Coffee Theology

I had a conversation yesterday during which a friend suggested that practising the Christian life was like practising the guitar; when you first start it hurts, but as you keep practising it comes more and more easily.  This has inspired me to pick up my guitar again and pound away at those bar chords, which still sound awful.  The difficulty is keeping going through all the awfulness until something beautiful emerges.  My fingers hurt A LOT.  George Harrison taught himself to play guitar and apparently used to practice until his fingers bled. Tonight I was, somewhat ambitiously, trying to play 'Waterloo Sunset' by my second favourite band in the world, The Kinks.  (I couldn't).  It's a really, really beautiful song and to be honest they probably shouldn't print the chords in books so incompetents like me can mangle it.  But it reminded me of an interview I once saw on TV with Ray Davies, lead singer of the band, who wrote the song.  He apparently...

An impulse Christmas present bought for my husband has resulted in the latest Nash household obsession: Homeland.  Rather than give a spoiler alert myself here, I beg you, don't tell me what happens!  I've already discovered more than I wanted to know about the seasons I haven't watched yet by googling the series to find reviews.  We didn't do much else other than watch 'Homeland' over the Christmas break. I've been planning to blog about Homeland for a week or so but, to be honest, I didn't want to take time out from watching it to write about it.  It's been favourably compared with '24' as a drama series tackling issues of terrorism but without the gung-ho attitude of Jack Bauer or constant recourse to torture in order to extract information from suspects.  Predictably it deals with the threat of Islamist terrorism but with a subtlety which was pleasing to see; amazingly for American TV, it actually helps the viewer to feel some empathy wit...

I'm still in the Christmas zone where it's okay to sit on the sofa, watch films and eat junk food all day.  Yesterday evening we sat down to watch one of our favourite films on the TV (even though we have the DVD and could watch it any time we wanted, and frequently do).  I saw The Bourne Identity for the first time only a couple of years ago and it became an instant favourite.  I like action films; I grew up with a brother who was better than I at wresting control of the remote.  But I'm discerning - I won't just watch anything with guns and car chases.  The  Bourne trilogy combines a very strong plot, script and soundtrack with fascinating psychological elements.  While the first film is probably a fail on the aforementioned Bechdel test, I'll forgive it that because Marie is a resourceful and less than stereotypical love interest, and the second and third films have Pamela Landy, my favourite example of a strong female character who is strongly femi...

So yes, I've been living under a rock for the last year and hadn't seen Frozen until we watched it as a family on Boxing Day.  It was great to find out what this movie phenomenon was all about.  I have to say, I was really impressed.  Quite apart from the fact that the script is funny, the characters loveable and the music really gets in your head, it sends lots of really good messages to young women. Their eyes might be huge and their waists impossibly tiny, but the heroines of the film, Anna and Elsa, are not your typical Disney princesses.  I particularly like the moment when Anna wakes up with her hair in a mess and dribble on her cheek.  She does fall in love (twice), but the love interests are not central to the plot of the film.  The central love relationship is between the two sisters who are estranged because of Elsa's magic powers. The most interesting moment occurs at the climax of the film when (SPOILER ALERT) Anna is trying to find the man sh...

The eternal Son  lives in loving union with the Father and the Spirit, one God in three persons in perfect unity.  God hears the cries of the people he loves, the ones he created, and his heart goes out to them in his Son.   The weather is bleak and cold; the wind is biting; snow has fallen.  The earth stands hard as iron, water has frozen in the puddles.  Or perhaps it all takes place in a warm Spring.  Whatever the weather, it was long ago.  The Son, the eternal Son, is born in a cramped room shared with animals, and placed in an animal’s feeding-trough.  Heavenly beings gather to see the marvellous sight, themselves unseen by the human mother lovingly kissing her tiny baby. The eternal Son becomes mortal. Almighty God becomes weak and vulnerable. The Son exchanges the riches of heaven for life in a humble Jewish family. The one who dwells in unapproachable light becomes ordinary. He empties himself of all but love and comes to his people. ...

A famous concert pianist travels the world giving magnificent performances which win her rapturous applause.  Tickets for her concerts sell out weeks in advance; critics fall over themselves with praise.  Sometimes she thunders away powerfully; at other times she plays quiet pieces with incredible gentleness and sensitivity.  One night she is playing at a grand venue in New York for the great and the good of American society.  Tickets have been going for four times the face value on ebay.  It is a sole performance; she needs no other name on the programme in order to fill the house. During a particularly quiet piece there is a strange noise in the auditorium.  A bizarre groaning sound, it seems.  At first, the concert-goers all think they are imagining it; but it persists.  Suddenly there is a loud shout, and another, followed by a desperate shushing.  People turn round, irritated, to see what the commotion is.  A young man with ...

A talented young man inherits the family building firm and doubles its annual gross profit within five years.  He has always been comfortably off; now he can live in unqualified luxury.  He buys a penthouse flat in Knightsbridge and a mansion in Cornwall; instead of battling through the London Underground he hires a chauffeur to drive him to business meetings and wait outside until he is finished.  He buys his suits in Savile Row and takes his girlfriends shopping in Harvey Nichols.  The 100 th anniversary of the founding of the family firm arrives and a lavish party is planned at a London hotel.  After a five-course meal, champagne and dancing, the young owner steps outside to get some fresh air and enjoy a cigar.  Comfortably full and pleasantly tired, he goes for a short walk around the block.  His stroll takes him under a bridge, where he sees piles of cardboard and bundles of cloth.  The cardboard moves and he realises there are men sle...