Vexed Vaccinations

Vexed Vaccinations. What should we (Christians) do ?

3 Ideas about Vaccination.

In 2021 vaccination is a major topic of conversation.   Whether in the medical world, the world of the average citizen, or within the family of the Christian church, the talk is of Covid Vaccination.  'have you had yours?', 'what was it like?', 'I'm still waiting for mine' and so on.  But within the Church, other things are heard as well; ideas or propositions each of which suggest that we (Christians) should not take the Covid-19 vaccine(s) being offered by our government(s).

The propositions are quite stark; we hear it said that to take the Covid vaccine reveals either, 

a) a 'lack of faith' in God's care, or 

b) it represents receiving 'the mark of the beast' and thus aligns the recipient with the world

destined for destruction when Jesus returns, or thirdly, 

c) it indicates approval of the practice of abortion (i.e. the murder of the unborn) and hence represents approval of violating the sixth commandment (and the command to love your neighbour as yourself).

Depending on how much we listen to stuff on the internet (eg. YouTube & social media etc.), or which Christian newsfeeds we enjoy, it will not be long before one encounters one or more of these ideas regarding Covid Vaccination. And coming unexpectedly, perhaps from respected sources, they naturally raise big troubling questions.

Make no mistake, each of those ideas, if correct, are very serious. No Christian would

ever want to discover that he or she had blundered into gravely failing to trust their

Heavenly Father, or unknowingly joined those worshipping the Beast of Revelation, and

neither would any wish to be truly guilty of murder or of benefiting from such a crime.

But are those real dangers and would they result from getting a Covid Vaccination ?

Let's consider each in turn :

1. False Faith.

The Proposition ; "Receiving the Covid vaccination is to fail to trust God's care, and is a tangible sign of no faith in God". It’s unbelief, Vaccination equals unbelief, so just say no (thank you).

The argument runs thus : since God is 'in charge', since 'he cares for you', trust Him to do so. In addition, the Old Testament promises of health and prosperity flowing from 'obedience' to the covenant are put forward to indicate Christians will enjoy similar blessing as well, including medical benefits.

Unfortunately, neither Moses, Luke, the Apostle Paul, or Jesus agree with the idea.

Paul tells Timothy 'to take a little wine for his stomach'.

Luke is called 'the beloved physician', suggesting he didn't change career after conversion.

Jesus, when tempted, explicitly refused to 'put the LORD your God to the test'

overturning the Devil's suggestion that such care is unconditionally promised in God's word.

Moses (recorder and editor of the 1st five books of the OT) gives multiple instructions

about washings and cleanliness, many ceremonial, but some clearly intended to prevent

poisoning or death from contamination. (eg Leviticus 12 & 13 - dead animals, skin disease(s), mildew).

2. False Identification.

The Proposition ; "Receiving the Covid vaccination is synonymous with receiving 'the Mark of the Beast'(Rev 13:15ff).

The argument runs thus : towards 'the end', everyone will be compelled to bear a mark without which normal life will become nigh on impossible. The Covid vaccination is that mark; ie. the '666' mark of worshippers of the Beast and of the Dragon from whom it gained authority.

Unfortunately, handling Revelation in a literalistic way is to fundamentally miss both

what it is, and how it is to be understood. The repeated 'cycles' within John's vision are

to be interpreted symbolically and figuratively not literally or even linearly, therefore any

attempt to label 'such-n-such' as the Mark of the Beast, is fatally flawed even before the

ink dries. However, even were such literal interpretations admissible, the details given

of the 666 mark (representing the name of the Beast) do not fit the Covid vaccination

(or indeed other historic vaccinations (like MMR or Polio)). John writes that its to be a

publicly visible thing on forehead or right hand, yet the Covid vaccine is in the arm

(usually), invisible, internal, and receipt is known to relatively few, and neither is it (or

will ever be) universally applied, hence contradicting the universal 'all people' the both

great and small of Rev 13:16.

3. False Guilt.

The Proposition ; "Receiving the Covid vaccination is synonymous with Murder because it is created from (or derived from) aborted fetuses".

The argument runs thus : The Covid vaccines (some, or all) are derived or created using (in some sense) cells derived (somehow) from an aborted baby. Put crudely (and inaccurately) 'they're killing babies to vaccinate you.', or put less baldly, at the start of the chain that leads to the Covid vaccine(s) was an abortion, by refusing to say 'no' to such a vaccine, you condone that initial rapacious act. (The '..do evil that good may come' Rom 3:8 problem)

Fortunately, by God's common grace, the medical research community, as well as the

Pharmaceutical companies, are rightly aware of such sensitive medical ethics. Hence we

find that two (and only two) fetuses link to Pfizer, Astra-Zenica, or Moderna's vaccines,

and that the actual cells used for development and testing were 'cultured', that is 'grown

from' their originals (of 1973 and 1985), and thirdly, and this I think is the most

important part, the decision taken to use cells derived from both HEK293T and PER.C6

were taken ~after~ the abortion had taken place. Hence, while the reasons and

justification for the original abortions are now lost to history, neither were 'killed for us'.

To use a poor analogy, receiving the Vaccine is akin to receiving a donor kidney via a

tragic car crash or a gangland killing... one was tragic, the other criminal, but while the

donor didn't choose to die for you, now you can choose to live.

