Trouble for Trumpets

I have moved...

2008-12-05T18:22:00.001+10:30

...to http://arthurandtamie.wordpress.com

Why read the Old Testament?

2008-07-27T17:17:00.004+09:30

This got chopped out of an upcoming sermon for SAS.

The Old Testament (OT) seems strange and dense to us. It seems so much the thing of another time and place: the writings of an ancient Palestinian culture about their dealings with a powerful, mysterious God (is he even the same as Jesus' loving Father?). Why should we read the OT as Christians today? How could it be relevant to us? I’m sure there are many good reasons but there is one reason that alone should compel us. We should read the OT because it points us to Jesus.

Let’s have a brief look at a couple of places where the New Testament (NT) refers to the OT. The NT had not been collected when its various authors were alive, so whenever we see the word scripture in the NT, it’s typically referring to the OT itself.

Luke 24:44-47
Jesus has just appeared to his disciples after he’s come back from the dead. They’ve realised, astonished, that it is truly him, and Jesus spends some time showing them that his shocking reappearance was actually to be expected:

44 [Jesus] said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” 45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem”.

At first glance, that sounds like a very strange summary of the OT! Here’s how our Lord Jesus retells the entire OT in one sentence: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Sorry, what? That strikes me as unusual! The disciples seem to have been somewhat confounded themselves. I guess I need to keep reading to see if I can get the Jesus'-eye view on it!

2 Timothy 3:14-17
Paul writes to Timothy,

14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy ou have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

By the time of Paul's writing, the apostles may have begun referring to each other’s writings as Scripture, part of God’s revelation. Even so, Paul is still referring predominantly to the OT, so verse 15 contains a remarkable statement: the holy Scriptures -- that is, the OT -- are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Now, did you ever find yourself thinking that? I need wisdom for salvation so I’m going to… search the OT. I need faith in Christ Jesus so I’m going to… look in the OT. Isn't that odd? Paul is saying that the OT contains wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus! On top of that, the OT is God-breathed so it’s useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. It sounds like the complete package. I gather that if we didn't need the teaching and interpretation of the apostles, we wouldn't even need the NT!

Jesus and his apostles say that the OT is hugely important for us. And they say that it’s important because it points to Jesus. If you want to be learning about Jesus, you need to be reading your OT! Let me put it to you strongly: The NT does not make sense apart from the OT. Jesus does not make sense apart from the OT. Our Christian faith does not make sense apart from the OT. The OT is not an option if you want to go a bit deeper. If you’re a Christian believer, the OT is vital to your life as part of God’s people. We need to read the OT in our personal devotions, study it in our small groups, teach it on Sunday nights. As Jesus said (Matthew 4:4), ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’. (Did you know he was quoting the OT?) Every word that comes from the mouth of God is vital for us: it’s essential for us to have life. If we miss out on the OT, we’re missing out on some of God’s words. Let’s get all we can out of God’s words.

Christian Hauntology #1: Punk Rock

2008-05-22T20:58:00.002+09:30

More on hauntology later.

Here's the first edition of hauntological Christian covers -- this one is à la first- or second-wave punk rock.

Be mesmerised by the theological correctness, shake your fist in a subversive victory dance, and crow your way into the mic.

Jesus Christ the King and Saviour
Sally Trethewey

Humble birth in Herod's reign
Jew and Deity
God was with them once for all
Shared humanity
John the Baptist knew His sign
Prophesied the Way
Turn to God, His Kingdom's near
Repent, believe, obey

CHORUS:
Jesus Christ the King and Saviour
Blessed Lord, Emmanuel
Living Word, God's Son, Messiah
The victor over Satan's realm

Jesus taught His Father's will
Truth with certainty
Showing from the Word of God
His authority
Challenging His enemies
Who refused to hear
He fulfilled all prophecies
His Majesty was clear

CHORUS

On the cross where Jesus reigned
In His Father's plan
Israel's Suff'ring Servant died
Our Passover Lamb
Many saw the Son of Man
Coming in the clouds
To the presence of His God
In glorious risen power

CHORUS

No-one knows when He'll return
For the Judgement Day
But He tells us, Wait in faith
Hope and watch and pray
This command from Jesus' lips:
Speak to all mankind
Make disciples in My Name
I'm with you for all time

CHORUS:
Jesus Christ the King and Saviour
Blessed Lord, Emmanuel
Living Word, God's Son, Messiah
The victor over Satan's realm
Jesus Christ the King and Saviour
Blessed Lord, Emmanuel
Living Word, God's Son, Messiah
The victor over Satan's realm
The victor over Satan's realm
The vic-tor over Sa-tan's reallllm

Depicting Jesus

2008-05-14T12:32:00.012+09:30

How should we depict Jesus? Is there one particular way in which we should portray Jesus? What would make a wrong depiction of Jesus, if anything? To get you thinking, here's a useful page from Rejesus.

As in previous posts, I began a series of designs for ES using the image of a Jesus puppet. Here's the latest:
There have been a range of responses to the puppet:

Different / distinctive
Fun / engaging
Cute, perhaps childish
Tacky / cheesy
Disrespectful / mocking of Jesus

I went on a hunt for some other depictions of Jesus as alternatives.

Firstly, I went back to the early iconic representations of Jesus as Pantocrator (ruler of all) such as the following image:

Here's one draft I produced using a Pantocrator:
Then I toyed briefly with using a heavily incarnational image, using a photo of an "ordinary" person, such as Bono. I drafted this design featuring a young Joe Strummer (The Clash) just because he looks cool:
I also glanced at the manga Jesus, of the Manga Bible.

If the Jesus puppet is an inappropriate depiction of Jesus, what is appropriate? The iconic representations of Jesus are almost invariably stern and forbidding. The incarnational images tend to be too ordinary: they are not recognisably Jesus. The manga Jesus exudes adolescent image-consciousness and wannabe edginess. The vast majority of other modern images of Jesus are either cringe-inducing or kitschy.

I'm reminded here of Piss Christ by Andres Serrano (1987). It's a photograph of a crucifix suspended in the artist's own urine. Some Christians are outraged that someone would have the gall to depict Christ in such a denigrating way. I agree that, just as the artist literally pisses on Christ in this work, its message is about the utter denigration of Christ. Is this perhaps simply reflective of society's derision of Jesus, or religion, or tradition? The denigration of Christ is actually what makes Piss Christ so powerful for me, so evocative of what Christ has done for me as a Christian. I despised God, yet Jesus is the one who was willingly crushed for my sins (Philippians 2:5-11, Isaiah 53:5). It was for my sins that, following his Father's will, Jesus went to the cross. In a very real way, I have pissed on Christ. In my rebellion I have rejected the living God who made me. Yet, gloriously, Christ willingly bore my sins in death and did away with them forever, bringing me life. For me, that's the message that Piss Christ presents in such a visceral, gut-wrenching way. Here's someone else's reflections on this.
Why do I bring up Piss Christ? When Jesus is depicted in deliberately irreverent ways, perhaps others are just doing some more Piss Christ. It occurs to me that Jesus survived being pissed on at the cross. I think he will survive such trite dribbles too. I think he will probably also survive his grotesque life in kitsch, despite his eager Christian consumers. It is Christians themselves who propagate some of the most bizarre depictions of Jesus (which I find alternatively creepy, amusing or embarrassing).

If Jesus is bigger than art, does that mean we don't need to worry about how Christians depict Jesus? Artistic depictions of Jesus are always enculturated. Jesus himself was born a Jew in Palestine. In a similar way, we now have black Jesus and manga Jesus and so on: Jesus is perennially re-figured to speak to new groups of people. While it is easy to point out bad depictions of Jesus, it is simply impossible to find a universally ideal depiction of Jesus. (Luckily the original is at God's right hand, waiting to get back.) Because different people view art differently, one Christian's Sacred-Heart Jesus is another Christian's nightmare. In this melting pot we now also have pomo Jesus: images of Jesus that highlight the shortcomings of other Jesus-depictions. In this sense, a friend suggested I use a life-size cut-out Jesus, as seen in Mark Sayers' The Trouble with Paris. This 2D, portable Jesus is an ironic challenge: it's ridiculous to try making Jesus who we want him to be.
I assume that an appropriate, biblically faithful depiction of Jesus must be an image that will communicate to rather than alienate most of its viewers in a particular time and place. I think this is where the puppet fits in nicely for the purposes of the ES design. Like the cut-out, the puppet has a built-in ambiguity or question. It is simply a puppet depicting a somewhat stereotypical Jesus. It leads us to wonder who the real Jesus might be. The puppet's pose is one of speaking and welcoming: will we then respond and "meet Jesus at uni"? The actual Jesus puppet is sold online for communicating the gospel to children. Perhaps this nicely captures the sense in which each of us should prepare to meet Jesus (Lk 10:21, 18:15-17). Rather than being irreverent, I think the puppet shows a Jesus who can be questioned and challenged, and who will make himself known in response. Ironically, I think the puppet suggests a robust Jesus.

Todd Bentley's Florida Revival

2008-05-11T19:04:00.006+09:30

[UPDATE 6 Sep 08]

Things got burnt out for the Lakeland Revival and Todd Bentley. Read through Lee Grady's various responses.

