Saw Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe this afternoon. I must admit, I was slightly apprehensive about the film as I heard so much about it – good, bad and all those in between. So I decided I’d go into the cinema with the intention of finding out for myself and coming to my own conclusions.

After sitting through over 2 hours of cinema, I walked out suitably impressed. I thought this was a great film.

As with all film adaptations from books, the main issue was its faithfulness to the original narrative. In this respect, it was almost perfect. The main themes were all there, from the ideas of a world in need of salvation, to sacrifice and redemption. Fortunately, the story in the book is a fine narrative and needs no alteration to become a great narrative in a film.

As a film in and of itself, the pace was good and the special effects were most imperceptible, with only a few minor glitches. (In some cases, the portrayal of certain creatures seemed a little odd to me, but then, most of it portrays a world which is truly fictional. Who’s to say my interpretation is any better or worse than the film directors?)

As a film for use in evangelism, I think its use must be understood to be used effectively. I think the society we live in, certainly in the UK, has very little idea of why Jesus Christ came to earth, and the fallen state of creation and of mankind. The film can be used to illustrate these bibilical truths, but these biblical truths need to be shown to be grounded in reality, in the world around us, rather than just part of a fictional narrative. As such, Christians will still be required to speak of their Lord and Saviour, rather than leaving a film to do all the work.

With all this in mind, I look forward to seeing the next film in the series!

Thou Christ of burning, cleansing flame,
Send the fire, send the fire, send the fire!
Thy blood bought gift today we claim,
Send the fire, send the fire, send the fire!
Look down and see this waiting host,
Give us the promised Holy Ghost;
We want another Pentecost,
Send the fire, send the fire, send the fire!God of Elijah, hear our cry:
Send the fire, send the fire, send the fire!
To make us fit to live or die,
Send the fire, send the fire, send the fire!
To burn up every trace of sin,
To bring the light and glory in,
The revolution now begin,
Send the fire, send the fire, send the fire!

‘Tis fire we want, for fire we plead,
Send the fire, send the fire, send the fire!
The fire will meet our every need,
Send the fire, send the fire, send the fire!
For strength to ever do the right,
For grace to conquer in the fight,
For power to walk the world in white,
Send the fire, send the fire, send the fire!

To make our weak hearts strong and brave,
Send the fire, send the fire, send the fire!
To live a dying world to save,
Send the fire, send the fire, send the fire!
O see us on Thy altar lay
Our lives, our all, this very day;
To crown the offering now we pray,
Send the fire, send the fire, send the fire!

William Booth

Found this at Allthings2all…

As Prince Rilian, you are brave, noble and intelligent, but easily misguided! Just make sure you don’t go after any green women.

Not sure I’m entirely happy with the result though!

That time of year again when I start writing Christmas cards to people and I wonder where I left my address book! I must be the worst contact maintainer in the world!

Saying that, over recent years, I’ve kept my address book on the computer (currently in Thunderbird), as I figure I wouldn’t be able to lose it. Only problem is that I’m sure some of the entries are out of date. So that’s not foolproof.

So if you were expecting a card from me this year and one doesn’t arrive, please don’t think I’ve forgotten you. It may well be that I’ve lost your address or, if I’ve found it, I’ve posted it to the wrong address.

Another Monday evening on the football pitch, although slightly different from usual. For some reason, we ended up playing on an outdoor pitch. Now, during the summer, I wouldn’t have batted an eyelid. However, it is currently December…it was perishing! Not only did this mean it was cold, but when the ball hit you anywhere you felt it quite markedly. By the end of the game, I think my body temperature was lower than it started, as I could no longer move my arms, hands and fingers with much dexterity! One benefit of being in the cold open air was that I didn’t overheat! Not sure that meant anything much though. 🙂

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. 2 Cor 8:9

Sometimes we can look at Christmas without fully comprehending what Jesus Christ did.

For he is God, the almighty, the creator and sustainer of the universe. He is worthy of all praise and glory.

Yet, for us, he became a man. The whole idea of the creator becoming one of the created is amazing – it is incomprehensible for him to even become an angel, let alone a man. Yet the immortal becoming mortal, he took on our frailty. He didn’t even become a high ranking man, like an emperor or a king, but the son of a carpenter.

He not only become a man, but lived a perfect life, setting us an example and telling us what God expects of us. That was not his only mission though, for he went to the cross. He who was without sin, become sin – for us. Not that we deserved anything, for if anything we owe everything to God, but by the amazing grace of God, he loved us and gave us what we did not deserve. For through the sacrifice of his Son, he freed us from the punishment and power of sin. Through his Son, we are given peace with God.

None of this can be achieved through our own works. If we try to gain peace with God through our own merits, we will fail and our sin will be dealt with.

Only by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ can we be justified before God and so be at peace with him. For God did everything necessary, for there was nothing else which could save us. Indeed, there is nothing else which is greater than what Jesus Christ did.

One of those relaxing Saturdays, playing chess and minesweeper online, with a smattering of violin and piano playing. Spent the evening round Sarah’s for food and more games, with the usual suspects and then some. It’s been a while since we last all just spent the evening at someone’s house relaxing, playing games and enjoying each others’ company. The hostess even put on a good spread of food, with a wide variety ranging from samosas and spring rolls to pizza and garlic bread. Makes a nice change from going out for a meal. 🙂

How cool is this?!

http://babynamewizard.com/namevoyager/lnv0105.html

😀

Went to the annual charity dinner for LIFE this evening. As always, it was good to be able to support this charity through attending a very palatable meal. The work carried out by LIFE and other pro-life charities was made even more poignant after reading an article on the BBC which tells of Gianna Jessen’s survival of an abortion. Considering what she went through, the only way to describe the event was that she had survived an attempted murder! The pro-choice camp say such a thing cannot happen in this country

Pro-choice groups say that while hers is a distressing story it is unusual and that guidelines are in place in the UK to stop live births after abortions.