4. False Falsehoods.

Jesus reminds us in John 8, that our adversary is both a murderer and 'the father of lies

- when he lies he speaks his native language', and as shown at Jesus' temptation, the

Devil loves to try to use God's own word against us, inflating one truth to overshadow

another (proposition 1), over-simplifying or magnifying its details (proposition 2), or

simply insinuating guilt before God's law (proposition 3). There is an old proverb "Fool

me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me". So, now we know how the

battle will be fought, we can follow Peter's advice to 'be alert, your enemy the devil

prowls around ...seeking someone to devour". The alert Christian stays off the devil's

menu, following the example of the citizens of Berea in Acts 17, who, rather than simply

believing everything they were told (by Paul), examined the scriptures, to see if it were

so (ie. true).

5. What now ?

It is possible that some of the above has challenged your attitude and thinking about Covid Vaccination; I hope it has, but more, I trust it has helped set your minds and consciences at rest if they were troubled. That has certainly been my intention. But whether you knew it all already, or whether it was new news to you....

- Let us continue to look to our Father 'as the servant looks to hand of his master', knowing He 'does all things well'.      And at the same time ....

- Let us welcome all that our Heavenly Father has provided for our well-being through His creation.

- Let us accept that all  good gifts come from Him , and delight in His supervisory providences that allow the existence of the biological and medical sciences.

- Let us demonstrate our faith in Him as we rely on His provision through the everyday and commonplace, including medicines and vaccines.

- Let us show by our deeds that we love one another, and our neighbour, by caring for and protecting them, and ourselves.

- And finally, let us honour that single small unknown lost life to whom we trace our protection and our vaccinations.

An Afterword ...

Having read the above in draft form, my good friend over at thathideousman suggested the following as to why should Christians receive vaccination(s) of any form :

(i) We have a mandate to ‘subdue’ the earth (including its diseases)  Genesis 1.

(ii) By God’s common grace we thereby restrict the chaos of the fall (eg. polio, typhoid)

(iii) Science is evidence that we are made in God’s image - we’re not just animals.

(iv) Building herd immunity via vaccination protects the vulnerable (neighbour love)

(v) Its a (small) component of our witness as a community; are we to do harm or ‘bless the city ‘ in which we find ourselves?

(vi) Paranoia and conspiracy theories makes faith look daft - ‘those Christians will believe anything’ which is an appalling witness that undermines the Gospel itself.

Musical Musings IV

Now we have reached part IV, and it is time for us to consider the 'inputs' to Sung Worship Done Well. In the earlier posts, we considered what it is, how we might judge if it is happening, and what sorts of compositions might be appropriate to help it happen. But sung worship needs more than a good song book, and the band needs more than a comprehensive back catalogue under their collective belts. How should they play the stuff, and what should we seek from each musician who steps forward to play ?

1. The bedrock input is obvious; accuracy - each individual participant must play or sing the music correctly, accurately, consistently.  We will explore this idea in another post, but for the moment, accuracy means no more and no less than at pitch, in time, in order, consistently and repeatedly.  Anything less is either cacophony, or Modern Jazz, and only one of those is fit to employ in worship.

2. The second input is more subjective, but it is linked to hard truths.  Each musician or singer must individually play expressively, giving due consideration to the truth(s) being conveyed and the mood of the piece as it carries those truths. Different truths, concepts, events and principles seem to require different handling as they are expressed, it applies to speech, and it applies when they are played and sung.  Western Music has its own well developed conventions for expressing lyrical content, and unsurprisingly, these apply to Sung Worship too.  But ignore them, and the content is contradicted (or undermined) by the musical expression.  Volume, intonation, harmonies, and rhythm, as well as the genre and speed all contribute to the mood, they 'speak', and what they 'say' must match the truth expressed.  A song of triumph delivered like a funeral march destroys the very statement the piece is making, just as a song about the resurrection played in the style of 'here we go round the mulberry bush' trivialises the truth it celebrates. 

3. Thirdly, when taken as a whole, each piece must be delivered appropriately.  This similar to 'expressively', but here we have in view the movement of the piece from start to finish, carried by the arrangement of instrument(s) and voice(s) as it is played.   Many Christian songs and hymns have a progression in the lyrics, a story is told, biblical events are re-played, a grand passage is given poetic form, and so on.  Hence the delivery of the piece should give due weight to the progress and emphases of the lyrics.  Of course, progression is not the same as crescendo, although some think is it, and neither is repetition synonymous with emphasis, although some think it is as well.  Western Music has many ways of saying the same thing, and no one size fits all.  But perhaps more common in Sung Worship is under-emphasis, where no real consideration is given to the content, and every verse is delivered identically to every other verse regardless of what they say. 

A good question to ask of the lyrics is, 'where is the emotional heart of this song ?'  Answer that question, and we are half-way to the arrangement.  Ask a second question, 'how will we arrive there ?', and the arrangement options should start to appear.

4.  Last, but not least, the stuff has to be played together, each individual playing with each other as a group.   This is challenging territory for some. In the English speaking world and in non-liturgical churches, its probably fair to say that sung worship is usually led by a band or group working as a band or group. Unless the musicians are down to one (or two), Sung Worship is led that way, and is not the performance of fully scored piece with a congregation singing along. Hence, each player's contribution to the whole is not pre-ordained, but is elastic, fluid, and variable, depending on what the others play, and how the music leader and group agree to arrange the piece.  To play together each player has to 'hear' the rhythm(s), the shape of the piece, and the interplay of the others around him, and play his component into and with that mix. In effect, when a song is 'in flight', each player has to be 10% conductor, 80% musician, 10% sound engineer, 100% alert.