[Original post, edited 21 May 08]

In the interests of "testing everything and holding on to the good" (1 The 5:21), I've written the following critique of the current Florida church gatherings, being called the Florida Outpouring or the Winds of Change Revival, run by Todd Bentley. I intend this as a weighing up rather than a criticism. In this post I'll consider the content of the gatherings, the way the gatherings are conducted and Todd Bentley's own role. I've left the signs-and-wonders aspect to the post below. I've tried to reflect purely on the gatherings as we see them online and I've tried not to speculate on Todd Bentley's own faith and motives. I think the most clear and gracious commentary on the Florida Revival is coming from those closest to it in the church: I highly recommend this article by the editor of Charisma Magazine and this article by two Australian ministers.

Although I refer to the gatherings in general, I've used the series of 4 videos beginning here as a sounding board. The following is my transcript of the first 15 minutes.

[The gathering has finished singing; Todd has taken the stage and begins] ...Because we're gonna worship until that glory comes down! It's here! Oh, it's all about Jesus! It's all about Jesus! [Backing space rock swells] It's all about Jesus! It's all about Jesus! It's all about Jesus! [Todd walks with his arms raised] Lord, may they feel in the overflow, every television, you're watching us on the webcast, you're outside in the parking lot, [Todd motions with his hand] glory, glory, glory. [Todd pauses, then shakes his head] Oh, there's something very angelic about tonight, and there's a realm of holy visitation. Because you can't have the glory without some things being opened in your spirit. Clear, clear, clear revelation. We've come for your glory, Lord. You can be seated. You know, these meetings, these revival meetings, they've been growing. Almost 2000 people here tonight on a Monday. We need you to pray with us for a venue as this begins to grow. People are coming from around the world. Think about Friday. And I said, I said to Bob, if we're in another building, is it gonna stop? He said, the ark is gonna move. He said, this is bigger than a building and it's bigger than a place. I said, because it's so precious. We welcome you, if this is your first night, those of you, just wave, hallelujah, just send some glory to the people, there's two overflows. But you know, when you're in revival, it doesn't matter. And outside, come on, I see -- may the power fall on you in the parking lot first! UH! May the greatest miracles... The fire marshals have come and we can no longer have people in the aisles, but God is in control. It's his outpouring. [Todd starts shaking, someone is cackling] Oh! And I do wanna drink the gloryyyyyyyyyyy! [Todd's head is shaking up and down] Oh! Ahohahohahohahohahohahoh! [Space rock swells] Do you know that Todd Bentley and the natural can never put together such favour? [Todd is shaking] And I told God, I said, God, whatever this is gonna cost me, it's worth it. Any price to live in this glory. And it's just gonna get stronger, and stronger... I tell ya, there are about 10 pastors that called and you said, should get on an airplane and come from England, we heard there's no seats. If you're a full-time leader, or you come internationally, there will be room for you. Don't stop. UH! God will fix the problem. Did you know that God knows what he's doing? [Todd starts doing squats] UH! UH! UH! UH! [Todd wipes his brow] The Lord told me there's gonna be a special anointing tonight. We're gonna lay hands on every person outside, in both overflows and in the sanctuary. We're gonna have an anointing service, because the Lord spoke to me about families. And he was gonna visit. I saw the angel today, who's gonna visit the children. I saw the angel, that only two times have I seen, that is going to visit the children. The great -- I tell you what, there's a glory movement into the room, just go ahead and OH! get under that! OH! [Todd shakes his head] OH! Lord, let it move across the whole place. A drunken glory. [Singing] Heavy heavy, wady wady wady glory, smoky glory, shekinah glory, and all the colours in the glory. I just wanna be in the cloud. Say, Lord, I just wanna be in the cloud. Under the cloud. Moses got to be under the cloud, I wanna be under the cloud! [Todd is shaking] Thick, thick, overwhelming, honey glory. I pray that it gets on every one of you tonight. [Todd starts laughing] WOAH! [Todd is kneeling and cackling] [Persistent note from the space rock guitar] [Todd crawls towards the stand] This is the first night this has happened to me! A little bit of that glory's coming on me! [Todd leans on the stand] And we have an international TV audience tonight... And I got that vibrating again! Lord, let everybody vibraaaaaaaaaaaaaah! I'm having my own glory party up here. How many first time visitors in the room? Stand up, stand up, first time, first time, look around! On a Monday night! First time! Wow! God bless you! My God! OH! Come get some! You know, the Lord told me that this anointing would be the most contagious anointing in my ministry. BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! The Lord Jesus told me, as great as the anointing's been, that this would be the year of the double portion? And that this would be the most contagious anointing, transferable, tangible anointing... And the Lord spoke to me in the beginning of this outpouring, that every service, and I have not been tired in 21 meetings, that every meeting, I was to pray for the leaders coming in from around the world, pastors, missionaries, evang- that were hungry for a fresh touch on their life. And he told me that this anointing, this same glory, would follow them everywhere they went, listen, I'm telling you, it's breaking out already! My church in Canada, my leaders, came down, we have 3 campuses, all the leadership came down, they said, Todd, the glory is falling in Canada, the same anointing we felt in Florida, is happening right now. ...

From here, Todd goes on to call up people to receive the anointing ("Bam! Shekah-boom-bah!").

SOME OBSERVATIONS

Todd rarely refers to either the Holy Spirit or Jesus, or their work.
Todd mostly refers to "the glory" (or "the anointing", "the fire", or "the impartation"), which he speaks of as a force. It is something that participants can "get", a cloud that participants can be enveloped in, an anointing that is "contagious" and "transferable", that follows people and "breaks out". In other meetings we see "glory bursts" being sent out to those watching on TV and online.
Todd stresses that God is in control and that God knows what he is doing but, at the same time, there is a sense of abandonment to the "drunken" glory, as exemplified by Todd's own wife later on.
Todd says that the Lord and at least one angel will (personally) visit during the evening.

CRITIQUE

CONTENT
God is present in and amongst his people today through his Spirit, not his glory. For example, it is only by the Spirit that people enter the kingdom (Jn 3:5), worship God (Jn 4:24) and have life (Jn 6:63; Rom 8). The Spirit himself is personal, not a force: it is in the Spirit that Christ himself dwells in us (Eph 3:16-18, 1 Cor 2:14-15). It is worth noting that because God is today perpetually present amongst his people, God does not specially visit Christians during church gatherings. That said, and while I don't subscribe to a second baptism, I do believe that the Spirit can specially fill or overflow in us at certain times in order to empower us for a particular Christ-honouring role or purpose in God's work (as we see occurring in the book of Acts, for example). I think this is something that Christians should be seeking after.

What about God's work? God has already made known the mystery of his will in Christ (Jn 15:15; Rom 16:25-27; Eph 1:9-10 3:4-5). We live in the time of God's amnesty (1 Pet 3:9) awaiting Jesus' return in glory. There is no additional revelation or knowledge that could be useful to us -- God has revealed everything we could possibly need to know on this side of heaven. In line with this, the Spirit's work is not primarily for "anointing" but rather to continue revealing Christ (Jn 15:26, Acts 1:8). God's work in the world continues not through the transmission of divine force but primarily through the proclamation and acceptance of Christ (Rom 10:8-15), resulting in lives of service. God has already poured out his Spirit so that his people can know him and live for him -- we have already received the gift of God living with us! Although Christians await even greater experiences when Jesus returns (1 Cor 13:8-12; Rev 21), we have no need to grasp after new impartations and anointings and visitations because God has already imparted his Spirit and the mystery of his will to his people. Rather, we need to keep in step with the Spirit by whom we first gained life (Gal 5:25). The evidence of the Spirit's presence and work is a changed life seen in the Spirit's fruit (Gal 5 etc).

In summary, then, God is at work by his Spirit to empower his people, sometimes in special, momentary ways, but this power is focused on revealing Christ.

CONDUCT
Todd Bentley designs the meetings to be events where people can surrender their self-control, perhaps through laughing hysterically or shaking as he himself does. This conflicts with a number of emphases throughout the New Testament: self-control (Gal 5:16-26; 1 The 5:6; Tit 1-2; 1 Pet 1:13 4:7 5:8), orderly gatherings (1 Cor 14) and discernment (Rom 12:2; Php 1:9-11; Col 2:1-5; 1 The 5:21; 1 Jn 4:1). For examples, Paul is clear that being "drunk" on the Holy Spirit, whereby we gain the self-control to serve God and others, is in stark contrast to being drunk on alcohol, whereby we lose control of ourselves. In 1 Corinthians 12-14, Paul is at pains to ensure that the gatherings of the Corinthian church are not chaotic and disorderly so that (a) the church can be edified and built up and (b) outsiders are not alienated.

TODD BENTLEY
The Florida gatherings are very much centred around Todd. His speech, peppered with the recounting of, "I said to God" and, "The Lord told me that", marks him out as the channel through which God is at work in the gatherings. Todd does not merely see or pray for the glory but acts as if he himself is directing it. In the scenes above, it is Todd who directs the glory to the parking lot and Todd who ushers the "glory movement" into the room. Later on, Todd says he is "getting the atmosphere ready" and people just need to be "hungry" to receive it. In a more recent gathering (5 May), Todd connects the progress of the glory even more explicitly with himself: wherever he goes, the glory will follow. This contradicts the idea of the priesthood of all believers (1 Peter 2). The worldwide body of Christian believers is made up of many parts, all of whom play an equal role in supporting and building the church (1 Cor 12). No special prophets or apostles or channels of God exist today. As above, God is present in all his people through his Spirit, the Spirit of Christ; all Christians have equal and direct access to God because he himself dwells with them. Christians do not need other figureheads to connect to God.

