Virtual Methodist

No Saturday supplement this week... not because there isn't much out there of interest in the virtual world... if anything there is too much to swiftly sift it... but because there has also been too much on in the "real" world with the beginning of September and trying to find a new rhythm to life in a new setting... But despite my busyness I did manage to carve out a whole day last Saturday to enjoy my birthday present from my wife... a triple bill of Henry VI parts 1, 2 & 3 performed by the Globe Theatre company... So at the same time as 400 people were gathering in the Lyric theatre to mark the passing of the bard from Bellaghy, I and about 400 others were staggering punch drunk into the Grand Opera House for the final furlong of nearly 8 hours of Shakespeare. I don't recollect ever having seen any of these three history plays before so I have nothing to compare them with from my own experience... all I can say is that I enjoyed the whole day. There were ...

Here's a quick question for you that comes from my morning reading... Is James a hypocrite? As in James the writer of the New Testament letter... I'm one of those who is fully signed up to the idea that in scripture we find a bias towards the poor (whether that significantly affects how I live my life is another question altogether, but I at least have accepted the principle). As a result I often speak about that, and in particular the implications of that for the ministry of my current church, which is in a relatively low-income public housing estate, set within a much more affluent suburb of Belfast, which in global and historic terms is part of the most prosperous societies in world history. Often when I raise this, one of my congregation challenges this analysis and reminds me that "God so loved the world" not just the poor and the marginalised. He is one of the more economically comfortable in my congregation, so it might be easy to write off his comments as defe...

My son Owain and I are at that stage when he is deeply embarassed if I show any signs of liking the same music as he does... So apologies to him on this one. I am not in trying to portray myself as in any way cool (or whatever the current term is); for proof of that see the fact that last week I posted a blog on a Sting song! You don't get much less cool than that. I was depressed, what can I say... But this week I was listening to one of his recent purchases "Sam's Town" by The Killers, and the song "When You Were Young" leapt out at me... Not only because it is a cracking pop/rock track but because of the lyrics. I suppose I'm now psychologically conditioned to prick up my ears for those times when the name "Jesus" is used in any way bar a swearword, and this song contains the line: "He doesn't look a thing like Jesus..." Most of the lyrics in the song are frankly indecipherable, and a visit into the blogosphere on the subject w...