The crescent Moon shines out in the evening of 23rd February, but there are three solar system objects in this image. After the Sun, the Moon is the second brightest object in Earth’s night sky.
The third and fourth brightest objects in our sky are present in this image. Can you see them? I doubt it, they are lost in the remaining glow of the sun as it sets. But if you know exactly where to look, you might see them.
The Moon and a couple of other things
Let’s zoom in a little, that always helps…
Can you see them now?
So, did you see them? No? They are there in plain view, but congratulations if you spotted them, it’s still not easy.
The third brightest object in our night sky is Venus, and you can see it near the bottom right corner of the photo – a little white dot. The fourth brightest object is Jupiter. It’s there to see as well, between the Moon and Venus, but a bit closer to Venus than to the Moon. See it now? (If you’re reading this on your phone you will need to enlarge the image.)
Later in the evening they are impossible to miss. The Moon is moving further away from this scene day by day, but Venus and Jupiter are getting closer to one another in the sky and are both very bright in a darker sky. Jupiter is also getting closer to the horizon and setting earlier and earlier as the days pass so if you want to see it, look in the next day or two. In April Jupiter will reappear in the morning sky before sunrise.
See also:
Watch Dr Becky’s Night Sky video segment for more detail (better yet, watch her entire video).
And for more detail on the three objects, take a look at Wikipedia’s articles on The Moon, Venus and Jupiter.
Have we come to a time when the church is perfect and is missing nothing? I don’t think so! What fresh revelation will be next?
In a recent, very brief conversation on Twitter I suggested that something was ‘ground breaking’. Specifically it concerned some ideas about following Jesus, and whether one particular idea was ground breaking.
Thinking about this afterwards I realised that a useful conversation requires that we agree on what we mean by ‘ground breaking’ in the context of the lives and activities of believers interacting together in groups.
Arguably, ‘ground breaking’ might originally be a farming or growing term. Before taking a harvest, it’s necessary to plant seeds in fertile soil, get them to germinate, and wait for them to grow. The farmer has much to do during that process, but the very first requirement is to do some ground breaking. Turning the soil with a plough (or a spade) loosens it, damages any weeds growing there, makes it easier to sow seed, and enables water and air to penetrate (both are needed). A bit of ground breaking can work wonders!
Jesus, ground breaker par excellence
In one sense of course, Jesus did all the ground breaking that could possibly be needed in church life. He only did what he saw his Father do, and only said what he heard his Father say. And he told his followers, ‘My Father is a gardener’. He also told a striking parable about seed falling in different places, including well prepared soil as well as several kinds of unprepared, unsuitable, or poorly prepared ground.
His is a foundational kind of ground breaking that we cannot and do not need to repeat. But there’s something else I would call ground breaking; something that happens every time principles, knowledge, or behaviour that the church has forgotten is restored. It’s happened over and over again.
Lesser ground breakings
One relatively recent example would be the spiritual revival that took place in the 1960s and 70s. I’m old enough to remember the excitement of discovering two things in those days. The understanding that the Holy Spirit poured out gifts on his people and wanted us to put them to use, and the idea that small groups meeting outside the denominations were capable of rapid and dynamic growth. They were exciting times. Out of this sprang three phenomena that are still with us today; multiple streams of new organisations like New Frontiers, New Wine, and many more; a re-invigoration of parts of most denominations, Anglican, Baptist, Methodist, Catholic and more; and thirdly the house church movement based around small, intimate groups of friends.
Going back a little we can see that the Azusa Street events were ground breaking in the same sense and resulted in the two main streams of Pentecostal churches.
Before that we might identify the Welsh revival when a new sense of unworthiness and Father’s forgiveness resulted in large numbers of people praising and worshipping, encouraging one another, and preaching to their neighbours in towns and villages. Before that the Wesleys and Methodism flourished and it was understood that small groups can be a powerful way for people to grow and develop together. And there are many more ground breaking events like these right back through the centuries.
When I talk about ground breaking I definitely include developments like these, discoveries that there was, in the earliest state of the church, some other element of following Jesus which has since fallen into disuse or even faded from memory entirely. Rediscovering how things used to be and might be again is ground breaking in this lesser sense.
New, vigorous growth
Such freshly re-broken ground almost always seems to result in new, vigorous growth where previously things had become somewhat tired and wooden. Think in terms of a neglected, weak, dehydrated plant that has just been potted up with fresh compost, is being watered regularly, and now stands in a new spot where there is fresh air, adequate humidity, and plenty of light. A plant like that will put on a sudden spurt of growth, form new shoots and leaves, and perhaps flower for the first time in ages.
