Myth, metaphor, symbol and uncertainty.

A couple of weeks ago, I was preparing some stuff and got hooked by the ideas of Joseph Campbell. He was heavily into myth and strongly influenced by Freud and in turn Jung. Here's a bit from that great authority Wikipedia

"A fundamental belief of Campbell's was that all spirituality is a search for the same basic, unknown force from which everything came, within which everything currently exists, and into which everything will return. This elemental force is ultimately “unknowable” because it exists before words and knowledge. Although this basic driving force cannot be expressed in words, spiritual rituals and stories refer to the force through the use of "metaphors"—these metaphors being the various stories, deities, and objects of spirituality we see in the world. For example, the Genesis myth in the Bible ought not be taken as a literal description of actual events, but rather its poetic, metaphorical meaning should be examined for clues concerning the fundamental truths of the world and our existence."

 This is heavy stuff if you start your mind running on the possible outcomes. I was blown away by the concept that words have no meaning until you read and understand them. Reading is an interpretative act. Okay, it's within a framework, but not everyone shares the same hermeneutic.

When you ally that to Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle which says you can either know the position or the speed of something but not both at the same time - and it's difficult to be certain about even that, the whole thing becomes an invitation to provisionality and ushers in the great post-modern bogeyman of relativity.

No wonder fundamentalism is becoming popular!

I need to lie down and listen to Pink Floyd at high volume!!!

Because you're worth it

I have just returned from co-leading a residential weekend for the curates in our Diocese - the Anglican diocese of Winchester. Curates are recently ordained ministers who are still in the initial phase of their training and formation which lasts for four years after ordination.

We took the L'Oreal tag-line as our theme for the weekend and set it beside Psalm 8 which contains these words:

³

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
   the moon and the stars that you have established;
⁴what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
   mortals^* that you care for them?

⁵Yet you have made them a little lower than God,^*
   and crowned them with glory and honour.
⁶You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
   you have put all things under their feet,

We spent the weekend exploring the question "what is the worth of a human being" resisting the temptation to carry out a chemical analysis or explore the Greek notion of a soul weighing 21 grams! It was an enjoyable weekend and the 42 participants all made a really useful contribution. We set out a framework and invited folk to participate by bringing their own experience and questions to provide the material. It worked very well. Each session borrowed a tag-line from the world of advertising.

We began on Friday evening:

Session #1 Fanatical about film (Borrowed from Odeon cinemas) in which we watched Crimes and Misdemeanors together.

Saturday

Session #2 Prepare to want one (Borrowed from Hyundai) In which we shared reflections on the film related to our theme and then explored some recent newspaper headlines and tried to get inside the story from our own perspective through considering how the headline appeared, or not, to value the people the story was about.

Session #3  Challenge everything (Borrowed from EA Games) in which folk were split into small groups to work through a passage of the Bible together and some quotations to continue our reflection on the central theme.

Session #4 Life is random (Borrowed from ipod nano) in which we invited folk into 'open-space' conversations about any subject they were prepared to host that touched on our theme.

Session #5 Wassssssssup? (Borrowed from Budweiser) explored how notions of the individual and their worth are portrayed through advertising. Plenty to reflect there.

Sunday

Session #6 It's good to talk (Borrowed from BT) in which folk were invited to reflect on their priestly vocation in the light of the ministries of hospitality and reconciliation God calls us towards. Participants were then invited to dream what their ultimate church community might be like if there were no resource constraints. Then into groups to discuss the outcomes.

Pentecost Eucharist in which we celebrated the coming and empowering of The Comforter - God's Holy Spirit.

All in all an excellent weekend. thanks to everyone involved.

'yearn' - further reflection

I had the chance of discussing with a colleague training for ordination, my take on Saturday's grace and the inclusion of the f word in the Eucharistic liturgy. It was an insightful conversation in which he observed that the word 'sin' has so much baggage attached to it that induces guilt which therefore invites divine judgement and retribution. All pretty negative really. F**k on the other hand is a descriptive term for getting things wrong and as a consequence putting distance between ourselves and God and others.

I much prefer the intentionality of the latter as it more quickly opens up a way to seek healing, wholeness, forgiveness and restoration. All pretty positive really.

I will keep reflecting.

Grace - 'yearn'

Based on the story of The Prodigal Son from Luke and using poems and songs by the Irish poet Pádraig Ó Tuama we explored themes of yearning for home and identifying with different characters in the story. It began by asking what/where do we consider home to be? Today I saw the answer:

Which pretty much accorded with my response - it's a relationship not a place.

The service included rapping, chanting, rituals, visuals and prayers - all good stuff. It also included communion with a very profound and theologically rich Eucharistic prayer. The prayer included the expletive f**k, in terms of describing how we get things wrong repeatedly, the use of which was at first jarring in that context. I have been reflecting on this and wondered if it was a case of the Church taking communion to the world or whether it was bringing the world - my world - to the brokenness of communion.

In any case a good time of fellowship and worship.

Thank you Sue, Dean and Jonny.

What would you have done?

I Watched The Reader again last night - wonderful. Intense, believable, evocative - certainly doesn't leave you sitting on the fence, but are you happy with the feelings it evokes? The story is both simple and yet so multi-layered it is at the same time extremely complex.

If you are ever looking for an example of teacher who faciltitates learning, check out Bruno Ganz who brilliantly plays a Professor of Law.

The whole film pivots on the question posed by Hannah to the Judge "What would you have done?". I didn't think of this, but it is helpful to view the film as a metaphor of the German people and how as a nation they dealt with (deal with) the Holocaust. Of course it is easy 65 years on to make such statements. However, I was born in the 1950's in the Rhineland as my father was stationed there as part of the BAOR, so I do have a direct link to the story - and the flashback to Neustadt we are told was set in 1958 - the year I was born.

