I’ll post this up on the site tomorrow in a high res downloady version. Unless anyone asks me not to.

Posted by Dave at 10:40 pm on April 30, 2008 and filed under Cartoons, Church, Religion.

13 Comments

Ben Edson has been causing the evolution of a worshipper cartoon to evolve. The interpretation will follow in a few days.

Perhaps other people would like to undertake the creation of their own evolution. I have uploaded the high resolution original of the 2008 version of the cartoon (with Emergent Guy) for you to download and photoshop. Or of course you can use the original original. Let me know if you do something with it.

The 2008 version of the cartoon originally appeared in Christianity Today - see my previous post.

Please note that you still need to get in touch as per usual if you want to publish it in a magazine or somewhere. Thank you!

Posted by Dave at 10:35 pm on February 24, 2008 and filed under Church, Cartooning, Spirituality, Religion.

8 Comments

You can see a larger version of this cartoon here along with information about using it in your parish magazine and elsewhere.

This cartoon was originally published in the Church Times and can be found in the Dave Walker Guide to the Church published by Canterbury Press, available from good booksellers. Ask the person behind the till - they probably keep it under the desk wrapped in plain brown paper.

Posted by Dave at 9:11 am on February 21, 2008 and filed under Cartoons, Church, New CartoonChurch cartoons, Religion.

8 Comments

Warning: repeated use of the word ‘pisseth’ (as used in the King James Version of the Bible).

I found the clip via Real Live Preacher (who, incidentally, has a new website - worth adding to your feed reader). Apparently it is for real - it is by Pastor Steve Anderson of Faithful Word Baptist Church. To quote his website:

Pastor Anderson holds no college degree but has well over 100 chapters of the Bible committed to memory

Posted by Dave at 9:53 am on February 20, 2008 and filed under Church, Ecumenical matters, Religion, Videos.

28 Comments

I had a great time at General Synod on Wednesday. Apart from meeting various people it was absolutely fascinating just to watch the general goings-on. I was there as a guest of a future client, and whilst I wasn’t directly doing any drawing I did make plenty of notes. The diagram above is a raw sketch (unlike my normal highly-polished diagrams).

One of the excitements of this particular Synod was the introduction of new electronic voting devices which I imagine are a bit like the ones they use on ‘Who wants to be a millionaire’ and other such shows. On Monday the Synod was given training and some practice votes were held. Alasdair Cutting, whose Synod blog has lots of synodical happenings, has blogged about it:

A practise vote was set up on Monday - a ‘vote of the whole house’ that ‘This synod ask the Business Committee to acknowledge Valentine’s Day’ was passed by a significant majority of the whole Synod.

However a following motion, a ‘vote by houses’, that ‘Valentine’s Day be celebrated by each bishop buying chocolates for their diocesan representatives at Synod’, was passed by both of the lower houses, but the House of Bishops voted it down. Because ‘votes by houses’ require a majority in each house to be passed, it meant that bishops were let off the hook from buying their diocesan representatives chocolate for Valentine’s Day. But, woe betide any bishops who do not…!

Meanwhile, whilst I was observing I wa also being observed. Peter Ould, who was watching my every involuntary movement:

Finally, a big thank you to Dave Walker, who (even if you didn’t realise it) entertained me by being sat across the gallery from me and moving his head in slight motions every so often. I know you’re concentrating hard on cartoons and the like Dave, but you ain’t half amusing when you get a good idea!!!

Thanks Peter. I had no idea I did that, but now when I need an idea I will move my head in slight motions and see what happens.

Posted by Dave at 12:41 pm on February 15, 2008 and filed under Church, Anglican goings-on, Religion.

5 Comments

These are just things I’ve been thinking. Other people have said them, and other people have said them better. They don’t form a coherent argument.

Inevitable
I find it quite amazing when doing a Google search for sharia inevitable to see how many news websites report Rowan Williams as saying this, with quote marks around ‘inevitable’, when he didn’t even use the word ‘inevitable’ in the famous interview at all.

Unavoidable
Rowan did use the word ‘unavoidable’ in the interview, but:

• It was the interviewer who introduced the word, a point which the BBC transcript of the interview omitted to mention. Context is everything. Well, it isn’t everything, but in this case I think you need the context to understand the answer.
• The question itself is a misquotation. “you’re words are that the application of Sharia in certain circumstances if we want to achieve this cohesion and take seriously peoples’ religion seems unavoidable?” This isn’t what the text of the lecture says at all. The word ‘unavoidable’ in the lecture is talking about something else altogether.

Matt Wardman has gone into some depth about the BBC and their role in the whole affair.

As I mentioned yesterday I spent the day at General Synod. I did get an overwhelming sense that everyone there (bar the two members the papers managed to drag up at the weekend) was entirely supportive of the Archbishop. Here’s posts by two synod members which sum up pretty well what other people were saying:

Paul Roberts » As the dust settles at General Synod
It was good to meet Paul - we had a chat in the gallery and he pointed out some synod features - about which I’ll say more at some point.

