Sanctus1 Manchester: June 2007

Spot the Difference

The sign on the leftis from ISO3864 and BS5378. It is internationally recognised and has been carefully designed and reviewed to ensure clarity and comprehension. It has been around for over 25 years.

The sign on the right is the New and Legally Required sign that all buildings in England must display from Sunday onwards (including Grade 1 Listed churches and cathedrals).

Now, you mught say "what's wrong with the new sign?". Well, on the face of it not a lot. But why has it been felt necessary to create a new sign? What was wrong with the old one? And why is it necessary for anyone displaying the current, internationally recognised sign, to remove them and replace them with the new Tony Blair recognised sign?

Incidentally, I'm not sure that I understand why smoking is the only offence that it is necessary to warn against. Where are the signs saying "No killing: it is against then law" or "No glorifying terrorism or terrorists"?

As usual, suitable comment at the Cartoon Church

angels...

The service on Sunday went well - a lot of people commented on it afterwards... So I thought I'd post some of the ideas/ liturgy here.

We looked at four functions of angels during the service - Voice, Protector, Agent for Change, Messenger. Confession was about not being able to hear the voice of God - with that clip from Dogma of the Metatron appearing to Bethany, followed by If God Would Send His Angels/ U2. Agent for Change was two clips from It's A Wonderful Life - and prayers. Messenger was the women at the tomb, and sharing bread and wine. Plus we had a wonderfully cheesey slide/ music combo of angel images to - yep you guessed it - Robbie Williams!

And I wrote this spoken introduction:

Angels - they were created first, but we humans became the most revered. At one time God had spoken directly with Adam and Eve in the garden, but that was before the trouble… and after they were thrown out, God put a cherubim at the gate to guard the way back to the Tree of Life.
As Adam and Eve’s generations of descendants wandered the earth, angels came from God to bring messages, inhabit dreams, give protection, show God’s judgment, care for those in need, and provide divine guidance. They were not The Lord, and yet they were The Lord’s earthly presence.

Hagar – Abram and Sarai’s Egyptian maid servant – first saw the angel of the Lord. She was pregnant with Ishmael, Abram’s first son, but ran away because of Sara’s mistreatment of her. The angel of the Lord met her at a spring in the desert, told her to return home, and that her son’s numerous descendants would become a great nation.

From that runaway pregnant maid servant, to the protection of Daniel in the lions’ den,
From the guidance of the nation of Israel through the wilderness, to the feeding of Elijah,
From Gabriel’s visitation to Mary, to the announcement to shepherd’s of the birth of a baby,
From Abraham’s three visitors, to the end times of Revelation,
Angels are among us.

technorati tag: angels, sanctus1

free greenbelt ticket!

If you are looking for a free ticket to greenbelt the new forms cafe is looking to recruit a team of stewards in the new forms cafe venue. It's the venue that I've been involved with over the last few years and where sanctus2nds will be leading a service. You'd also get some meal vouchers when working too. leave a contact e-mail below if interested. it's an indoor venue and where a lot of the alt worship is happening on site.

Next Up...

Oh good grief.

THE BRITON’S Protection, one of Manchester’s finest and most popular pubs. Listed on the National Register of Historic Pubs.

A property developer wants to put the pub on a concrete raft and shift it against the wall of Jurys Inn. The Council are keen to have another tower here to mark the ‘gateway’ to the city from Princess Parkway and the Planning Department has indicated to the developer that they would look favourably on the proposal. Past experience of the Labour Exchange site and the Whitworth Street site would suggest that this will make the proposal a shoe in for approval.

Hey, why not just bulldoze everything older than 1996 and finish off what the IRA started?
We can flatten that horrible old Town Hall for starters, and build a lovely new, gleaming glass-and-steel 48 storey tower which is more fitting to a Modern, Thrusting and Vibrant 21st Century City...

100 days

100 days.

We wait for news (which you used to bring us).
We sign petitions, we lobby, we hold vigils, we blog.
We wait in hope.

technorati tag: alan johnston

Insight Film Festival

For the last few months I've been helping to plan a film festival based in Manchester. The festival is called 'Insight' and asks people to make a film about or exploring the passion of faith in contemporary culture.

