I was listening to the Jeremy Vine show on Radio 2 (I'm dead cultured, me) whilst driving to Sainsbury's for the light bulbs (see earlier post) when he had two guest speakers on the RC bishops views on the Trident debate.  It was an interesting and unusually repsectful debtate between a spokesman for the Catholic bishops and a Revd Dr ethicist from Lancaster - alas I do not recall either of their names.  Essentially the RC bishops seem to be advocating a unilateralist position whilst the other expert felt that, while he was not in favour of Trident, this was unwise and actually destabilising.

Despite my experiences in the defence industry, and my views on nuclear power, I tend to lean towards the views apparently expressed by the RC bishops, albeit recognising that the issue is never as simple as any radio broadcast makes it out to be (and when I hear brodcasts on topics I know about, it makes me realise how much hogwash I swallow on other subjects).

It is good, I think, that people of faith are able to engage in this debate from differing perspectives, since this makes us less likely to end up with an ill-informed or, worse, blatantly wrong, view of a complex issue.  While the unilateralists assert that theirs is the way of peace, they have to concede that some of their freedom to do so arises from the actions of others who think otherwise.  While the ethicist is right in pointing out the complexity of the issue and that all-or-nothing attitiudes are overly simplistic, he, too needs to concede the possibility of a radical, prophetic stance.

For me, a replacement for trident seems a sad move - one would hope that we could as a race finally grow up and not feel the need to say 'mine is bigger than yours.'  At the same time, I know that the jobs of friends of mine - some Christian, Jewish, Muslim or other faiths - will be jeopardised if the decision is not to replace it.  The real crunch is, as always, when we move from theorising to practice - would we really put £75B (or whatever it is) to good use, whilst undertaking to re-train and re-employ all those whose work is lost? Or would it just disappear?

I guess we can only pray, listen to people of good conscience with whom we can disagree with dignity and seek to live with integrity- whatever our views.

Today I went along to Sainsbury's to buy our 200 8p light bulbs (still the chepaest indiviually boxed ones I've found) for the Cracking Christmas event.  I was relieved that there more than 200 on the shelves so that I could take what I needed without either having to ask for them or denyng some other poor HMF funded minister a light bulb if she/he needed one.

When I got to the checkouts a rather bemused woman said 'gosh, you must have a big house' - giving me an opportunity to explain why I was buying them.  Afterall, only very mad vicars buy 200 lightbulbs at once.  It all became even more fun when the scanner would not allow her to have '200' or '100' of an item.  It would allow 50, so we go there with four lots of fifty bulbs.

Now I'm trying to sort out how to get as many words as we need onto a label that will fit the boxes!  For this I spent four years studying theology!!

Having reconnected with corny Christian stuff, here's another old favourite... theological suicide but great fun!

There are three good arguments that Jesus could have been black
1) He called everyone "brother."
2) He liked Gospel.
3) He couldn't get a fair trial.

But then, there are 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was Jewish
1) He went into his fathers business.
2) He lived at home until he was 33.
3) He was sure his Mother was a virgin.

Then again there are 3 arquments that Jesus might have been Italian.
1)He talked with his hands.
2) He had wine with every meal.
3) He used olive oil.

There is a good chance that Jesus was a Californian
1) He never cut his hair.
2) He walked around barefoot all the time.
3) He started a new religion.

There are three equally good reasons that Jesus might have been Irish.
1) He never got married.
2) He was always telling stories.
3) He loved green pastures.

But the most compelling evidence of all shows that Jesus was a woman.
1) He fed a crowd at a moment's notice when there was no food.
2) He kept trying to get a message across to a bunch of men who didn't get
it.
3) Even when he was dead, He had to get up because there was more work to
do.

Today I made contact with a 'new' woman minister on the adjacent 'plot' to mine.  I was shocked to discover I was the first minister other than her circuit colleagues to do so - and I was only doing so out of courtesy because a couple of my people might be heading her way.  She was fun to chat to, blunt, honest and deeply committed to alternative worship and mission (see, despite local reluctance over women, alternative worship and mission, God keeps sending us to this corner of the Kingdom!  Now we have 3 Baps, one Anglican and 1 Methodist).

Anyway, Barbara reminded me of this, which is corny, fairly accurate scripturally (except on Mary Magdalene and the Samaritan woman) and good for the ministerial ego!

Noah was a drunk
Abraham was too old
Isaac was a daydreamer
Jacob was a liar
Leah was ugly
Joseph was abused
Moses had a stutter
Gideon was afraid
Samson had long hair and was a womanizer
Rahab was a prostitute
Jeremiah and Timothy were too young
David had an affair and was a murderer
Elijah was suicidal
Isaiah preached naked
Jonah ran from God
Naomi was a widow
Job went bankrupt
Peter denied Christ
The Disciples fell asleep while praying
Martha worried about everything
Mary Magdalene was, well you know…
The Samaritan woman was divorced, more than once
Zaccheus was too small
Paul was too religious
Timothy had an ulcer…AND
Lazarus was dead!

Today was my Rahab sermon.  I had worked quite hard on it, felt that I had something worthwhile to share and that it could speak to each of us about the ways in which her life mirrors our own - her life on the margins, her easy dishonesty, her fears for the future, her faith in God, and so on.  I had distributed red threads to each person as they arrived, to be used within the service as a symbol.

Two minutes into the sermon and my 'lighthouse sweep' landed on someone pointedly showing her Bible to her neighbour with that 'look she's wrong' expression in her face all preachers love (not).  Alas the timing meant she got my best Paddington hard stare before my gaze moved on.  After the service she came to tell me that Rahab was not a whore but an innkeeper since that was what the word 'prostitute' meant in those days.  Not that she was telling me I was wrong (much) but that actually generations of Sunday School teachers had been right to call her an innkeeper.  One does wonder why the scholars King James employed failed to use the correct terminology when they came to do their translation, but hey.  I will clearly need to very careful not to mention Boaz' feet next Sunday!  Years ago I was a Sunday School teacher.  It saddens me that so many loyal Christians switched their brains off at age seven and are therefore blinded to the wonder of a God who works with and through people like Rahab... and us.

By contrast, someone else (ironically the other poor woman who'd also come under my icy stare) said she'd found the story and sermon very helpful in facing a difficult family situation, so all was not lost, even if I left feeling rather deflated.

It was one of those Sundays when you find your paranoia gets fed as you are told that certain people are very unhappy with what 'you' are doing and are leaving the church.  It was one of the those Sundays when you get a glimpse of hope when someone else who has been on the periphery for a decade after being offended by a church decision comes and asks for a copy of the material circulated at the church meeting on ideas for mission and the way forward.

It was one of those days when the red thread symbol was perhaps as significant as the bread and wine we also shared.  Rahab was given the red cord to hang from her window both as a reminder of the promise and so that the spies would know where to look for her.  Well, God does not red threads to find where I am, but the piece of red wool currently tied around my wrist is a good reminder of God's faithfulness.  It was good to see a few other people leaving with red threads tied to their person - I hope they at least found something of God's hope in what we shared today.