Category: Uncategorized

Over the past couple of weeks, Phil and I have been watching “The Speaker“. (Note: if you haven’t yet seen the last episode, you may wish to skip over this post because spoilers are contained within).

We’ve really enjoyed it – I think it’s made quite compelling watching, seeing a bunch of young people develop their natural talent while trying their hand at various different styles of speaking!

I did highlight for me, though, the fact that public speaking is more an art than a science. Lord Earl Spencer, one of the judges, said that the content of the speech was the most important thing. I completely agree with what he said – if you’ve got nothing to say, then you might as well not say anything! Obviously the delivery is highly important as well, but I’d say the content was primary.

I think the judges made an interesting choice with picking Duncan as the winner. In the three finalists speeches, I think Duncan and Irene were the clear front runners. It seemed to me that Duncan’s speech – while he may have used a better turn of phrase than Irene – wasn’t quite as cogent and coherent.

Irene told a beautiful story which dealt 100% with her experiences in Malawi. In my (humble) opinion, hers was the best of the three. But one thing this does show for me is that there are many different ways of speaking.

As we were watching through the series, I felt like most of the youngsters were able to deliver good speech – even though they may have different strengths / weaknesses (and target audiences). As someone who is considering (well, actually, perhaps at this stage it’s more certain in that) a career in a type of public speaking – it’s been fascinating to look at the different ways they communicated.

Duncan may have won the competition, but I hope the others all go on with their speaking!

Just found this quote in the cover of “Morning Sci-Fi” by Hybrid and I rather like it!

We are the music makers,
and we are the dreamers of the dream.
Wandering by lone sea breakers,
and sitting by desolate streams.
World losers and world forsakers,
for whom the pale moon gleams.
Yet we are the movers and shakers of the world
forever it seems.
— Arthur O’Shaunessey

This weekend has been pretty busy – mainly with Sunday@6 preparation! On Friday night we went out to Fordham for a band practice. It all went pretty well except for my guitar amp deciding that it didn’t want to work. DOH! It was working fine on Thursday night. Fortunately I was able to plug in to someone else’s amp, which served for the practice at least. On the night I borrowed Anne-Marie’s guitar amp (thanks Anne-Marie, if you’re reading!).

On Saturday we basically spent the whole day pottering around, doing various odd jobs and a bit of shopping here and there. Not much to say really! I took my guitar amp in and that should be back within a few days – it’s still under warranty so that’s one good thing at least.

Then on Sunday we went to church in the morning, came back home for lunch, and then headed out to Fordham to setup for Sunday@6. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect – Sunday@6 is a new service, and the emphasis is being more interactive and contemporary to perhaps cater for a different audience than the normal morning service. It wasn’t clear to me how everything was going to work out, and I also didn’t quite know if all the music was going to come together.

However, I felt like it all went really well. I can’t really speak for how other areas went, but the music group all played well together – you would hardly have known it was our first service together! And I even managed to relax a bit, have some fun and sing along with some of the songs, which is unusual for me (normally I’m not able to relax when playing like that).

So it’s very encouraging! Unfortunately Phil and I won’t be able to go to the next service (we’re going to Snape Maltings to see the University of Essex Choir performing Verdi’s Requiem, which I’m very much looking forward to). But I feel very positive about the service, and I feel like perhaps God does want to bless it!

After the service we were able to go for a quick drink with Simon, and we spent some time chatting about a possible Crossring relaunch as well as various other things. It was a good time to catch up!

Aaaanyway, that’s all from me for now…

Well, we had a fairly busy week last week. The bathroom has now been painted, so that’s all done. The main thing that’s left to do is get the flooring in, which we will hopefully be able to do soon. But anyway, I digress: I should talk about the weekend!

On Friday night we stayed in and watched “Ocean’s 13”. It was a much better film than Ocean’s 12 – it hung together much better. I didn’t think it was quite as good as Ocean’s 11, but it was close – not bad for a sequel!

