The March of Progress, Google Maps Style

A wee while ago, I was arranging to meet up with a friend for a chat. We wondered where would be convenient to meet, and Costa at Holywood Exchange was suggested. Not knowing there was a Costa at Holywood Exchange (beside Ikea in Belfast), I took to technology to discover where it was. Google Maps is always my friend, and especially their amazing Streetview function. You get to see what places look like before you go there, so you know what to look out for, or which lane to be in.

While perusing Streetview on Google Maps, I discovered that their images, built up over several years have provided a glimpse into the development of the Holywood Exchange retail park, and the building of the Costa coffee shop. Three images, side by side, on one roundabout show the absence, construction, and finished article.

Here's the first, from May 2010.

The site is just waste ground, with the hint of what may be coming, the fence securing the site.

Fast forward to June 2012.

The steelwork of the building is now in place, but there's no hint of any coffee aroma yet - apart from the workmens' flasks.

Finally, we have the most recent image, from April 2015.

Costa is open for business, the building complete and full of customers.

Now, it may well be that I'm the only person on the planet who thinks this is interesting or amazing. I'm fully prepared for that! But isn't technology amazing, to show how one little site in the corner of a carpark has been developed, coming along in stages, progress being made, and only really properly seen in hindsight.

That's one of the reasons I (try to) keep a journal. Little markers along the way, charting moments of growth and progress, giving me the opportunity to look back, to see where I've come from, to celebrate what God is doing. The wasteland is showing signs of life. A new building is emerging - not a coffee emporium, but the temple of the living God as we living stones are built together. That's much more exciting than an espresso or a latte.

Goodbye Gazette?

We're coming round to the time of year when my subscription to the Church of Ireland Gazette is due. This year, though, I'm seriously thinking about not renewing my subscription. Could it be goodbye to the Gazette?

For many years I've been an avid reader of the Gazette. At a time in Dromore, there were only two copies came into the newsagents - one for the rector and one for me. It was an amazing source of information on the Church of Ireland beyond my parochial boundaries. I kept up to date on the events in exotic places like Clogher or Cork, Cloyne and Ross. I tracked clergy movements as appointments were made and retirements notified. The letters were infuriating and inspiring - sometimes both. At home home (if that makes sense), there were lever arch files stuffed full of back copies of the Gazette, carefully kept in order - now consigned to the recycling - because who really needs to look back at an old copy of the Gazette from the 1990s?

In recent times the Gazette has modernised its production. Paper copies still exist for some people, but for most, the Gazette entered the digital age. On a Tuesday morning the latest copy of the Gazette appears on my computer screen for my weekly fix of Irish Anglican news. I'll flick through it, read a couple of articles, check who has been appointed where and that's me done.

The way we consume news has changed, leading to challenges for the national daily newspapers and the local weeklies. The same challenge is facing the Gazette in the days of digital news and rss feeds. A high proportion of the Gazette's filler comes from press releases and news items which have already appeared in the previous couple of weeks on the Church of Ireland's news page, or from one of the diocesan news feeds. For that reason, the news in the Gazette isn't news anymore.

I tend not to bother reading the columns or book reviews. Occasionally there is a particularly heretical column highlighted by others which I'll read. The letters page seems to go round again and again with the same old stuff - retired rectors giving current ones stick for not doing their jobs the way they used to; researchers looking for information; and the odd tussle about the latest issue.

So is it really worth the money when I'm only interested in the appointments section, to see who is moving where? I'm sure if it affected me directly I'd hear soon enough, and if not, it probably doesn't matter.

I considered it fleetingly last year. This year it's looking more likely. After all this time, it could indeed be goodbye to the Gazette.

CheeriO2

Today, after fifteen years, I'm leaving O2.

My life over those last fifteen years has been neatly divided into spells of three years - three years at Queens University Belfast; three years in Newtownstewart; three years in Dublin; three years in Dundonald; three years in Brookeborough. Through it all, O2 have been there, every step of the way.

I can remember sitting in Glenn's house chatting with him, Andrew and Donna about these new (to us) mobile phones. They would be a good idea to have in case you were lost or stuck somewhere. The price of texts and phone calls seemed extortionate (it probably was, for what can be done now in a tariff), but it would be 'just in case'.

