Glorious

Some mind-blowing images from the Hubble Space Telescope. More at the Hubble Advent Calendar, provoking plenty of comments. I'm with those who think that arguing about God and his existence or otherwise is a poor second to simply trying to retrieve my jaw from the desk at each new image.

Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas to you all, and thanks for dropping by. Hope you have a peaceful and relaxing Christmas break, and if you are, please think of/pray for those who aren't, whether in Afghanistan or serving at the local supermarket, or locked up in Yarls Wood.

Close the door of hate and open the door of love all over the world.
Let kindness come with every gift and good desires with every greeting.
Deliver us from evil by the blessing wiwhich Christ brings
and teach us to be merry with clear hearts.

May Christmas morning make us happy to be thy children,
and Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts
Forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus' sake. Amen (RL Stevenson)

cartoon Jon Birch.

There might be the occasional scheduled post between now and the new year, but otherwise that's all I have to say for the moment. So that's one thing to be thankful for. Meanwhile thankyou for gracing this blog with your presence, and for commenting, linking, tweeting (or mentioning it in conversation for those unfortunate enough to know me personally). Bless you for visiting.

Light Reading for Christmas Eve

Whilst you're waiting for the clock to tick round to 11pm for 'midnight' mass, or even just to pub opening time, a few bits and bobs:

Rick Warren on helping people to beat materialism at Christmas time.

Paul Walton, quoting a Faith Central piece about being a Muslim at Christmas
For Christians, Christmas is about celebrating the birthday of a sacred person: the embodiment of nobility, generosity, compassion and justice. These characteristics can be emulated by anyone from any religious background. Amid the media hype building up towards Christmas there is little focus on the great characteristics of Jesus and what we can learn from his life.

Even though I do not celebrate Christmas in the real sense – as a university student, for instance I would often work long shifts as a medical operator on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day enabling my non Muslim colleagues to celebrate the birth of Jesus, I do actually celebrate and cherish his birth and his life on this earth by truly loving him and trying to exemplify his noble characteristics in my own life.

Ruth Gledhill on John Sentamus seasonal message to the Ugandan government, and the UK immigration authorities.

A seasonal message from the Beaker secularists.

A New Labour carol service from Dungeekin
Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
The little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head,
And then Social Services saw where he lay,
And they claimed child neglect and they took him away.

Colour Me Christmassy

thanks to Richard Frank for this one, who links to more work by the same designer. Also at iGod.

Is Phlox a real colour?

Spread the Joy, not the Jaundice

3 ideas for making other people's Christmasses better

1. Give your bin lorry crew a crate of beer, just think what a mess you'd be in without them.

2. Don't shop until December 29th, that's next Tuesday. Monday 28th is supposed to be a Bank Holiday, but you could have fooled most workers in retail, who will be slaving away over a hot till. Our local Tesco corner shop will be shut on Christmas Day, and then reopens as normal for Sat 26th, Sun 27th etc. One day off for Jesus, 364 days on for Mammon. This only happens because there is the demand from shoppers. If nobody shopped from close of play tomorrow until next Tuesday, then there wouldn't be the demand for the shops to open. If they didn't open, millions of retail workers would get time with their families and friends to enjoy Christmas, instead of having to be back at work on Saturday for our retailing frenzy.

3. Instead of shoplifting, get your Christmas Eve congregations down to the local supermarket, blag all the perfectly edible food which is going to get thrown out and make up food parcels together. Ok it's a bit late to organise for this year....

Anything for an alternative to some of this: some extraordinary stuff both from the 'everyone's persecuting us' Christian Voice, and the National Secular Society, who use their seasonal message to fire both barrels at 'primitive' immigrants, compare faith schools to prisons, accuse Gordon Brown of being a lunatic and uses the charming epithet 'Taliban Tories'. Ironically, it's a message which starts off by protesting that the Christian faith spreads intolerance, bigotry and irrationality. Go figure. (Church Mouse is similarly disturbed)

The NSS should be glad the press haven't got hold of their line about Christmas celebrations in schools being 'soppy sentimental stories'. Far be it from me to wish the Daily Mail upon anyone, but this makes Nick Baines look like a pussycat....