On Saturday we did a bit of shopping in the morning, and then in the afternoon we headed down to London to meet up with Elisa, Alex, Phil P and Esther for Elisa’s birthday meal. We went to Wagamama’s in Covent Garden. It was my first time at a Wagamama’s, and I really enjoyed it! I had a curry which was mild, but absolutely delicious. Highly recommended!

On Sunday we went to church in the morning, and then came back home for lunch. Afterwards we went round to Anne-Marie’s to have a bit of a jamming session (Anne-Marie is learning to play bass guitar, so I took my guitar and Phil took her clarinet). Then we watched another episode of “Life on Mars”. In the evening we went to the Sunday@6 prayer meeting (less than a week to go now! Scary stuff), and then headed back into Wivenhoe for a meal at the Bengal Spice. The meal was as tasty as they always are there, so I can continue to recommend it 😉

So it was a rather pleasant weekend, all in all! This week is shaping up to be less busy – now that the Moore Course has finished and we’re on a break from home group, we don’t have much to do in the evenings. Not that I’m complaining – might give me a bit more of a chance to practice the guitar!

I was meaning to blog about this a few weeks ago but I happened across this article on the BBC news website today and it reminded me.

The BNP are using Jesus’ words in a poster campaign to try and garner support from the Christian community. The exact quote they are using is, “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” (John 15:20). Let’s leave behind the fact that this rather ignores the context (Jesus immediately follows this by saying “If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.”, and the whole thing is set within the context of people being rejected because they follow Christ).

The BNP just seem to be using the same tactic they use with all their other campaigns: fear and paranoia (or, as geeks like to put it, FUD: Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt – what Microsoft like to spread about their competitors. But that’s another story). They bandy about the cry that we are “losing our national identity”. In this case, they claim that we are losing our Christian identity.

Now (to borrow a phrase from Gavin & Stacey) I won’t lie to you – I am a bit concerned about the spread of Islam in this country. But not because it’s somehow eroding our Christian identity and values or what have you.

In my opinion, Christianity should not spread by legislation or force. God’s kingdom is a heavenly kingdom, not made by human hands. Take these words, for example:

Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:25-28)

Which, to me, seems to highlight the problems with the BNP’s approach. On their poster, the BNP conclude with the words “What Would Jesus Do?” (their emphasis). I think we know the answer to that question. And it’s definitely not what the BNP would do.

I just hope that the BNP’s usage of this poster campaign won’t make people think that the Christians in this country actually endorse their message!

Well, Easter is well and gone but for posterity I thought I would post a quick precis of what happened:

Saturday – didn’t actually do much
Sunday – Easter service in the morning. Had big dinner afterwards, necessarily followed by long walk. Watched “The Number One Ladies’ Detective Agency”. Determined to read the original books on strength of the TV series.
Monday – Went down to see Phil’s parents and sister. Had walk. Had dinner. Played games (all sorts). Good fun.
Tuesday – came back home.

So, that was a summary of our Easter.

Couple of other things to mention though. Today was spent doing decorating / gardening. Phil’s parents came up to help us decorate the bathroom (nearly done now), and make a border in our front garden. The front garden is now looking really good – having the border there transforms it. We put some bark down as well so hopefully that will help it to maintain the moisture and keep weeds out. At about 5:30ish my parents came round as well and we all had dinner together, we rarely get the chance to all eat together so that was really good.

One other thing – I read this article by Giles Fraser today. I can see the point he’s making, but I think he needs to read (or re-read) the “Cross and the Caricatures” article by N.T. Wright, and then “The Cross of Christ” by John Stott. Penal substitution is one thing, sacrifice is another! Let’s get our terms right. All in all, it just seems a rather late and unhelpful addition to a debate which hasn’t really gone anywhere. Although perhaps I shouldn’t moan about an article that appears on the Guardian website (it is for a popular audience after all…)

I’m getting itchy for a new iPod. I already have an iPod, however it is broken. And it’s been broken for a while now – but I think this is partially my fault: I have a feeling I messed up when I installed Rockbox. What I will probably do is sell it on eBay as a broken item – I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who are able to fix it and would probably get themselves a bargain.