Mark Russell’s reflections: Rowan Willams
Mark: I was the scruffy-haired looking guy that was sitting with the Ridley people you spoke to at lunchtime.

Posted by Dave at 10:49 am on February 14, 2008 and filed under Church, Current events, Religion.

5 Comments

I’m off to General Synod today. I’ve never been before so it is all terribly exciting. I don’t usually get out and about much.

It appears from Ruth Gledhill’s Synod video that support for the Archbishop is widespread:

The Facebook group entitled ‘The Archbishop of Canterbury is a good man‘ is up to about 1250 members at the time of writing - not bad for a couple of days.

Posted by Dave at 9:56 am on February 13, 2008 and filed under Church, Anglican goings-on, Religion.

14 Comments

An Essex church is offering free weddings. The cost of the service, the choir, the organist, the verger and the heating is being waived by the church, Holy Trinity in Springfield. The fees normally cost £280 alone. From the Chelmsford Diocesan website:

Valentine sweethearts can tie the knot for free at a Chelmsford church. Romantic Rev Tim Ball, vicar of Holy Trinity Springfield, believes that marriage is best. So he’s waiving the cost of the service, the choir, the organist, the verger and the heating.

And the good news is that the offer will be available throughout the year.

“My church believes that marriage is best for couples, for children and for the community,” says big-hearted Tim.

“So we have put our money where our mouth is. We will pay all the costs of the service in the church. We are offering a free marriage service to parishioners because Holy Trinity is a good place to celebrate love and commitment.”

Presumably the organist, choir, verger and the man who turns the handle on the boiler have been consulted.

Before you all rush off to get married there I should make you aware of the small print. One of you has to live in the parish or you have to be ‘full and regular members’. Not full or regular, full and regular. It’s both/and, not either/or. There is also a marriage preparation evening which must be attended and an optional 8 week ‘bolt-on’ course all about ‘the basics of the Christian faith and what it means for today’.

In the unlikely event that you meet these criteria and happen to want to get married this year and happen to be a reader of this blog - what are you waiting for? Give the ‘Romantic Rev’ a call.

Update: I asked Rev Tim how they could afford to do it and he has kindly got back to me. Everyone is being paid as per usual. The church has made a decision to foot the bill. Here’s a section of his response:

These are our points for doing it. (I would say that we are doing it for people who live in our parish - it is not for the whole world.)

• We want to say how important we think marriage is, best for couples, best for children, best for society.
• We want to express our faith in generous giving - we don’t want to say we will ‘do it for Free’ - but that we will ‘pay for it’ because we have to pay the fees to the diocese, to the organist and for the verger etc, - so it is not just a case of not collecting the fee payable to the PCC.
• We would like to highlight the fact that the Christian marriage service expresses a higher ideal of committed love than any other wedding service.
• We hope we might encourage couples who aren’t married to consider it, or even to do it.
• We want to put our money where our mouth is - in that sense it is sacrificial, we see it as an investment in the kind of society we would like to see as bearing the marks of the kingdom of God.

Posted by Dave at 6:59 pm on February 12, 2008 and filed under Cartoons, Church, Anglican goings-on, Religion.

20 Comments

I’m more or less ignoring the Archbishop and Sharia Law controversy. All sorts of nonsense is being spouted and you don’t need me to point to it. I find it all quite wearying if I’m to be honest.

First of all, see this on the Archbishop’s own site: What did the Archbishop actually say?

For contributions that are more useful than anything you’ll find here see Bishop Alan, Kester Brewin, Doug at MetaCatholic Richard Peat, Matt Wardman and Distinctly Welcoming.

I think Paul Vallely is talking good sense with this column: Williams is snared in a trap of his own making - Independent.co.uk.

Meanwhile, The Times has an Exclusive (in bold letters). The story is that someone, somewhere is calling for the Archbishop to resign but wishes to remain anonymous. It is apparently a senior Church of England clergyman, presumably one who does not have the courage of his convictions.

If you would like this unnamed senior Church of England clergyman to resign please write in anonymously , or get someone else to do it for you.

Update: Good comment by Richard: connexions » Blog Archive » The Archbishop & Sharia (2)

Further update: Justin Lewis-Anthony unpacks Rowan’s speech a bit.

Posted by Dave at 3:38 pm on February 8, 2008 and filed under Church, Current events, Anglican goings-on, Religion.

8 Comments

So claims Mark Brewer, owner of the SSG (former SPCK) chain of bookshops in the title of an e-mail containing the following press release:

SAINT STEPHEN THE GREAT LLC A U.K. CHARITY (1119839)

For Immediate Release
Contact: J Mark Brewer
January 29, 2008 (01) 713-725-4788

DIOCESE OF SHEFFIELD TO ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS:
“NOT WELCOME HERE”

Whilst touting itself as “a place for all people,” the Diocese of Sheffield of the Church of England has issued this message to Orthodox Christians: “Stay Away.”

