Hello.
I am so terrible at getting my assignments in for my writing course, I think calling this blog Damien Writes was a declaration of hope rather than a statement of fact.
Here is something I wrote for Hillsong Church London's magazine Abrupt, which they didn't publish (or even acknowledge), but it fits as suitable for my assignment. I must admit I find it easy to write, but hard to think like someone looking for a publishing deal, hence the delay in getting stuff submitted to Manchester.
I hope you like this,
Damien.
Daytrips from London.
There is life beyond the M25, and it is indeed life as you know it. Minus the crowds, minus the traffic; minus “mind the gap” there is a world of England that can be reached within an hour’s travelling on a local train. Some people from Hillsong Church London even live out here.
ROCHESTER-UPON-MEDWAY.
Rochester is one of two cathedral cities in the county of Kent, the other being the better known (but far more crowded and therefore less interesting) city of Canterbury. Rochester is the quintessential English city with its Norman Cathedral (still in use) and Castle (ruined, so not in use); yet also with a history beyond that which dates back from before the Romans until after the turn of the twenty-first century. In spite of this its greatest claim to fame is that it was the home city and chief inspiration of one Charles Dickens. (It is also the home town of Kelly Brook if you are interested in such things.)
Rochester is served by a British Rail station close to the centre of town, and is connected to both London Charing Cross and (a better option) London Victoria. The neighbouring town Chatham is host to the Dickens Experience, think Disneyland with chimneysweeps, and the Chatham Maritime which was once the Royal Navy’s premier ship-building port. Both towns are also easily accessible by road from London via the M25/A2(M).
ST ALBANS.
A Roman city, now a cathedral city, with more of the history of England than you can poke a stick at St Albans is less than thirty minutes by train from London. It is also home to two Hillsong Church London connect groups.
The Roman city of Verulamium was established within ten years of the arrival of the Roman occupying force, and was built upon the site of a town founded in 10AD which had been capital of the Celtic Catuvellaunii tribe. In 209AD legend has it that Alban, a merchant/civil servant of the town, helped to hide a Christian priest who was attempting to escape persecution. The priest converted Alban to Christianity, and was assisted to escape when Alban and the priest (known as Amphibalus, but that’s probably a fake name) swapped clothes. When the ruse was discovered Alban was offered the chance to make a token sacrifice to the local goddess, the Roman equivalent of an on-the-spot fine. Alban declined, stating somewhat heroically, “I am Alban and I worship the true and living God”. He was summarily tried and found guilty of treason, and was taken beyond the walls of Verulamium to a cemetery half way up the hill behind the town where he was beheaded. In so doing he became the first British person to suffer Christian martyrdom. In the decades and centuries following Alban was made a saint and the site of his death became a pilgrimage hotspot culminating in the establishment of an Abbey, St Alban’s, which later gave its name to the town which sprang up beside it to cater to the pilgrim crowd. Since mediaeval St Albans was built around the abbey, rather than on the old Roman city, the site of Verulamium is now a rather attractive city park with some above ground ruins beside a swan infested lake, and three nearby “ye olde quainte” style pubs.
For those of you who are interested in more recent History, St Albans was the site of two battles (including the very first) in the Wars of the Roses, the first conflict ever to be fought using flowers instead of arrows. (Ban the bulb!) It also saw action in the English Civil War during the 1640s when Oliver Cromwell himself visited and stayed in the Fighting Cocks, which claims to be England’s oldest pub.
St Albans is served by two British Rail stations, St Albans City (from St Pancras and London Bridge via the old Thameslink) and St Albans Abbey (from Euston or Milton Keynes, change at Watford Junction) and can be reached by road from Junction 6 on the M1. It has the necessary “Hillsong mix” for doing life (Nandos, Starbucks, Wagamama, and Pizza Express are all present); but if you want my two pence worth then Verulamium is a park that deserves a picnic.
Saturday 27 September 2008
Cat Astrophy
I am feeling a bit sad today: Geelong has lost the 2008 grand final after being the best team in the country all year. This is a disappointing end to the season, and is particularly sad for my family and me as we have been Geelong supporters for all of our lives.
Our tribe is in mourning.
This is a truth that Christians need to get, even amongst themselves. Of course there is no satisfaction like the love of God, but in this world there is pain and there are other loyalties. These are not conflicting loyalties, it’s not unchristian to follow the AFL, they’re just not church groups.
Our generation is a tribal generation. Our nation is too. We have always been a people who like to form groups around the things that define us in society: as Australians, it is states of origin (to various degrees) along with Ford vs. Holden, AFL vs. NRL (and the sixteenths within). These are the denominations of the world...not “of the Flesh” per se, (since when did Anglican vs. Roman Catholic be a different form of loyalty?), but of the way we think as men and women on this side of Heaven.
Therefore, my tribe is in mourning. "Sorry Business" ensues now and as a group we will commiserate together before gathering ourselves around our faith and looking to 2009, (as we looked to 1990, 1993, 1995 and 1996 of recent memory), with renewed hope.
