Christmas wifi

I wonder how many millions of extra devices will connect to the internet this Christmas. Wifi networks will be challenged to respond to a huge increase in conversations from smart devices, and increasingly intelligent domestic items which can switch themselves on and off from remotely sent commands. All this wifi traffic is unbelievable.

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There will be parents who pray a thank you as their little child marvels in Christmas delights. Prisoners might pray in sorrow at living such a bodged life. Tired carers will call out for strength, as they feel a kind of permanent jet-lag. Southern hemisphere folk will be lying in the sun, thanking God that Christmas falls at such a sensible time of year! We will continue to pray for war torn areas across the world. Think of all that traffic.

Thing is, I can't see any of it. Prayer signals and mobile signals are a mystery, winging their ways through the ether. Huge banks of servers consume about 10% of all the electricity we generate in order to maintain internet flows. God's prayer-net on the other hand has infinite capacity, and can never be overloaded.

But neither unseen communications should be taken for granted. We are becoming incredibly vulnerable to cyber attack, scams, and the like. It wouldn't take much to close down our amazingly complicated communications system ~ and then we couldn't shop, chat, or organise our lives. However, nobody can jam up God's network.

Sometimes, at a crucial moment a laptop will decide it needs to upgrade. It becomes temporarily useless, and then improved, although some things that worked OK before no longer do. We can feel our prayer signal is weak, because we are expecting God to answer in our predetermined way. I've often felt as if banging my head against a brick wall, only to step back in sheer frustration and notice an easy way through a few feet away.

Sometimes our prayers are 'unanswered' because we are pointing in the wrong direction. I remember some advice which has helped me over the years. When feeling frustrated or confused, stop. Collect yourself, and offer a simple prayer. Then take notice of new things that occur to you.

If you have a wifi gadget for Christmas, I hope it works well and doesn't drive you Christmad!? Far more important, whatever your circumstances, do enjoy God's totally free prayer network. It's available to everyone he created. It never jams up, upgrades, or loses signal. Prayer operates in both directions, and can challenge us to see things in a new light. In my experience regular use is best.

Enjoy your Christmas celebrations, and new perspectives in the year ahead.

Helping hands, or slave drivers?

Paperless?
For years it's been argued that books will disappear, and we'll all be watching screens. Recent decades have shown the reverse as printers, and photocopiers have become faster producers of paper. Book sales are up too.

However there's a marked change: online newspapers are replacing printed copy; many no longer have paper bills or statements; and increasingly people turn up to meetings with just a laptop or smartphone. I expect the last example is because they want to catch up with the latest cricket score or fashion during boring parts.

I encourage the use of smartphones during Café Church, so Biblical references can be checked [or the cricket etc.]! The risk is that the odd work email will catch attention, and before we know it our sabbath rest has disappeared.

Help or hindrance?
Most inventions or discoveries present us with choice: we can use explosives to fracture enormous lumps of stone to be carved into amazing architectural designs, or we can propel lumps of metal into each other; through nuclear scans we can understand inner workings of the body, or destroy cities in seconds; and silicon chips can offer us endless depths of information and social contact, or invade our privacy and pollute our minds.

It's always our choice. Who put that smartphone in your pocket so it can get your attention at any time: a permanent last in, first served recipe for chaos? Who let boundaries between work and rest be opened up? Who allowed a help to become a hindrance? It's a choice.

Genesis
The band has produced some great music, particularly when Phil Collins was a member, but I have to be in the right mood to listen loud. The book opens up the Old Testament, and always has wisdom to impart. When God creates the world, and moves from the basics of light, water, and soil to the peak of creation in mankind, he blesses them, and says, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth [Genesis chapter 1, verse 28 or https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis+1.28&version=NRSVA].

It's a gift of responsibility for our own species, and for the living world. We are custodians of creation, and that presents us with countless choices. Here's one; is it better to milk cows three times a day, rather than twice? When I've had conversations with the dairy community, whom I respect greatly [and for whom life is pretty tough at the moment with ridiculously low milk prices] I listen to the way they answer. If cows are seen merely as a resource to be exploited, a product, then I think x3 is merely for profit. If on the other hand the welfare of the herd is mentioned, then I see a true husbandman privileged to be working in God's beautiful world.

Let's enjoy the choices we have, and choose wisely.  

Helping hands, or slave drivers?

Paperless?
For years it's been argued that books will disappear, and we'll all be watching screens. Recent decades have shown the reverse as printers, and photocopiers have become faster producers of paper. Book sales are up too.

However there's a marked change: online newspapers are replacing printed copy; many no longer have paper bills or statements; and increasingly people turn up to meetings with just a laptop or smartphone. I expect the last example is because they want to catch up with the latest cricket score or fashion during boring parts.

I encourage the use of smartphones during Café Church, so Biblical references can be checked [or the cricket etc.]! The risk is that the odd work email will catch attention, and before we know it our sabbath rest has disappeared.