I find the following aspects of the Florida gatherings, then, to be problematic:

The silence and confusion about the person and work of the Spirit and Christ, particularly the ideas of "the glory" and "the impartation"
The frenzied antics
Todd acting as a special channel of God

Todd has named the current Florida gathering a revival from the beginning. It would appear that at least in part, this gathering has been growing because it's been called a revival rather than the other way around. An authentic revival will involve "renewing the church, extending the faith to outsiders and reforming communities, as lives are changed by the Gospel ... the normal work of God, but happening with unusual intensity" (Colin Reed, 2007, Walking in the Light: reflections on the East African revival and its link to Australia, Acorn, 11). I have only considered a snapshot of the Florida gatherings themselves and it may be that widespread, genuine life-change and growth in Christ-likeness is accompanying them. However, in the context of these gatherings, I find it difficult to see exactly how Christian disciples are growing in holiness and understanding, and how people are repenting in response to the saving power of the cross. I find it unlikely that what's on view here is a revival.

Trance states and the Florida revival

2008-05-11T18:56:00.002+09:30

Todd Bentley and those connected with Fresh Fire Ministries particularly emphasise the supernatural realm and supernatural experiences. Many assume that the amazing atmosphere and experiences of the Florida gatherings must be from beyond the natural realm, from God. I do not believe that the occurrences we witness in the videos are simply faked or imagined. I believe that God does do mind-blowing things in our world today and I expect that God is at work somewhere amongst the Florida gatherings, however heretical and confused they may be. However, I see the powerful experiences of the Florida gatherings predominantly as something else. Here are my considerations based on my understanding of human consciousness, which I studied throughout my psychology coursework.

Human consciousness is complex. Humans do not simply switch between sleep and wakefulness but move through various levels of consciousness throughout any given day. This can be observed as changes in the brain's chemoelectrical activity (brain waves). Sleep itself is not simply unconsciousness but comprises a cycle of four rather distinct states of subconscious functioning.

Trance states are modes of consciousness in which subconscious levels of brain function become more dominant and the conscious level of awareness is subdued. Trance states are in fact a naturally occurring part of everyday human experience. Sleepwalking and other experiences adjacent to sleep are examples of mundane trance phenomena. Similarly, you may have experienced being "on autopilot" when driving your car -- a mild trance. Our bodies apparently do not require our conscious mind to be fully and constantly engaged even when we are awake, and we periodically go into a kind of standby mode. Trance states of varying depth can also be manufactured. We can induce trance states in ourselves and others through stimuli across our entire sensory range. For example, we may enter trance states both in the charged atmosphere of a rock concert and amidst the softer tones of a symphony orchestra. Manufactured trance states have long been incorporated in religious systems from across the world. Breathing control, incense, music, meditation, dance, fasting, chanting and psychotropic drug use can all be involved in promoting trance states.

Trances, then, are essentially natural, bodily experiences. In some trance states (either mundane or manufactured), hallucinations are experienced or the mind becomes highly suggestible. Here are some examples:

Hypnagogic and hypnopompic states (in between sleep and wakefulness) may be experienced as supernatural events, including abduction and visitation experiences. I've had a number of mild experiences in this domain throughout my life. Similar states of consciousness may also be implicated in out-of-body experiences (OBEs).
People lulled into states of hypnotic "regression" may unwittingly fabricate past experiences (especially when the hypnotist asks leading questions), which they thereafter experience as actual memories.
The practice of speaking in tongues (glossolalia), which in fact occurs in a variety of religious traditions apart from Christianity, may sometimes arise from a trance state. In such cases, the words may be the product of the subconscious mind although the speaker will not be aware of generating anything of their own accord.

Typically, for someone in a trance state like these, their experience is not only otherworldly and fantastic but also very real and actual to them. Trances will thus often feel like they actually involve contact with the realm of the supernatural or divine, which is presumably why they are valued in all kinds of religious traditions. Yet there is nothing inherently supernatural about trances. A trance experience is not necessarily from God or anything else spiritual or transcendent or extra-natural.

As a general human phenomenon, trance states are neutral: not necessarily good or bad per se. Mundane trance states, such as sleepwalking, are simply the way we naturally function in certain states of consciousness. Some manufactured trance states, such as drug-induced hallucinations, may be potentially harmful. Other manufactured trance states can be highly beneficial when conducted ethically and knowledgeably, such as when psychologists use hypnotism for powerful therapeutic effect. God may at times work in people's lives through trance experiences, such as dreams. However, trances may also be a vehicle for demonic powers. The important point is this: apart from trained practitioners of hypnotism, people who manufacture trance states have no way of ensuring either that there will be any truly supernatural experience in the first place, or that the door will be closed to evil.

Back to Todd Bentley and the Florida gathering. The gathering's atmosphere is unquestionably powerful; even on YouTube, you can sense the energy in the gatherings. Furthermore, it is unlikely that many of the participants who are behaving in unusual ways are putting on some kind of act. The participants' behaviour clearly has a symbiotic connection with the atmosphere of the gathering. The question is, What is actually producing the atmosphere of the gathering? It seems to me that certain elements of the gathering are promoting a hypnotically-charged environment. I want to pick up on the aural dimension of this. At one level, the atmosphere is created and mediated by the flow of Todd's words and the music. Despite Todd's casual dress, his speaking is not down-to-earth. His speech oscillates between periods of slow, drawn-out delivery and moments of rapidly increased speed and heightened pitch. His words are not necessarily meaningful and are contributing to a constant ebb and flow of sound. The musicians make their own contributions in response. The people gathered are responding too, clapping, waving and so on. These aspects combine to produce an insistent, repetitive flow of rhythmic sound. These swells of sound are hypnotic: it is the kind of stimulation that can manufacture trance states in people.

In this hypnotic atmosphere, people who are emotionally fragile or hypnotically suggestible are likely to enter a trance state and experience unusual feelings and events. (It may frequently be these kinds of people who are drawn to such events in the first place.) For example, then, when Todd describes the "glory movement" entering the room (see the above post), many participants may actually be experiencing a wave of warmth or colour or light. However, it is unclear whether this wave of glory is from God. In this particular atmosphere, it is likely that such phenomena arise from trance states.

Does this invalidate the Florida gatherings or Todd Bentley's work as Christian ministry? Not necessarily. However, it brings into question the claims that everything happening at such events is from God or even from the supernatural realm. These experiences are not necessarily either from God or from Satan. Given what we currently know about trance states and hypnotic suggestibility, the onus is on the leaders of such events to demonstrate that something more, something godly, is in fact taking place. The fact that people are actually experiencing these phenomena is not itself evidence of the Spirit's work. Instead, the evidence of the Spirit's presence and work is a changed life: the Spirit's fruit (Gal 5 etc).

What are we to make of all this? Trance states have long been part of the practise of a range of religions. In the last two centuries, trance states have apparently also become a valued aspect of some Christian church gatherings. The present-day western church probably has a scant understanding of manufactured trance states, especially the role of insistent, repetitive music and rhythm in producing trances. We may often, unwittingly or by design, infer God and his presence when we have in fact been manufacturing a trance-inducing environment. However, as the writers of the New Testament are often at pains to point out, the Christian message must be both communicated and received in clarity of mind (eg 1 The 2) if it is to change lives and be the power of God for salvation (Romans 1:16). Self-control is part of the fruit of the Spirit and Christians should be keen to avoid anything in which their self-control is compromised. While many access the subconscious or subdue consciousness for religious experiences, this is something that Christians must steer clear of. Furthermore, Christian gatherings must be orderly in order for Christians to serve one another and grow the church (1 Cor 12-14). There is a burden here on Christian leaders to ensure that they do not become trance practitioners, unwittingly or otherwise. It is also here that, as I've tried to sketch out in the above post, a keen understanding of the person and work of God's Spirit is especially important.

Redesigning ES

2008-01-23T12:48:00.000+10:30

There are a handful of different AFES groups in SA but together these are now being renamed and rebranded to ES (Evangelical Students). I made some logo designs along with the illustrious Tommy Boy and a guy named James.

As always for me, the practicalities flow seamlessly out of the theory -- even if I write most of the theory afterwards! That's system-building.

The brief:

- A logo predominantly featuring the letters ES, preferably including a cross
- The six campus names to be integrated in/with the logo

Required formats:

- Colour print publications
- Black and White print publications (including photocopies)
- Spot colour stationery
- Posters
- Hand-painted banners
- Digital publication
- T-Shirts and other screen printed merchandise

I designed the logo with two functions in mind:

- Communicating ES's identity
- Distinctive visibility (brand recognition) in the campus context

Assuming the logo would be most meaningful for Christians, it therefore needed to be:

- Congruent with the group's outward purposes
- Something that ES students can proudly own as their own branding
- Intriguing to non-Christians

Central to these things, I aimed for design integrity in the uni student context, based on:

- "Slickness": A coherence of design avoiding the "dynamic" Church 2.0 logo on one hand and the "funky" or "grungy" youth group logo on the other.
- "Edginess": A design that is distinctively Christian whilst transforming the traditional style of Christian motifs.

In the design process I aimed to achieve these things through:

- Maximum simplicity and adaptability without being straight-laced
- A dominant cross motif in the style of a plus-sign rather than a traditional cross
- Strong typeface and motif

The looming distortion of the cross indicates:

- Dynamism: Whatever this groups stands for is vibrant and living.
- Identity: The letters ES are implied spaces so, in the logo, the cross quite literally defines ES. The letters are also somehow under the cross just as the crucified Christ dominates ES's identity.

