tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65099929917651427802024-03-14T07:24:36.093+00:00BlackPhi's RamblingsBlackPhihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00469300061470166506noreply@blogger.comBlogger243125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6509992991765142780.post-12902537002007008712020-06-30T01:47:00.003+01:002020-06-30T01:47:25.649+01:00Lives Matter<a href="https://parade.com/1046209/jessicasager/pride-month-black-lives-matter/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="San Francisco Hosts Annual Its Gay Pride Parade" border="0" class="addthis_shareable" data-parade-image-placeholding="" data-parade-image="" height="200" src="https://static.parade.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/GettyImages-800867938.jpg" width="320" /></a>
I came across an interesting post on <a href="https://www.missioalliance.org/5-ways-predominantly-white-churches-can-work-for-racial-justice-and-reconciliation/">Missio Alliance</a> about ways predominantly white churches can respond positively to the issues raised by the Black Lives Matter campaigns.
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It is written by a pastor in the US, but I was struck by its echo of the message of St Paul to churches almost two thousand years ago. It is fundamental to the Gospel of Jesus that in him are gathered all ethnicities, all social classes and all genders:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.</i> (Gal. 3:28)</blockquote>
Black lives matter because all lives matter and it is black lives which are being disproportionately squandered in Western Europe and North America. Whatever the ethnic mix of our own local church community, as part of the worldwide family of Jesus we need to live out the truth that central to our 'good news' is that the lives of our black brothers and sisters matter.<br />
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The lives of the poorest in our society matter. Across the world it is the poorest whose lives are being disproportionately thrown away. Whatever the social mix of our own local church community, if we are part of the worldwide family of Jesus we need to live out the truth that central to the Christian message is that the lives of our poorest brothers and sisters matter.<br />
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Trans lives matter, as do gay and lesbian lives. Across the world including, sadly, its religious communities, those who do not conform to gender norms are disproportionately abused, bullied, rejected and murdered. Whatever the mix of gender conformity in our own local church community, as part of the family of Jesus we need to live out the heart of our 'good news' that the lives of our LGBT+ siblings matter.<br />
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There are, of course, so many other disadvantaged groups in our societies, but these are three where many predominantly white UK churches seem to be in denial (as well as being the three specifically covered by St Paul). The Christian Gospel is that in Christ all lives matter, so we are called to act specifically on behalf of those 'others' whose lives are treated as 'less' by the societies of which we are a part.<br />
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Grace and peace.BlackPhihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00469300061470166506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6509992991765142780.post-2324878071622470032019-02-15T15:53:00.002+00:002019-02-15T15:53:29.776+00:00Comments<div class="separator" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://pixabay.com/en/question-mark-why-question-1829459/"><img alt="https://pixabay.com/en/question-mark-why-question-1829459/" border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="952" height="151" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qJRLM5Jp8NI/XGbZBLN0joI/AAAAAAAALEg/QAucsOgtHfkvOzx5cmwAIsLjjHlCvurbACLcBGAs/s200/Question%2BMark%2BWhy.png" width="200" /></a></div>
I've been getting a lot of comments submitted for recent (and not so recent) posts over the last few weeks, and I'm frankly a little puzzled!<br />
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The confusion comes because I've gone from getting a comment once in a blue moon to suddenly receiving loads of anonymous comments. They're all very affirmative but in a vague way which never engages with the content:-<br />
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<i>"Fantastic website. A lot of useful information here."</i> </blockquote>
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"<i>I every time spent my half an hour to read this website's posts everyday along with a mug of coffee."</i></blockquote>
As a quick look at my blog history will show, my posting frequency really doesn't support daily visits. But, apart from that, my last post, <a href="https://blackphi-ramblings.blogspot.com/2018/12/like-jesus.html?showComment=1546502164847">Like Jesus</a>, has attracted 44 comments, none of which mention Jesus, beatitudes, nor anything else in that post's Labels list. So what is going on?<br />
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My first thought was 'spam', of course. But I don't see what benefit anyone can get out of an anonymous comment with no links in (there has been definite spam as well, of course, but that gets purged before comments are published).<br />
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My second thought is that there might be someone who has posted a comment with the genuine intention of engaging with me and with the article's content, but has just been a little sideways about it. I would be disappointed if I failed to respond to such.<br />
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So, a couple of requests: firstly, does anyone have any idea what the cause of all these vague and anonymous posts might be?<br />
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Secondly, if you do want to engage with me, please give a name and mention something in the post's content so I know you are a human being not some mysterious bot. I realise Blogger/Blogspot doesn't have the friendliest commenting system around, but please use your comment to let me know you are a real person and I'll do my best to answer any questions or respond to any comments.<br />
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In the meantime, do have a great week.<br />
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Grace and peace,<br />
BlackPhiBlackPhihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00469300061470166506noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6509992991765142780.post-48396628710214352242018-12-10T11:10:00.000+00:002018-12-10T11:12:15.131+00:00Like Jesus<div class="separator" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.dailypainters.com/paintings/184434/Jesus-on-Cross-crucifixion-art-large-painting-Christ-by-Debra-Hurd/Debra-Hurd/"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="537" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Op7ETkfbPRo/XA5H7JU45sI/AAAAAAAAKe4/5AqYdt4UDCsv9C_3b4Q-n13KAQQpx6rHACLcBGAs/s320/jesus_on_cross_by_debra_hurd.jpg" width="238" /></a></div>
<i>Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven</i><br />
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Just because you are accepted by God doesn’t mean you will be acceptable to the world.<br />
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Just because you do things in line with God’s will doesn’t mean the powers of the world will treat you well.<br />
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Just because you are becoming like Jesus that doesn’t mean religious and secular authorities will deal with you any differently to the way they treated Jesus … and Stephen, and Paul, and many, many more followers since.<br />
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So why is it that here in Caversham (maybe where you live too?) the authorities just leave us to get on our churchgoing? What is it about <i>our </i>expression of faith that the authorities see as safe and unthreatening to their status and power?<br />
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This final beatitude both circles back to the first and looks forward to the next section of Jesus’ teaching in his 'sermon on the mount'.<br />
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It circles back by showing that as Jesus’ followers are persecuted, excluded and marginalised by religious authorities, so they are among the ‘poor in spirit’ whose place in God’s kingdom is already given. The world attempts to destroy our hope but Jesus guarantees it.<br />
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Those who are persecuted for seeking God’s justice align themselves with the poor and so share in their oppression, but they also share in their reward.<br />
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At the time Matthew wrote this Jesus’ followers had suffered a generation or more of persecution from religious leaders of the day and their inappropriately zealous followers. The idea that those who <i>they </i>considered unworthy – “Gentiles and sinners” - might be acceptable to God was just too much for them to accept.<br />
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Today, if we want to live like Jesus then we need to be open-eyed and pure-hearted about whose side he was on: the victim and never the bully, the outsider and never the excluder, the poor and never the oppressor.<br />
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This beatitude also looks forward in defiance: the world may persecute you for being like Jesus but you remain salt and light, so live as such and don’t pretend or disguise your Christ-likeness. Live in Grace but excel in Godliness, so that all may see Jesus in your faith and in your persecution.<br />
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Finally, we are called to love those who persecute us – who but a madman or a Christian would do such a thing?<br />
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BlackPhihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00469300061470166506noreply@blogger.com44tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6509992991765142780.post-12699406878354682342018-12-04T12:36:00.000+00:002018-12-04T12:40:18.236+00:00Peace Positive Peace<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://getaplusfrommags2409.weebly.com/saily/political-cartoontreaty-of-versailles" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="312" data-original-width="350" height="178" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-b7Rziy9f85I/XAZz_b-zazI/AAAAAAAAKYk/ylfEhKDDBpAwOcnrO6v7t-KeCVH53o8PQCLcBGAs/s200/Versailles%2BTreaty%2BCartoon.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<i>Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.</i><br />
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It's a hundred years since an armistice marked the end of fighting in the First World War, and the beginning of the peace negotiations in Paris which led up to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Versailles">Treaty of Versailles</a>. The British staff officer Archibald Wavell said despondently of that Paris Peace Conference, <i>"After the 'war to end war', they seem to have been pretty successful in Paris at making the 'Peace to end Peace'."</i> Sadly, he was right. There is more to peace than a pause in fighting.<br />
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Peacemaking is where the Beatitudes all come together. ‘Peace’ in the Bible is a very positive concept: not so much about absence of conflict, much more about positive peace, security and, especially, restoration of relationships. Relationships with God, relationships with one another, even restoration of our relationship with the natural world: restoration of our given role as responsible stewards of creation. Peace is about balancing justice and mercy so that they become two sides of the same coin. And peace is about seeing God’s will in the situations around us and being transparent enough to allow Jesus to work through us to carry out that will.<br />
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But how can someone ‘make’ peace if they have not first received peace? This beatitude follows on from the previous one because it is through seeing God and spending time with him that one receives his peace. As Paul puts it:<br />
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<i>The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.</i></blockquote>
A bit later in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus extends his ideas of peacemaking in ways which highlight just how and why that Paris Peace Conference failed so badly:<br />