Risk-Assessed Christmas Songs

Thanks to a friend at a local law enforcement agency for these

The Rocking Song
Little Jesus, sweetly sleep, do not stir; We will lend a coat of fur, We will rock you, rock you, rock you, We will rock you, rock you, rock you:

Fur is no longer appropriate wear for small infants, both due to risk of allergy to animal fur, and for ethical reasons. Therefore faux fur, a nice cellular blanket or perhaps micro-fleece material should be considered a suitable alternative. Please note, only persons who have been subject to a Criminal Records Bureau check and have enhanced clearance will be permitted to rock baby Jesus. Persons must carry their CRB disclosure with them at all times and be prepared to provide three forms of identification before rocking commences.

Jingle Bells
Dashing through the snow In a one horse open sleigh O'er the fields we go Laughing all the way

A risk assessment must be submitted before an open sleigh is considered safe for members of the public to travel on. The risk assessment must also consider whether it is appropriate to use only one horse for such a venture, particularly if passengers are of larger proportions. Please note, permission must be gained from landowners before entering their fields. To avoid offending those not participating in celebrations, we would request that laughter is moderate only and not loud enough to be considered a noise nuisance.

While Shepherds Watched
While shepherds watched Their flocks by night All seated on the ground The angel of the Lord came down And glory shone around

The union of Shepherds has complained that it breaches health and safety regulations to insist that shepherds watch their flocks without appropriate seating arrangements being provided, therefore benches, stools and orthopaedic chairs are now available. Shepherds have also requested that due to the inclement weather conditions at this time of year that they should watch their flocks via cctv cameras from centrally heated shepherd observation huts. Please note, the angel of the lord is reminded that before shining his / her glory all around she / he must ascertain that all shepherds have been issued with glasses capable of filtering out the harmful effects of UVA, UVB and Glory.

Little Donkey
Little donkey, little donkey on the dusty road Got to keep on plodding onwards with your precious load

The RSPCA have issued strict guidelines with regard to how heavy a load that a donkey of small stature is permitted to carry, also included in the guidelines is guidance regarding how often to feed the donkey and how many rest breaks are required over a four hour plodding period.

Please note that due to the increased risk of pollution from the dusty road, Mary and Joseph are required to wear face masks to prevent inhalation of any airborne particles. The donkey has expressed his discomfort at being labelled 'little' and would prefer just to be simply referred to as Mr. Donkey. To comment upon his height or lack thereof may be considered an infringement of his equine rights.

We Three Kings
We three kings of Orient are Bearing gifts we traverse afar Field and fountain, moor and mountain Following yonder star

Whilst the gift of gold is still considered acceptable - as it may be redeemed at a later date through such organisations as 'cash for gold' etc, gifts of frankincense and myrrh are not appropriate due to the potential risk of oils and fragrances causing allergic reactions. A suggested gift alternative would be to make a donation to a worthy cause in the recipients name or perhaps give a gift voucher. We would not advise that the traversing kings rely on navigation by stars in order to reach their destinations and suggest the use of RAC routefinder or satellite navigation, which will provide the quickest route and advice regarding fuel consumption.

Please note as per the guidelines from the RSPCA for Mr Donkey, the camels carrying the three kings of Orient will require regular food and rest breaks. Facemasks for the three kings are also advisable due to the likelihood of dust from the camels hooves.

Rudolph the red nosed reindeer
Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer had a very shiny nose. And if you ever saw him, you would even say it glows.

