You may want to read that again.
I know I had to the first time.
It does indeed say “Thou Shalt Shoplift”.
And it was a BBC News Headline this morning, quoting a Priest in York.

A priest from North Yorkshire has advised his congregation to shoplift if they find themselves in hard times.
Father Tim Jones, the parish priest of St Lawrence and St Hilda in York, said people should steal from big chains rather than small businesses.
He said society’s attitude to those in need “leaves some people little option but crime”.

I don’t know that I’ve heard anything quite so ridiculous in a long time.

Surely, this goes against so many Biblical principles, anyone can see it’s not the way to go about solving peoples money woes!

Jesus said we weren’t to worry about material goods but know that God will provide for us. Maybe he should be telling his congregation to pray.

And isn’t the entire point of the church to support one another in faith but, I would say, materially too. Acts 4 says the believers shared all things in common. If we’re not going to do that we should at least have a system which enables us to support people who need it, whether they be congregation members or not.

Father Jones later said on the radio, “If one has exhausted every legal opportunity to get money and you’re still in a desperate situation it is a better moral thing to do to take absolutely no more than you need for no longer than you need”.

I’m sorry Father but the better thing would be for them to know that they can turn to the church who will make sacrifices in order to love them like God, who made the ultimate sacrifice and gave the ultimate gift.

I feel you’ve missed the point a little.

I watched the pilot for Channel 4’s upcoming drama Glee this afternoon and it is amazing!!!

A phenomenon in the US, Glee follows an optimistic secondary school teacher as he attempts to inspire an oddball group of students to realise their star potential and restore the school’s show choir – the glee club – to its former glory. In the pilot episode, teacher Will Schuester – or Mr Schu – begs the headteacher – Principal Figgins – to let him take on the Herculean task of transforming this group of underdogs into a world-class vocal ensemble.

Here is the last song from this episode. The talent of these people is ridiculous:

The season starts on January 15th and I can’t wait to 4od it!!

Edit: I feel this post was perhaps a little harsh. I’m going to leave it here but would like to reassure everyone that our family rivalry is all done in jest and that my brother and I have now rectified the tree situation.

I know I bored you with this last year (Christmas ‘08) but I’ve just got off the phone with my dad and need to alert the world to the fact that terrible things have happened.

Firstly, they are putting up the tree without me. Yes, I said I didn’t mind when they did it but putting it up only a few hours before I get home smacks a little of “we can’t be bothered and don’t care enough to wait”. And despite what they’ll try to tell you they did say, when they hadn’t done it by last weekend, that they would wait for me to be home tonight. I’d gotten my hopes up and am now a little miffed. Sorry for shouting. (You might not be able to hear but all of that was shouted in my head)

What makes it even worse, however, is that the dreaded beads are back. I have succeeded for the past 3 years in hiding my mum’s strings of beads before she could get them on the tree (and ruin it). The boys however have not been as vigilant. I’ll be lucky if I get home and the star is on top instead of the ridiculous poinsettia thing.

Here, for you and them (because I know they’ll read this), is how the tree is supposed to look:

I’m not allowed to embed it but David Crowder*Band’s new song How He Loves is now on the Youtube and if you follow the link below your ears will be delighted by its wonderfulness.

YouTube - davidcrowderband’s Channel.

Carlos Whittaker posted something great yesterday over @ RagamuffinSoul.

He was filming a video for his new album which comes out next January (and I am very excited for by the way) when Danny, a man who is homeless in Atlanta, came up and started to join in worshipping God:

Listen really carefully to their conversation at the end or read it on Carlos’ blog.

“He places some of us in that valley” – that’s what Danny said.

The valley, though we’d much rather be up the mountain, is a very important, powerful place.

I haven’t been in the valley for quite some time and I’ve done everything I can this semester to avoid it. At. All. Costs. God’s been shouting me down but I’ve been clambering to stay at the top. It’s kind of lonely up here if I’m being honest.

As Carlos sings:

Save us from these comforts.
Break us of our need for the familiar
Spare us any joy that’s not of You
And we will worship You

BBC News – Hunt for Auschwitz Arbeit Macht Frei sign thieves.

I can’t understand why anyone would even think to do this. Are we failing to educate people about the atrocities of the Holocaust so badly that they can do something so disrespectful and not feel any remorse?

I was doing some Christmas shopping today when I found this little guy:

What can I say, it was love at first sight!

A completely impulsive and unnecessary buy, but you’re allowed to treat yourself at Christmas right?

The latest news about Pastor Matt Chandler can be read on the Village Church’s website.

Keep praying.

The modest task of those of us who are theologians is to help contribute to the discussion of what Christians ought to think by thinking as clearly as we can. But the theologian must always remember, as well, that those who are not schooled in theology will often lead the way.

- Stanley Hauerwas

I tend to think that all Christians are called to be theologians – we are, after all, all trying to think clearly about God and his will and how it should affect our lives. Therefore, we must all remember, you don’t have to have a degree to lead the way.

There’s a brilliant thing happening in Trafalgar Square tomorrow:

A Free Lunch for 5000 People

On the 16th December a free lunch made from delicious ingredients that would otherwise have been wasted will be prepared for 5000 people. Our aim is to highlight the ease of cutting the unimaginable levels of food waste in the UK and internationally.

I love this idea!

They say:

There are nearly one billion malnourished people in the world, but the approximately 40 million tonnes of food wasted by US households, retailers and food services each year would be enough to satisfy the hunger of every one of them.

All the world’s nearly one billion hungry people could be lifted out of malnourishment on less than a quarter of the food that is wasted in the US, UK and Europe

The amount of food we waste is crazy!

The Grass Market Mission here in Edinburgh partners with Fareshare who supply them with food that would otherwise be wasted by supermarkets. I’ve seen some brilliant meals cooked with ingredients you probably wouldn’t go near in the supermarket – our expectations of perfectly shaped, coloured and sized fruit and veg is ridiculous! We waste so much when we cook – save it for leftovers for breakfast!