headwayyouth- phil smith's blog

A Life Stripped Bare

As regular readers will know, since moving to Newcastle Zoë and I haven’t settled in a local church; consequently the focus of our faith has shifted dramatically; away from a local church community, towards a dispersed group of believers and focus on how we live our lives. And so we come to Leo Hickman’s ‘A Life Stripped Bare’

I heard Leo speak at Greenbelt last year and was well impressed with what he said and his answers to some difficult questions. The book is of a similar quality; full of great discussion and jolly humorous anecdotes, as Leo seeks to live ethically for a year.

Having read the book I am more convinced than ever of the importance of ethical living. Moreover, I am increasingly convinced that this should be at the heart of Christian discipleship. I can fully understand why what we do as Christians is so heavily reliant on key figures in church history (Augustine, Luther, Wesley, St Paul and even Christ himself) but the consequence of this is that discipleship does not deal with some very modern issues; Wesley did not have to consider his carbon footprint as he travelled horseback, Augustine did not have to consider food-miles and I suspect Martin Luther’s robes were not sown together in an Indonesian sweat shop.

For ‘the cloud of witnesses’ that went before us, ethical living probably equated to tithing. Today tithing is not the issue: ethical consumerism is much more important. The good caused by ten percent given to charity is irrelevant if ninety percent screws the planet and those who live in it.

No posts and no apology...

This morning I spent a little while catching up on the blogosphere and the number of people apologising for too few posts of late was notable. I'm also amazed that it's always the same people informing readers of just how busy they have been.
Personally I haven't blogged over the last ten days for two reasons,
1) I've been relatively busy; but I'm not fishing for sympathy; this was my decision because I had some fun things to do, much more important than telling you more stories of gay bishops or an eco-church
2) I had nothing to say; an enjoyable silence when my mind was dulled by the lack of controversy in the weekends papers and seemingly by smog of London and a few beverages over the weekend
If I was on Room 101 I would get rid of posts that begin "sorry for not blogging recently I've been soooo busy"; if you are busy it is probably your decision to be that busy, so you ain't getting no sympathy from this direction; if you haven't posted recently that's fine you don't owe me anything, so I'm grateful you've finally got round to posting now.

Reasons to be cheerful- part II

Walking down the street at half seven yesterday morning I randomly stumbled across two novels; one by Chuck Palahnuik (who wrote Fight Club) and one by Bret Easton Ellis (who wrote American Psycho).
Mustn't grumble!!!
But last night my luck got even better. Zoe's TV broke a few months ago so, the loving fiance that I am, I donated the TV that was previously in my bedroom. Of late, this has meant zero TV viewing at the Smith abode as my flatmate moved out and took his TV from the lounge. Anyway last night as I wandered back from Zoe's what should I stumble across but a 20" TV with a note next to it reading "FREE TV :-)".
Not sure if it is a gift from God or an extremely wealthy student, either way I'm jolly grateful!

Books, books, books

I  tend to go through stages of book reading and I'm in the midst of one of those stages right now; having just finished reading Life Stripped Bare (Leo Hickman) and Eats Shoots and Leaves (Lynne Truss) and just beginning Making Sense of Generation (Bob Mayo et. al.) and Stories We Could Tell (Tony Parsons). Those books I've just read I found most enjoyably and not just because of the content; there is something special about the printed press which makes a book or a newspaper better than reading a blog or any other website. Baring that in mind I particularly liked this section of the last chapter of Eats Shoots and Leaves,

"Having grown up as readers of the printed word (and possibly even scribblers in the margins), we may take for granted the processes involved in the traditional activity of reading - so let us remind ourselves.  The printed word is presented to us in a linear way, with syntax supreme in conveying the sense of the words in their order.  We read privately, mentally listening to the writers voice and translating the writers thoughts. 

The book remains static, fixed; the reader journeys through it.  Picking up the book in the first place entails an active persuit of understanding.  Holding the book, we are aware of posterity and continuity.  Knowing that the printed word is always edited, typeset and proof-read before it reaches us, we appreciate its literary authority.  Having paid money for it (often), we have a sense of investment and a pride of ownership, not to mention a feeling of general virtue.

The book remains static, fixed; the reader journeys through it.  Picking up the book in the first place entails an active persuit of understanding.  Holding the book, we are aware of posterity and continuity.  Knowing that the printed word is always edited, typeset and proof-read before it reaches us, we appreciate its literary authority.  Having paid money for it (often), we have a sense of investment and a pride of ownership, not to mention a feeling of general virtue.