Aaaanyway. This has all meant that I’ve been without a working iPod for well over a year, and I do miss it – particularly on the occasional train journey we have to make. So, I’ve been thinking about buying a new one. The problem is, I really like the look of the new iPod Touches – they’re brilliant little things.

But I am unsure whether I’ll be able to use it with Linux! I could simply buy another model of MP3 player, but … the iPod Touches are so shiiiiiny…. I might just get one. If the worst comes to the worst, I can install Windows running under VirtualBox and set it up that way. Hmmm….

We went to a Good Friday service today. I found it quite helpful actually – we had some readings from Mark’s Gospel, as well as a couple of pieces from J.S. Bach’s St Matthew’s Passion, and some prayers by Frank Colquhoun (I don’t know who he is, but they were good!)

I thought that in lieu of actually posting up my own thoughts (it’s getting a bit late for that), I’d just post up some rather beautiful words from J.S. Bach. I do love his music, we must go and see the Passion pieces some day. Perhaps the University of Essex choir will perform them – they’re doing Verdi’s Requiem next month which we’re both really looking forward to.

Oh mortal, bewail your great sin;
for this did Christ forsake
his Father’s bosom
and come to earth.
Of a virgin pure and tender
he was born here for us,
willing to become the mediator.
To the dead he gave life,
and dispelled all sickness as well,
until the time came
when he would be sacrificed for us
and bear the heavy burden of our sins
for so long upon the cross.

(Source – San Francisco Bach Choir)

I mentioned before that the hire car company rang me up on Thursday, asking for the hire car back. It turns out that the hire car (arranged through my insurance) was cancelled – but I was still able to pick it up for some bizarre reason! (They didn’t tell me or, apparently, the hire car company). The reason was, the other insurers had offered to provide a hire car. Fair enough. Anyway, after spending some time on the phone on Friday, the other insurance company (i.e. the insurers of the person who reversed into my car) provided me a new hire car.

I am now driving a Peugeot 308 Estate. I must say, it’s probably not the car I would have chosen. In fact, it would have been a fair way down the list. But it’s a decent enough car – gets me from A to B, and that’s all I care about for a hire car, especially given that my car should be fixed soon.

Anyway, I hope that my insurance company have collected the hire car today – I was hoping they’d pick it up on Friday or Saturday, but no dice! If they don’t, I won’t have room for it – I’ll just have to leave it on a single yellow line and they can pick up the tab for any parking fines it gets while there…

This weekend has been slightly extended because we had Friday off to revise for our Moore Course exam. Although we were revising all day, we did go out in the evening to see Mark Watson, who we knew from Radio 4 (his radio show “Mark Watson Makes the World Substantially Better” was one of my favourite comedies on Radio 4). Anyway, it was absolutely brilliant – we were laughing all the way through! There is something about seeing comedy live which makes it funnier. I think I will see if Mark Watson has any CDs or DVDs out, it would be worth getting!

Anyway. On Saturday morning we had our Moore Course exam. Despite being a bit late due to some confusion over where the exam was actually being held, I think it went pretty well. Possibly not quite as well as the previous two exams, but it’s always so difficult to tell! I managed to answer all the questions at least, the tricky bit is knowing how many marks you got for those questions. I think I rambled a bit in the essay question, but then I suppose most people probably don’t write at their best under exam conditions. We will find out our results in a few weeks, I’m not waiting with baited breath but it will be interesting!

Afterwards we went out to lunch (the Sun Inn at Dedham), which was very pleasant. When we got back home we did a bit of gardening (mowed the lawns for the first time this year – the grass had got a bit long, I hope we didn’t cut it too short). And then we went to dinner with Simon at the Yew Tree in Great Horkesley. It’s been ages since we saw Simon (hello Simon, by the way, I expect you will be reading this at some point!) so it was really good to catch up. And the dinner was nice too, as it usually is there.

On Sunday we went to church in the morning (to both services!) and then came back home for lunch. We did a bit of sorting out in the afternoon and then had a nice walk around Highwoods Country Park. Then we watched “The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency”, which I’m getting quite into, and before that “The Lost Art of Oratory”.

So now you know!