Accurate, expressive, appropriate, together. Those are the inputs needed for Christian musicians to have any hope of assisting their brothers and sisters in Sung Worship Done Well.  But who can play like that ?  The short answer, is quite a few folks, probably more than we expect, but less than we'd like.  And they are the subject of our next post, Musical Musings part V.

The Outrun, by Amy Liptrot. A Brief Review.

I am about to confess to a weakness. Bookshops in Airport Terminals. They are one of the highlights and hazards of air travel, and this time I was caught by the old 'buy one, get one half price' sales pitch. Which I duly did.

The Outrun was what I found myself reading in one of those hard plastic chairs near the B Gates somewhere in Heathrow's T5.  It was an odd choice (the book, not the chairs).  The autobiographical story of a recovered alcoholic rediscovering herself on the windswept Orkney Islands isn't my usual fare.  I suppose it was the cover that got my attention.  Sea, landscape, a hint of empty spaces, and a passing nod at the cover of another favourite of mine Land's Edge by Tim Winton, which is also autobiographical, features the sea, empty spaces, but no alcoholics.

What actually happened was that after seeing the cover, I opened a copy at random somewhere near the middle, and began to read.  Moments later, I was in a world of vast open skies, low walls and short turf, a treeless landscape alive with the sound of the endless Atlantic breakers falling upon the rocks as they have from the dawn of creation.  But Amy Liptrot writes much better than I, so I closed the book, searched for a companion volume to get my second half price 'bargain', and prepared to fly.  And when, eight or more hours later we landed at JFK, I had travelled much further than the 4,500 miles between London and New York.

The basic structure of the book is simple but effective.  Liptrot recounts her return to the Orkney Islands from London, immediately after she has 'dried out', and as she revisits a series of locations or scenes of life before she left for the bright lights of the south, she takes the reader through another step of her descent into the haze of drink.  When she returned North, she called the intervening time ten lost years.  Ten years of chasing a chimera of she knew not what, constantly attempting to find it through ever heavier drinking.  She is painfully, albeit understatedly, honest with the reader, she exposes the labyrinthine internal logic of the alcoholics world, continually comparing it with what she had abandoned on Orkney.  It makes an alternatingly evocative and painful read.

Along the way we are exposed to her schitzophenic dad, her born-again mum, farming with no trees, oil workers, life in a wholly rural community, and landscapes on what seems like the edge of the known world.  It is perhaps her ability to evoke the shape and feel of landscape and place that is the books most satisfying element.  She deftly uses surprise, reflection, anecdotes, local legends, and the etymology of place names to conjour a world of skies and wind, of ordinary beauty in un-looked for places.  And all the while wondering why she left it, and could she really return and live among it without falling back into drink.

How did she dry out ?  Once again, it was AA.  While she keeps a distance from her mum's faith, she eventually realises its the 'higher power' that she needs, and, after that, things change.  Back on Orkney, at one point she contemplates some quasi-Celtic manifestations of Christianity linked to the islands, but while appearing to admire that world's faith, she keeps that too at arms length.  But she does rebuild life, she lives and works in an online world, blogging, tweeting, facebooking and the rest.  And she starts to swim, but how and why I'll not divuge here.

Would I recommend this book ?  If you like travel writing, or writing about places, or if you've had close encounters with alcoholism, yes.  If you'd like a worked example of what going down to the bottom, and coming back up looks like, yes.  If you like the Orkneys, probably yes.  If you're interested in a worked example of the life of 20-somethings in the noughties, yes definitely.  But be warned, for all its ability to evoke a place, The Outrun will leave you mildly sad.  It did me.

The Outrun, by Amy Liptrot, Pub by Cannongate, pb, ISBN 978-1782115489

Wind in your hair, sun in your eyes, life is good.

We are made in God's image.  That is one of the central messages of the Genesis narrative.  God made.  Like the animals, but differentiated from them.  Only we, us humans, have his 'breath' within.  Its poetic, and profound.  And one implication is that we too create in our own image.  We see it in our children's faces, their hair colour, their stature, their aptitudes, and weaknesses.  And as we raise them, we see them take on our manners, our turn of phrase, our odd movements, reactions, even imitating our laugh sometimes.  But they also take on something of our world and its priorities, some of our big ideas, and a haphazard selection of our small ones.

How does it happen ?  Simple - you put their head out of the window, what else ?

Muzical Musings III

And now for the third posting in this incomplete series - when will this madness end ? Who knows !

In part I, I outlined some presuppositions about Worship in general and Sung Worship in particular. In part II I proposed that a good way to analyse and discuss Worship was to identify some 'outputs' that might indicate that it was Worship Done Well - Most of the outputs related to Sung Worship Done Well, but some would apply to all attempts at bringing our praise and adoration etc. to our Heavenly Father.

Given those outputs are reasonable, what actions should we do to assist one another in sung worship, so that the sheep truly adore the shepherd they love ?


Lets start with the material itself. What should we sing to worship well ?  Clearly Frosty the Snowman is a poor Christmas Carol, just as My Way sits uncomfortably during the Lord's Supper.  So what should we sing ?

