Friday, January 27, 2012

A trip to the cinema

Now, just to prove that I don't spend my entire life in the library under a pile of Theology books or on my knees in Chapel praying for deliverance from said pile of books - me and a couple of friends went to see War Horse this week.

I am a huge Michael Morpurgo fan, have been since school when one of my teachers read "Why the Whales Came" to my class. And these days, sometimes it is nice to pick up a book I can read! (The frustrations of someone with dyslexia who would like nothing more than to just be able to sit down with a novel and not move till it was finished - but 8 months is a long time to be sat in one place!) Anyway, along with a number of other Morpurgo books, War Horse features in my top 20 books, so I was a little unsure about going to see the film. But it is a fantastic film. There may have been a couple of creative additions and a couple of admissions, but it was a really good adaptation and some of the cinematography was amazing. Not to mention the soundtrack! But apart from being a breath-taking film, my lasting memory of the night was how me and my friends walked out of the cinema in complete silence.

Was it the subject material of the film? Was it the imagery? Was it the determination of Joey? Or that even in the midst of war there is also love?

Maybe it wasn't any of those, but I now have some ideas for using the film and the book in future sermons :-)

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Thank you for being you!

Well after last week, I knew that this week wouldn't be a walk in the park... but I wasn't quite expecting what I was faced with in the first three days of this week! Like every profession, we have to have an awareness of 'Equality and Diversity' and so I thought that I'd get it over and done with in my first year - get that box ticked. But it was far from a box ticking exercise!

One of the first statements from the course leader was "every church is multicultural" - well for starters that took me two days to get my head round! You try and work that out when you've come from a congregation of European-dissent? It all comes down to the use of language and what we actually mean by terms we so freely use, sometimes without giving them a second thought.

And human nature is scary! Have you ever heard of the 'blue eye, brown eye' study? Look it up, because it is very interesting, though some may find it unethical and possibly disturbing. However, it is a great illustration of how easily we can be convinced of something and how having a sense of power over another person can lead to some of the things we see in the news daily. We really don't learn from history!

Now being Christian doesn't mean that I'm immune from this, I can easily fall into the trap of saying something that might seem reasonable in my head, but which is really unhelpful for someone else. That doesn't mean I should keep quiet, but does mean that I need to be mindful of those that are around me. This isn't 'political correctness gone mad', it is just treating others as you would want to be treated - Jesus' second commandment!

We need to be celebrating the differences between us, because if were not all different then the world would be a really boring place!

Friday, January 13, 2012

Once upon a time...

Well as this is my first blog of 2012, let me start by wishing you a Happy New Year - though it seems a long time since the 1st January now!

After spending a couple of weeks away, it has been nice to be back in Cambridge and getting back into college life - though I may be feeling differently this time next week when lectures start again! Now, before those of you reading this who don't know about Westminster life think I've been sat around with my feet, I haven't, we have two short courses to do. However I've had a really nice one to start with, Storytelling. But it has not just been two and a half days of Jackanory, we have actually had to get involved and tell our own stories! And the thing about storytelling is that it is based on the oral tradition, which means no books allowed!

Now, for those of you who have ever seen me preach or give a presentation, you know I have to have a script. Too scared that I'll forget something, not say the right words or tell people something that really isn't true. So being told that I had to prepare and tell a story to the whole group filled me with dreed - no notes, this is going to go horribly wrong and be disasterous!! However, it wasn't, and if I have learnt anything over the past two and a half days is that I can do it!

I don't think that I'll be throwing my scripts away just yet, but I might be able to tell a story or to without one!