Living in a box

It was an early spring day in 1987... In a semi-semi (really a terrace with gaps) in rural Cambridgeshire a 14 year-old me sat at my desk doing my homework... *sigh*... my DT project was going particularly badly... Whilst others were building robots that were alive like Number 5, and could sense and turn away from the edge of a table, my unicycle was still looking suspiciously like a collection of bent tubes and a saddle shaped like an upturned Petri dish.

Of the wheel or pedals, there was - as yet - no sign...

The sun coming through the window lit up a halo of craaaayzy hair and cast a bouffant shadow on the wardrobe behind me... sunlight shone from the rims of my oversized spectacles onto my adolescent acne... outside the trees were just coming on green... and I longed to be anywhere but there... (or at least there... but not doing homework any more)

Man Church

With apologies to ladies with no sense of humour... turn away now! This one is written from a single-mindedly male point of view... and it makes all kinds of generalisations that you probably won't like... (although if you're offended by it, you should probably read it anyway...)

Responding to a recent article in 'Sorted' in which men report being more comfortable in a ladies underwear shop than they do in church... I'm prompted to ask the question 'Does my bum look big in this?"

No... sorry... I'm prompted to ask the question "What does Man Church look like?'

Most difficult is, apparently, the hymnbook... Whilst 80% of men are happy to sing in the shower, and about half are happy to sing at a footy match, 67% resist singing in church.

But that's not the only obstacle - 66% said they were just uncomfortable 'being there'.

Why?

Who are the Church... really?

Q: What do you do if you reckon you've found out that the Church has been systematically reading a bit of the bible wrong...
A: You stand up and tell everyone on Sunday morning...

Following that... this is Ephesians 1-2:10 rewritten based on a number of sources... who all make the key suggestion that we (the Western Church) might have been reading it wrong... and point out that the Church isn't the focus of a plan hastily put together by God to save the world after his original plan to use Israel was hijacked by Satan and mankind's sin, but rather the firstfruits of His original plan... that he brought to fulfilment through Messiah... from Israel... to save the world.

You can choose your friends but...

Families are funny things... 'nuff said.

I did expand on this.... but Môme may have vetoed it!! Expand as you wish!!

And yet we love them... odd.

Anyway... as requested by my lovely sister-in-law... some yummies!

Chocolate and almond tray bake...

Oven at 180C, line a tin with foil (the smaller the tin the thicker the pieces will be :) but the less of them you get :( )
Melt 8oz of chocolate and spread over the foil... leave to set.
Whisk 2 eggs with 1/2 a teaspoon of almond essence.
Fold in 5oz caster sugar, 4oz ground almonds, 2oz semolina, 2oz glacé cherries and 2oz dried apricots.
Spread over the set chocolate and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Cut into slices whilst hot, then cool to set completely...

Serve with a cup of tea, good friends and conversation :)

Membership

Pop's recent comment on membership and his (rightful) insistence that the Church should be (is!) the bride of Christ has prompted this post... about experiences of joining and belonging to a membership-type church.

'On the pull'

It's a curious experience turning up a new church, particularly if you have an inkling that it might be one you want to attend regularly. It involves eyeing people up, checking out the oddballs, feeling out the vibes, pricing up the wares. If we're very shallow (I am) I'm interested in what's on the surface (the music, the P.A., the cardigans...)... if we're trying to be more spiritual we try to get a feel for what's going on underneath... It bears an uncommon resemblance to the habits of our pagan brothers who go "on the pull" to "night clubs"... We're so deep!