Yawn...
Today was exam number 1. Contemporary Political Theory. Here are the questions I answered:
1. If Rawls's 'Original Position' is purely hypothetical, can it adequately justify his two principles of justice?
2. Should obligations of care supplant obligations of justice? Discuss with reference to Gilligan and Tronto.
3. Evaluate Rorty's claim that the ironist can be a committed liberal.
I was pretty happy with those.

Last night I finished revising at about 9.20 and ran myself a bath, with candles and Jack Johnson playing in the background. May sound sad, but it's the best way I've found to chill out, although Johnson has only been added to the mix since Zoë got back from New Zealand. Before him it was trip hop like Zero 7 or Massive attack that got me chilling.

Generally I just sit there and say to God: "ok, now I've done all I can do, I'm trusting you for the rest..." Which really isn't all that true because He got me through the bit I'm claiming credit for too!

Today I've had a pretty productive day, despite being mildly distracted by the torrential rain and even thunder and lightning that has been going on, not to mention the buzz of parents preparing to go on holiday.

I've managed to cover Dishonest Assistance, Knowing Receipt and Quistclose Trusts in just a matter of hours. The exam on Thursday is Contemporary Political Theory, so tonight I'll be dabbling in Rawls, Nozick and Parekh.

This is my first blog via email.  I'm glad blogger have finally added this new feature for regular, non paying users.  This really does seem to go against the general web principle of getting people using products and then gradually taking features away unless paid for... 

Today I've been thinking a bit about this. I've found myself affected by circumstances a little more than usual and I think it's because during exam times my emotional energy levels drop. The problem is it gets hard to justify taking time to recharge when the clock is ticking...

Todd Hunter on his new role as President of Alpha USA...

"Alpha is communal – they eat dinner together and share normal social time together. It was also relational; you are encouraged to be real and even assert things that are counter to Christianity, and the Alpha “insiders” are trained to listen and ask more questions. I observed a huge trust in the work of the Spirit. All of these are the selfsame values I would often discuss with emerging church leaders...[read more]"

(thanks to Eric Keck and Off the Map)

A few words from godspeed you! black emperor...

"a community isn't just the people you meet at mcdonald's to have coffee with" [read more]

from their website

I'm not sure I'll be blogging all that much over the next few weeks. It's time to get my head down and focus on preparing for my exams, which start on the 12th May and finish on the 5th June.

Kill Bill Marathon
Last night Jon, Jennie, Zoë and I did the Kill Bill Marathon. We watched Part I at our place on DVD and then went into town to see the second installment. It's definitely one long film, rather than two short ones, I think they only sliced it in two to make it more commercially viable.

Anyhow the second part was not a disappointment. There's more of Tarantino's trademark film making: great attention to detail and challenging established norms.

In this instance I love the way he adds everyday dialogue to a genre which is normally free of such things. My favourite example is when Budd is making a cocktail and his mixer is buzzing, making lots of noise, while Elle Driver carries on talking. You miss what she says first of all, but then Budd asks her to repeat, just as you would in every day speech.

That's about as much as I should say without giving too much away, but go see.

Last night we began with a Lectio Divina on Psalm 90, listening to God's voice and allowing time for silence, to sit and 'be' in the midst of a busy week.

We then shared what opportunities God has allowed us to share His Kingdom with those around us. Week 2 of Power Evangelism and the stories have already begun. One in particular of a girl who allowed her friend to pray with her regarding some pain in her life and who has since reported a real sense of peace!

Throughout the night there was an overall sense of greatfulness that God allows us, imperfect people, to join in His mission.

click here to watch the new Beastie Boys video 'Ch-Check it out'

Separated at Birth?


Could it be that Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl and flouncy BBC interior designer Lawrence Llewellyn Bowen were separated at birth?

Helen has recently started a blog.

For those of you who are interested, here are my exam dates:

13th May - Contemporary Political Theory
18th May - British Government and Politics
19th May - Trusts
5th June - Comparative Law of Religion

Each starts at 9am and is 3 hours long. Prayer would be much appreciated. Once these are finished, my degree is complete!