You are advised that under the Equal Opportunities for All policy, it is inappropriate for persons to make comment with regard to the ruddiness of any part of Mr. R. Reindeer. Further to this, exclusion of Mr R Reindeer from the Reindeer Games will be considered discriminatory and disciplinary action will be taken against those found guilty of this offence. A full investigation will be implemented and sanctions - including suspension on full pay - will be considered whilst this investigation takes place.

If Church Historians Made Beatles Documentaries...

thanks to Zoomtard for this one.

Who Let the Dads Out?

From the latest Baptist Union mission news

Parent and toddler work can transform relationships and strengthen families, yet the church recognised that it is usually the Mums who take part.

In March 2003, Hoole Baptist Church in Chester started Who Let the Dads Out? - a national initiative about creating space where dads and their young children can have fun together, founded on the Christian principle of wanting to demonstrate God’s love to communities

It comprises:
◊ Who Let The Dads Out? toddler sessions - toddler sessions are specifically for toddlers and their dads, stepdads, grandads and male carers. They follow the same traditional format as other parent and toddler sessions. There are toys, craft activities, stories and, if you’re brave, even song time, but with a few masculine touches, such as bacon butties and newspapers.
◊ SODA sessions - School’s Out, Dad’s About, is a special club for dads, stepdads, grandads, male carers and their infant school children. The fun involves a mix of arts, crafts, toys, games and sports.
◊ Daddy Cool! - a 5 session parenting programme specifically for dads and male carers.
◊ Soul Man? discussion group - a format through which men can explore basic questions of faith and spirituality.

The aim is to ‘turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children, their partners or wives and, most importantly, their heavenly Father’. From its opening in 2003, there are now 18 groups around the country, and the team at Hoole encourage and help Who Let The Dads Out? groups, as they seek to support fathers and their children in the local community.

It is free to join, but once a member, churches can use the Who Let The Dads Out? national initiative name and logo, materials, publicity, log on to the forum for ideas and download the ‘Daddy Cool!’ parenting programme.

There might be the odd mum who'd appreciate the peace and quiet too. Great name, great idea.

A Short Supply of Something. Possibly the Facts.

I was thinking about commenting on the 'sacked' Christian supply teacher story, but it's still not entirely clear what the facts are. Someone somewhere has overreacted, but it's hard to say who. But if you want to join a comments thread, then try:
Tom Harris
Iain Dale
Tabloid Watch
Cranmer
Bristol Evening Post (if you want to engage with a completely different set of people to the blogosphere regulars.)
depending on your prejudices. I mean, convictions.

For the record:
- pushing your faith on other people when they're not interested is socially inept/insensitive, but people do that all the time with their interest in everything from trains to the fortunes of Manchester United. They don't get sacked for it.

- however, offering to pray for a seriously ill child is more than just droning on about Berbatov. Even with my dog collar on I'm very careful what I say in situations which call for a bit more pastoral sensistivity than the average. It would, however, be interesting to know if there's been any complaints about people who've extolled the virtues of Reiki or acupuncture.

- it would be nice if we lived in a world where people could say things to each others faces, rather than staying quiet and then going to the authorities. It's surely much healthier to deal with issues adult to adult, rather than adding to a culture of complaint and litigation.

- having a faith doesn't give you a right to 'share' it. The Bible is clear: be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks you to explain your faith, and do it with gentleness and respect (1 Peter, I think). Yes Christians are called to bear witness to their faith, but witnesses don't speak until they are called to the stand.

- there are a number of people who will assume that anyone who has engaged the services of the Christian Legal Centre is automatically wrong. There are others who assume that any story as reported by the Daily Mail is factually inaccurate. But nobody can be right 100% of the time.

Toy Story 2: Mr Bean's Nativity Scene

This seemed to fit with the theme of the previous post. Sort of.

Toy Story

The Guardian had a profile last week of Gary Grant, who runs the toy chain The Entertainer. It's managed to stay in business through the recession, despite not opening on Sundays and not stocking any Harry Potter merchandise.

