Some of my more detailed reviews - books, films, theatre trips, software etc. I will also post the text of some of my sermons here.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Dec 24 - Midnight Communion

I wonder why you came to church tonight? Perhaps it was just to get out of the cold, or to have a sit down, or perhaps you enjoy singing carols.
Maybe you came because you always do. Its a personal or a family tradition, perhaps you even came reluctantly. Maybe you'd have preferred to stay at home, watch some telly, and have an early night – after all it's a busy day tomorrow. You couldn't, because its Christmas eve, and on Christmas eve we always go to church.
I've been coming to this service for more than 20 years and for a variety of different reasons:
  • at first it was just a late night out with friends
  • later it was to meet with friends and exchange gifts
  • more recently, I'd wake up my young children and bring them, so that Father Christmas could sleep in late.
Its the start of Christmas, so we finish work early, if we're lucky enough to be able to, and start the celebration as soon as possible. That's what this service is supposed to represent. Get here for 11:30, and you will be able to take communion as early on Christmas day as its physically possible – so long as the preacher doesn't go on all night! We can sing the last verse of O Come all ye faithful too, because that can only be sung on Christmas day, when Jesus has been born.
Its the start of Christmas, and I feel obliged to give you an outline of the story. I want to do this, because although it gets told every year, and I'm reasonably sure that everyone here knows all the basics, but as a society we seem to be forgetting. We're told in a survey last week that 25% of people don't know where Jesus was born, and its up to about a third in the 18-25's.
So where was Jesus born? - Bethlehem – which one? In Judea, not Ceaserea, or Wales, because this Bethlehem is David's Town.
I don't care – really I don't. I'm much more interested in people understanding why Jesus was born. . Why was Jesus born?
Not of course a one word answer, but before we look at that, lets take a closer look at the story of the shepherds.
It's the start of Christmas, so we tell the story, over and over, until we all remember it.
There is of course no more evidence for the shepherds visiting Jesus than there is for the Wise Men. It is also true that there isn't any evidence to suggest that either of these event didn't happen. Just because we have no independent historical record of something doesn't automatically make it a myth. The stories were written down because the people at the time of writing believed them, and thought them important enough to record.
Why did the shepherds go to visit the baby Jesus?
Well, not for any of the reasons we've had for coming here. They went because an angel appeared in the sky, and the “glory of the Lord shone around them”. The angel made the announcement:
Do not be afraid ...I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign a to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
and the Shepherds collected their stuff together and went off to find the baby.
Shepherd were the lowest of the low. They were not allowed in the temple because they were ritually unclean (from dealing with dead sheep). They were out in all weathers, wind, rain and cold. Most people thought of them as thieves. To look after the sheep they would have to face the dangers of bears and wolves, so they would be armed, with sling and a club, something like this one.
I was given this by the villagers in Chibelela in Tanzania in 2002, they would use it to defend themselves against robbers, but our shepherds would be more worried about wild animals. They had nothing worth stealing, so they wouldn't worry about robbers. The shepherds got their things together, tied them up in their goats skins, picked up their crooks, wrapped there cloaks around them and leaving the sheep, went off to look for the sign that the angel had promised.
Now you might think wandering around town looking for a new born baby was quite a challenge, but the town would have been dark, there would have been very few lights, and the commotion around the birth would have been quite noticeable.
Of course anyone will go and visit a new baby. Even as a young single adult, I went to visit my Sister and new new baby in hospital. As I bent over the cot, he formed a fist, and reached sharply upwards. I just got out of the way in time – imagine explaining that black eye!
Even if the baby doesn't give you a great welcome, there's still a sense of joy, anticipation, and hope that comes from hearing of a new born. That's one of the reasons we have to go to see them, to be sure its real - “I have seen it with my own eyes”.
What has a baby got more of than the rest of us?
Bones – yes 300 compared to 260 in an adult
but that's not what I was thinking about. A baby has more time left on this earth than we do, or at least that is always the hope that we have. The next generation is here, the future of our family, the next layer in the family tree is created, or is starting to fill up.. We can somehow look further into the future than we once did. What will the world be like when he or she is grown? - and has children of their own?
Every baby brings hope to its parents and their families for these reasons, but THIS baby ...
Most babies arrival is announced by the parents, or the mid-wives, and possible then in the local paper, or if you're born into royalty, you'll get an announcement on the TV news – explaining what you position is in the line of succession. As we heard recently:
The Queen has become a grandmother for the 8th time after her son, Prince Edward (Earl of Wessex), and daughter-in-law Sophie (Countess of Wessex) celebrate the arrival of a baby boy.
The baby is 8th in line to the British Throne and has not yet been named (though the name James looks likely). His title is Viscount Severn.”
Wow! What a way to enter the world, I'm sure he is destined for greatness, but it's not quite a choir of angels like THIS baby ....
THIS baby comes, not just with lots of expectation and joy from its parents, but with a message from God. There's all the prophesies about his birth, and the sort of person he will be. There's the angels visit to Mary and then to Joseph. Then when HE arrives the angels delivered a message about Him to the shepherds, and all heaven celebrates.
Do not be afraid ...I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. ”
The Jews had been waiting, hoping for the Christ to arrive for hundreds of years. Many of them were hoping that the Christ would re-establish Israel to its golden age when David was king, and the country was conqueror of the surrounding lands. That would have to be a military solution – to kick out the Roman occupiers. THIS baby comes with a different promise, and causes a different hope. THIS baby brings hope to everyone – all the people. It must be all the people, otherwise why tell the shepherds? That's hope for the Shepherds, the Jews, the wise men, the hated Romans, all the other human beings living in the world that the Jews had no idea about, and all their descendants all the way down their family trees to you and me.
That's what our other reading, from Titus, today (yesterday) is about.
Kenny Richey has been in an Ohio prison for 20 years, facing the death penalty for starting a fire which killed a two year old girl. Many times he has come close to being executed. Each time there has been a stay of execution. Now, because of a plea bargain he has a hearing scheduled that he hopes will result in his release.
That's like the position each of us finds ourself in with God. The apostle Paul says in his letter to Titus “we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.”. Kenny had set the fire as revenge on his ex-girlfriend and the two year old was what the American's call 'collateral damage'.
Most of us won't act out our hatred to that extent, but its there inside each of us. You can see it. Just catch the eye of the driver you've just beaten into a parking space, or the person who can't get a seat on the train because you're ahead of them, or the person in the supermarket queue, when something you do causes them to be delayed – there are hundreds of other examples. We've all been that person too. Think back to the events of last week, or yesterday, or perhaps tonight in the church car park.
Kenny will enter a 'no contest' plea – neither 'guilty' nor 'not guilty' – at his hearing in January. That of course would not be good enough for God, although it will serve for Kenny in the American justice system. With God there can be no plea other than 'guilty', God already knows that you are, but he needs to know that you know, that you have admitted it to yourself. That you no longer want to live your life as one who is “disobedient, deceived and enslaved.” If that's the case then God because of His mercy and graciousness will not apply the ultimate penalty to us.
We have the hope of eternal life, of being put right with God our Father, and once again becoming heirs to His Kingdom.
Like Kenny's release, its only possible through careful planning. God told the prophets what to expect, and they told us. A virgin was given to be married to one of King David's descendants. She listened to what God's angel said, and obeyed. More surprisingly so did her intended. The civil authorities caused chaos in the community by deciding to count all the people, they were just doing what God had planned. The baby was born amongst the animals because there was no accommodation left. Some shepherds were given the message, and listened, and found the mother and told her what they had seen and heard. Astrologers or Kings or Wise Men (the Magi) were watching the sky, and saw signs of something very important. They found the child, and gave him gifts to acknowledge Him as King of the world. The family fled as the Roman governor sensed revolution, and decided to kill all the young boys.
God had broken into His world in order to free all the people from the certain death sentence that they were facing. To do that he sent his son to be born as a human man.
THIS baby is the source of our hope. His birth, His life, His death and His Life show us what God is like, they show us that He is merciful, gracious, and is prepared to release us from the sentence we are facing and accept us back into his family, so that we will no longer have to live in hatred.
I wonder if anyone will tell Kenny?
I wonder if anyone will tell those who are busy cooking the turkey, or watching the television, or tucked up in their beds, preparing to celebrate a festival they don't know the meaning of?
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests.”
Tell the Story

Monday, December 17, 2007

Liverpool Nativity

The first thing I thought of was the Manchester Passion from last year, and immediately I started to compare things in my memory. With Liverpool being the European Capital of Culture next year (2008) I suppose they had to do something. This was again screened on BBC3 and put the Nativity into a modern setting. A sleazy, power drunk city official as Herod (Herodius - a woman), an asylum seeker as Joseph, homeless people as shepherds and so on.