The distortion also keeps the cross from looking like Red Cross.

Below are some other design concepts (from both before and after) hovering around the same ideas.

Jesus at uni

2008-01-18T21:52:00.000+10:30

Stay tuned for theoretical postulations about logos. For now, here's a set of faculty-themed business cards for ES.

Denominations

2007-12-12T15:07:00.000+10:30

I wrote this mainly as part of a discussion on the Adelaide Christian Scene Facebook group. We were asked,

While we could have a very protracted debate about sexuality and gender, what I'd like to hear about from you is what you believe is the right way for individuals to respond to these situations. Should we leave? Should we stay? Do we start a new denomination? Do we abandon denomination? How do we respond to and relate to people who hold a differing viewpoint?

I have a few thoughts. When I refer to "the church" I am referring to God's people everywhere across time and space.

Firstly, the church constantly needs building and reforming because God's work amongst his people is an ongoing work of transformation. The hearts of God's people are still being renewed and so continue to produce sin in the church (Matt 15:18). We should therefore not expect that any particular denomination will even be ideal. So whether we decide to stay in a divided denomination or to leave, we still need to be building and reforming each other.

Secondly, denominations are not either evil to be avoided or good to be pursued. What matters is people. It is in people that God resides. It is in people that sin is found. The church is defined by God's people, not institutions. If denominations do not define the church then what are they? I see denominations primarily as networks for ministry. God's truth resides in his people but denominations are networks in which God's people can support each other and reach out to others. Despite disunity, denominations typically have a global reach. For example, the Anglican church is connected to CMS, a world mission group. This is how denominations can be good things: they can help God's people be his witnesses to the ends of the Earth, taking the message of Jesus to all nations (Matt 28:18-20, Acts 1:8). If a denomination is clearly enabling people to do this, this a great reason to join a denomination.

"Case study"
A local church is in a divided denomination but has decided to remain. Despite theological questions about the denomination, this church still has the benefit of its denomination's extensive mission networks. I expect a primary issue for a church like this is how it can effectively pursue gospel-centred ministries in its own local area.

What are the problems with denominations? There has always been a variety of opinions and practices in the church. I doubt that Christians are concerned about this but rather division, that is, differences that seem so stark that they cause fragmentation. It seems to me that local churches will shrink for one of two reasons:

There is extreme opposition to the gospel and, in God’s sovereignty, the church is allowed to be suppressed.
The church ceases to preach Jesus as King and Saviour and either becomes boring and culturally alienated, or becomes so enmeshed in society that it loses its radical, proclamational voice.

The latter issue, on which the church finds itself dividing, is something many Christians today are concerned about: that their denomination may somehow have lost its Christian distinctiveness or perhaps even ceased to be recognisably Christian. I won’t say much about this now. However, rather than asking whether we should leave, I think two significant questions here are,

Where can we be speaking the message of Christ clearly to our society?
Where can we be encouraging and building up God’s people (1 Cor 14)?

Some Christians will feel that their denomination is no longer a place where this is occurring. They will move to a denomination where they feel that these things are being faithfully pursued. However, other Christians in that same denomination will feel that, despite division and decline, they can still help pursue these things.

There is something else here: to leave a denomination is to leave a local community. Regardless of the wider denomination, for some Christians the main question will be the impact of their decision on other Christians in their congregation.

I think there is a second, more insidious danger for denominations. Denominations can become cultural enclaves. Denominations tend to contain particular styles of Christian expression. For example, Anglicans may be very committed to having quiet, serious contemplative prayer while AOG congregations may be very committed to having loud, joyful music. The church is hugely diverse and this is a good thing. However, a danger within a denomination is that Christians may come to think that their own style of Christian expression is the "right one". This constrains the gospel to human culture, which hinders the spread of the gospel to others. For example, many of the Lutherans I know are very committed to being Lutheran. This can be problematic when a particular cultural brand of Christian expression is presented instead of, or alongside, Jesus. I am often frustrated with my own Anglican church circles for being so entrenched in eastern suburbian Adelaide culture. I often wonder how the gospel will ever be communicated when the Christians are so obviously wealthy and committed to particular cultural values.

Should we abandon denominations, or perhaps start new ones? I think the problem that arises in either case is similar to when we over-commit to denominations. If we start new denominations or become anti-denominational, the risk is that we end up with insular micro-churches that are disconnected from the global church. Again, this hinders the spread of the gospel.

"Case study"
A local church has left its parent denomination for theological reasons. However, it has strategic ministry opportunities in its local area. This church is readily able to pursue these ministries without input or assistance from its denomination. I expect a primary issue for a church like this is how it can stay connected to global networks of God’s people. I expect the answer would involve getting connected with international mission groups.

How do we treat others as we sort this through? We are to "speak the truth in love": this is the key to unity in the church (Eph 4). This is not something that some Christians are to do, some of the time. We must all speak the truth in love both to those who are "on the same page" as us and to those who think very differently to us. A question: What does this mean in practice?! :)

The Gingerbread House

2007-11-19T22:19:00.000+10:30

More design:
I'd love to be able to move on to actually selecting print media instead of faking effects.

Ticket to Charing Cross

2007-10-04T13:17:00.000+09:30

Here's the brochure for EU Leavers' Day. The typography was subconsciously inspired by The Designers Republic. The retro-tech tubular contraption is a drawing of Kennington station in the London underground. It's from some guy who has collected stacks of railway maps (helped by this guy). 8| These London railway schematics became an institution during the Second World War; with my discovery of them it dawns on me that they provided inspiration for Peter Cross's Deep Down.

Meet Jesus at uni

2007-09-22T14:44:00.000+09:30

Here's the finished brochure cover. Jesus is courtesy of Puppet Revelation.

If you could buy Jesus in a pharmacy, he would be...

2007-09-16T19:46:00.000+09:30

"Meet Jesus at uni" is the slogan for the brochure I'm working on, for the 2008 AFES Commencement Camps SA. I've been trawling the web for images of Jesus, trying to find something in between gritty and fun. Who wants a sop-bag?

WANTED
Jesus. Must be able to transmit God's life-giving message on campus. Wimps with nighties and flowing locks need not apply. Strictly no clean-cut Anglos.

There are all kinds of Jesuses out there. There's the rather overwhelmed Where's Christ and there's the bizarre menagerie of Jesus of the Week. Some others include:
Jesus Shaves
Jesus H Christ (who'd've thought?)

Jesus the tinned healer

Church site 6: Angli-speak

2007-08-26T13:37:00.000+09:30

Anglicanism has some unusual words. Some of them hark back to the land divisions and politics of feudal Europe.

Diocese: A suburb of a national church, e.g., the Diocese of Adelaide
Clergy: The bunch of people who are specially chosen (ordained) to work for the church
Laypeople: A layperson (plural: the laity) is anyone in the church who is not ordained
Parish: A parish is (1) a local church district and (2) the people involved in it
Rector: The main clergyman in a parish
Bishop: The clergyman overseeing a diocese
Synod: The council that makes decisions for a whole diocese
Vestry: A meeting to make decisions for a parish (named after a multi-purpose room in church buildings)

Church site 1: The church

2007-08-26T12:45:00.000+09:30

In an effort to keep some reading material appearing here while I'm sidetracked with the novelty of Facebook, I'm including a few things I wrote for an as-yet unlaunched church website...

What is the church?

Christians believe that ever since humans first rejected the God who made them, God has been working to establish a people for himself. This story is told throughout the books of the Bible. It started with the nation of Israel. Then, with the coming of Jesus the Christ, the people of God was redefined and participation was thrown open for all humanity. This is described in various ways: Jesus refers to it as the kingdom, Paul calls it the body of Christ, others talk about it as God's family.

That is what the church is: God's people. This means that "the church" is all the Christians on the planet, and "church" is any gathering of Christians. The church includes Christian believers from every region and culture, and it doesn't just happen on Sundays! It's a family, a global network of people. They are united by two things that define the church:

A common faith in Jesus Christ as their rescuer, king and friend
God's Spirit living in each of them, helping them to live their lives for God

Without its people, the church wouldn't exist. At the same time, Christians need the church. When someone becomes a Christian, they become a part of God's family. If a Christian believer plans to continue and grow in their faith, it is vital that they meet regularly with others in this family. The church is an essential source of encouragement for Christians. It is in community with other Christians that faith can be nurtured and flourish

Church site 2: Denominations

2007-08-26T12:44:00.000+09:30

What's with all the different denominations?

Throughout history there have been many differences in opinion between Christians, often violent. Christians believe that the church is broken and imperfect until Jesus returns to fully set up his kingdom, so it's not surprising that church history is often a very ugly business.

There are a range of differences between Christian denominations today: things like church leadership, baptism, and expression of worship. Some of these things also reflect cultural differences. Despite these differences between groups, all Christian believers are united by a common faith in Jesus Christ as their rescuer, king and friend. For Christians, it’s a great thing that God's Spirit isn't constrained by human boundaries!

The idea of denominations goes back to the Reformation. It implies that the church cannot be identified with one particular organisation (in contrast to sectarianism). The idea is that someone can have a genuine Christian faith without belonging to a certain institution. Groups that claim to be the one true church cannot be, because the church is defined by Christian believers (see above). Most Christians today believe that apart from a central core of beliefs, there are many things Christians can disagree on while still being united as God's people.

