Paul Vs Bear: FIGHT!

Date: 11 September 2006 09:30:56

Well, not really, however if the youth group could have set up the contest they would have and I wouldn't put it past them to try it regardless. I'm not going to feel fully safe until I read that he's climbing an innaccesible mountain foe the next twixty months of something.

A little backstory:

Ages ago the church newsletter asked if anyone could write something on the alpha course that would be starting up soon. I've not been on an alpha (hoping to go this time, as it's a big 2 church collaborative doo dah thing this time) but thought I could write something that would counter the arguments that people would have at the start and then hopefully move onwards from there. In a way the article is written in responce to a character I could visualise in my head in the hopes that that might come across to the people who might give the leaflet a chance in the first place... Article below the accompanying blather.

Then I forgot I'd written it, sort of kind of, so wifey and I were both surprised to see it printed in the newsletter (and she was more surprised that I didn't try to use it as some sort of an advert for my books, which I also didn't think about so there you go: example of Kercal not thinking number 12476 of a higher number set). Then, we were more suprised to see an article by the ominously named Bear Grylls on the back cover of the newsletter say things that sort of kind of contradicted what I was saying.... To wit the titles of the two articles:

Bear Grylls: Christians aren't weird.

Paul Kercal: Christians are weird*.

Now note, for example, the difference in just the two promotional shots: BG's is done in the Central American jungle for an upcoming Channel 4 survival series, 'Stranded'. Mine however is done on my own, in the arts centre, on the day that I'd finished one of the summer school days and stayed behind to get everything sorted the next day, knowing full well that I was still needing to get some sort of publicity shots done and not being able to think of anyone that could give me a hand with it. I was lucky that a couple of the shots came out ok.

To be fair there's an awful lot that we're in agreement on within the two articles which didn't stop the question getting asked as to whether I was intending to challenge Mr Grylls to some sort of face off and, as if the article had not been offputting enough (he's an SAS soldier, daring adventurer and best selling author, I'm a dog tired, haggard non-best selling anything) Mr Grylls website (http://www.beargrylls.com) showed me that I should only contact him to warn his agent away from any contact from teenagers from the Surrey area who might want to set up a meeting and then provide the custard pies. And, of course, I'm not in any way trying to insinuate that Mr Grylls or any of his highly trained muscles are in any way weird, throwing himself out of planes, paddling across oceans in bathtubs and other tales of derring do notwithstanding :-) He is, after all, a black belt in karate.

So anyhow: I offer a complete and utter retraction of anything that might cause anyone offence or cause a lack of tongue in cheek acknowledgement of what it was I wanted to do with the text. Consider the sound of my footsteps running off in the opposite direction of any area in which a parachute might land an apology. Sigh, of all the people in all the world I have to contradict in print it has to be him...

Christians are weird...

Let's be honest, Christians are weird*. Odd... Alien even. The world runs by certain standards and Christians just don't seem to get that, join in, keep their heads down...
For a start there's that whole “good news/bad news” thing: Good news: We're saved! Bad news: we're still sinners. Good news: God loves us! Bad news: the world doesn't etc... And, yes, we believe in something we can't see, and yes, we've all heard the analogy about the Holy Spirit being like electricity or the wind, even though they're not quite right because neither is alive or understands us...
It's a tough sell, this faith thing. How do you describe a feeling, a despair in how the world works or a desire for something bigger? How do you tell people about something so personal that it's key coded into the number of hairs on your head (and, if you've seen my beard you'll know that that's some code...)
The answer is: you can't.
Take a different example; I've helped run the Friday night youth group at St Peter's for ten years this year. It's a lot of fun, lots of work and I do it for a can of diet coke a week. Sound like a good deal? It is, in giving we receive and all that; ever bought a present for someone and been impatient to see it unwrapped? Similar feeling...
This year we said goodbye to a group of year 8's (our youth group runs from year 5 - 8) and I was sad to see them go. Most have been with us for years now and I'll miss all of them big time (and the ones who left last year, and the ones the year before that...) But how do you explain that? You can't. We said goodbye to them on their last week, gave them a present and waved 'bye at the door hoping we'll see them again in other places. You can't explain it: you have to show it, experience it, see it...
The world will tell you it's dog eat dog, there's no hope, it's a downward spiral, standards will always slip and all that. That's the bad news. The Good News is that there's a community who care, who support each other when times are tough and who are an unrelated family. Christians know we're weird*, the bible tells us so, but when there's so much bad news in the world I'll settle for the good news every day of my life.
That's where the alpha course helps out, faith is hard to explain, bigger than big, older than time and clouded by history and mystery so if you're going to find out what tops the world then you're going to want to do it with good company and good food aren't you? Check it out. After all, it's good to balance the bad news once in a while...

*For weird read: set apart, transformed, alien, hybrid, recreated, stranger etc.