7/7 Five Years On

Time seems to move so quickly, yet the memories are vivid. Particularly in dealing with terrorist incidents, those caught up in the events will never forget, while the rest of the world moves on and barely remembers at all. It was the case with the terrorism in Northern Ireland, and also with the more recent terrorist attacks in Madrid, London and various other places.

The media have been covering the fifth anniversary of the 7/7 atrocity today, when the transport network in London was attacked by a co-ordinated series of bombs, just the day after London had learnt that it was to host the 2012 Olympic Games. 52 innocent people died, as well as the suicide bombers themselves, and hundreds were injured as the bombs exploded on underground trains (the Tube), and on a double decker bus.

Strangely, I was in London that day. I had travelled over to London with Stanley and David for the Proclamation Trust Student Minister's Preaching Conference, four days of honing the skills needed to handle and teach God's word. For those looking on from outside, it was a worrying time - the mobile phone networks couldn't cope, so contact was virtually impossible, so the only source of information was the TV news reports.

In London, things were very confused. At the time, I blogged about that day when I got home to Northern Ireland. We slept in that morning, and on getting to Victoria, the underground was shut, leading to thousands of people trying to jump on buses. We headed on a bus so far (passing Betty Boothroyd walking down Victoria Street), then had to walk the rest of the way.

I remember an anxious moment on the bus when someone with a strong Irish accent was talking on his mobile phone and said "So it's happening then?" and reached into his rucksack... But it turned out to be Muslim terrorists, rather than those of Irish extraction.

Perhaps the most bizarre point of the day came when David and myself went on the London by night bus tour - the driver seeking to return to normal life as quickly as possible, and to show that Londoners wouldn't be defeated by such terror tactics.

Scenes of carnage, similar to many bomb attacks here in Northern Ireland, and many victims left with continuing scars, both physical and psychological. Remember those who are suffering today, and who lost loved ones as they journeyed to work.

Another day of man's evil towards man. Another day of sickness and suffering. But one day these things will have perished, and all things will be restored. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

Book Review: Dark Fire

As I've probably said before, I'm hooked on the Shardlake series of murder mystery intrigue set during the reign of King Henry VIII. Dark Fire is the second novel in the series by CJ Sansom, this time set entirely in reforming London while Lord Cromwell is in trouble during the last days of Henry's marriage to Anne of Cleves while courting Catherine Howard.

While involved in a murder trial, Matthew Shardlake is caught up in the business of state again by Thomas Cromwell, who sends him careering through the mucky, filthy, smelly streets of London town as a shadowy consortium have offered Greek Fire (a high powered liquid explosive of Byzantine origin) to Cromwell. Yet in the days before a demonstration of the Greek Fire, those involved in the manufacture of the substance begin to be murdered. Shardlake and his new assistant Jack Barak need all their wits as they chase the killers who are always one step ahead, while mixing with high society types and the political elite.

The murder mystery itself makes the book worth reading, and the pages are quickly turned as you rush to find what happens next. But perhaps the most special quality of the book is to authentically bring alive the streets of olde London. I always love visiting London, but Sansom describes just what it would have been like 500 years ago, the sights (including a high wooden steeple on the then St Paul's - before the Great Fire of London, you remember), the entertainments, the squalor, and the opinions of the ordinary people as the politics of the reformation were played out on the national and international stages.

There are some philosophical moments as the characters discuss the purpose or meaninglessness of life - one asks 'What do our lives matter? What are any of us but pawns in the schemes of the great?' (Have things changed as we look at the dealing and discussions trying to form a coalition government at the minute?)

There was just one mistake which I noticed - on page 198 Shardlake arrives at Guy's and he 'opened the satchel and laid the alchemical books on the table.' Just two pages later in the same scene, we're told that he 'took the alchemy books from my satchel and laid them on the table.' A minor oversight, but not one to be troubled over!

If you're into history, politics, religion, intrigue or murder mystery, then have a go at reading CJ Sansom and his Shardlake series. you will thoroughly enjoy them, just as much as I do!

London Calling

Tomorrow I'm off for a day trip to London. No sight-seeing, as we'll be in Methodist Central Hall at Westminster. The reason for the trip is to attend the UK and Ireland launch of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, a global fellowship of Anglican Christians committed to Scripture and mission together.