Many Christian young people today don't put much stake in denominational affiliation and denominational traditions. They see themselves as Christians in a community of Christians rather than, say, Anglicans or Baptists. Despite there being so many different Christian groups, however, God continues to work through each of them in his own way. Denominational structures enable a great deal of ministry to take place by providing networks of people and resources.

Church site 3: Anglicanism

2007-08-26T12:42:00.000+09:30

What is the Anglican Church?

'Anglican Church' simply means 'Church of England'. Christianity in Britain goes back to the beginning of the third century. Christians in Britain came from a variety of cultures and formally began working together at the Council of Whitby in 664. At the time, the British church was closely connected with the Church of Rome, which we know today as the Roman Catholic Church.

Now, fast foward more than nine centuries to the series of religious upheavals known as the Reformation, which helped make the Church of England what it is today. Beginning in the 1500s, the Reformation permanently reshaped the church and, along with it, western society. It led to a new branch of the church: Protestantism. Protestantism was a 'protest' against the Church of Rome. Protestantism disowned the Church of Rome's emphasis on the church as an institution. Instead, Protestantism stressed that:

A person is saved by faith in Christ alone, not by doing good things
Religious authority is found in the Bible, not the church
The true church is a community of believers, not an institution
Christian living is a response to the grace of God, not an effort to reach God.

The Church of England was officially created in 1534. This happened back in the day when churches could be run by monarchs. It involved some rather complicated politics about the marriages of Henry VIII, King of England. The Church of Rome ended up disowning Henry, so he established the Church of England as a separate body of Christians. At the time, this involved two things: some shuffling of church real estate and the circulation of an English translation of the Bible, developed by William Tyndale.

Initially, the theology of the Church of England was much like that of the Church of Rome. However, Christianity in England had been developing its own character for centuries, and theological changes began to appear. Thomas Cranmer helped mould the church into something more Protestant. His work led to the Thirty Nine Articles, released by Queen Elizabeth in 1563. Cranmer himself had been executed by the previous monarch, Mary, a Catholic. While the Thirty Nine Articles are essentially Protestant, the church retained many trappings of the Church of Rome. The growth of the Church of England continued under Elizabeth's reign, then grappling with groups like the Puritans, Congregationalists and Baptists -- all movements which helped to define present-day Protestantism.

Over the following centuries, the Church of England's influence extended across the globe. As the state-backed church of Great Britain, it arrived in Australia as the imperial institution of Christianity. As English imperialism was challenged over time, the Anglican Church has struggled to adjust. In 1962, the Anglican Church of Australia became a fully autonomous part of the global Anglican Communion. Today, Anglican churches are found all over the world and exist in all kinds of shapes and sizes.

Read another account of Anglican history

Church site 4: St Matt's history

2007-08-26T12:39:00.000+09:30

Snapshots from the past
Source: Giles, K. (ed.) (1988), St Matthew's Church: An Historical Record, 1848-1988 (Adelaide: St Matthew's)

Snapshot: 1930s-1950s
For years, the church has been struggling to respond to cultural upheavals around it. However, Australians belong to a culture where church attendance is still the norm.

Harold Giles (rector) works passionately for social justice, setting up an Industrial Christian Fellowship group during the Depression
Choir thrives; choir members are kept in line by Miss Wedd
1939: 120 young men affiliated with St Matt's fight in the Second World War, 18 are killed
1941: Education Act allows children in public schools to be taught by clergy for half an hour each week

Snapshot: 1950s-1960s
During this period, a large number of Australians continue to attend church as a weekly custom. The evangelical character of St Matt's is consolidated while Theo J Hayman is rector (1957-1966), and the church trebles in size. In one year, 96 adults and young people are confirmed. Theo Hayman runs five Sunday gatherings, including a 9.30am mini-service to engage with parents who drop their children off at the institution known as Sunday School.

1956: 263 children enrolled in Sunday School
1958: Weekly news sheet first used
1959: Billy Graham crusade at Wayville Showgrounds, with St Matt's being one of a few Anglican churches to show interest
1966: Church hall completed, including the first on-site kitchen
1963: Organ rebuilt

Snapshot: 1970s
Australian church attendance is now in decline. On Sundays at St Matt's, there are three morning services and an evening service. Monthly youth services and family services begin. Young adults form a Friday night gathering called Koinonia. Women's mid-week groups include Mothers' Union groups and Young Wives' Group. A few changes are made to church services but they largely retain their traditional format.

1972: To remove or not to remove? A fig tree in the courtyard becomes the topic of divisive debates that continue over seven years (tree removed 1981)
1974: The introduction of a great Australian church institution: the weekly post-service morning tea
1975: Women are first allowed to be involved in parish council but not permitted to vote
1976: Financial crisis is narrowly avoided; the Diocese allows non-ordained people to help with the Lord's Supper

Snapshot: 1980s
While still involved in Australian society, much of the Christian church has become culturally irrelevant. At St Matt's, Kevin Giles (rector) explains that he is a 'playing coach', not a 'holy man' or 'expert'. He encourages decision-making in which all participate and stresses the importance of small groups. Young people's groups include 'Action Club' (ages 10-12), 'Matt's Group' (ages 12-14), 'Theoz Group' (ages 14-17) and 'Cell Group' (young adults). The young women's 'Know your Bible' group spawns seven new groups.

1981: Parish council decides that youth ministry needs a youth worker
1982: Youth worker appointed; Summer children's outreach called 'Kids' Week' begins, running programs for over 100 children
1983: Youth worker leaves; 4 The Crescent bought
1984: Home groups begin; Appointment of new music director reflects shift away from the organ-and-choir format that has been common for generations
1986: The declining church of St Mary's Beulah Park combines with St Matt's
1988: St Mary's Beulah Park is discontinued 100 years after its opening; Korean Presbyterian Church purchases the building

Church site 5: We believe

2007-08-26T12:31:00.000+09:30

The following is from a page designed to sum up "what makes us tick".

The Christian message is about

God: the eternal, powerful creator who burns with holy love
Us: the people God made, who have each rejected God and cut ourselves off from him
God's plan for reconciliation with humanity: to rescue us through the man Jesus

How does it all work?

Explore further at Christianity.net.au
Explore the life and teaching of Jesus in a creative way at Rejesus.co.uk
Christianity relies on the collection of documents known as the Bible. You can access the whole thing at Biblegateway.com

IFES World Assembly

2007-07-21T17:23:00.000+09:30

Tamie and I continue to pray, think and plan for our future years. We want to work with IFES in running university ministry. We are passionate about young people, discipleship and church leadership and we see university ministry as extremely strategic:

At university, young people are solidifying their worldviews, making decisions about life direction and setting habits for their lives. It is a vital time to (1) encourage those who know God and challenge them to live their lives for God and (2) communicate Jesus' life-giving message to those who don't know God.
Universities are the intellectual hubs of the nations. It is from universities that God will bring many leaders and thinkers for his church. In many nations where the gospel is spreading rapidly, the church seriously lacks established followers of Jesus and trained leaders. University ministries provide vital support in these situations.

Recently AFES head staff travelled to the IFES world assembly. Following on from the incredible stories of Shining Like Stars, it has been exciting to read Howard Spencer's account of the world assembly!

Contact, pt 4: The search for meaning

2007-07-11T14:30:00.000+09:30

The X-Files told us that The Truth Is Out There. The search for meaning is one of humanity's defining features. As far back as we can trace, human societies have been essentially religious in this sense. Prehistoric burials and ancestor worship indicate our grappling with life and death from the earliest times.

The film Contact continues this exploration. In an otherworldly experience, the scientist Ellie Arroway is offered this answer:

You're an interesting species. An interesting mix. You're capable of such beautiful dreams, and such horrible nightmares. You feel so lost, so cut off, so alone, only you're not. See, in all our searching, the only thing we've found that makes the emptiness bearable is each other.

Even if Contact is smothering the god-question here, this is a fascinating scene. Contact's answer to the meaning of life is relationships. That is, life has meaning when we share it with others. It's a message that resonates widely because deep down, no one wants to be alone. What could be more empty than loneliness? From the film's perspective, although the mysteries of the Universe remain, a life shared is a life fulfilled.

This is a similar message to the one that Christians bear. According to Christians, the one who made the Universe wants us to share life with him. It is not enough to merely share with other created beings because we need to know our Creator. When we ignore this, life doesn't make much sense because the only meanings left are the ones that we construct for ourselves. These meanings are changeable and temporary and can't truly satisfy us, even if we never acknowledge this or even become aware of it. For Christians, meaning is found in living life with the one who created life: God made us, so it is with God that we belong.

Contact challenges us with a further question: how much do we actually seek the meaning of life? As Ellie prepares to be the guinea pig in an extraordinary experiment, Palmer Joss questions her motivations:

Palmer: By doing this, you're willing to give your life, you're willing to die for it. Why?

Ellie: For as long as I can remember, I've been searching for something, some reason why we're here. What are we doing here? Who are we? If this is a chance to find out even just a little part of that answer... I don't know, I think it's worth a human life. Don't you?

This is perhaps Contact's biggest question. Maybe meaning and purpose are out there, but how much do you want to know it? What would you give to find it? If it's so important, would you give up everything for the meaning of life?

