Machines

I really tried. Honestly. A TV programme called 'All watched over by Machines of Loving Grace' sounded like a fine way to end a rain-roaked bank holiday with a bit of academic rigour.  It seemed to be telling me that there is a  computer programme that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will. Divinity has nothing to do with it, as Shakespeare thought. We have no choice in the matter: sooner or later nature dictates how life develops and ends up. The computer will ensure that our needs are met by a pre-established pattern of nature. It has always been so, although we didn't know it until a screen linked to the etheric demonstrated what was there for anybody to see: an inevitable pathway to fulfilment, and/or disaster. So there is nothing I can do about it: I am programmed by some ineffable force. Freewill? forget it. After 45 minutes of this hour-long stuff, I must have dozed off, because I woke to see Swansea getting into the Premiership. 'Must have been meant' I thought, and slid off to bed. The programme-planners on BBC2 had some hopes, popping 'Machines of Loving Grace' into the schedules on a bank holiday when viewers would have to be razor-sharp alert to make head or tales of it. A glass or two of best Chilean red had left me looking for something less strenuous to watch, and that it was all total baloney. Or was John Calvin right to teach predestination.? 

Cynicism

Any expression of hope, or show of human decency, is currently greeted by the British public with ill-conceaaled cynicism, or as something mildly amusing. So the visit to Ireland and now to the British Parliament by President Obama is received by the chattering classes with interest, but mild scepticism. The media are in raptures, apart from the Daily Telegraph, which may have caught the mood of the general public by being a touch cool. Never mind the brilliant oratory, what was in it for him? I have heard it asked. All Obama wanted was a boost for his 2012 election chances, it is inferred.  We have seen too much bad behaviour among people who are supposed to be our protectors and friends, really to believe in unalloyed goodness.  The default attitude is that nothing in British society really works, no promise is to be trusted; there are no good fairies, everything that sounds like good news is to be suspected. We are all being cheated, swindled, led up garden paths by banks, adverts, politicians, the media, and preachers. The presentation of a product, an idea, a philosophy, a guru, which calls for belief, trust and commitment is subject to the  Paxman sneer. It may be justified, but we have become conditioned now not to believe that anything is altogether good. Whatever, says St Paul, is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, worthy of praise,'think about such things'.   I don't know how the ancient Philippians reacted to this invitation.  It sounds mighty optimistic in the United Kingdom in 2011.

Preaching

Preaching has got the bad name it well deserves. People do not like to be 'preached at' by those whose authority they suspect. Doctors they will listen to. Stand-up comedians they will laugh at. Politicians they will jeer. But there are hundreds of preachers in British churches who would do Christianity a favour by giving it up. Something like half a million sermons are being delieverd every Sunday to around five million churchgoers. A commercial business with such a massive evangelical outreach would expect  success. Churches are not succeeding. And one reason is because, by and large, the preaching is so poor.

Churches know this, and many of them have abandoned the traditional sermon in favour of discussion groups, visual aids, 'messy' church, and silent meditation. Good preachers, all the same, should be able to attract and keep large and growing congregations. Most preachers fail, for one or all of several reasons.

1) They preach too much. Long gone are the days when a minister was expected to preach two sermons each Sunday, with a solid Bible study during the week.The emotional and intellectual energy required for such a regime is too great.  2) They have not mastered the techniques of public speaking. Preachers have a lot to learn from 'stand up' comedians about timing, humour, voice projection and eye-contact. 3)They may not be entirely persuaded by their own arguments, and it shows. Preachers need a passion for their subject, and congregations quickly recognised insincerity.  4) They may be banging an irrelevant drum. Certain doctrines that were believable 100 years ago cannot be presented as scientific and historical objective truth now. People know too much after ten years or more of full-time education, and watching experts on television to be able to swallow as anything but glorious mythology six-day creation, a virgin birth and a bodily resurrection.