From what I can gather, there's wifi available in the hall, so I may be able to blog throughout the day - if so, watch this space.

The London-in-a-day thing means that it's an early start and a late return, but here goes...

Visit Belfast's Tower Bridge

I'm all for promoting Belfast for tourists - I think it's a good thing, and welcome any efforts to get Belfast and Northern Ireland into the mind of holidaymakers. However, I came across one website recently which may not be the most helpful. I admit, it might have been an easy mistake to make, but it won't help the tourists who do actually come along to see the city.

What's the problem? Well, the site is using a photo of London's Tower Bridge to promote Belfast. Here it is:



Now perhaps it was an easy mistake - maybe the site developers aren't from Belfast, and they put 'Belfast' into a search engine or stock photo website, and thought it was a great image. After all, HMS Belfast is in the picture. The problem is that it's not in Belfast.

There are loads of great photos of Belfast that could be used to entice tourists to visit, but using photos of London probably isn't the best strategy... Unless Belfast has a new Tower Bridge that I haven't noticed on my travels!

I have emailed the people behind the site, but haven't heard anything from them yet.

Theology at the Theatre 1

Les Miserables
Originally uploaded by Gary McMurray.

While we were in London, we managed to get to a couple of shows in the West End. The first one we saw was Les Miserables, which, I have now discovered isn't the name of a very sad man. Of course, it is a French title, we all knew that!

While this was more emotional / depressing / touching than the other show we saw (The Lion King - more on it at a future date), it seems to have affected me more, and the songs have been in my head ever since. It will only be a matter of time before I get the soundtrack cd, but in the meantime YouTube has been providing me with reminders of the songs.

There are so many theological insights and discussions that could be had, and I'm hoping to write a bit on some of these over the coming days. For now, here's the first.

Throughout the musical, we find a running battle between Jean Valjean and Javert. Jean Valjean is a prisoner in the opening scene, having been sentenced to a work squad as punishment for theft, and then trying to escape. Javert is the prison guard / army officer who takes a hard line on punishing criminals.

Indeed, such a hard line that he only ever refers to Jean as Prisoner 24601. He seeks to dehumanise Jean, referring to him only as a number. Jean, we learn, had stolen a loaf of bread to feed his sister's child.

Jean Valjean has been granted parole, a yellow ticket to leave the work squad. In Jean's eyes, he has his freedom, having served his time, yet for Javert, he will never have served his time - a criminal is a criminal and he cannot be trusted.

The question for us is - do we believe in the second chance? Are there those in our society whom we immediately write off because of their past? Thankfully God doesn't work this way - otherwise none of us would ever be saved. Imagine if God said, 'well, he's sinned before, he'll sin again, so he's just a sinner. We can't help him.'

What great words we find in Romans 5: 'God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.' (Romans 5:8).

Here's a clip of the opening scene and first confrontation between Jean and Javert, not from the theatre, but from the 10th anniversary concert.

Related themes:

See also Peter's Denials and the Gospel Hope and Dying Thief Finds Life.

Heir to the Throne

Heir to the Throne
Originally uploaded by Gary McMurray.

I promised the photo of Prince Charles and Camilla. And here we are. The reflection on the window of the car is a wee bit annoying as you can't see them clearly, but enough to see it is them. Or else really good impersonators. You decide!

London, Baby!

Palace Guard
Originally uploaded by Gary McMurray.

Apologies for the radio silence this week. I've had a complete break from the internet while Lynsey and I were over in London enjoying some annual leave holidays. So no Flickr updates, no reading emails, no Google Reader. Now that I'm back, there were about 50 emails and some 230 items to look at in Google Reader. They'll wait, as I also have about 450 photos to check through for Flickr from the London Trip.

So far I have about ten uploaded, just from Saturday afternoon at the palace. Not that we got in to see the Queen or anything, but we did the touristy thing outside. Buckingham Palace is some size - I've seen it a few times before, but it still strikes me as something huge.

After spending some time taking photos here, we wandered down The Mall, towards Trafalgar Square. Along the way, we discovered Prince Charles and Camilla were due to arrive at Clarence House, so we waited, and got some photos of them speeding past. [Photos to follow].