"Last year I prayed more about my business than I have ever done and in October, for the first time, I felt God say to me 'you need to call the staff together,'" he says. "I said 'God, you're mad, I'm not doing that' – because you can have a personal conversation with God – I got to work on Monday morning and I heard God ask me again, 'are you going to call the staff together?'"

So he did. The born-again Christian – or "charismatic Christian" as he prefers – emailed workers inviting them to a "time of reflection". "Ye of little faith," he jokes. "I thought six or so would come along and sit with me and pray for Woolworths and the 28,000 people potentially losing their jobs. I got six chairs out and went to get more and when I came back there were 30 people in the room. It was very moving."

Apparently there's a global shortage of Lego. There's plenty at Legoland, or perhaps James May still has it all.

The Christmas Forecast

as brought to you by GraphJam

Homeless and cold. But at least they've got fur.

yes, well, hmmm, this seems to be about animal homelessness. Not entirely sure I get it. However if, like me, you wonder if human compassion is sometimes too easily swayed by cute animals rather than not-so-cute real people, here's the Shelter website, which includes a feature enabling you to put Christmas decorations onto Google Streetview. Our house isn't on there yet, sadly. Sorry, thankfully. But you're welcome to have a crack at the church.

If you're anywhere near London and want to volunteer to help over Christmas, here's the Crisis site. By coincidence, potential Christmas No. 1 Rage Against the Cowell Machine are raising money for Shelter as well, but you may want to donate 100% to Shelter rather than split it with RATM. I'm guessing it's a bit too late to launch a campaign for folk to download Cliff Richards Mistletoe and Wine in an effort to keep both offences against music from the top spot.

And a Church Times report this week on rough sleepers in London.

Fresh Expressions News

The easiest thing is just to cut and paste the latest FX bulletin....

Welcome to the December edition of e-xpressions. New stories on our website this month include:
Hartcliffe and Withywood Lighthouse, a fresh expression on two needy estates in Bristol.
The Terminus Initiative, a fresh expression at a bus station.
Emmanuel Café Church, a student fresh expression in Leeds 'fuelled by coffee';
Solace, a fresh expression for clubbers in Cardiff.
December's podcast has more from Solace and Emmanuel Café Church, as well as news from the Mission21 conference in Bath. You can also hear a longer interview with Graham Cray at Mission21 in our podcast extra.

From generation to generation
Fresh expressions of church are for all generations, from pre-school children and their families to the 'Jagger generation' (Old Mick is a pensioner now!) and every possible local combination. But it is particularly good to see older generations blessing God's work among younger ones.

The Methodist chapel on Polzeath beach had just four members left – the longest serving being 90 and 85 years old – when the suggestion was made that the chapel be developed as a fresh expression for the surfer community who flocked to that beach most of the year. It took them a whole thirty seconds to agree to the idea, and then to actively bless the work as it took shape as Tubestation.

A group of senior members of a Women's Institute, many in their eighties, once told me that they were worried that none of their grandchildren ever came to church. 'Do you think they would ever come to a church like ours?' they asked. When I replied that I did not think they would, they asked what could be done? There is now a monthly, all age fresh expression of church in the barn where we were meeting.

In Luke, chapter one, there is a lovely example of this cross-generational blessing when Elizabeth, 'in her old age', greeted her relative Mary, who was probably about fifteen, with wonderful Holy Spirit inspired word of praise and encouragement. 'Blessed are you'. Elizabeth thanks God for something which, she could not yet see, which would take place through some one else, and which still awaited God's fulfilment: namely the kingdom which would come through the child Mary was carrying. Then she encouraged her young relative to continue in faith – believing that the Lord would fulfil his promises.

On of the evidences of God's Spirit at work is when we can rejoice when God does something in the next generation, which we have not seen in our own, and encourage young disciples to trust God's word.

Mary's response, which we call the Magnificat, reminds us all that God's mercy is for those who fear him 'from generation to generation.'
+Graham

You can watch the Tubestation story on expressions: the dvd - 2: changing church in every place.

