James Henley

Will no one stand up to this man?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7345874.stm

"Mr Chamisa said since the poll some 200 MDC elections agents and activists had been beaten up by ruling party activists attempting to intimidate them before any run-off.

About 1,000 people have reportedly been displaced by political violence at Manicaland province in eastern Zimbabwe."

What will it take for Robert Mugabe to realise he has nothing to even cling onto anymore? He destroyed his country a while ago...

Life Update

Haven't blogged in a long time, so felt it was time to get back into the habit.

Had a nice, long break at home for a couple of weeks over Easter so took a bit of a break from blogging. Arrived back in Newport ready to go again last weekend.

We had our first Lab gathering yesterday night - starting our new series for the Summer called "Pictures", which is a series of seven pictures of God and His people across the bible. We kicked off last night with Abraham, thinking about stepping out of the old and familiar to journey towrds something new.

Will probably post some reflections in the next couple of days, as well as the powerpoint from my "talk".

Also Justin brought together some really cool liturgy to take us through the evening, and I came up with a little something for a kind of confession afterwards. Although, we had a few absentees (bit of a select group), think it was a good start to the Summer for us... Bring on the sun and BBQs and cool stuff...

Some quick things I got up to over Easter and in the last week I've been back...

My little sister had a birthday - and a sleepover with some very loud, crazy girlies.

Had a birthday - yes, I'm 20... I now actually feel old... :-(

Went to the W. Midlands Safari Park to see all the pwetty animals (the giraffes blew my mind - they're so tall). More photos in my Flickr.

Got to update my little group of prayer warriors at a care home in Caerleon - been there a couple of times before to speak to them - they're an awesome group.

The Passion

Been out of touch with TV for a while - don't really watch it nowadays, except for a few series (mainly Skins) which I keep up to date with using 4od and iPlayer - but found The Passion randomly on the BBC iPlayer today and was pretty impressed.

It's a four episode retelling of the holy week narrative put together by the BBC and HBO - and from all the stuff they've built around it on the website and the first episode I just watched - I think it's probably some of the most relevant, provocative Christian programming the BBC have done in a very long time.

Sure, it's fairly inaccurate for those bible purists out there (think some Christian groups have spoken out against it), and there's a hint of pooey existentialism in there (Jesus says a couple of times "the kingdom of God is in your hearts", and that kind of thing). And yes, they all have silly English/Welsh/Irish accents - and Jesus is white...

But...

Jesus is presented as provocative and political, but loving and humble. He challenges, he's mysterious, and there's this general vibe that no one really know what he's really up to. It's about time the world allowed Jesus to grow up past the cute, cuddly best friend and into the revolutionary man we often miss. And I think that The Passion has discovered a little of that - I love it ;-).

Here's a link to the first episode (screened last night on BBC1) on the BBC iPlayer. Episode 2 is tonight at half 8 on BBC1, and then 3 and 4 follow on Good Friday and Easter Day.

Be interested to know what you think about it.

Sigur Ros | Heima

The whole of Sigur Ros' new DVD, "Heima" (Icelandic for "at home" or "homeland") has been made available on YouTube for free.

It's more of an experience than a live DVD, totally inspiring and totally incredible - loads of incredible Icelandic scenery. Makes me really want to go there - seems such a mystical, spiritual place.

Here's the link again: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=lr4s7KeCbV8.

Vantage Point

Just got back from seeing Vantage Point (and trailer here) - and it was incredible. Probably in the top two of the films I've seen so far this year.

It's a film which shows the same events from five different viewpoints, with each "vantage point" revealing different aspects of the plot and missing others. Reminds me how often we need the viewpoints of others in order to see the whole picture, and why reaching shared decisions is so important.

Found it so hard this week in reaching a decision when my access to the viewpoints of others has been restricted. Think this may be a good thing rather than a bad thing.

Also, Vantage Point has the best car chase I've seen in a while - very cool, very gritty and very real.