We have moved to www.theprognosis.org

I’ve been thinking about the Facebook thing. Interesting isn’t it? Gossip, flirt, stalk. Or find old friends and keep in touch with family around the world. Or maybe a bit of both. The choice is yours.

Choose friends, ignore friends, control what other people can see about you. Choose what information you give out, and manufacture a profile. Add to your friends, look popular. Communicate with them as often as you wish (which may be never) but you can still have a look at their holiday pictures. A virtual community for a virtual generation. Virtual relationships have been epidemic for a while, but now they just got global.

Isn’t Facebook terrible? No, not really. At least, not if the concept of demand and supply has any truth in it. At the end of the day we will put it to whatever use we feel the greatest need of. Facebook is popular because it gives people what they want. If anyone is to blame then it’s uncomfortably nearer home. I’m not sure we need to blame anyone actually, it’s hardly the purge of our generation. But it’s an excellent snapshot of it.

On a different note, I came across a couple of Facebook groups the other day which worried me. I’ve referred to one already, (in the comments on my ‘Golden Compass’ blog). The second group which worried me is called ‘Let’s get Tim Hughes to number one‘, and it’s reason for existence is as follows:-

Firstly, can I be very clear that I have nothing against Tim Hughes at all, he has written some great songs that we would do well to use in our churches for the building up of God’s people. Secondly, I really, really don’t want to be a heresy-hunting, grace-killing, sniping critic of brothers and sisters in the Lord. I sincerely believe that the organisers of this group have the very best of motives. But at the same time, I do see a lot here to worry me. I have some questions:-

• Precisely why is it “about time some Christian music was all powerful in the charts and therefore on our national airwaves“?
• Why have we chosen Tim Hughes and why is this song deemed most suited?
• How exactly does this qualify as a “mission“?
• Is quoting Colossians 3 v 23-24 as justification for this venture, really a great use of Scripture?

I imagine I’m preaching to the converted here, but in all seriousness, does this kind of thing help to present the gospel to people? Or does it make Christians look rather… well… ‘cult-ish’? Unless I’m mistaken, what is being proposed here is the manipulation of the music charts to prove… to prove… well what exactly?

It’s tempting to rant about what alternative charitable use 5,000 x 79p’s could to be put to, but my own failure in stewarding money would make me a hypocrite.

But here’s an idea… How about we all got our heads out of the Christian music ghetto for 5 minutes? What if we got 5,000 Christians to spend 79p on iTunes to download a song their work-colleagues are loving, spend a bit of time thinking about how it relates to the gospel, and trying to start a gospel conversation? (Now we might start using Colossians 2 in a bit of context…)

The ghetto might be a lovely place to hang out, but nobody else is listening.

So I’ve been thinking about this Golden Compass thing. I should say at the outset that I haven’t read Pullman’s books but not out of any sense of conscience. My Christian friends who have read them divide into two groups; there’s the “don’t read them, they’re horrible” bunch and the “great stories, Pullman has some serious issues” crowd. (Actually even those who are positive agree that the standard of writing goes steadily downhill after book 1…)

Obviously I can’t comment. But what concerns me with the above article is the call to boycott this film. Before anyone says “ah yes, but this is a Catholic group”, remember that Evanglicals have been similarly agressive with boycotts over this and other artworks in the past, too.

What concerns me here is the attitude of (if I understand it correctly) “don’t let anyone watch this film because they may then go and read the books and then they might become atheists…”

When we consider that many evangleicals share this attitude, I have to ask the question, is our message so fragile that we daren’t read an atheist in case we find him more convincing? Is our confidence so low? Shall we present this blinkered attitude to a world who is looking for consistency? If the gospel is true then we have confidence, if it isn’t then why are we afraid that people might leave our religious club anyway?

Or here’s an idea… how about we read this stuff and engage with it? Paul didn’t walk blindfolded around Athens. Neither did he organise picket lines. But neither did he observe the city’s religious life without reference to the gospel. How about we work at reading Pullman through the lens of Biblical truth? What can we affirm? What do we disagree with and why? How do we best enter into dialogue with Pullman and those who share his world view? How about we read this book with our kids and help them to do the same?

These are massive questions and need great wisdom in most cases. Of course, it’s so much easier to ignore what Pullman is expounding, or to oppose it aggressivley or even hyper-defensively. But I’m not sure that that’s the Biblical response.

…and I thought of how best to introduce myself… and came up with nothing very interesting. But I thought I’d bring in a blog which might best introduce some of the things I’m most interested in…

I went to the pictures and I saw “Stardust”.

The fact is that I’ve developed a bit of a fixation for this movie. I went out and bought the book (and devoured it in 24 hours), I dragged friends along to see it again the following weekend. I’ve been asking myself why it is that a fairytale should have such an impact on a (reasonably) mature man? Why should such a film grab me so tightly?

I have a theory, but first of all some disclaimers. I’m not saying you will like this film. I am not unapologetically advocating it’s moral message. I certainly wouldn’t take kids to see it (even if it is a PG). But it is a darn good fairytale.

And therein lies the answer. Perhaps. CS Lewis often wrote about the importance of myth, and he is thoroughly convincing in his arguments. You see, far from dismissing all myths as mumbo-jumbo, Lewis argues that Christians are to understand their importance.

Not only do most myths and fairy stories reflect many of the elements of the greatest story ever - that’s the gospel, just in case you hadn’t realised - (the dilemma, the hero to rescue, the happily-ever-after), but myth also lifts our imaginations to embrace the supernatural, the cosmic. And I think this may be where my latest little obsession comes in. In a world obsessed with the gritty, the mundane and the natural (and which defends such with a powerful combination of cynicism and postmodern rationalism) the idea of the cosmic, the other, the supernatural often fall on ears and eyes as the quaintest concepts imaginable.

So, argues Lewis, remove myth from our lives, and the idea of an eternal, transcendent God who breaks into human history in the person of His son Jesus Christ, will sound even more implausible to those blinded by the idol of physical rationalism. If we teach each other to imagine the unimaginable, to expand our minds to embrace the concept of the transcendent, and the gospel’s message becomes easier to grasp. There is still a long way to go of course, but myth has played it part. And it is attractive to us because it points our hearts to what they long for.

So a tale of a star falling to earth as a person, who encounters a whole host of adventures (including a cross-dressing sky-flying pirate who catches lightning bolts and sells them for a living) hits my eyes and ears with a freshness that the cynicism and boldly-claimed ‘realism’ of modern living has begun to tarnish. I begin to appreciate again the image-bearer whose imagination is alive enough to create such things and who is unashamed to put it forward in writing.

And ultimately, my thoughts are elevated to the God who made stars (and even though I still doubt if they are people, I may never see them in the same way again) and the billion other wonders of the created order.

But it leaves a question. What do I do as a musician to encourage such expansive thought? As songwriters we ought to be making sure our words are clear and full of truth. Yet, the ancients seemed to make a very clear link between music and the transcendent. How does this work? What does it mean for the musician who is a Christian? Answers on a postcard, because I feel like I’m about to start out on an adventure of my very own.