How is this distressing? This is an amazing story! This girl escaped being murdered! Maybe I’m cynical, but the pro-choice camp even appear to be saying that babies in this country cannot escape being murdered. Whilst I understand a pregnancy will affect a woman’s life enormously, I cannot believe that murdering another human being in order to avoid this momentous event, is justified. (Unless the pregnancy is actually likely to kill the mother).

For a while, David Ould has been putting links to Pearls Before Swine in his blog. For a while I resisted adding it to my blogroll as I wasn’t entirely sure it was that funny. (Almost said worthy, but there some really curious entries in my blogroll, not to mention the value of this blog itself!) However, today’s comic is priceless! Resistance is futile. 🙂

Eternity. Do we ever consider it? The Psalmist considers the one who is eternal, the God who has no beginning and no end. The one who has been in eternal Trinity, in eternal love. The one who is not constrained in any way by time. With our finite minds we find it hard to grasp the whole concept of eternity.

God is not constrained by time, because he created it. He is able to see time throughout its entirety, from beginning to end.

Yet he does not leave the universe and time to roll along like a clockwork toy. He intervenes in time and space, the “Word became flesh and made his dweeling amongst us”.

Whilst we may not be able to fully grasp eternity, nor even consider it much, we still have an inkling of eternity. For we are created in the image of God, with souls which will never die, and so we are aware that there is more to this life than our finite time on earth.

We have two possible eventualities in eternity. If we have our sins dealt with by faith in the only one who can deal with them – Jesus Christ, we can have peace with God and spend eternity under his grace. If our sins are not dealt with, eternity will be spent under the wrath of a holy God who cannot allow sin in his presence to go unpunished.

Another Saturday – another birthday! Slightly different though, as it involved travelling down to Salisbury. Despite my unfamiliarity with the area, we arrived at our intended destination with a little help from the birthday girl’s brother. After a meal of chilli and cheesecake – although not at the same time, we then played party games for the rest of the evening. I sometimes forget what it was like to be young! I think I’m showing my age when I can’t remember the last time I played pass the parcel and musical statues. Despite my growing decrecipitude, the younger partygoers appeared to have a good time, with the birthday girl seeming enjoying the organising as well as the taking part.

O the deep, deep love of Jesus,
vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty ocean
in its fullness over me!
Underneath me, all around me,
is the current of Thy love
Leading onward, leading homeward
to Thy glorious rest above!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus,
spread His praise from shore to shore!
How He loveth, ever loveth,
changeth never, nevermore!
How He watches o’er His loved ones,
died to call them all His own;
How for them He intercedeth,
watcheth o’er them from the throne!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus,
love of every love the best!
‘Tis an ocean full of blessing,
’tis a haven giving rest!
O the deep, deep love of Jesus,
’tis a heaven of heavens to me;
And it lifts me up to glory,
for it lifts me up to Thee!

Samuel T. Francis

Moving swiftly on from second position, I’m now being taught the scale of D major in two octaves which requires knowledge of third position. It’s a little bit tricky as I’m prone to hanging onto the neck for dear life in case I lose my reference points. The two-octave scale of C major in second position wasn’t so bad, as I merely shifted by a semitone and gripped on for dear life again. Alas, to achieve a two-octave D major scale requires shifting from first to third position mid scale! I’m going to have to relinquish my grip if I’m to progress.

For the first time in my life, I had a look at the inside of the Palace of Westminster. It was fascinating wandering around the debating chambers, halls and corridors of one of the oldest democracies in the world.

The tour started with the hall where many previous monarchs and prime ministers had lain in state, and where, in the past, the highest courts in the land convened, even to try a king. The hall was vast and airy, yet had a great sense of occassion about it.

We were then led to the House of Lords, where the monarch presides over her parliament, and where the lords and nobles discuss matters of state. The surroundings were opulent, with large areas layered in gold for the monarch, and the nobles and lords resided on red leather upholstered benches. We listened in as a lord debated legislation concerning compensation, although to be honest not many were present.

Next port of call was the House of Commons, where the elected representatives of the people debate and put bills forward. The decor was more puritanical, with simple functional carving and understated green leather clad benches. We entered as the opposition were arguing against government proposals for extending state education to very young children. It was notable that the opposition were fewer in number and consisted mostly of men, whilst the ruling party had more members seated, being made-up predominantly of women.

Our penultimate stop was the terrace, overlooking the Thames, the London Eye and the former GLC building. One can imagine it being a fairly pleasant place to unwind on a warm summer’s evening, although we didn’t stay there too long due to the biting wind of a bitter winter’s evening.

We finished in the chapel, a colourfully decorated sanctuary where members of parliament could go to get away from the hustle and bustle and pray in peace. Throughout the tour, the Christian heritage of the country could be seen in its parliament, even the daily order of events on the agenda for the House of Commons included an opening in prayer.

All in all, a good experience, where parliament seems a little closer and just a little bit less remote.