I think that the answer is similar to the one given to 'what shall we preach ?'; we must select compositions and arrangements that are 'biblical', in that they are fully compatible with scripture's breadth, depth, and content.  Of course, few people will jump up and say 'hey I've got this new heretical song, let's sing it!', but for sung worship to be biblical, just as for a sermon to be 'biblical', it must be in harmony with the melodies of scripture (pun intended).  That harmony and compatibility can be summarised as :

a) Accurate : that is, with lyrics that are biblical, ie. actually true, balanced, and understandable.
b) Comprehensive : compositions that, taken with others, range broad and deep across the full range of biblical truth.
c) Expressive : pieces that cover the range of responses of the Bible's own examples:
i.e. Extolling, Praising, Blessing, Lament, Repenting, Sorrow, Celebration, Wonder, Awe etc.

Those cover the truth content, but the musical, melodic component must be in harmony too, so I think there are a further three notes that must be struck :

d) Appropriate : The melodies and arrangements must properly and adequately carry the lyric's truth content.
e) Merit : Lyric and music should really have artistic merit in and of themselves.
f) Singable : Yes, normal humans must be able to sing the compositions!



Of those six, accurate needs some expansion. For sung lyric to be accurately conveying biblical truth, it must not also convey or imply contradictory un-truth in such a way as to endorse un-truth. (Phew that was a sentence)  Accuracy means balance as well, no single truth or group of truths under-emphasised, or conversely over stated, such that another truth is hidden in its shadow. But, accuracy does not preclude focus, that's where 'c' above, comes in; Carols have focus, but every Carol does not have to mention Christ's return, Hymns about the cross have focus, but need not refer to the incarnation. But the poetic confuses these nice distinctions....

What's to be done with poetic expression ? The bible is full of it - metaphor, simile, allusion, juxtaposition, forward and backward references, and more..Should our Sung Worship go and do likewise ? I think the answer is yes and no. Or yes, but only if ...

Yes, if the song is based upon a biblical idea, verse or passage, but no if its a song based on a song about a biblical idea or passage.  In other words, one level of indirection only, please.  Thus a song based on Psalm 23 or John 10 can wax poetical and be richly evocative, yet stay solidly biblical even as it lifts the singer's spirit heavenward.  Whereas a song based on a song about Psalm 23 is likely to move into flights of fancy that blur into the un-true, even when allowed plenty of poetic licence.


And what of Merit - should the music have artistic merit really ?  I think we all vote with out feet on that - or, we vote with our Youtube clicks and mp3 downloads.  We're more likely to listen to In Christ Alone in the Car, than Prayer is like a Telephone, unless you have some six year olds in the back.  We always vote with out feet.  Or using another example, read down the track list of one of your favourite Christian songwriters, and ask which of these do we sing in worship. Like as not you'll find six tracks on one album, and just one on another - the six probably have merit, the others... well .. just leave 'em, don't choose 'em, don't ask us to sing 'em next Sunday.  Please.

Muzical Musings II

This is the second of an incomplete series of postings about the leading and delivery of Sung Worship.... What is supposed to be happening when its Done Well, and what do we have to do to deliver that ?

It seems to me that a good way to analyse and discuss Sung Worship and how it might be Done Well, is to look at the 'outputs', the what we want or hope for, and then to ask what 'inputs' should help deliver the desired outputs.

So, I offer nine outputs that might indicate Sung Worship Done Well.

1) First, the worshippers genuinely know and feel they are worshipping God. Its subjective, but essential. Since the God of the Bible consistently describes himself as 'the living God', and repeatedly states he is 'with' or 'among' His people, visibly as they crossed the desert, and internally by his Spirit, and since he invites His people to 'approach' him, to 'draw near' to Him, to address Him directly in word and song, it seems reasonable to expect those who do so know and feel that they are actually doing so.

2) Aspect(s) of the sung truth(s) help to extend, confirm or enhance our appreciation of God. This might be through their freshness, their ability to evoke, or perhaps their juxtaposition with other truths. It could be a function of the original or uncommon way of expressing truth employed by the lyric writer, or it might just be the ordinary bedrock glories of the gospel unexpectedly 'lighting up' as they are sung.

3) The sung Truths and their melodies stick in mind and memory long after the event. Of course, this is 'upon reflection', but the humming of a melody after the event has finished, the singing to oneself of half lines and their arising unbidden during the day suggests that something has penetrated the hearer and lodged within. Then when phrases or lines or even whole verses come to mind days or weeks later, surely it is an endorsement of what went in, since we have added them to our armoury of truth and truth reflections. Doubtless, it is not necessary to have acquired those during Sung Worship, they could easily have come from a concert, a You Tube clip, or a music download. But, I suspect that its the corporate experience that is the most effective and has the highest penetrative power.

4) Sometimes Dark Moods are lifted, Joy is regained, or crass frivolity is dismissed. The hymn writers and composers of previous centuries often held that the mood and emotion of music had a spiritual dimension to it. Perhaps thinking of David playing for Saul, they expected their congregations to receive spiritual benefit from the combination of mood and truth present in their compositions, and to find that during sung worship, pessimism, despair, or grief might be lifted, or that faith would be strengthened, or that appropriate gravity or seriousness would be fostered. I think that they were probably right.

5) Each piece sung supports the next one(s) naturally, and there is no contradiction or 'jarring'. This is mainly a plea for keeping the overall picture in mind, and avoiding unhelpful or contradictory juxtapositions of mood or melody.  Examples may seem a little forced, but sharp contrasts of style can throw the worshipper(s), as can contrasts of energy or expected participation.

