The da Vinci Code - what's the problem?

I realise I may have missed the boat on this one, but allow me to play catch up (as they used to say on cult 80's daytime telly - 'Going for Gold' - ahhh student life..).
The basic premise of the Da Vinci Code plot is that the church has been guilty of covering up a secret that, if discovered, would rock the very foundations of Christianity. And the secret? That Jesus was married and fathered a child.
Now, whilst wanting to make absolutely clear that I don't believe Jesus was married or fathered a child, what exactly would be the theological problem if he had?
I mean, he was fully human - no debate there (any more) - so where is the theological conundrum (another game show reference - sorry!) if he had??
Obviously, if he had and it had been left out of the gospel records then that would throw up interesting questions about the reliability of the scriptures, but leaving that aside for a moment - where exactly is the problem here?

Theo Walcott's mates wait for him to arrive home from Germany

Theo Walcott arrested in Germany

people change

So last night at our huddle - whilst talking about many deep and meaningful spiritual things - Nelly Furtado came up in conversation. What is up with that girl? She's gone from "I'm like a bird" to "I'm like a prostitute". The evidence for this (as Chris has pointed out - he's just showing concern for his compatriot) is that her new album is called 'Loose', her last single was called 'Promiscuous' and her current single is called 'Maneater'. Something ain't right in Furtado-land.

announcment

I guess that most people who read this blog will know this already but for the sake of the one or two others it's time to announce to the world that Pippa and I are expecting our first child.
The due-date is, wait for it, ....Christmas Day. Can't believe it. So obviously it will have to be called Yeshua Immanuel Noel as a result. It's a sign. Poor kid. I feel sorry for it already.
Pip and I are now waiting expectantly for the parental feelings to develop.
We will definitely not be getting one of those 'Baby on Board' signs for the car though. "oh, ok - you have a baby on board, I didn't realise...well, I guess I better not crash into you then in that case".

does anyone know the name of the film...

I'm sure I've seen a film involving an army unit that hasn't heard that whichever war they're fighting is over and so they are still fighting it. They're out of communication with their base etc. I know it sounds a little like Apocalypse now but it isn't that. Does it ring any bells with anyone? I'm preaching on Sunday morning for a church in town and I'd like to use it as an illustration.

summertime vibe

a modern day St Francis

It's been a pleasure to have Travis from Church of the Apostles, Seattle, with us the last couple of days. I met Travis when we visited COTA after Easter. He's currently spending a month on 'placement' with Moot in London. Anyway, he's one of the most pastoral people I've met. We could do with some people like him in hOME.
Anyway, yesterday morning Travis and I were just chilling out in my front room when we heard our little cat come through the cat flap with a bird in her mouth that was still alive and struggling (and occasionally succeeding temporarily) to get away. We managed to get the cat away from the bird and then Travis got the bird on to our dustpan and he took it out into the garden (I told him to kill it!). I, meanwhile, stayed in the house trying to stop the cat getting back outside through the cat flap.
I eventually found the thing you can slide into the cat-flap to stop the cat getting through it and then I went out to see whether Travis had completed his executioner duties.
He was stood at the end of the garden blessing the bird! I saw him make the sign of the cross. It was a vision of a modern day St Francis!
The bird was injured but not so badly that we felt justified in killing it. But it wasn't flying off and we couldn't leave it in the garden cos the cat would have got it. So I suggested we put it in a box and sent it down the river. We found a little cardboard box, put some grass in the bottom of it, put the bird on top of the grass, and pushed the box out onto the water and watched it drift off downstream.

This morning I suggested to Travis that perhaps someone was sitting by the riverbank yesterday watching the river drift by only to see the bird in the box drifting past them and wondering how on earth the bird had managed to build a boat for itself and launch it.

TV Theology

I think you can tell a lot about where someone's coming from theologically by whether or not they leave their TV on standby.

US Anglicans elect first woman Presiding Bishop

So the General Convention of ECUSA (or just 'The Episcopal Church' as it's now called which sounds a bit like they've forgotten about the rest of the world - not something Americans are often accused of ;-)) have gone and elected a woman as Presiding Bishop for the first time - Katherine Jefferts Schori, formerly Bishop of Nevada.
Not being someone who opposes women becoming Bishops (looking forward to the day it happens here) I don't have any problems with it per se. It's definitely going to stoke some people's fires though and it's quite amusing that just when the conservatives thought the fight was on another front (i.e. the gay thing) the focus has shifted to another contentious area.
are there any American readers of this blog who have an inside word for us on this one? is she cool?

