Make a Difference
I loved Maurice Sendak’s book Where the Wild Things Are
The movie version is due out in October 2009. This preview looks great, and if the director and producers have been able to resist the Hollywood temptation to tamper too much with the story, especially either by making the wild things ‘cute’ or by making Max (the hero) into some sort of spoilt adolescent with problems at home, it should be a magical movie.
Kathy and Amanda and I just finished watching Mel Gibson’s film The Passion of the Christ.
I remember Mel being asked who he thought was responsible for the death of Jesus. He answered: ‘All of us.’
Mel Gibson did not appear in the film, except for a brief moment when his hand held the nails as they were driven into Jesus’ hands.
It is my hands that hold the nails too. My hands that strike with the hammer, my hands that craft the crown of thorns. Every time I decide to speak unkindly or untruthfully, every time I act selfishly, I spit in Jesus’ face, and shout with the crowd ‘Crucify him!’ Every time I choose my own comfort or pleasure over what is right, I swing the whip that scourged Him.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord? I know I was.
In Anglican usage, the ‘Collect’ is a prayer that collects together the themes of the liturgy and readings for the day into a single short prayer.
Good Friday is unique in having not one but three collects, each of which expresses a different aspect of the celebration of that day.
It is a celebration, even though Good Friday worship is moving, solemn and even sombre.
Jesus, the Son of God, suffered all the pains of human existence – betrayal, false accusations, desertion, loneliness, poverty, humiliation, extreme physical pain, and death. It is a celebration because Christians know, even as they contemplate these things, that Jesus has won a great and ultimately final victory over them, over sin, the devil, death.
We know this victory means that while our sufferings are real, horrible, grievous, we can have hope. Even though we may scared, tempted, confused, abandoned or in pain, we can say with Julian of Norwich ‘All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.’ So in this darkest moment, the central moment of all creation, the moment of Jesus’ passion and death, and in any dark moment, we can still rejoice and say “Thanks be to God!”
ALMIGHTY God, we beseech thee graciously to behold this thy family, for which our Lord Jesus Christ was contented to be betrayed and given up into the hands of wicked men, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost ever, one God, world without end. Amen.
Just look at us God – we who love you and are called by the name of your Son. Bless what is good. Heal what is not. Remember how much Jesus loved us – that He gave His life for us. For He who suffered as we do, and had reason to despair as we do, now lives and reigns with you in heaven forever.
ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church is governed and sanctified; Receive our supplications and prayers, which we offer before thee for all estates of men in thy holy Church, that every member of the same, in his vocation and ministry, may truly and godly serve thee; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
God, no matter how things seem, you are in charge, and your world and your Church are holy. You make us holy, you give us our purpose and direction. Hear us as we pray for everyone in your family. Let all of them, whoever and wherever they are, serve you faithfully, courageously, and according to your will.
Why pray this prayer today? Because Good Friday reminds us of the cost of our salvation, and of the deepest nature of all Christian service – the self-sacrificial giving of our lives for others in imitation of Christ.
O MERCIFUL God, who hast made all men, and hatest nothing that thou hast made, nor desirest the death of a sinner, but rather that he should be converted and live; Have mercy upon all Jews, Turks, infidels, and heretics; and take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of thy Word; and so fetch them home, blessed Lord, to thy flock, that they may be saved among the remnant of the true Israelites, and be made one fold under one shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.
Not surprisingly, this is no longer permitted to be used in some parts of the Anglican communion. More’s the pity.
Muslims know Christians do not believe the same things as them. Why should it be offensive to say so? Jews know we do not believe the same things as them. Why should it be offensive to say so?
It would be far more offensive if, thinking that I knew the truth, the path to salvation, I kept it to myself, and did not pray and work so that others could come to know that truth and find life in it.
I am sure that, thinking they know the truth, members of other religions pray that I and other infidels (from their point of view) will have the scales taken from our eyes and come to be part of their family. I would be disappointed if they did not.
So believing that Jesus is the truth, and the way to finding peace and purpose in this life, and to finding everlasting life, I will pray constantly that other people of all sorts of races and beliefs are freed from their ignorance and hardness of heart, so that they may be fetched home and be made part of the one fold under one shepherd.
One of the extraordinary things about this prayer is that it was written when the armies of Islam had ravaged the Middle East and North Africa – the heartland of Christianity – were still occupying Spain, and were at the gates of Venice. Yet this is not a prayer for retribution, or even for protection, but simply that their hearts would be turned so we might all be one family.
