Black Gold

Yesterday my wife went off to the USA for a holiday with our two small children to visit family. I say 'holiday', but I'm sure the flight with two children under 3 years was anything but a holiday! (God bless you, J. I love you!)

That means that for the next two weeks I get to live the bachelor life again (more or less). The house is already a mess and I've eaten pizza for the last two evenings. I'm planing to watch a whole load of movies too - mostly ones that J. would find REALLY boring. (I have my eye on a Russian black and white classic from the silent era - Battleship Potemkin). So far I've watched four movies. Tonight's one was excellent.

I went to the Irish Film Institute to watch a movie called Black Gold. It's a documentary that highlights the plight of coffee growers in Ethiopia. These people work so hard and get paid an absolute pittance for their labours while we sit back and enjoy the coffee experience in some high market coffee establishment...or even a jar of instant (bleh!) at home. One kilo of coffee beans sells for less that $1, but by the end of the product (ie. that steaming espresso) that same kilo is worth over $100! Unfair trade rules mean the poor get poorer.

The documentary followed one man's struggle to sell the produce of his farmers co-operative in order to get a fair price for the beans. I've been a supporter of Fairtrade for some time now, but this movie made it more real. I'd like to get a copy of the film so if you don't get a chance to see it you'd be welcome to come over to my place, put a pot of coffee on, and watch it with me. It may stir your conscience. It made me cry.


The biggest reason for my wife to travel to America is to see two beautiful boys, A. and B., who have recently been adopted by my sister-in-law and her family. The boys are from Ethiopia which made tonight's film a little more poignant for me.

Sorry, Naomi

A few years ago a Canadian author named Naomi Klein wrote a book called No Logo. I managed to get through most of it.


Basically it is an in depth look at the crazy way that most of the West (and growing beyond) has become obsessed with stuff. Mostly high priced stuff. Mostly high priced stuff with a label on it that is supposed to make you feel good. Klein points out that many of the goods manufactured under a particular logo (not just clothes) are produced under exploitation of the workers. But, for Klein, the exploitation doesn't stop there. It continues on to exploit the consumer of the logo. I would tend to agree with her.

However, this weekend I think I probably put myself in Naomi's bad books.

In order to keep up my visitation of all Starbucks in Ireland - (I'm not sure how long this will last. There's a couple that have opened near me since I last wrote about my project. Starbucks tend to have an aggressive marketing policy that involves opening loads of stores in order to push out local coffee business. I know this because Naomi told me.) - I went into a clothes store in the city centre, BT2, that had a Starbucks upstairs...in its children's department.

Being in this store did start to make me feel uneasy. There were logos everywhere! As I had my 1 year old son with me I had to find a lift to get my coffee. Now, fair play to the staff. They were very helpful in taking me to a lift which involved going back outside and through another door with the use of a security card. Once upstairs I bought my regular latte and had a quick look around the children's clothes. This made me feel even more uneasy. Ralph Lauren, Timberland, DKNY, Burberry, Ted Baker, Bonpoint...for kids!!! One very brief glance through some baby clothes revealed a 75 euro shirt for a six month old. I guess someone is going to buy it.

On the way back down another helpful staff member chatted with me. Ironically, despite there being a Starbucks store 15 feet from where he was standing when I asked for help with the lift, the young sales assistant told me he had never been to Starbucks. We were already at the ground floor before I was able to ask him if this was his ultimate dedication to the No Logo cause.

Not ironically, I didn't buy anything from the clothes store. Partly for the cause. Mostly for the money.

Rainy Day Idea

Yesterday, two people happened to comment about my blog, making me feel guilty that I wasn't keeping up to date. I'm sorry. I've been quite busy recently and any spare time I've got has been used for studying (and sleeping). I've still got lots of study to do, but in order to make amends here's a quick thought from the coffee shop I was in this afternoon. Actually it was on the way to the coffee shop, but that still counts in the strictish rules I place upon myself for this blog.

