Well compared to the last post anyway.

Today's service went remarkably well, and even got a few bits of feedback.

From around 30 people, I got back 16 BMS 'In Transit' postcards to send off, a few signed by couples.  I could have predicted which people wouldn't complete them, but overall I was gladdened by the number who did.

My one black member thanked me for addressing the issues raised by the recent election of local councillors, and the person who had been worried that I might get 'political' seem to cope in the end.

One person thanked me for using the idea of 'Christ is my friend' at some point in the service - probably as part of the communion liturgy, as I usually refer to the disicples as Jesus' friends when I do the institution bit.  I think I said something about us as Christ's friends too.  Anyway, it spoke to her, and she found it helpful.

Lastly one person thanked me for tackling the Romans 13 passage and drawing the distinction between 'authorities' being of Godly intent - i.e. that God seeks to provide structures for justice and freedom - and 'real authorities' which are composed of finite and sinful human beings and get things wrong as well as right.  This helped him to understand how it might be possible for something to be legal but not just or 'gospel' (in his case thinking about the USA death penalty).

So, a good day one way and another.  One or two crises are abating, things are coming together for next weekend's Pentecost events (even if enthusiasm, human or divine, was absent this afternoon when we spoke of it) and I may even get my essay writing fitted in at some point this week...

In recent weeks a bit of a debate has been breaking out in Dibley about who is 'The Thinking Baptist Woman's Crumpet' - so this is a really unworthy post to let you know our views!  You have to bear in mind that I am the youngest person who has taken part in this discussion, which may reflect our choices.  And of course, all this is utterly holy appreciation of God's wonderful creation.

Straight in at Number 1 is Trevor Eve whose rugged good looks have many of my 70 somethings all atremble!  He also appeals to those of us of more tender years.

The other two main contenders are Martin Shaw (aka Judge John Deed) and Neil Pearson - maybe reflecting the views of those of us who are too young to have appreciated the looks of Eddie Shoestring - Trevor Eve's first major TV role.

So, who would you choose?!  (And who has the potential to cause Baptist males to need to gouge out their eyes?!)

(Picture nicked from BBC news website)

On the 6 a.m. Radio news this morning (don't ask) one of the headlines was that a nuclear power station in Scotland was to be blown up this morning.  Now that is careless - careless headlining that is - blowing up a nuclear power station is exactly what you must not do.  Let's just wipe out Annan and its envrions; I don't think so.

They actually blew up some cooling towers - just the same things you get at coal, oil or gas power stations.  Things that, unless something went drastically wrong, have never been 'nuked' as the saying goes.  Lots of people came out to watch the event apparently - so presumably fear of getting zapped themsleves by nasty stray neutrons (or alphas, betas or gammas) was allayed.

What it made me wonder though, as happens every time I hear a careless headline, is how much other rubbish I swallow whole because I know no different.  What a massive responsibility it is to speak to the public... 

Giving my age away - the old 'hand-built by robots' advert for Fiat (I think) and Typepad's and Blogger's antispam verification systems.

Typepad do a delightful black on black system (or that's how it appears on my PC) with a sort of fingerprint design for the background.  Usually it takes about four goes before I can decipher the letters/numbers from the background - and my colour and close vision is good.

Blogger seems to need me to adjust my internet privacy settings to 'allow all cookies' and then gives brightly coloured wavy writing for me to copy.

Blogspirit once in a blue moon ask for a verification a bit like Blogger (Google) but without the need to alter settings; usually they just let me post my comments.

I guess I am left wondering if the desire to prevent "automated robots" actually just ends up putting off real people from commenting or if it is just a cunning anti-Catriona device?!

I have managed to get myself into a bit of hot water in some circles by posting my dislike of a certain worship song, but hey, I make no secret of my opinion of this song and people are free to disagree.

I have always believed that all songs and hymns are created out of a genuine desire to offer praise, worship etc to God, and that quite a lot of the time our likes and dislikes are more about taste than theology.  At the same time there is a theory - which I don't entirely subscribe to - that says, essentially, what we sing shapes what we believe.  One way and another, what we sing is important.

A few years ago I did some work looking at Christian and Hindu iconography for an essay I was writing, an exercise that made me realise how lax western protestantism, and particularly evangelical protestantism, is about training its artists and song writers.  In Orthodox traditions, in order to be a Christian icon painter, a person must first be trained in theology - they are not just painting nice pictures.  Similarly, although the statues used by Hindus can be made by skilled artisans, only a suitably trained and 'ordained' person can dot the eyes, invoking the deity.  How different from our banner groups who are generally composed of people who like sewing and have not a clue about liturgy or theology.  I wonder if the same is true of many of those who write hymns and songs?

'Good theology' does not automatically mean theology I agree with, rather it is grounded in careful study and prayerful reflection.   In my view, the hymns and songs with the best theology - whether or not I like or endorse them - are written by people with some theological background.  Hence, if asked for 'good theology' I would probably point to people such as Timothy Dudley Smith, Brian Wren and John Bell - to choose without much thought three rather different 'schools' - and away from some of the things that are popular in big gatherings, even when it draws very heavily on verses of scripture.  Let's face it, if I could write songs (which thankfully I can't) I could have "fun" with things like the end of Psalm 137 (dashing babies' heads on rocks) or Proverbs 26:11 (dogs and vomit).

So, prompted by one or two others, this is your chance to share your views and/or the best and worst hymns/songs you have encountered.  I recognise that it is easy to criticise, and I am sure the writers do indeed intend to offer worship, but maybe sometimes we need to be a little more critically aware of what we sing?  Offers please!