Backward Progress

I have an iPhone 3G. Apple offered an upgrade to their version 4 operating system and I took it. Regret followed immediately when the phone slowed down so much passing snails were smirking. Today I discovered how to downgrade to the last of the version 3 systems and speed has returned, leaving amazement among snails all over Worthing.

A step backwards brings progress. Vive IT!

Great design

My church has a new web site. There's a link to it on the right of this page. Take a look, I think it's really good.

Slow Reader

I bought Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder on 8th May, 1999. I finished reading it a few days ago in September, 2010. Like so many other books, I bought this one to read on a trip for Feba, that time as I flew out of Heathrow to Nairobi and on to Seychelles. On the way home I visited Kampala, Uganda. Well, the book then went on the shelf and stayed there on and off as I accumulated others on different trips.


This particular literary journey to the end of Sophie's World began with a visit to Francis Schaeffer's Escape from Reason in the hope of understanding how British culture has so wholeheartedly turned away from Christian faith. His brief review of the history of philosophy made me want more, so I turned to Sophie. I only wish I was as bright as this fictional young lady, just 14 years old but able to absorb with great ease and rapidity all her mysterious philosophy teacher gives her.

Marvellous App

In one of the many emails I get from helpful (sometimes) groups and lists, DropPic was mentioned as a quick way of reducing the size of a digital image for use on a web site. Even the little camera I most often carry makes a picture of about 1MB. DropPic reduces to around 20KB, much faster to load from this log, for example. DropPic is for the Mac, so Windows users will have to find another solution. (Whenever I move back into the dark side my blood pressure rises.)

Pulborough, West Sussex

Sunday afternoon, Marian had a convincing cough but wanted to get some fresh air. So, we drove over to Pulborough, stopped in the car park near the library and walked south across to Pulborough Brooks. The path crosses the River Chilt just where it joins the Arun. The whole flat plain reminds of the area between Rumney, where I lived in my teen years, and the River Severn.
The Brooks has the RSPB reserve; that afternoon there were hundreds of Canada Geese. A helicopter passed overheard, disturbed the geese who flew around making a marvellous racket before settling down again.
Now September's here, so are autumnal signs, like these berries -- possibly of the viburnum opulus -- beautiful against both green and redding leaves.

 

Anne Rice

I was kind of disappointed to read that Anne Rice has given up on formal, churchy Christianity. Her reasons are typically liberal and I don't agree with all she says, however, I do share her despair at the un-Christlike hatred she quotes as one reason. My view is that neither liberals nor "haters of sinners" have got it.

Jesus loved sinners, being accused by the religious establishment of his day of being a friend of sinners. On the other hand, Jesus did not single out any particular sin as being smaller or bigger than any other; all sin is against God and will be judged by Jesus one day. Everyone, everywhere has fallen short of the standard set by God. And that's why I can't swallow modern redefinitions of sin and morality; God decides right and wrong not me.

Churches are made up of all kinds of people in all kinds of spiritual condition, so it's no wonder that any one of us might feel it's a beneficial thing to give up on church when we have bad experiences, either of sin within the church or of judgementalism that does not reflect the gracious Saviour we claim to love.

I talked about Ephesians 3:10 to a group of folk this week and emphasised that despite its failings and our bad experiences, the church belongs to Jesus Christ and God's manifold wisdom is still revealed through the her. Giving up on God's work is too easy an option.

And that raises the question - what is the church?

The Hazards of Walking

  Walking is claimed to be the safest way of exercising, with little collateral damage to the body. Last Saturday Marian had some ladies here at home for a breakfast together and I thought it wisest to go for a long walk. Walking east along the A27 past Lambleys Lane I took a path north that climbs the hill with Sompting Church on the right, then Sompting Abbots School. 

First hazard
  The path had been blocked off at its northern end, no one had walked it for ages and stinging nettles had conquered the territory. That discovery came as I clambered through, moving nettles with my feet before every step. My thin cotton walking trousers are permeable to nettle stings.