6) A regret that it always ends too soon, and a feeling that 'I'm glad I came here today'. This is similar to '1' above. Its a vote of 'yes', we, or I was aware of whom we worshipped today, and I could have stayed longer.  In that sense, every gathering to worship should be a foretaste of glory, a canape before the wedding feast of the Lamb.  Canapes are delightful, vibrantly tasty, and hint at much greater things to come, so should Worship Done Well, not least the Sung bit.

7) Worshippers can be heard and seen 'putting their backs into' the truths they sing. Few things sap the worshippers energy as thoroughly as standing among people singing like zombies, still more dispiriting is the sight of people with mouths clamped firmly shut, refusing to sing.  But when the opposite is visible, the encouragement to join in is delightfully attractive.

8) There are smiles, occasionally tears. A smile says 'yes', albeit transiently.  The tears are less easy to read, and may say more about individuals than about the worship at that point, but both suggest that the Done Well may be happening.

9) Worshippers are not very conscious of those leading/playing, or focused on them over-much. Admittedly, some multi-task more readily than others, and they may well observe all that is going on, while still remaining fully engaged in worship.  But they are a minority.  For most, where the eyes go, the mind soon follows.  Hence a certain 'invisibility' of those leading and playing is a good thing.


And how do we help bring those nine about... that is Part III.

Muzical Musings I

At a certain independent chapel I know well, much thought, many hours of debate, and not a little angst has been poured over many years into the murky waters of the subject of 'Worship Music'; it has often been the very epitome of a fruitless discussion, indeed, it was one of my offspring who first pointed out that it was so after a particularly circular discussion one Sunday afternoon.

So, having been goaded into action by the wisdom of one so young (sic), I put together the following musings.


First two(?) presuppositions around sung worship...

I take Singing to be accompanied singing in the main. I hold that those who reject musical accompaniment at all times have no biblical support, and their pragmatic reasons for rejecting it represent a failure of teaching and good old disciple making. Hence in the below I presume some combination of instrument(s) and voice(s) as normal.

It seems to me that are a number of specifics that are tied to time and place or that fall into grey or elastic areas where judgement is called for. Hence I'll make no comment about ages, levels, genre, percussion, harmony, instruments, numbers, duration, repetition or composers. Many of the specifics are balances between competing objectives, and cannot be ruled upon in advance or absolutely. So, broadly speaking, age is really about a person's 'maturity' and 'attitude', genres and styles are about culture, sub-culture and demographics, there are no biblical or unbiblical 21stC instruments only instruments, composers are almost irrelevant if the composition is more than 5 years old, and so on …


What do I/we mean by Worship, Sung or otherwise ?

Genuine Christian Worship springs from true truths about the God of the Bible as revealed in the Bible, some measure of understanding of them, resulting in an appropriate expression of, or responses to those truths, directed towards God. In their responses and expressions, Christians worship the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, through the Lord Jesus Christ, aided by the Holy Spirit (whether they are conscious of this or not), and in so doing bring Him glory.

The expressions/responses may be silent (internal/unspoken), or audible; the latter spoken (extempore or written) or sung (the how sung varying from culture to culture), and may also be 'visible' in a worshipper's countenance and bearing. At the same time there will often be an invisible 'felt' experiential component - a moving of the emotions frequently accompanies this. Worship is private and personal, and also corporate, and it should be expressed in both contexts – the individual disciple alone before his Father, right up to the largest of gatherings; but the corporate cannot exist without the private, and neither can the Christian.

Among the range of responses, the OT and NT takes Singing to be a normal one. e.g. The Psalms, 1st Temple Worship arrangements, in the Gospels Jesus & the Disciples singing, and Paul's 'Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs'. The Psalms themselves specify musical accompaniment and name melodies, and they frequently use three words that cover what might loosely be called adoration : Exalt, Praise, and Bless, meaning (briefly), i) to say something great is truly great, ii) to praise, iii) to approve at our most heartfelt and deepest level. And then in addition to Adoration, the Bible offers us Lament, Celebration, sung requests, ballad-like reflections on historic events, songs of triumph and of repentance and more, almost all of which are ultimately directed god-ward.

Only the born-again can worship. Unless our hearts of stone are replaced by hearts of flesh, and we have the Spirit of Christ within, there is no worship. While 'all you have made will praise you', the dead cannot, as the Palmist puts it succinctly, therefore, neither can they assist living Saints in authentic Christian worship.

So, have established all that, what of Sung Worship itself. What should happen so that it happens ? That'll be the next Posting ...

Never stand under a bridge (and take photgraphs)

Although I've had my trusty Fuji for a few years, I have never quite managed to try all the functions out.  Perhaps its timidity, or perhaps its lack of suitable subjects on which to experiment.  But today, I decided to be different.  Boldly selecting the multi-frame continuous option, which is different from the mult-frame top, or multi-frame bottom options, I hoped to capture a David Bailey-esque sequence of classic shots as Clan Line drifted towards me.   However, it was not to be .....

Resting on an ancient but servicable camera-pole, and with iso set, programme mode set, multi-frame selected, chrome off, focus to spot, and fast focus..... I pressed the shutter release.....  click, pause, click, pause, click, pause ... ah? oh ... Its gone passed me ....  And the result is as you see.  near, nearer, in the dark (under the bridge), and gone.   Now, if I hadn't been standing at the bridge.....

