Synod stalemate...

...shamelessly nicked from Bishop Alan's blog...

Whilst the synod vote on women bishop's failed to reach the overall 2/3 majority of all three 'houses' and despite the profound sadness so many feel, on reflection perhaps we should consider the outcome may be for the best? Whatever the result yesterday evening there would have been no winners as such, even staunch objectors to the introduction of women bishops concede that there will come a time when women are appointed so. But at what cost would it be if the vote went through yesterday?

Personally I am totally in favour of bishops, regardless ;-) I was also taken by surprise at the depth of sadness I felt when the result was read out. But what I cannot endorse is the idea that we cannot be one in communion when served by a woman. And if the vote had gone through, as has been so more eloquently been expressed by most commentators, it would have enshrined in law that there should be provision BY A MAN for those that objected on theological grounds.

Now I know there are some that are sincere in that belief, however, listening to the live stream from Synod yesterday it was revealing how many that hold that view see it as a 'right', a personal preference for which a theological objection has been tailored. It was also made abundantly clear that advocates of the no vote felt this 'provision' had not been fully documented. I am unsure whether the church (in this case, read C of E) and Bishops in the House of Lords will have legitimate or legal standing to comment authoritatively on other matters whilst condoning the discrimination that is still rife and would have been formalised.

So yesterday has produced a mixed message. On one hand there was an overwhelming majority to accept women bishops, on the other hand the church has not moved any further forward. On one hand the Bishops and Clergy do seem to be more of one mind and yet on the other it would appear the House of Laity do not proportionately represent the rest of us. Furthermore whilst the clergy will feel the laity are a waste of space (see Twitter last night!!!) without us there is no church?

And the best moment during the debate? When the Bishop of Leicester attempted to bring some Christlike perspective with this comment during his speech: "Will this chamber be as full for the Living Wage debate tomorrow. Will the queue for the public gallery be as long?"

There is always hope...

P

Rational certainty versus Blessed assurance...

The enigmatic Dr Cornel West discussing writing his memoir with Craig Ferguson on the Late Late Show... and quoting the words of one of my favourite old hymns!

P h/t @iancron

Make love your goal...

The full version of Gabrielle Aplin's The Power of Love which is about to hit our screens as the soundtrack to John Lewis' charming Christmas 2012 advert...

Those of us ancient enough will recall this is a stripped down, alternative version of one of Frankie Goes to Hollywood's number one hits. FGTH, fronted by charismatic singer Holly Johnson, was one of those incendiary yet short lived bands in the 80s that made fantastic music with the assistance of legendary producer Trevor Horn.

P

Whoever has an ear to hear...

For those with family members, friends and senses that understand, an excellent mini TED talk...

P

Living and breathing the hard day's night...

Whilst it's been a bit of a journey, along with a sometimes fraught learning curve, it really is a great joy to have finally launched our little book, The Secret Chord . This has been a co-authored project with my buddy Jonathan Evens who has been brilliant at curating all my vague ideas into something tangible as well as encouraging me to take the step of now writing words rather than principally music. We have taken heed of others and their projects, too, such as Sam Norton, Kester Brewin and Liz Hinds, as all of whom have completed self managed publishing projects and freely shared their progress.

So far The Secret Chord is available on Amazon Kindle with the paperback hot on its heels for release at the end of this month. If you don't own a Kindle there are some excellent freebie Apps for PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android tablets and smartphones.

To supplement the book, both in physical form and when reading it on a non internet enabled Kindle, we have embarked on creating The Secret Chord website with all the web links and biographical notes along with some extra goodies. This will be more dynamic as we have plans for lots more content real soon...

We very much look forward to hearing your thoughts, please be gentle!

P

Pussy Riot thanks The Voice Project...

A thank you to the Voice Project community from Pyotr (and yep, that's baby Gera in the background sound). More info on how you can support via the excellent http://voiceproject.org/

"Seeing all this amazing solidarity across the world is one of the few things that gets the girls going through their brutal and grey prison days..."

P