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Would you begrudge adding this to a £30 meal to help someone?

This weekend we had a meal at a local restaurant. It’s part of a chain and to be honest the chain is irrelevant. We had a good time and enjoyed the food. When it came to pay the bill they added a 10p donation to the World Food Program‘s World Hunger Campaign. We had no objection and happily paid the bill.

It got us thinking though. What if all restaurant meals had this? What if every restaurant meal over a certain threshold (let’s say £3) had an automatic “tax” of 10p? Not 10% just 10p? How much would this raise? According to one industry site, about 148 million restaurant meals were eaten in the UK last year. This does not include take-aways but if the “tax” I suggest included them I guess we would be looking at it raising around £25million per annum. I’m not an expert but that’s a lot of money.

Now what if this were used to fund something like the WFP or maybe even fund free school dinners for more children in the UK? We’re told that the average cost for a school dinner is about £1.50. Families on benefits get free school dinners anyway but something like this could help a greater number and raise the threshold so those who are just above the benefit threshold (but still on very low income) could get some help too. If a child had a free cooked meal at school wouldn’t that help keep the family budget down and thus help raise a lot of families out of poverty? I suspect the answer is yes because otherwise the government wouldn’t already offer free school meals to the poorest families in the UK. Many studies have also shown that eating a nutritious lunch helps with studies and learning.

Okay so I guess a lot of financial and sociological experts will pick holes in this idea. I’m also sure there would be a lot of people who would object because they don’t have children or they should be able to choose to whom, when, how much and even if they donate. I still think it would be worth looking into and could be acceptable to many because a) it’s flat rate – if your meal costs £500 you still pay 10p, b) it’s a paltry amount, c) it’s easy to pay and d) it could make a real difference very quickly.

Recently I bought a Flip UltraHD camcorder and I love it. It’s simple enough for my five year old to use (really I have to prise it off her half the time), compact to not be left at home and it shoots in HD (720p). As it doesn’t have a lamp I thought I’d test it under low light conditions. I’ve uploaded the result to Youtube. The editing was done using kdenlive which is simply brilliant. The sound was good but there was some stuff on it I can’t share so I’ve overdubbed it with a great tune I found on Jamendo. Kudos to Frozen Silence.

By the way the subject is of course our lovely dog, Fizz.

The HEC website has just been launched

I’d just like to mention that my church (Hainault Evangelical Church) has launched a new website. I’m afraid this post is a little sycophantic as I’m the one who designed and developed the site but I think it has come out rather well. As well as the usual what’s on and finding us sections there’s also the chance to listen to selected sermons and talks (including some from yours truly).

It seems to have been in the planning stage forever so it’s good to get it out there. Please feel free to take a look and let me know what you think.

http://www.hainaultevangelical.org.uk

thanks

A while ago I discovered (through following her on Twitter) the excellent Rev’d Lesley’s Blog. As is my usual way I lurked for a while and eventually added a comment or two when I felt there was a something I could add to the conversation. Recently some of Lesley’s posts have got me thinking – which is I am sure either her intention of at the very least wish.

The topic of both has been interaction with others. Particularly the reasons behind people not saying something if they feel there is something “different” about you. This might be (as in Lesley’s case) because of an experience you have had or pain you have endured. Often these situations leave both sides feeling awkward and silence ensues so people can often be put off saying anything even if they have the best of intentions. As I said in a comment on Lesley’s blog:

The reaction from the other mothers was tangible. Ranging from shock to fear (will this happen to me) to relief (glad that it hasn’t) and then obvious guilt and awkwardness. That guilt and awkwardness was also found in us. We didn’t want to be the ones who caused others to feel so awkward. Nobody knew how to react around us and this made it all the worse. Such things tend to cause those awkward and prolonged silences and I wonder whether “Society” also prefers not to know because they just don’t know how to react.

