Tech nerd…

Hi Folks! We’re meeting at the Dog and Rabbit this Sunday at 8pm, see you there.

I’m a bit of a tech nerd, so much so, that the highlight of my Tuesday evening wasn’t bread week on the Bake Off, but Apple’s latest keynote, basically their annual, “Here’s all our expensive and new products for you all to buy!” I’m fascinated by the technology, and the advancements that get made, and how humans interact with these devices, not on a consumer level, but on a creating level, a level before it gets into the hands of consumers.

Now, i don’t claim to know everything about computers, electronics and programming etc… But what’s always fascinated me is the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, in this book/film the supercomputer Deep Thought is built by a race of hyper – intelligent alien beings to determine the answer to “life, the universe, and everything.” Deep thought determines the answer is 42, thus ensuing the sarcastic response to this existential question.

Douglas Adams the author of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was a full on computer whiz, what he didn’t know, wasn’t worth knowing, he knew a lot about programming language, and coding. In programming, an asterisk is commonly used to translate as “whatever you want it to be”. In ASCII (basically where letters are assigned numbers) language “42” is the designation for an asterisk. A computer, Deep Thought, was asked what the true meaning of life was. It answered as a computer would. 42 = “Anything you want it to be”.

Jesus made his life’s meaning about love, nothing more nothing less, love for the outcast, love for the pharisee, and love for the thief, I hope that my life’s meaning could be about love, but sometimes it’s hard to love those that want to bring so much hate into the world, but we continue to try.

In your opinion, what has been the greatest piece of tech you’ve seen in your lifetime?
Does your life’s meaning as a follower of Jesus differ from others?
How is your ‘meaning of life’ translated into everyday life?

Paz,

Andrew

One Love

Hi Folks, this week we meet in a new venue as it has been refurbished, we meet at 8.00pm in The Ship Inn, Monkseaton. Hope to see you there.

I’m writing this between the Manchester concert and the election… I’m writing it purposely now rather than after the result of the election as I don’t want to be tainted by it. I was very much aware after the last election and the referendum result that many were left in a state of shock and were bereft. Society is reeling once again in the aftermath of the events in Manchester and London… and if we are honest, what ever the result of the election this week these problems are not going away any time soon. We are also seeing the threat of terrorism is very much at the forefront of governments across the globe. As I write there have been gun attacks and a suicide bomb in Tehran. No country or people are safe.

A few years back I came across the One Love Peace Concert that Bob Marley and two war lords initiated in 1978 in Jamaica. Whilst singing ‘Jammin’ he invited the two leaders of the different political parties Michael Manley and Edward Seaga to come on stage with him, they had been in a political civil war with each other with lots of violence. Bob Marley persuaded the two leaders to join hands. As an event it did not stop the violence and in fact the two guys that helped Marley with the concert were both killed within two years.

Peace takes time… peace takes brave actions… peace takes mediators… Bob Marley was one of those people that stood in the gap… I wonder if throughout these horrific terrorist events we will see people rise up and stand in the gap… The Manchester concert was a triumph in many ways, especially for the amazing people that returned to Manchester and particularly for Ariana Grande… I wonder if we as followers of Jesus should be those people who, if we are able, should stand in the gap… to bring people together…

There will be events beyond the election where there will need to be people who stand in the gap… to bring people together, to enable healing, to bring about peace. As a follower of the way of Jesus I would love to be such a person… if I have the courage!

Peace, Rob

Jesus is my homeboy!

Hi folks, this weeks is a guest post from Ben Pearce… He has now moved south but is wanting to set up something similar down there, here is his first post which i thought was great… I have changed it slightly and added a picture of a contemporary scene of Jesus and the disciples at the last supper.

Jesus in many ways lived the life of a servant… serving those by the grace of God and I am always wondering…. if Jesus was alive today instead of 2000 years ago what job, role or skill would he have done or held down?… and what jobs would the disciples have had?
It conjures up a funny image in my head that instead of the last supper as it is… Jesus has a McDonalds uniform on and the disciples all have a various coffee shops supermarkets and other similar job role uniforms…

Now Jesus had his haters as do I in my job. We’ve all had that really rude customer who thinks they know best. Tell you what the problem is (usually nothing to do with what the actual problem is) don’t want you in the house yet thats part of the job, they are really rude and treat you like crap and just look down their nose at you as you are just a lowly tech guy and you are only there to fix what is essential to their way of life…

I see my attitude changing with them. I’m sarcastic and probably rude back. I know i shouldn’t be and after every time i’m like ‘that isn’t what i should have done…’

So few questions to consider….

