Rob Bell

Went to see Rob Bell at Liverpool Cathedral last night. Rob is a celebrity pastor from the states (easiest way of putting it) but he is quite unlike the usual perception of the preacher evangelist types who love the sound of their own voice on the God Channel.

He is young and full of questions. He is not afraid to answer questions too.

A man recently nabbed me in a cafe and gave me a bashing from his bible for ten minutes. It was in one ear and out the other. When it was over – mercy from above – I had no idea about the personality behind this makeshift sermon. He could have been Dan the Dagger man from Dagenham. The point is that too many people spout the bible like robots without offering any of their own opinions to substantiate it. And then there are those with testimonies that are difficult to grasp because they are 100% certain of some miracle or other which doesn't even qualify as a miracle to you.

Rob Bell knows the bible backward, but he writes his own books too. He’s got his own mind. It’s not a bad one. He was raising similar doubts to the ones I have. He suggested that if a 17 year old does not accept Jesus (or indeed never heard of him, or lived before Jesus’ time) then is he still being eternally punished 17,000 years later? He shed some light on the concept of eternity in as much as it is relative, like a weekend of bowls with nothing to drink compared to a weekend sampling Paris restaurants with Winona Ryder. FOREVER could be a mere 3 days, if you are buried alive.

Which got me thinking about TIME and SPACE, and my recent understanding that they are BEYOND our understanding.

He touched upon his future works involving QUANTUM PHYSICS. I have bookmarked that area myself and wonder if the quantum level is the next logical rung on the ladder for anyone searching for answers in general. There is only so much to measure in the top veneer of the world we have already mapped so well, and things behave so differently beneath the surface that defining the miraculous becomes that much easier.

So he’s a clever dude with faith, although at one point it was uncertain whose side he was on! But what gets me is his following. The turnout was great. They say the church is big business. This guy signed 500 books at the end in a blink. The queue stretched away like only a handful of authors can dream of. Hmm.

The cathedral is astoundingly magnificent inside; a shrine for a giant with no budget spared. Bit chilly though.

And Christians are NICE people. Everyone was smiling. Everyone looked trustworthy. If we all had been naked except for rucksacks full of liquor, soft drugs, and refrigerated Galaxy Caramels, it might have been Heaven right there and then.

THINGS LEARNED ABOUT LIFE LATELY: There is no D in refrigerated. Peas and Beans taste nice together. God hates me. And oh yeah...

You're gunna burn in Hell!

Ashes to Beauty Poem

Energy. All around. Where does it go? How does it work? Is there a pattern in all the apparent regeneration, or is our course through the universe linear? Linear and chaotic, into an unknown destination, like riding a shot cannon that keeps rising into the cold treacly nether regions of space and time. Or is it cyclic and predictable, like a turning wheel? The turning wheel of life. Rejoice: Our time here is too short to be depressed. Take a tip from Stephen King's book if you find yourself needing a perk-up, and blast some rock n roll.

ASHES TO BEAUTY

This perpetual procession
Closes the chapters of life upon life
Grinds the granite of grave into grave
Razes the rubble of runes into ruin
Cremates compact layer
Upon compact layer
Of memories and love without end
With dust and fire does pave
The mortal road to our passing
Wherein Earth’s soil
Beneath the whispering wind
Atop the enriching harvest
Within the fruits of our spirit’s fresh labour
Inside the palm of Our Spirit’s guiding hand
Blossom the buds that cannot die
Generation to generation
Mother to Son
An everlasting caress
From heart to mind

© Andrew Donegan 2010

"We will not cease our exploring, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."
T.S.Elliot

"You live, you die, and the wheels on the bus go round n round."
The Philosophy of Ron Todd

"I think that life was UPLOADED into space itself."
The Philosophy of Ron Todd

Faithful Prayer

I believe in God but I think he doesn't like me very much! No seriously, I tell people I am not particularly religious, but hopefully not forever. I want some faith in my life. Faith is like an insurance policy. Faith is a manipulator. Ever since Russell Crowe prayed before he entered the coliseum in Gladiator I knew faith was the only difference between life and death. Imagine if he had just been sat there trembling like a leaf, waiting for the gates to open? It would have been a different story. Instead of being dragged out whimpering like a babby to his death, he strode out into the arena with his faith. I especially love the bit when he disobediently walks back to those huge gates after he is victorious, like he owns the damn thang and he just wants to go back to bed. And the bit when he throws his sword into the crowd at the emperor. But I won’t allow myself to get started on Crowe, jeez! Coz then it'll be Clooney and Geer......


A PRAYER, written on the summer solstice of 2007

Please God, let us learn your intentions
Allow us to discover what you want for us
Help us to accept the challenge of your plans
And succeed throughout the passage of time
When we fail we know you will still be there for us
But we will try again and again
To be good because we know it is right

The greatest barrier between us and you
Are the petty battles within ourselves
With knowledge of our problems
And awareness in peaceful moments like this
Guide us to a state of mind
Where we are free from our own follies
And able to consider others
As we dream of being considered ourselves

Let possessions not be our shackles
Our prison not society
We exist in such a vast place
And we are such small creatures
And the world is full of so many things
But we have the freedom to decide
What it is we like our eyes to see
Who it is we each can be
We will try
Again and again
Again and again and again and again
Amen

© Andrew Donegan 2007