HS2 is coming, I hope the granchildren like it in 2026

So, we're getting another High Speed Rail Link.  One which will extend the existing high speed route linking the Channel Tunnel to London, onwards up to somewhere north of Birmingham; HS2 is its abbreviation, HS1 being the existing CTML, or Channel Tunnel Main Line across Kent to St Pancras.  HS2 sounds nice and 'technical' (I suppose BML would sound like an obsolete nationalised industry), and it'll run, at least in part, upon the alignment of the old Great Central/LNER main line into London's Marylebone terminus, a line with the unhappy distinction of being the last main line to reach London, and the first to be closed (it was abandoned and lifted north of Quainton, Bucks., in 1966-69).

And people are quite naturally asking do we need it? and do we want it ?  Its suggested that the cost will be in excess of 30 billion pounds, which is a lot of money by most standards - sufficient to add at least five Queen Elizabeth class Aircraft Carriers (without their aircraft) to the Royal Navy, build a quite few hospitals, or maybe catch up with the backlog of road repairs.  But those things already have their own budgets which already dwarf the cost of HS2, spread as it will be across a dozen or more years of construction work.  So would it be money spent on something worthwhile ?

There seem to be several factors that the debates around HS2 are ignoring, or perhaps under estimating.  The first is the growth in rail travel itself (on whatever speed route is used).  The statistics for passenger numbers continue to break all the records set in the 20th century, with rail travel in recent years exceeding anything achieved in the 1980s or 90s, and far exceeding the passenger levels of the nostalgic golden days of the steam railway.  These record numbers have been delivered on a reduced network, shorn in the 60's of much of its feeders of secondary routes and branch lines, and with most track and infrastructure pared down to the minimum.  Infrastructure and track miles equal maintenance costs, maintenance costs are overheads, overheads are watched by accountants etc.  But reducing the costs has meant less double track miles, less relief lines, fewer points, longer signalling block sections, and fewer lay-bys and sidings, all of which contribute to a less flexible and lower capacity network overall.  To achieve the passenger mileage, the network and rolling stock is now 'tuned' to faster trains, fewer stops outside of the big conurbations, and actually works only by many routes running at their maximum capacity, at least during the normal working day.

The second overlooked factor is freight.  Rail freight is one of the remarkable secret success stories of the modern era.  In the 1970s, freight abandoned the rails for the roads in almost every market, and Dr Beeching often prophesied a network of passenger only rail with vestigial freight services linking a few major centres and with highly specialised cargoes.  The coal strikes of the early 80s seemed to kill off that traffic as well as both pits closed and the dash-to-gas accellerated at UK power stations.  But today the situation has completely reversed.  2010 saw a 13% decline in road freight, while on rail, the last six years (2006-2011) have seen a steady growth of freight, running at 2% per annum each year, and with projections putting the growth nearer to 7% across this current decade.  The additional traffic is partly driven by the Channel Tunnel, but more by the rise in intermodal traffic and the expanding or planned expansion of deep-sea ports such as Haven, Thames, Medway and Solent, along with Mersey and Salford opening up in the near future.  But the freight traffic is starting to exceed our rail capacity.  Freight cannot, and indeed has no real need to move at the speeds of passenger traffic, 60 or 75mph is more than adequate, yet even at those speeds on the trunk routes freight is too slow and blocks other (faster) traffic.

Without HS2 factored in, freight traffic is starting to demand more paths on the WCML than there is capacity to run the trains.  And the same pressure will soon be felt on the GWML, the GW route north through Oxford and on the cross-Anglian route linking Felixstowe to the midlands.  The solution is ether to rebuild most of the principal trunk routes south of Manchester, giving them something approaching four track capacity, or taking a significant section of the long distance passenger traffic off of those same routes, the largest of which by a long way is the WCML.

So, to me at least, that seems to make a very strong case for another route from the SE to the Midlands.  HS2 may or may not be the correct or best choice, but another route of some significance does seem like a sensible idea.

And if you think its easy for me to not be a NIMBY because HS2 isn't running along my garden fence, let me herby state that I will gladly swap my property (from which the trains are frustratingly hidden by buildings and trees) for one of similar value overlooking or adjoining HS2 and commanding a proper view of the passing spectacle.  Offers anyone ?

The Old Iron Lady

The Iron Lady, released last weekend, is a film about Margaret Thatcher, the former British Prime Minister once dubbed 'The iron Lady' by the Soviets. But it is also, or perhaps principally, a study in old age, the onset of dementia, and grief.  The camera frequently lingers on the elderly face of Margaret Thatcher (played outstandingly by Mery Streep), and we watch as incomprehension, confusion, or sudden moments of clarity, are played out in the movements of her eyes, the suck of a lip, or the tilt of the head.  Streep captures very poignantly the decline of old age, as we see her try to buy a pint of milk in a busy newsagent, or try to work a DVD player, everything is there - the shuffling gait of the elderly, the gripping of a chair back here, a door frame there, the slight swaying when she pauses.

It is a film crafted from, and relying wholly upon the fundamental elements of movie making.  The camera is mostly still, yet the scenes are composed and lit with great precision.  There are no (obvious) lapses in to CGI, only one explosion requiring of the use of special effects, no sweeping vistas, no grand melodies played to move the audience where the scene is weak.   Most of the time there are only one or two actors in camera, and most of the locations are intimate and tightly bounded - a sitting room, around a dinner table, or in a polling station.  Yet with these simple uncomplicated elements a tale is told of an elderly lady finally coming to terms with death, loss and her own old age.  The lady just happened to be a former Prime Minister.