We need to see more ground being rebroken and experience that fresh flush of growth and energy again and again. Have we come to a time when the church is perfect and is missing nothing? I don’t think so! What fresh revelation will be next?
Note: Ground breaking can also mean a ceremonial turning of soil at the start of a construction project. It can be instructive to think of Jesus’ work as the start of a building project – the New Jerusalem, which is the church (see Revelation 21:9-10). But that’s a whole topic on its own.
For this first flight both parts of the vehicle will be lost after landing on the sea (but hopefully not before)
Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX, is close to the first launch of their new spacecraft – Starship. This is an exciting step forward in space flight technology as fully reusable Starship versions are planned to return NASA astronauts to the moon, act as orbital fuel tankers, take people and materials to destinations throughout the solar system, and colonise Mars.
The world’s most powerful rocket is likely to make its first orbital flight attempt during March. Whatever happens, the attempt will be spectacular in the extreme! With twice the thrust of NASA’s SLS rocket, SpaceX’s Super Heavy booster will attempt a launch from Starbase on the Texas coast, heading east. The Starship will separate and pass between Florida and Cuba.
The Super Heavy booster will attempt a landing on the surface of the sea, offshore of its launch point. When fully operational, SpaceX intends that Super Heavy boosters will return to the launch site to be caught in mid-air by arms on the launch tower. Starship will attempt a landing, also on the sea surface, north of Hawaii, but again, the intention is to eventually catch Starship at the launch site as well.
For this first flight both parts of the vehicle will be lost after landing on the sea (but hopefully not before). It’s likely they will attempt to hover above the sea surface to practice the manoeuvre they will need to perform for a catch. Once landing precision is good enough, SpaceX will attempt the first catches. But that’s something for future flights and will depend on data returned from this first attempt. You can’t put a note in your diary to watch the launch as we don’t yet know exactly when it will happen. But I’ll keep you posted here on JHM.
The previous step forward for Starship was a static fire by the Super Heavy booster on 9th February. This is worth watching in this video clip from NASA. Thirty-one of the booster’s thirty-three engines fired for the duration of the test, one was not ignited at all, and one shut down early. The engines fired at half thrust during the test, but for the first launch they’ll be run at 90% thrust.
See also:
The SpaceX website carries an introduction to the concept of the Starship system.
The launch is listed on Spaceflight Now’s Launch Schedule page and on Next Spaceflight’s SpaceX Launch Manifest page. You can check those sources for schedule updates as they become available.
Wikipedia has a good article about the Starship vehicle covering details of size, thrust, the development process, purpose, capabilities and so on.
What was happening on the blog in past Februaries?
Five years ago
I didn’t write any blog posts in February 2018, so here’s a photo instead. Donna’s father, Tony, was 80 on 1st of the month; we drove down to Broadstone near the south coast of Dorset to meet the rest of the family. He was very pleased with his cake, though there were only eight candles on it. Eighty would have needed ten times the effort to blow out!
How should we manage and govern our meetings? How is church to be led? Everything changed in the 1960s and 70s as the Holy Spirit swept into the denominational church. Existing churches were impacted, the house church movement began, and new streams of church sprang up.
Read it if you’d like to, but also read the comments where some very good points are made.
Twenty years ago
On the 18th February 2003, I met at home with friends and the Holy Spirit spoke to us about walls being broken down. We heard about other related things too. The notes from the meeting outline what happened.
Now Yahweh says something strange to Ezekiel. He tells Ezekiel to speak to the bones, to prophecy to them. Is there any purpose in speaking to what is dead? Let’s look carefully at Ezekiel 37:4.
Then he told me, ‘Prophecy to these bones. Tell them, “Dry bones! Hear Yahweh’s word.”‘
There are several important points to notice. If Ezekiel hadn’t understood these points the amazing things that are about to happen would not have happened. At least, they wouldn’t have happened through Ezekiel. Yahweh would have found another way, another person to serve him; Ezekiel would have missed out. Hearing is important, and the mechanism for hearing is complex.
1 – Listen and speak
Yahweh spoke to Ezekiel. Ezekiel listened so that he could pass on what he had received. This is the place where we often go wrong. We see a need and we act to meet it, we say what we think best, we do what we think best.
It’s good that we want to communicate and act, but it’s not good when we ourselves decide what to say and what to do. Even Yahshua (Jesus) didn’t do this, he set us a good example, he said only what he heard the Father say (John 12:49-50), he did only what he saw the Father do (John 5:19). If we don’t get this first step right we become unusable, no good for the eternal purposes of the Most High. Listen first. That’s what Ezekiel did and so should we.