Little and Often

ok - I really want to be a better blogger. I have decided to adopt a 'little and often' approach to blogging for the next little while. That's also my approach to prayer right now largely due to Phyliis Tickle's fantastic volume - The Divine Hours : Prayers for Summertime - which is helping me stumble towards four times a day prayer.
Pippa and I are up at my parent's place in N Wales right now (really glad my mum decided to get wireless broadband a little while back). Many of you will know that my dad has been very ill for some considerable time now so it's good to be up here for Father's day.
Looking forward to hOME tonight. We have been blessed by Kyle Potter's presence amongst us as a community over this last academic year while he has been in Oxford - a long way from home which for him is Lexington, Kentucky where he is part of The Vine and the Branches Community with Alan Creech et al. Anyway, tonight is his last night with us before returning to the States and he is going to lead the discussion on the lectionary texts for today. We will miss him.

Trinity Sunday - participating in God

[UPDATE : The podcast link is now fixed. Apologies to the many, many frustrated people who were unable to download it!]

After the drama of Easter and Pentecost (loved our Pentecost service - we had sparklers and everything!) Trinity Sunday marks the start of the rather curiously named 'Ordinary Time' (BTW I found Alan Creech's comments on this title very helpful).
I led the discussion on the Trinity on Sunday night - and, after some preliminary theological groundwork, tried to focus in on how we relate to the Trinity.
For years I heard it said in church that the Christian life is about us asking/inviting God into our lives - these days I find it more helpful to consider that God invites us into HIS life.
The image used by the Cappadocian Fathers for this was that of Perichoresis - the dance of the Trinity (one of beautiful mutuality and interdependence) - and us being invited to join the dance (thereby becoming 'partakers of the divine nature' (2 Pet 1) - i.e. divinization).
But the problem is we are poor dance partners and we don't know how to dance. So the Christian life, the Spiritual life, is about us learning how to dance - learning the rhythm of God as it plays out in all aspects of our lives.
If anyone is interested the podcast is here (and is also available through iTunes - search for hOME).

crunch time

We are entering crunch time as far as our attempt to acquire the lease on the Ultimate Picture Palace is concerned. There are some crucial meetings over the next couple of days. If you are the praying sort then do remember us in your prayers....if you are the giving sort (or have access to someone who might be) then do get in touch (matt@home-online.org). Our time is running out to raise the up-front cash.

sour grapes

As a Spurs fan I can't say I'm too disappointed about last night's Champions League Final result (understatement of the year). I am less than impressed about Arsenal's lack of graciousness in defeat - accusing the referee of bias, accusing the Barcelona players of diving etc. The fact is Jens Lehmann was rightfully sent off - there can be no argument about that - and the better team on the night won. It was good to hear David Pleat on the commentary though - I particularly enjoyed the classic line: "the sight is in end" (where he was suggesting Arsenal were on course to victory just seconds before Samuel Eto went and equalised).

MacBook

Apple's replacement for the iBook - the MacBook - has arrived and it looks very impressive - and very reasonably priced. Comes with built in iSight, remote control, etc. and starts at £749. If you are a switcher in the making - there are now NO excuses for not making the move! Full spec etc. here.

hammock

Yesterday I bought a hammock. It rocks.

wasn't expecting to like this...

I am not normally a man who delves very deeply into the world of modern-day soul, it's not normally on my musical radar. I was surprised - I'm not sure why - to hear that U2 had recorded a version of their song 'One' with Mary J Blige. Then I heard it in Vancouver and it absolutely blew me away. Got straight on the net and downloaded it from iTunes. If you haven't heard it...boy...the girl can sing. It's even brought a tear to my eye. So...there's no accounting for taste...maybe I should explore further (and while I'm at it I could go the whole hog and 'pimp my ride' - can you do that to a Honda Civic?!).

San Francisco

The last leg of our trip - San Francisco - was, again like Vancouver and Seattle, fantastic. As previously mentioned (below) we had found a great hotel on the web - right in the heart of the city just off Market Street.
On our first day there we walked around Haight Ashbury which of course was the centre of the whole 60's hippie counterculture - nowadays more of a hippy museum than anything else but still worth a look anyway. We hired some bikes and cycled round Golden Gate park & saw the Japanese tea garden and De Young museum - well worth doing. We also sat and chilled out in the Panhandle - a smaller park nearby where Hendrix played in the Summer of Love in 1968.
It was great to connect with Mark Scandrette and his household and we had dinner at their place in the Mission District that night.
Day 2 was spent taking a look at Grace Cathedral, then lunch with Bob Carlton, Chinatown, and North Beach - particularly City Lights Bookstore owned by Lawrence Ferlinghetti and the centre of the Beat scene in the 50's and early 60's. City Lights - the first bookstore to sell paperbacks in the States - was the epicentre of that whole scene, getting raided for selling banned books, Ginsberg and Kerouac hanging out etc. Here's a shot of me outside it:
So we rode up and down on the Cable Cars - went all the way down to Fisherman's Wharf and saw Alcatraz from a distance.
Day 3 we hired a car and drove out of the city - over Golden Gate Bridge (see pic above) and into Marin County. Stopped in Sausalito for lunch, found a great beach, drove for a while up Highway 1 before heading back over the bridge to the city where we found another great beach at the end of Golden Gate Park. had a quiet night as it was our last and we had to get up early to catch the plane to Vancouver for our connection back home.
San Francisco is a wonderful city - colourful and creative, great to look at, fascinating. I have wanted to go ever since seeing The Last Waltz (and by the way I saw THE guitar that Robbie Robertson played in TLW in The Experience Museum in Seattle - how excited was I!).
I was sad to leave and really hope to be able to go back.