Firstly a fun one… what jobs and roles do you see Jesus and the gang doing in our modern world?

Secondly can Jesus’s example of humility of treating everyone equally and with the same amount of respect be managed in this “i want everything and i want it done yesterday” way of life?

And thirdly do you put your faith into action before reacting or do you react and then think about your faith and think about what you should or have done?

Fourthly… what do you think of the picture?

This week we are meeting in the Crescent Club at 8.00pm. Hope you can join us.

Picture by David LaChapelle’s “Jesus is my Homeboy”http://davidlachapelle.com/series/jesus-is-my-homeboy/

Peace, Rob

Uncertainty?!

What a week it has been! On the one hand we celebrate the joy of Easter Sunday and then on the other as we turn our backs on the political world for a moment only to hear that once again we are facing a snap general election! It seems that turmoil is standard fare these days… even on the back of the easter story we are faced with the disciples hiding from the authorities. I take a look at the reading i’m speaking on this Sunday and I read about the wonderfully honest Thomas.

 

How on earth these things link is bizarre, but in my head they do… The uncertainty of the disciples as they try to understand if Jesus has actually risen, Thomas the guy who wants to know for sure, and then our political instability on our own shores and of course around the world… I wonder if the link is about uncertainty… I know that in my honest moments I wonder about the resurrection as well… ‘can it really be true’!? Sometimes i would love to have proof; the risen Jesus walking around my streets, sitting in the pub with me and my friends! I really get Thomas… I love his honesty and his determination to get the resurrection sorted in his own mind and heart… Of course uncertainty plagues the church as well, as it tries to work out what it’s supposed to be doing and how it’s supposed to be doing it… Even though we have the risen Jesus we are still fearful and we are still hiding…  And then the country is facing uncertainty in more ways than can be mentioned here, safe to say, we are not in for an easy few weeks, months or even years… 


 

So where does this uncertainty leave us… maybe we are left hiding and fearful, maybe it leaves us running around like headless chickens not sure what to do… Or what we can do even in the midst of doubt, fear and uncertainty… There is certainty in knowing what we can do ourselves… that we have a role to play… for we were born for such a time as this… Yes we can play our part… we can be certain in the way we get on with life… we can lead by example and get up and get on with living… and by making a small difference in the places and situations that we find ourselves.  For me, I make a difference one plastic bottle at a time… one kind word at time… one act of kindness at a time… You may have the wherewithal to get involved in spearheading the local church into action, or have a political bone in you that convicts you to get involved… whatever it is let us not let the uncertainty make us fearful, may it drive us into action… let it make us more determined… The world needs people to get up and get on… My faith compels we try where I can… what about you? 


 

God bless, Rob

Every Day Street Clean

Over the last few months through Sunday@thepub and other challenges I have been pondering on putting certain activities into my daily life to make a difference to the community I live in. I now regularly smile at people and say hello as I walk past those who are going about their daily lives. I wonder though it this is enough? One or two of us have been looking at other ways of doing simple acts that we can include into our daily lives and routines. 

With this in mind for the last couple of years when I go to the beach I have been picking up litter as part of the #2minutebeachclean initiative. It has made me more aware of marine conservation and the problem of plastics that slowly get smaller and smaller and then end up in the food chain. But there is also a huge issue with litter blowing around our streets and so we have set up a new environmental group called ‘Every Day Street Clean’https://www.facebook.com/everydaystreetclean/ which aims to encourage us as individuals to take individual responsibility for our streets, the idea is to summarised in 3 simple steps… 1. Don’t drop litter! 2. If you see it, pick it up! 3. Recycle all you can! We have been actively picking up litter now for the last few weeks and as a result it has made me more aware of the amount of rubbish that gets dropped or gets blown out of bins and skips. I have also been active in picking up elastic bands that the local posties drop as they deliver our post…

I wonder if you could commit, with us, to getting involved in keeping our streets and beaches clean of litter? I wonder what other ideas you could put into your daily lives that would make a difference. I have come to believe that these are spiritual disciplines in and of themselves. It could be a way to pray as we pick up a bottle or can for the people who have drunk from it and discarded it. It makes me more aware of my environment and it makes me aware of waste in general. 

This week we meet in The Sportman at 8.00pm if you would like to join us. 

 Peace, Rob 

Breaking News!

