Riverside Church :: Dave's Blog

Old Tricks

Dave Poulson — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 21:27:45 +0000

I’ve always enjoyed magic. Not the weird kind, but the clever sleight-of-hand of Tommy Cooper, the illusions of David Copperfield, the deadpan genius of David Blaine. As a kid, if I knew that a magician would be appearing on a show (Saturday Night at the Palladium, looking at you), then I’d sit through any number of unfunny comedians and tone-deaf singers to see what they were gong to do.
As time went on, I noticed a shift in my appreciation of the magicians art. At first, what impressed me most was novelty – once you’ve seen one woman being sawn in half, you’ve seen them all, pretty much, so bring on the disappearing elephants. But the older I get, the more I’ve come to enjoy seeing comparatively simple tricks performed well. For example, there’s a trick that most escapologists do, where they handcuff themselves, then ask a pair of volunteers to hold a jacket over their hands to hide the escape. As the escapologist tries to arrange his volunteers, one or other of his hands keeps popping up, hand-cuff free, to direct their actions. For me, there’s no longer much wow factor in the mechanaics of the trick, but performed well, it’s still a little masterpiece.
Working with young people carries a few similarities with the job of the magician (and the escapologist for that matter!), and one of those similarities is that we need to decide what ‘tricks’ we’re going to offer. Are we offering a diet of new tricks, each bigger, bolder and brasher than the last, constantly scrambling for new material, new patter and new ideas? Or are we confident enough to hone our existing material into the best it can possibly be? Do we aim to impress with novelty or with quality?

Share on Facebook

Sky

Dave Poulson — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 19:37:55 +0000

It’s an established fact about newspapers that no-one reads page two. I don’t know why this is, but it’s true. And so editors throw a few nothing articles on there, like weather and so on, but it’s mostly pointless.
As it happens, I was flicking through a Daily Mail this week, and on page two, a headline caught my eye. It was one of those filler articles; a small column called something like ‘Budget Busters’. The writer offers weekly advice on how to beat the recession, how to come out of the current financial difficulties ahead of the game (or ahead of everyone else, at least). And this weeks advice? Get Sky.
That’s right – the best way to save money right now is to commit to shelling out an extra £25 a month for the next couple of years. ‘But’, points out the article, ‘It’s a fiver off at the moment’. Brilliant! I can save myself £5 by spending £25. No wonder we’re in this mess if that’s the kind of advice people are following.
For me, the issue here is wider than simple financial gormlessness. We’ve lost the ability to distinguish between necessities and luxuries. The unspoken drift of the column is that, whatever the financial realities of the moment, no sane, self-respecting person should be expected to live without their Sky package. High definition television is not one of life’s necessities. It’s a bonus. A nice bonus, I guess (I’m a freeview person myself), but a bonus none-the-less.
What about you? Are there things in your life that should be luxuries, but that get treated as necessities? Perhaps worse, are there necessities that have been pushed away into the role of luxury – something that you roll out once in a while for a treat, when really you should be making it a part of every day life? Is the bible a once-a-week ‘treat’ or a daily pattern? Is prayer a conversation or a monthly catch-up? What’s the most important thing you do on a Sunday?
If we want to live our lives ‘ahead of the game’, then we need to make sure that we don’t fall into a life of luxury, and run the risk of losing sight of the most important things. Instead, let’s hang on to those necessities, because in the end, that’s what really matters.

Share on Facebook

Cold

Dave Poulson — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 17:28:16 +0000

For me, a change of season has meant a bout of sore throat, sniffles and an unpleasant cough that lingers for days (I’m just getting over one now). Ever since I can remember, September, Christmas, whenever the weather final decides to turn sunny at the end of July – out come the tissues.
Except not. As a man, I have always felt obliged to tough it out, medication free, the way nature intended. So I would endure a few days of an increasingly sore throat (usually reducing me to semi-audible croaking by day three), followed by a running nose (and much back-of-hand wiping and surreptitious sniffing) which inevitably led to a second round of sore-throated-ness, only this time backed up with an attractive phlegmy cough. Lovely.
And then, last year, I discovered a new tactic – overkill. The moment I felt the slightest twinge in my throat, I’d be popping strepsils, sucking down hot lemon drinks, and throwing in a dose of vitamin C for good measure. It was a revelation. Instead of enduring an increasingly unpleasant and uncomfortable fortnight, I had about three days of mild irritation, and then it passed. Brilliant.
Even better, I think that this can apply to other things in life. Too often, we ignore the little warning signs that things are going wrong in our lives – a concerned comment from a friend, the slow realisation that we’ve run the budget slightly too close again, the guilty feeling that we know we should stop before things get out of hand. Like a sore throat, we decide to ignore it, hope it will all go away. But before we know it, one minor irritant has spread, and is causing real problems all over the place. And by now, even if we belatedly spring into action, it’s going to take days of foul tasting medicine and hard-to-swallow tablets to get us back in shape.
How much better it would be to simply nip things in the bud? The next time you feel something going wrong in your life, don’t ignore it, deal with it.

