Apologies, Apologies

This was in this week's newsletter for church back in Stevenage, which I suppose means I'm comitted to writing now! So, I know I haven't posted in a looong time. Sorry. Turns out Uni isn't just parties, but actually necessitates some work... I, for one, feel horribly misled.


I kid. But seriously, it turns out IR is one of the most book-heavy courses you can study. I think I've read more the last 2 weeks in study than I have the last 2 years in pleasure. It's a real range, some of it is infinitely interesting - the role of the concept of development as actually a purely post-colonial phenomena, as a way of exerting power over them by projecting our image of "success" onto their implied "failure", for example, or the concept of the total unreliability of history - but then, some of it really isn't... Kant on the moral duty to non-human animals... gah. Also, even if you're Michael Foucault, after 60 pages on the Iranian Revolution, everyone becomes boring.



Anyway, what's new? To be honest, it feels like home, it feels like routine... I've settled here now, it's become the norm. No disrespect to Stevenage at all. But yeah. I love it. Threefold:



1. Intellectually. Yes, it's a lot of reading and work, but it's good reading, and it's challenging, and it's going in. And I'm making it okay! It is satisfying, for the most part, rather than Solomon-like "toil", and the fact that I can talk at length and debate it is probably the most satisfying part. It means I learn more about myself. Like how I'm a total idealist about how the world can be a better place, yet paradoxiaclly have profound distrust for human nature. Awesome.



2. Culturally. It's taking a while to adjust, I'll admit. 1am apparently is really early, and nobody goes out will about 10pm. So I'm adapting. But Brighton is an amazing city. The night before last went to a small local gig at Kulture on the seafront, with some local indie bands and my mate Tom's soul band. It was eclectic, cosy, and nice. I love live music, but moreso, I love good live music. And I am satisfied here. Friday at the Komedia was 50's night, which now means I've been to a 50's night, a 60's night, a 70's night, and a 90's night. Somehow I've managed to skip the best decade EVERRR! Gutted. Also, Brighton has real shops with real clothes (!!!), and a guitar shop I could lose myself in forever. Walking round North Laine is a whole lot of fun. But the nightlife, the people, the pubs, the curry houses, wokmania, the clubs, the beach, the shops... it's an exciting place to be. I'm loving it.



3. Spiritually. At CCK, this is a given. Some great traditions everyone can learn from:







(i) The Post-Saturday-Morning-Prayer-Meeting Breakfast. At, happily, a place called Breakfast at Tiffany's, so my love for the 80's is satisfied. Full English for £3, after some quality time with Jesus. Nice.



(ii) The Post-Sunday-Evening-Service trip t'Pub. San Miguel on tap, after some quality time with Jesus. Awesome.



(iii) The Omniprescence of Guitars. Evening services, frankly, rock. Morning services are like Newday but with the volume turned down a little bit, but nonetheless, guitar-heavy. It's good stuff. Tom, the dude who's in the soul band that played on Tuesday, played this week's am service. Stuart Townend + violins + blues guitar = a definite win. Seriously.




(iv) Serving! Maybe it's the fact that most of the people I hang around with from CCK are doing Impact/FP. Or maybe it's just because I'm weird. (See above: Andy & Cat playing in bins. This is normal CCK behaviour.) But, either way, one of the most satisfying things is going to a meeting, and serving: set-up, welcome, registration, Worship School, lights, set-down, whatever. It's good! And, it's not toil. And, it's springing from a good place. I make no apologies for settling fast and giving my all to the church where I'm at.


(v) Honesty (and text messages). Joel Virgo is an intense preacher. He is teaching through Ecclesiastes, and not making it lovely. He is being raw and honest and real, and still pointing to Jesus, but not hiding the honesty. I love it.




Anyway, as always, it turns out I'm more analytic than descriptive. Which is great for essays, but not for blogs, sadly. Tomorow I am going back to Stevenage for my brother's birthday, and coming back to Brighton on the Sunday (so sorry to everyone I'll miss!). But, should anything interesting happen, I'll post it. And I'll try to just describe, not analyse... key word there, "try".