Last night our housegroup started studying Power Evangelism. Learning about the Kingdom of God is such an exciting experience. I love the way that everyone gets talking, has questions and stories and ideas etc. The most successful analogy I've found so far for describing the now and the not yet of the Kingdom has been the fruit teabag (you know the ones with those little strings attached).

As you dip the teabag into the boiling water in the mug the tea begins to diffuse. If you take the teabag out after just a few moments, the tea won't have reached its full flavour but it will have a slight taste. The world, with the kingdom of God here but not fully here, is like this - it's lightly, but not fully, flavoured.

Some people were saying: "the teabag is like Jesus, he came and has left the kingdom in part, but has temporarily gone and will return to bring his flavour in full." I'm not sure the analogy really stretches that far, but it's as good as any I've heard before. I guess it probably wouldn't do the mystery of the kingdom justice if there was a comprehensive analogy that explained exactly what it is like!

Things are very busy with uni work at the moment - revision etc. Yesterday I wrote an essay on Freedom of Religion (Art 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights) and the Child, in the UK. It's a very interesting subject and possibly the first time I've gone substantially over the word limit in an essay.

Christian Hedonism is the new black. Go check out Andrew's post on the subject, dated 21st April and let me know what you think!

I've been looking forward to today for about a week now, having found it hard coming to terms with the fact that times of intensive revision don't give you much opportunity to get in contact with people and do kingdom stuff.

Recently a guy who has been a heroin user for some time has started showing up at our gatherings. He's found himself unable to get out of the drug culture and therefore break the habit. While he was in prison he had some experience of God and was asking if we knew of any way out. We told him about a local drugs rehab centre, run by followers and with a very high success rate, and made contact with them on his behalf. They invited him for an interview, which was supposed to take place this afternoon.

To cut a long story short, when we went to pick him up to take him for the interview he wasn't there and didn't show. Even though I knew there was some chance of this, I had had a good feeling about it and really thought he would show. This last week I had thanked God that even though I've been in "isolation," he's brought me into contact with people to serve, which is why I think it has felt like a blow.

This morning my little cousin Lucy was on Saturday morning television interviewing NME darlings Busted. Their success can surely only be attributed to the buying power of British children.

There are now some photos on my fotolog.

I think it must be because I'm approaching a time of transition, coming to the end of uni and moving to Bristol in September, that I've been reminiscing a little more than usual. Today I was reminded that one of my most natural experiences of community happened in this very street.

When we moved in, maybe 6 years ago, I met Dan and Ben who had both lived in this street for a fair few years. They were both at Whitchurch High, just up the road, and we were all about 15 years old. Dan lived next door and there were three houses between mine and Ben's place. We would hang out a lot, go to parties and generally just share our life experiences.

They've both moved away now and we rarely see each other. I think last time I saw Ben was in Clwb Ifor Bach, sometime last year, and I occasionally see Dan when he visits his parents.

I was reading a book on feminism yesterday and was somehow reminded of an experience that I had one night many years ago...

We were sat in a room in Nick's house, door locked and hearts beating. We didn't know whether to laugh or sit in fear.

It was the first week of A-levels and the excitement of this new era and a free house had given us both reason and means by which to celebrate. The last few hours had gone well, loud music and rawkus youths aren't a problem when a house is detached, on an expansive piece of land and neighbours are friendly.

The music had flowed from Mix Master Mike to Pantera, the beer from Michelob to Guiness. A few of us were chilling out in Nick's room when we noticed that some of the partygoers were outside having a smoke. These guys were a few years older than us and not even acquaintances - they even had beards! An idea sprang into my head: "Nick has a sink, and we could throw water at them from this window."

Chris and I took it in turns to fill the glass that sat rather conveniently to the side of the sink before throwing its contents on those sat on the patio below. This went on for a while until we heard raised voices. We scrambled downstairs only to be cross-examined by the now slightly damp smokers. They were a little 'worse for wear,' a few hours of drinking under their belts coupled with their ('magic') cigarettes. We claimed it was Claudia, Nick's younger sister, towards whom we assumed they would show mercy.

The discussions went on and I remembered that Nick had an outhouse that could be locked. These guys were beginning, even through their drunken stupor, to work out that we were not quite as innocent as we had claimed and we decided to make a run for it. The door was locked behind us and we were safe.