What’s in a Word
The unique message of Christianity is that God has moved into the neighbourhood in the frail and vulnerable tent of humanity; exposed to the elements, at the mercy of the environment of human nature.
Fiction
Ecotastrophe, Eucatastrophe, & the Virtue of J.R.R. Tolkien
Prior to COP 28 the head of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgiva, called for an end to an attitude of “business as usual” if the world wanted to manage global warming. Beyond ecotastrophe can a more inspiring vision motivate us? What about the concept of eucatastrophe created by Tolkien?
The God of Small Things
Next month the UN Climate Change Conference will convene from 30th November to 12th December in Dubai. It will comprise the 28th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 28). Continuing targets comprise of emissions reduction targets that align with reaching zero emissions by the middle of this century. And protecting communities and habitats vulnerable to the effects of climate change, mobilise finance to this end, and encourage new patterns of international co-operative working. These two very different, but related subjects, come to mind as I read the words in Mark’s Gospel in Chapter 12.
The Parable of Edward Bear
During last summer I got around to some of those getting ‘A Round Tuit’ jobs – that at other normal times maybe we never quite get around to – do you know what I mean? Well for me it consisted in clearing out the loft and the garage. And what a clear out it was! No wonder I hadn’t quite got around to it before. And it was then that I found Edward in an old suitcase.
Brief Encounter(s)
I want to talk about brief encounters. Not ‘Brief Encounter’ the 1945 classic British film scripted by Noel Coward and starring Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson. But the brief encounters we experience and that Jesus experienced in the gospels. Brief and potentially life changing.
St George and the Dragon Age: Hic Sunt Dracones
Beyond the legend, St. George had to face a question. Was he the centre of his own universe or was their something more worth defending? A dragon that needed defeating?
Bladerunner Replicated
‘Bladerunner’ presents a dystopian nightmare of a not too distant future whose complex themes question our human identity. But is there light at the end of the tunnel?
