For Men!

Yesterday at our church we had a men's breakfast, the first of a series of occasions for men of the church. I had the task of bringing the "talk". I spoke on "Why men hate church". Some months ago a man from my previous church came up to me and said why can't we have songs with words that men can sing! David Murrow, author of Why Men Hate Going to Church complains that church has been feminised and that the Christian message has been changed from "Follow me" to "Have a relationship with me".

In other words, the challenge of the Christian life to follow Christ wherever he may lead has been watered down. Of course, we do need to cultivate our relationship with Christ, but we must not forget the challenges to follow him. Remember when he challenged those fishermen to follow him and he would make them "fishers of men"? They rose to the challenge and left the security of home and a job to follow after Christ. We have demoted that song to a children's song sung in Sunday School, "I will make you fishers of men if you follow me". What's even worse, we've even changed the words! Jesus didn't say "If you follow me" as a kind of polite suggestion, he gave them a command, "Follow me!" And they did! Illustrating that men do respond to a challenge!

Carbon Lent continued

You may be wondering why it's gone silent on the blog about Tearfund's carbon fast that we're following. Well, most of the things this week we do anyway. i.e. turn off lights when not in room, take a shower not a bath, snub plastic bags, only fill kettle with the water you need (always have done that - it saves money on electricity!).

But we have started our own project. putting refective material behind radiators. Well, we've done one so far. You can buy stuff to do this, but we cut up a large cardboard box and fixed tin foil to it. Then attached it to the wall behind the radiator with blutack. It fell off a day later, so more thought needs to go into fastening it to the wall! But the idea is sound.

Next idea was to be radiator shelves to stop the heat going up behind the curtain (the radiator being in front of the window) Then I read "Incorrect Energy Efficiency Advice" (see
www.west-norfolk.gov.uk/Default.aspx?page=22426 ). So it's back to the drawing board for that one!

But good news! my electicity supply company wrote to me today to remind me that as I'm on a fixed tarrif, my energy prices won't increase! Until October this year, that is, when the contract runs out. So now I'm dreading October ...

Post Office closures

Post Offices along the High Street are being proposed for closure. But in the programme "London Tonight" (last night) they were asking, is the solution to open up Post Offices in gyms and in libraries? What??? So the elderly who need the Post Office can always be found in the gym! What is the point of closing down Post Offices where they are needed - in the local High Sreet - and opening up others off the beaten track like gyms and libraries?

There must be a hidden agenda here because it doesn't make sense otherwise!

It's all in the mind

That phrase came to me quite strongly recently, "It's all in the mind". I have been thinking about "discipleship", or how we grow in our Christian faith. Americans call it "spiritual formation". The Bible calls it "transformation" and "the renewing of the mind." We become more like Jesus Christ as we act more like him and in our communication with others. But our actions and words are governed by our mind. We think of something and then say it or do it. If we can sort out our mind, then our words and deeds will follow on. It's all in the mind!

Table Lamp Installation

We bought a table lamp recently. Half price for £6 at a well known high street chain. It's "faux leather". That means it's plastic looking a bit like leather, but not smelling like leather.

You had to remove the plastic wrapping from the lamp shade and put a bulb in it. But no worries! There were full instructions - seven steps to do this, the last one being "Connect to the mains supply". Well, I suppose some people may think it runs on air.

In addition to these there were the "Important Safety Instructions" - 18 of them! Including the blindingly obvious (to me, anyway) "never allow the appliance to come into contact with water". But also "Never leave the appliance unattended when connected to the mains power supply." Does anybody really go round unplugging everything when they go out to post a letter?

So, not only 18 important safety instructions, but also seven additional safety precautions! I'm so glad we live in a nanny state. Otherwise I'd never feel safe turning on a table lamp again.

Now if only those flat packed furntiure items came with so many instructions, instead of just pictures! But life just isn't done that way.

Sitting in the tower ...

The Psalmist calls God a "refuge" and Proverbs says,

"The name of the Lord is a strong tower,

the righteous run into it and they are safe."

These verses made me think this morning, once you've got to the tower, what can you do? Not a lot, I decided, except rest! And then I thought, "And that's ok!" There's a song to Jesus we sometimes sing,

"To rest in your presence, not rushing away,

to cherish each moment, here I would stay"

The trouble is, I don't want to rest in his presence, I want to 'get on'! So I was forced to pause for a few moments and 'rest' in the tower of Christ's presence, and appreciate that time - not wanting to rush away to do all the things I think I need to do!

Carbon fast is slowing down ...

The continuing saga of the carbon fast. Day 6 says turn your heating thermostat down by one degree. I remember someone saying when they've heard it suggested they turn their themostat down one degree, they've done so. It currently stands at -7 degrees C! We do hear this suggestion rather often and beleive me, I've always turned it down as much as I can, to save on the gas bills!

Day 8 is not keeping your phone charger on all the time. Never have done, so that's sorted!

Day 10 is give your dishwasher a day off - hang on! This carbon fast idea could be going a bit too far!