World Aids Day .... Are you HIV positive?

Well today is World Aids Day according to the BBC website ‘The number of new cases of HIV in Northern Ireland rose by 20% last year’ and shows no sign of dying down.  Approximately two people are diagnosed with HIV in Northern Ireland every week .... 104 people a year .... these are real people who are living and working around us, yet they largely go unnoticed.  

In July this year I found out about two friends who had contracted HIV.  One I found out about through chatting on Facebook one evening and the other I was in a doctors surgery with a friend as he heard the news.  In the later, I witnessed the pain and the hurt first hand, I remember the tears streaming down his face as he realized he would have to go home and tell his family, that he would have to inform his partner and that ultimately he would have to put some of his career plans on hold.  It was in that doctors waiting room that I came face-to-face with the reality of HIV Aids.  Suddenly this wasn’t just something happening to children in the Third World, but it was happening to my friend.   

There is still a large stigma around HIV in society today.   One thinks backs to the days when Princess Diana first stepped out to show compassion and care to those suffering with the disease, the shock and the horror, the reaction as to whether or not the Princess of Wales should be doing such a thing - yet in those moments of meeting the sufferer and simply talking to them Diana transcended the cultural and society norms and was just there with people.   Surely we as the church should be doing the same, reaching out to people whatever they are coming to terms with.  Not locking ourselves away behind the gates being afraid to get are hands dirty or getting messy - but just be out there doing the Jesus thing with the people around us.  

What can we do to change perception?? Well it begins by wearing a ribbon .... can lead to donating money, praying for a cure or even working with those who are directly affected.  

Today let us as individuals and as a church say that we are HIV positive in terms of seeking an end to suffering.  

World Aids day ..... Are you HIV positive????

Well today is World Aids Day according to the BBC website ‘The number of new cases of HIV in Northern Ireland rose by 20% last year’ and shows no sign of dying down.  Approximately two people are diagnosed with HIV in Northern Ireland every week .... 104 people a year .... these are real people who are living and working around us, yet they largely go unnoticed.  

In July this year I found out about two friends who had contracted HIV.  One I found out about through chatting on Facebook one evening and the other I was in a doctors surgery with a friend as he heard the news.  In the later, I witnessed the pain and the hurt first hand, I remember the tears streaming down his face as he realized he would have to go home and tell his family, that he would have to inform his partner and that ultimately he would have to put some of his career plans on hold.  It was in that doctors waiting room that I came face-to-face with the reality of HIV Aids.  Suddenly this wasn’t just something happening to children in the Third World, but it was happening to my friend.   

There is still a large stigma around HIV in society today.   One thinks backs to the days when Princess Diana first stepped out to show compassion and care to those suffering with the disease, the shock and the horror, the reaction as to whether or not the Princess of Wales should be doing such a thing - yet in those moments of meeting the sufferer and simply talking to them Diana transcended the cultural and society norms and was just there with people.   Surely we as the church should be doing the same, reaching out to people whatever they are coming to terms with.  Not locking ourselves away behind the gates being afraid to get are hands dirty or getting messy - but just be out there doing the Jesus thing with the people around us.  

What can we do to change perception?? Well it begins by wearing a ribbon .... can lead to donating money, praying for a cure or even working with those who are directly affected.  

Today let us as individuals and as a church say that we are HIV positive in terms of seeking an end to suffering.  

Young and ambitious yet in all the searching nothing is found???.....

Continuing on with the musical theme of the last post, this week I have been listening to the soundtrack of Evita in anticipation of its revival on Broadway next year.  One verse from the song ‘Don’t cry for me Argentina‘ has played on my mind over and over again the song was recorded and released in 1976 followed by the complete double album release, which went gold. The musical has won a whole clatter of awards, including seven Tony’s, a Grammy and indeed an Oscar, for the film version starring Madonna.   

The musical itself brings to life the dynamic, larger-than-life persona of Eva Peron. Beginning with a young and ambitious Eva, the production follows her meteoric rise to sainthood. The story tells of the enormous wealth and power she gained and the means by which she became the beloved Evita.  

The following lines jumped out at me and summarized what I see with hindsight as the theme song of some of my teenage years and I am sure that many of you reading this can also identify with them. 

