Simon Says ...

... so said Bono, and we sang with gusto, 'I still haven't found what I'm looking for'. Last night U2 played Cardiff, and they were great! Bono's voice may be a little shot these days, but U2 are great performers. They played lots of old stuff (I Will Follow, Electric Co., Sunday Bloody Sunday, New Year's Day, to name but a few). They are great songs, songs of pure joy, of great anger and deep pain. It occurs to me that U2 are one of the few bands that sing about death and mourning (One Tree Hill and Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own). It's the emotional connection of the music and the lyrics that make U2 special for me. I think I'm reclaiming my adolescence sitting here with a new t-shirt from the gig and my ears still ringing. I left my wife sitting in the seats and went and joined the mosh for a bit, I pogoed, I yelled, I sang along with a disturbingly good knowledge of the words. Yes, I confess I'm a fan! And, of course, there wa

Back from a wonderful weekend back in God's chosen country. One of my best friends was getting married, and I was free from the rota. Congratulations to the happy couple!!! The ceremony was a civil service, so no religion (well, apart from the beatitudes painted on the walls of the house and the Arrival of the Queen of Sheba!). It was lovely, relaxed and informal. Great time. The neatly arranged bits of silver writing on this picture were the result of two people who claim to have very ordered minds. Not the phrase that sprang to my mind! It was also nice to see the north east in sunshine (we normally visit after Christmas when it's damp and grey). I may yet convince my wife that it is the centre of the universe. A wedding, sunshine, beers on the quayside, and an evening with dancing (even if the dj was a bit iffy...). What a wonderful world ...

For a long time Christians (and others) have been trying to hold banks to account for the way that they use their money. Today, the shoe is on the other foot as the Co-op bank has banned a Christian group . The group in question is Christian Voice - most famous for protesting loudly against the BBC showing Jerry Spinger the Opera. They have issued a rather hysterical statement accusing the Co-op of 'militant pro-homosexuality' and being 'politically-correct bully-boys'. (Of course, Christian Voice would never engage in bullying of any kind, would they? ) But I'm not sure that this is right. Christian Voice's website is quite clear that to advocate or accept civil rights for gay people is to be 'pro-homosexuality', even down to a whole section complaining about the police's policy of non-discrimination for gay people. There are serious issues of civil and human rights here that take the issue way beyond being policitally-correct. In my experien

There is a wonderful Cartoon about the Anglican Consultative Council (which is meeting in Nottingham this week). More gay-bashing, sorry important debates about the nature of communion. Still, the cartoon's funny!

It had to end - Saturday nights have been the highlight of the week for the last 13 weeks, but last night it all came to an end. The sofa can go beck against the wall until Christmas. And it's been fantastic! Christopher Eccleston has been a great Doctor. Billie Piper has played the best assistant for years. The writing's been excellent, the special effects mostly brilliant (with one or two exceptions), and the Daleks are scarey again. What more could we ask for? And then ... "Hello. Hmm, new teeth. That's weird. Now where were we?" Casanova is the new Doctor. Can't wait for Christmas!!

Postmodernism is anathema to Christianity. It is time that progressive Christians said this clear and loud. Two good reasons for this protest spring to mind: 1. Postmodernism abandons truth. One of the classic definitions of postmodernism is that it rejects all neta-narratives (a meta-narrative is an overarching story that makes sense of all other stories). This should immediately make Christians suspicious - for what is Christianity if not a meta-narrative! But more than this, the abandonment of meta-narratives is a sign of the postmodern abandonment of truth. For postmodernism, truth is sidelined. (It's never actually rejected, as that would involve a new form of truth.) With truth sidelined, two things happen. Firt, you can pick your own truth; anything goes. And second, there is an absence of commitment to anything. If anything this second is more dangerous. 2. Money. Jacques Derrida, one of the fathers of postmodernism, famously said that the writer cannot own the te

Picture the scene, a darkened church lit by candles and the pastor at the front looking cool in his open-necked black shirt, white jacket and stripy trousers. We arrived a bit late, during the recitation of a Psalm. Then, with the flick of a power-point button, Robbie was in the building – or at least a large projected picture of Robbie was on the screen. The next hour is something of a blur in my memory of laughing and singing along to Robbie. After five minutes I thought the English contingent would be thrown out - we were certainly eyed with some suspicion by a steward. We heard a very serious meditation on Robbie’s spiritual yearnings, which was a mixture of taking Robbie far too seriously and research from the gossip columns. We had a reading of the lyrics of ‘Angels’ (in German translation) as if it were from the Bible. And we had Robbie – Robbie on video and Robbie played by the house band (in black shirts and orange ties - a cross between Franz Ferdinand and Kraftwork).