In tone and simplicity, Iron Lady compares well with 'The Queen', where Helen Mirren plays Elizabeth II, or with 'The King's Speech', where Colin Firth plays the man who became King George VI.  All three rely heavily and successfully on the ability of the principal character to animate his or her face before the camera.  But also like them, Iron Lady is not a film to watch to learn much about 20th century political history, or about the rise and fall of a Prime Minister.  For such learning and insight one would turn elsewhere.  But having said that, there is one particularly amusing moment, where, at the heart of the Falklands Crisis, Mrs Thatcher is explaining to Al Haig, the US negotiator and intermediary, that Britian will not be negotiating with the Argentinian Junta (characteristically pronounced with a hard 'J').  He counters with the observation that the Falklands are small, remote, and have few inhabitants, to which Mrs Thatcher asks him whether the US would negotiate if someone invaded Hawaii ? - the expression on Haig's face is priceless.

So, a film worth watching I'd say.

Carols by Candle-Light

Christmas always provides some great opportunities to use the camera indoors. The inside of a church fully decorated for the festival I find particularly photogenic, and this year, as has been my practice, I spent some time attempting to capture the scene it presented. Indoor photography is always interesting, not least due to the lower lighting conditions, the range of artificial light sources, and the presence of colourations that are absent with sunlight.

For 2011, the Christmas tree itself was the tallest that we've ever erected, and its tip, along with the mandatory plastic (ex- Woolworths?) star was hidden from direct view by the rafters. So a closer and more upward looking approach was called for.

Having captureded a selection of shots on my trusty old Fuji, it then occurred to me that the green, red and gold-cream colours lent themselves to creating a mock Victorian post-card feel. So, back at base, a few minutes experimentation with irfanview to blur and pixelate produced the effect you see at left (OK, I did have to 'photo-shop' out a bit of pipe on the back wall, but it doesn't show too much). The result was sufficiently impressive to make the cover of our 2011 Carols by Candle-light Order of Service !

Being in the right place at the right time

Some things catch you by surprise. Take passing trains for example. In my time I have stood for upwards of three hours to watch a particular locomotive pass by, only to see nothing pass at all. On other occasions I have arrived too late, or just as what I sought was disappearing into the distance. But on this occasion I sought nothing, was expecting nothing, but saw something rare (for a BR Southern Region person at least).

This was Carnforth Station in October 2011. I was walking towards the northern end of the platform for the double-track line which runs around the Cumbrian Coast, when I heard a relaxed grumbling behind me. Turning around, I was greeted by the sight of a pair of class 66s conveying a nuclear fuel flask wagon along the goods avoiding line towards Sellafield (I assume). Now, to see a flask train is fairly uncommon anywhere in the UK, but to have the combination drift past me at gentle pace and just a few feet away was quite an unexpected chance occurrence.

As I said, its all about being in the right place at the right time.

Another Martello Ticked Off

On a bitterly cold December day in 2011, I ventured East to Felixstowe's Landguard Common and its namesake Palmerston era Landguard Fort. Nearby is Martello Tower 'P', one of the four remaining Martellos that guarded the once important anchorage and harbour of Harwich.

It is an interesting, tightly bounded area, hemmed in by the sea on three sides, the modern port of Felixstowe on the fourth, and capped by an oddly located caravan site. Part of the common is a seasonal nature reserve, but it mostly owes its existence in its current form to the presence of the defensive works sited there for almost 400 years.

The main section of Landguard Fort consists of casemates for 7 guns facing into the estuary, backed by brick and earth walls, magazines and covered accommodation, and surrounded by ditches with caponiers. Many of the latter have either simply been filled in, or have been built over by the large Edwardian battery which faces out sea. In addition to the 1900 extension, WWII added anti-invasion defenses and a range of protected harbour control installations.

Out on the Hills

A shepherds soliloquy
----------------------------

I don't suppose I'll be here to see His day arrive
No.. He's still a lad at the moment..
But He's out there.. growing...waiting, getting ready..

Ha! You don't know who I'm talking about do you ?
No.. Well, let me start at the beginning then.

We'd just moved up from the south, as we did every year for the winter.
We'd pasture the sheep in the hill country, just South of Jerusalem.
Near Bethlehem actually .. you know ? where King David came from.

It always made us smile, there we were with sheep near the ancient home of our greatest King, he was a shepherd too - did you know that ? But not like us mind you. No. He had home, family, brothers 'n that. We seem to manage without them mostly..

In fact, it was always a trial for us - those winter months. For most of the year we worked way off on the edge of the wilderness. Just us and the sheep. A simple sort of existence really, with no-one to bother us. But up there near the city.. well thing always got more complicated.

We were.. well ARE never trusted by the folks who live there. They say we're light fingered 'n such, that we get mine and thine mixed up sometimes.... 'n I suppose there -is- some truth in that.. Mind you I always try to return what I borrow.....

And then folk up there are always say we cant be 'real Jews', because we can't get to the synagogue very often, or even to the feasts sometimes. That always stuck in my craw. My father used to tell me how YHWH was Lord of -all- His people, how he loved -all- of them, even when they were far away.... that His eye was always on them and that His great heart of compassion was always tuned towards them ..... I 'spose some have forgotten that... I've got used to being one where my occupation meant you must be irreligious, or whose word was 'a shepherds oath' and a by-word for 'untrustworthy', but for everyone, especially the Pharisees and the rest to say the YHWH couldn't be 'with us'.......well (mutters darkly)

But I'm getting off the point aren't I ?