Preachng has a future, but it need to be offered by convinced and convincing Christians who know and believe what they are talking about, and have mastered basic skills of communication. There are far too few preachers about who measure up. The few we have should be celebrated and widely known. And all of us should be subjected to assessment by the kind of honest critics who report on films and TV programmes. 

end

Osama bin Laden

With the death of Osama bin Laden Christians are entitled to be thankful that a man who symbolised evil in the world is no longer alive.In the long list of those who have brought terror and distress to the human family this man came near the top. As with many of them, bin Laden was reputed in his personal life to be polite and gentle, and he genuinely thought his philosophy would prove to be beneficial for mankind as a whole. We know that evil often comes with a smiling face, and soft hands, but it is deeply ingrained in human affairs. The call of international statesmen for us all to be alert to the possibility of reprisals is urgent. Even more urgent is the need for people actively to embrace a philosophy of peace and goodwill with as much fervour as bin Laden embraced his twisted beliefs. It is good at this time to read again that superb prayer by Kate Middleton at her wedding to Prince William. As we are dismayed by the presence of evil people in the world, we are encouraged by the opposite presence of people of simple goodness. God be praised ! The devil, as our scriptures say, does not sit waiting for us to fall into his trap: he 'seeks whom he may devour'. Evil is a busy, determined enemy,who succeeds in proportiomn to our anaemic failure  to resist.

food dump

The profits being made by Tesco, now running into £billions, would astonish Rev Dr RobertMalthus, the 18th Century economist who argued in 1798 tnat the population  had a natural tendency to increase faster than the means of production, and that we would soon be unable to feed ourselves. It was good sense at the time, but Dr Malthus could not reckon wioth the resources of the giant supermarkets, now able to load their shelves with nourishing foods from all parts of the world, or the ingenuity of the farming industry and what Matt Ridley (The Rational Optimist (Fourth Estate 2010) calls 'The Fertiliser Revolution'. Forecasting global doom in Robert Malthus's time was an inextact science; he was not to know how agricultural science would bless us.. Not only is there enough for us all in the well-fed west to eat, but we are eating the wrong things, and throwing away immense quantities of edible foods. It is reported  (Sunday Telegraph April 10) that households in Brtain dump 8.3million tons of food and drink a year, mostly to landfill sites. More than five million tons of this is said to be edible. What would Dr Malthus have made of the debate now taking place about 'best before' and 'use by' labels on food? What would he say to us about the huge disproportion between our plenty and the grim poverty which condemns millions to hunger and thirst while the burger and chips generation struggles with obesity? It's food for thought.

charm

You don't get a degree in it, but it is one quality that will kickstart a career rather more effectively than most academic qualifications. It's CHARM..  It is possible to work  hard to achieve a good degree and then wonder why potential employers remain unimpressed. It may be because a graduate presents little if any warmth of personality. Many successful people in a variety of careers have just about enough mastery of their subject to get by, but have progressed  because they know how to offer three simple qualities: they are an ability to LISTEN. They can SM ILE, and they MAKE TIME for the views of other people. It's an old fashioned attitude, but still vital in the art of successful human relations. A surprising number of people are successful and content with their lives, without academic qualifications, but with  a degree of empathy - they just get on with people. Can empathy be taught? perhaps not in the lecture room, but it can be encouraged and nurtured.The Campaign for Courtesy has been saying for 25 years that manners matter. As more and more graduates face frustration because they can't get a foot on their career choice ladder, it may be because they don't have the personal confidence that comes with genuine courtesy towards others. The Campaign for Courtesy offers basic guidance in this vital human resource. Contact Ian Gregory, the Campaign's Patron in Chief -  iancongist@hotmail.co.uk

priests

Those of us who are in the 'Congregational' way of being the Christian church are keen to promote the 'priesthood of all believers', and are encouraged by signs that the Roman Catholic Church is challenged by this concept. It is interesting to note that a Basque priest, Jose Antonio Pegola is being accused of heresy becasue some views he has expressed in a new book are contrary to the Vatican view. We read that the book 'Jesus; an historical approximation' has sold almost 100,000 copies, and Spanish bishops have apparently requested that a further 6000 copies should be destroyed.  Why? He writes of God being compassion, rather than power, and works out his radical view of the mission of Jesus. But I am intrigued by  this: 'In Jesus' movement all patriarchal authority disappears... no-one is above the others. There is no rank or class. There are no priests, Levites and lay people. There is no place for intermediaries. Everyone has direct, immediate access to God, the Father of all'  (The Tablot March 26 p5) That is the heart of Congregationalism. Makeof it what you can.  Henry King. AKA Ian Gregory end.