‘So I chose freedom

Running around trying everything new

But nothing impressed me at all

I never expected it too’

Sometimes we become bored with what we have, especially as we approach Christmas we begin to wish that we had this or that.  We would be so much more happy if we had it..... Are lives would be more complete - yet the reality normally is that when we wake up on boxing day or the day after, the joy, the excitement, the feeling of completeness evaporates.  

Similarly the rest of the year round, that night out, the drink fueled binge, that moment of dabbling in what we know will do us harm - may leave us with a feeling of freedom and a momentary buzz - but does it last???  The answer of course has to be no.  No matter what we run after, no matter what we try, we still feel empty.  Though as the words of the song remind us did we ever expect anything else?

We are complete only in the words of Mike Scott when we find God ‘where He always was’ , simply present in the world around us.  

Jesus Christ ... Risen Star???

As many of you know, I am an avid fan of musical theatre.  Since the age of 12 my mum has had to spend a small fortune on taking me to local productions, London’s West End and even to Broadway.  

Of all the musical composers out there, it is the work of Andrew Lloyd  Webber which has had the greatest influence on my life, whether it be Joseph, Sunset Boulevard, Cats to name but a few and not to forget Phantom of the Opera which has been produced and staged all around the world, while Jesus Christ Superstar wins the accolade of being the most controversial.   Including songs such as ‘I don’t know how to love him’, ‘Gethsemane’ and of course the title song Jesus Christ Superstar.  

The musical focuses on the story of Jesus in the run up to his crucifixion.  The cleansing of the temple, Palm Sunday, the last supper, the betrayal, the trail and ultimately the crucifixion.  

Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of seeing an amateur production at the Grand Opera House and it was a totally different experience from when I saw the show in the same venue ten years ago.  For a start gone where the protesters outside with their placards and accordions, trying to drown out the music on the stage, but more than this it was the alterations and changes that had been made to the musical that left the lasting impact.  

Rather than conclude with Christ dying on the cross, the curtain then goes down, the cast leave the stage and the curtain rises and the focus is on an empty floodlight cross and an empty stage.  The focus shifts from the crucified Christ to the risen Christ.  While initial productions may have focused on the humanity of Christ, now the focus was on the divinity of Christ.  

The message I was left with was, what is the danger of communicating half truths? On the one hand when the musical stops with the crucifixion, it is displaying a truth, yes Christ died, but to rob the story of Easter and the risen conquering Son is to rob it of its full power and authority.  We believe in a risen Savior.    One who died for our sins, but one also who through his resurrection and ascension promises a future in the presence of God to his believers.  Take a moment to today to stop and think what half truths are being communicated in society today and that communication is robbing the story of its full power and effect.  

Protect me from what I want

This time last week I was spending the night in london. 

This was a trip I had been looking forward to as I really didn’t go anywhere over the summer holidays.  It was something I wanted! One night in a suite at Claridges  - no expense spared, airport transfers, afternoon tea, theatre tickets, champagne  Lifted and laid and living like a king!  Yet the 48 hours that followed challenged me to my very core.  The difference between what I want and what I need. 

Somewhere between the thrill and the excitement, the luxury and the champagne I had a feeling that shocked me to my very core - In what should have been a comfortable if not luxurious experience I was feeling very uncomfortable.  In the champagne bubbles I saw that here I was worshiping at the alter of luxury and decadence, now don’t get me wrong there is nothing wrong with the odd treat, but this was more than a treat, this was my trying to find happiness in luxury - struck to the core once again with the words of Jesus telling me that He had come (not Claridges) so I could have fullness of life!

What was I doing ... I was in need of a reality check.

The following day this was articulated further as I visited an exhibition at the V&A on Postmodernism (which i strongly recommend) and gazed on an piece of art by Jenny Holzer - Protect Me From What I Want - when we pursue what we want rather than what we need we can hardly complain when we end up with a world against which the Occupy movement is arguing against.  A world in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and the squeezed middle feel the pinch further.  

The experience captured by Martin Amis when he commented ‘money doesn’t mind, if we say it’s evil, it goes from strength to strength.  It’s a fiction, an addiction and a tacit conspiracy’.  The trip left me re-examining how I spend my money and what I do with my money ....  

Well here it goes

Hey world
Following what has been a couple of interesting weeks of Facebook, which has resulted in a lot of comment and debate I have decided to blog!  Over the incoming weeks and months you will be treated to my jibberJABer on a variety of issues, music, art, religion. faith and issues.