liverpool nativity

Did you see Liverpool Nativity?....absolutely superb in every way. I often think, 'How would Jesus have been born into our culture?' This gritty, down to earth performance portrayed that concept brilliantly:

At a time when the traditional nativity play is reported to be under threat of extinction in our schools, there is something deliciously subversive about the city of Liverpool choosing to inaugurate its year as the European Capital of Culture with its own, unique take on the story of Jesus' birth.
Last Sunday's Liverpool Nativity was a contemporary retelling of the old, old story on a grand scale. Famous Merseyside faces joined together with relatively unknown local actors and members of the Liverpudlian public to tell a tale of an asylum-seeking Joseph and his café-worker girlfriend, Mary, struggling against oppressive local government to bring God's Son into the world.
Like so many traditional nativity plays, this one was not without humour. It was, however, refreshingly free from the sentimentality that routinely smothers all trace of the true wonder of Christmas in more traditional productions. There was no place here for 'Away in a Manger' with its incarnation-defying 'little Lord Jesus' who wakes without a whimper in response to the lowing of inconsiderate cattle.
In fact, there was no place in the Liverpool Nativity for any of the carols and songs you'd normally expect to hear in a nativity play. Instead - and this was a central feature of the production - the story was interpreted through the popular music of various Liverpudlian bands, such as Echo & the Bunnymen, the La's, the Zutons and, of course, the Beatles.
Naturally, this meant that each song was being used for a purpose other than that for which it was composed. John Lennon did not write 'Beautiful Boy' as a description of the newborn Christ-child, for example - but nonetheless in this new context that was what his lyrics became.
Maybe some purist fans of these bands will regard such borrowing as akin to blasphemy, but isn't the choice of music for the Liverpool Nativity a creative attempt to celebrate Jesus' birth in song? In this regard, it is entirely faithful to the account of his birth in Luke's Gospel, where key characters - Mary, Zechariah, the angels, Simeon - just can't help but burst into song in response to what God has done.
May God give each of us the imagination during this festive season to discern and declare the significance of seemingly ordinary words and events in the light of the timeless, awesome truth that is the real meaning of Christmas!
Nigel Hopper (LICC)

I'd like to record a thankyou to the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity, (who so often write the sort of articles I wish I could) for permitting me to reproduce their writings. May the Lord prosper your work!

To all readers of my blog.....a very Happy Christmas. May Jesus be born in you. 'This is love indeed--we did not love God, but He loved us and sent His Son to be an atoning sacrifice for our sins..' 1 John 4:10

What are you waiting for?: An Advent reflection

Read these when you have a quiet moment:

" It was the first week of Advent 2005. I was living as part of the Urban Seed residential community in the heart of central Melbourne.
I attended the Amnesty International Candlelight Vigil at the Alexandra Gardens for the condemned Australian Van Nguyen. Having acted as a drug mule in order to pay the debts of his brother, he had been captured and sentenced to death in Singapore. Over three years the case had sparked the usual polarised debate about the death penalty. Having exhausted official appeals and in spite of pleas for clemency, he was to be executed the next morning by the Singaporean Government.
I carried with me to the vigil a heavy wooden cross. The Credo Cross was built by a member of our community the day we heard that one of our close friends, a key volunteer at our open lunch for disadvantaged people, had been found dead from a drug overdose in a laneway close to our home. As most from our households gathered and mourned in silence that day, all that could be heard from our apartments was the sound of banging from the fire escape as the commemorative cross was constructed..
Since that time, it has become an icon for our community, a symbol to cling to, a trusted companion when the pain of the world falls upon us like a hammer. We use it regularly during our prayers and worship gatherings, at weddings and at funerals. We take it with us when we attend the various protests and vigils that regularly take place in the centre of the city.
And so it was with me this night. I held it for Van. The vigil was quiet but moving. We lit our candles and made our prayers for a stay of execution and for the life and souls of the condemned, the condemners and ourselves. At its conclusion I headed home.
Carrying the cross upon my shoulder, I was walking past Flinders Street Station when a group of people carrying a video camera thrust a microphone in my face.
"What does Christmas mean to you?" they asked
I supposed that they must have been Christians, looking for "vox pop" responses, perhaps for some sort of Christmas presentation.
"What does Christmas mean to you?"
"Well…" I started, a little surprised by the interruption. (It can be hard to think on your feet, especially when you’re carrying a cross through a crowded city!)
"You might notice I’m carrying a cross." I continued…. "You see, I am a Christian and it is because of this that I’ve been to the vigil for Van Nguyen, who is to be executed tomorrow."
I spoke of my opposition to the death penalty. I spoke of how Jesus was also victim of a state execution but that through his example of non-violent love he showed a way of life that triumphs over death. That this demonstrated that sometimes power could be weak and that what seems weak can be the most powerful force in the world. "And so", I concluded, "I guess I believe in a world of grace, not the cold, hard, hand of the law."
"Errr OK!"…..the interviewer looked a little confused. "That’s good; but what would you say Christmas means to you?"
There we both stood.
Waiting…
Me, with a cross upon my shoulder, waiting for him to comprehend.
Him, with a camera on his, waiting for an answer he wanted to hear.
Waiting…
It’s Advent again…..what are you waiting for? "
by Kate Allen and Marcus Curnow (Urban Seed, 2005)