It was pouring down with rain as I walked, but fortunately I had an umbrella. Unfortunately for quite a few other people I passed they didn't. I did offer to accompany a young lady with my umbrella, but she was going the other way (she said).

Anyway, here's an idea I had for promoting your organisation/business/club/church/whatever: You could have umbrellas made with your logo printed on it plus some words like, "This umbrella is given to you for free. Please pass it on to someone else who may need it after you." That way you're not only promoting your organisation, but generally being nice too.


My studies at the coffee shop were for an essay about atonement theories - ie. why did Jesus die? But that's for another post.

On my way home I was stopped by a Jehovah's Witness. We talked about atonement theories. I think I might have confused him. Likewise, that will have to wait for another day. I took the guy's number and said I might call him to meet for coffee sometime.

Right now I've got to study...

Bookending

I've just spent a really great bank holiday weekend - in Yorkshire. My wife and I, along with our two children, flew over to England to spend a couple of days with some good friends of ours, A. & H. There was lots to talk about, which meant lots of coffee. In fact the weekend, in coffee terms at least, was sandwiched between a couple of regular lattes at arrival and departure from Leeds/Bradford airport, both times activating the use of my second motto in life: 'Never say no to donuts.'

A. & H., along with their two children of a similar age to ours, are developing areas of creative ministry within a town called Tadcaster - so we have lots in common. It was really great to spend some quality time talking about family issues, Christian mission and theology along with a good dose of laughter (all related to the above, and more) and just pure fun with our kids. We challenged each other in our spiritual development and searched for answers to why we do what we do.

Thanks, guys. I can't wait to get together again.


The sweet taste of a donut made me feel good while checking-in, but having to surrender my coffee at the security check before I finished left me wanting more.

One Year On

In an attempt to visit every Starbucks in Ireland, do you think it counts to visit refreshment stands that "proudly serve Starbucks coffee?" I've decided no.

However, I was at one such place today - a coffee stand in Dublin Zoo. The regular latte that was served to me was only half-full, but I decided not to complain. Not just because I think of myself as an optomist at heart, but because I was spending a lovely day at the zoo with my wife and two children, celebrating my youngest's first birthday. I'm not sure that he was overly impressed with the animals, but he did seem to enjoy his first taste of cake. (Who wouldn't?)

Anniversaries of special dates always seem to make you reflect on why that date is so special and what happened to make a particular number and month standout anytime you see it somewhere. On 1st May last year I definately could of done with a rereshment stand that proudly servered any decent coffee. But I can't complain. All I had to do was hold my wife's hand. (Everything else was just amazing.)

Anyway, I love you, Little Guy. But you are going to have to wait untill you're at least three before you can have some coffee with that cake.

(When did I start drinking coffee.....???)

Background Music

I've yet to see in a record store a section entitled, 'Coffeehouse Background Music.' So I'm not sure where cafes get their selection of music. I usually quite like it in a sort of unnoticeable-but-there kind of way.

But the other day, while I was in Insomnia, a track came on which caught my attention. Maybe it was the slightly sensual French(???) accent or perhaps it was these words of the refrain:

This is my life.
I can't live it twice.
All I can give is a piece of my heart.

I'm not sure who was singing. Perhaps a quick google will reveal something. Excuse me a moment...............Ok, I'm back. I didn't find anything conclusive. Just a few quotes of the song on a couple of Russian sites. (Maybe it was a Russian accent). I've left a comment on someone's blog and I'll wait to see if I get an answer.

Anyway, I wrote the words down in my pocket notebook because I thought it was quite profound...although I'm not so sure now.

Wise Word

Deadlines for my studies are pressing in on me so I went out again tonight to my local coffeehouse to hit the books for a couple of hours.

Alister McGrath, in the introduction to his Christian Theology: An Introduction, says that theology is one of the most exciting subjects to study. Some people may choose other words than exciting, but I would tend to agree with him. I'm not sure why people oppose Christianity as something only for weak or simple minded people. Yes, these people have much to gain from Christianity, but there is so much more to getting your head around the things of God. Should you desire you can plumb the depths of all things historical, philosophical, moral and eschatological within theology. For me tonight it was Christology - thinking about Christ.

