Happy Easter!
Happy Easter! Jesus is alive!

Hope you had a great day. Was involved in leading worship at my home church this morning and then so far a great "feast" day, hanging out with some friends eating roasts, chocolate cake etc. Nice!

Spy Wednesday
A couple of years ago I discovered that this day in Holy Week is Spy Wednesday (or Holy Wednesday). So maybe it's a day to watch Bond films? In reality it's about the time when Judas plotted to betray Jesus.

One site suggests:
"As believers in the power of God's love and goodness, Spy Wednesday, should provide a period for reflection and introspective prayer. We need to examine our lives and look for the moments that we have falsely shared intimacy with our brothers and sisters in faith. More precisely, contemplate of lack of true, "communio" in our lives."

Distinct?
Just re-reading Mustard Seed Versus McWorld by Tom Sine as part of getting my head round my current college assignment.
Here's a quote that you may have heard before, but resonated again with me:
"I am convinced that one of the reasons Western Christians aren't terribly effective in evangelism is that we are so much like the culture around us that we have very little to call people to. We hang around church buildings more than others do. We abstain from a few things. We aren't as hedonistic as the people around us - but we certainly keep trying" (p223)

Pies!
11-17th Feb was National Chip Week, hope you didn't miss it!
Don't worry though because this is British Pie Week ! Seemingly invented by JusRol the pasty company, I think it is a worthy thing. Looks like I'm changing my menu for the next couple of nights...
(ht to the Londonist)

Church Bashing
How we (me too!) need to get beyond moaning and bashing the existing church, to something more. To go beyond the "what if's", but to love it as is.
Here's a quote:
"At that moment, we decided to stop complaining about the church we saw and we set our hearts on becoming the church we dreamed of" (Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution, p64)

Esther, Terry & Grace
These 3 names sum up the weekend so far!
On Friday we went to see Luv Esther. The tour hit Ealing Christian Centre, a great venue for such a show as it's an old cinema. The production is good, with lots of multi-media stuff (part of the "cage" set double as a screen), and good tunes. All in all an interesting re-telling of the Biblical story (my only criticism would be too much girls dancing the same kind of moves).

On Saturday evening we went to BBC Television Centre to be part of the audience for the Eurovision: Your Decision. Watching back I'm pleased to say we didn't really make it on to camera, but it was fun to be part of, and to see the great Sir Terry in the flesh. And I think the right man won, certainly when he came on for the 1st show the vibe in studio picked up considerably, and his vocals were the best by far.

And Grace? Today we watched (rather belatedly) the movie Amazing Grace, which I thought was excellent. Of course it is a "spin" on history, and only focuses on Wilberforce and is white in perspective, but highlighted the issues of slavery well, and some of the struggles to overcome it.