The top prize is £1,000 and you've gotta be under 30 to enter. There are some high profile judges and a public screening, so it's ideal for young upcoming film makers.

See here for more details.

A different way to read the Sanctus1 blog

Some people have way too much time on their hands.

And I, for one, am glad.

Last Orders in Nexus and II in TV21

This weeks Sanctus1 is on Wednesday and starts with the opening night of the new exhibition at Nexus - Last Orders. Doors open at 6 close at 8.

Then we move onto II at TV21 on Thomas Street in the city centre:

A night of electronica and creative visuals in TV21. Come along...it's a great night out and an opportunity to meet with Sanctus1 people.

More on the Cathedral and Sony...

Here is the BBC article.

I agree with the Cathedral's stance on this one. The computer images that are inside of the cathedral are without a doubt Manchester Cathedral, and i think that this is a good opportunity to promote debate on violence within computer games.

Running around the city centre randomly shooting people on a computer game is horific, because the cathedral is used doesn't make it any more horific but gives legitimate grounds to be critical of the myth of redemptive violence.

Cathedral treads the path of most Resistance

Manchester Cathedral has hit out at Sony after the church was used in the hugely successful Resistance Fall Of Man game for the Playstation 3.

In the game, there is a shoot-out between rivals inside the cathedral, with hundreds killed in the bloodiest way possible.

The Cathedral said: "For a global manufacturer to re-create one of our great cathedrals with photo-realistic quality and then encourage people to have guns battles in the building is beyond belief and highly irresponsible."

Sony said: ... ... ... *tumbleweed*

I'm not sure about "photo realistic" if the screenshot above is anything to go by. In the Battle Of Manchester Cathedral (I'm copyrighting that), gunmen open fire at you from the roof. Once you've despatched them, you have to shoot your way into the cathedral before collecting ammo. You have to blast your way to an alleyway, returning to the Cathedral to top up your life level if you need to.

Sony didn't ask permission and the church is threatening to sue.

But shouldn't the cathedral get 'with it', and isn't it sending the wrong message to non-believers by being so outraged? I'm sure they wouldn't object if BBC Cardiff asked to film Doctor Who there, and that's often about the annihilation of billions. They should put up a blue plaque in honour of the PS3 game.

Then again, isn't it about time we the church spoke out against a culture that allows big business to promote values of violence and, in the case of much of the rest of pop culture, misogyny, crass materialism and racial stereotyping. Guns are bad. Good on the cathedral on tapping into the new Banksy mentality of people wanting flowers not bombs.

What do you think? Let the debate begin.

Not so bright

Your account is now overdue. It appears that we haven't received payment for the outstanding amount on your bill and will now bar your phone. This is despite that fact that we promised not to do this, while we investigate a call apparently made from India, for which you were charged, even though you have never been to India in your life.

It seems that our investigation team is rather busy sorting out problems that several of our customers are having with another of our recently rolled out services.

To make a payment, please call 178 from your phone. After navigating out tortuous menu system and finally finding an option that will allow you to talk to an operator, you will be informed that calls from your phone have been barred, so you can't sort this problem out either.

Your custom is important to us. Or at least your money.

webby five word acceptance speeches...

Neat! Here's some I like...

News
BBC News - Webby: Alan, we're thinking of you.

Newspaper
The Guardian - Webby: Please free Alan Johnston now.

Science
HubbleSite - People's Voice: houston we have a winner

Artist of the Year
Beastie Boys: Can anyone fix my computer?

Lifetime Achievement
Meg Whitman: Bidding starts at 99 cents.

Lifetime Achievement
David Bowie: I only get five words? Sh*t, that was five. Four more there. That's three. Two.

Person of the Year
Chad Harley & Steve Chen: YouTubers, this is for you.

Social Networking
Facebook - People's Voice: im just here for bowie

Fashion
ZOOZOOM 'The Original Online Glossy' - Webby: not just a pretty face

Lifestyles
DIYNetwork.com - Webby: Now let's get hammered.

Religion and Spirituality
Religion & Ethics Newsweekly - Webby: to all our colleagues, thanks

Religion and Spirituality
What Is Enlightenment? - Webby: get enlightened, or die trying

Youth
Nick.com - Webby: have sex, make more kids

technorati tag: webby awards