In first-century Palestine, someone who talked a lot about the purpose of life was a man called Jesus. A one-time tradesman come travelling teacher, he spoke about something that he called the kingdom of heaven, or the kingdom of God. Jesus did not explain this kingdom exactly, but instead used parables to describe what it is like:

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

Jesus taught that this kingdom is something that we should give everything for. We shouldn't hold back; we should throw everything into hunting it down, even at the expense of everything we have and everyone we know. While this kingdom may have been cryptic for some, Jesus was frank with his twelve closest followers. He connected the purpose and meaning of life with himself:

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?

This is one of Jesus' most confronting claims. According to Jesus, the answer to life's meaning lies with one man: Jesus himself. As Jesus said elsewhere, "I am the way, the truth and the life". Jesus expects his followers to give up everything for him.

Ellie seeks meaning in the depths of space but, according to Jesus, the meaning of life is much nearer. Rather than having to discover it for ourselves, life's meaning has already been revealed to us. For those who follow Jesus, the truth is no longer Out There. Instead, God has beamed down the truth in Jesus, "the image of the invisible God".

Your type of type

2007-07-08T13:40:00.000+09:30

What makes you tick? How do you see reality? How do you interact with others?

The PERSONALITY TYPES of modern psychology go back to Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung. As with much of personality psychology, the types are not empirically grounded but they contain some instructive ideas. In other words, they are not based on exact measurements but that doesn't stop them from being helpful. The personality types can help us to think about the questions above, become more self-aware and work out career paths.

On the other hand, personality typology has found an unhelpful home in pop culture. Some people online put too much stock in type analysis and seem to think that it is the key to matching themselves up with Mr or Mrs Right. Pop psychology focuses on self-help, self-empowerment and success and many people believe they can perfect themselves and their world by applying the right psychological techniques. This deceptive way of thinking is a danger for Christians too: just look at the catalogue of Koorong!

Now to the fun stuff. Jung's types were used to develop the Myers-Briggs test that is in wide use today. I recently got myself a score and a type to boot: INTJ (Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Judging). Find some descriptions here and here. The "simple arrogance", the perfectionism, the drive for improvement and innovation and the "system building" all appear to describe me pretty well.

You can take a free sample test to get some idea of what your type might be. Once you've scored your test, use the links to find out the characteristics of your type.

Dreams and holidays

2007-07-07T12:32:00.000+09:30

On a more personal note, term two has finished, accompanied by typically odd lucid dreams.

Yesterday morning I dreamt I was a prayer-reader at Tony and Jasmyn's wedding. It was a hyper-traditional Anglican service being held in a colossal wooden church building. I hadn't practiced my prayer and was hoping it would be easy enough to ad lib. Geoff Lin lent me his own everyday English translation of the prayer in case I needed it but I thought I would be fine without it. However, the prayer I had to read was so incomprehensible that I had to stop after a couple of stilted sentences. I simply couldn't get my head around it, least of all the reference to God as a powernoid -- whatever that is. The service went on without me.

This morning I had a dream about what might have been the Vietnam war. My imagination conjured things far more barbarous and gory than any war story I've yet heard. It doesn't bear repeating.

It's good to have a break! After the feet-finding of term one, term two has gone smoothly though I've been weary since finishing Middle School reports back in week 7.

Comments are working again

2007-07-02T20:48:00.001+09:30

ICT: Imperative Christian Thinking

2007-06-29T22:45:00.000+09:30

I just noticed the Internet Ministry Conference, linked on Biblegateway. I haven't gone any further than the first page but I thought it was excellent to see God's people continuing to consider how to utilise ICT.

Earlier this year I was part of a small team putting together a new website for our church (as yet un-launched). The internet has become a powerful medium for communication. For churches, a website is the modern-day roadside church sign, notice board, pew sheet, and more. Like the printing press, the internet is a development in ICT. Generations ago, Christians harnessed the printing press to enhance the activities of God's people. By using the internet effectively, a church can become more effective in numerous ways — most importantly, in communicating the message of Christ.

A website should be effective on a number of levels. A church community should expect a website that engages people, both through graphic design and through written content. It should be something they are pleased to direct others to, knowing that it is an up-to-date, comprehensive point of contact with the church, and that it has an evangelistic element, effectively describing what makes the community tick. A website can even be a model for a church community in how to more effectively present Christ to others.

Through an effective website, a church can:

Give visitors another opportunity to hear the message of Christ
Enhance public profile and open new avenues of contact with the church
Distill its beliefs and character and present them in a creative and engaging way
Create a new centre of interaction for its community (through forums, blogs, etc.)
Develop a central location for its ministry resources (e.g., sermon downloads, music database, Bible studies and small group resources)
Provide its community with easy access to essential guiding documents (e.g., statements of belief, ministry policies, police checks)

Interested in what goes into a great church website?

Contact, pt 3: Which god?

2007-06-29T18:05:00.000+09:30

One of the main themes that Contact deals with is religion. Through the extremist preacher Joseph (right), the film shows that religion can be a very destructive force. Yet we also see a benign expression of religion that is knowledgeable and sophisticated.

Palmer Joss (Matthew McConaughey, below) is Contact's poster-boy for good religion. Palmer, a one-time theological student, is a commentator on the ethics of technology. Though from a Catholic background, he is not attached to a church. Palmer is articulate, charming and intelligent. He's the moderate amongst fundies and extremists. If God is out there, he has a pretty attractive ambassador in Palmer.

However, Contact's good religion comes out as a rather shapeless thing. The film develops Palmer's character far less than that of his counterpart, the scientist Ellie Arroway. This gives his religiosity some blurry edges. Given his first-date bedding of Ellie, it looks like Palmer's faith may not have much impact on his personal morality. Palmer also lacks a creed. From the little he talks about his own beliefs, all we can tell is that he believes in a god who is the great Other, a rather indefinite supreme being. If nothing else, it looks like Palmer's faith is something private and internal. In all, Contact's message about religion is that moderation is good, extremism is bad, sincerity is important, and creed is irrelevant. This good religion is placid and pleasant but, for all Palmer's learning, hardly robust.

Despite these apparently inauthentic portrayals, Contact asks the question, through Palmer, of whether there is a god. There is a question that goes along with this: Which god might it be? Yet, because Palmer's beliefs are so vague, Contact leaves this question out. This is a bit like asking whether the Big Day Out will make it to Adelaide, but ignoring the band lineup. The bands are all-important and if there are no good ones playing, it's a bit irrelevant whether BDO comes to Adelaide or not. In the same way, if there is a god who is knowable then the immediate questions are Who is God? How do we know God? and -- before we ask whether God might be there -- Is God even worth knowing? These questions are inseparable; we more or less need to ask them all at once. If we're going to ask if God is there, we must be prepared to think about who God is. If there's a god out there, how might this god have communicated with us? In which religion might we find the answer?

Contact, pt 2: A question of faith

2007-06-24T15:51:00.001+09:30

How can we know reality? As a SETI scientist, Ellie Arroway is in the business of quantifying and measuring things. For Ellie, something can be known if it can be measured. God -- whoever or whatever that is -- cannot be dealt with in these terms, so Ellie is unwilling to weigh in on the God question. This makes her an agnostic (God cannot be known). She refuses to either believe or disbelieve because she sees God as being outside her area of expertise. In practice, she's an atheist.

However, Palmer Joss challenges Ellie's assumptions about reality:

Ellie: So what's more likely? That an all-powerful, mysterious God created the Universe and decided not to give any proof of his existence? Or, that He simply doesn't exist at all, and that we created Him so that we wouldn't have to feel so small and alone?

Palmer: Did you love your father?

Ellie: What?

Palmer: Your dad. Did you love him?

Ellie: Yes, very much.

Palmer: Prove it.

In this scene, Ellie begins to learn that there are aspects of human experience which we know to be true but which cannot be quantified. Later in the film, Ellie is left believing that the only tangible evidence of her experience in the wormhole machine is simply that: her own experience of it. In Contact, we see that reality is more expansive than what we can measure. Science is limited because it measures only some aspects of reality -- if all aspects of reality are even capable of being measured. Reality and truth is not something we must always seek using science and certainly not something that must be proved definitively. In other words, the fact that we can't quantify something does not make it unreal.

As for things that are real but unquantifiable, Contact presents faith as an essential part of human living. We all have presuppositions or assumptions about reality, whether we are fundamentalist preachers or SETI scientists. Often our assumptions are unconscious and they may not even be consistent. Science may run on pure empiricism but our own lives cannot: there are assumptions that we make but which cannot always be tested. Even the most hard-nosed scientists like Ellie make assumptions about how reality is constructed and how we interact with it.

Throughout Contact, Ellie becomes more aware of her assumptions about reality and has some of them challenged. Our assumptions can be wrong, but does this matter? Having our assumptions challenged is significant because we make assumptions about very large questions. Like Ellie, we may assume that God cannot be known when it may actually be possible to know God. We may assume that knowing God is unimportant when knowing God may be the key question in human existence. Whether we get these kind of assumptions right or wrong could be crucial for our lives. What would it take for our own most basic ideas about life and reality to be challenged?

The dynamics of interbeing and monological imperatives in "Dick and Jane"

2007-06-23T20:19:00.000+09:30

This is one of my favourite Calvin and Hobbes cartoons (official page). Bill Watterson is criticising academic writing for its obscurantism (in plain English: the inability to communicate in plain English). The fact that fake, randomly generated academic writing is so realistic would seem to support this! Dick and Jane, by the way, is an American institution.

Where do you live?

2007-05-29T16:11:00.001+09:30

This popular cartoon is by Randall Munroe (you can now buy posters of it too). I especially like the submerged land of Usenet* and the tiny principality of Attractive MySpace Pages! Where do you live?