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<i>You know that you have been taught, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But I tell you not to try to get even with a person who has done something to you. ... You have heard people say, “Love your neighbours and hate your enemies.” But I tell you to love your enemies and pray for anyone who mistreats you. Then you will be acting like your Father in heaven. He makes the sun rise on both good and bad people. And he sends rain for the ones who do right and for the ones who do wrong. If you love only those people who love you, will God reward you for that? Even tax collectors love their friends. If you greet only your friends, what’s so great about that? Don’t even unbelievers do that? But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.</i></blockquote>
Given God’s peace and security within us, Jesus’ words about loving enemies and praying for those who persecute us become less abnormal and more like a natural response to what we have received and want to share. It is as we treat all alike, with love, that we develop our relationship with them, as well as with God. It is also how we gain people’s trust, which is an essential prerequisite to building peace with and between them.<br />
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Jesus’ call, at the end of the quote above, to be perfect, just like God, sounds like an impossible demand. Looked at another way though - remembering the <a href="http://blackphi-ramblings.blogspot.com/2018/09/when-we-judge-others-we-condemn.html">previous beatitude</a>'s emphasis on seeing things with purity of heart - it is an amazing promise! In part it is a promise for after the resurrection, when we are to be renewed in a renewed heaven and earth; but it is also a promise for here and now. Not that we ourselves are now perfect, but that Jesus, who is perfect, can work in and through us, here and now.<br />
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This parish, following on from the Oxford Diocese, has a <a href="https://www.ctmparish.org.uk/becoming-a-christ-like-community/">vision statement</a> about 'becoming Christ-like'. But this beatitude is where that vision – if taken simplistically – rather breaks down. It is not enough that we be <b><i>like </i></b>Jesus – we need to bring Jesus himself to the people and situations around us daily. In purity of heart we not only see God but also let his love shine through. We are not just called to be Christ-like; we are called to be Christ’s body - his heart and hands, feet and voice in Caversham and beyond, today and in the days and weeks to come.<br />
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BlackPhihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00469300061470166506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6509992991765142780.post-78621760936038839852018-09-16T19:18:00.001+01:002018-12-04T12:37:13.062+00:00When We Judge Others We Condemn Ourselves<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://revelationtv.com/rnews/entry/do-not-judge-so-that-you-will-not-be-judged-matt-71" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="449" data-original-width="600" height="148" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ofNiUSRS56w/W56cV3ZW6rI/AAAAAAAAJcQ/5Nyq-UjYeTk-_Xl-cQoYHTGQTD_Imv-ywCLcBGAs/s200/judge_weird.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<i>Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.</i><br />
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There are a number of places in the Gospels which tell of Jesus healing someone in desperate need, only for those in positions of religious authority to condemn him for it. One example is <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+12:22-37&version=ESVUK">told by Matthew</a>:<br />
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<i>Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.”</i></blockquote>
Jesus responds that "<i>the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.</i>" People whose hearts are full of evil will see evil, even in what is good.<br />
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Which brings us to our next Beatitude: blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. It is only as our hearts are purified from the filth which enshrouds them that we begin to see the pure wholesome light of God.<br />
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<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%207:1-5&version=NIVUK">Jesus tells us</a> not to judge others; doing so is a sign that our hearts are not pure. There is <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+1%3A20-2%3A5&version=NRSVA">a passage</a> in St Paul's letter to the church in Rome which begins by talking about people who are far from God whose lifestyles end up in a mess. That bit is often quoted by religious types, but they somehow forget about the punchline:<br />
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<i>Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgement on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things.</i></blockquote>
Those self-appointed judges struggle with this: how can they be accused of "degrading passions" and a "debased mind"? The truth is that in passing judgement on others they show themselves to have impure and degraded hearts, fully deserving of all the rigours of God's judgement.<br />
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If they had pure hearts they would see God present and at work wherever they looked, for God is everywhere. They would see children of God, who he loves and longs to save, and would do everything they could to show these children God's loving grace, not heartless judgement.<br />
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If only we had pure hearts, what difference could we make with Jesus?<br />
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But how can our hearts be purified? By us praying lots and reading the Bible? Well, it can't hurt ... but remember that the Pharisees did a lot of that. By asking God to change our hearts through his Holy Spirit within us? Probably better, and it does fit in with <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel+36%3A26&version=NRSVA">the words</a> of the ancient prophet Ezekiel:<br />
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<i>A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.</i></blockquote>
But we are called to more than that. God will do the bulk of the work, of course, but we must do our part as well: we need to actively look for Jesus in the people and situations around us, and join in with whatever he is doing. We must freely share God's grace and God's love.<br />
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We must let people know the good news that God wants to include everyone in his family, however unlikely that may seem in human terms. It is as we see Jesus in those who our neighbours scorn, especially those despised by our religious neighbours, that we know we are making progress.<br />
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Everybody has a choice, of course, and can turn away from God as easily as they can turn to him. May your choices in the coming weeks always turn you toward the light of God and may you and yours know the blessings of his wonderful grace.<br />
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<a href="https://wallpaperscristaos.com.br/christianwallpapers/pure-heart"><img border="0" data-original-height="575" data-original-width="1024" height="179" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JS7CEhIVP7M/W56cgVTQibI/AAAAAAAAJcU/rOirGQ6d_0YxBuzj7i4gnjbmHbX3uH98ACLcBGAs/s320/pure-heart-wallpaper.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />BlackPhihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00469300061470166506noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6509992991765142780.post-72343778934902069882018-09-12T14:20:00.000+01:002018-09-12T14:21:52.938+01:00Justice & Mercy: Back To Back<div class="separator" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Micah+6%3A6-8&version=ESVUK"><img border="0" data-original-height="643" data-original-width="663" height="193" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7YNfq_7Czx8/W5kRE1FCyEI/AAAAAAAAJb4/Fa-bBhJCa8YPlyjcADJinS0fi2HuPgQiwCLcBGAs/s200/Justice%252C%2BMercy%252C%2BHumility.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<i>Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.</i><br />
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Justice and mercy, for Jesus, are like two sides of a single coin. Those who hunger and thirst after justice want the rules to be followed, especially those that protect the poor. Those who are merciful want them relaxed, particularly as they apply to those in desperate need.<br />
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If you view Jesus’ words as about rules rather than people this beatitude seems to be a contradiction of the previous one. But if you understand Jesus as speaking hope to people whose hope is lost, it becomes clear that these beatitudes are to be seen as standing back-to-back supporting one another, together revealing good news for the poor.<br />
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Like many of the terms used in these beatitudes, ‘mercy’ is a complex concept. It is about compassion <i>and </i>it is about letting people off who have broken an agreement <i>and </i>it is about not demanding that someone repays a debt if they cannot afford it <i>and </i>it is about forgiving someone who has wronged you.<br />
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Most fundamentally, mercy it is about giving someone a break with whom you are in some sort of relationship. It is about not holding things against people who matter to us, but instead showing the sort of love Paul speaks about in his letter to the Corinthian church:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Love is patient, love is kind;<br />Love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.<br />It does not insist on its own way;<br />It is not irritable or resentful;<br />It does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.<br />It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.</i></blockquote>
That’s the basic idea of ‘mercy’, but Luke's Gospel <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+6%3A27-38&version=NRSVA">tells us</a> that Jesus ramps this up to also apply to enemies: <i>"Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you."</i> Consider also the ‘Who is my neighbour?’ question answered in the Parable of the Good Samaritan as <i>“The one who shows mercy”</i>. For mercy triumphs over judgement, as <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James+2%3A13&version=ESVUK">James puts it</a>!<br />
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Mercy is about attitude, especially our attitude toward people who are different. If someone is in need, it should be irrelevant what their colour, creed, or culture is like: <i>“Do to others as you would have them do to you.”</i> We are to be merciful as our Father is merciful; helping according to need not according to status, enmity, ingratitude or inability to repay.<br />
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As James, a leader of the early church, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James+2%3A1-13&version=NRSVA">puts it in his letter</a>, this really matters: <i>“For judgement will be shown without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy.”</i> We have been warned.<br />
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But remember that <i>"mercy triumphs over judgement"</i>. May you know and show God's mercy this week.<br />
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BlackPhihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00469300061470166506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6509992991765142780.post-62887738756252096562018-09-10T00:56:00.001+01:002018-09-10T01:02:49.245+01:00Justice, Righteousness & Law<div>
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<a href="https://www.artprize.org/61441" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="338" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F-pqbaUEy2k/W5Wwl92Al3I/AAAAAAAAJbg/S6p1fGPMczEiym7_GS55qq6XpgjFlFf1wCLcBGAs/s320/Let%2BJustice%2BRoll%2BOn%2BLike%2BA%2BRiver.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div>
A small diversion into the problems which can arise when trying to understand Biblical language in a very different culture.</div>
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The fourth beatitude says (in the usual English translation) <i>"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for <b>righteousness </b>..."</i>, so why does my <a href="http://blackphi-ramblings.blogspot.com/2018/09/give-us-hope-joanna.html">previous post</a> talk about <b>justice</b>?<br />