Over the coming days I'll blog a bit more about some of the things we did and saw, as well as providing more photos too!

It's strange being back again in wee Dundonald, but nice at the same time!

Westminster Tower

Westminster Tower
Originally uploaded by Gary McMurray.

I've been going through some older photos and uploading them to Flickr too. This one seems to have been particularly liked by other members of Flickr, getting six 'Heart' awards from one group, which means it qualifies for a special award in the group.

Oh Come, All Ye Faithful

Just to get you in a Christmassy mood, here's a short video of the carol singing which is still going on every evening between 5pm and 9pm in Trafalgar Square, London. This is from last Tuesday night, and is the choir singing 'Oh Come All Ye Faithful.'

'Big Ben'

Below are some photos of St Stephen's Tower, in the Palace of Westminster. Most people know it as Big Ben, but Big Ben is actually the bell inside the tower... So here goes on my latest photo set from London!

The London Eye - by day and night

The London Eye is the major attraction across the Thames from the Palace of Westminster. I didn't go on it this time, as I've been on it twice before - but it still featured in some of my photographs of the scenery. So here we go, the London Eye by day:
And the London Eye by night, taken from outside the Ministry of Defence building on Whitehall:

Christmas in London - more photos

Continuing my publication of some photos form London, the next collection is a series of Christmas ones. First up, the tree in Trafalgar Square, beside Nelson's Column:
The tree viewed from a different angle, through the fountain in Trafalgar Square:
The Christmas tree outside the Houses of Parliament at the Palace of Westminster
Regent Street decorated with the Christmas lights:
Harrods:

Buckingham Palace photos

Just a few photographs of Buckingham Palace, the home of HM Queen Elizabeth II. On Monday, she wasn't in - the Union Flag is flying, but the night time photos further down are from Tuesday night, when she was in residence - the Royal Standard was flying. You can't see it though - I was too busy playing with the night time settings on the camera to get some light effects!

I love the taxi fading in or out of this picture:

"Trinity College, Dublin"

On Monday evening, I was crossing the road at Picadilly Circus, minding my own business, looking around at the sights and making sure I wouldn't be hit by a red bus, a black taxi, or a cyclist!

When suddenly, a man crossing the road the other way said, as he passed me: "Trinity College Dublin".

And that was it.

I wondered what he was at, then remembered I was wearing my Trinity scarf - the distinctive red, dark blue and light blue colours.

So now I'm wondering if he was a graduate himself, or just a saddo who 'spots' the colours of educational establishments? I'll never know, because he continued on, turning back only to see me nodding to say he had got it right, and he nodded in approval. And that was it!

What a strange moment in the middle of the all bustle of London...

Home, eventually

So here I am, back at home again, back in rainy Northern Ireland, after my wee trip to London. The next few posts will be short reflections on the trip, and some photographs as well... but for now, I'll explain the 'eventually' in the title.

I got to Stansted in good time last night, and went through security with no problems... thankfully my days of beeping in the metal detector are past! We boarded the flight on time, and about two minutes before we were due to pull back and take off, there was an announcement from the flight deck.

We would be delayed by an hour, due to a problem with Scottish airspace. Cue the usual sounds - The inevitable groans echoed around the plane. Then the noise of mobiles being switched on. Then virtually everyone repeating the message of the pilot.

Just as we had done that, there was a second announcement, saying it would be a two hour delay now - making it after 11pm before we would be taking off. Something about a problem with the computers in the Scottish area of airspace.

So again, the noise of mobiles and annoyed phone calls.

And then... a gleam of hope - suddenly the plane started moving, and we were being re-routed by Dublin! So it turned out we were only about half an hour late, and it could have been so much worser!

London, Baby!

Just a quick posting from London... my feet are tired, my legs are sore - must be all the walking and sight-seeing I've been doing.

So far, the highlights have included the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, Oxford Street, Carols at Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey, HMS Belfast, Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, the Bank of England (where I touched a real gold bar!), and various other parts of the city.

Tomorrow's the last day, then it will be home again to Northern Ireland...