I wonder in this specific time whether part of the issue lay with the eighteen on the field. In 2007, a Geelong team won the flag for the first time in 44 years...”we did it for the town”, the players said. Two thousand and eight was going to be different however, this time it was going to be for the boys, “we’re doing it for ourselves”. Has the team lost sight of who they are? Geelong and its football club do not exist for the support of the eighteen men in white and navy hoops: it's the other way around. We as a 150 year old tribe, founded in 1859, allow some to represent us. It was never going to be about the eighteen, it was always about the city, and the fans. If you take the event away from the tribe, the event loses its meaning and the participants lose their focus.
Nevertheless, back to my first point...Christians need to remember that Earth is a tribal place and those coming in to the church still belong to other groups. We are in the world, but not of it, but in the world there are circles and we are still very much a part of those circles...indeed it is where our ministry lays. It is not enough to say “pah but it is only football and as Christians we have a higher calling”. Yes, we do have a higher calling, but not to the exclusion of our friends and to what is important to us. Some do not like football, and that is fair enough, but those people I am sure belong to other tribes, be they other sports, or other interests. Australians are a sporting tribal nation: to minister to Australians is to minister in and within the culture of belongingness: we must not forget that to reach our “unreached” we must be sympathetic to their cries: and we must allow ourselves to feel it when our own tribes are saddened in the fight.
I am a Christian. Not “a Christian first” as there is no comparison between my belonging to Christ alone and to my “other allegiances”. Neither am I “a Cat second” as there is much of higher importance in my life than my sporting tribe: however at one level I am a “Cat”, and my family (to whom I belong more than my team) are Cats too. Today I am sad, and we are sad together, (especially as we are physically separated): I am in genuine need of ministry in a way that “look to the cross” will not fix.
I will get over it, it is only the end of the season and not the end of the world, but maybe I have discovered an insight into how our generation works. Don’t disparage the shared culture of society’s smaller groups...much rides on the fortunes of the men on the field and we must remember as light to the world that we have a duty to weep with those who weep.
For myself I will be at church tomorrow: many will be at Kardinia Park. Perhaps that is where the Church in Geelong needs to be too.
Our tribe is in mourning.
This is a truth that Christians need to get, even amongst themselves. Of course there is no satisfaction like the love of God, but in this world there is pain and there are other loyalties. These are not conflicting loyalties, it’s not unchristian to follow the AFL, they’re just not church groups.
Our generation is a tribal generation. Our nation is too. We have always been a people who like to form groups around the things that define us in society: as Australians, it is states of origin (to various degrees) along with Ford vs. Holden, AFL vs. NRL (and the sixteenths within). These are the denominations of the world...not “of the Flesh” per se, (since when did Anglican vs. Roman Catholic be a different form of loyalty?), but of the way we think as men and women on this side of Heaven.
Therefore, my tribe is in mourning. "Sorry Business" ensues now and as a group we will commiserate together before gathering ourselves around our faith and looking to 2009, (as we looked to 1990, 1993, 1995 and 1996 of recent memory), with renewed hope.
I wonder in this specific time whether part of the issue lay with the eighteen on the field. In 2007, a Geelong team won the flag for the first time in 44 years...”we did it for the town”, the players said. Two thousand and eight was going to be different however, this time it was going to be for the boys, “we’re doing it for ourselves”. Has the team lost sight of who they are? Geelong and its football club do not exist for the support of the eighteen men in white and navy hoops: it's the other way around. We as a 150 year old tribe, founded in 1859, allow some to represent us. It was never going to be about the eighteen, it was always about the city, and the fans. If you take the event away from the tribe, the event loses its meaning and the participants lose their focus.
Nevertheless, back to my first point...Christians need to remember that Earth is a tribal place and those coming in to the church still belong to other groups. We are in the world, but not of it, but in the world there are circles and we are still very much a part of those circles...indeed it is where our ministry lays. It is not enough to say “pah but it is only football and as Christians we have a higher calling”. Yes, we do have a higher calling, but not to the exclusion of our friends and to what is important to us. Some do not like football, and that is fair enough, but those people I am sure belong to other tribes, be they other sports, or other interests. Australians are a sporting tribal nation: to minister to Australians is to minister in and within the culture of belongingness: we must not forget that to reach our “unreached” we must be sympathetic to their cries: and we must allow ourselves to feel it when our own tribes are saddened in the fight.
I am a Christian. Not “a Christian first” as there is no comparison between my belonging to Christ alone and to my “other allegiances”. Neither am I “a Cat second” as there is much of higher importance in my life than my sporting tribe: however at one level I am a “Cat”, and my family (to whom I belong more than my team) are Cats too. Today I am sad, and we are sad together, (especially as we are physically separated): I am in genuine need of ministry in a way that “look to the cross” will not fix.
I will get over it, it is only the end of the season and not the end of the world, but maybe I have discovered an insight into how our generation works. Don’t disparage the shared culture of society’s smaller groups...much rides on the fortunes of the men on the field and we must remember as light to the world that we have a duty to weep with those who weep.
For myself I will be at church tomorrow: many will be at Kardinia Park. Perhaps that is where the Church in Geelong needs to be too.
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