.  The leader in The Times said, "It is impossible to see this outcome and consider it to be justice.  For true justice cannot be so hollow and the approach to it so devoid of feeling."

How does feeling fit into the logic that drives the criminal courts?  (I don't know, but I will be disagreeing with the Tom Wright book I'm reading in a later blog.)

When I was at university studying chemistry I went to an optional lecture by a forensic scientist.  He had the details of how someone had been convicted of raping and murdering a girl (who happened to be a Sunday School teacher.)  I couldn't concentrate on the details of the science because of the horror I felt at this crime that had been committed.  And I was wondering, why does God let these things happen?
I'd have made a useless forensic scientist.

There doesn't seem much justice in this world.  It's unfair.  God is unfair.
But that's OK because God is unfair in a good way.  I was reminded yesterday that for a Christian, it's all about grace.
We don't want God's justice.  None of us would survive.  What we need is God's grace.  And that's what he gives us.
What happened to Jesus was unfair.  But it's a source of God's grace.  I don't fully understand the theology of the atonement.  I don't intend to.  But I know that I rely on God's grace and not his justice.


Ephesians 2:8 (NLT) "God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God."

True Colours

The cathedral had a very interesting multimedia setup for an awards thingy, so I took some photos for reference.  (I will photoshop these when I get round to paying for another software licence.)
Then, after failing to see Senna I decided to cheer up with a visit to the 'Eye for Colour' exhibition at the museum.
Gratuitous colour all over the place - great!  One of the first things that caught my eye was badly coloured food.  What is the right colour for food after all?  Generally, not blue.  Especially for sausages.

But then I thought that if I saw a blue sausage, it would probably be made of something other than mechanically recovered pig flesh wrapped in sheep intestine.  So blue sausages are fine by me.

There were plenty of fun, colour-related activities for children.  I particularly enjoyed the paint guns that fired onto a spinning circular target.  Impressively virtual.

Just about the only thing in the exhibition that was aimed above primary school level was a section that asks you to choose your favourite colour.  I've always been a purple person.  But I like bright colours too, anything florescent or yellow.  The exhibit then tries to attach personality traits to your favourite colours, in a way that works well if you believe in horoscopes, like these for example:

Violet
Positive and sensitive.  Violets do not want to be the boss in their relationships.  They want to be viewed as fascinating and charming by others.  So they try to control people.  Violets sometimes think their wishes, dreams and desires are real.

Yellow
Like change and hope for greater happiness, but always in the future.  They sometimes like change for change's sake.  Yellows want to be liked by others and be important.  They never stop trying to make this happen.

Hmmm... that does sum me up pretty well, except for the control in violet and the important in yellow.  All generally positive though.  I didn't read them all, but I suspect that blue doesn't say 'you are deeply melancholic and fear change, relationships, and imagination.'

Similarly, I can't see how today's verse is particularly uplifting.  Unless you only sell purple cloth.  Which is very niche indeed.  Maybe it's showing us that women were important in the early church or something.

Acts 16:14 "One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message."

Diocese

In Liverpool today for a chat with "the diocese". Won't go into it here but here's the positive I can take. It's quite possible for two Christians to have a serious discussion about something important, to fundamentally disagree, and yet after an hour still be completely ok with one another. And know that what, who, we have in common is still far greater.

in the cafe at the cathedral I picked up a link to the Glasgow Skeptics conference. As one does. And was able to watch it on YouTube (free wifi here!). It was a creationist being insulted by an evolutionist speaker. Logically I agreed with the latter, but there was no need to call his questioner an idiot and worse.

One day soon I will work out what I actually believe about the way God works in the world. Possibly.

Was off to see "Senna" at FACT this afternoon (a hero from my youth). But it turns out that "silver screen" means pensioners only. D'oh!
Nice to feel young sometimes.





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Location:Nelson St,Liverpool,United Kingdom