This was the phone I bought the very next day. BTCellnet with the screw-out aerial. My first phone from 1999.

It quickly emerged that texting was more than 'just in case' and was, in fact, almost essential to existence in those pre-Facebook msn messenger days. From that first phone, I progressed to the Nokia 3310, and the inevitable playing of Snake 2.

Nokia, the indestructible phones, were my staple for quite a few years. The 5200 was a cool, funky, flip phone which doubled as a music player. It was great, right up until the night that it went a bit mad and started phoning my contacts randomly in the middle of the night.

While sojourning in Dublin, I had two mobiles simultaneously - my Irish network of choice being O2Ireland, with another Nokia - a 6100?

There was, I think, one more Nokia, but it was recycled after I upgraded to the iFamily: iPhone 3; iPhone 4; 1Phone 5c. A wealth of possibilities in the palm of your hand - texting, phone calls, email, internet, maps, games, the whole Bible, prayer points, apps, and much, much more.

Fifteen whole years with one company. Fifteen years of using O2 for my mobile phone provision, as well as three years of internet provision.

The writing was on the wall when we moved to Fermanagh. O2 couldn't provide home internet as it was too far from their service provision. Hello BT Infinity. There has never been a great O2 signal in our area, with incredibly patchy coverage at home. Texts could be delayed for hours; sending texts has to be retried many times before they would send; calls may have been missed.

So today I make the change. Adios to O2 (should that be AdiO2 ?). CheeriO2. Hello Vodafone. At some point today, the change will take effect as the PAC code works its magic and the technological fairies do their thing. The advice in the email from Vodafone is clear enough:

'Wait for your current SIM to lose service (this will happen between 11am and 4pm)' - since my O2 signal has been so rubbish, how will I know if it's deactivated or just acting as normal? I'll probably have to keep checking by switching sim cards until it's sorted.

Farewell O2. Thank you for everything. Hello Vodafone!

Feedly: The Google Reader Replacement

I'm very much a creature of habit. Once I get into a routine, I'm hard to shift from it. I don't like change! It manifests itself in lots of little things, but one in particular is my consumption of websites and blogs. For about seven years, I've been using Google Reader as my feed reader. It's always been good, simple, and efficient - all the updates are fed straight to your reader without you having to visit each individual blog to check for updates. But then came the news of Google Reader's pending doom. What to do now?

With various options, I've decided to opt for Feedly. At the start, it seemed clunky, strange to use, and not as familiar as Google Reader. Having trialled it for a month or two, I'm not sure why I didn't change much sooner! Feedly provide a dedicated app for smart phones as well as a desktop reader for, well, desktops! The iPhone app is the version that I've been using the most, and it's well built, much more efficient and reliable than reader, and perfect for the purpose of reading blogs. The easy access to click through to the actual website is very useful, and the whole app doesn't have to reload any time you return to the feed (unlike the old Google Reader mobile site). If you're wanting to be kept up to date with blogs, it's definitely the app/site to use. You'll pick it up in no time, and adding in subscriptions is also very handy.

one slight criticism is that sometimes, the Feedly iPhone app freezes or times out, with the result that you occasionally see the same news items several times before it realises you've read them. Although that could be my phone being jam packed with stuff and not having the necessary RAM.

Desperate Preachers . Com?

Two years ago, I noticed that one of the sermons on my blog was getting an awful lot of traffic in one particular week. It turned out that the sermon was on the very passage recommended by the Revised Common Lectionary, and in the one week that particular page was viewed 805 times.



The peak was on the Saturday, leading me to conclude that there were some desperate preachers looking for sermon ideas (or perish the thought, a ready-made whole sermon) for their Sunday morning gathering. Surely there aren't 805 ministers and pastors who would give pre-chewed food to their congregations?

There is more to the preaching event than just transferring information, or some useful thoughts on a Bible passage. In preaching, the community of God's people is gathered in a particular place, together, to hear from God into their situation from his unchanging word. That means that, although the principles from the passage may be the same, the way they are applied and explained and introduced needs to be carefully thought for the particular context and situation.

What was written for my former suburban parish doesn't necessarily match or work in my new rural parish. And they are only 70 miles apart, let alone congregations in entirely different countries and continents!