BB Camp Photos

Well, I've finally managed to get my photos off the camera and renamed... So if you want to see a very few selected ones from France, go here, or for the full set of BB Camp photos, go here.

So I suppose I should write a short bit of commentary for the photos, or even just to explain what all we did...

Saturday was spent travelling - an early start to Newry for the bus, and then down to Dublin, across to Holyhead and down through Wales and England to Kent.

Sunday we paraded to Tonbridge Methodist Church, then back to the campsite for the official photographs. The afternoon was swimming for the boys and some of us went for a drive in the bus. At night was the evening service in the camp (traditionally known as the drumhead service), then the quiz.

Monday was the Low Ropes course, then we went to Royal Tunbridge Wells while the boys went soft rock climbing. The evening had the sports.

Tuesday was to London for the London Dungeon - full of frights and darkness, and some of us got false scars on our faces. We then walked along the Thames and across Tower Bridge to get the bus again, before going for a bus tour of London.

Wednesday was to Eastbourne, our trip to the seaside town.

Thursday was to Thorpe Park for the rollercoasters etc... until the thunder and lightning closed some of the rides.

Friday afternoon we went to Maidstone, then Friday night there was a boxing match (all scripted by the way), then a bit of a gentle riot as the boys paraded with flutes and flags while one of the officers produced a bag of gaelic flags and tricolours...

Saturday we travelled home again, although the HSS was an hour late, meaning we weren't into Dromore until 12.20am.

Home, at last!

The crazy events of 7/7 have now affected our London trip two years in a row... only this time London was fine. Dublin was the problem!!!

I'll write about the Summer School very soon, but for now, I just want to focus on the journey home. Getting on the Underground yesterday was a very strange experience. The breakfast news programmes had special editions remembering the bombs from the year before, and showing people who had been affected. In everyone's mind was a sort of trepidation and fear - to an extent - asking could it happen again? Could there be more bombers in the trains?

At the best of times, no one speaks on the Underground - which led to Standeley and me getting some funny looks as we talked away (the loud Norn Irish accents probably didn't help!), but even more so on that day. Thankfully the trains were still running, and on time, so we didn't have any disruption. It looked like we would be abble to get home after the conference finished with no problems.

Until we heard there had been delays at Dublin airport. A suspect package had been found, and a controlled explosion had taken place, leading to the complete evacuation of the airport, and severe delays. So when we got to Stansted, they said there were delays of an hour for our flight. So instead of 21:50, it would be 22:50. Hm... means we would get into Dublin at just after midnight, but shouldn't be too bad.

So we got checked in (they were closing check-in at the normal time anyway...) and went through to the security bit and looked in the shops. Then we went and found our gate... which had been changed from 43 to 56, so away away as far as you could walk. And as we sat, the delay got longer, to 23:45, then to 00:00, then to 00:15 (these were the estimated times on the board). Then the decree came from on high that we should go to gate 48 - so back up to there... But on the way, we got talking to some interesting people - a guy from Dublin who had been visiting his mum in a nursing home in London, and Leaka (pronounced Lika), a Slovakian living in London and coming over to visit her friend in Dublin to go for a tour to the west coast. We ended up talking to her the rest of the time in the lounge and then on the plane, and managed to get the gospel into the conversation several times, just as it naturally arose!

We landed in Dublin at about 1:45, so by the time we got bags and into the car park and away, it was 3:30 before we were back in Dromore. Ouch! Not very pleasant at all - especially with the petrol light coming on at Newry!

So that's the first report from home of the events of the past week, but I have so much more to talk about... it's just finding the time to get it written. Tomorrow night I'm preaching in the Cathedral (8pm), so please be praying about that!

London's burning

Here I am, in sunny, roasting hot London, and the sweat's tripping me!

We're here for the Proclamation Trust Preaching Summer School, and with Day One done, it is going well so far. It is tough stuff though, with lots to do and take in. This year, as I've said, the students have to preach a sermon and receive criticism - it's been fierce so far. Mine isn't until Wednesday or Thursday, so I have a chance to see how others are doing first. The heat is shocking though... I'm not sure I'll be able to stick it.