First, despite the ceaseless bleating about ice melting and shelves collapsing and sea levels rising, Antarctic sea ice has been growing at a rate of about 5% per decade for the last thirty years, and set a new maximum last year. There is so much extra ice above historic averages that you could fit New South Wales and Victoria on it. Of course this means those ever so cutesy Emperor Penguins are having a harder time because they have longer to walk from the nesting grounds to the water. Someone, somewhere, will claim this is our fault and demand we do something about it.
Second, an interesting graph of sea level changes matched against sunspot activity, showing that solar cycles drive changes in Earth’s temperature. As would surely be obvious to any normal person.
This comment sums up very cleverly the way alarmists think:
Amazing. The obvious interpretation is that the rate of sea level rise is driving the strength of the Solar Cycle. And as we all know that man made emissions of CO2 are driving an acceleration of rises in sea level, it follows (of necessity)… That therefore as man made emissions of CO2 increase, the sea level rise will accelerate, and the Solar cycle will strengthen over this century. Such logic is irrefutable – I know this because I thought it. I’m astounded that people have not realised before now that man made emissions of CO2 directly impact on the Sun.
While Queen Elizabeth gets a nod. This is all over the internet, I know. Perhaps because it seems to say something important.
I wasn’t going to comment, but this YouTube video makes it clear just how different Barack Obama’s behaviour to each of the two monarchs was.
Behaviour sends a message. You can’t act with such obsequiousness to someone like Abdullah and with so little apparent respect for Queen Elizabeth, and not expect people to notice and to comment and ask questions about the difference.
Maybe Obama in all honesty thought that a nod was what was expected in England, while a deep bow was expected in Saudi Arabia. But in that case, why not just say so? Instead the White House is denying Obama bowed at all, saying it was just that he is taller than King Abdullah, and bent down to be at his level. There are only two problems with this. First, it isn’t true – Obama did bow to Abdullah. And second, Queen Elizabeth is shorter than Abdullah, so if difference in height was the issue, she should have got an even deeper bow.
If you think you’ve done the right thing, you don’t need to lie about it.
Kevin Rudd admitted today that the Federal Government had no business plan to confirm the new broadband plan’s viability or cost effectiveness compared with other options.
Malcolm Turnbull said: “This is the most reckless statement about a financial matter I’ve seen from an Australian government. This makes the Whitlam era look modest and unassuming.”
What the heck does Rudd’s government they think they are doing? I don’t spend $50 in business unless I think spending $50 will earn me more back. That’s just common sense. The more I plan to spend the more care I take in thinking about options and the cost effectiveness and efficiency of each.
Malcolm Turnbull is right to complain about this – it’s a turkey with a captital T. And apart from that it is the job of the opposition to probe, question, and oppose. He’s doing his job. Why aren’t the state libs? Why would they agree with Labor on such a pointless and expensive proposal?
Because they are spineless nitwits. I don’t know why, but the state Libs either have no idea at all of Liberal values, or no idea how to explain and sell them. And because they have lost their moorings, they’ve got nothing to offer except picking up popular causes. So they seem not to stand for anything, and no one votes for them.
A bit like the Anglican Church really.
Having made millions from ransoms in recent years, Somali pirate gangs are using increasingly sophisticated boats and radar equipments to spot, chase and capture other vessels. On average a ship is attacked every day. About one attack in seven in successful. That’s a ship seized every week. Payment of ransoms has changed a few ratbags in fishing boats to highly trained and well equipped mega-ratbags.
Good luck to this US crew who recaptured their vessel. Their captain is still being held, and US and other warships are on their way to try make sure he is returned safely.
Money paid in ransoms to Abu Sayyaf in the Southern Phillipines has helped them build up arms. Even more importantly it has helped them build support. They are able to give food, medicines, etc to villagers and make themselves look like the good guys. They are not the good guys.
The two remaining Red Cross hostages are still being held. The Red Cross has refused to consider a $5 million ransom demand – a terribly hard choice, but the right choice – and the military is refusing to pull back further, saying to do so will enable the kidnappers to escape or to obtain reinforcements or supplies.
It’s a dangerous time for the hostages, and a sad and worrying time for their friends and families. If no ransoms had ever been paid to Abu Sayyaf, it might also never have happened.
The top 100 films (listed by genre) – a Guinness list. I have seen all of them except a couple of the silent films. Plenty of room for debate in this list. I might have put John Carpenter’s The Thing in horror instead of The Shining. Although I like Kubrick, that film always seemed to me to lack substance somehow. Return of the King deserves a place in fantasy too.
The top ten famous movie quotes – another Guinness list. I didn’t get 5, 7 or 10.
Ten mysteries recently solved by science (not necessarily mysteries in science).