Christmas is coming...
Christmas is a comin' in. That makes it high time for not one, but two, Advent Beach Hut Calendars – and a Christmas Day sermon by text. Last year, the Beyond group in Brighton and Hove hit the headlines with their seaside variation on the advent calendar. Each night a different beach hut opened their doors to reveal the owner’s interpretation of a favourite Christmas carol.

The seasonal success is being repeated on the Sussex seafront this year – and, for the first time, in Bridlington. Pioneer minister Ben Norton, of XY Church for Men, is using one beach hut and 24 different local community groups and individuals to tell the Good News of Christmas.

Revd Matt Ward of Leeds University's Emmanuel Café Church has also been in festive frame of mind and prepared a Christmas Day sermon to send to Café Church student regulars by text. Read the full story in our Christmas Day sermon media release.

Share
Fresh expressions are for all generations, both young and old. This is echoed in specific pages in the guide part of Share.

Fresh expressions for under 5s and their families contains four examples of fresh expressions for this age group, including a write-up of the soft play centre, The Wesley Playhouse, which will feature in the January Fresh Expressions podcast. There are hints, tips and principles for people working with this age group and a list of suggested resources.

Children's fresh expressions contains two examples for this age group, including a Messy Church in Sheffield. Again, there are words of advice and a list of resources.

Finally, there's a page called Fresh expressions for older people which has write-ups of three
examples, a 'Things to bear in mind' section (with helpful statistics) and a list of helpful resources.

you can subscribe to the Fresh Expressions monthly e-news via contact@freshexpressions.org.uk

The Trappist Hallelujah Chorus

Wonderful



Ht Googling God and
The Vicars Wife

if the clip doesn't appear, try this link.

Creationist Christmas Cards

HT Steve Borthwick, who has more.

Arrest on the flight to Egypt

Inspired by the UK Border Agency Christmas Card, Colin Alsbury has produced this, which is an early contender for the design for next years Home Office Christmas Card. Mary and Joseph flee to England, WWUKBA do?

However, it may fall foul of the unwritten policy of not having any references to Christmas on political Christmas cards.

Update: Ekklesia have a new version of the UK Border Agency Christmas Card.

Deliver us from Yeovil*

I note with profound sadness that a fellow blogger has used his/her/its public profile to cast aspersions on the good name of my home town. I can't for the life of me see why.

Given the normal style of Thomas Hardy's novels (think Ian McEwan without the upbeat optimism), siting his memorial plaque between a parking meter and a dustbin seems quite appropriate.

Hardy enthusiasts should count themselves lucky, Trevor Peacock, Ian Botham and Paddy Ashdown are all still in the queue. I guess being alive might be a problem for a memorial plaque in their cases.

Personally, I find the row of 5 urban objects quite artistic, in a slightly-down-at-heel-market-town sort of way. Given the snow forecast, those of you in the SE might be gazing longingly at that gritting bin. Hands off!

Photo: Martin Pakes, Crewkerne.

*I'm told this was an amendment to the Lords Prayer introduced by the good people of Sherborne, a royalist stronghold 5 miles East of here, across the Somerset/Dorset border. If anyone can confirm/deny the truth of this rumour, that would be helpful. This year we celebrated 1100 years since the ecclesiastical iron curtain that is a diocesan boundary came down between Bath and Wells and Salisbury Diocese. However I note with distress that several of our local people still make a pilgrimage to Sherborne Abbey for their crib and carol services. Perhaps I need to disguise myself and go spy out what they're doing right.

