It's good that people continue to wonder about God, although what he thinks about us may be more important than what we think about him.
The British Humanist Association are the latest in the line-up to give God some publicity, according to a BBC News report. Aided by Prof Richard Dawkins they plan to run a poster campaign on London buses in January with the slogan: "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."
This is described as the Atheist Bus Campaign, and atheists don't believe in God - right? Yet unable to say, "God does not exist," they usethe motto above. I can only conclude that they're concerned that God may exist, and fearful of how he may react if they say he doesn't. This is despite the BHA's headline on its web site that "the humanist view of life is progressive and optimistic, in awe of human potential, living without fear of judgement and death." I'm not sure they've arrived yet, and I also find myself wondering whether God has an even bigger view of human potential than we humans ourselves do.
I am happy to announce that I do enjoy life, in the knowledge that God is very much alive!
Discovered this seriously random site of do-it-yourself biographies called Squidwho today. Someone has even gone to the trouble to put in an entry about me, or is it my namesakes of American poet or a ship sunk during World War 2?
This week I've been seeking to do more sales and marketing for the firm, which has included trying out networking meetings (with interesting speakers but we'll have to see how much business comes), and seeking to register with Train To Gain for their new Leadership and Management Advisory Service. The idea is that they will give grants to small businesses and charities to encourage top leaders to receive training - which may include coaching.
The idea is that as well as funding they connect clients and suppliers through their skill brokers. What seems strange to me is that it is very difficult to work out from their web site how to register as a provider, and when I phoned to find out I ended up following a chain of about six phone numbers that threatened to take me back to the one I started with. (In the end I did connect with a director, who knew what she was talking about.)
Maybe it's my fault for imagining that the process would be quick.
I enjoy looking at the BBC news website. There seems to be a curious mixture of the news everyone is talking about and random information. The latest piece of random information is the exciting news that if you are middle aged (or older) blogging is good for you, maybe even better than doing the Times Crossword. Take a look.
On the more general subject of intelligence, I've been reminded that it's not that simple - with IQ, EQ, and SQ. Different people have different perspectives, and it seems to me that much of what we call education encourages people to be numerate, literate etc. (all of which are important); these people see themselves as intelligent (which is true); and are often looked to in times of crisis ahead of those with other kinds of intelligence.
However, to give an example of the current "Credit Crunch" the intelligensia are number crunching to solve the economic problem (IQ), and it is important, but are they in touch with how the population are feeling (EQ) and their perspectives (EQ and IQ) to be able to communicate and motivate effectively? Are they, and all of us, in touch with what is most important (this is about values too) and have the strength of character to win out (largely all about SQ)?
My latest upset is Barclays Bank. Some years ago they closed down lots of branches in "small towns" including the one I live in. (Other banks did the same.) The main irritation of this to many people is the difficulty of paying in cheques. Once upon a time, when we lived a long way from a bank, Barclays gave us prepaid envelopes to do this. After a while they refused to do that anymore. Anyway, to lessen the blow to rural communities, they agreed to allow cheques to be paid in at Post Offices. This is useful, supports local Post Offices too (that's nice, because I'm not sure that the government want to support this useful social service) and - unsurprisingly - you have to obtain special envelopes to do this.
What happens if you keep ordering them and they do not arrive? Then you can't use the service anymore.
The system is that you phone a free number and get put through to a helpful person in Mumbai (I have nothing against that in principle.) He asks you for your address which he writes down and then faxes to an office in Britain. The office in Britain then posts the envelopes to my home. This seems a complicated system. Why not just use an online portal that automatically prints out the shipping documents? Why not use e-mail rather than fax?
When I phoned the same number and asked what the procedure was if the system worked, the reply was, "I can only send a fax." So he sent another fax, and the envelopes did not arrive again. Why should they? (Einstein quote!).
When I spoke to UK customer services on the phone, they said they could not help me as they had no "procedure" to do so. Helpfully the lady took ownership of the problem and phoned the same number to ask for some envelopes for me. She had to wait about quarter of an hour in the queuing system.
I'm sure you will await the next instalment with excitement!
I still have not heard from Monarch Airlines, after I wrote to them.
On a brighter note, when I made the effort to chat to my local councillors about some things that were winding me up, I started to understand their problems more, and feel that they are now more in touch with the needs of those they seek to serve. I am impressed by the dedication of people who serve as local councillors, often doing it pretty much full time without a salary.
