ARCADIA: Stoppard’s supreme achievement
Having been with Rachel to see the recent London revival of Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia a couple ofweeks ago, I’ve hardly been able to stop thinking about it. When it first came out in 1992/3, first at the National and then transferred to the West End, I couldn’t get enough of it then and saw it […]
Prophetic motorway signs – Habakkuk 2 in summary
Hard to read, isn’t it? If it was a real motorway sign, just think of the accidents it would cause as people tried to work out what it said. But if you could get up close and personal, you’d see that this is in fact the entire response that God gives to Habakkuk’s second complaint […]
Turkish Despatches – June 09 5: Having enemies, loving enemies
After lunch yesterday, and before our next meeting, one of my Turkish friends and I wandered through the mayhem of Beşiktaş’ backstreets. In the middle of the market place is an old Greek Orthodox church (they have a web presence of sorts here). You’d miss it if you didn’t know it was there – the […]
Turkish Despatches June 09 – 4: Photographic Panoramania
I have a bit of a thing about panoramas. So here are a few I’ve compiled this time around. The Mountains near Samandağ (pronounced “Samandar”)
Turkish Despatches June 09 – 3: de Bernières’ Birds without Wings
Appropriately enough, I’ve just finished Louis de Bernières’ Birds Without Wings while here in Turkey. And I have to say that it is quite simply one of the most breathtaking and moving novels I’ve ever read. It’s crafted on an epic scale (600+ pages), and has a fascinating dual focus: at the MICRO level, we […]
Turkish Despatches June 09 – 2: the courage to be known…
This photograph depicts an act of real courage. But of course, it probably doesn’t seem like it at first sight. But this is Turkey. And Christians simply do not share the rights that ordinary Turks enjoy in this society. Worse, though, is the fact that they are not necessarily safe here either. For it was […]
Turkish Despatches – June 09 – 1
Have arrived safely and soundly in Antakya (aka Antioch – or if you follow the NT closely Syrian Antioch as opposed to Pisidian in Antioch, which was in … er… Pisidia, roughly between Antalya and Konya on this map). Only been here for a few hours, but have already experienced: Wonderful Turkish hospitality despite an […]
Annie Leonard’s The Story Of Stuff: a powerful consumerism critique
I know very little about Annie Leonard but she made this video about our rampant consumerism and it is a trenchant must-see. It first came out in 2007 – and is more relevant than ever. A very simple format: it’s essentially a 20 min animation/lecture about the nature of the global systems we thoughtlessly exploit […]
More Habakkuk bits and bobs
Now that the talk on Hab 1:1-11 has been uploaded, here is the map I used. See yesterday’s post for the timeline. Also, note that for various reasons, the film clip played can’t be included on the downloadable version. But if you want to follow that up, it’s taken from the 1991 film Grand Canyon […]
Brief hiatus & Habakkuk timeline
Off for a few days on Wed for speaking at a conference or two – will post details and stuff as and when. But for those who struggled to see the timeline on the screens during my talk on Habakkuk 1 yesterday, here it is.
Another gem from the Stott archive: The Message of Job
Having had the chance to publish John Stott’s 1952 Parochial Evangelism online, back in January, here is another next instalment from the archives. I was sorting out my bookshelves (at last) and came across his little booklet called “Why Do The Innocent Suffer? The Message of Job” (from 1956). Once again Uncle John has given […]
Workplace Sunday antics – some VERY useful resources
Well, well, well. Our workplace ministry team came out in force yesterday to produce a cracker of a day for our Workplace Sunday. Lots of useful stuff there. In particular, the 2 talks were great: Hugh Palmer on “Work in the beginning” in Genesis to Revelation Tim Plyming on “It’s not what you do, it’s […]
