A World of difference

A world of difference 

For 144 days people around the world have been captivated by photos taken by a man living in a small metal box.
 
The man was Commander Chris Hadfield, and the metal box was the International Space Station (ISS), in orbit 250 miles above the surface of the earth.
 
Between 21 December 2012 and the beginning of this week, when he began his return to earth, Chris took photos of the incredible sights he saw. He beamed them back to earth via Twitter, and soon became a hit on the social media site, gaining hundreds of thousands of followers. 
 
The irony was that for all the millions of dollars spent to send him to space, his fame was built on the photos he took not gazing into the furthest reaches of the galaxy, but looking back to earth. 
 
And what a sight he had to look back at. Commander Hadfield's pictures were truly stunning. It is impossible to look at them without marvelling at the beauty and complexity of this little blue-green ball of carbon spinning in space. We saw snow-capped mountains and the wind's patterns in the desert sand; every imaginable shade of blue in the oceans and crazy streaks of red in the Australian outback; ranks of cloudsqueuing patiently over Hull and the moon rising above the “only planet we have ever called home”. 
 
When we as Christians see such images, we are quickly moved to praise the God who designed and made it all with such care, such precision and such ease. We cry out with the psalmist: "What is man that you are mindful of him?" Or to put it in more inclusive language: “What are humans that you are mindful of us?”
 
Science fiction writer Douglas Adams once imagined a “Total Perspective Vortex” in which a person would be given a momentary glimpse of the size and complexity of the universe and him- or herself in relation to it: "An invisible dot on an invisible dot, infinitely small." The experience, he surmised, would fry your brain. We have an aching need to feel that we have significance, that in some way we matter to somebody, somewhere. The idea that we can't even be seen from the ISS is humbling, and can be crushingly so.
 
The good news, though, for us and our friends, is that the God who made it all is also the God who sees us. You're not an invisible dot on an invisible dot, you're a precious child, known and beloved. And that makes a world of difference.

Jennie Pollock is a freelance writer and editor who lives in central London. 

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The Moment

Here's an interesting thought by Richard Rohr

Isn’t it strange that a religion that began with a call to change or letting go has become a religion that has been so impervious and resistant to change? Many Catholics think that what it means to be a Christian is to be in love with the 13th century, or the 16th century if you are Protestant, thinking that “this is when Christians were really Christians and God was really God.” There is no evidence that this is true but it allows us to create “religion as nostalgia” instead of religion as actual transformation. Some Catholics hanker for “a true Latin Mass” not realizing that Jesus never spoke Latin—the language of his oppressors! Anything to avoid living right now where God is fully present!

What healthy religion is saying is that the real life is both now and later. You have to taste the Real first of all now. The constant pattern, however, is that most Christians either move both backwards (religion as nostalgia) or into the distant future (religion as carrot on the stick) and consistently avoid where everything really happens and matters—the present moment.  Catholics once beautifully called this “the sacrament of the present moment.” The full now is always a taste of something really real. It therefore entices us to imagine the eternal and live in an eternal now. We are just practicing for heaven. How we do anything is finally how we do everything.

Jesus and Patriotism

“Jesus is Lord” (Romans 10:9) was proclaimed by the early church, as their most concise creedal statement. No one ever told me this was a political and subversive statement, until I learned a bit of Bible history. To say “Jesus is Lord!” was testing and provoking the Roman pledge of allegiance that every Roman citizen had to proclaim when they raised their hand to the imperial insignia and shouted, “Caesar is Lord!” Early Christians were quite aware that their “citizenship” was in a new universal kingdom, announced by Jesus (Philippians 3:20), and that the kingdoms of this world were not their primary loyalty systems. How did we manage to lose that? And what price have we paid for it?

Jesus showed no undue loyalty either to his Jewish religion nor to his Roman-occupied Jewish country; instead, he radically critiqued both of them, and in that he revealed and warned against the idolatrous relationships that most people have with their country and their religion. It has allowed us to justify violence in almost every form and to ignore much of the central teaching of Jesus.

Richard Rohr

Israël - Palestine : Gros coup de gueule de Daniel Cohn-Bendit

I was googling 'speechs'/discours and found this one from Daniel Cohn-Bendit - A German jewish politician with the European Ecologists. He defends the right of 2 states - Israel and Palestine - and speaks against European hypocrisy and Israeli thieving of Palestinian land and resources.

Here's the link - enjoy it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9jyHeVfmV4

Alpha Blondy - Wattrelos

I spent 2 years in West Africa, mainly in Burkina Faso but also a few months in Côte d'Ivoire - another french speaking country which neighbours Burkina. While in Africa I was infected by their blend of afro-cuban-caribbean rhythmic music. I remember taking a 5 hour (if my memory's correct) bus journey from Ferkéssédougou to Abidjan where I  was treated to non-stop african music - to be honest enough was enough!
At the time I was learning Dioula, a language spoken throughout West Africa, including Burkina, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali and Ghana. Much of the music which wafted through the warm african air was sung in this language. It was in Africa that I came to appreciate the talent of the spiritual, peace loving ivoirian Alpha Blondy.
More than 20 years later I saw a picture of the artist on the cover of a local newspaper. The paper announced that he would be playing in Wattrelos - a town only 25 kms from my home.

So to cut a long story short...
I saw Alpha (now 60) in concert. It was a spectacular show. He sung some old favorites and some new ones fresh off his 16th album - Mystic Power. I was amazed by his stage presence, his social and spiritual engagement - the tight band and terrific lighting.

A great moment!

Seclin canal

Taken on a spring Sunday walk near Seclin.

In Or Out ?

Reading Carl Medearis' 'Speaking of Jesus.
He's got lovely little chapter called In or Out in which he explores the notion of who's 'in' and who's 'out'. Personally I've been repelled by this type of thinking within the church. The insiders (those who adhere to a set of doctrines) and the 'outsiders' (those who don't).

Carl gives a couple of illustrations (they go a bit like this:

1. Draw a circle on the floor. You're in the circle and you're trying to persuade those outside to come in. Of course it's easy to step into the circle (really?) - well no, in fact it's quite complicated - you have to believe in the correct things and do the right things - otherwise you can't come in the circle.

2. Put a dot in the middle of a sheet of paper. Put other dots around it. The central dot represents Jesus. The dots around represent us. Then put arrows from the (us) dots towards Jesus. The arrow could be in a straight line or it may go off in tangents, some arrows may not even be pointing at Jesus.

The 1st illustration typically represents view of how christians see things.
The second illustration, I believe, is more of an accurate representation. Jesus asks us to simply follow Him. The arrows towards Jesus show a action of moving to Jesus - following Him.
It may be a messy picture, but it's better and more realistic.

So forget the concept of 'In or Out' - it just doesn't work, it can easily exclude people who are seeking to follow Jesus - maybe not the way we would consider - but they are endeavoring to follow Him and that's what we are simply called to do.