Holocaust Memorial Day

Sculpture_-_DachauBack when I was a teenager, and we lived in Germany, we used to take holidays down in Bavaria or Austria. It’s a part of the world I absolutely love with it’s high mountain peaks, thick forests, hidden waterfalls and springs, and amazingly beautiful castles and towns.

It’s also a place where they don’t hide away from the horrors that came out of the region before and during World War 2. The rise of Hitler and the Nazis, the “hideaway” of the Eagles Nest at Berchtesgaden, and the concentration camp at Dachau.

It’s 70 years since the liberation of the camp at Auschwitz-Berkenau, and it’s also holocaust memorial day, and that always makes me remember the time that we went to Dachau.

Outside the gates of the camp you can hear the sounds of traffic driving by, birds chirping in the trees and children laughing and playing. Walk through the gates and it’s as if the very horrors of the events there cancel out all noise so that there’s utter silence. No cars, no birds, no laughter, even babies stopped crying. You are suddenly and brutally hit with the very nature of evil as you enter the camp and there were several people around us who cried just from entering – a sentiment I can fully understand, and I would probably do the same if I were to revisit today now that I understand more.

The Germans themselves carried around the shame of that time with openness, humility, shame and a deep sorrow that runs deeper than I think any of us can imagine. But they are also a proud people, and in their openness they show themselves to be strong in their resolve to ensure that such events do not happen again and to also show that these were atrocities committed by a different generation, and not reflecive of the people now.

Walking around the camp was an assault in the way that your senses, emotions, preconceptions and humanity were confronted with the pain of human suffering on the one hand, and the depths of human depravity on the other. That it is possible for one human being to commit such acts against another defies all humanity and you want to cry out that surely nobody could do such things – except you can’t as the evidence is there before you in the accomodation blocks, the work areas and the “shower” blocks.

At the end of the tour was a museum with diaries, personal belongings, photographs and more. Those who hadn’t wept before couldn’t hold back as you saw the mountains of human corpses, the emaciated walking dead, the arrogant and haughty faces of the officers in charge.

For those who were able there was a video reel available to view as you exited the museum. My parents gave me the choice, but I couldn’t face any more and so declined. My dad went in and when he came out he was broken. I’ve never seen such a haunted look on my dads face before or since, and in some ways that really cemented the reality of what we were experiencing.

A couple of weeks ago the BBC ran a drama around the trial of Adolf Eichmann, one of the architects behind the horrors of the camps, and it brought it all flooding back. They included video footage of people and events at Auschwitz, as well as real footage from the trial, and I could do nothing but sit and weep.

On this day I hope that we, the human race, sit up together as one and remember these events. And as we do so, let us all cry out “NO MORE” – and let us all resolve to never forget and to ensure that our children are taught the lessons and the horrors so that they may never be repeated.

 

I am the Doctor and this is my spoon!

IAmTheDoctorAndThisIsMySPOON

It’s an inescapable fact that when a new Doctor comes along people immediately compare him to the previous ones, and there’s always those who (in spite of doing the same with the previous incarnation) state that the new Dr is not as good as the previous one and the franchise is doomed.

When Peter Capaldi was announced as the replacement for Matt Smith, many “new who” fans cried out in outrage that an old(er) man was being given the job – after all where was the love interest going to be, and who were the teeny girls going to drool over. (OK – that’s an unfair comment as both male and female latecomers were objecting, but the arguments often referenced the age of Capaldi and the dyanmic changes that would bring about)

Personally I was both pleased and intrigued by his appointment – he’s a genuine whovian and hearkens back to the first heyday of who with Pertwee, Baker (Tom of course) and even Davidson with a respectful nod to Harkness and Troughton.

Three episodes in to the new Doctors tenure in the TARDIS and I’m still intrigued. This Doctor has a mystique about him, an uncertainty about both his identity and his motivations. There’s a battle going on inside his two hearts that is trying to determine his morality.

And you know what – it’s fantastic! (Ecclestone nod there)

The Doctor has gone back to being this mysterious traveller who sweeps in with the delicacy of a bull in a china shop and then sweeps out again leaving as many questions as answers.

Don’t get me wrong – I thought both Tennant and Smith were brilliant, and Tennant sits joint favourite for me with Tom Baker. But there was something about their versions of the Doctor that lacked that question mark. Doctor Who became a statement more than a question (for most of the time – there were some excellent occassions where the question mark was most definitely present!)

So back to Capaldi – we’ve had 3 very different episodes. We’ve had the “I’m in a new body and am rather addled by the change”, we’ve had the “Dalek moral soul-searching” and we’ve now had the “Tongue-in-cheek Romp” and that gives us a good feel for the direction of the new Doctor.