Hi folks, this week we meet for Sunday@thepub at the Red House Farm at 8.00pm, we hope to see you there.

This week’s reflection comes in response to the events of Wednesday afternoon. I’m sure many of us simply could not believe what was happening as we watched the events beginning to unfold through social media and the news channels. What happened is incredibly upsetting and difficult to comprehend and all we can do is think and pray for those who mourn and to remember those who are recovering from the physical effects of the event and pray that the mental trauma that many of them and those who witnessed the event will be eased.

The rise of social media has lead to people being able to share news much faster than any news channel could report it. We live in a world where everything is available instantly, were people share without a thought for those people they have taken pictures of. Social media is something we can’t avoid and as such it can be used as a tool for great things, uplifting things, catching up with old friends and being reminded of those we have lost. However it can also be used for great evil, for inciting hatred, stirring up people against a race, culture or creed for the sheer fact that someone doesn’t like them, they broadcast it for all to see. If we cast our minds back to 2001, a time before social media and a time when the world seemed to be a nicer place, many of us remember where we were on September 11th, but we were limited to the kinds of images and video footage that were shared.

Many of the images and videos that were shared on social media over the last few days have been difficult to view, some may say it makes it more human to see those directly affected, some may say that it shows a lack of feeling or sensibility to share images of people injured or dying on social media. These are complex and emotive issues, and at times like this it raises our sensitivities.

Heres some questions to help us ponder, not on the horrific events of the last few days but rather the way social media is used… 

Should images of horrific events be shared on social media?

How do we respond to those who use tragic news on social media for their own personal agenda?

Should followers of Jesus have a different etiquette as to how they use social media?

And finally, how does this Martin Luther King JR quote speak into our actions on social media “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

Peace, love and blessings,

Andrew and Rob

Prayerfulness

Hi folks, i hope this finds you well, this week we meet at a new venue… meeting at 8.00pm at the Dog and Rabbit in Whitley Bay, it’s a new micro pub that opened its doors last year just up the road from the Tap an Spile on Whitley Road, here is its Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/The-Dog-Rabbit-Micro-Brew-Pub-780413925376487/

 

This last week I have been working on a seminar on prayer and the ways we connect with God and the ways in which we can strengthen our relationship with God. I have to confess that I have never found it easy and its always been fraught with problems and difficulties. I have become much more laid back about it in recent years and I try not to hold on to my guilt for too long.

 

What I do see though is that it’s important for me to find ways to meet with God, and so a lot of that is done through my walks with the dogs… a pause in my walk to look and observe that which is around and to go wow… In my pondering I came across this quote which i have heard before but not thought much about until now and it was this “pray as you can, not as you can’t.”

 

By far the most important thing for us, if we want to pray, is to seriously undertake to become the kind of people who can pray, who have room in their lives for a God to whom they can pray. I’m being to understand that after many years as a follower of Jesus that ‘methods’ may help me to pray, but what i really need to learn is to have an attitude of prayerfulness… I think I’m slowly getting to know what that means but it’s not easy and it does take time.

 

It sometimes seems that life takes over and we get overly busy, in fact society tells us not to waste time… I wonder if God is asking us to actually waste time with him… As we journey through lent why not consider wasting time with God and try to carve out some time to waste time with God.

 

Some questions to ponder…

 

How does prayer make you feel?

What are your frustrations about prayer?

How do you practice prayer?

 

Peace, Rob

Mental Health

Hi Guys,

This weeks blog may hit a little too close to home for some people, i apologise if this occurs for some of you.

I want to start about 4 years in the past, 4 years ago i was looking forward to starting my theology degree up at Cliff College, I had no idea that in 4 years my life would change so much.

4 years ago i was living in a suburban town near Hull, where the entirety of my life had been spent, spent with people i knew and people i had grown up with, my parents had decided to move up to Northumberland and i wasn’t all impressed by upping sticks and leaving the town I had grown up in and had all my friends in.

September came around and I moved up to cliff to begin my degree, my parents were due to move in November, so i had one weekend in my old house before driving to a new place to spend Christmas with my family – This move, and leaving home and all the change initially became a little too much and in November of that year I was placed on Anti Depressants from the doctor near to Cliff.