I’m not going to reiterate the points made there over here but the issue at hand is interesting. Why do we react this way to people? How do we get into these situations where the “victim” frequently would appreciate a helpful voice (or better, ear) but those who are available to lend it are put off by a combination of their own fear and that of the “victim”? We hear often that those who suffer should not do so in silence and – particularly if we are Christians – we should be looking for ways to support each other. I did wonder if this is a peculiarly British thing, along with not talking on the London Underground or in Gents toilets? From friends I have outside the UK I am assured it is not. It seems that awkward silences occur in many nations and many situations.

Perhaps the only way to avoid them is to break them. Perhaps we who are on the receiving end of the 100th “helpful word of encouragement” would be advised to remember that it’s the first one from that person. perhaps those of us who are giving out the encouraging words would do well to remember what one of my teachers once said “You have two ears and one mouth because you are supposed to listen twice as much as you talk” or – for us Christians – also remember how Jesus frequently approached those in need with a simple “What do you want?” or “How can I help?” as we might phrase it today.

I recall when my grandfather died that a colleague was the only one who approached me to ask how I was. When I said it was tough going but I was doing okay she told me that she had wrestled with saying anything at all and in the end it was her Dad who advised her “What would you have him do if the situation was reversed?”. That’s good advice and it reminds me of some similar advice given a long time ago but still relevant:

“Do for others what you would like them to do for you. This is a summary of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 7:12 NLT)

A few posts back I included an excellent video about judging. In my remarks I mentioned how well it was made and that I’d like to see more videos of that quality from the Church.

I found another one with an equally important message for Christians.

I’ve often read the analogy of God not being a vending machine but rarely have I seen it put so well and so clearly as this.

My father would hand-pump air into one of these to keep his baby brother alive

There was quite a bit of stuff on TV over the weekend regarding the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. Included in any tale of the Battle of Britain will always be The Blitz and these were no different.

Watching these programmes reminded me of my father. Growing up in Islington (which was not the trendy place it is now) he was 5 when Britain declared war on Germany. By 6 he had been evacuated to Whitney in Oxfordshire where he stayed on a farm but – like many – found his hosts not to be as warm as his own parents. In 1941 my grandmother gave birth to my twin uncles so my Dad, aged 7 was brought back to London (at the height of the Blitz) to help her. He has told me of his nights sat in an air-raid shelter wearing his “mickey mouse” gas mask and pumping air by hand into one of his baby brother’s gas mask (see image right) while my grandmother did the same with the other one. I have a son about the age he was then and the idea of my boy going through what my dad went through is horrendous.

A while back (I think it may have been during the 60th anniversay of the Blitz) the Imperial War Museum¹ in London had a Blitz exhibition. I accomanpied my Dad hoping he could give me some first-hand references to the displays and features. He did. One of the exhibits was a “Blitz Experience”. You walked into a mock anderson air-raid shelter and then sat there whilst a simulated air-raid took place. The narrative was interesting and to me it looked like they had taken a lot of care over the authenticity. When the “bombs” dropped you could “hear” the planes and “feel” them exploding in the surrounding area as the shelter shook. During much of this time the lights were either out or very low. Thinking the experience was quite good I turned to my Dad for an opinion on just how realistic it was. My Dad was a white as a sheet and staring ahead. I touched his arm and he looked at me with a tear in his eye and simply said “That was a bit too close for comfort”.

At that moment, more than any other I began to appreciate what those who remember the Blitz went through and why they rarely speak of all of it. I imagine it is similar for the pilots of the RAF and all those who served, fought and just lived through those times. Later my Dad would tell me how it brought back memories of the time and of those who went through it with him but are no longer around. At that moment also my respect for my dad grew at an exponential rate and still does.

So here’s to my Dad and the thousands like him who lived through times that I couldn’t possibly imagine living through. They didn’t ask to or want to and I doubt they would want to do it again but they did and had they not: how different would the world be now? While we’re at it here also is to those around the world who live through such times today and here’s hoping we can finally get around to making sure nobody else has to.

