All posts in Life

Memory Moleskine

by Hugh on January 3, 2011 in Faith, Life with No comments

Here’s another New Year’s resolution of sorts.

In a challenge initially reminiscent of a Blue Peter craft (cutting and sticking involved), I’ve converted a simple Moleskine notebook (just the really small ones – 3 for about a fiver I think) into a “Memory Moleskine”.

Here’s the idea… between now and Easter (16 weeks), myself, and lots of other people all around the world are going to try and memorise the book of Philippians together. Sounds like a tall order, but is only a few verses each week.

All you need to join in is a Cahier Moleskine (or similar sized notepad), some scissors and glue, and to download and print off the learning plan from the Resurgence website.

Don’t forget to leave a blank page next to each week to write down some reflections…

Hello 2011

by Hugh on January 1, 2011 in Life with 1 Comment

Hello. It’s been a while.

Well, a New Year… a New Decade… what will be in store?

A major redesign for the blog as you can see. Watch out for some more photography… I’ve decided that my new year’s resolution is to learn how to use my digital camera. Pictured left is my ‘New Year Cigar’ captured in ‘Macro Mode’. It’s a brave new world.

Also to look forward to…

Three great conferences in New Word Alive, Bible by the Beach and the EMA, I’ll be at all of them, maybe blogging… but probably just trying to soak it up…

…and we’ll find out if the CofE wants to hire me! Watch this space for a new decade of ramblings…

Costa Tuesdays

by Hugh on September 28, 2010 in Faith, Life with No comments

“Like Ronseal, Costa Tuesdays does exactly what it says on the tin”

We’ve started up a new meeting… meeting at Costa Coffee in George Street, right in the heart of Hove… each Tuesday evening, from 7.30pm, we’re taking over Costa Coffee.

So if you’re down in Hove, come along, grab a coffee, meet some new people… we’re also going to be opening up the Bible together, looking at the “Vintage Jesus” as we journey through the Gospel of Luke.

We met for the first time last week and thought about how Costa Tuesdays, and even more so, Luke’s Gospel is great for everyone, whether you’re a Christian or a sceptic, there’s something here for you…

Check out the website link for more info or just come and pop in on a Tuesday night…

Martyrs Memorial

by Hugh on September 8, 2010 in Faith, Life with 2 Comments

Have just been to visit a good friend, a true leader who’s moved to Oxford to train to be a Vicar. As we explored we found the Martyrs Memorial…

“To the Glory of God, and in grateful commemoration of His servants, Thomas Cranmer, Nicholas Ridley, Hugh Latimer, Prelates of the Church of England, who near this spot yielded their bodies to be burned, bearing witness to the sacred truths which they had affirmed and maintained against the errors of the Church of Rome, and rejoicing that to them it was given not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for His sake; this monument was erected by public subscription in the year of our Lord God, MDCCCXLI”.

Ps. If anyone is able to explain why Magdalen is pronounced Maudalen, please write, or just leave a comment. Ta.

Borough Market

by Hugh on September 7, 2010 in Life with No comments

Next week I head back to Cornhill to start Year 2 of the training course. This means I switch to ‘goin up the smoke’ on a Thursday and Friday. This is good news.

But more than just being pleased to be going back, pleased too that I’ll now be able to enjoy the delights of Borough Market.

It looks good fun… but it just looks dead on a Monday and Tuesday!

I love to explore new places. Pretend I’m a tourist. I love markets too, hustle and bustle, fun and quirky bits… love fresh food, fruit and veg, smell of fresh bakery mmm… mmm..

Honeymoon Reading

by Hugh on September 6, 2010 in Books, Faith, Life with No comments

While on Honeymoon I committed to reading two books, it was a slow start, but as I got into reading more, I found myself able to relax more… don’t know if there is a connection…

So I started off with John Piper’s ‘A Sweet and Bitter Providence‘… “sex, race and the sovereignty of God in the book of Ruth”… If you’ve listened to Piper’s sermons on the book of Ruth it’s basically those in book form, but it’s a wonderful resource to have it as a book!

Piper’s main theme running through the book is how God is sovereign and while his providential plans are always for our good, sometimes they seem bitter and sometimes sweet, as Naomi knew too well. As he takes us through the story he picks out the themes of race, sex, interracial marriage, what it means to belong to God’s people, and His Sovereignty.

This book is great because it works on two levels and everywhere in between… it serves as a great devotional book, applying the story and truths from the story of Ruth to our own lives and experience… at the same time it also serves as a basic commentary on the book, while devotional in feel, Piper is still rigorous with the text, digging up hidden gems and showing the depth of the story. Well worth having a read.