When I look at his performance there’s a darker edge, similar but edgier than Ecclestone. There’s also that sense of a timelord who is ageing so much slower than the rest of us – and he is not backwards in coming forwards with that, or anything for that matter.

One other thing that seems to be recurring is a real embracing of all the Doctors. We’ve seen mentions, character traits, and even images of past incarnations and this is a Doctor who is the sum of all his pasts – but at the same time strangely lessened by them. He’s in conflict with all his characters and as a result we are catching glimpses of them all – just peeking out through the almost tortured veneer that Capaldi is wearing.

It’s too early to say for definite – but I really do feel that this Doctor has the potential to be amongst the best of the best.

Oh, and SPOON!

Not settling for OK.

No More!

I’ve had enough. Seriously. It’s completely unacceptable and I’m not going to accept it any more – and it’s right that I shouldn’t.

Pain, and other issues, are a part of my life and they have been for far too long. I’ve always seen it as a triumph when I am prayed for and the pain lessens, becomes more manageable, and I can manage to get a decent nights sleep.

But No Longer!

I am not going to settle for pain relief or pain reduction. I’m not going to accept one good night of sleep. I’m not going to let go until I see FULL healing. Until a good nights rest is a normal thing.

I’ve never doubted that God CAN heal me and I’ve never doubted that I will be restored. It’s just that I’ve taken the Christian cop-out route of saying that “I’ll get a new body when I die” – and I’m not going to leave it there any more.

I’m going to be tenacious, persistent and never let go until I know healing. And that’s OK – because it’s biblical. I don’t know why God hasn’t healed me fully yet, but I know that His heart is for me and that He loves me as a Father loves His child. I know that we can Ask, Seek and Knock and that our God is Jehovah Rophi – the God Who Heals. Maybe He’s been waiting for me to realise that I need to be resolute, that I need to stand firm and keep banging on the door.

When we look at scripture we can see Jacob in Genesis 32:26 saying “I will not let you go unless you bless me”. We see Moses holding his arms up to deliver vistory over the Amelekites in Exodus 17:11-12. We can see persistence in the healing of Naaman when he had to bathe 7 times in the Jordan river. We see the blind man crying out “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me” – and not stopping until Jesus heard him – and there’s many more examples beside.

The interesting thing about the Moses one in particular, is that Moses got tired and weak. He felt his arms weakening and so they fell down turning the tide of battle in favour of the Amelekites. He need Aaron and Hur to sit him on a stone and lift his arms for him in order to see complete victory.

So, I am saying that today I am going to keep my arms in the air with the staff raised – until the battle is won. I’m going to shout and shout until Jesus stops by me and heals me. I’m going to wrestle and not let go until God blesses me. I’m going to keep on pushing on until I know the fullness of Gods promise for me.

But like Moses – I will get weak. There will be days when I tire and cannot stand. There will be days when my shout becomes a croak and a whisper. And so I need people with me. I need people to be standing firm in prayer with me and pushing forward on my behalf. Will you be one of those people? Will you be willing to pray for me and stand firm on the promises with me? Please.

I am blessed by having so many people around me whose faith leaves me humbled and in awe – will you please stand with me in prayer?

Thank you.

WAKE UP & Speak, Brother

Wake Up and Speak, Brother

Since moving to Rugby, one of the (many) things that has struck me is just how there seems to be a huge hub of creativity in the town and the surrounding areas. There are artists, writers aplenty and an absolute orchestral overload of talented musicians, songwriters, singers and more. You can’t turn around without discovering more new music, or hearing a new song or few.

What’s even more surprising is the QUALITY of the material – we’re not talking about stuff you listen to, politely nod and then issue that “well, that was…nice” comment. I’m talking about genuinely great music. Lyrics that have depth and meaning. Singers who are passionate about the music and the art, not compromising to become “The Next <insert name here>”

And that leads me onto two connected, but very different, artists. The first one is a worship leader at our church and a genuinely great guy (no, I’m not creeping!) – Jonny Shepherd. I came across Jonnys music a few years ago, before we’d ever even contemplated moving to Rugby, through somewhere like the NoiseTrade website. I picked up a free copy of his “New Day” album and really liked what I heard, so signed up for the mailing list and kept a distant eye on the music he was producing.

When we started to look at Rugby as our new home I got one of his email newsletters through and, much to my utter disbelief, saw that he was not only based in Rugby but also at the very church we were looking into.

Jump forward to now and I’ve gotten to know Jonny a bit and we’ve started to build up a cracking friendship.