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On a simplistic level it is because the underlying Greek word used by Matthew, <i>dikaiosynēn</i>, literally means 'impartial justice'. </div>
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The problem is that 'justice' in Biblical context is not the same as in the western-European (and ex-colonies) context we tend to assume. Indeed, this is true of legal language in general, which is why many traditional approaches to St Paul's letter to the Romans often miss its point.</div>
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We tend to think of law and justice in the sense of criminal law and criminal justice: some sort of abstract and unchanging right and wrong. In the Bible things are much more concrete: law and justice are about contract law - keeping or breaking a solemn and binding agreement. A lot of Biblical language, not least 'Testament' and 'Covenant', reflects this.<br />
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In the Old Testament the central contract is that made between God and the Israelites on Mt Sinai: the Torah, or Jewish Law, a contract with ten key clauses and several hundred sub-clauses and applications. </div>
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So ‘righteousness’, in Jesus' context, means justice, but a particular idea of justice which is about conformity to God’s Law – more precisely, conformity to the terms and conditions of the covenant which God and the Israelites entered into on Mt Sinai. God is righteous because he keeps his side of that contract; the Israelites, again and again, are unrighteous because they persistently and deliberately fail to keep theirs.<br />
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In the <a href="http://blackphi-ramblings.blogspot.com/2018/08/when-will-there-be-justice-for-landless.html">third beatitude</a>, those of the poor who lost their land were supposed to have had it returned at the following Jubilee. This hasn’t happened – there is a great injustice – but justice will come, “<i>rolling on like river,</i>” as Amos puts it (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Amos+5%3A24&version=NIV">Amos 5:24</a>), and “<i>righteousness like a never-failing stream.</i>”<br />
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One difference between law as a contract and law as an abstract idea is that a contract can be bought out - redeemed for a price agreed by both sides. Which still leaves the problems that the original Sinai contract was made to address, so you need a new contract: foreshadowed in the <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel+36%3A26&version=NIV">prophet Ezekiel's</a> "<i>I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.</i>"<br />
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Which leads us into the great mysteries of Jesus, his death and resurrection, and the role of the Holy Spirit in changing us so that we might become "<i>perfect as our heavenly father is perfect.</i>"<br />
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Grace and peace to you and to all who love you.</div>
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BlackPhihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00469300061470166506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6509992991765142780.post-27919119786628688732018-09-05T10:55:00.002+01:002018-09-05T11:00:35.549+01:00Give Us Hope (Joanna)!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Sl o o o o wly continuing a series on <a href="http://blackphi-ramblings.blogspot.com/2018/01/beatitudes.html">The Beatitudes</a>, we reach a change of perspective: from the early beatitudes' hope and comfort to those in desperate straits (rejected, devastated, oppressed) to hope and encouragement for those who want to make a difference, to make the world a better place.<br />
<br />
If you have been following along this year's Beatitudes posts, and have heard about the people to whom Jesus’ early beatitudes are meant to bring hope and security, how have you felt? How do you feel about religious authorities who try to exclude people from the hope of God’s kingdom; about those who have suffered devastating loss and need comfort; about the desperately poor, oppressed and crushed by injustice?<br />
<br />
Do you look at those first three beatitudes and ache, feeling the pain of a world where these things happen? Do you share the frustration of the ancient prophet Habakkuk?<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,</i><br />
<i>and you will not hear?</i><br />
<i>Or cry to you "Violence!"</i><br />
<br />
<i>Why do you make me see iniquity,</i><br />
<i>and why do you idly look at wrong?</i><br />
<i>Destruction and violence are before me;</i><br />
<i>strife and contention arise.</i><br />
<br />
<i>So the law is paralyzed,</i><br />
<i>and justice never goes forth.</i><br />
<i>For the wicked surround the righteous;</i><br />
<i>so justice goes forth perverted.</i></blockquote>
Is the injustice filling the world, two thousand years after Jesus spoke out about these things, all too much for you? Then this fourth beatitude is for you.<br />
<br />
It contains the hope and the promise that, in Caversham, Britain and throughout the world, God really is at work: that his Kingdom will come and his will be done in Caversham as in heaven. The challenge, especially for any church interesting in “Becoming a Christlike community”, is whether we can see God at work and come together as Jesus’ followers to join in. Whether we care enough to speak out against injustice and work with those who suffer, to challenge the powerful vested interests and to make ‘the system’ work for people instead of against them.<br />
<br />
In Jesus we have a covenant of Grace, but it is no less a promise of Justice. There will be an accounting, there will be restoration of all that is stolen, and there will be truth. Then there will be renewal and new life, providing there is mercy – see the forthcoming post on the next beatitude (hopefully a bit sooner than I've been achieving so far).<br />
<br />
In the meantime, a poem from the First World War, written by Robert Palmer, who died in 1916, aged just 27:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b>How Long, O Lord?</b></i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i></i><i>How long, O Lord, how long, before the flood<br />
Of crimson-welling carnage shall abate?<br />
From sodden plains in West and East, the blood<br />
Of kindly men steams up in mists of hate,<br />
Polluting Thy clean air; and nations great<br />
In reputation of the arts that bind<br />
The world with hopes of heaven, sink to the state<br />
Of brute barbarians, whose ferocious mind<br />
Gloats o'er the bloody havoc of their kind,<br />
Not knowing love or mercy. Lord, how long<br />
Shall Satan in high places lead the blind<br />
To battle for the passions of the strong?<br />
Oh, touch Thy children's hearts, that they may know<br />
Hate their most hateful, pride their deadliest foe.</i></blockquote>
A final note about the great Eddy Grant's protest song referenced in this post's title. Grant was singing about a great injustice of his time: apartheid in South Africa. He released the song in 1988; by 1991 apartheid was formally over, and in 1994 there was the first democratic election, leading to Nelson Mandela becoming president. To date, whilst a painful and damaging legacy of apartheid remains in South Africa, there has been no bloodbath and no economic collapse.<br />
<br />
There remains hope, Jo'anna, so let us all do our parts in promoting justice wherever we are.<br />
<br />
May Grace, peace and the hope of real change fill your week ahead.<br />
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BlackPhihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00469300061470166506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6509992991765142780.post-24982658076222167362018-08-05T15:14:00.000+01:002018-09-05T11:03:28.033+01:00When Will There Be Justice For The Landless Poor?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.news1130.com/2015/11/27/in-kenya-pope-calls-land-grabs-even-of-playgrounds-by-private-developers-an-injustice/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="260" data-original-width="410" height="202" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cYJ3veptCGk/W2cElY1S-aI/AAAAAAAAJZI/Q7b1lGz57p8tqC2B1vMoxHhWchy0xwfkQCLcBGAs/s320/Land-Grabbers-Kenya.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<i>"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth"</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Something like that, anyway. Jesus <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+20%3A1-16&version=NIV">told a story</a> about workers in a vineyard: casual labourers who worked for a daily rate which was just, and only just, enough to live on. So if you were only hired for part of the day then normally your family went hungry.<br />
<br />
Land was important in Biblical times: if you had your own piece of land you hand a chance to grow food for your family. Otherwise, if you were part of the 'landless poor' - a group most English translations unhelpfully render as 'the meek' - then you were destitute, dependent on rich landowners offering work, at the lowest pay possible, or on begging. Even if you had land and were poor, the rich landowners would try to unjustly pressure you until you were forced to sell the land. That's the way the world seems to work; but it wasn't meant to be the way God's people do things.<br />
<br />
The idea that everyone had their own little piece of land was fundamental to the way that Jewish society worked – it was their living and their security. That is why the Jewish Law specified that no family could lose their land permanently – every fifty years there was to be a Jubilee when the land was returned.<br />
<br />
Of course, this was never followed: throughout Israel’s history the rich acquired the land of the poor and exploited those who were now landless. In Jesus’ day land injustice was a major social issue, as it is today in much of the world (see the picture above for just one example).<br />
<br />
Psalm 37 counsels patient trust in God:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Be still before the Lord</i><br />
<i> and wait patiently for him;</i><br />
<i>do not fret when people succeed in their ways,</i><br />
<i> when they carry out their wicked schemes.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;</i><br />
<i> do not fret — it leads only to evil.</i><br />
<i>For those who are evil will be destroyed,</i><br />
<i> but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>A little while, and the wicked will be no more;</i><br />
<i> though you look for them, they will not be found.</i><br />
<i>But the meek will inherit the land</i><br />
<i> and enjoy peace and prosperity.</i></blockquote>
Both the opening beatitude and Psalm 37 tell us that those who are currently oppressed and landless are to wait patiently, trusting that the Lord will provide the inheritance of the land which they need. Their security lies in their faith as they wait for God’s Kingdom to come down to earth and for God’s will to be done here as in heaven.<br />
<br />
<i>“The landless poor are secure in God because they shall inherit the land,”</i> is one translation of today's beatitude. But, more generally, it is about those whose relationship with their neighbours, with their society, and with the world around them has been broken by injustice and oppression.<br />
<br />
Like the first two beatitudes this is about people who are desperate and without hope in the world being given good news by Jesus: that God keeps his promises and that he will have the last word.<br />
<br />
The trouble is that Jesus said this two thousand years ago. Two thousand years! Where is the hope of justice from a God who leaves injustice to thrive for two thousand years after the price has been paid to end it? One theory is that Jesus wants to work through his church, but it has spent much of the time refusing to cooperate – something to ponder, perhaps, as we seek to genuinely follow Jesus today.<br />
<br />
Singer/songwriter <a href="http://www.harveyandrews.com/">Harvey Andrews</a> wrote a song some years back, called Requiem, about the loss of hope that comes with growing older. It included the lyric (about Jesus): <i>“For two thousand years he’s brought nothing but tears, and the crosses to plant on the graves.”</i><br />
<br />
If you have the song (or can play it from Spotify), try playing Requiem, and as you listen consider the lost hopes of your neighbours, whether in Caversham or elsewhere, and how we can restore people’s hope in God.<br />
<br />
<i>"Faith, hope and love remain, and the greatest of these is love"</i>. May your life be filled with all three in the weeks ahead.<br />
<br />