Yes.. Where were we ?.. back outside Bethlehem. .. yes...
That year was worse than any we'd ever seen. For while we were never welcome in the town, we could at least buy bread, and a skin of wine, but that year we couldn't get anything from anyone ! And why ? Because there wasn't anything left !! The town was overrun with visitors, not just a few, but people from all over Israel. Hundreds of 'em. You couldn't buy bread, or flour, wine was unobtainable, hay or oats for animals was priced well out of our purses. You see, the Romans had organised one of their 'censuses'; anyone whose family was from those parts had returned to Bethlehem and the place was bursting at the seams because of it.

We went into town a couple of times, realised it was wasted effort, and stayed on the hills.

And that is where we were that night.

We'd lit a fire, much like every other night, and we sat around with our backs towards it, eyes towards the flock. I'd fallen asleep, but several others were awake, just in case a local tried to come and 'borrow' a sheep to feed the unexpected visitors. But we weren't expecting any trouble.

And then suddenly, the sky, it was full of light, and then the ground around us was alight too.... not like summer daytime, but like someone had lit all the candles in the world at the same time as was holding up in front of us.. I woke up, of course, we all turned and looked, someone jumped to his feet, but a second later sank down onto his knees. I remember starting to think 'what's the matter with him?...' when I found the same powerful urge come over me too. I was suddenly filled with acute shame, though I couldn't say what for, and a feeling of embarrassment and dirtiness cut right through me, just as though someone had read my minds most repulsive secrets but worse..... And as we lay there, it may have been for seconds or minutes, I felt every part of my body shaking in fear and remorse, if it were possible to feel both things so strongly at the same time.

But strange as it may seem, I kept looking towards the light, and there in front of us now stood a man, but not a man. The light was surrounding him, but not coming from him; it seemed the light was source of our acute discomfort. Then he spoke to us.

“Peace !, don't be afraid”, he said. “I am bringing you good news. News of great joy that will be for all the people. Today, in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.”

Then he paused, as if awaiting a response from us. Well my tongue seemed like lead, and my mouth may have moved a bit, but I couldn't get a sound out, and neither did anyone else. I'm sure I saw the visitor's eye brow rise just a little at our complete lack of response, so He continued

"This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Well if that sounds like a traumatic experience; to be greeted by an Angel on a dark hillside in winter, and to experience just a glimpse of what must have been the Glory of YHWH, ... well worse was to come !. For no sooner had he told us about the sign, than from out of nowhere he was joined by a vast army of what were plainly YHWH's angels. They were dressed as if for battle, but it wasn't their appearance that was the most striking thing, but their song...

For they all began to sing, the most exquisite and beautiful sound I have ever heard. Like human voices, yes, but sweeter and richer, deeper and higher, with notes that pieced you with their perfection, and made you heart feel as if it should burst. But even more wonderful was what they sang, or almost 'proclaimed' defying anyone or anything to challenge its truth :

"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests.

The words echoed back and forth, and with each restatement, I was willing them to sing that again, and sing that again, tell me that again.

Then they stopped. The song faded to silence and the angelic army swiftly slipped away from sight; last of all to go was our original visitor who was now smiling at us.

Well, we all started talking at once. We had our tongues back, and our legs too ! We were all on our feet, "Let's go to Bethlehem" we said, "and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about". So we did just that, leaving the flock to care for itself, we were rushing and tumbling down the hillside towards the darkened town and the promised Christ. Looking back, I don't know how we thought we'd find him, or how many strangers we'd have to wake until we found 'the one', but it didn't happen like that. We ran to the little square in the centre of the town, paused for breath, and there we noticed a lamplight showing through a half open door. For some reason, we went straight over to the building, paused again for a moment, then swung the door wide a stepped inside.

There wasn't much to see inside. A couple of older ladies, a dog lying on the floor near the door, one or two bits of rough furniture, some sacks of something... and a man, and a young woman, and a feeding trough. They all turned and looked towards. Written over each face was 'what do you want ?', (and I expect we looked an odd sight !). But before anyone could speak from out of the trough came a little cry - that of tiny infant. Immediately, just as on the hillside, all our legs turned to water and we sank to the ground. As the eldest, I began to explain how we'd been visited by and Angel of the Lord, and how he'd told us how 'a saviour who is Christ the Lord' has been born here in this town, and how we were to find him.....

"Please tell us, when was he born ?" I asked,
"Tonight, In the first watch" replied the man.
"that was When the Angel appeared to us......and so What will you call him?"
Now the you girl spoke up. "forgive me for speaking, but, An angel appeared to me also, and to Joseph here", and she smiled at him.
"Yes", Joseph spoke again, "yes, I, ..we, .., We will be naming him Jesus"....

The word, the name, it seemed to hang in the air ...A saviour, A saviour, Jesus, the old name for YHWH saves !

Well to cut a long story short, the town got little rest that night, late though it was, we told everyone who'd listen what had happened, and what YHWH had revealed to us. So it was many hours later that we were back sitting on our hillside with a new dawn braking slowly in the east. Nobody spoke much, until eventually someone said, "You know, I think the world has just changed".