One view which has really struck me in my reading this evening was the thought of a cosmological Logos Christology. (Now there's a Phrase to bring up at a dinner party.) In essence, seeing Jesus Christ as the Logos (Word/Reason/Reality/Wisdom) of God who always has and always will hold the entire cosmos together like some sort of ontological cement. To reject this Logos is to reject reality and begin to slip back into pre-creation non-being. But this Logos became incarnate in flesh and blood (Jesus) in order to redeem creation and prevent a return to disorder by repairing the fabric of the universe so that humanity can become participants in the divine nature.

That's pretty heavy, I know, and I'm not sure I fully grasp it. But that's what makes theology exciting, I suppose - the wanting to grasp it.

Tea 'n' Biscuits

Walking home from the coffeehouse tonight I needed to pop in to Tesco's to get some tea, biscuits, bread and a magazine for my wife who seems to have finally caught up with the rest of the household in suffering through the family cold.

McVitties chocolate digestives were on special offer so I opted for them rather than the usual 'Tesco Value' rubbish. Afterall, nobody makes them quite like McVitties do. (Hmm, McVitties. What a strange name.)

Suffering from the aftertaste of a couple of (not that great) cups of coffee I decided to open the packet of biscuits on the way home and enjoy a couple. Yum.

I didn't have any tea though as the kettle lead doesn't stretch that far.

Worship

You can tell someone who has absolutely no social life because he goes out to a coffeehouse on a Saturday night. Alone. To study.

Hello. That's me.

In an attempt to catch up in my studies I'm taking spare moments here and there to do some reading. At the moment I'm studying a unit on the practice and theology of worship. So I decided to listen to some worship tracks on my mp3 player on the way to the cafe. Flicking through the choices I stopped on a song by Matt Redman called Lord, let your glory fall. I like this song so, as I hadn't listened to it for a while, I repeated it (three times I think). The song expresses a desire to see God reveal himself in glorious ways just like he did in ancient Biblical times.

Yeah. I like that. That would be amazing.

The particular focus of my studies on Saturday was looking at incorporating music in to liturgical worship. It's interesting because my faith background is very musical, but in no way liturgical - in the traditional sense of liturgy anyway. The books I was reading emphasised that the liturgy was the main act of worship and music should only be used to complement these words, not used as a stand alone form of worship. Hmm...I'm not sure about that.

However, I have found myself in recent years moving away from musical expressions of worship and being more interested in delving into the ancient traditions of the historical Church. But then I start to get confused and question myself as to who I am as a person of faith. Actually I've been doing a fair bit of that in recent years as I explore what I understand of theology, Christian mission and worship.

I suppose worship is something that, because of its eternal qualities, gives you a sense of connection to something/someone bigger. A kind of anchor, I guess, while you ask questions.

The ancients repeated a helpful phrase, a liturgy, a kind of anchor, which can be found in some of the Psalms of the Hebrew scriptures and which Matt Redman uses as a refrain in the song above. Addressing God then/now they/we sing:

You are good,
And Your love endures forever.

Wright Stuff

I decided to follow one of my own links and visit the (unofficial) website of N.T.Wright as mentioned in a post below. (I'm not sure that there actually is an official site. I've also now added the site to the link on the sidebar.)

I've got a couple of books from Theologian/Historian/Bishop of Durham, N.T. Wright including one of his latest called, Simply Christian. So I was interested to see that a video is available to watch of a lecture he gave at Washington National Cathedral (Washington, DC) as part of his book tour for the above book.

The talk is just under an hour long so I made a pot of coffee and downloaded it. (The lecture I mean, not the coffee. I suppose I uploaded the coffee...only to download it later. OK, stop it!)

Anyway, I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to getting more from his site. You might enjoy it too. Here's the link:

Simply Christian Book Tour - N.T. Wright at WNC