<br />BlackPhihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00469300061470166506noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6509992991765142780.post-44464637063066265102018-07-24T01:20:00.001+01:002018-08-05T13:13:47.793+01:00Comfort In Times Of Loss<div class="separator" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;">
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<i>"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted"</i><br />
<br />
Comforted by whom? The ancient prophet Jeremiah <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+31%3A10-17&version=NIV">spoke</a> of God himself comforting those who suffered devastating loss, but Jesus' second beatitude just says they will be comforted. Is that because God works through people? People like you and I? But how?<br />
<br />
How can a ten-year-old girl deal with the death of her father; or a middle-aged couple come to terms with the suicide of their son; or an elderly man who has already buried both his children find peace when his wife follows? You don’t have to travel far in Caversham and Reading - or doubtless wherever you live - before you come across stories like these. What can we say? What can any church – as a community of those seeking to follow Jesus – have to offer in the face of such loss? And where does Jesus come into the story?<br />
<br />
Maybe you can turn to the Bible – Jesus often did that.<br />
<br />
There are three approaches (at least) in the Bible to comfort in the face of devastating loss. There is the 'God will make it up to you' approach, for example Joel 2:25a: <i>“I will repay you for the years the swarming locust has eaten,”</i> and Job 42:10: <i>“The Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends; and the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.”</i><br />
<br />
Then there is the 'God will bring them back,' approach of resurrection, for example John 11:23b: <i>“Your brother will rise again”</i> and 1 Thess. 4:14: <i>“For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died.”</i><br />
<br />
And finally there is the 'God is with us in the midst of suffering' approach, for example Isaiah 13a: <i>“As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you,”</i> and 43:2a: <i>“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you,”</i> along with Matthew 28:20b: <i>“Remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age,”</i> as well as the evocative <i>“Jesus wept,”</i> in the middle of the story of his friend Lazarus, who had died:.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Jesus wept."</i></blockquote>
You might want to consider when it is best to talk to people about such things. Is it useful to say them to someone who is already devastated? Or are they most useful to know in advance, before the devastation comes, so someone can cling to them in the storm?<br />
<br />
And maybe, when the storm does come, the best comfort we can provide to someone is to stand with them in the heart of the storm and weep, then to provide practical support and help as long as it is needed – often longer than you might expect. Maybe share some Psalms of lament. And tell them stories of Jesus, who stood with his friend’s sisters and wept.<br />
<br />
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BlackPhihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00469300061470166506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6509992991765142780.post-2008854482944996992018-07-24T00:38:00.000+01:002018-07-24T00:39:36.405+01:00The Two Become One Flesh<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<i>"'A man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”</i><br />
<br />
A proud father moment!<br />
<br />BlackPhihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00469300061470166506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6509992991765142780.post-90990261338734831182018-07-15T15:42:00.000+01:002018-09-05T11:06:31.767+01:00Whose Is The Kingdom Of Heaven?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Beatitudes: long pause, life happens, church happens, let's see if I can get back on track ...<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven"</i></blockquote>
So, to answer the question in the title: it's the poor in spirit. Umm. One of the most important things in studying the Bible is to keep asking questions, because the easy answers will often be like this one and - at least in themselves - not really answer anything. The kingdom of heaven belongs to the poor in spirit: it's good news for them but ... who are they?<br />
<br />
Let's start with Jesus: who was spiritually destitute in his society and to whom did he offer God's kingdom? And let's follow Jesus' example by starting from a story, the story of Simon the Pharisee:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>A Pharisee invited Jesus to have dinner with him. So Jesus went to the Pharisee’s home and got ready to eat.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>When a sinful woman in that town found out that Jesus was there, she bought an expensive bottle of perfume. Then she came and stood behind Jesus. She cried and started washing his feet with her tears and drying them with her hair. The woman kissed his feet and poured the perfume on them.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>The Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this and said to himself, “If this man really were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him! He would know that she is a sinner.”</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Jesus said to the Pharisee, “Simon, I have something to say to you.”</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>“Teacher, what is it?” Simon replied.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Jesus told him, “Two people were in debt to a moneylender. One of them owed him five hundred silver coins, and the other owed him fifty. 42 Since neither of them could pay him back, the moneylender said that they didn’t have to pay him anything. Which one of them will like him more?”</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Simon answered, “I suppose it would be the one who had owed more and didn’t have to pay it back.”</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>“You are right,” Jesus said.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>He turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Have you noticed this woman? When I came into your home, you didn’t give me any water so I could wash my feet. But she has washed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. You didn’t even pour olive oil on my head, but she has poured expensive perfume on my feet. So I tell you that all her sins are forgiven, and that is why she has shown great love. But anyone who has been forgiven for only a little will show only a little love.”</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”</i></blockquote>
</blockquote>
In that story, who is spiritually lost and who is spiritually wealthy? Who does Jesus invite into the Kingdom (by forgiving her sins - all that kept her apart from God)?<br />
<br />
To be a Jew in Jesus’ day was to belong within the People of God. It was to have an identity as part of the tight-knit community, and it was to have the hope and assurance of a place in God’s Kingdom. Unless you were a ‘sinner’.<br />
<br />
Then, despised and rejected, especially by religious leaders, you knew that the community did not want you and that God did not want you. You were lost. People like the unnamed woman on the fringes of Simon’s party, forever looking in from outside; people like Matthew the religiously unclean tax collector. Spiritually destitute, living lives without hope and without meaning.<br />
<br />
The ancient prophet Isaiah wrote of one to be sent from God who would be despised and rejected himself, who would suffer to redeem the lost. Jesus identified with the spiritually destitute and he brought them good news. The good news that even though their community - especially its spiritually privileged elites - rejected them, God does not. They are a part of God’s Kingdom: in him is their hope, their meaning and their future. They belong. Jesus came to save the lost, the poor in spirit, not because they deserve it but because that is who Jesus is.<br />
<br />
It is not hard to find people around our communities today who feel excluded and unwanted by at least some churches in their area, for example:-<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Wheelchair users;</li>
<li>Remarried divorcees;</li>
<li>Parents with noisy or hyperactive children;</li>
<li>Same-sex couples;</li>
<li>Those with mental health issues (in many different ways);</li>
<li>People who just don’t find that sitting in rows being talked at and singing songs from an alien culture in any way helps them relate to God.</li>
</ul>
<br />
Sometimes Jesus met with people who came to him; sometimes he took the good news to them. There is a need for those who follow Jesus today to welcome strangers who come to us. Also to go out and announce his message that God’s Kingdom already belongs to spiritually marginalised people … remembering, in due humility, that where we churchgoers might fit in is not stated.<br />
<br />
Leonard Cohen, in his song Anthem, includes the chorus:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>
"Ring the bells that still can ring<br />
Forget your perfect offering<br />
There is a crack in everything<br />
That's how the light gets in."</i></blockquote>
It's a great track to listen to whilst considering the strangeness of a God who chooses to show his power through his followers’ weakness.<br />
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<br />BlackPhihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00469300061470166506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6509992991765142780.post-22425493454062804082018-04-13T16:06:00.002+01:002018-04-13T16:06:47.394+01:00Secure In God<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.knoxunitedvancouver.org/blog/matthew-5-1-12-the-beatitudes"><img border="0" data-original-height="359" data-original-width="450" height="318" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5H8qAfhOJuk/WtDG5ZVQxMI/AAAAAAAAJN4/ibfh9Ezxm3wNevaW8BYucQg2Cb6a3NRkACLcBGAs/s400/Beatitudes.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">SECURE IN GOD</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up to a raised place where he sat, his disciples gathered around him, and addressed them, teaching:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;">“Spiritual rejects are secure in God because the kingdom of the heavens is already theirs.</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;">Those devastated by loss are secure in God because they will receive comfort.</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;">The oppressed landless poor are secure in God because they will inherit the land.</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;">Those starved of justice are secure in God because they will be fully satisfied.</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;">Those who compassionately forgive are secure in God because they will be compassionately forgiven.</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;">The clean of heart are secure in God because he is the one they will see.</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;">Those who restore shalom are secure in God because they will be called his children.</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;">Those persecuted for following God’s way are secure in him because the kingdom of the heavens is already theirs.”</span></i></div>
<br />BlackPhihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00469300061470166506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6509992991765142780.post-12207083141229478412018-01-30T17:39:00.000+00:002018-01-30T17:49:33.916+00:00Blessed English Translations<a href="http://godspacelight.com/2014/03/18/brigits-feast-my-favourite-celtic-prayer/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img class="mfp-img" src="https://godspace-msa.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/kellsAMPlt1.gif" style="max-height: 943px;" /></a>The Beatitudes are so called because each one starts with a Greek word, <i>Makarios</i>, which was rendered <i>Beati</i> in Latin and, most commonly, <i>Blessed</i> in English. That being the case you might expect that the underlying word used by Matthew would have something to do with blessings, or with being blessed. Nope. <i>Makarios</i>, the word Matthew uses, is unrelated to the Greek words for either.<br />
<br />