* Usenet was/is a huge and ancient kind of e-mail-based discussion system

Contact, pt 1: A big conversation

2007-05-28T11:17:00.000+09:30

Are we alone in the universe? This is the starting point for the film Contact (1997), starring Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey. Ellie Arroway (Foster) is a woman driven by her thirst for answers. As a SETI scientist she scans radio transmissions, seeking intelligent signals from across the galaxy. When an identifiable communication is suddenly discovered, the first stage of contact is established -- but this simply seems to raise further questions.

It is these questions that drive the film. Contact's strength is in the exciting conversation it formulates for viewers to engage in -- a conversation about life, the universe and everything. Who are we? What is 'out there'? The cast speak of the film's story as something grand yet simple and intimate. Although Contact covers science, politics, religion, technology and ethics, it is essentially a human story: it is about us. It also tackles some of the most sweeping questions about human life, meaning and reality -- not something many films attempt! Contact will annoy some: both Christians who are looking for a definitive presentation of theism, as well as those hoping for God to be disproved. Love it or hate it, Contact will have done well if it gets you thinking and talking. What's your take on it?

Survey Fun

2007-05-26T10:52:00.001+09:30

Below are my results for three fun surveys created by Steven Harris. Some of you will have seen this elsewhere. A batch of my own results are below. Let us know how you scored!

First, the Theological Worldview quiz:

You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan. You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavily by John Wesley and the Methodists.

Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan

93%

Reformed Evangelical

75%

Neo orthodox

57%

Emergent/Postmodern

54%

Roman Catholic

43%

Charismatic/Pentecostal

39%

Fundamentalist

29%

Modern Liberal

29%

Classical Liberal

25%

What's your theological worldview?
created with QuizFarm.com

Next, Are You A Heretic?

You scored as Chalcedon compliant. You are Chalcedon compliant. Congratulations, you're not a heretic. You believe that Jesus is truly God and truly man and like us in every respect, apart from sin. Officially approved in 451.

Chalcedon compliant

100%

Pelagianism

58%

Monophysitism

50%

Apollanarian

33%

Modalism

33%

Adoptionist

33%

Monarchianism

33%

Nestorianism

33%

Arianism

Docetism

Gnosticism

Albigensianism

Socinianism

Donatism

Are you a heretic?
created with QuizFarm.com

Finally, check which theologian you are.

You scored as John Calvin. Much of what is now called Calvinism had more to do with his followers than Calvin himself, and so you may or may not be committed to TULIP, though God's sovereignty is all important.

Anselm

93%

Jürgen Moltmann

93%

John Calvin

93%

Karl Barth

87%

Martin Luther

60%

Jonathan Edwards

53%

Friedrich Schleiermacher

40%

Charles Finney

33%

Paul Tillich

27%

Augustine

Which theologian are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

Voronezh Hit, 3.2 Million Dead

2007-05-25T13:52:00.000+09:30

Here's a new take on a not-so-new curiosity: global thermonuclear warfare on your PC. Defcon is the third highly fanciful and compelling game from Introversion Software. As a bunkered-down, push-button general, your goal is to lose the least. Millions of your countrymen are doomed but perhaps you can pulverise the opposition in the process. The glowing graphics evoke ancient CRT consoles. Together with a superbly eerie soundtrack, complete with irradiated coughing, Defcon is just the ticket for a nice long nuclear winter. The game is a Cold War spoof; the manual even has instructions for building fallout shelters. At the same time, there's a pseudo tinge of authentic Cold War angst.

In the event of a nearby nuclear strike of twenty (20) megatonnes or more, expect variable hours of operation in your local stores and businesses.

Atheist

2007-04-24T13:42:00.000+09:30

Mine are the knockdown arguments
The imperturbable questions are mine
Reason is mine; I will explain

A poem penned after observing the goings-on here.

Our big backyard

2007-04-24T13:16:00.000+09:30

As a nature boy, I enjoy Adelaide: there are lots of great wilderness areas under thirty minutes' drive east from the city centre. Of course there's the well-known reserves like Morialta and Waterfall Gully, the destination for many a Davis family outing in years gone by. Nowadays the Davises like to explore lesser-known spots, like Gandy's Gully (off Penfold Rd), Horsnell's Gully (off Old Norton Summit Rd) and, as Edwin was saying, Chambers' Gully (off Greenhill Rd). From Chambers' Gully you can walk up and along Long Ridge to its secluded bluff, which trails off Mt Lofty and gives an even better view of Adelaide. Look them up and try them out!

Elvis, eaten

2007-04-15T14:06:00.000+09:30

During our weekend away, Tamie and I watched the film Ray, recounting the life of musician Ray Charles. It's a biopic similar to another we saw recently, Walk the Line, telling the story of musician Johnny Cash. Both men experience a rags-to-riches rise into stardom, transcending socioeconomic lowliness, the traumatic deaths of siblings and, in the case of the famously bespectacled Ray Charles, lack of eyesight. Both men become incarcerated in stardom's snares, abusing substances and relationships. Ray Charles does not allow blindness to disable him but is instead crippled by heroin addiction. However, both men finally find redemption, with patient and long-suffering women standing by their sides. The two films have positive endings.

One of the books we found at our holiday accommodation was Elvis Handbook by Tara McAdams. The beginning of Elvis Presley's story is similar to those of Ray Charles and Johnny Cash. From humble beginnings, Elvis experienced a meteoric rise to fame and fortune. His volatile image and sound held untold power in the melting pot of American music and culture. Yet Elvis' personal story is ultimately about loneliness and the insistence of sadness. By the time his eight year film career had finished, Elvis had become an institution, disconnected from his own cultural monolith, and his fame became an ever-lonelier place. Towards his life's end, as McAdams puts it, Elvis began to be the first Elvis impersonator. He was finally consumed by his addiction to prescription drugs. The sheer monumentality of Elvis' cultural icon is starkly offset by the hopelessness of his personal decline. His desolation is highlighted, perhaps unwittingly, in Bono's cynical lyrics: "Elvis ate America before America ate him". The end of Elvis' life is dominated by degeneration. There is no happy ending.

Many of us are aware of the frailty of our lives and our selfish capacity to abuse ourselves and others. We console ourselves with the thought that redemption is possible. Ray and Walk the Line fit in well here: they do not shy away from human decay, but there is always another chance to be renewed. Elvis' story is different, making us ask what happens when redemption may not be found. What would an Elvis biopic be like? How would it celebrate his tenacious talent, the luck of his rising star, and the vibrancy of his music in light of his degeneration?

Anglicanisms

2007-03-16T09:26:00.000+10:30

As part of an Anglican church, Tamie and I have been fostered -- often grudgingly -- into a centuries-old collection of English traditions. I was recently reminded of the Englishness of Anglicanism when watching Keeping Mum. It's set in a tiny English parish where the vicar Walter Goodfellow (Rowan Atkinson) sets the tone for a good-natured chuckle about Anglican ways. We were struck by the cultural similarities we experienced despite being in Australia!

Someone else who helps us make light of our would-be Anglicanism is Dave Walker of CartoonChurch.com. Here are three snippets from his downloadable 2007 calendar.

If you've heard of the Windsor Report, I recommend this.

The U-shaped circle in imprint

2007-02-24T12:14:00.000+10:30

A logo is typically made up of two things:

the motif / mark / symbol
the text / type

I haven't studied design theory (I just pretend that I have) but I figure the idea is to come up with a motif that is memorable and hopefully meaningful along with text that is clear and complementary. Sometimes the text and the motif are combined into just a single design where often the text is the logo.
This logo is for our weekly small groups at SAS (6pm church at St Matt's). The motif itself is loosely inspired by the logo of Mute Records (who published Veiculo, one of the daft soundtrack albums that I like). The motif is the U-shaped circle! The U-shaped circle is not a circle: it always forms a U so that newcomers can join in. If it gets too big, it will split into smaller Us. Often the U will take the initiative and move around rather than just waiting for newcomers. The motif was a four-step process:
1. Drawing using 6px pencil at 70% opacity. I used the original drawing rather than redrafting it.
2. Lens blur
3. Increase brightness 30, increase contrast 80.
4. Paintbucket fill of all white spaces, tolerance 150. The high tolerance takes some of the edges off the figures. After the lens blur and brightness/contrast, this gives the figures a bleeding-felt-pen look.

Here's a coloured draft before I went back over the process:
The font Mothership was used to create the text. Here are some earlier ideas:

Pear connoisseurs ahoy

2007-02-15T20:55:00.000+10:30

After some tough and gritty Aussie Packhams, I've been revelling in the delectable Chinese Ya. The Ya pear is an apple-pear hybrid. It's crisp like an apple but delicate and easy to bite into. It's juicy like a pear but lighter in texture. Works well in salads, they say. Although someone reckons its flavour is part way between a rose and a pineapple, the words subtle and honey are my best fit. From the outside, it's egg-shaped and pale yellow. From the inside, I imagine it's dark but it's hard to tell as I've not been inside a pear before. Do Ya know any better? The other Asian pear I've tried is the Japanese Nashi, grown in the Adelaide hills. Ya wins, hands down. China's "Fragrant" variety is the height of Asian pear delight, they say. There are so many Asian pear varieties that, for all I know, Ya could have been Fragrant. What have Ya been eating? Shout out to APAL. Check your season.