Let's go back to Sunday though, and give an update of what's happened so far. Sunday morning, very very early, we set off from Dromore (That's Standeley and me) and made it to Dublin Airport in good time. So we checked in, got our gate number and sat beside it, waiting... and waiting. The announcements were impossible to hear or understand, and time got close to the flight and still there wasn't a queue forming, and our flight had't been called. Until we checked the board again... the flight had been moved - thankfully only to the other side of that particular inlet.

When we got off the plane (remembering that it had started raining as we got on the plane in Dublin), the heat was oppressive! It was like stepping into an oven - thankfully I remembered to bring my shorts! The train wasn't too bad going into the city centre, as we weren't at a window, so no sun rays getting in... but the Tube was roasting too!

The hotel is the same as last year, nearly beside Victoria Station, so handy to get about, and with lots of stuff around it. However, we aren't in the same room as last year, as there's just two this year, and not the third musketeer. So we were told the room number, and went up with the key. I tried the door... and again... and again... with various combinations of putting the keycard in, then puching the handle, or putting the keycard in and out then the handle... until we realised we were at 220 and not 222!!! We just about managed to get into our room as room 220 opened its door to see what was happening!

After relaxing for a bit we went for a walk, getting lunch at Trafalgar Square, then walking on past St Paul's to St Helen's Church Bishopsgate for their evening service (via the Temple Church a la the Da Vinci Code - sadly it was locked up!). St Helen's is one of the more evangelical churches, shaped similarly to Dromore Cathedral, but with the focus shifted to halfway down the right hand side, where their enormous pulpit also stands. There are no pews, just moveable seats, and could indeed be a model for Dromore to follow. [Any parishoners or the Select Vestry want to take a field trip?]

The praise band were excellent, the church was full of 20s and 30s, and the speaker was very good, looking at the reconciliation of Jacob and Esau (Genesis 33). The fellowship was good, and we got talking to a couple who had previously been involved with Proc Trust, and they gave us a lift back to the hotel - much better than getting back ito the warm Tube!

Today then has been taken up with the conference all day, and this evening we came up to Oxford Circus for Standeley to get some shorts as he's roasted! I bought some too, to save me running about in the one pair all week. Everyone will be grateful! So after dinner, we looked for an internet cafe... and we're sitting here now, in what is a sort of Chinese video shop and internet cafe... with the language bubbling over our heads and the heat sweltering us!

Hopefully we're going to make it back to the hotel in time to see the Channel Four programme at 10pm, about the awful things people do when they sleepwalk... poor Standeley, in the same room as me for the next four nights! The first night contained some talking and shouting... let's hope I don't try to smother him, like I did to Scott one time...

Recap of the week

Ok, so here goes with a brief summary of my week in London, following on from my earlier reports on Monday and Tuesday.

Wednesday

Today was the day we were to find out who would be the host city for the Olympics in 2012. But in the meantime, there were the usual round of sessions in the conference, which were again very useful. Then at lunchtime, we heard the news that London had won! It was quite something being in the city when the news came through – and when we went to the Tube at lunchtime they already had the posters up celebrating the city’s victory!

The reason we had went to the Tube during lunchtime was that we were going to see the Metropolitan Tabernacle. This is the church that C H Spurgeon preached in for many years during the 19th Century, and it is huge! There was a conference on in the building, but the main reason we were there was to see the bookshop. It was rather large, but with the conference on, it was hard to see books and move about, added to the fact that we should be getting back to our own conference!

After we had finished in the afternoon, we went to the Protestant Truth Society shop on Fleet Street, and had a good browse in there until we were thrown out as they were closing! We then walked back to the tube and back to the hotel.

In the evening, we then went over to Piccadilly Circus, where we got our meal in a bar/restaurant called ‘Cheers’, based on the TV Programme. The food was very nice, and the Australian waitress was very friendly. From there, we walked back to the hotel, having first visited All Souls Langham Place at the top of Regent Street, then going via Oxford Street (where all the shops were closed) then Park Lane (where we saw the very nice and expensive cars) and past Buckingham Palace, which had projected images on the front of the Second World War, as this Sunday marks the anniversary of the end of the war.