Irish Evangelical Alliance and Civil Partnerships

I normally avoid this sort of thing because, unlike certain sections of the Anglican communion, I'm not thinking about sex every 7 seconds. More female leaders, that's what we need.... sorry, I'll avoid that tangent for now. But this seemed worthy of note: the Irish Evangelical Alliance has recently issued a document on its response to civil partnership legislation in Ireland. Things are different over there, but I was struck by this summary on Zoomtard:

We endorse the Civil Union legislation as it stands because as evangelical Christians we recognise that we have no automatic rights to have our Biblical beliefs enacted in law. In a pluralistic society, tolerance is a two-way street. We can not demand and protect our right to religious expression and simultaneously oppose the rights of others to form significant relationships.

In a follow up post, Kevin writes
do not mistake that the EAI’s support of civil legislation and the associated extension of rights to these couples as some kind of woolly-headed rejection of Christian orthodoxy. It is not a complex idea to hold that we can wholeheartedly believe what we believe and not expect others to agree and simultaneously want to fight for the rights of people who do not agree with us.

In a way this is an easier position to come to for Irish evangelicals, because they're not a big group, and probably don't wield a massive amount of influence. At the same time, should your theology be determined by how much power and influence you have...? I guess if you have some influence and weight in society you need a theology and set of principles for how you use it.

this document is not a caving in to contemporary pressure. It is a deep theological reflection on how to live as a group of Christians in a land where plenty of people disagree with us.

"how to live as a group of Christians in a land where plenty of people disagree with us." Sounds like a pretty good place to start. You may not agree with their conclusions, but recognising that, in a pluralist society, maybe we can't just draw a straight line from the Bible to the statute book and say 'here I stand, I can do no other'. We can do other - see yesterdays post on John the Baptist for a start.

50% of UK Christian? That would be nice. Or would it?

A trailer for some research being published in January was released this morning by the National Centre for Social Research. It's a comparison of religious attitudes in the UK and US, and leads with the finding that people defining themselves as Christian has declined from 66% to 50% since 1983. Telegraph report here.

Some of the findings.
· Seven in ten (70%) Americans are religious, in that they identify with a particular religion, believe in God and attend religious services. This compares with just a quarter (26%) of people in Britain.

· Three in ten people (31%) in Britain are not religious: they do not identify with a religion, don’t believe in God and don’t attend religious services. This compares with just four in every hundred (4%) Americans.

· Just over a third (36%) of people in Britain and a quarter (24%) of Americans have practices and beliefs that lie somewhere in between. These people – the ‘fuzzy faithful’ – identify with a religion, believe in God or attend services, but not all three.

There's also some bullet points on church and society:
· In Britain, four in five (79%) people think it provides comfort in times of trouble, as do 95% of Americans.

· The majority of people in both countries are keen to maintain a separation of religion and state. For example two thirds (67% in Britain and 66% in the US) think religious leaders should not try to influence government decision-making.
· Nearly three quarters (73%) of people in Britain and two thirds (66%) of Americans think people with strong religious beliefs are often too intolerant of others.

The paper is based on the 2008 Social Attitudes survey in the UK, but those results don't appear to be online, unless anyone is better on Google than me?

George Pitcher has responded in the Telegraph
Nick Baines, who likes the reporting (shock! horror!) and wonders if the NSS would have said the same thing whatever the figures were. The answer is possibly yes.
Church Times report, with a nice table summing things up. Statistical table, as opposed to a talking piece of furniture.

comments:
1. This sounds about right: the three groups of faithful, fuzzy and agnostic/atheist is quite a good way to characterise it. I think about 15-20% of children are currently baptised in a church, which if you exclude the churches which don't practice infant baptism, looks fairly close to these findings.

2. Identification is lagging behind reality, which continues to pose the question of Christendom institutions (established church, bishops in the Lords, etc.) and their place in a post-Christendom society. At the same time there are quite a few people who want a church that they don't go to.

3. That last bullet point needs heeding, though one suspects that an intolerant religious person makes a better news story than a loving one, just as an actual crime makes a better story than a night when everyone keeps the law. Sadly the bigoted Christian is a staple news story, and this is not all the medias doing, it wouldn't be a story if they didn't actually exist.

