From what I can see, I seem to be a little late in finding in this, but I love the following from Katharine Welby on depression, hope, and God:
…I am very low, very sad and yet at the same time very happy. It seems like the chemicals in my brain are at war with my circumstances ‘I am happy’ ‘No you are not’ ‘no really I am’ ‘no really you are not’. This is the current sound track to my life.
Amongst all the dull thoughts I have been thinking, I have been pondering the happy/depressed state of my mind and wondering at it. What does it mean to find hope within an illness that is doing everything possible to rob you of it?
I have friends, a nice home, a very supportive family near by, a good church, a good job, a brilliant doctor, and an incredibly wonderful boyfriend, however, previously I have had many of these things and still found myself unable to find a way out of the despair.
The Bible: will it be a ratings miracle for Channel 5? Photograph: Joe Alblas/AP
It is better known for Celebrity Big Brother and documentaries featuring very long trucks, but Channel 5 will also be home this autumn to a sweeping 10-hour epic, The Bible.
Richard Desmond’s channel announced on Monday it had bought the rights to the show made by Mark Burnett, previously better known for shows such as reality hit Survivor and The Voice.
A big-budget glossy epic, The Bible was a surprise ratings hit in the US this Easter with more than 13 million viewers on The History Channel, one of its biggest-ever shows.
Producers claimed during the making of the show that it had been struck by mysterious omens which indicated the “hand of God”, including a sudden swarm of snakes.
It remains to be seen whether it works any ratings miracles for Channel 5.
The Bible, which stars Diogo Morgado as Jesus, devotes five hours to the Old Testament, and five hours to the new, with a mix of live action and computer generated imagery. It is billed as a production that “tries to stay true to the spirit of the book”.
Since September last year, The Church Sofa blog has been reading through Soul Survivor Bible in a Year reading plan. It didn’t seem that bad at first and then we got to the end of October. Maybe it was balancing life with a new born with life at work, but maybe the book of Leviticus didn’t help.
Possibly because I was fairly sleepy at that time, and that’s its arguably quite a dry read, I guess I found Leviticus a bit of a struggle. If you also struggle with it, can I recommend this post by @lucymills, particularly the following section:
Culture is not an easy thing to explain and identify, however much we talk about it. Because we are immersed in it. We don’t just look at culture, we look through it. Culture is not merely a picture, it’s a lens.
Israel was called to look through a different lens. Not the one of the Egyptians. Nor the one of those who had lived in Canaan before them. The laws in Leviticus were so specific because they were reacting to something specific – something happening in one of those other cultures. Something that spoke of other practices and other gods. But Yahweh was different. Yahweh was not confined or hinged to one place or that. Yahweh was not like the other gods, bickering amongst themselves. Yahweh was holy – purely distinctive – and his people were to reflect that.
We’re called to be distinctive, but how are we meant to be distinctive with our activities online? I’m going to look at four different approaches.
Do you limit your access? A recent book from Tim Chester entitled “Will You Be My Facebook Friend?” (Amazon Link), seems to take a cautious approach to Social Media, and particularly Facebook. He raises concerns about Facebook’s effect on how people spend their time, present their own image, and its effect on their local relationships. As such he seems to suggest taking a cautious approach to time taken on social networking. Do you take a careful approach to how long you spend on Twitter / Facebook etc? Is there a difference between spending a lot of time on a site like Facebook, compared to GodTube, Christian Chirp, and Believers Space?
I don’t know what your news feeds are like, but I do occasionally see some quite strong images and ideas. Do you share positive and encouraging sayings and Bible passages to lighten other peoples lives?
In Internet culture, the 1% rule or the 90–9–1 principle (sometimes also presented as 89:10:1 ratio)[1] reflects a hypothesis that more people will lurk in a virtual community than will participate. This term is often used to refer to participation inequality in the context of the Internet.
The site itself includes a diagram that shows these sorts of figures quite simply, but the numbers make a good point. What if more Christians were actively engaged online in either conversations or creating content? Is there anything that the current creators of content can do to encourage more people to get involved? What if a mark of Christian distinctiveness online, was simply being involved?
I guess personally I try and follow this simple advice from #CNMAC12:
Share your life online. Someone may be better off because of it.
For some random reason, you have the vicar coming to visit, and if The Simpsons have taught us anything, he’s not a normal house guest. He’s the vicar!
So what do you need to do to bring your house upto scratch? Check our “Vicar coming to visit” checklist, to make sure everything is done.
Give the place a quick clean. Actually quite nice to do this anyway.
Open a Bible, leave it open somewhere.
Christian music. Something recognizable, Graham Kendrick would probably do.
Christian music not option? Stick something gentle on in the background. Classic FM would do.
I have to admit, whilst reading through the Bible, what I’ve pictured at points has been strongly influence by Hollywood movies. For example, when reading Exodus, I couldn’t help but imagine big old school biblical epics, reading Joseph, the cartoon movie, and I guess I pictured some grand political thriller when reading the gospels.
When I approached the book of Ruth, I pictured some sappy biblical romance movie.
Then the first few words hit me.
In the days when the judges ruled…
Yes this is possibly the first easy to read book in the Old Testament. Yes with a death at the start, with a marriage at the end, it does have the basis of a typical romantic comedy, but lets remember the context. Its in the days when the judges ruled.
A quick read of the book of Judges showed this to be a time of violence, murder, and lion honey. They were days that everyone did as they saw fit. It all seems to be fairly dark confusing stuff, yet during this confused time you have this ordinary little romantic comedy story giving a little ray of light.
In the search for something to brighten our days, do we also forget the light the ordinary can bring?
Welcome to the third Annual Church Sofa Awards, where we celebrate the best and sometimes worse moments of 2013.
Church Notice Board of The Year: Well, most of the Church Notice Boards strike some sort of nerve. This year, this one was by far the most popular:
I cant think why…
Twitter Hero: For his involvement with the woman bishop vote, having a paw on the pulse of the good old c of e, dealing with the mini mice, AND being down to earth at the same time, it can only be the @thechurchmouse. (Nominated by @jc247essex)
Biggest Challenge: Well, this is going to be a joint award, simply because I dont want to make up my mind.
Phil Cooke presented a challenge awhile back, and is worthwhile reading as we look forward to 2013: Its Up To You!
Best Toy: The Stripy Horse.For being a hero over at The Southern Dad blog </quick plug>
The Peoples Choice for Villain of The Year.
The Big Bad Villain of the Year: South West Water – and any other water company that said there was drought… its been raining ever since…
The Secondary Villain of The Year: The General Synod.
Honorable Mention (of which there are a few…): Mark Driscoll, Malcolm Bowden, Nicky Gumbel, Chichester Diocese, Westboro Baptist Church, General Synod, Christian Unions, Vicky Beeching, The Government, the Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols, and possibly The Church Sofa after this…
Simpsons Moment of The Year: Well the most popular Simpsons clip has since been taken down, so here’s the most popular that we’re allowed to watch:
Best Web Project: The Big Bible Project. For continuing to find new ways to draw Christians from all churches & none into deeper engagement with the Bible through online conversation… and because ShareCreative have won it for two years running.
The Peoples Choice of Best Christian / Church Blog:
Well.
This is a peoples choice, and when I asked for nominations on Twitter, one name was mentioned. Again, again, and again. Different names, voices, and faces. All said that Tanya Marlow from Thorns and Gold has the best Christian / Church blog of 2012, and as such is a website worth checking out.
. What do you reckon? Are then any awards which we should have included??