The Sheffield Diocese has been engaged in a campaign against Orthodox Christians and those who would “further Orthodox mission.” The Diocese hopes to drive SSG out of business because SSG has an Orthodox “aim.” In what can only be described as a mockery of Christian charity and ecumenicity, the Sheffield Dean and Chapter wrote SSG’s trustees:

“Because of the stated aims of the St Stephen the Great Trust to further Orthodox mission, we feel unable to support the bookshops at the moment by purchasing goods ourselves, or by recommending to our visitors that they visit your shop in Sheffield.”

In contrast, Churches Together in England – which includes the Church of England – “is a visible sign of the Churches’ commitment as they seek a deepening of their communion with Christ and with one another, and proclaim the Gospel together by common witness and service. Its strength comes from people from different traditions finding new ways to work and worship together.”
[http://www.churches-together.net]

The SSG “shop in Sheffield” is the Sheffield Cathedral Bookshop. It which was transferred to SSG, an Orthodox lay charity, in 2006.

According to Mark Brewer, SSG’s chairman, Sheffield’s hierarchy – from the Bishop all the way down – have rebuffed numerous attempts at dialogue.

“The Cathedral’s letter came out of nowhere and was a complete and utter surprise. It was absolutely devastating to think that our charity’s bookshop would be singled out because we are Orthodox Christians.”

Nevertheless, 4 months have now passed, and the Diocese’ boycott remains firmly in place with its position as intransigent as ever. Consequently, SSG is having to consider its options, including whether it can continue a viable trade in Christian books on the Cathedral close at 8 East Parade.

I’ve done my best to preserve the formatting - the original document can be downloaded here (pdf, 54kb)

Update (5th February) : Canon Dr Joanne Grenfell of Sheffield Cathedral has issued the following statement:

Sheffield Cathedral has had a fruitful relationship in the past with the adjacent bookshop [1], formerly owned by SPCK, and now under the management of the St Stephen the Great Charitable Trust.

There have been reports in the church and national press about the management of the chain of bookshops, which the Dean and Chapter have followed with interest. Indeed, the Chapter has discussed various issues of concern relating to the St Stephen the Great Charitable Trust, though, as with all Chapter discussions, these must remain confidential.

We do not feel able to make any further comment on the bookshop or the St Stephen the Great Charitable Trust.

The ecumenical relations between Sheffield Cathedral and our Christian brothers and sisters across denominational boundaries are generally excellent, and we hope that this will continue to be so.”

ENDS

[1] There is no Cathedral close, and the bookshop is not in premises owned by the Cathedral.

Posted by Dave at 10:49 am on February 4, 2008 and filed under Church, Anglican goings-on, Save the SPCK, Religion.

16 Comments

Whilst I’m on a ‘Fresh Expressions’ sort of theme here’s something else that has popped up in the comments. The Baptists in Welwyn Garden City have started to ‘cross frontiers and break new ground’ by having church meetings in their local Costa coffee shop (see image: right) and have chatted with Costa who have said that can other churches can hold their meetings in Costa coffee shops too. There is news about this on the Fresh Expressions site.

As an aside, it pleased me that the minister’s name is ‘Cid Latty’. Latty… Latte… Never mind.

An organisation has been formed to administer this network of Cafe Churches and the associated website. This weekend there is a training day. Once you have set up an organisation it is always important to have a training day. If I ever set up an organisation running a training day will be one of my priorities. You can sign up now if you like, though I must warn you that I haven’t decided what the organisation will be yet.

Of course a lot of other people have been running Cafe Churches over the last few years. The Australians in particular do a lot of this sort of thing - see this group and this group for example. Andrew the Tall Skinny Kiwi was running Cafe Churches back in 1989 when you and I were still in short trousers. There are many examples of Cafe Churches in Britain that can be discovered by using a search engine on the internet.

Posted by Dave at 4:24 pm on January 29, 2008 and filed under Church, Ecumenical matters, Emerging church, Religion.

13 Comments

The Messy Church people have a website. It has a video you can watch if your computer is up to such things.

Messy Church is a ‘Fresh Expression’ - like the ones we were talking about the other week. It is, if I understand it correctly, a sort of a church service for all ages, but involving lots of arty crafty goings-on. In one sense it is no different to the holiday clubs that I went to as a child, or the kids and youth clubs I ran as a youthworker, but perhaps with more emphasis on the fact that the event is ‘church’ rather than ’something you do in addition to church’. Also they’ve done a good job of branding it and making a ‘package’ that can be used elsewhere. Good stuff - I wish them all the best.

Found via David Keen. David has an interesting blog - worth adding to your feed reader.

Posted by Dave at 8:57 am on January 29, 2008 and filed under Church, Emerging church, Religion.

5 Comments