Second hazard
  The path opens up into a large, south facing field, following what used to the dividing hedge between two. On the breast of the hill I saw numerous cattle, walking east. Fine, I thought, I will cross their path behind them. They decided to reverse direction. Fine, until they stopped, straddling my path.
  They turned out to be curious, year-old heifers and bull calves. So curious they pressed towards me until I took refuge behind a broken signpost surrounded by old wire fence. Still they pressed. Eventually I noticed a more diffident heifer and shouted until she started to move away, the rest following like a flock of - well - young heifers and bulls.

Third hazard
   The path goes due east, then turns north again over the brow of the hill. The farm has seen much investment in the past couple of years, especially on the fencing.
  In the field behind the fence was some flowering clover and buttercups, pretty enough to photograph. My camera does not have a great telephoto lends, so I crouched and leaned towards the fence, framing the picture carefully. Wham! The top wire of the fence was electrified. My forehead touched it, I sprang back after a loud sound in my head and a degree of pain. The only damage was to my camera that stored the photos in internal memory, neglecting the memory card in it.

  The rest of the walk was great and hazard free, along the valley where Marian and I have seen many deer, up to Cissbury Ring and back down alongside Worthing Golf Course.

A Great Day Out

Marian and I went to the Big Church Day Out at Wiston House on Sunday, 30th May 2010, our first time at such a big Christian music event. Last year's event was not so well organised, apparently, but this was well done - from traffic flow and parking arrangements, to food supplies, facilities for thousands of people, plus an interesting programme. 

The Goring family used to live at Wiston House; the vast estate is still farmed by them and a forbear planted trees at nearby Chanctonbury Ring, atop the South Downs - the chalk hills lying just to the south. The main stage and b-stage lay north of the house, nearly far enough to avoid interference with gentler performances near a tea tent and in Wiston Church, right next to the house.

My first stop was to hear Bosh on the b-stage. Their message was clear and the music convincing. Turn the sound off, though, and I doubt I could distinguish them from hundreds of similar guitar-waving, stage-hopping bands. Maybe that's a good thing; why should Christians stand out on the basis of just appearance? Wouldn't that be legalistic?

On the hill slope down to the main stage people settled for nearly 7 hours of music by British, American and Australian groups. "It's going to be loud," a friend warned. Not as loud as a Kings of Leon concert, it turned out, but why was the bass drum amplified to sternum-splitting levels when that part of a drummer's kit does so little for the overall sound? 

One lady took to vigorous worship in flag waving, but not as energetically as the wind keeping numerous flags at stiff atttention through the day. Others were absorbed in the worship songs, swaying, lifting up arms and faces, oblivious to wind, sky and cloud. 


For Marian and me the tea tent was important, being the age we are. But a heavily pregnant Lou Fellingham demonstrated that advanced expectancy need not inhibit good breath control when singing. Stuart Pendrel sang a lot in Italian, a language he learned to help his operatic career, his fine baritone expressive and beautiful. The Kings Chamber Orchestra played in the church after Stuart sang. What fun to hear such a varied programme in such a small space! No need for amplification at that distance. The players moved to different stations in the church for some pieces, a truly surround sound.

For me the most moving aspect was being with such a large number of Christians in one place. Sharing in worship with a crowd evokes words of heaven, thrones and innumerable multitudes in musical adoration, totally focused on God. And no amplified bass drum, I bet, or solitary policeman pondering how well the crowd behaved.
Sorry about the formatting on this post. Having a few problems with pictures.

How interesting...

I happened across this web site earlier today - Atheist Anne Rice’s Surprising Discovery - which relates to my last post about her book. I don't know much about its host site, but this article made an interesting read for me.

Called Out of Darkness

Over Christmas I read Called Out of Darkness by Anne Rice, which turned out to be a very interesting story of a famous and wealthy writer, brought up in the Roman Catholic Church, who lost her faith, yet "…after thirty-eight years as an atheist, she turned back to Christ, not in blind faith but in a profound transcendental surrender made with open eyes to an all-knowing God…" So says the dust jacket.

With so many prominent people in the U.K. who are former Catholics and now determinedly antagonistic to Christian faith, this was an unusual and moving story.