The Plinth Priest Cometh!

Yesterday I was privileged enough to be present in Trafalgar Square for Revd Ken Chalmers' star turn on the fourth plinth.

Strangely, Ken was sandwiched between a dancing cow ("Meat is Murder!") and a stripping transvestite (HIV awareness, apparently).

Ken led a worship service that reflected on the sharing of meals in three parts. From the base of the plinth we heard Bible readings telling three different stories of Jesus sharing food with friends and followers:

The feeding of the five thousand (John 6:1-14)
The last supper (Matthew 26:26-30), and
Breakfast on the beach (John 21:9-14).

The last of these was read by the fabulous Angela Shier-Jones.

Ken reflected on these readings and after each reflection visitors and passers-by were invited to share in Holy Communion, presided over by Revd Martin Turner, of Westminster Central Hall fame.




For me it was about challenging perceptions of what church, what worship is and who worship is for. For thousands of years, art has been central to much of how Christians express and explore our faith and, in my opinion, Ken's appearance on the fourth plinth should be counted among such works of art.


It was a wonderful act of worship and I'm grateful to Ken for all his hard work in getting it off the ground (literally). But he was also supported by a fantastic crew from his own church and around Methodism.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

PS. As a strange side-story, whilst waiting for the action to begin, I was chatted-up by a chap who appeared to be a Romanian gigolo....a most strange experience...

All photos are taken by me, copyright Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes.

The coolest arts project ever!

My friend and colleague Dave Webster has alerted me to the most fantastic community arts project ever.

You may know Dave from such hits as the Methodist Church website, the President and Vice President's Blog and the online Methodist art collection gallery. But on top of all the spectacular webby things he does for the Methodist Church, he really is a very creative soul. He was telling me the other day about Make a Scene, a project he and his partner Kate are running at the Camberwell Arts festival all this week.

From 20 - 28 June, Kate & Dave are inviting people to come and make a scene somewhere in Camberwell using nothing but items purchased from pound shops. And if you really can't spare the pound, they're giving stuff away free. People are encouraged to photograph their creations and email the pics to info@camberwellarts.org.uk with a story or caption, to be featured on the website.

The pics here are their own creations, but there are already some others online. I'm hoping Dave will do a little guest post here after the festival, telling us more about it.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A lovely long weekend in Guernsey

A couple of weeks ago myself, hubby and some mates skived off work early and flew over to the beautiful Island of Guernsey for the wedding of Claire and Jim (below). It was fab to be with my uni mates again to do a spot of reminiscing and catch up on the latest.

The day before the wedding Brad & Jim decided that it was absolutely essential to do a spot of sand-castle building. Armed with a bucket and spade from the hotel reception (brilliant hotel) they constructed a rather impressive fort, complete with moat, some kind of rope reclaimed from the sea and some scabby bits of crab (boys!). And when that one was washed away? Well, they just started again!

The next day started with kayaking in the bay - a special activity arranged by the bride and groom for the wedding guests. On the way there, one of the blokes remarked that it was a rather cunning ruse to get all the men down to the pub without the women....then he spotted me and I apparently became an honorary man. It was fab. We were told that 'you really shouldn't get wet' and 'it's quite difficult to fall out of a kayak'. Clearly not that difficult. Mind you, it might have had something to do with the man standing on my kayak, trying to get back to his own one.

The wedding in the afternoon was lovely. It was in a beautiful church, the hymns were familiar to many and the message given by the vicar was accessible and touching. Claire and Jim are a wonderful couple and wonderful friends and it was great to share their day.

The evening celebrations were completely fab, with good food, nice wine and cheesy music galore. We danced our socks off and met some really cool people. But none could rival Alice for dancing! A gorgeous girl with some funky moves!

All in all, a very happy weekend!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Playing catch up

The last few weeks have been rather busy to say the least, so over the next day or so I'll be playing blogger catch-up... watch this space!

xxxxxxxxxx

Euro elections frenzy!

Well, that might be over-egging it a bit, but it seems that everywhere I turn someone is talking about the upcoming European elections and the threat of the BNP gaining votes. Quite often it's a Christian spokesperson, but perhaps that's just symptomatic of the world I move in. Here's a quick run-down of some of the statements and comments I've noticed (admittedly some of them I helped to issue)...

