iGod

X Factor - pantomime

I woke up to find the UK not unexpectedly twittering about X Factor. The Twitter Trends Map showed the that 'Jedward' and X Factor have become national talking points.

Last night's judges' decision saw John and Edward and Lucie Jones go into 'Deadlock', which meant the public got to choose who would stayed in the talent competition. It  was nothing short of pantomime. We have a rags-to-riches story, songs, some dance, something for the kids, something for the adults. We have a goodie, two baddies and a fairy godmother in the unlikely shape of Simon Cowell.

However, unlike all good pantomimes where the fairy godmother is seen as light and beauty our fairy godmother, ours turned a little bit cynical and showed a dark side. 

Of course, before we all throw our remote controls at our television in disgust we do have to remember this all about entertainment. And the entertainment business is all about ratings. Quite simply you can't have a pantomime if you see off the villain half way through. It would suddenly become quite prosaic and dull.

Sometimes I wonder if the Christian life isn't more panto than serious life drama. It was mooted by the authors in God is Back that the Church is more powerful when it has opposition. When it doesn't it becomes complacent and weak. In other words, 'ratings' go down.

While we in the Church might complain against the wicked stepmother of Secularism or the evil old old witch of Other Religions, it is undoubtedly part of the story of the Church. We have our songs and script for this narrative and know ultimately it will have a happy ending. Meanwhile, it is all about perspective.

Although Church is not in the business of entertainment, perhaps it should learn to not take itself too serious and take an opportunity laugh at itself once in a while. After all, didn't the writer of Proverbs say something about laughter being the best medicine? (Proverbs 17:22)

ASD

All Seeing - new song from The Alarm.

Now here is something I didn't expect to be blogging about in 2009, a new song by 80s group The Alarm.

One of my best buddies Steve 'Smiley' Barnard has been drumming with singer/songwriter Mike Peters this year and, on hearing this song, I had to tell him that I thought this sounded like a worship song to me.

Maybe what gives this song some of its strength is the experience of Mike himself being diagnosed with cancer and finally being given the all-clear this year.

Although, to my knowledge, he has never talked publicly about his faith, I think this song speaks volumes. In some ways it reminds me of some of the Trent stuff. See what you think. It seems a far cry from '68 Guns', but like a good bottle of wine, the writing has undoubtedly matured to produce something beautiful.

ASD

‘The name's Bond, brand Bond’

I have succumbed to the hype and bought the new Ian Fleming James Bond book Devil May Care. Or should I say Sebastian Faulkes as Ian Fleming. This is the power of the franchise: an established prize-winning writer like the author of Birdsong putting pen to paper and continuing the spy story in the original author’s tradition.

This might seem strange, someone writing as someone else, but I have discovered that this is nothing new. Apparently Tom Clancy and Robert Ludlum are both franchises and have a bank of writers turning out stuff on their behalf, which explains their prolific writing!

Of course, ‘ghost writing’ is nothing new. I don’t think anyone really thinks that footballers and their WAGS are that literate to actually write their own biographies (forgive me if I do any injustice to celebrities here) or when we receive charity letters from chief executives. These are written by copywriters at direct marketing agencies to ensure they are at their most persuasive.

The Guardian makes the point that Faulkes will be under the spotlight.  First because he is Faulks and secondly because this is prime geek territory.  Attention to detail from character detail to literary style, i.e. short sentences, will all come under close scrutiny.

When I was as theological college, I remember standing in the queue for lunch with my Old Testament lecturer where he was discussing his latest work in progress, a commentary on Isaiah. It is long thought by most respectable scholars that there were in fact two authors of the book, which they have dubbed Deutro-Isaiah. However, my now retired lecturer thought he had unearthed as many as 18 scribblers, as the words shifted so frequently in tone and style. Maybe he is right. Only God knows.

Does this take anything away from the Word? Of course not, the Word remains the inspired Word of God, so therefore it doesn’t matter if there is more than one author.  (I’ll let you know if Faulks pulls it off as Fleming .) The first five books are traditionally seen as being authored by Moses, but the reality is they would have been recorded by his people around him.

Truth is truth and we all take inspiration from the one author of life. Meanwhile, I must get back to my little bit of escapism as I sit on yet another delayed train into Liverpool Street. Now if I was Bond I would have got out the micro-glider and simply soared above the tedious disruptions. 

ASD.

 

Sweeney Todd and the perpetuation of violence

Well, Sweeney Todd starring Johnny Depp and Helen Bonham-Carter has arrived and is receiving top reviews.

I came across Jim Wallis' blog this week God's Politics and saw a great comment by blogging friend Gareth Higgins from Northern Ireland. He makes an interesting connection with the story and political dogmas that give rise to continuing violence.

