i love this

excuse the poor recording...

Calvinism vs. Maximalism

Mondays are study days for me and they are wonderfully varied. Today I spent the morning learning about the doctrine of providence, primarily from the reformed perspective. This was extremely helpful and encouraging. Post-lunch, I switched my iTunes from Mozart to The Clash and picked up 'Maximalism', a graphic design book my Dad bought me at the end of my degree to try to combat some of the frustration I'd felt studying at Reading in a department which was hugely conservative in its style and valued minimalism over all else, it seemed. Most people left my course feeling that they'd learned a lot of useful skills but that the creativity had been sucked out of them, and almost discouraged, by the lecturers. Anyhow, for those who know nothing of Art history, you've got two ideals which have competed for the limelight and have swayed in and out of the mainstream throughout history. The minimalists have always valued function over form, and the maximalists have always loved ornate decoration. Most people are probably more aware of the traits of minimalism, but 'maximalism' is less well known. These are some of my favourite 'maximalists' found throughout history:

William Blake


William Morris
(famous for wallpaper, but i prefer the books)


Aubrey Beardsley


David Carson


Michael Gillette


Andrew Schoultz


All this stuff about minimalism vs. maximalism got me thinking about what God would think about the whole debate. My thoughts on it are he probably likes both. God's own creation is wonderfully ordered and beautifully decorated at the same time. We see evidence of ordered patterns, and highly functional creatures, and we also see beautiful variations and richness in autumn leaves or tropical fish. I also thought about how original God is. No sunset is the same. Not even two snowflakes are the same. Doesn't that just blow your mind?! God is infinately creative. He doesn't run out of ideas for new snowflakes! And think how many billions of them there have been.

In a world full of mass-produced art; be it posters, furniture, packaging or even architecture, no wonder we crave so badly hand-made, original, 'one-offs'. They reflect something of the careful attention God takes in producing even a snowflake. Wouldn't it be nice if all our 'art' could reflect something of this?

Harry Potter and Christianity...?

...and not the usual stuff you read about the two...

J K Rowling talking about Christian themes in Harry Potter

'That, by the author's own acknowledgement, "Harry Potter" deals extensively with Christian themes may be somewhat ironic, considering that many Christian leaders have denounced the series for glamorizing witchcraft. When he was known simply as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Pope himself condemned the books, writing that their "subtle seductions, which act unnoticed ... deeply distort Christianity in the soul before it can grow properly."

ewwww

so five weeks or so into relay i am happily minding my own business in the bathroom and somehow manage to simultanously flush the toilet and drop my phone into the swirling vortex of terror. before i realised what had happened i had my hand in the afformentioned vortex fishing about for my phone which seemed quite willing to make a bid for freedom via the u-bend. obviously this was highly traumatising and hilarious for all involved (myself, my phone and my housemates who ran to my aid). we have all made a good recovery, apart from my phone, which after showing initial promising signs of life for ten days, is now very much dead, seemingly irreversibly so.

moral of the story: water and electricity don't mix. the bathroom is a dangerous place for a mobile phone.

the nicest song in the world to wake up to...

please excuse the slightly inappropriate start, but note how Jack responds well!

If God were a blogger...

If I'm honest I really don't enjoy writing in this thing. It feels
worse than speaking to a large crowd of people because I don't know
who's reading it and the words just linger here semi-permanently
glaring at me/you... Writing a book must be horrific! Written words
have a certain permanence and authority to them that's kind of scary.
God's the only one who can get away with this without any anxiety. If
God were a blogger he wouldn't hesitate or fret over what he was about to say. However, I being messy and fallible will continue to be infrequent and anxious in my blog-making...

In church at the moment we're working through the book of Exodus, which I don't think I've heard anyone preaching on before. I am just totally struck by how much of a legend Moses is! In fact legend is completely the wrong word. Moses is the ultimate anti-hero. check out his objections when God gives him a job to do:

Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?
"What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'The LORD did not appear to you'?"
"O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue."
"O Lord, please send someone else to do it."
(Quotes Taken from Exodus 3 and 4)

Moses is the most scared, most reluctant servant ever, and God still uses him! It's almost shocking to hear him saying 'please send someone else' when God's speaking to him through a burning bush! But isn't that how we treat God all the time? I so often am downright cheeky with God, doubting his word.

This has really challenged me, especially in my work, which is easy to feel insecure about. God has a come back to every one of my objections or my insecure whinging or my blatent stubborn unwillingness.

Of course God is the real hero. His come-backs are awesome and they don't give Moses an ego boost. They simply remind us how sovreign and trustworthy he is.

Go read exodus 3 and 4 to see what God has to say to Moses' legendary objections. I might be insecure about my ability, but God's the one who's in control. I might want someone else to do it, but God's chosen me. And who am I to argue?!

Glory days- Julian Hardyman

So I don't really write book reviews, or reviews of anything for that matter. I just tend to go on about how much I really love or hate something without being very balanced or constructive or helpful... and that's what I'm going to do now.

This book is amazing! I'd been thinking of reading it for a while but was going through a phase of wanting to read a lot of books, and seeming to have loads on my shelf that I hadn't read. Mostly ones I'd started and got bored of, mainly because my attention span during uni seemed to get reduced to about 2 minutes if i was lucky. But at Relay 1 I finally bought this book thinking it might be helpful to me this year since I'd be mainly working in an office and not doing something obviously 'Christian'. I wanted to see how designing stuff was just as important as doing CU stuff. I wasn't sure if this book would really say anything new to me, but it DID.

During uni I always gave CU stuff priority over uni work. It was easy to do, because my course wasn't particularly stimulating or exciting, and most of the real passion I had had for doing graphic design in sixth form seemed to dry up... I could still remember a vague memory of having felt called by God at some stage to do graphic design for his glory... I spent so much time at uni doing cu stuff that when someone in my second year asked me what my passion was, i was like 'errrrr...'.

So if you were ever like me you should read this book. It's made me think about how every part of my life can be lived for God's glory, that to persue the passions he gave me is good and the right thing to do in order to glorify him.

One really good bit that I think sums it up for me is this: 'Perhaps the greatest affirmation of the biblical view of sport comes in the classic film, Chariots of fire. One of the heroes, the Scottish runner Eric Liddell, explains to his sister why his running is compatible with his faith. He says that it was God who made him fast and that when he runs he can feel God's pleasure. That's sound theology!'

And it really is. It is so exciting to think that when we use our bodies or our minds in the way God intended, he gets pleasure from seeing his creation work well!

As part of relay we get to spend four hours a week on our 'elective' study module, which can be anything kind of theology based or skills based, so I'm going to spend my time this term learning to be a better designer, getting inspired and learning about what it means to design for the glory of God. Very exciting stuff- will keep you posted on what I learn!

On a side note, I am posting out prayer letters by snail mail very very soon. If you haven't told me you'd like one yet it's not too late!