Easter

Possibly for the first time ever, I feel about Easter Sunday like I do Christmas Day - very excited, and not wanting it rush by and me miss it.

Why?

I don't know, really. I don't think it's about getting chocolate eggs (you'll be relieved to know). For some reason, the idea of resurrection means a lot to me at the moment; there's definitely parts of my life where resurrection is needed: what Paul talks about when he speaks of the power that raised Jesus being at work in us (Stephen's translation!) in Ephesians. I don't really know what I'm expecting to happen - perhaps nothing will. I just feel, like I said just now, like I really want Easter day to come and for it to be very special - life-changing, in fact!

Bid to save post offices is lost - BBC News

The triumph of economics over anything else, especially a sense of community.

The joy of Tunnock's

Mmmm... Tunnocks...

The Passion - part 1 and controversy

So, what to make of part 1 of "The Passion"? Actually, I enjoyed it. It was told well: Jesus' relationship with the disciples (them wanting to follow but not really 100% sure what he's on about) seemed to mirror the picture in the Gospels (especially Mark) and Jesus' humorous introduction of James and John was good. James Nesbitt made a good Pilate. And it was good to have the 3 points of view as well, especially the political machinations of the religious authorities as they tried to make sense of Jesus and how to deal with Him.
The programme was very ambiguous in its portrayal of Jesus: at the start, Caiaphas was seen sanctioning the use of the Temple Tax to help the family of a murdered man; a short while later, Jesus argues that it is unfair that a child should have to pay to enter. Also, the crowds around him didn't seem that huge, especially in the scenes where he's teaching in the temple. Perhaps I've had a wrong impression of those scenes, but part of me couldn't help wondering "What's all the fuss about? Aside from turning over the tables, he's not creating that much of a stir".
But apart from that, I enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next episode. It tells the story well and, actually, makes you think about what happened. Which can only be a good thing.

Oh, the controversy bit: basically, it looks like the Sunday Telegraph's been taking a few liberties with people's views of The Passion in order to kick up a bit of a stink about it (reverting to anti-BBC mode, then). While I'm all for positive views of Jesus being given (which may not come as much of a shock), that isn't necessarily the BBC's mission. And in any case, the Bible doesn't say the position Jesus was in, so how do we know they got it wrong and how doe sit mislead people? Is our salvation dependent on the exact position Jesus was in when he was crucified? Somehow, I don't think so...

The Passion on BBC1

Well, there's been a lot of (mainly positive) noise about this - a new telling of the Passion Week story. Best of all, it's on prime time BBC1!! And, from the trailers, it looks quite interesting: full of life and chaos (which I bet Jerusalem was), hopefully adding something different to the telling of the story. The idea of telling it from three different viewpoints looks interesting: we (quite naturally) tend to see it purely from Jesus' viewpoint and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that - but it would be interesting to see how the people behind this think the religious authorities and Pilate saw what was going on.

If I was writing this a bit later in the day I might be able to comment more coherently, but as you can tell, I'm looking forward to it. Just wish the digital video recorder I got for my birthday was working...

What can you get for 3 quid?

3 pounds sterling is all I have left of the £50 birthday I was given. Most of it has gone on useful things ("Gathering for worship", the BU worship patterns and prayers book and a book on preaching), as well as one less useful thing (SimCity on Nintendo DS).

So what can I do with the rest (was going to say "spend the rest on" there, but it may not necessarily involve spending it). Any ideas (aside from "give it to me" or similar) then please let me know...

I forgot two other things I am as well...

1. 29 (so perilously close to 30!)
2. Tired.
   

Wonders really do never cease...

...or something. Anyway, Sheffield Wednesday have actually won two games on the trot and stuff. And Leicester City, who were immediately above us, had the decency to lose as well. All this may (may) mean that we're no longer in the relegation zone!!!

Until we lose the next time, of course.

Interestingly, I've been reading some of my old posts on this and noticed I actually managed to say reasonable stuff that was coherent and vaguely intelligent. What went wrong?

Hello, it's me!!

... back after a goodly length of time!

Anyways, what's been happening? Well, I am now a number of things:

1. A part-time civil servant, because...
2. A trainee Baptist minister at Northern Baptist College;
3. A Dad, to Amy who is now, er, 16 months old and walking around like crazy, mainly into things she shouldn't.
   
4. Tired, after she's given us two rotten nights' sleep on the trot...

So that's me, now!

Anyway, the next Queen song is "Spread your wings", which I might actually get round to doing sometime soon. Or maybe I'll do something completely different.