He writes: "If the film is trying to make a serious point, it is that Sweeney's spiral of violence never ends. The previous night I had attended a meeting of the Consultative Group on the Past – a body established by the UK Government to examine methods of helping the people of Northern Ireland to address the legacy of our own violent recent history. Two things were clear from the comments made at this meeting by members of the public: first, that the levels of genuine sorrow in this society are unfathomable – families ripped apart, minds taken to the edge of destruction, small communities shattered. This is real, and not interpretation. Second, we often lack the ability to empathise with the pain of the 'other' community. It is all too easy to see 'our' pain as exclusive, and to become blind to the suffering of the community on the other side of a political divide."

Cutting edge stuff. (Sorry, couldn't resist it!)
ASD

Happy Christmas from the Grinch and me!

"And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store? What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more!"

The Grinch, Dr Suess

Have a great Christmas and a peaceful New Year. God's blessings.

ASD

The Crack at the Tate: floored art or work of genius?

Due to feeling a bit under par the last few days I must admit I am a tad late blogging on this, but I think the new installation by Columbian artist Doris Salcedo at the Tate Modern is well worth a mention.

For those who have missed the news, it is a long crack in the Turbine Room in the South Bank gallery. Inevitably most of the media coverage has been around how the crack has got there, rather than what it means, which must be terribly frustrating for the artist.

So here is a little about what it means with some help from a produced leaflet.

The crack, which is 548ft long, is called Shibboleth. It is a word that we find in the Old Testament of the Bible and relates to how the Ephraimites were trying to cross undetected through the River Jordan when they were caught by their sworn enemies the Gileadites, who forced them to say the word “shibboleth”.

Unfortunately, Ephraimites dialect did not include the sound “sh”, so this allowed the Gileadites to identify and slaughter them. Brutal, but effective, you could say.

The artist makes the point that “the crack is a token of power: the power to judge and kill.” Whether you see the crack as the River Jordan, which visitors seem to have most fun crossing over and back again as the crack gets wider, is up to you to decide. Maybe the point is it shows the social divides in our world

Of course, the meaning is of little interest to most of the media and is viewed more of a folly than a piece of art with anything worthwhile to say. More column inches seem to have been given to theories of how the crack got there.

It occurred to me while reading this article that it  kind of depicts how we see life. We cannot accept the “why” and until we know the “how”.  And we don’t really care about the “why”, because we think we feel satisfied with the “how”. But, like a good whodunit, once we know how it’s done we tend to lose interest and move on.

Words like Shibboleth are powerful things, as are action and pictures. At theological college I remember a lecturer describing the Old Testament as a great big picture book, because the different genres of literature stimulated multifarious images in the reader’s mind.

As a result, they got remembered and passed down from generation to generation, but also made the heart search for spiritual truth. When we reduce art or words to a rational, non-emotional experience, we are left with just empty literalism. We remain hungry, but don’t know why?  Somehow this head knowledge is supposed to satisfy us and fulfil the vacuum within. To my mind,It sadly doesn't.

Psst! By the way, if you want to know how the crack was done, it was achieved by...Oops! Sorry, run out of space.

ASD

Does God exist?

Don't worry I am not having a crisis of faith, but I have literally heard this question asked three times in the last week and its got me reflecting.

The latest time was this morning on Radio Four. But it was on last night's Radio Four show Heresy, hosted by comic and novelist David Baddiel, that really made me sit up and take note.

For the non-Radio 4 listener, I should explain that is a light-hearted 30 minute show that challenges conventional wisdom with celebrity panelists. Last night's guests were Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand.

Our host started by saying, "Obviously God doesn't exist..." In fact, I remember he trotted out this same exact line on last week's show where another panelist challenged him on his dogmatism. Baddiel obviously doesn't do humility.

Now I really don't give a fig if someone believes in God or not at one level. At another level, I feel they are missing out on a lot.  Also, God is big enough to fight his own fights, but what really struck me last night were the responses from the panelists.

Both Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand felt a little uncomfortable, allbeit in a clever comedic way.  Okay, I was not looking for deep Christological, cosmic, ontological responses from these witty guys, but it seemed they wanted to believe there was more than just themselves out there.  I was quite surprised by their answers.  I was expecting them to whole-heartedly agree with Baddiel because, after all, isn't it the trendy response to give at the moment?

Interestingly, a straw poll with Heresy's audience showed that 68% of them believed in a higher intelligence of somekind.

High profile media people like David Baddiel believe they can use their position to get away with sweeping, grand statements, but as we all know, we live in a society of relativism. Absolutism is dead!  His modernist views seem a little arcane and, therefore not unsurprisingly have been challenged.  A lesson for, perhaps, all neo-atheists. But there is also a lesson in there for any of us Christians feeling a little smug within ourselves.

Here's the rub. People are very unhappy to have the answer given to them before they have worked it out for themselves. They might come to your conclusion, they may not. However, people must be allowed to think for themselves.

Whether Jonathan Ross' idea of God as a galactic figure in purple moon boots commanding the universe really works for you is for you to work out. And I guess it is really for him to figure out too, but whatever we do, let's never start a sentence with "Obviously..."  It really isn't smart or funny.  Really it isn't.

ASD