Mike's musings

1710 posts

And is anyone reading this anymore? Unclear.

Labels: blogging

Miscellaneous catchings-up

So, what's today been about? Well:

• we went to see Kirsty and Matt for an early lunch in Cambridge
• I discovered (yesterday, actually) that the Samsung i8910 HD will be out in the UK soon. I covet it, in a wholly unhealthy way.
• I've had 8 comments so far on my blog post from Friday: A problematic ontology of ministry: employment - and gender. Two of these are from bishops who have kindly taken the time to comment: I value their thoughts particularly, as part of the issue I'm addressing is about the episcopy
• I've been playing with Gnome-Shell, and offering some opinions. I don't pretend to any expertise in UI design, but I'm definitely a power user, in terms of how much I use the desktop and what I tend to do with it. I do like Gnome-Shell, and it's exciting to be working on the future of the Operating System that I know and love.

Labels: blogging, friends, linux, ministry, miscellaneous

More on the death penalty

A number of people have commented on my post The death penalty - and Baby P. I'd like to respond to some of those comments, which you can find at the link above.

The first is simple: I'm sure that quite a few people would be happy to admit to reading the Daily (and Sunday) Mail. That's fine. :-)

The second is a brief discussion on being "reformed" and being "redeemed". James talks about reforming alongside punishment, and that's a good liberal view, which I'd generally agree with, but for many, particularly those who generally wouldn't subscribe to the "liberal" tag, I think that reform isn't a particularly strong argument. Beyond that, there's the question of whether all are reformable: and, not being a criminal psychologist, I don't feel qualified to pronounce on this one, though I have the suspicion that not all are.

Which brings us to redemption. It's a very Christian word - at least in the way in which we were using it - and I'd been careful not to use any religious or theological arguments in my original post. That doesn't mean that we can't use it here: and I think that it's worth saying that I think we need to be careful about suggesting that by employing the death penalty, we're removing the chance that someone might be redeemed. God, of course, works in His own time, and I think this is a dangerous train of thought. In fact, noone actually said this explicitly, but no matter.

Last is the comment from Anonymous. I have no problem with people posting comments anonymously, as long are they're not abusive, which this one certainly wasn't. I do, however, disagree with the points that Anonymous makes. In the order that the commenter made them:

• like it or not, these "THINGS" are people. Like us: and that's part of the problem. They are part of what we are, and we are part of what they are, as we are part of the same society. That society may be sick, but it's _our_ society
• as I mentioned above, it's not (necessarily) about giving people a second chance. It may be that some are not reformable: they may need to be removed from normal society for the rest of their (natural) lives. That's not part of my argument, though reforming of criminals - or maybe allowing them to re-form their lives - is an aim to which I'd generally subscribe
• I agree with Simon D that having the death penalty does _not_ reduce the incidence of the crimes for the it might be applied
• and the big one: what would my reactions be if it were my child to whom this had happened? This is a really hard one. The first thing to do is to admit that I'm certain that it would change my world. I'm pretty sure that I would feel hatred and anger towards whoever did it, and even if, somehow, I didn't have that depth of emotion against them, I couldn't blame anyone who did. But I don't think that the person who feels that way would be fully me: or not as fully me as I'd wish to be. And if I did have some say in whether the death penalty were applied, and it was, _I'd_ never have the chance to grow past the pain and the anger and the hatred. Not fully, not properly. And even if I never did, the chance would still be there.
• And, on a side note, the completely understandable anger and pain is the reason why the victims of such outrages _shouldn't_ be given a say in whether the death penalty is applied. Look at the healing - emotional, psychological and spiritual - that reconciliation can (sometimes) bring, and there is a reason why I'd argue that the abolition of the death penalty can actually be good for victims, too.

Labels: blogging, death

Sleeping the clock round

I was going to blog on something major today, but I'm going to hold off. We're planning to go to bed, and it's not something that I want to treat without giving it the time it deserves. In the meantime, Moo got back with the girls late this afternoon. It's lovely to have them back, and Miri seemed very keen to cuddle up with me on the sofa.

I had a quiet day, and lunch with the clergy team, talking to a possible new curate. Did some shopping, spent some time on Facebook, did some reading, was disappointed in the England rugby team's score against Australia: that sort of thing. I'd slept pretty much round the clock, so I've felt pretty much OK all day.

Labels: blogging, curacy, girls, sleep

Blogging

I was going to blog on a real topic today: I was considering pro-life/pro-choice.

Unluckily, I started watching Office Space, so it'll have to wait. Sorry.