A lot of commentaries on the Beatitudes tie themselves in knots attempting to explain why people who are clearly have not been blessed are described by Jesus as being so. They are missing the point. Others treat Jesus' words as if they are a list of things we have to do or be in order to be blessed by God: legalistic nonsense! You'd think there were enough rules and regulations in the Old Testament for anyone (613 is, I believe, the traditional count) without adding more (and Jesus is explicit, later in the sermon, that the Law stands as it is: no adding or taking away from it).<br />
<br />
A few English translations render <i>makarios</i> as 'happy' instead of 'blessed'. That too is another word entirely. So what does <i>makarios</i> mean?<br />
<br />
Originally <i>makarios</i> simply meant 'free from daily cares or worries' - which has an obvious link with later on in the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus says:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ... But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."</i></blockquote>
But words in all languages are living things, with multiple meanings and implications, and <i>makarios</i> found itself being used in a conventional formula:-<br />
<ul>
<li><i>"Makarios</i> is the family man with his children" - because they were both his security for old age and the security of his line for future generations.</li>
<li><i>"Makarios</i> is the rich man with his wealth" - because that protects against hard times when they come.</li>
<li><i>"Makarios</i> are the pious on their inward well-being" - because that allows them to face future vicissitudes with equanimity.</li>
<li><i>"Makarios</i> are the religious on their experience of God" - who will presumably ensure their future.</li>
</ul>
<div>
The link to the original meaning is reasonably clear for these, but then the meaning developed a bit further to become something more like 'congratulations' - for a new child, for a profitable business deal, for progress on piety or religion, and so on.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The other link in the chain to the Beatitudes comes with the adaptation of that formula to the Greek Old Testament (the <i>Septuagint</i>) where it is used (especially in the Psalms) about the peace and security which comes from doing things God's way:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><i>Makarios</i> is the nation whose God is the Lord; the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance (Psalm 33:12).</li>
<li><i>Makarios</i> is the man whose hope is in the name of the Lord (Psalm 40:4).</li>
<li><i>Makarios</i> is the man who thinks on the poor and needy: the Lord shall deliver him in an evil day (Psalm 41:1).</li>
<li>O Lord of hosts, <i>Makarios</i> is the man that trusts in you (Psalm 84:12).</li>
<li><i>Makarios</i> are they who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times (Psalm 106:3).</li>
<li><i>Makarios</i> are all they that fear the Lord; who walk in his ways. You shall eat the labours of your hands: m<i>akarios</i> are you, and it shall be well with you. Your wife shall be as a fruitful vine on the sides of your house: your children as young olive-plants round about your table. (Psalm 128:1-3).</li>
</ul>
<div>
That final one is a bit longer but gives a nice parallel to the earlier Greek example of the family man and his children.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So the meaning of <i>makarios </i>is somewhere in the range from 'free from care and worry', through 'secure for the future' and 'secure in God' to 'congratulations' (on securing your future).<br />
<br />
There is at least one English translation which uses 'congratulations' for the Beatitudes; personally I feel uncomfortable congratulating people on their devastating loss or crushing oppression, however secure their future in God might be.<br />
<br />
There is clearly no simple single English word which reflects exactly the resonances of <i>makarios</i> in Matthew's original - never mind Jesus' probable underlying Hebrew word <i>‘eshrê</i>. So, pre-empting some future posts discussing other parts of the Beatitudes, I am currently inclined to go with 'secure in God', along the lines of:-<br />
<ul>
<li>Secure in God are the spiritually poor, because they are already part of God's kingdom.</li>
<li>Secure in God are those who have suffered devastating loss, because they will be comforted. </li>
<li>Secure in God are the crushed and oppressed, especially the landless poor, because they will inherit the land.</li>
</ul>
<div>
and so on.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In the end the Beatitudes are about bringing hope to the apparently hopeless and a future in God to those who feel they have no future.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
A final thought: it's the Feast of St Brigit in a couple of days; if you click on the picture above, or <a href="http://godspacelight.com/2014/03/18/brigits-feast-my-favourite-celtic-prayer/">on this link</a>, it will take you to a poem called <i>Brigit's Feast,</i> which seems appropriate in a discussion on the Sermon on the Mount.</div>
</div>
<br />BlackPhihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00469300061470166506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6509992991765142780.post-63230169775797098222018-01-18T11:20:00.001+00:002018-01-18T11:25:59.185+00:00Beatitudes<div class="separator" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://store.oxford.anglican.org/collections/a-christ-like-church/products/book1"><img border="0" data-original-height="766" data-original-width="540" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TkGi-cDJACg/WmCBjtN3ZhI/AAAAAAAAJL4/80SuDXGnNBA45o9zZ_TqSW863Kqkt6RAwCLcBGAs/s200/Exploring%2Bthe%2BBeatitudes%2BCover.jpg" width="140" /></a></div>
It shouldn't be a surprise that spiritually important people like bishops would struggle with a passage from Jesus which begins by saying that it is the spiritually <i style="font-weight: bold;">poor</i> to whom God's kingdom belongs. Nonetheless, I do find the Bishop of Oxford's booklet, <i>Exploring The Beatitudes</i>, which is promoting his 'Contemplative, Compassionate and Courageous' vision for Oxford Diocese, to be disappointingly detached from what Jesus said.<br />
<br />
Even in the 21st century people forget that the 'Sermon on the Mount' - which the Beatitudes are the introduction to - was a Jewish preacher speaking to a mostly-Jewish audience about the Jewish scriptures (which we know as the Old Testament), as recorded by Matthew in a strongly Hebrew-influenced dialect of 1st century Greek.<br />
<br />
Instead we look at Bible translations which emphasise the smooth elegance of Tyndale's 16th century English. The unfortunate way these very English versions bury Jesus' radical announcements of God's concern for those who are at the bottom of the heap is presumably considered a price worth paying by those near the tops of their various heaps.<br />
<br />
Here in Caversham we are in the third year of our <a href="http://blackphi-ramblings.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/partnership-for-missional-church.html">Partnership for Missional Church</a> initiative; one key focus of PMC is on seeing what God is already doing in the community around us and where we can join in. The Beatitudes give us a picture of which people and groups of people God is particularly focused on, which should help to guide us.<br />
<br />
I plan to look at the Beatitudes individually over the coming weeks, so I won't jump into them here, but there are a number of things to notice about the Beatitudes as a whole:<br />
<ul>
<li>They are the introduction to a longer 'sermon', not a standalone passage. As such they are intended to catch people's attention, introduce later themes and topics, and to help listeners to see, personally and collectively, where they themselves fit in with Jesus' message.</li>
<li>They are an announcement of hope, justice and affirmation for those who have been crushed and marginalised by the 'business as usual' of an unjust world, as well as for those who want to do something about it.</li>
<li>They are succinct, even spikily terse, with every word carefully chosen to deeply and powerfully resonate with Jesus' listeners.</li>
<li>They are deeply rooted in Old Testament Scripture.</li>
<li>They are individually and collectively cohesive. In particular, each beatitude comes in two linked parts - "blessed are ... because ...". The inevitable multiple possible meanings which come from translating ancient languages can be narrowed down both by investigating their Old Testament roots and by seeing which potential meanings resonate with one another most powerfully. Collectively there is a clear pattern to the way they are organised and an obvious link-back from the last beatitude to the first.</li>
</ul>
<div>
As an example of the difference the above can make, consider the third beatitude, rendered by most English translations as <i>"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth"</i>. Obvious questions are: what exactly does 'meek' mean here, how on earth does being meek relate to inheriting anything, and is Jesus telling us <i><b>we </b></i>ought to become meek or is he announcing something good to those who already are?<br />
<br />
More detail on this in a later post, but for now I'll just say that 'meek' refers to those who are oppressed and crushed, with a specific application to the landless poor. Also the word Tyndale translated 'earth' really applies to 'earth' in the soil sense, rather than the whole world, and from there it extends to arable land and hence to useful land in general. In the Old Testament a family's land was their inheritance and could not be taken away for more than fifty years - not that rich landowners had ever taken any notice.<br />
<br />
So that third beatitude can be rendered in English as: <i>"Blessed are the landless poor, because they will inherit the land"</i>. Which surely makes more sense - although commentators today would need to fill in background which Jesus' original hearers would have known only too well.<br />
<br />
This post is quite long enough, I reckon. So do have a happy and blessed 2018. (Blessed'? What does that mean?).</div>
BlackPhihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00469300061470166506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6509992991765142780.post-42186665504248192742017-11-04T01:58:00.001+00:002017-11-04T01:59:20.325+00:00The Last Word?I once knew a middle-aged lady whose marriage fell apart after the kids left home. A while after her husband moved in with someone else she found a lump on her breast ... which she carefully ignored ... and ignored ... until at last she could ignore it no longer.<br />
<br />
She underwent treatment for the breast cancer and came through. During her phased return to work they found a secondary in her brain, which killed her. At her funeral a neighbour said:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"It's hard to believe in God when something like this happens."</i></blockquote>
I knew another middle-aged lady who had a very difficult childhood. In her twenties and early thirties she fought back and thrived, making something special of her life. Then the demons caught up with her, gradually tearing much of what she had achieved apart and eventually killing her:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>It's hard to believe in God when the demons win.</i></blockquote>
I can see the point, but for me it is far harder to <i style="font-weight: bold;">not</i> believe in God when such things happen. To not believe in God is to say that disease and demons have the last word. To me, God is about meaning and purpose even in the midst of destruction and despair, about Resurrection when evil seems to have won.<br />
<br />
For those of us who do make it through middle-age there is another 'd' waiting - decay. The longer we live the more we fall apart. In God I can even see meaning in that; but without God there is little to learn, or at least not much future in learning it.<br />
<br />
I believe God has the last word: after disease and demons and decay and despair have done their worst, God still has something to say. And God's final word is about hope and love and life and purpose and a new future in a world of justice and peace and meaning.<br />
<br />
But sometimes I do feel very, very tired.<br />
<br />
<br />BlackPhihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00469300061470166506noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6509992991765142780.post-57835560560040001592017-11-02T22:59:00.000+00:002017-11-04T02:00:53.785+00:00Bombastic? Overblown? Serenity!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.serenity-band.com/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="812" data-original-width="1200" height="216" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FX-PWyf62YU/Wfuddwu5AnI/AAAAAAAAJJ4/qwGSJpuqN0MiyGSUJyfpH4ZzRfSgge7eACLcBGAs/s320/Serenity%2B2017.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
... and they were absolutely marvellous.