2 – It may not make much sense
‘Prophecy to these bones’, says Yahweh. Put yourself in Ezekiel’s place, try to imagine it. Bones are not animate objects. At one time they were but now they are not. Here’s a conversation that didn’t take place – but it might have done. If Ezekiel had been like me it probably would have gone something along these lines…
Yahweh: ‘Listen to me carefully.’ – Ezekiel: ‘Yes, Lord. I’m listening.’
Yahweh: ‘I want you to talk to those bones over there, I want you to tell them that..’ – Ezekiel: ‘Wait, wait, wait. I must be hearing wrong, Lord. You want me to talk to who?’
Yahweh: ‘Not who, what. I want you to talk to the bones’. – Ezekiel: ‘No, Lord.’
Yahweh: ‘No? What do you mean – no?’ – Ezekiel: ‘Er.. No ears, Lord. I mean the bones can’t hear, they have no ears. They won’t hear me.’
Yahweh: ‘I’ll deal with that, you just get on and prophecy, OK?’ – Ezekiel: ‘But my friends will think I’m stupid.’ – Yahweh: ‘And your point is?’
Yahweh: ‘You’re wasting time here, Ezekiel. I need a job done and I need it to be done right away. I’ll find someone else.’ – Ezekiel: ‘No, no. I’ll do it. I’ll talk to the bones. Can I use a really quiet voice, Lord?’
Yahweh: ‘I need a very loud voice for this job. If you’re speaking to dry bones you have to speak up.’ – Ezekiel: ‘But, Lord, I have no idea what to say.’
Yahweh: ‘Might that be because I haven’ t told you yet? Hmm? You must command them to hear me, even though they have no ears.’ – Ezekiel: ‘OK-a-a-a-a-y’
Before Ezekiel can give the message to the bones, he must command them to hear. Assuming we can get past steps 1 and 2, this third step is something we often miss out. Before giving the message we need to command the deaf to hear. This is a step of preparation. It may require months or even years of prayer. It may mean demanding to be heard over and over and over again. It may mean criticism and derision and even facing serious abuse. But it needs to be done. There are no short cuts in hearing and speaking, seeing and doing.
Will we be like Ezekiel? Will we be unwavering in our obedience even if we appear foolish or unpopular or at risk? And is it worthwhile speaking to something that’s dead? Yes! Lazarus was dead, Yahshua spoke to him, and he came out of the grave.
I sum these topics up on my Twitter profile as biology, web, science, technology, family, faith, history, and travel.
Having recently restarted blogging after a long pause, I’ve been thinking through how best to move forward – what should I change, what should I drop, and what should I keep?
Today’s post explains some of this, I’ll share what I’m doing and what I plan to do next. I’ll consider any comments you may leave, either here on the blog, or on Twitter or Facebook. But here’s how I see things right now.
Buy me a coffee
I’m offering everything I publish for free, but will always be delighted to receive a small gift, especially if you have sold or republished something (though even then it’s optional). Details are at coffee.scilla.org.uk .
Cruising the Gospel
This is a moribund blog that I’m in the process of restarting. I’m not sure yet whether to continue it in its present form, or to roll it into Journeys of Heart and Mind (JHM) as a topic in its own right. Currently I’m inclined to keep it as it is, and perhaps generate some PDFs from each book I complete. See it at gospel.scilla.org.uk .
Gateway
My Gateway site is mainly for my own use, but it’s full of links about Cirencester (my home town in England), local time and weather, some Christian links, local and national news, science and technology links and so forth. Some of you might like to take a peek. If so, head to gate.scilla.org.uk .
JDMC
JDMC stands for Jesus, Disciple, Mission, Church and is an introduction to Alan Hirsch’s Forgotten Ways. To learn more and download a copy to print (or read online), visit jdmc.scilla.org.uk . I need to update this booklet and plan to when I have time, unfortunately the web links in the PDF open OK, but using the browser to return take you back to the title page; I’ve been unable to fix this so far. If you open the links in a new tab you’ll be OK, but it’s easy to forget.
Journeys of Heart and mind
I intend to continue with this more or less as it stands. That means a mix of topics will appear here, articles about all of the things that motivate me as they occur to me (so in no particular order). I sum these topics up on my Twitter profile as biology, web, science, technology, family, faith, history, and travel. Others include photography, astronomy, spaceflight, archaeology and a few more. One thing I will add is a way of seeing just posts on one of these topics at a time, I think that will be useful; not everyone wants to see everything. You’re reading on this site at the moment.
Photos
I use Smugmug to display my photos and will continue with this, but I need to rearrange things in topic folders to make it more usable. Visit photos.scilla.org.uk to browse my all time favourites.