Help or hindrance?
Most inventions or discoveries present us with choice: we can use explosives to fracture enormous lumps of stone to be carved into amazing architectural designs, or we can propel lumps of metal into each other; through nuclear scans we can understand inner workings of the body, or destroy cities in seconds; and silicon chips can offer us endless depths of information and social contact, or invade our privacy and pollute our minds.

It's always our choice. Who put that smartphone in your pocket so it can get your attention at any time: a permanent last in, first served recipe for chaos? Who let boundaries between work and rest be opened up? Who allowed a help to become a hindrance? It's a choice.

Genesis
The band has produced some great music, particularly when Phil Collins was a member, but I have to be in the right mood to listen loud. The book opens up the Old Testament, and always has wisdom to impart. When God creates the world, and moves from the basics of light, water, and soil to the peak of creation in mankind, he blesses them, and says, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth [Genesis chapter 1, verse 28 or https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis+1.28&version=NRSVA].

It's a gift of responsibility for our own species, and for the living world. We are custodians of creation, and that presents us with countless choices. Here's one; is it better to milk cows three times a day, rather than twice? When I've had conversations with the dairy community, whom I respect greatly [and for whom life is pretty tough at the moment with ridiculously low milk prices] I listen to the way they answer. If cows are seen merely as a resource to be exploited, a product, then I think x3 is merely for profit. If on the other hand the welfare of the herd is mentioned, then I see a true husbandman privileged to be working in God's beautiful world.

Let's enjoy the choices we have, and choose wisely.  

Why are roots important?

Do roots hold us back?
A podcast gave me some wisdom: when a firm is taken over, previous history goes out the window. There will be pruning, and new patterns for a fresh start in a competitive market. Or if you're [Sir] Philip it might be milking to finance your latest yacht! Sometimes mistakes are made when history is ignored.

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Over the years many have told me of their traumatic start in life. For some, it was when they discovered that they weren't really wanted; for others, that they have been manipulated. Surely these roots in personal history hold us back. We can feel trapped by our past.

So why are roots important?
They help us with long term evolution. If we have felt fossilised by our past, we can be determined to make sure our successors are free. Otherwise we make the same mistakes all over again, and unfortunately I've seen that too often.

Weymouth and Portland used to be the second highest borough in the country for unwanted teenage pregnancies, for unwanted children. A huge effort has changed that through educational opportunity, empowerment, and aspiration. The pattern which had repeated itself from one generation to the next is no longer so strong. A fantastic shout of thanks to all involved for such amazing good news.

And then of course there is the staggeringly good news of peace. Europe, from ancient history until last century, has been in a state of rolling warfare, culminating in such ghastly and intense strife that it spilt across the rest of the world twice over. We need our roots to make sure we never take peace for granted, and that we do all in our power to avoid warfare.

Middle Eastenders
The Old Testament makes up 3/4 of the Bible, and covers the time before Jesus birth. Why is it important? It spans thousands of years, and helps us understand how nomadic tribes chasing good pasture settled down and learned to share. We witness the birth of the first nation state Israel, which was called to be a beacon role model for others.

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Unfortunately the accounts are not always pretty. There are family squabbles, tribal rivalries, and unbridled nationalism. Every story line in the long running Eastenders can be found in the Old Testament. Yet there are huge successes too: an exiled community without any roots but faith in one true God rediscovers its identity. It's not about buildings, infrastructure, and geography ~ no it's about God. When they put him first everything else falls into place.

Laws that liberate
It's understandable to retaliate for an injustice, but if it's disproportionate then it's likely to trigger a backlash ~ and so an endless cycle of violence is born. The Old Testament records some of the first crude laws: an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. Justice was to be proportionate and then a line should be drawn. Crude, but an effective check to endless feuds.

Later the Ten Commandments emerge: respect above all for God, for ourselves, and for neighbours. They speak volumes today. We need these living roots today.

Fun, fashion, and Go-Pokémon

We're having plenty of fun
There's plenty of fun in the air, even if politics, terrorism, and pollution fill the headlines. Robot Wars is back, in which amazingly destructive machines take each other on while an audience watches. Sir-Killalot has had an upgrade.

www.radiotimes.com

I heard it proposed that a new member of the robot family be created: Worryalot, which would flail arms around in a noisy random way, so it would be difficult to know how to attack it.

St Andrew's Church lychgate has around a hundred visitors a day, collecting Go-Pokémon currency. The smartphone game's launch last month has been amazingly successful, with company shares shooting up 35%. Avatars (cartoon figures) are superimposed onto a camera view, so when visitors pick up the lychgate on their mobiles they see goodies waiting to be collected. These in turn make purchases possible. The Church is a gym, and has already changed hands a few times.

It's all good fun, but I'll come back to Pokémon in a moment.

Fashions are often a bit daft

So, every answer to a question has to begin with 'so', and trousers are no good unless ripped at the knee. I'm grateful it's not the eighteenth century, when men were expected to wear fine powdered wigs and makeup. Cars aren't really up to scratch unless they have two exhaust pipes, although I thought this one a bit OTT.

www.carthrottle.com

It's all a bit of fun, and gives us a place on life's timeline. Just look back through any photo album, and it all feels very dated. Most fashions come around again a few decades later, but I've noticed 70's flared trousers have not returned ~ good thing too, because I was always getting mine caught in my bicycle chain.