<br />
<br />
I'm talking about the melodic metal band <a href="http://www.serenity-band.com/">Serenity</a>, of course (named after the ship in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_%28TV_series%29">Firefly</a> apparently).<br />
<br />
Last night we went to a concert at Koko in Camden to watch <a href="http://www.delain.nl/band.php">Delain</a> headline with Serenity and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellar_Darling">Cellar Darling</a> in support.<br />
<br />
The doors opened late, and it took some time to get the sellout crowd into the venue, so we missed the first half of Cellar Darling's set. Apparently there was some sort of mishap as they started, which may have put them off a little, but they sang several interesting folk-metal songs. Mostly they were accompanied by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurdy-gurdy">hurdy-gurdy</a>, as well as the usual drums and guitars, which made for an original sound; although my favourite song was one accompanied by flute instead (which I now can't remember the name of, sigh). The lead singer is definitely a talented musician.<br />
<br />
Serenity were up next and really hit the ground running with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGh7Xf0idV0">Deus Lo Vult</a>, the highly dramatic instrumental which opens their new <a href="http://www.ghostcultmag.com/album-review-serenity-lionheart-napalm-records/">Lionheart</a> album, continuing with United from the same album. Four older songs followed before the set peaked with the title track of Lionheart. They finished with Follow Me.<br />
<br />
There are lots of things I like about Serenity: they are a really powerful band, musically, vocally and lyrically, yet they understand and use light and shade, heavy and gentle, slow and fast. Their frontman Georg Neuhauser, who is also their songwriter, has a remarkable voice, yet they ring the changes on vocals, with a second male voice in the band and a guest female vocalist for some of the songs.<br />
<br />
It helps that Neuhauser is apparently a history lecturer so he has interesting things to say on the historical themes which the band so often sing about. Although it has to be said their Lionheart album is something of a whitewash of Richard the Lionheart, who was a complex and not always honourable leader: the album is more about the legend than the reality.<br />
<br />
What about the headliners, Delain? Hmm. Koko was sold out last night, so there was a vast number of people in a limited area. Add to that a bevy of six-footers who felt they had to stand right in the centre, blocking people's view, along with the rudest crowd I have seen at a melodic metal concert: pushing and shoving their way around. I was feeling downright claustrophobic and Delain took forever to come out, so I wasn't at all enjoying myself by the time they did.<br />
<br />
It was the last night of the tour and Charlotte Wessels' voice sounded quite badly shot to me, so maybe they had to spend time working on her throat so it could survive one final night, hopefully without damage. Wessels has a very distinct timbre normally, which was missing last night - so much so that at first I wondered if they had a guest singer themselves.<br />
<br />
Nevertheless she hit the notes and the whole band sang and played well. A particular treat was that they did have a guest singer: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Hietala">Marco Hietrala</a>, who came out and did the male vocal parts to several songs which they don't normally perform on tour; I especially enjoyed <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00SvK8_Lid0">Control The Storm</a>.<br />
<br />
I don't really like going to London for concerts, because the journey back is always grim; the wonder of privatised rail: first-class prices for a third class journey. Last night/this morning the train was standing room only - just four coaches so what can one expect - and a points failure outside Slough added to the delight. Still we got home eventually, and it is always good to see live music.<br />
<br />
To finish with a bit of enthusiasm: a song which Serenity sadly didn't do last night, but which I think is brilliant:-<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-NfT5URMxLU" width="560"></iframe></div>
BlackPhihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00469300061470166506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6509992991765142780.post-2857726035963593242017-10-29T16:31:00.000+00:002017-11-04T02:02:53.700+00:00Judgement & Exclusion<div class="separator" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blake_Wise_And_Foolish_Virgins_1826.jpg"><img border="0" data-original-height="968" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m5a9JjZ0-Do/WfYBQzUKGZI/AAAAAAAAJJQ/VsiXAW_MaqMpEBEZVoa_fUDWJqXdXlyuQCLcBGAs/s320/Blake_Wise_And_Foolish_Virgins_1826.jpg" width="264" /></a></div>
There's rather a lot about judgement in Matthew's account of Jesus' life. In part this makes sense as the people he was writing to were attempting to come to terms with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Temple#Destruction">destruction of their Temple</a> in Jerusalem and the suffering which accompanied it.<br />
<br />
So this is introduced in a series of stories and parables highlighting the faithlessness of the religious leaders in Jesus' day and the judgement which would surely follow after they persecuted first Jesus and then his followers for so many years.<br />
<br />
Finally, the end of chapter 23 and the bulk of 24 addresses the consequence of this, bringing together the terrible suffering during the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Jerusalem_(AD_70)">siege of Jerusalem</a>, the destruction of the Temple, and the hope of Jesus' eventual return into one terrible apocalyptic warning. We're bad at apocalyptic today so we tend to get lost in this passage but it most likely made sense, even brought a sense of comfort and meaning, to its early readers.<br />
<br />
Then in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+25&version=NIV">chapter 25</a> the scope widens and we get three quick parables about judgement more generally, which are potentially easier to follow and apply today. These parables, known traditionally as <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_Ten_Virgins">The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_talents_or_minas">The Parable of the Talents</a> </i>and <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sheep_and_the_Goats">The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats</a></i> are all parables of judgement.<br />
<br />
Interestingly, given the traditional Protestant religious focus on '<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sola_fide">Salvation by faith not works</a>', all three parables are most immediately about actions. Equally interestingly, given the traditional religious focus on avoiding 'sin' - refraining from doing forbidden things - all three are about people's failure (or not) to do what they should have done; no-one is criticised for doing something wrong, just for failing to do something right.<br />
<br />
In the first, ten young women are chosen to accompany a bridegroom to his wedding feast. Five of the ten are prepared and ready when he comes, so they are welcomed into the feast in places of honour. The other five were not ready when he came and they are excluded: the bridegroom says he does not know them.<br />
<br />
In the second parable a wealthy man goes on a journey so he gives his servants portions of his immense wealth to use while he is away. This is a tremendous opportunity which two of the servants use, whilst the third buries the wealth away and tries to go on with his life. When their master returns those who used the opportunity are praised and "given charge of many things"; the servant who deliberately failed to use the opportunity, however, is sharply criticised and thrown outside "into the darkness".<br />
<br />
The final parable has Jesus returning in glory to judge people from all the nations. When he judges he does so on the basis of how they have treated those in need around them. He says the way we have treated the neediest is the way we treat him, and he separates people on this basis into those facing eternal life and those facing punishment.<br />
<br />
Literally the word translated 'punishment' in that final parable means 'pruning' or cutting away, so again the implication is that judgement is about separation: separating those included in God's Kingdom from those who are excluded from it.<br />
<br />
The basis for that separation is either what we do or, maybe more likely, on the underlying attitude: an attitude of expectancy which leads us to make sure we are ready and prepared; an attitude of trust which leads us to make use of opportunities God gives us; and especially an attitude of compassion for those we see in need.<br />
<br />
And, in the end, inclusion means life and exclusion means death. How we live matters.BlackPhihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00469300061470166506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6509992991765142780.post-56997319109744683132017-10-26T16:14:00.002+01:002017-10-26T16:19:32.770+01:00What About KRACK?<div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;">
<a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/10/17/kracken_patches/"><img alt="A man in panic" class="article_img" height="131" src="https://regmedia.co.uk/2016/06/10/panicman.jpg?x=442&y=293&crop=1" width="200" /></a>
</div>
It seems some marketing wonks at Norton have noticed the publicity around KRACK, a recently discovered vulnerability in the main wi-fi standard, and have decided to spread some FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) in the hope of generating a few extra sales for their VPN package.<br />
<br />
I've been con<span id="goog_18535833"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a><span id="goog_18535834"></span>tacted by customers who have received scary emails from Norton telling them:
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"All Wi-Fi connection points and devices could be vulnerable—your local coffee
shop, home, or workplace connection.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>KRACK can allow attackers access to important information like credit card numbers, passwords, and emails transmitted over Wi-Fi networks. This vulnerability can also allow attackers to potentially infect your devices with malware or ransomware."</i></blockquote>
Then comes the sales pitch:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - Consider using a secure Virtual Private Network (VPN) such as Norton WiFi Privacy*, to help protect your data against this new threat."</i></blockquote>
Personally the last people I would trust to protect my wi-fi would be those who deliberately spread misleading information for gain, but that's a matter of personal (dis)taste.<br />
<br />
So what is KRACK? Most wi-fi networks these days are encrypted to protect against eavesdropping, with the commonest form of encryption being something known as WPA2 (Wi-fi Protected Access 2). KRACK (Key Reinstallation Attacks) is a newly discovered way of breaking into WPA2-protected wi-fi networks. It targets the devices on the network, rather than the wi-fi as such, so changing your password doesn't help.<br />
<br />
So far, so scary ... why am I suggesting Norton's email was more marketing FUD than engineering reality?<br />
<br />
The way Microsoft and Apple implemented WPA2 on their PCs and laptops happens to be resistant to this particular attack, and both have released patches to fix remaining issues, so up-to-date Windows, iOS, macOS, tvOS and watchOS devices should be fine.<br />
<br />
If you are sending credit card numbers and the like over the internet, I very much hope you are checking that the website you are sending them to uses https - every major vendor that I am aware of does. Https encrypts your details before they ever get near the wi-fi, so anyone breaking into the wi-fi would only get gobbledegook. Similarly with most passwords; and the vast majority of email providers support something similar (https, SSL or TLS) for email messages.<br />
<br />
There are genuine concerns about smartphones. About half of smartphones being used were thought to be vulnerable when the problem was discovered (ironically, the newer ones with an Android version greater than 6.0). Apple phones should already be fixed, and Google's own phones should be updated with a fixed version of Android fairly quickly, but other manufacturers can be slow distributing updates. The comments above about https and other end-to-end encryption methods still apply though.<br />
<br />
There are also concerns about the 'Internet of Things' - smart kettles, baby monitors used over the internet, and the like. To be honest, these have such a bad reputation for insecurity that I'm not sure KRACK makes much odds - although hopefully it will increase pressure on manufacturers to get a grip and take security seriously.<br />
<br />
There are things that you should do as a result of this scare (under most circumstances buying a VPN service is NOT one of them):-<br />
<ul>
<li>Make sure your Windows/macOS/iOs is up-to-date with its scheduled updates;</li>
<li>If you have an Android smart phone and its Android version is 6 or greater (or you cannot see what the version is), contact your phone supplier to ask if it is patched against KRACK;</li>
<li>If your printer software asks to patch your printer firmware (check the request comes from the printer software itself, not an email or a website pop-up) then let it.</li>
<li>If your broadband router came from your broadband supplier (not all do), contact them to see if they have updated the router software against KRACK.</li>
<li>If you are filling in personal information on a website, make sure the website address starts with https (sometimes this is indicated by a padlock) - if it doesn't, you can often add the 's' yourself and it will take you to a secure version of the page.</li>
<li>It is a good idea to protect all PCs and laptops with a reputable antivirus (Norton Antivirus is one example), for all sorts of important reasons. I suggest you seriously consider also protecting your Android smartphone with its own antivirus.</li>
</ul>
KRACK is mostly a major problem for high-level technical infrastructure and in corporate environments. For home users it is largely common sense and not letting the marketeers panic you.