If you've not already done so - do watch The Reader soon.

I'll give this 8.5/10

Law Abiding Citizen

Well here is an exciting film! Not for the faint-hearted or those with a blood-phobia. I found it a perfect action movie into which I could escape. This is not the real world. Many critics however, slate the film and it hasn't done too well in the box office here. As one reviewer on Rotten Tomatoes puts it "Unnecessarily violent and unflinchingly absurd, Law Abiding Citizen is plagued by subpar acting and a story that defies reason."

The story is quite simple. Gerard Butler and his family experience a violent and random attack in their home where they are left for dead. Butler's character survives and he is understandably keen to see justice done to his attackers. The DA does a deal: one of the crooks testifies against the other and condemns him to execution. in return he gets a light gaol sentence.

Butler's character sees this as no justice at all and spends 10 years planning his atatck on the city's justice community. The way in which he carries out his threats is at times unbelievable, but when we learn what he actually did for the US Government, everything fits into place.

The film raises important questions about the American justice system and in particular the plea bargaining culture which undermines public confidence in the Judiciary.

I'll rate this film 6.5/10.

Film recommendation: Heaven

I often attend conferences exploring the links between movies and Christian theology. On one of these conferences recently, someone showed an excerpt from this film and recommended it.

I must say that it is a stunning film - with many surprising twists and turns. The acting is very good and if you don't mind sub-titles, then this really is a good watch. This film explores themes of revenge, justice, guilt, compassion and perhaps offers a different definition of heaven. I'll leave you to judge that for yourself.

It is the first in a trilogy (including Hell and Purgatory) penned and conceptualised by Krystof Kieslowski - he also has the notable Trois Couleurs trilogy and the Dekalog series to his name.

Would highly rate this - I'll give it 7.5/10.

The magic and the mystery of the Red Balloon!

I was leading a training day with a group of curates yesterday exploring links between film and theology. It was a good day and the folk engaged well with the subject. In one of the sessions we were looking at the use of metaphor and seeing how films deployed this device. In the session we watched The Red Balloon - a celebrated film from 1956. It's the only short film (34 minutes) to have won an oscar. The film has very little dialogue as the visual images tell the story.

The film is set against the monochromatic dullness of post-war Paris. An eight year old boy finds a bright red balloon tethered to a lamp-post on his way to school one morning and he unties it. It is as though the balloon becomes his best friend and they go everywhere together. This causes difficulties at school and at home but both are eventually overcome. It is clear that the balloon befriends the boy and is very playful in the way in which they interact.

The balloon becomes an object of envy for the other boys in his neighbourhood and eventually they capture it. They attack the balloon with stones and catapults and eventaully it springs a leak and falls limp and shrivelled to the ground where one of the boys stamps on what's left and it pops.

The balloons 'owner' is understandably downcast. Shots from all over Paris then show balloons escaping from thier confinement and travelling for a rendez-vous with the boy. He gathers the strings from all of these balloons and they carry him up and away with the city spread out below him. End of film.

At the end of the film, reactions ranged from tears to complete boredom - although most did appreciate the opportunity to see it asnd for some it enabled them to reconnect to a former life! We discussed the metaphors that the story could be representing with lots of good ideas being offered. When I said that some have seen this a s a 'Christ movie' (the balloon could be seen as Jesus) there was widespread support for this view and the discussion went to some interesting places.

I would recommend this film. You can simply watch it and enjoy the story or you can begin digging deeper. I'll give it 7/10.

Ordained to the forgotten corners

This morning I had the privilege of participating in the ordination of a colleague as deacon. It was a great occasion and both the Bishop and her parish did her proud. The parish worship in the local Sports Centre as their church building is too small. It was therefore a little surreal for a group of clergy - male and female - to be gathered in the men's changing room to witness the swearing of oaths as pictured above.

The ordination liturgy is a rich text that echoes centuries of faithful and committed service to God. The full text can be found here. It contains, as part of the description of the role of deacon this phrase: 

"They are to work with their fellow members in searching out the poor and weak, the sick and lonely and those who are oppressed and powerless, reaching into the forgotten corners of the world, that the love of God may be made visible."

I think this phrase paints a wonderful picture and is a potent reminder of what Christian ministry is all about.

The worship was excellently led by a choir, a youth orchestra and a worship band and we sang a wide variety of songs. One of the songs got me thinking and I'm not sure that I can accept what I sang without raising a question or two. The lines that tripped me up were:

No guilt in life, no fear in death
this is the power of Christ in me.
From life's first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.

I'm sure the first sentence is something we would all regard as aspirational - but if we are honest, how many folk feel absolutely no guilt and have no fear at all about the transition from this world to the next? It seems to me that feeling guilty and having honest questions about death and existence beyond this life are part of the human condition. Indeed, experiencing these things lead us to ask good questions and questions are the bedrock of growth as disciples of Christ. Wrestling with doubt and uncertainty is a good route to growth. Boldly stating truisms not only undermines integrity, but it also inhibits an open and questioning culture thereby limiting growth potential. (I am not suggesting the host parish is like this!)

The second sentence reads like something Jean Calvin himself would not have probably subscribed to - and that's before the disciples Arminius waded into the debate!

However, this is a little aside and in no way detracts from an ordination that is to be celebrated. Although I'm not sure this banner is quite what Pope Benedict had in mind when he issued his  latest invitation to Anglicans to defect to Rome!