Marchwood

2007-02-01T17:10:00.000+10:30

Below are two images capturing most of Cross's magnificent 'Marchwood' painting. Trouble for Trumpets seems to have developed as a series of paintings without any clear storyline. Each painting contains a multitude of mini-stories:

... the unsuspecting Grumpet radar team

... the journey of the Secret Weapon

... the conscription and embarkation of Trumpet troops

... the Trumpet generals' lordly afternoon pursuits ...

In some ways the written storyline is entirely peripheral to the paintings: the paintings are the story, however fractured that might be. It's the world 'in between' the paintings that has always aroused my imagination: the painter has merely captured a snapshot of a world pulsing with life.

Mayweed's Map of Moledom

2007-01-21T12:31:00.000+10:30

Duncton Wood by William Horwood (1980)

There's been a glut of CG animal flicks, so here's something a little different. Welcome to the scurrying world of animal fantasy literature! Duncton Wood is the bestselling first work in William Horwood's six-book epic about moles. Horwood's 'moledom' uses a limited anthropomorphism: his moles have the ability to write, chant liturgy and practice martial arts, but are otherwise styled naturalistically. This is unlike Brian Jacques' Redwall books but similar to Richard Adams' rabbits in Watership Down (1972).

Duncton Wood is an epic modern mythology, and some suggest it trumps The Lord of the Rings—perhaps not such a difficult thing, depending on your take on Tolkien! Horwood weaves a tale of struggle, love, renewal, and prophecies fulfilled. The story centres around the lives of Bracken and Rebecca, following them from puphood into adulthood. The final third of the book shifts—or loses—momentum as the massive story burrows even further afield. This aside, Duncton Wood is magnificently crafted.

Horwood's prose is passionate and evocative, powerfully and tenderly expressing a great sweep of feeling from beauty to horror to serenity. Duncton Wood brims wonderfully with protracted descriptions of woodland flora and fauna throughout the seasons. There is some strong content rendered so vividly by Horwood that even adults may find it sickening. The style of Horwood's books is quite unlike Redwall: they are far more complex and subtle and are recommended for older readers.

One of the most remarkable aspects of the Duncton series is its deep religious dimension, distinguishing it from both fantasy works generally and other pieces of 'rodent fantasy'. It is an element that gives Horwood's moledom some similarity with Christian fiction. Rather than a mere description of a detailed religious system, Duncton Wood's religion of 'the Stone' is central to the lives and destinies of every character in its story. The Stone refers to the megaliths found throughout England, most famously at Stonehenge, at which Horwood's moles worship. The Stone is the all-encompassing life force, resembling Brahman in Hinduism. All moles come from the Stone, return to the Stone and are one in the Stone, as is the entire natural world. This is essentially pantheistic. Even the focal story of Bracken and Rebecca's love is ultimately significant because they discover in the Stone the unity of their beings. The Stone itself is impersonal and, well, stony. It is unknowable, it is essentially defined by its silence. However, while hatred and darkness are presumably also part of the Stone, the Duncton series describes the struggle for ascendancy of love and light. At the same time, Duncton Wood draws on mystical and contemplative expressions of Christianity (Horwood himself is an ex-Christian). This is seen in the use of terms like 'grace' and the monastic activities of the scribemoles. Altogether there is a flavour that is a curious mixture of New Age and churchiness.

Many of the themes of Duncton Wood will have some immediate appeal to Christians, like redemption, sacrifice, weakness, suffering, healing, and spiritual struggle. As the series continues, Horwood's religious scope broadens to include sectarianism, inquisitions and extreme persecution, even featuring a messianic mole complete with passion narrative! Throughout, Horwood's writing vividly depicts something we could call the coin of life, with twin sides of beauty and frailty. It is this which perhaps defines his novels in general, and it is not hard to see how these works have appealed to many amidst the apathy of our society. For Christians however, the underlying philosophy of the silent Stone is pretty grim. Speaking as a Christian, it is so good to have a personal, caring, speaking God! In God's family, we are not absorbed but defined and nurtured. We can depend on God in everything because he cares personally for us (1 Peter 5:7). Echoing David's words, God has rescued us because he delighted in us (Psalm 18:19).

I've been wondering, how is it that animal fantasy can be remotely interesting to anyone? Doesn't it somehow lack humanity? I find that Horwood's moledom is so intricately woven that it draws us outside ourselves into another world altogether, yet a world so vivid and coursing with emotion that it is at once deeply human. Maybe the Duncton series became a massive allegory on religion but, as the only stand-alone work in the series, Duncton Wood is more simply a captivating story.

Pompous Pilot, Juders and Holly Ghosts

2007-01-08T16:03:00.000+10:30

That Eye, The Sky was my first Tim Winton read.

Ort Flack is a twelve year old boy living in country WA. When a car accident sends Ort's Dad into a coma, faultlines appear in the Flack family. Ort's Mum feels helpless, his sister hates everyone including herself, and Grammar is lost in senile confusion. But Ort sees things in a unique way. Everything from his stomach to his visions makes him a spiritual barometer for his world. Ort is also aware of something else: the sky is observing even more than he does, and it sees people's secrets and intentions. Then a tortured epileptic comes to stay, sometimes weird, sometimes helpful. It turns out he wants to share something with the Flacks. But will things get better?

Everything is just so dumb. Sometimes, some nights, it's just so stupid. And I just go out and look back at the house, and that little cloud of light that came on the house the day they brought Dad back, it stops me from bawling. It makes me stop everything. Something in it says to me, says to me soul in me belly and in me bum, Hang on, Morton Flack. Crazy, eh?

It's a book about faith, trust and weakness. I found it mesmerising, hard-hitting and surprising. Every church depicted is unreliable, inauthentic and useless. There are eschatologically constipated angry fundamentalists, there are Catholics absorbed in impenetrable ceremony and fixated on the crucifixion, and neither is any good to the Flacks. Even the gospel messenger himself is hopeless. The Flacks' world is a pathetic muddle with no way out, and the Christians are no help. And yet That Eye, The Sky describes an unexpected life-giving faith that can overcome even the deepest brokenness. It's quirky and unpredictable, a present-day Australian gospel story. Visit your local library, read it and get a swift kick in your churchy guts!

What a book. Stories! Pompous Pilot, Juders, Holly Ghosts. Doesn't get me sleepy at all.

I'm up for some more Tim Winton!

(Greg Clarke did his English doctorate on him.)

Trumpet Fever

2007-01-08T10:42:00.000+10:30

Peter Cross's illustrations for Trouble for Trumpets developed over seven years before the book was published in 1982. It was followed in 1984 by a sequel, Trumpets in Grumpetland.

An ideal present for all vintages of personhood ... The illustrations combine fantasy, technical draftmanship and nature-study in a most unusual way. The Guardian

It is not often such originality appears in the children's book world. British Book News

Pictorially this book is a triumph. Country Life

A unique vision, set out in mesmerizing detail against the lush English countryside. Sarah Newell, New York Times

Peter Cross will surely become the next cult illustrator ... His pictures are alive with colour and whimsical detail, technically brilliant and full of fun. Jenny Woolf, Punch

Peter Cross has indeed become something of a cult illustrator. However, while Trumpets received critical acclaim, it was always a bit too eccentric to be a popular success, as Cross relates in this interview:

In retrospect some of my old stuff makes me cringe but I wanted to put down on paper or translate my interest in natural history and create a world peopled by funny creatures and to show the love I have of painting which gives me a tremendous thrill being able to transfer onto paper some beautiful object. So, in the Trumpets I was able to create this world which had nothing to do with children even though it was labelled a children's book. It was an excuse really; I'm the child! [laughter] and I was doing it for myself. It never really took off and one can see why now but at the time and after all that work it was a bit disillusioning.

Cross followed up Trumpets with other series of picture books before finding an apparently more comfortable niche with his Harbottle Hamster greeting cards, which he continues to create. Cross still uses pen, ink and watercolour and his work is an excellent example of the beauty of pre-digital illustration. You can view and buy some of his current work at this gallery. Meanwhile, first-edition hardbacks of Trumpets are selling for hundreds of dollars on sites like Alibris and Abebooks.

Trouble for Trumpets

2006-12-23T10:45:00.000+10:30

This starts off as a hommage à Trumpets. Trouble for Trumpets was the most memorable, captivating and evocative picture book of my childhood!

Trumpets are yellow-furred, mouse-sized hippos. Gentle summery creatures, they enjoy gardening and botany as they range about the English countryside. As winter approaches, they head for Deep Down to hibernate. Their nemeses are the Grumpets. A "sharp, pointed, cross-looking lot", the Grumpets live in glistening icy wastes to the north. The story follows the Trumpet Podd on his reconnaissance into Grumpet territory, foiling an invasion as winter approaches.

This world is the creation of Peter Cross. Transcending the storyline supplied by Peter Dallas-Smith, Cross's artwork is an absorbing world of wonder. His pictures are full of intricacies, puzzles and jokes. Throughout the book are

23 hidden faces,
Coded phrases in Grumpet language,
Weird objects strewn about, like an equinoctial dial,
Wonderful equipment, like hot water-bottle bombs,
Curious cross-sections, and
Scores of botanical notes.

From Silent Lake to Deep Down, from Midwinter Tower to Marchwood, the world of Trumpets and Grumpets is thoroughly magical. The magic is really in the artwork, so I'll be peppering my posts with some trumpety image snippets.

Anyway, as Trumpet advertising says, IT'S QUICKER BY SNAIL.