<br />
<br />BlackPhihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00469300061470166506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6509992991765142780.post-35377702670435959892017-10-22T02:41:00.000+01:002017-10-22T02:54:09.698+01:00"Jesus Might Have Been Gay"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2017/29-september/books-arts/book-reviews/holiness-where-it-isn-t-expected" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span id="goog_570351566"></span><span id="goog_570351567"></span><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="250" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YZQJb_6N3fs/WevsDW2OzxI/AAAAAAAAJI0/db7aalC3jNstKROlNOOioxRl-t7bPsD3QCLcBGAs/s320/Re-imagining-The-Bible.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
That made me blink!<br />
<br />
The context was a book promotion, by its three Dutch authors, of a new book called <i>Re-imagining The Bible For Today</i>. It was advertised as being about engaging people from around the fringes of faith with the Bible, which was enough to drag me across to Salisbury on my scooter one slightly chilly Friday afternoon.<br />
<br />
One of the areas they talked about in their presentation was times they had encouraged special-interest groups to question and interact with the text: feminists, environmentalists and gay groups included. I must admit my 'political correctness' alarm was ringing at this point, but the discussions actually seem to have been carefully structured and focused to genuinely provoke a different way of looking at well-known texts.<br />
<br />
One example Bert Dicou spoke about was a time he led a discussion on <a href="https://www.biblica.com/bible/?osis=niv:Luke.24:13%E2%80%9335:13">the story</a> of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, with a gay activist group. It seems they related easily to ideas about travelling and eating together and so growing a relationship, but one of the young men had a question: might Jesus have been gay? It seems Dicou (or maybe someone else involved) told him that he might have been. The young man found himself freed to start attending his local church, for the first time since childhood.<br />
<br />
That has to be a good thing, surely, but I must admit the answer given brought me up short - it was, for me, such an unexpected idea. Which I guess is the idea of such discussions, they help us think the unthinkable. I find it raises two main extra questions of its own.<br />
<br />
The first is the obvious one: might Jesus have been gay ... really?<br />
<br />
I am not aware of anything in the Gospels which so much as hints that Jesus was sexually active: contextually it seems plausible to assume that he was not. Which leaves his sexuality - in the sense of any romantic or sexual attractions - a completely blank page. Within the constraints of what we are told, the rest we tentatively assume for ourselves. So it is genuinely reasonable to say that Jesus <i style="font-weight: bold;">might</i> have been gay - although also reasonable to say that he probably wasn't.<br />
<br />
The other question I find myself wondering is why that 'might' made such a difference to the young man?<br />
<br />
I suspect it could be to do with being part of a community which has long been discriminated against: an 'us and them' with Jesus assumed to be part of the excluding majority. A session engaging with Jesus as a companion and a traveller helps to break down religious preconceptions, then even just the possibility that Jesus <i style="font-weight: bold;">might</i> have been part of the young man's community helps him to see that Jesus can accept and love him as he is. The rigid boundary just isn't there with Jesus.<br />
<br />
That simple <i>might</i> leaves the understanding that, for him, Jesus really was 'one of us', therefore he can be one of Jesus' followers. He is free because he understands that Jesus is free, is another way to look at it.<br />
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Either way, a good excuse for an excellent song from Joan Osborne:<br />
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BlackPhihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00469300061470166506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6509992991765142780.post-30106974355957906342017-07-30T14:30:00.000+01:002017-10-06T19:51:04.965+01:00Vision & Seeing<div class="separator" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;">
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At St John's over the next six months or so we will be exploring visions for our future as a 'community church', in partnership with a group from Greyfriars who, we hope, will be coming to join us. With a bit of luck we'll also be exploring in partnership with God ... there's not much point if not!<br />
<br />
So this post is intended to be a quick (-ish) summary of where I'm at now, at the start of this shared process - obviously this is something we've been looking at ourselves for a while, so none of us are really starting from a blank sheet.<br />
<br />
In the best church tradition, I'll do this as three points ... or maybe just three different angles.<br />
<br />
The first part is simply the idea mentioned above: that St John's needs to be a community church. Not a church defined by it's walls, although they give a good local focus; nor by its churchgoers, although they are its lifeblood; but by the community it engages with, serves, and works with.<br />
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Churches just 'serving' their local community sometimes lose the plot, because that's not really how people work. It is in working in partnership with people that all grow and all can use their talents together in the most effective ways. I was listening to a lady from Greyfriars a couple of weeks ago who spoke of "a church without walls", which conveys the idea nicely.<br />
<br />
The next point is about numbers. I think we need a decent sized core congregation to provide the foundation (in Jesus, of course), stability and direction for the work. I see that as being around 100 people over a couple of congregations. Any larger and the thing becomes an all-devouring monster, in my view. But we are within a community of over 9,000 people, so if we are to be really effective we will need to involve and include much more than that core congregation.<br />
<br />
Currently we take part in a number of initiatives which are separate from the core of the church and are run in partnership with those who go to other churches or none: there's a 'cooking club' on the Amersham Road estate, which is intended to grow into a '<a href="https://www.freshexpressions.org.uk/about/whatis">fresh expression</a>' but needs resource to really progress; there is the '<a href="http://www.3cscafe.co.uk/">community cafe</a>' on Tuesdays, which could usefully run on other days of the week; there is a '<a href="https://www.food4families.org.uk/">food for families</a>' group using part of the church grounds. All of these involve us, are separate from the church organisation, and have great potential to grow and do much, much more if more people got involved.<br />
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I see this as the best model going forward: a kind of 'hub and satellites' picture. Something where people who 'don't go to church' can live and grow as enthusiastic followers of Jesus without getting bogged down in all the 'religious' stuff.<br />
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The final point is not about organisation or about models, but about who we are especially there for. Who we can work with to be life-giving and grace-transmitting. To my mind the priority should be those who are lonely and lost in our neighbourhoods; those who feel worthless and rejected; those with enormous creativity and love to bring to the table, but who don't feel they belong enough to have the right outlet. Those whom God especially loves because religious people have traditionally turned their backs on them.<br />
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The thought of partnering with people from Greyfriars to reach those in need of such life-giving inclusion and welcome is one I find concerning<sup><b>*</b></sup>. But that is the nature of God's Kingdom: it moves forward through the most unexpected people.<br />
<br />
To finish, the final verse and chorus from the <a href="http://shop.badpollyanna.com/track/i-see-you">Bad Pollyanna song</a> above, which I think says a lot about what churches should be relaying to their communities:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Let me put my cards on the table<br />
I've been where you are<br />
I'll never see the stain of a label<br />
Or a scar<br />
You need to know that I won't reject you<br />
Let's unbreak your heart<br />
You are not the voices that shame you
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>When you are lost</i><br />
<i>I will find you</i><br />
<i>Through the dark</i><br />
<i>I can see you</i><br />
<i>And you are loved</i><br />
<i>You are worthy</i><br />
<i>You can't hide</i><br />
<i>All the beauty</i><br />
<i>I can see you
</i></blockquote>
Because that's what Jesus says ... to you and to those around you.<br />
<br />
* NB 'Concern' does not equal rejection, more an appreciation that God's way sometimes involves a degree of surprise. It seems likely that those considering moving to St John's will have concerns of their own, of course.<br />
<br />BlackPhihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00469300061470166506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6509992991765142780.post-56056820367691323212017-07-23T12:43:00.000+01:002017-07-23T12:43:42.071+01:00Lyriel's Road Not Taken<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Two roads diverged in a yellow wood</i><br />
<i>And sorry I could not travel both</i><br />
<i>And be one traveler, long I stood</i><br />
<i>And looked down one as far as I could</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Lyriel's Leverage album is sometimes seen as a transitional work between their earlier 'folk metal' and the heavier more Gothic metal of Skin and Bones. A good track to illustrate this, perhaps, is <i>The Road Not Taken</i> with its journey from acoustic guitar and strings to full-band metal for the final chorus.<br />
<br />
Be that as it may, this is an interesting track lyrically, based as it is on the apparently deliberate (and possibly fatal) ambiguity of Robert Frost's 1915 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Not_Taken">poem</a>.<br />
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Both song and poem end on the phrase, <i>"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference". </i><br />
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In our time of celebration of difference and our felt right to make our own choices, this lyric is often seen as telling us to walk our own distinct way and choose our own unique destiny. Yet, according to Frost's biographer, Lawrance Thompson, the poem is based on Frost's indecisive friend Edward Thomas, who <i>"whichever road he went, would be sorry he didn't go the other."</i> So the original poem is about the waste of energy in pointless regret, always looking back and worrying about "<i>what if</i>".<br />
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Which way does the Lyriel song lean? It is, of course, hard to tell as they retain the ambiguity in their selection of lines from the poem.<br />
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But there may be a pointer in the final song on the Leverage album, <i>Repentance</i>. This features the following lyric:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"Repentance is a path that we can not walk for long, my dear. ... Come with me and I will show you how to choose a side."</i></blockquote>
So maybe their take is that you can only waste energy worrying about the past for so long, before you need to commit to one path or the other.<br />
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Of course I may just be projecting my own views onto this - it is easily done.<br />
<br />
Because I have undoubtedly wasted time and energy myself second-guessing choices already made. Somewhere there is a balance between flexibility and commitment and I don't always hit it, I know.<br />
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From a Christian point of view, our calling is to serve God through Jesus wherever we are, in whatever circumstance. It makes sense to seek God's will for the future perhaps, but not to stress too much about it. He is with us wherever we are and, I think, he most appreciates working with us on the choices that we ourselves make and are fully committed to.<br />
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So our calling is to commit to our path with God, here and now. Not to worry overmuch about either past or future, but to be fully present in, well, the present. That's where we can make a difference.<br />