That’s about $45 million in cash and $700 million in real estate. She didn’t notice the money was going until there wasn’t any left.
This is the estate left by Curt Cobain to Courtney Love and their daughter Frances Bean Cobain.
I am baffled for two reasons. First, how do you just ‘lose’ $700 million without even noticing? Didn’t she have accountants? What were they doing? What was she doing?
And secondly, Curt Cobain and Nirvana were only around for about five years. They produced some great songs, and Curt Cobain was a capable and intelligent singer and songwriter. But an estate worth $700 million? That is just mind boggling. I think I want to be a pop star.
And yet, the things the Europeans said ‘no’ to were things I would have said ‘yes’ to.
Namely, a stronger response to North Korea’s missile launch (which was meant to be threatening, demonstrated an ability to strike as far Alaska and Australia, and has been backed up by more threats), and more troops (in fact a surge) in Afghanistan, with the hope that that will lead to a stronger and more stable government.
This comment comes from the Telegraph article linked to above: Fortunately for the President, the Republican opposition is more loyal than was the Democratic opposition to Bush. John McCain has backed Obama’s Afghanistan policy, and conservative commentators, although more than a little annoyed by the President’s rubbishing of his own country in order to pander to European and Muslim audiences, are supporting him. Democrats in Congress are sullen but not (yet) mutinous.
I think the anonymous ‘conservative colleague’ is probably right about increasing problems for EU economies, and decreasing EU influence on global matters, over the next few years.
I only heard of this today. Australian parents and caregivers can get back up to 50% of the cost of eligible education expenses for primary and secondary schooling. The link is worth following if you live in Australia and have children at school.
Eligible expenses includes computers and related equipment, computer repairs, internet costs, etc.
It might do my business some good, so I’m not going to complain.
But that money given back to some means more money taken from others. Or reduced government spending elsewhere.
OK, so that’s not likely. You’re right. It’s going to come out of your pocket.
I have just uploaded a brief introductory essay called Profits of Doom – An Introduction to Global Warming. Left click the link to open the PDF file in a new tab, or right click to save. There are quite a few graphs and photos. The file is about 1MB.
This was written just over a year ago as notes to accompany a PowerPoint presentation . There are few minor things I would change now. But I think it is still a good introduction.
Interesting to hear Peter Garrett say that he ‘knows’ changes in the Wilkins Ice Shelf are caused by global warming. Of course the world has been getting cooler for the last ten years, and during these Autumn months it is getting much cooler in the Antarctic. Like, actually, you know, cold. Below zero and stuff. But hey, don’t let the facts stop you. They certainly don’t get in the way of the EU.
It’s 65 years since the landing at Omaha Beach in Normandy. Over 9,000 Americans are buried at the American cemetary there, including the eldest son of President Theodore Roosevelt.
President Sarkozy invited President Obama to visit while he is in Europe for the NATO summit. French and US officials walked through the cemetary to plan how Obama and Sarkozy could travel the same route.
But according to White House officials, it was never going to happen anyway.
“It wasn’t going to happen,” said an American official in Washington. “We went through the motions to placate President Sarkozy but giving special treatment to France was not on our agenda.”
I don’t know who should be more insulted – US veterans or the French. Or maybe the Germans – because it is surely insulting to think they would have been insulted by a US president visiting a US war cemetary.
What’s next? Not visiting Auschwitz because he doesn’t want to upset Iran?
Faster, brighter, lighter, more colour depth, more power efficient, vastly better contrast ratio. And you can get one now (or in early May if you live in Australia)
What’s not to like? Well, apart from the fact that the price on release is about twenty-five percent higher than comparably sized LCD or plasma TVs. But that will change. And the difference in quality is amazing.
Oh dear.
A 19 year old woman drives her car out of a hotel car park into the path of a police vehicle. She is breast feeding her baby son, who is unrestrained. She is so drunk she cannot breathe properly into the breath testing device. In addition, she is already disqualified from driving, and the car she is driving is unregistered.
Police Superintendent Jamie Chalker said: “I find it increasingly frustrating that people show so little responsibility for their actions, but this is without a doubt one of the most stupid and reckless actions I’ve come across. People must take responsibility for their loved ones when they are clearly unable to make rational decisions for their own safety, the safety of others and the risk they pose to the general public.”
I agree. She’s an idiot. And in some ways symbolic of the whole ‘You can’t make me, I can do what I like’ attitude (which is perhaps why this story has got such wide publicity). But surely she wasn’t the only one who was irresponsible that night. Did she not have any friends? Was she drinking alone? And if she was so drunk she couldn’t give a breath sample, why were hotel staff still giving her drinks?
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