Waiting is essential to the spiritual life. But waiting as a disciple of Jesus is not an empty waiting. It is waiting with a promise in our hearts that makes already present what we are waiting for.
We wait during Advent for the birth of Jesus.
We wait after Easter for the coming of the Spirit, and after the Ascension of Jesus we wait for his coming again in glory.
We are always waiting in the conviction that we have already seen God’s footsteps.
Waiting for God is an active, alert -- yes, joyful -- waiting.
As we wait we remember him for whom we are waiting, and as we remember him we create a community ready to welcome him when he comes.
Henri Nouwen,
In Joyful Hope: Meditations for Advent

The golden compass

The furore surrounding 'The Golden Compass' continues:
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article2999647.ece
I haven't seen it yet (I have read the books), but trying to get people to stay away because they might abandon their faith or conclude that God is dead, is not the answer.
As suggested in LICC's excellent article below, everyone should go and see it, and if that results in them reading the books so be it. Like the Da Vinci Code, His Dark Materials trilogy is fiction. It is only the gullible who are taken in by them without asking questions.
So, go and see the film, and let's start conversations.....
.

Anyone who has seen The Golden Compass in the last few days without having read the novel it's based on may well feel bemused by all the fuss being made about it in certain quarters. Although it has been accused of 'selling atheism to kids', it seems innocuous enough. The principal problem with the film, in my opinion, is that the story has been mangled to the point of being nearly incomprehensible.
So, why have emails been circulating warning of the danger posed by this Christmas blockbuster and calling for a boycott of it? The answer is that this is the first of a trilogy, His Dark Materials, and the story becomes increasingly uncomfortable for Christians. In Philip Pullman's books, what begins as a struggle against an oppressive, totalitarian - and religious - regime escalates into full-scale rebellion against God himself.
The film's director, Chris Weitz, admits that they made compromises in filming the first book, toning down controversial religious aspects. Although he insists that the success of The Golden Compass will allow him to stay faithful to the subsequent books, he dismisses as 'ridiculous' suggestions that there is an atheist agenda.
Pullman himself is indignant about all the fuss, and calls his accusers 'nitwits'. He has often spoken of his atheism and his disdain for religion, but protests that he's just trying to tell a story that raises questions. Questions such as 'Is there a God?' and 'What is our purpose?', he says - questions that are central to His Dark Materials - are the 'most important of all'. Inevitably, he has a particular take on them; but such questions are fundamental and we shouldn't be afraid of asking them, or considering someone else's answers - even when they are profoundly different from our own.
Knee-jerk reactions, scaremongering and intemperate words benefit nobody and reflect poorly on the church. They simply confirm Pullman and others in their prejudice against us. If we are confident in the truth of the gospel, we should listen carefully to others' perspectives and respond positively where we can, critically where we must, and always in a way that is characterised by grace.
Pullman writes brilliant fiction with a strong moral core. Millions have read his books and millions more will see the films. Let's grasp the opportunity, engage with them seriously and make the most of openings to discuss these most crucial of questions.
Tony Watkins LICC

The task before you is never greater than the power behind you!

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks!
Lots of activity; many ups and downs:
Having returned from the bereavement course in London I then had to prepare for and deliver an All age worship on Sunday morning ( a sheer delight)
…followed by two days in the office as my assistant was on holiday
…then Games Club where we are working with a large group of mainly unchurched kids to produce ‘Cinderella’ in the New Year (going well)
…followed by newly established Men’s group (great fellowship)
…speaking to the Womens Fellowship about what a Community Chaplain is (will someone please tell me)
…then meeting 48 Year 7s at the Church on a RE trip (pop, crisps and Mr Bean. Then they asked me loads of questions. It was great!)
…then away down South to babysit our 3 young grandchildren for the weekend (such fun…they are a laugh a minute!)
….394 shoeboxes loaded and transported to Grimsby (what a vital work this is, bringing joy to kids at Christmas..see picture above and http://www.samaritanspurse.uk.com/occ/index.asp)
….our Community Carol Concert with me in the band (fantastic—not me, I mean networking with all these folk in the community)
…. Games Club and Men’s meeting again
…. Christmas Lunch at Church, apron and all !
…and for most of this week my assistant has been off sick so I’ve been running the office.
....and I've probably forgotten several things.

My wife has been every bit as engaged as me, often involved in the same things.
So, when will we get the Christmas shopping done? When will I get the tree up? Fix the wash basin tap?
Who knows, but we’ll get there.

In all of this frenetic activity I still get some biking in to keep in trim, and most important of all, still somehow find time to ‘Wait upon the Lord’, though not as much time as I would like.

Judith reminded me of this word from Isaiah 40 (thanks Judithhttp://www.wilmslow-worker.blogspot.com/)

"Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint."

When necessary we can, in God’s strength, walk, run or soar… and as I reflect on these past days I have indeed been ‘on eagle’s wings’. Not that everything has gone perfectly, far from it.
But it is supremely true that the LIMITLESS resources of the Holy Spirit are at work in and through us if we will just say ‘Yes’(http://pauseforprayer.stblogs.com/finding-god/special-prayers/)

PS Finally got the tap fixed and the tree up at the weekend!