I applaud anything that tells the story of Christ in any way, who can know what a modern version will trigger in modern people minds, or what the Holy Spirit can use to spark thoughts. So this is no exception, thanks to the BBC and the people of Liverpool for the presentation. In Christmas television terms this is a really good start to Christmas.

There were for me some problems with the adaption. The timescale from the visit of the angel Gabriel, through to the pregnancy beginning to show, and then on to the birth appear to cover just a few days. There was no sense of time passing, no journey for the couple to make. This took the edge off what the couple must have felt and experienced, and left you wondering about why the birth story is so important. Then there was the usual problem of the Magi at the manger (a supermarket trolley - that was a nice touch. I'll go into Tesco tomorrow and ask for a manger!) which is not really supported by scripture.

There was certainly no shirking the acknowledgment that Jesus was the saviour of the world, and a revolutionary, but the inclusion of Imagine, with the line 'imagine there no heaven ...' when we had just been presented with Gabriel as the commentator was a little strange. Where do people think angels come from I wonder?

There is also the small criticism of many of the players, who were off-key, not sufficiently amplified, and unsure of their lines in some cases.

The verdict has to be positive though, it was good to see, and better to hear it had excellent ratings. "BBC3's ambitious attempt to re-create a modern day nativity on the streets of Liverpool was rewarded with more than 700,000 viewers last night." Follow the link to read more.

What next? London to host a pre-construction of the apocalypse - before or after the 2012 olympics?

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Norton 360

Technical Support [Incident: 071110-001695]
When my Norton Internet 2007 subscription ran out, I decided to take the deal that Symantec were offering and upgrade to Norton 360. I have 3 machines, and now almost 700 days left on my subscription. I downloaded the package without problems and set about installing it. All OK, until I logged on to mt personal (Win XP limited user) account. Norton reported:

Runtime Error! Program: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccApp.exe

The application had requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way Please contact the applications support team for more information.

After some considerable looking around, I reported the problem to Symantec.

Then one morning after a powercut had taken the machine down, Norton 360 insisted on being re-installed. After the re-install, the error did not occur, but the IE tool bar still reported "Engine Error". I don't use IE, so was not too bothered.

Yesterday I received a standard reply from Symantec.

As you could not find the file, then this issue can occur due to some corrupted files or due to improper installation of Norton 360. In order to resolve this issue we need to perform the below given steps.
1. Download and run Norton Removal Tool
2. Remove Remnant Symantec folders
3. Run Windows Installer Cleanup Utility.
4. Perform clean boot
5. Reinstall Norton 360.

Note: Follow the steps with utmost care.

To do so, I suggest you to follow the below given steps.

Step 1. Download and Run Norton Removal Tool.

Norton Removal Tool will remove any 2003 and later Norton programs installed on your computer. To download Norton Removal Tool, please click on the link given below. Clicking on this link will ask you to Save or Run the file. Please click on Save and save it on Desktop.

Title: 'Download and run the Norton Removal Tool'
Document ID: 2005033108162039
Web URL:
http://service1.symantec.com/Support/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005033108162039

Once you have downloaded Norton Removal Tool, please double click the tool and follow on-screen prompts.

After running Norton uninstall tool, you will have to remove the left over Symantec folders (Common Shared folders). Follow the steps as mentioned:

Step 2. Remove remnant Symantec folders

-- Configure Windows to show all files:

1. Click the Start button, and then click Computer.
2. On the Organize menu, click Folder and Search Options.
3. Click the View tab.
4. Locate and uncheck Hide file extensions for known file types.
5. Locate and uncheck Hide protected operating system files (Recommended).
6. Locate and click Show hidden files and folders.
7. Click Apply > OK.