And back to Go-Pokémon
I think it's an amazingly important development, which attaches a new dimension to fun. Jesus' first miracle was at a wedding, where he turned large quantities of water into high quality wine ~ that would have increased the fun alongside a great celebration of love. Fun + love is a good combination.

Millions across the world are being enticed by Go-Pokémon to leave the loneliness of a computer screen, and go outside to play the game where they will meet like-minded people. Direct, rather than virtual conversations are springing up. Fresh air, exercise, noticing the environment, and most of all personal encounter are replacing isolation in a stuffy darkened bedroom. Fun + isolation -> fun + companionship.

The whole debate about drug cheats and the Rio Olympic Games is an important Go-Pokémon moment. The key is to replace fun + damaged distorted bodies -> fun + healthy competition. What goes with fun is really important.

If a stag do is only about totally humiliating a future husband, fun + someone else's expense, it can leave scars that might last a lifetime. However a great do with plenty of leg-pulling, the companionship of friends, and introducing families that's brilliant.

Jesus invited us to maximise fun by connecting it to all that makes life worthwhile, to anything that brings abundance.

  

Guns, pins, grace, and thanks

In recent weeks some evil has shown its face in Britain. I believe we should be humble and wise in our response. 

Often the media comments about America's gun culture and the resulting mass murders, but what if Jo Cox's killer had an automatic weapon? Many could so easily have been killed, instead of one brave man who was injured in her defence. Some have seen the Brexit vote and rhetoric leading up to it as permission to be abusive to those different from themselves. They are totally mistaken.

At the heart of Christian teaching is a generosity of spirit to others, and to ourselves. Jesus reinforced the command that we should love others, as we love ourselves. He focused it even more, by telling us we should love as he loves us.

I was taken by the idea of wearing a 'place of safety pin' on my lapel, as a sign that I enjoy the company of others regardless of their circumstances. As an area welcoming many holiday makers, our hospitality really counts. You and I are unlikely to play a significant part in the evolution of national politics (unless there's a snap election), but we can and should make a difference locally.

Humility, wisdom, and grace will help us see others' points of view. The in or out choice threw up odd results, so Weymouth and Portland voted out by a two thirds majority, whereas Dorchester voted evenly. It's staggering that nobody had bothered (apart from the Bank of England) to plan for a Brexit, that every single promise made was disowned in days, and that such momentous change should be triggered by just a 2% majority.

We need grace to acknowledge important truths on both sides of the question. When challenged about his allegiance to God or the emperor, Jesus famously took a coin and pointed out that it had two faces. He had responsibilities to both. We must maintain warm relationships with our fellow Europeans, and we must do all we can to empower the rising generation in Britain. After all the vote was primarily about the world they will inherit, and the vast majority of young people wanted to remain part of the EU. Many of them feel betrayed by older generations.

And lastly, and perhaps most importantly we should remember the huge cost 100 years ago in wasted young lives at the Somme and elsewhere. Thousands died fighting for freedom, and we must honour their memory. May we give thanks for having choice, for peace in Europe, for being rich in so many ways ~ we must never take these for granted.

Liberating quicker politics?

I'm intrigued, and wonder if democracy is speeding up. After all, a general election every five years [with a sprinkling of local and European elections in between] is not much opportunity to express a view.

There are so many other signals we can give: signing a Parliamentary petition, or expressing views on social media, or even good old fashioned letters. As newspapers move towards an electronic platform [the Independent no longer appears on paper], they are becoming responsive. Many articles end with an invitation for feedback; sometimes there are thousands of contributions.

I recently cycled to Upwey [International] Railway Station, took the train to Salisbury changing at Southampton, and then cycled around the corner to St Paul's Church Centre for an excellent training day considering the vital part autists can play in Church life. 

Over coffee I had a fascinating conversation with the Chancellor of Salisbury Cathedral, who a couple of years ago taught me about keeping bees. He agreed that UK politics has become very responsive to opinion, and also unfortunately to celebrity. Jesus refused to become a celebrity.

So for example, the government announced earlier this year that it was going to abolish rules concerning the welfare of animals. Without a debate in parliament, or any other traditional democratic activity that I could pick up, they changed their minds. There must have been a huge outcry that the high standards we have come to expect for the care of livestock was in jeopardy.

Why am I just talking politics when many have expressed to me that they are glad the referendum is over, because they are fed up with endless almost entirely negative commentary? Jesus said that 'true disciples will know the truth, and the truth will set them free' [John 8.31b-32].

Recent debate has not been liberating, but tiresome fear tactics, ego trips, or distortion of the truth by taking it out of context. If you take something I've said or written out of context you'll distort it. Same goes for any of us.

Perhaps our fine mother of parliaments needs an overhaul. It's based on an adversarial system, rather than one of consensus. Jesus was politically very shrewd, and I'm sure he would encourage government to take the truth more seriously for the liberation of all citizens.

Come to think of it, that's no bad formula for every level of society. Here's to liberation rather than tedium, and to reality rather celebrity.