Labels: blogging, films

Things to think about

Had a very good supervision with Keith today, mainly about the reports that he and my tutor have written for this year, and what I'm planning to write as my personal assessment. He brought up some really interesting points. It's important, because it's as a result of this process that I'll end up in a title post (which I've mentioned before here). Here are some of the things that came up:

• as well as agreeing that I need to find somewhere with good music, Keith reckons that I should also find somewhere where I can make the most of my skills and interests in the online, as 'twere.
• he feels that my strong theological commitment to justification by faith is something worth nurturing. Although I'm of a liberal bent, theologically, in many ways, my core beliefs are very Reformation Protestant.
• I talked about how important this blog has become to me. Although, quite often, there's nothing theological going on, I do try to keep at least one post a week in that vein, and the opportunities to discuss, swap comments and the rest with others - including the SynchroBloggers - gives me lots.
• I made sure that my answers to some of the questions on the relevant forms - and what I'll say in my personal assessment - make it clear where my sympathies lie in terms of ("dangerous liberal") issues such as women priest/bishops and homosexuals. Although I've been warned off taking too strong a stance on the latter issue until I'm ordained, I'm feeling the need to step things up a little. It's a little thing, but I'm intending to get and wear some sort of brooch/badge to the next ERMC weekend. Just a rainbow. It's more about standing side-by-side, rather than being in people's faces, but it's time to make a little bit of a stand, I think.
• I need to keep looking after myself. I've not been well, and I have responsibilities to my colleagues, my course, my family and myself, not to mention God. Need to keep well.

Labels: blogging, homosexuality, theology

Bump ... Naughty Tree

Poor Mel, Jo's nanny, had a disagreement with some very nasty ice on a bend in the road today, which led to a significant argument with a tree. Jo was in the car, they're both fine, the car isn't, and the insurance company will pay for a new car seat and, hopefully, repairs to Mel's car, too. Today's title comes from Jo's telling of the story. So far, there's no sign of the bad language the Mel says she used in front of Jo when she (Mel) called the insurance people...

My friend Sarah (who knows how to blow that instrument) has just started a blog, called Sarah Sax. I look forward to seeing what she makes of it. It's a difficult discipline, in my experience, and I've really, really benefited from posting every day (well, having a post for each day - sometimes I'm a little late), so I'm interested to see what she makes of it. Welcome to our merry band, m'dear.

So nice to be able to blog about something other than myself for a change!

Labels: blogging, Jo, nanny, pastoral care

Syncretism synchronised blog

This is from Phil Wyman, who organised a synchronised blog.

Today a synchronized blog has been arranged. There are a few of us blogging on the same subject from different perspectives. So, here's the subject: Syncretism in the Western Church Today.

Okay some of you may be saying, "What the heck does that mean?" So here 's a brief dictionary answer to help you understand what we are talking about:

"The combining or merging and synthesizing of religions or religious beliefs, practices, and philosophies. This results in new or hybrid religions that are composed of diverse elements of the religions from which they were derived."

So these blogs are challenging Western Christianity, and suggesting that it might have some form of competing philosophy which we have adopted from our culture. This makes it different than what Jesus might have intended. Ready for some challenging thoughts?

Here's where the blogs are:

• Sally Coleman - http://sallysjourney.typepad.com/ - Subject: Time out from Tinsel
• Phil Wyman - http://squarenomore.blogspot.com/ - Subject: Syncretism in the Evangelical Church: The Consumerism of the Altar Call and the Sinner's Prayer
• John Smulo - http://www.johnsmulo.com/
• John Morehead - http://johnwmorehead.blogspot.com/
• Matt Stone - http://mattstone.blogs.com/ - Subject: Family Values
• Billy Calderwood - http://www.billycalderwood.com
• Mike Crockett - http://mikeofearthsea.blogspot.com/ - Subject: Church and Culture: a double-edged sword
• Carl Nystedt - http://nug-personal-bubble.blogspot.com - Subject: Syncretism: pros and cons
• Steve Hayes - http://www.geocities.com/missionalia/bethesda.htm - Subject: Sundkler deconstructed: Bethesda AICs and syncretism
• Mike Bursell- http://www.p2ptrust.org - Syncretism a positive slant

Have fun, and see if you think about church the same from here on out. This is brought to you by people who want more out of church, and are on a journey to get there.

My post was actually made on Tuesday.

Labels: blogging, syncretism

Syncretism

We're supposed to be doing a joint blog on syncretism today: the extent to which the church marries itself with the "secular" world around it. In fact, both the signs I've seen today have been very positive, and I'd like to share them.

I went to a large mall in Mississauga: SquareOne. It's enormous, and I managed to get lost several times as I wandered around, trying to find a place to get my watch-strap replaced. What signs did I see of the church?

The first was a large sign, covering most of a pillar, advertising church services at a local Lutheran church. It was not out of place: it was another advertisement, and a sign that the church had embraced the methods of the secular world to put its message across. It wasn't corny, or demeaning, or cringe-worthy: it just invited people to church. No more, no less.

The second was simple. In North America, particularly, the Christmas season is very important for the Salvation Army. It's a major collecting time, and they also do lots of good work for the homeless and marginalised. At one of the intersections of the mall, there was a plastic, see-through ball with money in it, simply labelled as for the Salvation Army. There may have been some literature around, but if there was, it wasn't in-your-face. Next to it, there were two young women, sitting, chatting to each other. They were in fashionable clothes, and at least one of them had dyed hair and a lip piercing. They acknowledged my donation with a nod and a thankyou, and just carried on talking. It was a very natural expression of church and Christ in the everyday, and the women didn't seem "other" at all, except for their presence in the vicinity of the collection. They were people who seemed to have embraced the world, but made commitment to church at the same time. And that's pretty much as good as it gets. Or that's how it feels for now.

Labels: advertisement, blogging, salvation army, syncretism