god

i went to a meeting last week next to Bunhill Fields cemetry. Apart from being a really quiet place away from the bustle of the main street nearby, it’s also ‘home’ to a number of notable characters, including:
john bunyan (writter of Pilgrim’s Progress)

poet William Blake

Daniel De-Foe (writter of Robinson Crusoe)

there are many other ‘notable’ persons in there too. it’s interesting to look at the dates and compare them to when the Monument was built (following hte Great Fire of London in 1666). i had no interest in history at school, but it’s weird to be stumbling on all this stuff in the last few days and see they cover a similar time period (give or take a century).

even weirder is that we’re doing an Isaac Watts hymn in church this morning. The message of Jesus hasn’t changed in 2000 years so i guess i should be surprised that hymns singing about it are still going strong after just 300 years !
But it is strange to be singing songs that were written by a man whose 263 year old grave i walked by a few days before !

here’s john dropping a load of christian magazines on the floor

here is john picking them up again

who says nothing exciting ever happens in the world of funkypancake ?

here is the last picture of lee on his last day at our church before he goes off to vicar factory.
here he is pulling his best vicar face

it was the 2 minute silence in rememberance of last week’s terrorism yesterday lunchtime.
of course the world today is no more dangerous than last week. it’s just we didn’t realise how dangerous it was last week until things went boom.

life is fragile for each of us. it’s just we don’t think about it much until something dreadful happens to our family, friends, town etc …
meanwhile here’s a statue guarding Chancerly Lane Tube Station (as seen in the picture above)

i took a picture of it a few weeks ago overlooking a bus.

we had a band practice at a church last night (not the one we go to). when we arrived i spotted this rose. i later found out it was probably from a funeral that had gone on earlier.

unfortunately during our practice our car got broken in to (but nothing got stolen). in the scale of the things it’s no big deal, but it’s still a pain phoning insurance companies/window repairers/police report rooms late at night.
what a week !

i don’t want to say much about yesterday’s terrorist things in london so i won’t, but thanks for those who sent emails and texts to check i was ok. i really appreciated that.

i took these poppy pictures last week and most of the pictures today are old ones. i didn’t feel much like photo-ing yesterday (despite walking 17km).
it’s weird when these things happen in places i go to all the time. i missed the edgware bomb by about 10 minutes i think and nearly went via Liverpool Street/Aldgate East. things like that do your head in.

people will ask ‘If God exists, how can he let this happen’. but i wonder how you can make sense of the world if you don’t believe in a God. If there isn’t any ultimate justice for the people that do this kind of thing, then what’s the point in anything ?

not all churches are built on sound theology. i’ve no idea if this church is a good one or not, but i do like the idea of a religion based on the sole philosophy of smiling at people a lot.
that’d probably be quite superficial, but it would be fun for a few weeks !

this little chap steers the giant sails of the windmill to ensure they point directly in to the wind.
like a small rudder it ensures the maximum efficiency of some seemingly greater element.
makes you think, doesn’t it. what’s steering your life ?

after the fire i suppose

my brother=in-law kev works for a church in nottingham and often sends me pictures of gloves.
here he is (with baby sarah) showing his holy credentials in a pentecostal manner (despite being anglican).
christianity real is quite an amazing faith. God, who invented everything became an actual person for the sake of us humans. he was killed by us, to take the blame for the bad stuff we all do all the time. and after all that he even sent his holy spirit so we can experience him and be more like him before our time on earth is over.
how cool is that ?

remember Moses and the Burning Bush ? if so you must be quite old – or you read about it in the Bible.
this little bush was sitting next to a gas canister, which can only mean one thing. someone is thinking of recreating the whole experience.

easter is the most important part of the Christian calendar. It’s about something which i totally believe happened as an event in history.
if it didn’t happen then christianity is worthless.
but since i (and many others) believe it did happen, we should totally celebrate what it means !
so, to all i say “happy easter” !
and to all who wouldn’t call themselves Christians, perhaps today would be a good thinking day, to use to think about what life is really about.

click for big

there’s got to be some fantastic/comedy biblical explanation for this. but i can’t think of it.

it’s easter sunday so happy easter to you.

look. i didn’t notice this at the time, but each of the pigeons scrabbling around on the floor has a gardian angel pigeon looking out for them up on the fence (with St Paul’s in the background)

how’s your daily walk going ?
i’ve tried to pick up the speed of mine to start preparing for the marathon. i arrived at work quite out of breath and eagerly looked at my pedometer to see what my average speed was (so i can get some feel for how long my marathon’s going to take).
unfortunately my pedometer wasn’t impressed and actually showed my walk was slower today than usual. i suspect technical trouble.
anyway, on my walk today i saw this little clothing label on the floor which made me think of how i’m doing on my spiritual walk.
the label says ‘M’ which could mean Medium. but i think it’s not as good as that. so i’ll pretend it means Male.
Recent world events have re-emphasised the fragility and uncertaintly of life. When things happen to others it makes us realise how any of our lives could (and will) just ‘end’ at any moment.
This little label on the street has really made me think about what i’m actually doing in life/death. Which is quite a healthy thing to do at the beginning of a new year.

what does this mean ? where is Mark ? did he ask to be detected in this manner ?
or is it a Biblical reference ? As a christian it helps to read the old testament with your new testament glasses on. mark is a new testament book.
so perhaps it’s a street based reminder that God had a plan for the world right from the start.
God does indeed speak in mysterious ways

an empty cathedral notice board.