maggi dawn

Was the "sharia" row set up by the BBC?

Matt Wardman says so...  in an extensive piece of investigative blogging.  HT

Pentecost Worship: don't despise your body

Come and join us for worship. I'm presenting the Daily Service tomorrow (Tuesday 29th May).  9.45 a.m. on Radio 4 LW.

We're in the week of Pentecost, and our theme is on the experience of life with the Holy Spirit. Tomorrow's service is about flesh and spirit. The reading (which I didn't choose!) comes from Romans. I never preach/speak on Romans unless the lectionary dictates. It's complicated and not something I naturally gravitate to. But it's one of the things I like about the discipline of lectionaries and thematic plans that you are forced to engage with parts of the Bible, and the Faith, that you might otherwise leave on the back burner...

To "listen again" on the website go here after the service is over and scroll through the page to find the link to Tuesday's service:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/programmes/dailyservice/index.shtml

Aled Jones and Francis Drake

I had the great pleasure this morning of talking to Aled Jones on the Radio. I'm happy to find that he is as charming in real life as he seems in the public eye. We chatted about this and that, and then I got to say a few words about faith. This is (approximately) what I said:

We need certain things to survive - food, shelter, warmth. But we need something more than this to flourish as human beings - we need a dream, a sense of purpose. Of course, our dreams need to shift as we get closer to them - if your dream has already come true, it's time to get a new one!

I think that this is mostly what we mean when we speak of God. To catch a glimpse of God is to know that there is something bigger than ourselves - something, or someone, beyond the horizon.

Sir Francis Drake, the first person to circumnavigate the globe, once prayed for bigger dreams. This is part of his prayer:

Disturb us, Lord,
when we are too well pleased with ourselves;
when our dreams have come true because we dreamed too little;
When we arrive safely because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly -
to venture on wider seas where storms will show your mastery;
where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars.

Radio

I shall be on Aled Jones' radio show on Sunday morning (Apr 29th), between about 7.30 and 8am, with various bits of music - one of mine, a choice by me (no spoilers here!) and some talk about faith, exam stress, music, and other things. Here's the link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/goodmorningsun/