It seemed to be a one off. Thankfully. That was, until this week. The numbers visiting my blog in a normal day have increased, but again, the numbers have been off the scale in recent days. The reason? Mark 9:30-37 was the RCL gospel, leading to over 2000 pageviews of my sermon from 2010.

To put this in context: The previous highest number of pageviews on a single day was 400 on the 13th February 2011 (when it was another flurry of preachers looking a sermon on the Transfiguration from Mark 9). This week has totally smashed that - 1072 page views on Saturday alone (more than the whole month of September 2008!).

There definitely appears to be a market for desperate preachers wanting sermons. Let's hope it's not just laziness on their part, avoiding any work and taking a ready-made article from the internet for their congregations on Sundays.

Me, I'll continue to post my sermons on the blog, following the advice of John Piper:

'And if you're going to do it for one person [researching and writing on a pastoral theme] you might as well put it on the Web and just multiply your usefulness.' (p. 141 'The Power of Words and the Wonder of God')

Cellular Network Data

It's almost a month since I upgraded my O2 pay monthly mobile from an iPhone 3GS to an iPhone 4. It's been nice to get started on the newer phone, learning how to work it and the extra things it can do - including my first FaceTime conversation!

This post, though, is more concerned with the change in O2's cellular charging policy. When the iPhone first came out, there was unlimited data available. It meant you could endlessly surf the internet, check emails, use maps, and all the rest across the 3G and cellular data networks (as long as your battery continued!). Not long after I got my iPhone, I noticed that O2 were changing the contract, and a separate subscription was required for pay monthly data usage - £6 per 500MB or £10 for 1GB. It was in place straight away for new customers, but would only be forced on current customers when their contract finished or an upgrade was completed.

I have to admit, I was worried by these new charges. I would tend to use the mobile web quite a bit, finding it useful to have email on the go, as well as using apps like Lookaly to find restaurant recommendations, Google maps, Facebook, Twitter and all the rest. Would I be caught out by the extra charges? Were O2 going to make a lot more money off me through the new contract when I upgraded?

After the first month, I can safely say they won't be using me to fund their retirement plan. While I may have been slightly cautious on the mobile web, at the end of my first month, it looks a bit like this:



Less than one-fifth of the network data allowance used! It certainly seems that perhaps 500MB is a reasonable allowance and one that I won't be topping any time soon, given that I've been using my phone to navigate to some rural churches as well as updating Facebook and Twitter when I've had opportunity.

Church of Ireland Twitter - May 2011

It's the end of another month, and time to update the tweeting clergy rankings for May 2011. The Bishop of Cork continues to sit atop the table, although the Bishop of Down is ascending the rankings steadily each month. There were a couple of high profile tweeters who are now ungraded, and have dropped out of the top twenty, enabling a few new faces to appear, such as Henry Hull and Simon Genoe. Personally, my ranking seems to be in a period of stasis, being joined by Harold Miller and Rob Jones on 78 while Victor Fitzpatrick motors away from me to 81. As ever, the rankings are provided by Twitter Grader analysing the Church of Ireland clergy Twitter list.

Church of Ireland Twitter - April 2011

Slightly earlier than usual this month, but here is the latest rankings of clergy in the Church of Ireland using Twitter, according to Twitter Grader. The Bishop of Cork has extended his lead at the top, while Victor Fitzpatrick has finally wrestled clear of me to take third place in his own right. This is just the top twenty, out of 45 ministers now using Twitter (and listed on the Church of Ireland clerics list).

Church of Ireland Twitter - March 2011

It's the end of another month, and time for another quick look at the Clergy Twits of the Church of Ireland. Some dramatic twists this month, with Craig McCauley dropping out of Twitter, having been in third previously, and lots of new entries - Susan Green, Nigel Dunne, Paul Willoughby (all Cork), and (due to an oversight on my part) Gareth Harron, who jumps in at 6th. The top two haven't changed, with Stephen Neill in second and the Bishop of Cork at one, while Victor Fitzpatrick and myself are still on equal points in joint third...

Mum Playing X-Box: Funny!

My brother got an XBox 360 for Christmas, with Formula 1 2010 and a steering wheel. We persuaded mum to have a go, and here's the hilarious result...

