Painting Fakes

Fran Boydell says When Jesus inaugurated his kingdom it was not as people imagined.  It was upside down.  It was inclusive of unexpected people. What if the new heaven and the new earth is also different from our imaginings?  What if our resurrection bodies are as diverse as the ones we have now?  What if the lame will leap for joy because someone helps them?  What if the dumb speak because they have been included in the conversation and the deaf hear because we all care desperately to make ourselves understood to each other?  After all, who decides what is the perfect body, or the perfect mind?  What if this inclusive community celebrates everyone the way they are because God has glorified us in our diversity and we know how to live caringly, carefully and joyfully together? From "Enabling Education for All" by Fran Boydell, in Zadok Perspectives, No 107, Winter 2010.

Lately I've been catching up with the weird and wonderful delights of King Crimson, still going (with ongoing personnel changes - no-one could work with Robert Fripp for 40 years!) and still making thought-provoking music.  Here's the lyrics from the one of their earliest - 21st Century Schizoid Man, from "In the Court of the Crimson King", made around 1969. Cat's foot iron claw Neuro-surgeons scream for more At paranoia's poison door. Twenty first century schizoid man. Blood rack barbed wire Politicians' funeral pyre Innocents raped with napalm fire Twenty first century schizoid man. Death seed blind man's greed Poets' starving children bleed Nothing he's got he really needs Twenty first century schizoid man. Some of the imagery dates it, especially the "napalm fire" from the Vietnam War era.  Yet some is really timeless.  The last verse hits me every time - our blind greed, our addiction to the acquisition of usel

I've just spent the afternoon setting up a Wordpress site to publish the songs I've been writing for my church over the last couple of years. Nothing too flash and still some more to be posted (as well as many not written yet) but feel free to check it out and use the songs if you like them.

I'm really enjoying Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes by Kenneth Bailey. Here's one of the little pieces in it that really struck me. I wrote a while ago about the message of the book of Ruth being that the law should be interpreted generously and inclusively, and that being about David's ancestors this story provided a model for the governing of Israel. Bailey draws attention to a similar story about David's descendent Joseph in Matthew 1:18-19. His (Jesus') mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because her husband was a righteous (or "just") man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. This was not just tact. The Old Testament punishment for a woman caught in adultery was stoning to death, and John 8:1-11 shows this was still practiced in the first century. Joseph, knowing that he's not the father of

I recently read Strength to Love , a collection of sermons by Martin Luther King . I was blown away by his eloquence, the coherence of his vision and by his passion. There are quotable quotes on every page. I'll give you a few to whet your appetite. God has two outstretched arms. One is strong enough to surround us with justice, and one is gentle enough to embrace us with grace. (from "A Tough Mind and a Tender heart") The saving of our world from pending doom will come, not through the complacent adjustment of the conforming majority, but through the creative maladjustment of a non-comforming minority. (from "Transformed Non-conformist") Never must the church tire of reminding men that they have a moral responsibility to be intelligent. (from "Love in action") He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. (from "Loving your enemies") If an American is concerned only about his nation, he will not

Us Aussies are still a little dazed at the sudden replacement of our Prime Minister on June 24th. After a few weeks of low level rumours about a challenge to his leadership, it was announced on Wednesday and was all over by Thursday, with Kevin Rudd not even contesting the vote in the end as he realised he was a long way off having the numbers. The coup is unprecedented in that Rudd is still in his first term, was hugely popular up until the last 12 months, and hasn't been caught out in any sort of misconduct. His failure is purely political - his party just decided that they couldn't win the next election with him as leader. Our new PM, Julia Gillard, has immediately set about getting rid of the various issues standing between her and success. A lot of people have expressed admiration for Julia Gillard as both the first woman and the first redhead to become Australian Prime Minister, and at her apparently more personable, natural style of relating to people. Even when Rudd w

