Ian Rees's Blog, page 6
February 27, 2015
The Fallen
Not long ago someone remarked to me on how distressed they were that a leader they had looked up to had failed quite badly. I won't give the circumstances or details, but had to acknowledge that it is hard to bear. If you admire someone for their integrity and that integrity is compromised, then you feel betrayed. Whether that person has committed a crime, broken a trust or fallen into immorality, then you feel they have failed you as much as anyone else, and whatever cause they espoused suff...
February 12, 2015
Losing Control
Walking by the Waterloo Imax cinema in London this week on the way to meet up with a friend I was struck by its monster-sized publicity for the new 50 Shades movie. Significantly timed for release on Valentine's weekend this is the film version of the book which has now sold 100 million copies and is about … well, you know what it is about and if you don't you can read Martyn Eden's review of it, first published in Christianity Magazine that I posted here in 2012. I still haven't read the boo...
January 22, 2015
Serving without cynicism
When journalists at Charlie Hebdo were callously murdered at the beginning of the month everyone sprang to their defence. World leaders flew in for what seemed like a massive photo opportunity to stand shoulder to shoulder with France in her grief. This is all about free speech, we were told. Nothing can take away the right to say what you want, especially about religion, and insult people's cherished beliefs without the fear of being gunned down. Amen to that, I say. But it hasn't taken long...
January 9, 2015
Laugh or love?
The Economist tweeted this cartoon today in response to this week's frightful Charlie Hebdo massacre: a cartoonist takes a pop at a hate-filled terrorist and is gunned down for his troubles, but dies as he lived, mocking his assailant. Then, much to the terrorist's consternation, the mocking continues and he cannot silence that. He expends all his ammunition on it, but to no effect, so he takes out his knives in a vain attempt to hack it down. Not only does he fail, but the mockery rebounds o...
December 24, 2014
Truce or Peace?
The Sainsbury's Christmas advert (right) is one example of the noise made this year made about the famous Christmas Truce of 1914 when soldiers came out of their trenches and met up in no-man's land to sing carols, exchange gifts and even play football. That truce has been hailed as an example of the Christmas spirit triumphing over war, bringing peace understanding and harmony. The warmongers had wanted to keep on fighting, but the ordinary footsoldiers, who had to live at the sharp end of t...
December 9, 2014
A warm welcome
(Photograph from The Telegraph)Who would have thought it? A major study concludes that “Churches are the best social melting pots in Britain.” This article in The Telegraph informs us that the study looked at how neighbourliness and integration is proceeding in multi-cultural Britain to get an idea of how much people of different classes and generations mix. People were asked about recent social gatherings they had attended and give some detail about who else was there. The answers given wer...
November 21, 2014
Does God forgive?
Andy Coulson came out of prison today after serving 5 months of an 18 month sentence for his part in the phone hacking scandal. He will have to face being tagged and at home during during curfew hours (probably something like 7pm to 7am), but the stigma of his crime is likely to last with him a lot longer. In an article in The Guardian Denis MacShane, who also spent six months in Belmarsh, writes about the labels that will be used of him like “disgraced”, “shamed” and “convicted”, probably fo...
November 10, 2014
Greater love
It is interesting how events connected with death often strike a chord with the national mood. The funeral of Winston Churchill would have been one such for the war generations, as his death marked an end of an era. Similarly, the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997 witnessed an outpouring of national grief on a scale that is not likely to be repeated for some time. And the poppies at the Tower, “Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red” by Paul Cummins, likewise seems to have captured the...
November 4, 2014
Walls come tumbling down
#93453248 / gettyimages.com
In August 1975 I went on exchange to stay with a German family who took me on holiday with their children to Berlin. Those were the days of the Cold War with its nuclear tensions and mutually assured destruction should some idiot have decided to push the button, divisions symbolised by the presence of the Berlin Wall. One of the days there we decided to cross into East Berlin, so they dropped me off at Checkpoint Charlie to pass through on my own, while they went to...
October 27, 2014
An Unexpected Party
#173633520 / gettyimages.com
We have a family friend who was diagnosed with cancer last year and was receiving treatment until a few weeks ago. Recently, however, she was told that the treatment had not been effective and there is nothing more they can do for her. So her response, propelled by faith in Jesus, has been to seek to maximise the time she has left. I haven't heard just how much time that is, but she told us yesterday that she has so much to do and so little time in which to do it....
