The Welcome of Christ (Romans 15:7)

“Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God" (Romans 15:7)

The pressing question of this verse is ‘how has Christ welcomed us’? A brief meditation reveals this verse to be an immense challenge issued to the church, for…

Christ has welcomed us with sincere love as opposed to a cool apathy. Christ has welcomed us with an invitation rather than coercion. Christ has welcomed us with concern, rather than indifference to, our welfare. Christ welcomes us with hard and challenging words rather than an unloving permissiveness. On Earth Christ welcomed unconditionally those of different nationality, race, educational level, social class and wealth than himself. Christ welcomes us at a great cost to himself, embracing a filthy cradle, a manual apprenticeship in an obscure backwater, a band of rough fishermen as his best friends, a cruel crucifixion and a dark tomb in order to secure our everlasting welcome in His, the Father and the Spirit’s presence.

May our welcome of each other be so shaped after Jesus.

Vote 'Yes' for a Newcastle Mayor

On Thursday May 3rd residents of Newcastle City are being asked to vote in a referendum on whether they want a directly elected mayor to run the city’s affairs. Here are 5 reasons why I am voting ‘yes’ and would encourage all in Newcastle to do the same:

1. The revival of the City. Following a century or so of national economies holding sway, the city is re-emerging as the primary economic and cultural unit, largely as a consequence of globalisation. Cities thus need the strong, distinctive, political leadership that a directly elected mayor would provide if they are to stand out as globally distinctive centres of ideas, creativity and wealth. The health of the city depends on such vibrancy.

2. The need for economic leadership. Economic leadership in the North East has been woeful, and the decline of One North East has only exacerbated the constant and uncooperative bickering over meagre regional funds. As the region’s leading city Newcastle needs better than this, and a strong mayoral figure is the best hope for the economic nettle to be grasped and the potential prosperity of the region to be realised.

3. Resist the magnet! There is a giant magnet standing strong in the South East corner of this country. It sucks in a vast amount of the nation’s talent, influence, investment and political attention. It is, of course, London. Yes, lots of people live in London, but 80% of English persons do not. And it is becoming ever more apparent that the centralised nature of the English settlement is not serving the regions well, particularly harming the cities of the Midlands and the North. Resistance to this trend requires alternative centres of influence emerging, and an elected mayor is in a vastly superior position to resist the pull of London than a council leader who is in the throes of the Westminster-saturated main political parties.

4. A chance to end local politicking. Having national political parties compete in municipal elections has not served local governance well. Local government should be about serving the city as effectively as possible, overseen by a council whose concern is entirely for that happen. As it is, there are innumerable political pressures that flow both within the party groupings and between the council chamber and the executive office, that often have very little to do with what’s best for the city as opposed to what is best for particular individuals or mini political cartels. By voting for a directly elected mayor there is a chance to bypass this wasteful and unwholesome politicking by electing an independent mayor whose sole concern is the welfare of the city.

5. Ultimate accountability. Currently, if you think the council is doing a bad job, you can’t vote out the leader (unless you happen to be in the minority whose ward is the ward of the leader). With an elected mayor you would be able to do that. Surely a good thing.

Albums with Truly Outstanding Songs

Recently, while out jogging, I was listening to a particular album which made me ponder the following question – how many albums do I own that have more than one truly outstanding song on them? I’m not talking about albums with lots of good, or even lots of excellent songs on them (for I own many of those), but those with more than one at the true height of sublime songcraftery, the kind of songs that subconsciously you are waiting for even while enjoying the rest of the album. The life-affecting songs, the truly epic. These songs must be serious candidates for a 50 song shortlist to take to a desert island. With the standard bar set suitably high, I undertook a survey of my music collection to see which albums manage to score more than once (greatest hits etc do not count).

The results were interesting. There were a number of my favourite albums on there, but also many which would not feature in my all time top 20 album list. There were a couple which are not even my favourite album by that particular band. Only one band has two albums on the list. More incidentally (or is it?) there is a distinct clustering to the back end of the alphabet. Only one album would commonly be considered ‘worship’ music. Only two albums pre-date the 1990s. Two albums had three songs on them that made the grade. But perhaps most surprisingly, three of my favourite bands – Idlewild, R.E.M. and Blur – did not get a single album onto the list.

So, in alphabetical order by artist, I present the 17 I own albums containing more than one truly outstanding song (songs listed in parentheses):

The Decline of British Sea Power (Fear of drowning, Carrion, Lately) – British Sea Power
Grace (Grace, Hallelujah) – Jeff Buckley
An End has a Start (Smokers outside the hospital doors, The weight of the world) - Editors
Asleep in the Back (Powder blue, Newborn) – Elbow
No Name Face (Hanging by a moment, Simon, Quasimodo) – Lifehouse
This is my Truth, Tell me Yours (The Everlasting, If you tolerate your children will be next) – Manic Street Preachers
(what’s the story?) Morning Glory (Don’t look back in anger, Some might say) – Oasis
OK Computer (Exit music (for a film), Lucky) – Radiohead
The Low Sparked of High Heeled Boys (The low sparked of high heeled boys, Many a mile to freedom) – Traffic
() (untitled 3, untitled 8) – Sigur Ros
Takk (Glossoli, Milano) – Sigur Ros
The Queen is Dead (Cemetry gates, There is a light that never goes out) – The Smiths
Harmonies for the Haunted (Lost in time, On my own) – Stellastarr*
Dog Man Star (The wild ones, New generation) – Suede
Arriving (Your grace is enough, Mighty is the power of the cross) – Chris Tomlin
All that you can’t Leave Behind (Beautiful Day, Walk On) – U2
My Secret is my Silence (I came in from the mountains, Every line of a long moment) – Roddy Woomble