JUNE 2024

View from the Crow’s Nest

WRITING

Actually did some writing this month!  Mostly it was getting ‘The Church has a Past – has it got a Future?’ ready to send to a traditional publisher, Darton, Longman and Todd (DLT).  The first step was revising the first two parts, Part 1, ‘Continuing Conversations’, about the last 2,000 years, and Part 2, ‘Being credible in a post-modern world’.  

I updated the section on AI, including ChatGPT, church statistics to include figures from the 2021/2022 census, and wrote a section on New Age religion, with a brilliant quote about Heathenry.

I wrote the section of the Eastern Orthodox Church up to 1453.  This included the 14th century controversy between Gregory Palamas and the rationalist priest Barlaam over ‘hesychia’ or ‘prayer of quiet’.  Gregory defended the idea that any Christian could have a direct encounter with God in the Spirit.  Happily, Gregory won.

On 6th I was invites to submit not one but two articles, one for the Retired Clergy Association newsletter, and another, an online one, for Anglicanism.org.  I have written the one for the Retired Clergy on ‘What I learnt about Jesus through writing fiction’.  However, I only managed to cover half my book, viz. Yeshua’s occupation of the Outer Court of the Temple.  I have offered to write another one on Maundy Thursday to Easter.  

In the first  there is a small section on ‘Character’.  Here I described Yeshua as ‘strong, determined, politically skilful with a sense of humour and a talent for subverting expectations.’  What do you think?  Drop me a line.

The other article is for ‘anglican.org‘, I chose to revise my blog  ‘A New Way of Reading John’.  I am half-way through revising my blog and will send it out this week.

MARKETING

On Saturday 8th I had a day out in St Albans, a lovely old town with a lively market, a beautiful park and a magnificent cathedral.  I met Sharon, the manager of the cathedral shop, and she may well stock ‘Daily Prayers from the  World’s Faiths’ and ‘Bible in Brief’.  I My suggestion that  the latter would make an ideal confirmation present was what sparked her interest.

Two days later an assistant at our local Kensington Waterstone’s said he would let their buyer have ‘Daily Prayer from the World’s Faiths’ to decide if they might stock it in local shops.  I live in hope!

MEDIA

My Facebook and Instagram posts continued three times a week.  At the end of the month I finally looked at my analytics.  It is clear that my normal posts have almost no views.  But I did get 350 views for my cousin Albert in a coloured shirt standing in the middle of Warwick Road.  I think I need to do something different!

What triggered my looking at my analytics was DLT’s requirement that I tell them about my marketing.  The figures are as follows:

• Email list 200
• Bible in brief website 825 users – 1,000 visits per month
• Facebook reach 850 in June
• visits   35  “     “
• follows.  8. “     “

Clearly what attracts people is quirky photos.  I shall try to do better this month.

CHURCH

I continue to lead a small Bible study group on Zoom.  Only a few, but we have a really good discussion and care for each other.

On 24th I went to a talk at St Mellitus College on the controversy in the C of E on prayer for same-sex couples.  It was an excellent talk by a theologian Andrew Godard, giving both sides of the argument.  This month I hope to write a blog for my book about the future of the Church called ‘Sex and Society’.   I hope I can then discuss it with him.

On the last Saturday I had the privilege of going to the ordination of my friend Basir in St Paul’s Cathedral. I had an amazingly good seat, right next to the person signing the service.  Very inspiring.

Greeting the newly ordained

FAMILY AND FRIENDS

Linda’s cousin Albert visited us from Halifax, Canada when he came to Oxford for a conference on AI and business.  We had a great family 4-day excursion to Cawsands in Cornwall, just across the river Tamar from Plymouth.  Some of us arrived by the iconic Cawsands ferry.  Linda and I stayed in the ‘Crows Nest’, a tiny house 70 steps up with a simply wonderful view. And the weather was great.

The Cawsands Ferry

FILMS

The most memorable films we saw this month were old ones recorded from the TV:  ‘Schindlers List’ which Linda had not seen before; and ‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood’, about the iconic U.S. children’s presenter Fred Rogers.  He was the most marvellous man, gentle, engaging and wise.  Tom Hanks played him, and the studio had to reduce his heart rate to enable him to do so!