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Frost's indecisive friend, Edward Thomas, finally decided to commit to signing up for the First World War shortly after, where he was duly killed on the first day of the Battle of Arras. The story is told in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jul/29/robert-frost-edward-thomas-poetry">this rather interesting article in the Guardian</a>. After finally enlisting he sat down with a friend and told her that he was glad to have made the decision, he didn't know why but he was glad.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Things will happen which will trample and pierce, but I shall go on, something that is here and there like the wind, something unconquerable, something not to be separated from the dark earth and the light sky, a strong citizen of infinity and eternity.</i></blockquote>
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<br />BlackPhihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00469300061470166506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6509992991765142780.post-91261476707022310582017-04-14T13:45:00.000+01:002017-04-14T13:49:18.361+01:00It's All Greek To Me<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I had an interesting conversation today with a lady who seemed convinced that if she can only know the Greek original of a word in Scripture then understanding what it says is easy.<br />
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The context was the story of Jesus' crucifixion, where we had just heard a version read out which spoke of Jesus being crucified between two 'revolutionaries' rather than 'thieves', as in the King James translation, or 'robbers'/'bandits' as used in most modern versions of the story.<br />
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So which translation is 'true'?<br />
<br />
Well, the original Greek is <i>lestes</i>, which my big book of words tells me means "robber, highwayman, bandit, revolutionary'. Which covers pretty much all of the modern translations. One point being that simple one-to-one translations between languages and cultures hardly ever exist.<br />
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Fortunately my book of words also gives context and background - which is why I use it.<br />
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<i>Lestes</i> generally refers to one who robs with violence, as opposed to a <i>kleptes</i>, who would typically be a thief who steals by stealth. One complication is that being a <i>lestes </i>doesn't necessarily imply being dishonest or illegal: a soldier was legally entitled to seize plunder whilst performing his duties, in so doing he would be a <i>lestes.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
But the big confusion comes from the rabbis of the day calling zealots '<i>lestes'</i> - the zealots were violent anti-Roman (and by implication anti-collaborator) freedom fighters ... or terrorists.<br />
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Crucifixion was a deliberately horrific way of torturing a person to death, used by the Romans as a way of imposing their control over a region. It was used to 'discourage the others' on people who the Romans really didn't want anyone to emulate: especially rebels.<br />
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So, 'robbers' would be a simplistically literal rendering of the Greek word used. But at this time and in this context it is much more likely that the word meant 'rebels' or (more clumsily) 'revolutionaries'.<br />
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Can I back this up from the Bible itself? Actually, in this case, yes: John 18:40 tells us that Barabbas was a <i>leptes,</i> whilst Mark 15:7 expands on this to tell us that Barabbas was amongst the rebels in prison for murder committed during an insurrection. So here we do indeed have a violent rebel described as a <i>leptes.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Why might this matter? One point is that when it comes to the Bible the question 'is this translation of the passage true?' is the wrong question: a better question is 'does this translation help me see the truth in this Bible passage?'<br />
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Jesus was crucified between two rebels because the authorities of the day saw the things he said and did as rebellion. Even though Jesus had no army and harmed nobody they saw him as a threat against their world order, just as much as armed revolutionaries were.<br />
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When Jesus rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and sent his Spirit to empower his followers the authorities and powers of the day carried on trying to stamp them out by force ... and carried on failing. It turned out that the power of Jesus, working in peace, was far greater and more long lasting than the violent might of the religious and secular rulers combined.<br />
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Today, some groups claiming to follow Jesus have actually turned into those religious and secular authorities, still trying to stamp out followers of the Son Of Man; whilst other groups turn to the ways of Barabbas and the other men of violence, seeking to change the world through force and terror, but just perpetuating hatred and injustice.<br />
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Yet Jesus is still here, amongst those at the bottom of the heap. Still changing the world, still setting people free, even on a Good Friday when it all looks really grim.<br />
<br />BlackPhihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00469300061470166506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6509992991765142780.post-2404510800388671812017-03-26T12:42:00.000+01:002017-03-26T12:45:32.875+01:00Insults To Blessing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I was called an idiot a couple of days ago by an 'adjunct professor' from Fuller Theological Seminary.<br />
<br />
On social media, of course: I'm sure he's far too polite to do such a thing in the real world. What I found interesting, and mildly amusing, is that the overall process turned out to be a great help for a project I'm working on.<br />
<br />
A the moment I'm trying to develop a series about (Christian) Discipleship for later in the year. So when I saw a Facebook post from a 'friend of a friend' with a slide from a conference, titled "Four elements of discipleship" I went over for a look.<br />
<br />
The slide looked really good: well laid out and beautifully presented. The trouble was, like a lot of church produced stuff, it was jargony and didn't appear to make much contact with what is laughingly known as the real world.<br />
<br />
So I said so. Politely and reasonably, of course, and making the point that the talk that went with the slide might have been wonderful for all I know. And the adjunct professor who had posted it took exception. He'd been at the conference and thought the talk was wonderful, etc, etc ... and I'm an idiot for disagreeing. Fair enough, such is the joy of social media.<br />
<br />
Except that, in another comment against the same post, he posted a link to a Church of England paper on encouraging discipleship (and leadership) amongst lay people - something the CofE has long struggled with. That paper is really helpful and got me past a structure issue I was struggling with in my own series.<br />
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What's more, I also had an example of the importance of getting an opening summary right, as that is what people see first - it may even be the only part they see. And he was a reminder that discipleship encompasses the whole world, even social media.<br />
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So out of his rudeness I received a blessing. Such is the wonder of God's way.<br />
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Finally, just for fun:<br />
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<br />BlackPhihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00469300061470166506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6509992991765142780.post-9216107728579001812017-03-19T14:51:00.000+00:002017-07-23T12:52:52.821+01:00The Courtesans In Southampton<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Last Friday the two of us went to Southampton to see <a href="https://www.thecourtesans.org/biography">The Courtesans</a>, who were live at <a href="http://www.thetalkingheads.co.uk/">The Talking Heads</a> there. It was a superlative experience, so I'm afraid you're now going to see several hundred words of me gushing.<br />
<br />
Even travelling by Cross-Country Rail to get to Southampton was pleasant enough - certainly far easier than driving. The only slight problem was that there seemed to be no indication at Southampton Station which exit went where ... once we had left by the wrong exit we couldn't go back through the station to the right side of the tracks.<br />
<br />
Southampton Novotel is easy walking distance from the station, even with the detour, so it wasn't a problem. The Novotel was a great find! Getting back from Southampton to Reading after a gig is a lot of hassle, so I had booked us a room overnight.<br />
<br />
My previous experience of a hotel in Southampton had been decidedly <i>meh</i>, with complications even when things should have been simple. On this trip I had changed the number of people staying in the room (originally my wife was working that day, so it was just me, then her shifts changed so we could both go - nice, but a recipe for confusion) so I was expecting the worst. As it turned out they were brilliant: everything was sorted already, we just paid an extra tenner for breakfast at checkout. The room was comfortable, bar food was fairly simple but good quality, breakfast was excellent, and everyone was friendly and helpful. Oh, and the price was reasonable too.<br />
<br />
So, after eating we popped back over the railway line to The Talking Heads, where the Courtesans were playing. They were having technical problems in the venue proper, so we couldn't go in at the official 'doors open' time. No problem: there was also a spacious front bar with a stack of real ales and some acoustic jigs playing (it was early on St Patrick's day night, so it was already busy).<br />
<br />
When we did get in to the main concert room it was nice and spacious, with a bar down one side (also with real ales) and a corner with seating and a decent view of the stage on the other - handy for a knackered old codger to wait for the bands. Another feature of The Talking Heads was the friendliness of the clientele in general - although that may be just a feature of Southampton, or of the musical genre, as I noticed the same thing when I went to see <a href="http://www.badpollyanna.com/">Bad Pollyanna</a> a while back.<br />
<br />
The opening band were <a href="https://www.facebook.com/lostorstolenband/">Lost or Stolen</a>, a local band. When they started the room was completely dead; by about their third song you could feel the energy pumping out, warming things up. They were essentially blues-rock, but clearly wanting to push the boundaries of that genre, and themselves. From time to time they pushed further than they should have perhaps, and lost a bit of timing, but I can respect that: it's far better than a band who just play it safe and bland.<br />
<br />
Main support was <a href="https://www.facebook.com/rubyblueandthechain/">Ruby Blue and The Chain</a>, occupying a sort of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_point">triple point</a> between jazz, blues and funk, with consummate style and musicality. I am surprised to see on their website that they have only been around for about a year, they seemed to play so comfortable and eloquently together. I really enjoyed their gig and hope to see them again.<br />
<br />
But the highlight of the evening, by a huge margin, was The Courtesans (just as an aside, searching for "Courtesans Southampton" returns some interesting results, including an ad claiming you can buy courtesans on Amazon!). Nothing particularly showy or flashy, just excellent, powerful music, presented with a depth of charisma and presence.<br />
<br />
I already had their new EP, from PledgeMusic, so I thought I knew their most recent songs, but hearing them live was at a whole different level. The drumming was so powerful and spikey, bass and guitar so evocative, and the deeply passionate lyrics sung with such heartfelt strength that it was overwhelming. I'll stick a link to their <i>Mesmerise</i> video at the bottom of the post, so you can at least get a feel for their style ... just imagine that with the intensity racked up a few orders of magnitude.<br />
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A shout-out here for the sound at The Talking Heads - it was impeccable: loud enough but not too loud, beautifully balanced and wonderfully clear. Often live music means sacrificing sound quality for the live experience, but not here.<br />
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Do I have any negatives in the midst of all this dreadful positivity? Just one: by the end of the Courtesans' gig I was bouncing and jumping all over the place, absolutely into the music and the movement. Now I hurt pretty much all over. Would I do it all again? Silly question - I'd be there in a flash, aches or no aches!<br />
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<br />BlackPhihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00469300061470166506noreply@blogger.com0