Church of Ireland Tweeters - January 2011

It's the end of the month, so another quick look at how the Church of Ireland Twittering Clergy are performing. The Bishop of Cork has regained his solo top spot, edging out paddyanglican. The Bishop of Down and Dromore is slowly gaining ground, up from equal 10th to 8th equal. Most scores are increasing, perhaps as Twitter becomes a more useful tool for ministry.

Motets Smote Mostest

Music technology is brilliant, when it works properly. Having seen an offer for some free music downloads from emusic, I got the Handel oratorio 'Israel in Egypt' (because I'm so very rock and roll!). It recounts the story of the children of Israel's misery in the land of Egypt, and how God came to their aid by sending the ten plagues on Egypt including the Passover, and brought them out to take them to the Promised Land. This afternoon I was listening it as I drove into town, and spotted a slight mistake in the track information for one of the tracks.

As you're probably aware, the track listing and title appears, so you know what you're listening to. However, someone has put the wrong information in, so that what should be a quotation from Psalm 105 ('He smote all the first-born of Egypt') actually appears as:

He smote all the first-born of Israel

It simply isn't true! In the tenth plague, the Passover, the firstborn of every family and every herd died. From the son of Pharaoh to the son of the captive in the dungeon (Exodus 12:29), death touched every house. Every house mourned. The Lord certainly smote all the firstborn in Egypt, but here's the surprising thing: none of the firstborn of Israel were smitten!

The next morning, the firstborn son of every family of Israelites was still living, in contrast to the firstborn of every family of Egyptians. What was the difference? In the Israelite households, a substitute died in place of the firstborn. A substitute the Lord had provided in his instructions to Moses:

1The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 "This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. 3Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. 4And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 5Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 6and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.
7"Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. 10And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 11In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD’s Passover. 12For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

21Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. 22Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. 23 For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. 24You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever. 25And when you come to the land that the LORD will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service. 26And when your children say to you, 'What do you mean by this service?' 27you shall say, 'It is the sacrifice of the LORD’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.'" And the people bowed their heads and worshiped. (Exodus 12:1-13, 21-27)

Imagine being the oldest son in the family, knowing that the sentence of death had been passed that evening. Every firstborn in Egypt would die. But there's a chance that the death of Larry the lamb will mean that you live. Would you be nervous as you lie down and go to sleep?

Then the next morning, you waken, you're still alive. You can truly say, the lamb died in my place. You live, because the lamb was slain. (It's the same for us - because Jesus died on the cross, in our place, the Lamb of God takes away our sin, and we can live). That's why our friend compiling the track information got it wrong - Israel wasn't smote, but Egypt was. Indeed, as the oratorio continues:

He smote all the first-born of Egypt, the chief of all their strength. But as for his people, he led them forth like sheep.

Free John Piper ebooks

Over at the Desiring God website, a number of John Piper's books as well as other resources, have been made available as free ebook pdf downloads.


I'm not sure how long they'll be available, so why not have a look and download them today? (H/T The Proclaimer)

Changing Subjects

Last night I was listening to one of the All Souls podcasts, and Rico Tice was preaching from Galatians 1. He pointed out that in the gospel, the subject of our life changes.

Paul is writing to these Galatian Christians who have so quickly turned aside from the gospel Paul preached, and have listened to a false gospel that is no gospel - that of legal observance. So Paul points to the way the gospel changed him:

For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me... (Galatians 1:13-16)

Paul was very religious, extremely so - but it was all about himself. Paul was the subject - 'I... I... I...' The good news about Jesus isn't about our achievements, it's simply about what God has done for us and in us:

But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me

Do you see the subject change? No longer I, Paul; now it is he, God. God had set Paul apart before birth to be the apostle to the Gentiles. God had called Paul by his grace. God revealed his Son to Paul.

When we are converted, there's a change of subjects in our life. God is now the subject of our life, our assurance, our peace. Do you need to change subjects?

Top Twittering Clergy

Inspired by the Twurch of England top 20, here we have for the first time, the top 20 Church of Ireland twits! These are primarily drawn from the Clergy list of the Church of Ireland Twitter list, with some alterations. As with the English system, I've used Twitter Grader which gives the influence grade out of 100.