Well, that’s all “nice” but what about the music. Well, those on facebook will have seen me push his last EP (Crown of Praise) rather a bit, and that contained some really good music on there – including an instrumental piece that is so good to lean back with eyes closed and listen to. And he has a new EP coming out at the end of this month!

It’s a simple task to nip on over to bandcamp and pre-order the EP, for which you get the title track “Wake Up” as an immediate download and WOW – this is such a different track. Electronic beats and pumping bass coupled with some really strong lyrics. I’m a little biased as it is clearly influenced by Ezekiel and the valley of dry bones that is in the old testament – and that is one of my favourite passages!

Watch the teaser video for the EP below, and then pop to bandcamp and place a pre-order to make sure you get hold of, what promises to be, a great set of new songs!

[youtube]http://youtu.be/1jBZoFekXf8[/youtube]

And here’s the seamless segway across to the second part of this post. When I signed up to join the worship team at New Life, Jonny and I got together at Costa Coffee in Rugby so that we could get to know each other a bit more and in the process he introduced me to a band who were, at that time, called the “James Herring Band”. With hints of Jars of Clay, Mumford & Sons etc I was immediately hooked by their music. During the performance James announced that they were renaming the band and were relaunching as “Speak, Brother”

At a local “Worship Hub” event, I went along to a guitar workshop with James and got chatting to him about music, life and various other things and found him to be such a down to earth, humble guy who is passionate about God and about crafting music that is original and personal.

On May 19th the band launch their debut single, “Dry Bones” – hmmm, ring any bells?, and on the 18th their is a launch gig at a local pub which the Mrs and I will be attending. Keep an eye on their website, follow them on facebook, and take a look at the below video recorded at one of their performances. Then, on the 19th, pick up a copy of “Dry Bones” – it’ll get your feet stomping, your head bobbing and you’ll be singing the chorus for days!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMNCGBXfEk0[/youtube]

Remembering Senna

Ayrton Senna

At 14:17 on the 1st of May 1994, the Williams Renault car of the greatest driver in Formula 1 history went off at the Tamburello curve at the San Marino GP in Imola. Motor racing had lost its brightest light, in a tragic finale to its blackest weekend following the horrendous crash experienced by Rubens Barrichello and the fatal crash involving Roland Ratzenberger (as well as the injuries sustained by spectators as a result of a start line incident)

It’s now 20 years later and the thought of Senna brings about a bitter-sweet melancholy amongst many motorsport fans. We remember the amazing skill, the knife-edge racing and the unnatural ability to get more out of the car than anyone would have ever believed. We remember the proud patriotism and compassion that still sees the Senna foundation working hard amongst to poor and underprivileged of Brazil. Yes, we also remember the ruthlessness of a driver who would see the smallest sliver of daylight as an opportune gap for an overtake – oh, he was no saint when it came to racing but he was (and remains) THE best.

I remember watching the race. I was at home from university for the weekend (it was my mums birthday), and I sat down to watch the race hoping that better luck would befall my racing idol and that he would get his maiden victory in the Williams. I was just shy of 21 at the time. With technical details being less common in the TV coverage of the day I can’t pretend to have had some amazing insight that made me thing the tyre pressures were too low because of the safety car’s lack of speed, but I do know that I watched the restart with a great sense of unease. This was a weekend that had already seen so much tragedy that it felt wrong for the race to be continuing.

If only Ayrton had taken up the offer from Professor Sid Watkins to go fishing instead. But he was a racer so that wasn’t an option.

On only the second racing lap of the race Ayrtons car failed to take the 190mph Tamburello Curve, evidence would show he managed to slow it down to about 135mph by the time the car hit the wall. The moment etched forever in the memories of millions of fans.

I watched, horrified but transfixed. Praying and wishing that he would climb out of the car, take off his helmet, and give a wave to the crowd. I was sure I saw him move, as were millions of fans all over the world. It later transpired that this was probably caused by a muscle spasm and that he was already gone.

When the news broke, later that day, that Ayrton had died as a result of the crash I just wept. Even though the doctors and medics tried to revive him, the official time of death lists his passing as the time he crashed at the circuit.

I stopped watching F1 and wouldn’t start until the future Mrs Hartley got me back into it in 1999. Even now, 20 years later, I cannot ponder too long on that weekend without welling up again.

In the midst of the tears I smile though as I remember watching him race. Portugal ’85, Brazil ’91, Monaco ’88 and ’92 – and then there was, of course, Donington ’93. He was a genius behind the wheel, one with the car and the circuit. He was unbelievably strategic and tactical, positioning his car just right and driving with intellect that would often (but not always) be working in tandem with the fire and passion of the competitor he was.

RIP Ayrton Senna. The greatest of them all.

#RememberSenna