4. 26% of people who believe in God, attend religious services and identify with a particular faith is a fairly sizeable chunk of society. That doesn't entitle it to privileges, but I'm struggling to think of another voluntary activity which comes close to that, no doubt commenters will enlighten me.

5. There's a challenge for parents, and churches equipping parents to pass on their faith to their children (who, of course, will make their own decision anyway...)
“Two non-religious parents successfully transmit their lack of religion. Two religious parents have roughly a 50/50 chance of passing on the faith. One religious parent does only half as well as two together.” It also means that any strategy for the future of the church which is simply based on sitting there and waiting for stuff to happen is doomed to failure. The question is not whether to change, but how.

John the Baptist, Work Consultant

Most workplaces have their own moral grey areas. Our biggest local employer is Westland Helicopters, or Agusta Westland as they're now known, having been bought up by an Italian company. They make transport helicopters, as well as the Apache gunship- well known both to Palestinians (on the receiving end of those owned by the Israeli army) and the UK forces in Afghanistan (which is where the Yeovil-made ones are deployed). Judging by the latest news, there could be plenty of work for Westlands in the next few years.

Some of the folk I know who work there sometimes wrestle with this. Some are working on non-military helicopters, which means they're not directly involved with the Apache, though they still work for a company which prospers by selling machines which are designed to kill people. Some of the end uses are perhaps more difficult to justify than others.

How big a problem is that? WWJD? Here's John the Baptist in Luke 3
12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized. "Teacher," they asked, "what should we do?"
13 "Don't collect any more than you are required to," John told them.
14 Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?"
John replied, "Don't force people to give you money. Don't bring false charges against people. Be happy with your pay."

Being a tax collector wasn't an occupation for the morally pure. Working for the occupying Roman power collecting money for them from your fellow Jews, and creaming a bit off the top for your own enrichment. A profiteering collaborator, they might have got on well with the French Vichy administration during WW2. The soldiers were possibly the enforcers for the tax collectors.

This caught me by surprise. Because I'd have expected someone as rigorous and demanding as John the Baptist to tell them to quit their jobs and do something more pleasing to God. But he doesn't. A baptised, penitent, honest tax collector/soldier can serve God where they are by living an upright life within the parameters set by the job. Does that apply to Apache gunships too? What about other weapons systems?

This of course raises a host of issues - there must be a point where you have to bail out, but then people like Schindler would have never achieved what they did without remaining in the system. There's also the question of when and how you try to reform the system itself, and a focus purely on individual morality can be quite weak at this point.

But yes, I would rather have a tax collector who doesn't overcharge me, and a criminal system which doesn't exploit its power over the weak. So maybe its better to have good people in bad jobs than to have bad people in bad jobs, which is what you'd get if all the good people quit.

Still processing this one, what do you think?

The Christmas Pudding Hedge

A local family, Mr and Mrs Holley (yes), have just unveiled their yearly Christmas Pudding hedge, just down the road in Yeovil. TV report here (one of those passers by is our childrens worker, Karen), not on Youtube yet though you can find reports on last years hedge.

If you want to know how to make one, the Telegraph has the full details. As far as I'm aware, nobody has yet asked 'do you have planning permission for that', which just shows how enlightened Yeovil people are.

A Seasonal Missage from the UK Border Agency

This is the kind of thing which makes satirists quit.

Phil Ritchie says it so much better than I can. Original source Ekklesia.

Next year's card will be a picture of a CCTV camera with the message 'Mary and Joseph, we know where you are', signed by Mr Herod at the deparment for community cohesion, with a 100 page insert detailing in complicated English how to work out your points score.

Talking of the Borders Agency, you can see video footage of St. Nicholas being turned away from the Yarls Wood detention centre, it sounds like they tried beforehand to arrange it but 'oh yes, what a great idea to brighten things up for the children' wasn't the response recieved back.