¹ If you live in London and have never visited the Imperial War Museum, I recommend it. Far from being a celebration and glorification of military might as the name might suggest it takes a sensitive, respectful and careful look all the aspects of war, the people involved, the tragedy and the reasons behind it. I am yet to go and not come away even more convinced that war must end.

Judging (or not) was the sermon theme in our church on Sunday. One of the illustrations used was a story of a man who had various events happen to him. At each one his neighbours would decalre it a blessing or a curse and the man would say “all I know is that this happened” and refused to judge the situation beyond that. The principle is that we can all too often write something (or someone) off too early. We just don’t know what God has around the corner.

It put me in mind of this video (particularly the part from 3:30 to 4:00). How often do we write someone off, dismiss and belittle them on first sight. Christian’s have a reputation in some quarters of being narrow-minded, judgemental and holier-than-thou. Ever wonder how we got that reputation?

And let’s not do what I first did when seeing this and think how awful it was of “those” Christians to judge the people featured in the video as if I was somehow better than “those” Christians. Am I? Are any of us?

Always?

On a side note. This is a really good video. It’s well made, it’s not cheesy and it has a message which it delivers clearly and succinctly. I would love to see more of this kind of video from Christians and fewer of the lyrics-of-someone-else’s-song-on-somebody-else’s-landscape-photos type.

Twitter recently introduced a new feature which seems to have annoyed more than a few people. The “Who to follow” section on the sidebar recommends Twits for you to follow based upon who the people you are following are following (hang on, did I type that too many times?).

If you are using Firefox (or Iceweasel like me) then here’s a tip to get rid of this and other such annoying sections on websites.

1. Find your Firefox profile directory – on my Debian GNU/Linux system this is stored under /home/[USER]/.mozilla/firefox/ but see here for help from Mozilla on finding this.
2. In the ‘chrome’ directory (e.g. /home/[USER]/.mozilla/firefox/chrome) find and edit (or create) a file called userContent.css
3. In there add the following code:

#recommended_users {

    display: none;

    visibility:hidden;

}

1. Save the file and restart Firefox.

The #recommended_users part is the ID that Twitter give to that section within their pages. IDs like this are used for styling so it’s exactly what we need to use here. if you are looking to hide something different you need to find a way to identify it on the page. To do this you need to examine the source (View->Page Source) for the relevant page and find the content you want to hide. Wrapped around that content will be something like <div id=”recommended_users”> or similar. The bit in quotes after “id=” is the bit we’re after, only prepend a # to it in your userContent.css file. The tag may not have an id= bit but it might have a “class=” instead. In that case replace “#recommended_users” with “.class_name”. so if this were the case here it would look like…

.recommended_users {

    display: none;

    visibility:hidden;

}

You can also apply this to several IDs or classes like this..

 #recommended_users, #second_id, .third_class {
    display: none;
    visibility:hidden;
}

Just remember to separate them with commas.

Hope this helps

This prayer is attributed to St Patrick. I adapted it as a closing blessing/collective prayer the other week.

As I arise today,
may the strength of God pilot me,
the power of God uphold me,
the wisdom of God guide me.

May the eye of God look before me,
the ear of God hear me,
the word of God speak for me.

May the hand of God protect me,
the way of God lie before me,
the shield of God defend me,
the host of God save me.

May Christ shield me today.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit, Christ when I stand,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

Grown-ups, we make our own path
Using our own needs as a compass
Indiscretion, excused with a toss of the head
Leave the consequences for now
Time’s aplenty
Yes, there’s time to reflect later

And yet the day comes
No excuses delaying it
Debt is a patient builder

Yesterday’s fun on today’s bill
Every day it’s the same, will we ever learn
Time to settle accounts

Fallen, we turn to our one Hope
Revelation lifting our eyes beyond the debt
Every wrong, every fear. Our account is settled
Every time, it gets paid. Gone forever

We don’t deserve it