Thursday

This morning, we were late out of the hotel, and had reached the station when Stanley needed money… and as we were standing waiting for him, David’s ma rang, to say there was something wrong with the underground, that the trains were off. As we went over to the tube station, we realised it was closed, and headed out to the front of the station. Well… never have I seen such a big crowd of people and busses, no one really knowing where they were going or what was happening. We managed to eventually get on a bus which would take us to Waterloo station, where we hoped to then get another one on towards Borough High Street, where our conference was.

But as we were waiting on the second bus, we heard more news, via mobiles and the station official, who told us there had been an incident with a bus, and they had all been suspended. So we then started out on the trek of 2 or 3 miles along to the Conference, arriving about an hour and a half late!

When the conference had finished at lunchtime, we were kept in for a while, as Stanley and Andrew (from Scotland) were due to fly home that evening, and we didn’t know how it would all happen. We heard, however that the riverboats were still in operation, and were free, so we thought we would try that. But when we got to the pier, they weren’t taking any boats towards Millbank/House of Commons direction. So we were faced with the job of walking along the riverbank as far as the London Eye, then crossing at the Houses of Parliament, going past them and New Scotland Yard to Victoria. Poor Andrew, he was slightly nervous, whereas us Ulster lads weren’t too concerned, seeing as we were used to this sort of thing happening. But when we told Andrew we were coming past New Scotland Yard (Headquarters of the London Metropolitan Police), he was distinctly upset, and wondered at the wisdom of following us – as we had went close past everything he considered a target for terrorists and thus he wouldn’t want to be near at all!

Eventually Stanley and Andrew got a taxi – I don’t know how – and they set off for Stansted, being faced with a very steep bill. David and me stayed in the hotel room for the rest of the afternoon, watching the TV to try to find out as much as we could. The whole terrorist attack on the transport system was devastating, with 3 bombs on tube trains, and one on a packed bus – reminiscent of incidents back home such as Bloody Friday, when a series of bombs exploded across Belfast on one afternoon.

But in the evening, we went out for a walk, past Buckingham Palace, and through the Green Park, and up Picadilly, to the Piccadilly Circus, where we got some food, before walking back via Haymarket to Trafalgar Square and then up the Mall to the Palace again and round to Victoria. On the first night we had seen a bus which was a ‘London by Night’ bus tour, and as it turned out, the bus was sitting at Victoria, so we asked was he running that evening. He was indeed – even if we were the only customers, he would be going, because it was vital to get back to normal and to beat the terrorists.

The bus trip was very good, with plenty of commentary by the driver, and we were even joined by 2 Germans and an American as we went round the city.

Oh – one other thing about Thursday. I was overwhelmed by the number of wee texts I got from people just to check I was ok – thank you for them!

Friday

Today, the underground was partly back to normal, with some closures to some lines, but generally, we were able to get about on it ok. So we did some serious sightseeing! We started off at St Paul’s, having a look about the ground floor, then climbing up the 300-odd steps to the Whispering Gallery… that was not so pleasant! By the way – it seems like I walked miles and miles over the few days, as well as climbing and descending thousands of stairs…

From St Paul’s, we then got a tube across the city to emerge at Notting Hill. Form there we walked down into Kensington Palace grounds, where was saw the statue of King Billy. William and Mary had Kensington Palace and the grounds built for them, in the style of the Palace of Versailles. We then walked through Hyde Park, past the Albert Hall to Harrods, where David bought some chocolate.

Returning to Victoria, we got lunch to take with us, then set off on the train for Windsor. I had never been in Windsor before, but it is a nice wee town, dominated, of course, by the castle. We went in round the castle, and then in through St George’s Chapel, even seeing the Queen Mother’s Tomb. However, in the Chancel floor, there is a glaring mistake in one of the tombstones… It states that Charles I died in 1648. However, any astute student of history will know that it was in 1649 that Charles was executed! Whoops!

We then went back to Victoria, collected our bags, then headed out to Stansted and flew home.

And here we come to the end of the story of my time in London. The sightseeing was great, the walking was long at times but also good, and the craic was mighty. But the main reason I was in London was of course, to attend the Proclamation Trust Conference for Student Ministers. Will it make any difference to my preaching and ministry? Hopefully so, but we will see in the long term…