Reply from Don Horrocks

First of all a big thanks to all those who have commented on a couple of posts I wrote (here and here) about Don Horrocks comments on human sexuality, quoted in the Observer a couple of weeks ago. Today I got a response from Dr Horrocks, which I think it's only fair to quote here,

"Dear Phil,
May thanks for your letter of 29th May concerning the article in the Observer.
I appreciate your constructive comments and agree with them.
I also acknowledge your proper concern about my alleged comments. If I had made them you would be right to be concerned. However, you'll be glad to know that I didn't.
It's yet another case of bad journalism- all too prevalent, especially where evangelicals are concerned, I'm afraid. The Observer has transposed a comment made in one context into another and consequently made me appear to say something that I didn't.
... the suggestion that I or the Alliance would say something along the lines of what was attributed to us by the Observer and which consequently causes offence to people including yourself is frankly preposterous."

An EA spokesperson has also given an official response to PinkNews, not a sight that I frequently visit,

“Don spoke at length to a journalist from the Observer during which he outlined the biblical view of marriage, a lifelong union between a man and a woman of commitment and trust.

“He went onto to stress that over recent years the institution of marriage had been devalued, through numerous pieces of legislation awarding similar rights to civil partnerships, civil unions and cohabitating couples. Undoubtedly, these recent developments have devalued an institution that for centuries has been held in the highest esteem throughout the world.

“Don's controversial remark - which for the record he didn't actually say - has been portrayed in the media as likening same sex 'marriage' to 'marriage' with a horse was intended to show how far we have moved from the original blueprint for marriage. No offence was meant by the remark and we apologise for any it may have caused.”

I don't think either statement is as clear as it could be; and I'm still not sure what Don did or didn't say; but, even though some evangelicals are happy with the quote attributed to Don, I'm glad the EA considers the comparison preposterous.

Reasons to be cheerful

I'm in the midst of a few days of annual leave, so me and Zoe have taken the opportunity to check out the north-east in a little more detail. Particular highlights have been our first visit to Alnwick gardens and a couple of trips to the beach.

The north-east has much more going for it in the summer...

Blogroll extended

Just added a couple more entries to the blogosphere,

1. Ben Topham's blog; Ben's an old buddy of mine from days at Cliff, a youthwork practitioner in Mansfield and very, very funny!
2. Ruthe's blog; stumbled over Ruth's blog after she commented yesterday. A Christian youthworker in Shropshire and ethical/ecological enthusiast!

Stupid blooming trainers...

I’m not a great fan of clothes shopping- unless there is a good chance of picking up a good bargain- and trying to live a little more ethically has complicated matters further. On Friday I had that most awkward of jobs of buying trainers. Until Howies do trainers, the best alternative is (guaranteed sweatshop-free) New Balance, but they’re not really my thing. Instead my principle has simply been avoid Nike, naughty, naughty Nike! I decided to invest in a rather trendy pair of Fila and yes, they were a bargain so I was especially happy. 

Yesterday Oxfam published the findings of their year long investigation into sports clothing manufacturers. Their findings…

"FILA was bottom of the league and had failed to address serious labour abuses in its supply chain. In one case, a FILA sport shoe supplier in Indonesia with an appalling record of worker abuse closed suddenly and without warning. A year later, none of its 3,500 workers have received any back-pay or severance pay. FILA refuses to reveal its role in the closure or take responsibility for the workers.

"Reebok has done the most to uphold sportswear workers' rights in Asia, while other big brands such as Nike, Adidas, Puma and Asics have improved over the past year.

My cock-up has highlighted for me what a minefield ethical consumerism is, but I guess I'll know better next time!

For all football fans...

when he scores in Germany. Incidentally, if the beautiful game is your prefered sport, Barky is encouraging bloggers to join his World Cup Fantasy Futball league. I'm bound to win but if you fancy competing along with Barky and others for second place there are details here

Evangelical Alliance criticised for slur against same sex couples

Following on from Monday's post, it would appear I'm not the only person riled by Don Horrocks comment.

The Evangelical Alliance UK is facing criticism from both Christian and secular commentators for an “outrageous” remark made by Don Horrocks, the EA’s head of public affairs, in which he equated allowing same-sex couples to marry with “people wanting to marry their horse”.

The comment appeared in an Observer newspaper article (28 May 2006) examining the controversy surrounding a High Court challenge being made this week by two women, both Canadian academics, who want to have their civil partnership recognised as a marriage.

More over at Ekklesia