After an enjoyable holiday in Turkey this summer, Toni and I are looking forward to travelling back there in April next year with Tony Fensome, lately local vicar, and McCabe Pilgrimages. This will be a tour of "Istanbul and the 7 Churches of Asia." It looks great, and includes famous sites such as Ephesus as well as Istanbul.
I've particularly enjoyed the last week as my new work continues to grow. I have been working in partnership with the Wilsher Group by participating in training courses and working with Baxter Europe (part of Baxter healthcare) in Vienna.
The work with Baxter contributed to their leadership development programme and we included training, facilitation, and group coaching to improve communication skills and support project teams. We used Insights® Discovery and other material. It was very enjoyable, and there was great enthusiasm in each of the teams.
Our venue, the Hilton Hotel, overlooked the impressive River Danube, which was an added bonus.
I write as I reflect on dramatic stock market falls today, remembering newspaper headlines a few weeks ago which asked whether capitalism was collapsing.
When the Berlin wall collapsed in 1989 I remember people celebrating the collapse of communism, and I wondered what was so special about another "ism" - capitalism - that gave it the divine right to exist, as if it were flawless.
I can understand that banks may borrow money from some people to lend to others, and profit from the difference between interest rates. I can understand that a firm may want people to invest in it, and that the investor should receive regular income from dividends in return. I can understand the sense of creating a market for the trading of those stocks. What I cannot undersand is how it makes sense to seek to make money just from the short term buying and selling of those stocks in a way that seems little different from gambling.
Somewhere there is a boundary between sane and ethical investment, and the insane and unethical of the current trading of stocks (and perhaps commodities too). We need to identify that boundary and return to the correct side of it. The recent banning of "selling short" may be a move in the right direction, but probably not far enough.
This was the subtitle of a day by Revd Steve Chalke MBE entitled "Intimacy and Involvement" at Gloucester Cathedral yesterday. It was organised by the Spirituality Network for Gloucestershire. I was attracted to attend the day because of the reference in his title to Jesus' summary of the (Jewish) law - love God and love your neighbour as yourself - which seems to me to be about as good as it gets in any summary of how to live your life intelligently.
I'm not quite sure what I expected from the day, but usually days organised by Spirituality networks are "Quiet Days" and have a few short talks with lots of space for reflection. However this day involved a lot of listening to Steve (and he is an entertaining speaker) with a bit of group work so we could think about what we might do differently in Gloucester. (Someone pointed out that they were not from Gloucester but Gloucestershire, and I am from neither!) Steve's main point was that during the 20th century, partly because of the state takeover of social security and health care, the church became kind of ghetto of piety instead of being actively engaged in society. So maybe it was appropriate for him to attempt a more action-oriented day. Steve's own response to his own beliefs has been to set up various charities to help build community through schools, hostels, and medical care (Oasis Trust), encourage social action among churches (Faithworks) and now to fight against people trafficking (Stop the traffik).
He made many references to the Torah to make the point that the whole of life should be worship and the family at the centre of it, and not just some time in a church building on a Sunday. He movingly recounted how a Jewish friend, when asked where the worship happened in the sabbath meal, talked of how everything was worship from the hugs to the eating to the conversation. Yes, life should be worship, and there's not much to a religious faith that does not issue in action. However I felt that although his comments were informative and persuasive, his failiure to value the pietistic side of church life gave his comments a lack of balance. Maybe that was the stance he needed to take to encourage us to become more active!
I continue to be attracted by the balanced way in which the Cursillo movement encourages Christians to view their life by looking at piety, study, and action.
I learned some interesting things to do with Jesus' summary of the law, which gives new significanct to Jesus' comments about his yoke being light (Matthew 11:29), the way he invited disciples by saying "follow me" (Matthew 4:19 et al), and references to his authority (Matthew 7:29 et al).
According to Steve, Jewish rabbis (teachers) would be approached by men who wanted to be disciples. If they showed that they knew the scriptures, then they would be accepted by the rabbi with the words "follow me." The disciple knew the scriptures, so what he was to learn was the rabbi's particular interpretation. This was called their yoke. The way in which the teaching of the rabbi was passed on through the generations was through his disciples who were trained for three years and then became rabbis themselves. Some rabbi's passed on the yoke that they had received. Others developed their own interpretation and were said to speak with authority - so this phrase in the Bible is a technical term. When Jesus summarised the law he said (Matthew 22:37-40)
'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments
The two parts of this were well known quotes from the scriptures, he says, however it was a new innovation by Jesus to pair them in this way.
