Sunday 26 October 2014

658 - Mistral

A warm wind blowing through Whitley Bay tonight. So despite the clocks going back this morning (by the way, I forgot) the town feels Mediterranean. A little bit.

Tuesday 21 October 2014

659 - Back to Business

It's been a long time, and a lot has been happening in Whitley Bay. And I have been indulging myself on this blog and not writing about any of it.

Okay, sometimes I have. But mostly, recently especially, I've slipped tracks and written for and about myself, and that's not what this blog is for. This blog is for Whitley Bay. Exciting projects like the Big Local and the Station Master's Garden and the Whitley Bay Film Festival have been taking root. There's a food bank, and a venture to develop culture in the Bay called 'Under the Dome', which I have a small interest in. Friends of the Brierdene, with which I am also involved, albeit sparingly, dig weekly in a dene at the northern end of the bay. My wife co-ordinated a fabulous festival there last summer...

And so on. Exciting Church things too, but for all my preachifying I've not actually been involved in them.

Verdict on 'A Whitley Bay Thousand': Could do better. From now on I will attempt to.

Monday 6 October 2014

660 - Adam and Eve

I'm not sure I understand the story of Adam and Eve. Mainly I don't understand why a loving God would load additional punishments on the two first humans besides death, which is I suppose fair enough, after they eat the fruit of the Tree of Good and Evil. These include pain in childbirth and exile from Eden. Perhaps they should be considered somehow as death itself or inevitable consequences of death. But they do seem to be sprung on Adam and Eve after the event. I'm not sure I understand why future generations should have suffered either.

Why should this matter? It's just a story. But even if it is just a story it is the lens through which the New Testament makes sense of the actions of Jesus. If it is, somehow, true, then concerns like mine become problematic.

My second 'don't get it' is related. If God hadn't exiled Adam and Eve from Eden, He could presumably have forgiven them and given them the chance to make good their actions. Instead He waited two or more millenia, then allowed his Son to sacrifice himself.

Can anyone please help me?