Reel Spirituality - Leon (this Sunday)



Leon (18)
The third in our Heroes and Villains series

This Sunday, 1st April
Doors: 6.30pm Film starts: 7pm prompt

VENUE CHANGE ** please note that we’ve moved venues (email for location details) **

If you want to explore the film’s themes and issues:
Post-film discussion: 9.15pm onwards Evening ends: no later than 10pm

Feel free to bring your own food, drinks and snacks – I think there might be free popcorn!

Next month, the last in the series of Heroes and Villains:
6th May - 15 Minutes (18)

technorati tag: , ,

Letter from Dubai

So, I've been here for five days. Here is Dubai, in case you hadn't caught that, or are sufficiently unaware of my depressing absence from the world of all thonfs Sanctimonious, that you missed me mentioning this. Actually, last week is still this week for me, because the weeks have merged together as one, thanks to the interesting difference in weeks between here and there (decide for yourselves what the concepts of "Here" and "There" mean in terms of the Global Village) (Actually, as the Global Village is a development in Dubai, as is the Internet Village and, for that matter, The World).

What's it like here? Hot. Relative to Manchester, anyway. 38C this week. I'm drinking lots of water.

And in the evening, I'm drinking lots of beer. My colleagues are old hands in the oil business, and boy, do they drink in the evenings. We have an early start in the mornings, so that we can get in a good number of hours crawling all over the platform before it gets too unbearable: so our working day is 07:30 to 15:30 on the platform and then a few hours in the afternoon, before the beers come into play at 18:00. Then, we can spend three hours or more deciding where we are going to eat, before eventually agreeing that what we really need is more beer; after the four to six pints that allowed us to come to this position. Also, we pass comment on the female customers in the bar, what we think of their attire, what we fancy doing to them and what we think they'd be prepared to do for how much.

OK, so it's not actually me saying these things. The team is made up of old hands in the oil business, and somewhat "unreformed". But is it good enough that I say nothing? Should I be telling them that their attitude to women, developing countries and, yes, disabled people ("We need midgets with long arms, like that small chap in the lobby") is abhorrent? Probably. But would that achieve anything? They're not actually bad people, just set in their ways. And let's face it, there are plenty of people around who are willing to cosy up to a splash of cash. Not appropriate, maybe; but true nonetheless. And, they're all married men, who are (almost certainly) talking the big talk, while still phoning their wives every evening from the safety of their hotel rooms.

Anyway, I say nothing. I laugh at their bad innuendo jokes, but I am amazed at their ability to function after many pints and a very few hours sleep.

Well, there are may more platforms to be reviewed, in Malta, Korea, and not forgetting Lowestoft. Maybe I can get to work on their souls on future visits. Or maybe I need t examine my own now.

The Tribe

Having heard some of their stories previously, it's great to see Jim Gilmore's take on The Tribe written up for emergingchurch.info. Go read - it's thoughtful, reflective, empowering stuff...


technorati tag: ,

manchester International Festival

Well, the long awaited announcement was made yesterday and here is the line up...what are you going to?
How smart are you?


Actually, the questions weren't hard (but they were US-centric) so I doubt that I'm so smart in comparison to you lot. You're all quite clever.

Especially you.

"Four Minute Warning" - service this Sunday

Sanctus1 invites you to join in worship with them…

FOUR MINUTE WARNING
A service exploring Jesus’ last three years, forty days, week…




Sunday 25 March
The clock starts ticking at 8pm...
Sacred Trinity, Chapel St (off Deansgate), Salford

technorati tag:

Where have all the heroines gone?

Kester's emerging heroes post/ images are as ever right on the button - brilliantly funny, slightly painful and with more than a little trickster mixed in...

But after a reasoned and thoughtful conversation last week about gender in the emerging church, I'm mindful to ask -

"where have all the heroines gone?"

(And no, this isn't an invitation to Lego me!)


technorati tag: ,

Blue Peter

So Blue Peter has become the latest institution to become embroiled in the Premium Rate Phonecall Scandal; losing the details of the competition winners and picking a child at random from the studion guest list.

Silly comment heard on the radio this morning: "...is this just a case of insufficient training in what standards are expected?".

Well, if you are running a competition where people are paying money, since when was it acceptable to fake the outcome? You have to wonder how far things have slipped when this happens: where will it end?

"We mislaid the ballot papers so we decided to offer No.10 to the first person who walked in through the door. So please welcome the new Prime Minister ... Lembit Opik".

Catholic Ecclessiology and Contemporary Mission

Fresh expressions are running a series of day conferences called 'Hard Questions'. There is one in Manchester Cathedral on 3rd May with John Drane and Angela Tilby, from Westcott House. You can book tickets here. I think that it'll be a really thought provoking day.

Stop The Big Brother State - should we?

Last year, Sanctus 1 ran a 'Two' event in Manchester's Cord Bar based on the theme of surveillance, the funniest bit being me sampling Cris's conversation about fancy cars with a rifle mic, running it through some effects gizmos, and incorporating his voice into the music that was playing.

Courtesy of the Letter To America blog, here is a wonderful animation about a campaign called Stop The Big Brother State. It presents one side of the argument about a perceived compromise of our privacy for the greater good.

Now, I do get a bit het up when it comes to civil liberties. I know the bible says stuff about the mark of the beast in Revelation something-teen. It has a whole lot more to say about freedom.

So what do you think? Comments please!

(Note - this video contains some not-safe-for-work moments, namely small sillhouettes doing naughty things to each other)

Sanctus2nds

Join us for a walk!

Sunday 11th February: 2:30 at Sacred Trinity or 3:00 at Heaton Park Tram stop.


Technorati Tags: , ,

How's it going?

Just wondering how everyone's Lenten stuff is going?...

We've given up our regular weekly meetings in Lent to do something missional in the city instead. So Sanctimonians, how it's been so far, what have been the highs/ lows, how's the experience shaping up?


technorati tag: ,

An inconvenient Falwell



You know that bit in Sanctus where we said it may be a good idea to make sure we don't kill the planet? I mean... there wasn't a specific bit where we said that, but I think most of us reckon it's a good idea not to, you know, kill the planet and that?

Well, we're all wrong. God's favourite churchman Rvd Jerry Falwell insists that all this fuss about global this and hybrid that is taking our eye off the ball.

And the ball is?

Evangelism.

According to Falwell, the cause of global warming hasn't been established, and anyhoo the Good Book says God won't let the earth die because Jesus has got to return before that happens, and after that.. well... it doesn't matter, does it?

In a sermon this week, he added that Al Gore's environmental documentary should have been called A Convenient Untruth. An interesting theory, but I can't help being reminded of someone else when Jerry says that...