Church dismisses BNP election posters
http://methodist.org.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=opentogod.newsDetail&newsid=337

Churches urged to take action ahead of European elections
http://methodist.org.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=opentogod.newsDetail&newsid=341

Church leaders in Lincolnshire speak out against the BNP
http://www.lgmethodistdistrict.org.uk/district/default.asp

Church leaders in East Anglia have also made a statement, commenting that 'Christ calls us to love our neighbours as ourselves and in this forthcoming election we believe it is right to be vigilant about any party or individual candidate seeking to use people’s fears for their own well-being to stir racial or religious hatred'. (no weblink available)

Statement from Church leaders: vote next week, vote positively
http://methodist.org.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=opentogod.newsDetail&newsid=350

The BNP cannot pick and choose the laws it will obey
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/article6382697.ece

Now for a confession. I have never been very enthused by voting at election time. Yes, I'm aware that women fought and died for my right to vote and am thus very ashamed to admit that I forgot to vote in the last general election. May shame be heaped upon me. BUT I have firmly resolved to give a damn in future and to commit to use my votes wisely. My friends and colleagues have suitably shamed and encouraged me to start taking democracy seriously.

So, in the words of Methodist, URC and Baptist Church leaders: vote next week, use your vote positively for the values and interests you believe in.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

A priest might not know how to dance...

A different take on the iPod ad. Thanks to Chris Aldous for the Facebook link on this one!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Church leaders in Lincs speak out against BNP

Should have blogged about this last week, but with European elections looming and mainstream political parties losing public support, it's more important than ever.

Church leaders in Lincolnshire published this joint statement asserting that the policies and __ of the BNP are completely inconsistent with the teaching and example of Jesus Christ.

The leaders represent more than 50,000 Christians in Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire across the Salvation Army, Methodist, Anglican, Catholic, Baptist, Independent and United Reformed Churches.

They said; "We cannot stand by when groups and individuals are maligned, misrepresented and singled out for verbal or even physical abuse.

"In a democracy it is even more alarming when prejudices founded upon country of origin, race or religion become part of a political platform, and are offered to the electorate for endorsement."

Amen.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Today I am silent. I do not want to speak

My close friend Katie has entered the world of blogging! But her blog is different from any I have seen.

Zachary's Zoo is a window into an autistic brain. Katie's son Zac is nearly 8 years old and severely autistic. This blog is her attempt to get inside Zac's amazing brain and share what he is seeing, thinking, feeling. Zac has very little language of his own, so Katie is mostly saying what she thinks he might say, if he could.

Katie & her husband Ale are two of my closest friends and, at the risk of being gushy, I don't think Zac could ever want for more persistent, patient and loving parents. Because of their strength and commitment they have recently managed to get him a place in a school for children with severe learning difficulties - a major breakthrough in an underfunded and restricted education system.

Check out the blog and take a step into Zac's world....

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Katie and Peter: the end of plastic fantastic?

I don't know why, but I'm really sad about the news that Peter Andre and Katie Price (aka Jordan) are splitting up. I have no specific reason to be - I am more guilty than most of mocking their crazy media presence. I did once attempt to watch their chat show Jordan and Peter, but it was so appallingly ridiculous I just couldn't stomach it.

I commented yesterday to my friend Ale that it seemed to be the end of a marriage of convenience, but thinking about it now I've changed my mind.

It seems to me that their coupling, rather being a media stunt to revive tired careers, had something really quite genuine about it. Now, you can't deny that it's done wonders for their media profiles - the music, book deals, TV shows, magazine profiles - but I think that's more to do with their completely shameless openness about every element of their lives, than anything else. In fact, there has been so little left to the imagination, that you could hardly accuse them of hidden agendas. They are a voyeur's dream. On one hand they seem too flawless, too plastic, too perfectly built, but on the other they have exposed themselves (quite literally), sparing no gory detail. Most celebrity marriages leave at least something to the imagination!

You can't deny that they've financially profited from their relationship, but the romantic in me says that's about the nature of their relationship, less than the drive to make money. They have lived their lives so openly that you can't help but be fascinated. But perhaps I'm being too naive! One way or another, it seems to be the end of a very short but intense celebrity era.

xxxxxxxxxx

Madonna foreswears celebrity religion; converts to Methodism

http://newsbiscuit.com/2009/05/01/madonna-foreswears-celebrity-religion-converts-to-methodism/

‘That Kabbalah sect kept droning on about how life was one big mysterious journey into the unknowable. I’m a single mother of three; I haven’t got time for all that ‘unknowable’ s**t. To be frank, I’ve had it up to here with those premium rate mystics; give me a decent Wesley hymn and a good solid working party report any day.’

