http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/89/Westminster_Abbey_-_West_Door.jpg/450px-Westminster_Abbey_-_West_Door.j

16 November 2011 at NoonHer Majesty The Queen accompanied by His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh and His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales will attend a service of celebration, in association with the King James Bible Trust, to mark the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible at Westminster Abbey on 16 November at 12 noon.

The place of the King James Bible in our culture and the continuing significance of the Word will be celebrated in the service.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend and Right Honourable Dr Rowan Williams will give the Address. A new composition by one of the winners of the King James Bible Trust Composition Awards, Out of the South Cometh the Whirlwind by American composer, Zachary Wadsworth will be performed by the Choir of Westminster Abbey, conducted by James O’Donnell.

Following the service the Abbey’s bells will be rung to a peal of Stedman Caters comprising 5,400 changes.

Lancelot Andrewes, Dean of Westminster 1601-1605, was Director of the first Westminster Company responsible for translating part of the Old Testament. It is believed that the translators met in the Jerusalem Chamber at Westminster Abbey, a room also used by subsequent translators.

The service is part of a series of Abbey events marking the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible.

Taken from Westminster Abbey website and read more on the King James Bible Trust.

I’m a little concerned that we (Pete Phillips & I) have a meeting at 1.30pm, and it doesn’t start til 12 … we can get there from 10am. I’ll be getting the 854 I think – guess I should decide what to wear, and not forget my 2 forms of ID…

After blogging about @flashevensong on this blog the other day, and subsequent conversations on Facebook/Twitter, Wayne Clarke invited me to speak (at 7.40am!) on BBC Radio Merseyside about my experiences of being there.

• Listen again, from around 1.32, to the stories about St Paul’s (around 1.37 for my stuff)
• And I’ve collected a version for posterity…

The first photo: http://plixi.com/p/94886631

#ItIsFinished #RIPJesus: http://plixi.com/p/94905567

The End:

Feet Washing

With so much to look at, I thought I’d take a look at what Bryony had written (she always writes thoughtful stuff!), and I don’t know why, but that triggered me off to think about foot washing…

¹ It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

² The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. ³ Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; ⁴ so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. ⁵ After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

⁶ He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

⁷ Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

⁸ “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

⁹ “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

¹⁰ Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” ¹¹ For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

¹² When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. ¹³ “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. ¹⁴ Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. ¹⁶ Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. (John 13:1-16, New International Version, ©2011)

I searched for the term on YouTube, and came up with brilliant example of contemporary practice (not just symbolic): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maundy_Thursday

Maundy Thursday

I then thought, well, I’m not really sure what Maundy Thursday is (aside from the day when the Queen gives out bags of coins, and the older she gets, the more money you get…), so thank you Wikipedia for always being a great FIRST stop!

There has been a lot of debate this year re: whether the date of The Last Supper was actually Wednesday or Thursday, with a possible solution given by Colin Humphries (read more about the debate).

The Garden of Gethsemane

Take a virtual visit to the Garden of Gethsemane “Not my will, but yours”:

The Passion

In looking for Jesus brought before Pilate… it reminded me of the Manchester Passion 2006 (I was there, in the crowd… would we have been when Jesus was brought in front of Pilate?), see the Last Supper:

Of course there’s always Mel Gibson’s film, but local Passion plays, to be held tomorrow, give a chance to be a part of something on Good Friday. The closest one to me is in Southampton 7.30pm tomorrow (see @sotonpassion)….  anyone want to come with me? I missed the one in Winchester in 2008, but there’s plenty of others round the UK.

Hmmm – that made me look at Lady Gaga’s Judas lyrics… wonder quite what perspective she’s coming from…

and the anointing at Bethany (found here in the form of a meditation)

I also came across a few other options, but decided that the two above offered an interesting enough contrast…

So, it’s Tuesday, what does that mean? Not knowing the Easter timeline all that well, I was very pleased to spot this Holy Week Timeline via someone’s Twitter account, and blogged about it earlier today on BigBible.

According to the timeline above, we’re onto the withered fig tree, but EasterLive gives us a clear outline for the stories that we are looking at.

Thought 2: Tom Wright: The Parables

So, Tom Wright has talked to us about the Tenants in the Vineyard:

and in week 4, it was all about parables!

Thought 3: What has everyone else been talking about?

EasterLive have given us clickable options to what others have been talking about (I am assuming across the whole hashtag, rather than just for today):

Ah no, I just clicked, it’s not doing a tag cloud, it has given a list of pre-suggested words (so #Easterlive tweeters, get using them), as there’s a couple that are empty if you click through into them.

Thought 4: Arguments

Do arguments have to difficult, harsh, etc.? I googled ‘Postive Argument’, which may be some kind of scientific term, but I liked The Happiness Project outline of how to positively contribute to arguments..

There’s so many things we could follow around the web, but I’m off to meet with Huw, the imaginative person behind EasterLive, to celebrate his upcoming birthday…

Harry Potter recently rumbled back into town, and the debates amongst the Christian community arose again. To reject the series on principle: because the entire story is set within a world of magic? Or to place it within the canon of British allegorical writers with J.R.R. Tolkein and C.S. Lewis?

J.K. Rowling is a great storyteller, and I’m one of many who has been drawn in. Her stories, although set in a fictional world, chime with real-world choices and dilemmas. In 2007, with the final book published, Rowling stated that “the religious parallels have always been obvious”, but had not been made explicit, to protect future storylines. The Deathly Hallows was the most overt, so did this translate on screen?

As with the book, this film is the darkest yet. The film assumes deep knowledge of the backstory. Harry, Hermione and Ron (and friends) work together to fight the power of the horcruxes, those parts of Voldemort’s soul, which, if not destroyed, will give him ‘ultimate’ power. In the film, the ‘evil characters’ are particularly powerful. Throughout, however, it is clear that the magical world itself is deeply flawed, with an unjust power structure. Those wielding power are skilfully depicted as imperfect, false, untrustworthy, and downright dangerous.

The film convincingly illustrates the spiritual power of the undestroyed horcrux. In the fight against these dark forces, faith, hope and love (1 Corinthians 13:13) are clearly displayed amongst the friends. In the book, the clearest Biblical references are upon gravestones, including Matthew 6:21: “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”. Excluded from the film, this would have explained more clearly Ron’s return, as Dumbledore’s gift guides him back to Hermione.

Great stories. Great conversation starters.  July 2011 still seems a long way away, when the final battles commence – onscreen and offscreen!

Written for AHRC/New Generation thinkers bid , and see the remainder of the bid.

Download the MP3 (25MB) from Dropbox (I couldn’t find the stop button initially, so it carries on for a bit afterwards), and follow up at @bigbible.

Read the full article on Culture Footprint, which “features disciples in The Arts, Media, Business, Education, Politics, Sport and other professions who bring the presence of Jesus in the culture.A colourful collection of artisans, entrepreneurs, media makers, teachers, actors, singer/songwriters, politicians, seeking the wellbeing of society - one story at the time.”