Unwound

"Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right".

"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent".

Issac Asimov - Foundation.


A few months ago, a friend of mine got in touch to say that someone in his church was looking at starting a blog on the amazing world of science fiction and needed some help getting started by someone providing something that would inspire further writing. Knowing of my passion for the subject, I was asked if I could provide such a piece, so I quickly set to work.

It didn't take me long to delve back into over 50 years of pretty well continual engagement with the genre and to start mapping out the scope and range of a realm of stories that has seen much of its popular flowering in my own lifetime. Even as I did so, I began to get ideas for other pieces that could also be written, so it really wasn't any great surprise to me that in the end, I had to submit two articles on the key themes and not just one.

Something, however, has bothered me in the weeks following my burst of somewhat nostalgic creativity, and it became more acute in the last week, particularly as I began to ponder a particular question.

What if I had not been born in the 60s, but was born, say sometime in the last twenty years, and I was encountering this realm, not principally through the 'eyes' of the golden age of such fiction, but particularly in what's currently being generated, especially as 'popular' sci-fi, now. What would my impressions and affiliation to the field be?

Well, I'd probably still be wowed by some of the visual scope of what's being done. It would appear we're now capable of putting pretty much anything on screen, from vast spacial vistas, to really strange life, to conflicts involving thousands, so story-telling has clearly come a very long way, but what of the stories themselves? What of the themes, the characters, the deep drama, the excellence of resolutions to sweeping tales and the intellectual pay-off of getting us to think deeply about ourselves?

If the recent ventures of popular long-standing shows in this field are anything to go by, then all of this has suffered terribly of late. The money to make visual 'zing' may be there, but the stories themselves, given the reaction of the died in the wool fans, leaves a great deal to be desired, and this is really troubling.

Science Fiction was never afraid to play with all kinds of ideas about us, culture, progress and these often really got you having to pause and give them time, but this was never done in a 'convert or die' fashion. If something was good enough, deep enough, smart enough, it would keep you thinking, but the days of such craft, such wisdom appear to be reaching a troubling end. Most shows now apply a world-view sledgehammer all the time , making it clear that deviation from the line expressed is a heinous deviancy of the most ugly kind, so woe betide you if you outwardly question what's going on.

It's somewhat akin to what happens in the third season of one of the recent sci-fi shows that isn't following this blandness - the Expanse.

A vast ring in space has been constructed in our solar system by an alien civilization that we know very little about. Humans from Earth, Mars and the Asteroid belt sends ships to investigate and soon discover they can penetrate the field the ring creates to explore what's inside, but this field is as deadly as it mysterious, and all manner of troubles begin to befall the intrepid crews as they seek to learn more and discover what is really happening.

Much of current media, science fiction included, is like that ring - when you recognize the sphere of cultural influence and the 'exotic' notions behind much in media at present, you realize that there are very serious hazards and pitfalls in play in where Western culture is currently heading - a kind of 'right-mind' think that is seeking to eat whole the way in which we speak, act and identify who and what we are. Business, institutions and media are swallowing this apparent 'rightness' wholesale, and it's got to be questioned.

Today, I was reminded again of how brilliant Science Fiction can be when it gets us to question what we're being told we must accept.

Christianity isn't about not asking those questions of what's going on. It's about asking them well and giving substantial answers, so if you find yourself adrift in the current miasma of what's going on at present around us, check out some 'old' stuff - both in Science Fiction and Christianity. I suspect you'll be pleasantly surprised, perhaps even a little shocked, at the treasures that you'll find there.

Focus

"Seeing well is all about encountering things with your whole being. It means looking deeper, beyond the labels, and enjoying discovering what's really there".

Freeman Patterson.

"Looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith".
The Book of Hebrews.

One of the things I love about enjoying photography is how it allows you to see things in a fresh way.

I'll never forget my first real lesson on this.
My late wife and I used to travel along a particular road regularly in our early days in Cornwall which used to bend to allow you a view of a field of blood red earth. There was a tall old oak on the far end of the field, and during the autumn and winter, the light would travel over this spot in the most magnificent way.

We would often stop the car and sit, quietly, as she would say to me 'look at the light', and I would watch, transfixed, as the rays would stretch and arc across the rich contours of the ploughed landscape, forming all manner of shapes and forms with light and and shadow - a dance of nature.

I've never looked at things the same way since. Beauty is to be found in the most remarkable of places, and it strikes us, transforms us, when it 'speaks' to our core.

Reading Paul Zahl's 'Grace in Practice' this morning, I came across a statement that caused me to 'look at the light' as I arose.

"When grace is heard and received, when it is not confounded in any degree by the law (God's law - which leaves us condemned in ourselves), it paints a masterpiece: a person unconditionally affirmed who becomes instantaneously the expresser of love, joy, peace, meekness, kindness and creativity".

As a Photographer, I'm constantly seeking to use the 'tools' that feed into the lens of my camera to compose something that will convey the essence of a moment. These include light and form, shadow and texture, colour and mood, all passing through the means that will, hopefully, convey something of the richness of what was happening the moment the shutter opened and, bam, there it is - something wonderful.

The same is true of how God's grace feeds us. We look at the dross of our own pain and misery and strife, and we remain fixed in the futility of our failure, but grace clothes our filthiness, envelopes us in unmerited, astonishing affection, gives us an inheritance undeserved yet of sublime status, takes us in to banquet beneath the banner of everlasting affection, and rejoices wholly in our recovery.

Like sunlight breaking through on a iron-sky day, we're revived when we understand the "unbreakable acceptance of love of our Father" (Jim Mc Neely - The Romance of Grace) which alone causes affection to well up in us as naturally as light beautifies what it touches.

Jesus Christ is the full expression of the goodness of our heavenly Father because He alone comes and gives Himself fully and completely for us. How, writes Paul, can anything then sever us from such a love evidenced in Jesus?

There are always times when we feel so broken and disheartened because of our troubles or sins, but God wants to look at the light, to find rest in the good news of His care and mercy toward us. That is the image that's worth taking and worth sharing.

Missing the Mark

"In the bleak midwinter".

It's that strange time of year.
I've been back at work for a week and a half, but most of the world here has been in 'hibernation mode', barely appearing except for the necessities.
It's no doubt understandable in the midst of the darkness of the short days, but it can often work hard upon those who are alone.

I've spent many of my free hours in study and had an opportunity to deepen my sharing regarding the faith with someone close to me. They visited church over Christmas, like many do, and wanted to enquire into finding somewhere worthwhile attending to discover more.

Christmas is, no doubt, a very busy season for many churches. The church I attend holds about four times the services in December that it does the rest of the year as people in their hundreds come. The question, no doubt, should be, what do you do about that?

Having found a list of reasonably local churches to the home of my enquirer, I set about searching through their web pages to see what they were about and what was happening in the next few months. I eventually found a church that was very effectively setting out its stall regarding what was going on and where it was coming from, but for that single church that was warmly reaching out there were many others that had nothing to say to people, like me, who were searching for somewhere to connect after Christmas. Sure, there were plenty of 'in house' items mentioned, be they local fetes or "specialized" groups for youth, or worship, or students, but nothing for the average person that was wanting to find a way to turn up and learn more.

What a sorry state of affairs.

We've just had the season which, hopefully, unwraps something of the richest treasure given to our sullen world, and that should at least generate some measure of curiosity amongst those who have passed the threshold of our gatherings, so is it really the time to go silent?

Closing down for a few warm days together is fine, so long as even in the midst of that, we're already thinking about what is just ahead and making sure that we're ready to welcome others in to enjoy the radiance of the glory which Christmas brings.