She should be so lucky. Oh no, wait that's Kylie...we'll get her too. All in good time...

Brought to you by the good people at NewsBiscuit: The news before it happens.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Great Methodist story from East Anglia

Methodist church in drive to relate to modern world

Okay, I know it's a week old, but I'm still trying to catch up on emails from when I was away and found this little gem.

xxxxxxxxx

Silly cat videos never fail to amuse me

This one nearly had me crying with laughter.

Yes I am silly.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Most interesting articles of the day....

Well, to me anyway. If I waited 'til I had time to blog about them each individually it would never happen (hence why my blog is so sporadic).

So these are what most caught my attention in the daily newspaper trawl...

Archbishop calls for Anglican unity

Rumours of God's return are greatly exaggerated

Birth control for men in one injection

Note to self

'I didn't know when I married him that my husband had a mental illness'

Will try to make time for some proper blogging soon...

xxxxxxxx

My first sermon

Thanks to all those who prayed for me when I preached my first sermon at our All Age servie at the end of March.

The theme was the Word of God and what it means to speak of Jesus as 'The Word'.

So, here it is. All feedback welcome....

Powered by Podbean.com

xxxxxxxxxxxx

We're in the Telegraph!!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/letters/5182652/Council-budgets-can-easily-be-trimmed-without-endangering-essential-services.html

Tomorrow the House of Lords will be debating Government proposals to double stakes and prizes on Category C and D gaming machines.

An alliance of 9 UK Christian organizations (including the Church of England and the Salvation Army) are calling on the Government to reject these proposals. If the proposals are accepted the prize limit on pub fruit machines will be higher than weekly benefit levels, at a time when many families will be struggling to make ends meet.

The campaign’s website is www.fruitless.org.uk and our recent press releases are here: http://methodist.org.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=opentogod.newsDetail&newsid=333 and here: http://methodist.org.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=opentogod.newsDetail&newsid=338.

Let's hope the Lords see sense on this one....

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
_________

Churches urged to take action ahead of European elections

Churches urged to take action ahead of European elections

• Election pack highlights BNP threat

On 4 June 2009 every adult in the UK will have the opportunity to vote in the European Parliament Elections. There will also be some English County Council elections.

A briefing from the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church explains the importance of citizenship and participating in democratic processes.
____________

Check it out & get involved here.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The sound of happiness

Just trying out a fantastic audio blogging service hosted by podbean.com. Allows me to embed an audioplayer in my blog, but also means I have a dedicated audioblog here.

Shouldn't be so excited about such a geeky thing, but this really is cool.

Now all I have to do is produce some audio worth listening to....


Powered by Podbean.com

Disabled presenter ‘scares children’

From today's Independent:

Disparaging comments by adults about a children’s presenter have led to an angry backlash in support of Cerrie Burnell, the 29-year-old CBeebies host who was born missing the lower section of her right arm. One man said that he would stop his daughter from watching the BBC children’s channel because Burnell would give his child nightmares.

(See hyperlink for full story.)

This story makes me really sad. It's parents, not children who are making complaints about this presenter being given air time. Never mind the fact that she's a fantastic role model for disabled kids, she's also a bloody good children's TV presenter.

My 5-year-old friend Luca is completely comfortable watching Cerrie Burnell on CBeebies, and it's good for him to see that she's just as much a human being as anyone else and is a skilled presenter for children on one of the few channels to still offer decent children's TV.

Parents like the one who commented “I didn’t want to let my children watch the filler bits on The Bedtime Hour last night because I know it would have played on my eldest daughter’s mind and possibly caused sleep problems,” are symptomatic of society's rejection of anything that can be perceived as 'other' or 'different'.

Why can't they just simply explain to their children the nature of Ms Burnell's disability and that it is not something frightening? These children are being poisoned by their parent's prejudices.

Some days I wish people would just wake up and live in the real world.

xxxxxxxxxxx

Cindy McCain Claims She’s ‘Just Like Any Other Female Human’

Very funny

xxxxxxxxxx
Cindy McCain Claims She�s �Just Like Any Other Female Human�

Some Christians make me think decidedly unChristian thoughts...

Atheist adverts reported to industry watchdog
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article5478036.ece

Stephen Green and Christian voice are an embarrassment to Christianity - they don't represent me by any stretch of the imagination. What a wonderfully, tolerant, engaging and loving image they must be seeking to project...

xxxxxxxxxxxxx