Twitter
My main Twitter account is ChrisJJ, but I have a second account, JHM. I haven’t used the JHM account for a long while, but might post tweets about faith topics there, and everything else on ChrisJJ. My mind is far from made up on this as there are quite a few pros and cons.
The stonework to turn doorways into windows suggests a change of use at some time after the building was first erected
This dilapidated, old building, of lovely Cotswold limestone (including the roof) stands inside Cirencester Park at the end of Barton Lane. It’s part of The Barton Farm, along with the ancient nearby dovecote and magnificent, old barn.
But what was its original purpose? If it could speak it would no doubt have an interesting tale to tell. What might it say?
A row of cottages
I was row of cottages, full of the sounds of children playing in the sunshine, chopping and stirring sounds from a kitchen table indoors, smoke rising into the air from my chimneys. How many families lived in me? How many were born here, lived and worked here, died here?
Stables
I was a row of stables, my partly built up doorways were once open and inside each one was a stall for a horse. Inside I would have smelled of horses, sweat, droppings, and in a room at the back I would have had the aroma of well cared-for leather – saddles, harness, heavy collars for pulling.
Storage shed
I was a place where valuable implements were stored and cared for. Oiled steel hoes, shovels, spades and rakes with well-worn wooden handles. An old plough, a harrow, scythes. Or perhaps I was used to store fruit from the orchard, and sacks of seed for sowing crops in winter or spring.
A base for farm workers
I was a bothy where the farm workers would gather to eat bread and cheese and perhaps a mug of cider. I’d be used for breakfast, a mid morning break, or a mug of hot tea on a cold afternoon, a shelter from heavy rain. Perhaps there was banter, silly tasks given to the youngest worker, ‘Go and fetch me the glass hammer from the big house, ask the Master for it – politely like’.
There are some clues
The stonework to turn doorways into windows suggests a change of use at some time after the building was first erected. There are two brick chimneys, so clearly there were regular fires. Maybe the far end was a dwelling while the right end was a workshop, or a smithy, or a place for basket-making, or laundry.
If you have other thoughts on what this place might once have been, or you live locally and know for sure, why not leave a comment?
Here’s another blast from the past. What can we find as we look through earlier January posts?
Five years ago
In January 2018 I wrote about eating together and how the early church had no ceremony like our communion service. And I quoted from Victor Choudherie who urges us to ‘promote breaking of bread with simple Agape meals (love feasts) from house to house, that believers take with glad hearts’.
In January 2013 there was a hard frost in St Neots where I lived at the time. Within four days, the ice and snow had gone and early hints of the coming spring had appeared. How fast things can change!
The sun came out and brightened everything up, even the puddles seemed more cheerful
I spend quite a bit of time in Cirencester so sometimes there are short stories to tell (tales), and I walk a lot in and around the local area (trails). Some of these might be interesting, fun, or even useful.
Puddles in the sunshine
Today the weather has been quite mixed, a sort of shall I/shan’t I go out. There was a good deal of rain in the morning, but it cleared a bit by mid morning and I decided to dodge the showers and walk down from Stratton where I live; I got a bit damp on the way, but not really wet. I had a couple of items of food shopping to do, so visited Tesco for those, then it began to rain again and I popped into Fora for coffee and to stay dry.
Walking home afterwards, the sun came out and brightened everything up, even the puddles seemed more cheerful. The Dexter cattle in the field west of the Gloucester Road didn’t apparently care about the weather, they didn’t even mind the fact that parts of their field have now become ponds, or even small lakes!
Shalom is not just peace as in absence of war, quietness, or a chance to think. It means much more than that.
Back in 2007, Donna and I visited Israel. The day we arrived it rained torrentially and our plane had to circle while water was removed from the runway at Tel Aviv airport. But the weather quickly improved and we had a very interesting trip. Much of it I still remember vividly, and the notes I made and the photos I took fill in much more detail.
While we were there, we bought a coffee mug at a tourist site. We still have it, and I enjoy using it now and then. The vivid colours remind me of the bright sunshine and friendly people we met, the colours of items in the market in Jerusalem, the colours of the clothes of the people in the streets.
This mug is special, it carries the word ‘Shalom’ in Hebrew and in English, it means ‘peace’. How I wish for peace in 2023 in Ukraine and around the world. Shalom is not just peace as in absence of war, quietness, or a chance to think. It means much more than that. It means joy, completeness, health in body, mind, and spirit. It means prosperity and a fragrant life.
(I was prompted to write this by Yaroslava Antipina, perhaps to use on her Twitter feed or her blog. Please click the links and leave her some kind thoughts. Thanks!)
Journeys of Heart and Mind 