-- Now search for and delete the following folders, if they exist:

Note: If you are unable to delete the following folders, please boot your system in Safe Mode and try to delete those folders. To do, please follow the link provided bellow:

Title: 'Starting your computer in Safe mode'
Document ID: 2001052409420406
Web URL:
http://service1.symantec.com/Support/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2001052409420406

C:\Program Files\Symantec
C:\Program Files\Norton 360
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Symantec
in this directory there is a folder that even in safe mode I can't access

Step 3. Run Windows Installer Cleanup Utility.

Running the Cleanup Utility will clear any suspended and corrupt installations from the MSI. Please refer the document provided below for assistance in using Microsoft cleanup utility:

When using the Windows Install Cleanup Utility, remove any item that refers to "NIS", "NAV", "Norton", "Symantec", "CC", "Sym", and "MSRedist", without quotes.

Title: 'Obtaining the Microsoft Windows Installer CleanUp Utility'
Document ID: 2001091412490807
Web URL:
http://service1.symantec.com/support/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2001091412490807
The Norton page refers to http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=889482fc-5f56-4a38-b838-de776fd4138c&DisplayLang=en
but I think it should be
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301


Step 4. Perform clean boot

A clean boot is a restart of Windows with no applications running and as few extra drivers loading as possible. To help you in clean booting your computer, I am providing you with a document from our Online Knowledge Base. This document has steps to clean boot your computer and revert back to original settings. Please follow the Clean Boot steps first, then reinstall Norton 360, and revert back to original settings.

Please click on the link given below to see steps to clean boot your computer and revert back to normal settings:

Title:Configuring Windows XP to clean boot

Document ID:2001053014402339
web URL
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2001053014402339

Step 5. Install Norton 360.

After clean booting your computer, please refer to the document linked below for installation instructions:

Title: 'Installing Norton 360'
Document ID: 2007022203353275
Web URL:
http://service1.symantec.com/support/norton360.nsf/docid/2007022203353275
After booting in "Clean boot mode" the msconfig issues a reset warning message, if the config is not reset Norton activation fails!

We thank you for your patience and co-operation in this regard.

Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance to you in using the Symantec product.

Regards,
I have followed these instructions, not that they are strictly correct. most notably the Installer clean up tool page refers to the wrong Microsoft Article. I am back to square one. I am now hoping that they will treat the problem seriously.

I used to be a BIG fan of Symantec, but the problems I have experienced with Internet Security 2005, Internet Security 2007, and now Norton 360, I'm beginning to wonder.

Look out for more interesting installments in the saga.

Monday, December 03, 2007

The Bill Legend Band @ Christ Church

WHO?

Bill Legend

Who is he?

The drummer with T. Rex.

Now I've set some context, but even that may be ever so slightly mis-leading. Bill's band is not by any means 'son of T. Rex', although they do play T. Rex songs. On Saturday evening we arrived at church with high expectations of some sort of 70's Glam Rock revival night. That was not exactly what it turned out to be. Bill you see is a Christian, and was at the time he joined T.Rex. During the evening we would hear a few T. Rex tracks:
which was the last song of the first session - and really got people dancing.

What are these songs about? I have no idea, I enjoyed them in the seventies, I bought the singles, not sure there was a T-shirt. In the seventies I never asked the question. Now? Well probably best not to.

We also heard from Bill, and had a presentation on the other members of T. Rex, and the history of the current band.

The band also played some newer worship songs, some that I knew, and some that I didn't. Of those I didn't know Majesty (Here I Am), by Delirious immediately caught my attention. The second verse in particular seem very relevant:

Majesty, Majesty
Your grace has found me just as I am
Empty handed, but alive in your hands
Majesty, Majesty
Forever I am changed by your love
In the presence of your Majesty

Watch it on YouTube.

What a wonderful evening, nostalgia, and new songs all in the same show - and what a show, the band are skillful in all they do, and their music is brilliant. So that was Saturday evening. Very enjoyable. I was left wanting more - and the band were back on Sunday to lead worship.