Initially it helped me to cope and to deal with all the Major change that occurred, but clearly it didn’t, the time spent at home around Christmas made me feel better, and i felt that i could carry on, the rest of my first year went without much else going wrong and I passed first year with a 2:2 which i was happy with.
What i didn’t realise was that while i thought i was okay, and that i could cope without the pills after summer, I didn’t realise that i wasn’t better and i was slowly sliding further and deeper into a depressed state, this wasn’t a quick change, hence why i think i didn’t notice it, i was slowly becoming more and more lethargic, self neglectful and in some instances self harming, and even considering suicide.

My second year of Uni started off badly, people I had connected with in the previous year had either left, or moved to different uni’s, so I felt increasingly isolated and more alone with my thoughts, thats when the self harming started and i became more self neglectful toward myself.

What I never realised is that when you’re in a severely depressed state, you don’t realise how depressed you actually are, you think that everything is fine, and that because you’re only sleeping 2/3 nights out of the week, you think that its because you need to get work done, it is in fact because I was suffering from insomnia, insomnia and depression go hand in hand, and it is honestly the most awful thing anyone can suffer with.

Around Christmas time, after one of my closest friends had intervened and called my parents I decided it was best to return home and re focus and try and get better. a few years down the line and after many hours spent being shouted at by the Doctor, who I credit with saving my life and many days spent trying to fix myself things seem to be looking up.

I spent many nights wondering why i never felt comfortable enough to tell my full story, and I know many of you have been told parts of the story, but I feel like this was the right time to tell it in its entirety (Plus I’m sick of blogging about Donald Trump!)

I suppose it is healthy every so often to go back and revisit the past, and being honest, this is the first time I’ve ever wanted to fully disclose the issues i faced, because I know that someone, somewhere will be experiencing the same things, and those people need to know that they aren’t alone, someone does care and someone does love them.

I wish i had been told this at the time, but the best thing I can do is tell someone else these things.

The facts in themselves are staggering;
In 2014, 19.7% of people in the UK aged 16 and over showed symptoms of anxiety or depression – a 1.5% increase from 2013. This percentage was higher among females (22.5%) than males (16.8%).
It is estimated that 1 in 6 people in the past week experienced a common mental health problem
Mental health problems are one of the main causes of the burden of disease worldwide. In the UK, they are responsible for the largest burden of disease– 28% of the total burden, compared to 16% each for cancer and heart disease
1 in 4 Adults, will either experience or know someone with Mental Health problems or will suffer themselves.

So, how do the stats make you feel? I never knew when I was suffering that so many people went through the same things as myself, I always thought that it was myself against the world, and that nobody understood me, and nobody understood my situation.

I had two methods of coping, and ongoing things i like to class as recovery aids, one is a song by a band called Rise Against, called “Tragedy and Time” – one of my favourite lines in that song goes like this;

“Nothing matters when the pain is all but gone
When you are finally awake
Despite the overwhelming odds, tomorrow came
And when they see you crack a smile
And you decide to stay a while
You’ll be ready then, to laugh again.”

If you wish to listen to the whole song, the link is attached below

So, questions

– How do we make church a safe place for those suffering and those recovering?
– Mental health is slowly losing the stigma attached to it of being weak etc, how do we speed that process of making the stigma finally disappear?
– How do we support those that end up ultimately caring for their loved ones?
– If you have experienced mental health issues, or know someone who has, what things helped your recovery?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2YgwN6P_7E

Peace, love and Blessings,

Andrew

Its better to receive than to give…

Hi folks, I hope you are well, this week we will be meeting at the Crescent Club in Cullercoats if you want to join us, meeting at 8.00pm! This week I received a guest blog from Naomi Wynd so I thought I would share it this week as it fits in to numerous activities and conversations we have been involved with.

What’s that you say, that’s the wrong way round?!! Well yes, so the saying goes it should be better to give than receive, but I have been thinking a lot about the concept of giving and receiving what with the upcoming holiday and have had to do some thinking re: receiving, which I thought I’d share with you.

At what point, do you reckon we become self-conscious at receiving gifts? I look at my boys and one thing they are truly excellent at is receiving and opening presents (a little too excellent perhaps?!). The delight on their face if they are given a parcel to unwrap is unrivalled; the anticipation of receiving a gift from a loved one is so great that it could be pretty much anything in the box and it would be joyfully and gratefully received and appreciated. They have no self-awareness, they are not embarrassed to receive these gifts – they are just thankful. They also feel no need to give a gift in return– which leads me onto my next point…