I've been listening (again) to one of my favourite songwriters, Richard Thompson, who is also one of the more famous Western adherants of Sufism, the mystical branch of Islam. This is one of my favourites, Outside of the Inside, from the 2003 album "The Old Kit Bag". Have a listen here . God never listened to Charlie Parker Charlie Parker lived in vain. Blasphemer, womaniser Let a needle numb his pain. Wash away his monkey music Damn his demons, damn his pain. What's the point of Albert Einstein? What do we need physics for? Heresy's his inspiration Corrupt and rotten to the core. Curse his devious mathematics, Curse his deadly atom war. Chorus There's a message on the wind Calling me to glory somewhere. There are signs to deep for the dumb Like perfume in the air. And when I get to heaven I won't realise that I'm there. Shakespeare, Isaac Newton, Small ideas for little boys. Adding to the senseless chatter, Adding to the ba

Fern Elsdon-Baker, science historian, educator and atheist, has written a book called The Selfish Genius: How Richard Dawkins Rewrote Darwin's Legacy . Here's a quote from near the end of the book. "Another aspect of the proselytising effect of advocacy is the need for serious debate about whether science should be promoted as atheism to the extent that Dawkins does. By labelling whole swathes of the population as anti-Darwinian, anti-enlightenment or anti-reason, what is Dawkins actually achieving?....as we begin to face up globally to some of the most serious challenges to our generation - among them loss of biodiversity, climate change and international terrorism - should we not be seeking reconciliation, and attempting to recognise our shared agenda in the face of issues that will affect us all?....Those on either side of the faith debate need to work together to dispel misinformation about science, and to challenge detrimental superstitions and misconceptions."

I've just finished reading Helen Keller's The Story of My Life . What's really interesting about this book is that it's not very interesting. Or to put it another way, the remarkable thing about this book is its existence, not its content. For those who don't know about Helen Keller , she was born in Alabama in 1880, the daughter of reasonably well-off landowning parents. When she was two an illness (probably either scarlet fever or meningitis) left her without either sight or hearing. Thanks to the efforts of a young live-in tutor called Anne Sullivan and support from quite a few prominent people including Alexander Graham Bell, Mark Twain and the owner of Standard Oil, she ended up becoming the first deaf and blind person to earn a university degree. She was a celebrity in her youth, vilified in mid-life for her commitment to socialism, and lionised as a cultural icon in her old age. The Story of My Life was and remains her most famous and most widely read bo

I once worked for an organisation where the CEO was very focused on power*. It wasn't a very large organisation, but the role had a certain amount of profile and access to powerful people. My boss was a very large person. He was extremely clever and could also be very funny, especially when he told stories about himself. Once he told us about how he travelled on a airline and they asked him to move from the seat beside the emergency exit because he was too fat and might obstruct the other passengers. He told us, to uncontrollable laughter, how he had told them they needn't worry, in an emergency he wouldn't be in anyone's way because he'd be out so quick no-one would have time to be obstructed. Despite the self-deprecation, he never flew with that airline again. He had an office beside the front door, and positioned his desk so that he could look up at anyone coming or going from the building. He always made sure his chair was set higher than any others in the r

I have so many things stored up to write about, but having to work hard for my living lately means I haven't had time to write about them. So sometime soon there'll be a flood of posts. In the meantime, let me tell you about this weird article I read in last Saturday's Australian. I should preface this by saying I have a dilemma about newspapers. Rupert Murdoch owns most of Australia's newspapers, including the only daily published in Brisbane, the crappily tabloid Courier-Mail, and the nation's only real national paper, the Australian. This means I have a choice - buy a Murdoch paper and be assaulted by right wing propaganda, or a more moderate Fairfax paper full of stories about Sydney or Melbourne. Every Saturday Murdoch wins because I get a Brisbane TV guide. So anyway, last Saturday they reprinted an article from the New Republic (right wing US rag) about the "Cult of the President". Apparently this bloke called Gene Healy has written a book of

This is not so much a post as an ad. I'm sitting here at my computer and trying to work while listening to The Leisure Society . Laid back group of beautifully melodic Englishmen. Check them out - lovely! And they didn't even pay me.