The next book is slightly different. ‘The Breeze of the Centuries‘ is the second offering from UCCF theology guru Mike Reeves. I don’t usually bother with introductions, but it was interesting to read and find out the reason for the title… a quote from CS. Lewis, which translated basically says “we need to listen to and learn from people in the past, the breeze of the centuries…”

Reeves takes us through a short biography and the background to the works of some early Christian theologians, people like Polycarp, Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Athanasius, Augustine and more…

You get a real feel for the people and their situations, and it’s great to be introduced to authors writing so soon after Jesus. It’s really interesting to see how the early church fought against heresies and how actually there’s nothing new under the soon. Many of the controversies of the early church have seemingly been re-repeated under a different guise throughout church history. A great introduction to some giants of the early church… get it and read it!

Never start a Cult

by Hugh on August 25, 2010 in Faith, Life with 1 Comment

There are certainly some positives to being a Cult founder; you usually get pretty rich, have an unquestioning following, and usually go out with a bang… but it never lasts, after all look at Artemis (Diana). She got her own temple, it was massive, one of the 7 wonders of the Ancient World!

But look, there’s hardly anything left… just a few stones piled on one another, plenty of tourists, strange Turkish men trying to sell programmes and postcards, oh and it’s a bit boggy!

Interestingly the reason the temple got into disrepair and eventually fell down was because Christianity took hold and people released actually there’s a living God, who doesn’t meet in elaborate temples but meets in our hearts, and they didn’t need to come and offer fertility sacrifices but actually Jesus was the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice.

The point is, it’s a bad idea to start a cult, because it will just end up like this!

Clichés

by Hugh on August 24, 2010 in Life with No comments

Apparently you look better in black and white?

I tried my best to make sure my wedding wasn’t too cliché.

I’ve complained on at least two occasions on this blog that weddings are generally the same and are far too cliché. I vowed that my wedding would never be cliché.

Unfortunately I opened the speech with “my wife and I” – which is as cliché as it gets, so I failed. But on the plus side it was a pretty good day… I should say “happiest day of my life”, but that too is very cliché!

Trip to Bristol

by Hugh on July 22, 2010 in Life with 6 Comments

A little while ago me and some other chaps popped over to Bristol for a weekend, don’t really know why.

Anyway, not a lot of note happened, but we did visit two very different churches which were well worth a visit…

In Bristol centre we visited Wesley’s Chapel, the oldest Methodist Chapel in the world! We had a look around, saw his study, stood in his pulpit, all in all it was a good experience to see a bit of gospel-ministry history.

We also went to a somewhat different church on the Sunday morning. Not in an old chapel, but in a school. We visited Grace Church Bristol one of a number of Sovereign Grace churches planted in the South-West/Wales.

We received a warm welcome and met with a guy who I remember from CU Leaders training, there was good coffee and a relaxed atmosphere. We moved in to the main meeting room and sang some songs… I was particularly pleased to have sung the song ‘All I have is Christ’, a song from the Looked Upon album which I love – possibly to be played during the signing of the registers!

Nathan Smith, one of the Pastors was preaching through Ephesians (which was good stuff). It was a church where I, as a conservative Anglican felt comfortable and at home. There weren’t any uninterpreted tongues (or interpreted for that matter) and the prophecies which were given weren’t about how the church is going to see revival but clear and simple encouragements for the believers there, which all goes against some experiences and stereotypes of charismatic churches… a gentle and sensitive display of a more charismatic practise. If you’re in Bristol do go and pay them a visit…

Unreported Africa

by Hugh on July 21, 2010 in Current Affairs, Life, Politics with No comments

Something else I meant to say following the trip out to Malawi was to note, with some concern, the role that China is playing in the development of Africa.

The first time I noticed this was at Addis Ababa airport where a large group of Chinese engineers (they had hard hats) was waiting to board a flight to another part of Africa (possibly Nigeria). This disturbed me, mainly because one of them spat on the marble floor of the airport – disgusting! I found a story in the New York Times reporting on China’s resource exploration of Chad, maybe they were on their way there…

The second time I noticed this was on the way in to the centre of Lilongwe. The Peoples Republic of China are building a new parliament building for Malawi, at a cost of around 2 Billion Kwacha (about £40 million). Now there are a number of questions that surround that…

Why did they need a new building? Couldn’t that money have been better spent? What are China hoping to gain from this? All valid questions, with the third question being most puzzling and concerning as China position themselves to have a potentially unhealthy influence in African politics.

There is another dimension to this story. This project is not providing massive employment for the Malawian people because the construction workers are Chinese, often Chinese convicts released from prison to work in Malawi, and with Chinese convicts bored in Malawi there have been reports of crimes including rape having been committed by them.

Is this a Chinese takeover? A solution to their overpopulation? A global search for natural resources? Whatever it is it strikes me as a development that needs to be watched with care…