Name - Username - Grade
1. Stephen Neill paddyanglican 95.5
2. Bishop Paul Colton b2dac 93
3. Gary McMurray gmcflurry 69
4. Victor Fitzpatrick prayspot 67
5. Liz Hanna hannamanor 66
6. Earl Storey topstorey 62
7. Alan Barr alnbarr 61
8. Arlene Moore revamo 58
9. Craig McCauley rrrcmcc 56
10. Daniel Owen dnlowen 55
11. Bryan Martin dromoreminister 52
12. Trevor Johnston trevorjohnston 45
13. Robert Miller robsmiller 42
13. Adrian Dorrian adriandorrian 42
15. Stephen Lowry shlowry 38
15. Elizabeth Cairns revelizca 38
17. Robert Lawson contemp1 36
18. Daniel Nuzum danielnuzum 32
19. Alistair Grimason deantuam 22
19. Brian Harper colliedoggie 22

If you know of any twittering clergy missing from the list, drop a comment/email, and perhaps we'll revisit this at some point in the future to see how this new technology is being used by the church!

The Early Church and The Stig

Our Harvest weekend has now finished, and we'll probably be thinking and planning for Christmas services before long. Before Harvest completely disappears from our memory, I wanted to share a few resources from the weekend with you.

Our special guest over the weekend was Bishop Wallace Benn, the Bishop of Lewes on the south coast of England. On Saturday, he taught on the Early Church and its Growth: a study from Acts, which is the basis of a new book soon to be published. The book will be excellent, based on the material he presented and preached on Saturday. You can listen in, as the mp3s are available from the first two sessions of the day over at the St Elizabeth's sermon blog: Session 1; Session 2. Sadly the third session didn't record - blame the idiot curate and his technology!

You might have read the title and wondered how a racing driver fits in with the early church. On the Friday night, Bishop Wallace let slip that he had been on a well known driving programme, and thanks to the wonders of YouTube and the internet, we tracked it down and showed it on Saturday. This is the edited highlights of Wallace's appearance. Enjoy!

The Forbidden Fruit

Over the past few months, I've enjoyed reading Clients From Hell in Google Reader. The premise is simple. Anonymous web designers and other creatives share some of the weird, scary, or downright funny things their clients say as they commission and oversee design projects. The other day, they had a religiously themed post - perhaps all those Apple Geek minsters and youth workers should take note and repent...

Even more interestingly, given the convictions expressed over there, it is Apple's Steve Jobs who has been anti-pornography in the app market.

On The Twelve Days of Christmas...

iTunes gave to me, not a partridge in a pear tree, but twelve freebies! Check it out at the 12 days website. Perfect if you got a new iPhone or iPod for Christmas, or just want to get some free songs and videos. Today's special offer is the Snow Patrol song 'An Olive Grove Facing The Sea'.

The End Of Narnia

One of my first purchases on acquiring an iPod were The Chronicles of Narnia in audiobook format. Many months ago, I blogged about an Irish Mr Tumnus in TLTWATW. Just yesterday I finally listened to the last words of the last book The Final Battle, having heard all seven stories read aloud to me. A great set of stories, and very enjoyable to experience in a new way through sound rather than sight. Highly recommended.

My next audiobook download is to be the ESV Listener's Bible, read by Max McLean. Again, something normally read, so the listening will be another method to immerse myself in Scripture. How long does it take to read the Bible? There are 75 hours of mp3s! So between the Bible audio, sermon podcasts, and the bizarre collection of music on the iPhone, I'll have plenty to listen to over the next while!

The Word With You

Psalm 1 reminds us that blessed is the one whose 'delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.' Meditating points to chewing it over, like a cow chews the cud, to get the full meaning out of the verses concerned. But how can we do this when we're busy people? Aside from a quiet time, how can we continue to reflect on the word through the day?

If you're anything like me, then you may well forget and be caught up in other things - even good things. Now I've hit on a scheme to help me remember and meditate, which happens as often as I check my phone for texts.

All it takes is a Bible, and a mobile phone with a camera. Take a photo of the verse you're using that day, or week, then store that photo as your screensaver/background. Every time you lift your phone, you see the verse which sets is running through your head again, stirring up reflections and maybe even influencing how you respond to THAT text or phone call.

I've even modified my suggestion, by having written the verses out first in my journal, then taken the photo: