Too fast

Reasons for creating a new high speed railway link from London to Manchester and possibly beyond are strongly being urged by those who think it will help the national economy. This hugely expensive plan is being vigorously opposed by those who say it will damage the environment, and uproot communities along the way. I read today that Chinese engineers believe that it would be 'easy' to build such a line, and they can't understand why there might be any opposition to it at all. There is a kind of inevitability behind any suggested project which is promoted on the grounds that it may make for greater economic success. There is a less strident body putting forward the view that faster is not necessarily better, and that the quality of British life does not depend on the frenzied demand for 'growth'. Speed is a false god. It is laughable to imagine that a journey from north to south of the United Kingdom could be accomplished 20 minutes or so faster by spending immense sums of money on rapid technology. What does the average person do with 20 minutes of spare time in either London or Manchester? It would be far more profitable to teach people in business, politics, the arts, etc, how to expedite their business more efficiently. Time spent in meetings of all kinds would be reduced if those taking part just got to the point, and business was properly marshalled. We are being held to ransom by procrastinators, and verbose ego-trippers. A national course on effective spoken precis would save us millions in unnecessary waffle, eliminate the need for fast trasport to get people to time-wasting events, and allow us more freedom to enjoy the slow, peaceful pace of what's left of this glorious country.

dying

We all do it.  Rich and poor, young and old, famous and nonentities, believers and atheists. Sooner or later the call comes and we have to go. Now that religion and its associated belief in life beyond death are regarded as old fashioned relics, the general assumption is that life ends at physical death. There is a folksy hope that the bereaved will meet their deceased loved ones 'up there' and that they are somehow 'watching over us'. But that belief cannot be tested wsith the forensic rigour of experiments with material stuiff like bodies. We live at a time of general denial of spiritual things. There is flesh and blood, and brains, but nothing else. It makes no sense to suggest that anything else is real. But what do we really know about flesh and blood and brains? We understand only a fraction of what there is yet to learn about ourselves, or the physical universe. We can hardly ask a coherent question about the size of the cosmos. We know surprisingly little about the way the brain works, and how it relates to  the mind. There is no answer to the big question: 'Why is there something and not nothing?'  That being so, the collected experiences of those who report psychic events is at least as good evidence for truth as anything that physical scientists propose. We have become so accustomed to thinking that the material world is all that can be taken seriously that spiritual reality is widely dismissed. Psychic researchers and religious believers assert, all the same, that life continues after mortal death. 'Life expectancy' is far from the usual assumption about phsyical longevity. The evidence of things heard, seen and felt by thousands of sane, rational people tells of events which have no cause apart from, psychic agencies.For some reason traditional churches are unwilling to speak openly about this, but it moves the issue of 'assisted dying', for example, into a different arena. The general assumption that death is the ultimate tragedy is wrong. Death is far from tragedy: it is the supreme adventure..

Parallel

Among all the exciting thoughts now being pursued by scientists is one about a parallel universe. Research into matter/anti matter suggests that this world is a reflection of cosmic reality in which there is a  parallel system of life, or maybe more, which  impinge on the world as we know it. None of this is entirely new, as Plato (born 429BC) wrote about an equally real parallel world in which there were 'forms' or 'ideas' like goodness, beauty and equality which interpenetrate our world, and which could transform our materialistic values if we took them to heart. We may be moving towards the discovery of a source of spiritual energy which is what Jesus the Christ referred to as the Kingdom of God, and to which he invited us to pray, as to 'our Father in heaven.' Some people in the corporeal world are especially sensitive to this other world. The idea was also defined by William  James in his classic 'Varieties of Religious Experience' (1902. as something 'more'.  He wrote: 'The world of our present consciousness is only one of many worlds of consciousness that exist and that those worlds must contain experiences which have a meaning for our life also, and that  although in the main their experiences and those of this world keep discrete, yet the two become continuous at certain points and higher energies filter in.. I can of course put myself into the sectarian scientist's attitude and imagine that the world of sensations and scientifiuc laws may be all. But  whenever I do this I hear the inward monitor whisper the word 'bosh'. Humbug is humbug even though in bears the scientific name. Human experience invincibly urges me beyond the scientific bounds.'

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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. 

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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.