Why do we struggle so much to receive a gift and not immediately feel the need to reciprocate the gesture? Those who are fans of The Big Bang Theory will be familiar with Sheldon’s predicament in this matter. Sheldon dislikes the concept of gift-giving as to him it is a meaningless social convention by which each person takes it in turns to be ‘indebted’ to another to the value of approximately $50. One Christmas he buys a range of gifts of varying values so that he can be prepared for whatever value of gift he is given, he can return one of equal value, thus rendering his ‘debt’ neutralised. I have realised over the years that I am very much like Sheldon. If someone buys me a gift for my birthday or Christmas, I automatically feel that I must buy them one – and it must be one reflecting the value of what they gave me – not so much as a ‘debt equaliser’ but in order to show a mutual appreciation – in my mind if someone blesses me with a gift, one way of showing that I appreciate their gift is by returning the action in a similar manner. Does this sound familiar or is it just me that feels unable to receive a gift without needing to give in return?

So, in my thinking around this subject, I have been challenged to think about giving and receiving and how it is an act of grace. When we receive grace we receive something we don’t deserve. Ouch. We don’t deserve it. There is nothing we can think, say or do that will make us ‘worthy’ of such a gift. We therefore can choose to accept the gift, freely and joyfully or we can live feeling guilty, feeling that we must ‘earn’ the gift, or do something in return so we are no longer ‘indebted’. I have been challenged several times this week in this very area, challenged to swallow my pride and accept a gift, freely given. On Thursday David surprised me with a personalised advent calendar, filled with small gifts for each day. Rather than immediately accepting with the gratitude I felt, my first reaction was to panic, and say, “I didn’t know we were getting each other Advent calendars- I need to go and get you one now!” I felt I had to return the gift, rather than accept it gratefully. Today a man arrived at our house with a massive Christmas tree from the shop down the road. When I asked David how much it cost, he said nothing – Mark had given it to us for free. I couldn’t cope!!! My pride nearly exploded at the inability to accept a free gift! And they are just two small examples of so many I could quote – of so many times when we have been blessed with gifts freely given.

So, returning to my starting point:

God’s gifts of love, forgiveness and redemption are all gifts we will never be able to return, but if we choose to reject them will cause us to live a life unfulfilled and often, without hope. As Christians, and more significantly as BRITISH Christians, we can often fall into the trap of being ‘reserved’ in so many areas, including in our appreciation and celebration of what God has done in our lives. I don’t think when God gives us gifts he wants us to approach them politely, slightly embarrassed and with a sense of awkwardness at his generosity, but rather, as children do – excitedly, unreservedly and expectant of the good gifts that can only come from a loving parent. It is better to receive, than to give.

Here are a few questions to to get us thinking – How do you feel when reading this? When you receive a gift do you receive it joyfully and gratefully or guiltily – like someone on the ‘naughty’ list who has received it in error? How easy do you find it to accept something you don’t deserve or you didn’t earn? What kind of giver are you? Do you give with the expectation of receiving? Is it possible to give without an expectation of receiving How can we become people who give to others in a way that lets them feel blessed but not ‘indebted’?

Peace.

Everything is meaningless??

Evening all, this weeks blog is live!

We meet this Sunday at the Sportsman, at 8pm – see you all then.

“Everything is meaningless” – words from Ecclesiastes which I always do end up chuckling at! It has been one of those weeks for me (and its only Wednesday!) I’ve struggled with many things this week, like I’m sure many of you have also – I suppose that I could go as far to see that I’ll be glad to see the back of this year also!

This year hasn’t given us much to look forward to and hasn’t given us much to be joyful for, we’ve lost many people this year, not just celebrities, but people who are close to us, and those we love – that’s what makes this year difficult and hard, and all to real.

I think as Christians we can become comfortable within our surroundings, and not step out in faith as much as we’d like, whether that is just our human nature, or its a sign of the times I do not know, but what I do know is that we need hope more than anything at this time.

One of my favourite authors, and all round cracking guy, is C.S. Lewis one of my favourite books on Theology and Christianity is his “mere Christianity” book there are so many quotes I could pick out, but as we’re in Advent now, a time of waiting for Jesus to be born, and the hope that stemmed from it, I want to share this one with you; “Hope is one of the Theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.”

I suppose what I want to say is that at the end of the day, all we can cling onto is hope, hope that things will get better, hope that things will change, and that people out in the world will eventually embrace each other with love, and acceptance.

So some questions; what gives you hope? How can we, ensure that hope isn’t just a word, and a feeling talked about by future generations, and our generation? How can we spread hope in this broken world?

Love and blessings,

Andrew.