Over the past two years, most of us have understandably been rather distracted by the Covid pandemic and all the disruption this has brought.
At the same time, however, this has not stopped all sorts of issues coming to the fore – and (rightly) being discussed with passion among conservative evangelicals.
A few months ago, a group of Ghanaian MPs tabled a draft bill aimed at criminalising the ‘public show of amorous relations between or among persons of the same sex’ and ‘intentional cross-dressing … with intent to engage in an act prohibited under the act.’
That country’s Anglican archbishop, Cyril Kobina Ben Smith, joined several other prominent Ghanaian Christian leaders in endorsing the bill. He wrote: ‘The church does not condemn persons of homosexual tendencies, but absolutely condemns the sinful acts and activities they perform.’
Church of England bishops will meet this month to continue their deliberations about human sexuality and gender identity.
In this meeting, and then in a subsequent meeting of the House of Bishops (diocesan bishops plus elected suffragans), they will draw together proposals to put to General Synod in February 2023. It is most likely that this synod will be used to seek opinion on the bishops’ proposals rather than to ratify a new measure, but then this will frame the agenda for the July synod.
Two corgis who belonged
to
the Queen, Sandy
and Muick, watched
her
funeral procession
and reduced our dog-loving nation to tears.
Since the Queen’s death,
sales of corgis have gone up. The Kennel Club
reports a 30-year high for the registration of
the breed. I expect a few more breeders will
seek to cash in on the craze, as puppies can
sell for around £6,000. So if you want a
puppy for Christmas, perhaps another breed
might be better. Remembering the seasonal
refrain, a dog is for
life and not
just for
Christmas. Corgis are still not as popular as
the UK’s favourite breed, which is, of course,
a Labrador. I admit it – I am a besotted
Labrador owner.
A couple of weeks ago I had a great evening seeing a tribute band at the De Montfort Hall in Leicester. I had been given tickets as a birthday present by a friend. Elio Pace and his band played the ‘Billy Joel Songbook’. It took me back 40 years!
I had previously been suspicious about the idea of a tribute band, fearing it might be something like a poor karaoke performance. Nothing could have been further from the truth. The quality was outstanding, and about as close as possible to attending a genuine Billy Joel concert.
I recently found myself tagged in a lengthy Twitter discussion.
Megan Cornwell interviewed me for an article called ‘Is complementarian theology abusive’ for Premier Christianity. She posted a link, and the responses began. It was like watching a tennis match, a type of Twitter ping pong. Tweets passed backwards and forwards. The rallies were long. An accusation followed by a defence with a counterargument returned.
We live in unusual times. Job adverts have been carefully drafted and widely distributed, yet the deadline for applications comes and goes with no one expressing interest.
This scenario has been taking place up and down the country. Currently, there are record numbers of vacancies as firms struggle to recruit. We experience the outworking of this with scenes of airport chaos and rising NHS waiting lists. There are shortages across sectors, from probation officers and dental nurses to plasterers, construction workers, and the agriculture industry. Those wanting to learn to drive cannot find driving instructors or even book a test.
This year, there has been a stand-out new genre on streaming services: the scammer show.
These dramatic reconstructions of ‘fake it until you make it’ chart the rise and fall of charismatic individuals who persuaded people to depart with eye-watering sums of money. Among them, Inventing Anna is the story of the fake German heiress Anna Sorokin, WeCrashed tells of the Neumans who raised billions of dollars whilst running at a colossal loss and, in my opinion, the best, The Dropout charts the fall of the biotech company Theranos and its founder Elizabeth Holmes.
In January, George Linnane joined the South and Mid Wales Cave Rescue Team. He volunteered after he had spent 54 hours trapped in a cave in the Brecon Beacons and was rescued by 300 volunteers. He joined the team ‘so I can help the next poor soul who finds themselves in this situation’.
As we approach the A Passion for Life Mission, and our churches begin to return to normal ministry after Covid, this story is a reminder of the essence of evangelism.
Jimmy Carr’s comedy is certainly not to everyone’s taste: he has built his career on telling risky one-liners.
In his Netflix show His Dark Materials (the clue is in the name), he played with the idea of career-ending jokes, and one such joke may have proved his point.
en continues to seek to provide a forum for us all to learn as broadly as possible from sinful and shameful abusive actions. Our foremost thoughts and prayers must be with the survivors and victims.
It is the straw that broke the camel’s back. The final straw is small; it barely weighs anything but, added to the burden already carried, it crushes.
Do we still care about world mission?
Over the past two years, most of us have understandably been rather distracted by the Covid pandemic and all the disruption this has brought.
At the same time, however, this has not stopped all sorts of issues coming to the fore – and (rightly) being discussed with passion among conservative evangelicals.