Seattle

So - I finally get around to blogging the rest of the trip (now that we are back in the UK and we've got our jet-lag on). First up (following Vancouver (see post below)) - Seattle.
We had such a good time there. Very people intensive. Karen picked us up (we took the boat from Vancouver Island) and we headed straight to Brouer's Bar where they have the finest selection of Belgian ales known to man.
We were staying in the COTA Abbey (pictured) in the Fremont area (North Seattle), courtesy of our good friend Abbess karen. It was great to see how creatively they use the space and also to see their plans for the future of the building - transforming it into a totally multi-functional arts/community/worship/cafe space.
So we were there for the day conference on new-monasticism that COTA hosted, and it was great to connect with guys from the east coast - Shane Claiborne and Amber from The Simple Way in Philadelphia, and Chris and Cassie Haw from Camden House in Camden, New Jersey - and to hear about their communities, as well as hearing about the monastic element of COTA. I shared a little of our journey in the monastic tradition here in hOME, Oxford.

I think it's true to say that the East Coast guys represented one stream of new-monasticism (probably Franciscan - very involved in living amongst the poor as the primary expression of their faith (and it was amazing to hear the kind of radical lives they are living in community) - and COTA and hOME representing another stream of new-monasticism (probably Benedictine - more of an emphasis on prayer and spiritual practices). At some point I would like to develop further this idea of the different streams of new-monasticism as reflections of the different streams of classic monasticism - where are the new-Dominicans, the new-Jesuits etc.??

On the Thursday evening - after the new-monasticism day - we headed to the COTA Theology pub (in Ye Olde English authentic pub called 'The Reading Gaol' - v kitsch, especially with Pip actually coming from Reading) with Travis in the chair.

The Friday and Saturday were spent participating in Tom and Christine Sine's 'Church has Left the Building' conference along with Mark Pierson, the guys from Thursday, Rachelle Mee-Chapman, and plenty of others who I hadn't met before. It was a good time. Mark and I had a little freak out moment when we both thought we were covering the same material in our repsective seminars - both drawing from the 'slow food' movement - but as it turned out, he was taking it in a worship direction (local tastes and flavours etc) whereas I was talking about spiritual formation.

My seminar seemed to go well (you can never really tell - Christians are always so nice!) but, rather ironically as I was talking about slow-church, I seriously struggled to keep to time and had to rush through some of the interactive stuff that I had planned to linger longer on.
Perhaps I shouldn't have spent the first 5 mins talking about The Waltons but I couldn't resist it after I found a great rocking chair which I decided to sit and rock on whilst doing the talk (see pic - I know, it looks like I've rocked myself to sleep!).
Pip was worried that my Bristish humour (and that of Eddie Izzard of whom I showed a couple of clips) wouldn't translate. But people seemed to laugh in the right places. Again, perhaps they were just being kind!
Anyway, the material was a kind of theological reflection on mine/our journey over the last number of years from what I would call a 'fast-church' model (un-reconstructed charismatic-evangelical) - using phrases like 'revival fatigue' and 'spiritual viagra' - to a more blended-spirituality that I was calling 'slow-church'. This isn't the place to unpack all the points I was making. Another time maybe.
So it was fun to connect with people from Evergreen church in Portland, and also Nadia from Colorado (who I had met previously when she and her husband Matthew had visited the UK recently) - all of whom were also staying in the Abbey.

Anyway, we finished the conference with a meal at the Sine's house along with the other participants. And then on Sunday we took a look around the Fremont area (including the famous 'Fremont Troll' - thanks for the tip Sue!) before the COTA Taize service.

Then after a fantastic meal out on Sunday night with Karen and Travis (see photo), on Monday morning Travis took us to the airport for our flight to San Francisco.
At some point I'll put a flickr album up. Well done for reading such a long post!

San Francisco update

I'm going to blog about the last week which we've spent in Seattle - which was great - in the next post but just wanted to do a quick update on where we're at now.
We flew into San Francisco this lunch-time and headed downtown to find our hotel. Having found it you can only imagine my joy when I discovered that it was literally spitting distance from the main Apple store in town (Market Street) - the mother ship - or as Karen called it last night - The Vatican (see picture). I write this entry from there. So if any of you emerging church mac addict types are planning to visit San Francisco may I recommend our hotel : The Mosser - a funky little boutique hotel that even has a built in recording studio for some reason.
So - thanks to Karen (our fantastic introductions agent!) - we are hoping to hook up with Mark Scandrette (dinner at his place tomorrow night) and Bob Carlton while we're in town. It's great to be part of the global emerging church family - friends in every town!
Anyway, when I get a chance I'll blog Seattle.