Share on Facebook

Adverts

Dave Poulson — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:42:47 +0000

I think I’ve just seen the two most incredible adverts I may ever see in my entire life (and I’m typing that with almost no trace of sarcasm). In a single outstanding day, scientists have unlocked the secrets of the universe to bring us not one, but two ground-breaking leaps into the future: yes, ladies and gentlemen, I give you low-calorie water, and paper so white you can write on both sides. And I promise you I’m not making this up.
Have we really become such a credulous society that we jump at the opportunity to buy low-calorie water? It’s water. Water has no calories. None. At all. You can’t get any lower calorie than that without the drink actively leaching energy from your body. So this is, in fact, water with added calories and a bit of flavour. When I was a kid, we called that squash.
And talking of ‘when I was a kid’, since when is two-sided paper a miracle breakthrough too? I distinctly remember personally using both sides of a piece of paper as far back as the early eighties. In fact, at high school, the RE department would do their collective nut if you failed to use both sides of the paper, most of the margin, the inside covers and the funny extra wide space at the top of every page (this is true). I have paper with me now, and for the sake of accuracy in blogging, I’ve just tested it with a biro – both sides work! But it worries me that somewhere in the country, at around 8:30 this evening, someone leapt from their chair shouting “Write on BOTH sides? Quick, to a stationery super-store!” (or words to that general effect).
So here’s the thing – there are people out there who think we’re stupid. Sadly, some of us probably are (though if you’re reading this, I flatter myself to think that you, at least, are not included in those numbers), but lots of us are simply waiting for someone to give us a bit of a pointer. And too many of us seem to lack the judgement to know which pointer to follow. If people can spend time, energy and money on creating a drink that does exactly what tap-water does but worse, or telling us something that everyone has known for ever (well, since the second century BC or so), then the rest of us better make sure we spend our time telling people about things that really matter.
Jesus, for example. CS Lewis once pointed out that if Christianity is true, then it is of infinite importance. I think he hits the nail on the head. What’s skinny water or front and back paper compared to that? Come to think of it, what’s anything compared to that? If we can spend our time introducing people to the life-changing awesomeness that is Jesus, and helping them walk that path to the end, then what we chose to drink on a hot day pales into insignificance, no matter how many calories it has.

Share on Facebook

Rain

Dave Poulson — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 16:57:48 +0000

One of the strangest things that has stuck with me since my time in primary school is the fact that Eskimos have 16 different words for snow. At the time, I remember thinking something like ‘No way, that’s crazy, why would you want 16 different words for something you can describe with one!’, but on reflection, I have a good idea what they’re getting at.
Take the British obsession with rain, for example. Yesterday, I was out on Dartmoor with a few friends. In the time it took us to climb Haytor, the weather went from fine to spotting to spitting to a fine drizzle to a steady fall to coming down in buckets. That’s five phrases right there, and I reckon you’ll have a good idea what I mean by each one. Suddenly, the Eskinos don’t look so daft.
So why is it that we have so many words to describe water falling out of the sky, and so few to describe the important things, like our relationships. How do I describe the affection I feel for my wife? I’d say ‘I love you’. But how do I express a desire for a plate of chips? ‘I’d love a plate of chips.’
I think this is one of the reasons that we find things like relationships difficult to talk about – we just don’t have the vocabulary. Perhaps the answer is to forego language altogether. Instead of telling people how we feel about them, we should show them instead. We could become a nation of men and women who place deeds above chatter, and who understand each other through the quality of our doing, not the quantity of our words.
After all, who cares what the weather’s like when someone gives you a big hug and takes you out for tea.

Share on Facebook

Change

Dave Poulson — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:52:15 +0000

There we are then. Another year of Intern-ness has drawn to a close. Of our team of four, one is off to Bristol University, two are getting married (to each other), and one will be joining us again in September.
It’s a time of mixed emotions; we’re able to look back on all the incredible things the team have achieved over the last 10 months, the personal journeys that they’ve made with God and the great things that each of them will be going on to over the next few months and years. But this year has come to an end, and it’s a little sad too.
Being the way I am, I’m not always a big fan of change. Given the chioce, I generally go for the ‘If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it’ approach. But when you work with people (and particularly young people), change is going to happen. So we can moan, huff, and hark back to the ‘good old days’, or we can get on with it.
Jesus was a changer. Not only did he change the people around him, but he changed his approach with each one. Take a moment to look at a few healing stories; they’re not cookie-cutter copies, where only the location and illness differ, but a series of unique encounters. Likewise his jousting with the pharisees, or those (like Zaccheus, Peter and the Samaritan woman) who came to understand who he really was.
Next year’s group of interns will be different to this year’s. They’ll meet different people, learn different lessons and achieve different things. I’ll probably have to change the way I do some things, and I know I’ll try to change the way they do some things too. It won’t be a carbon copy of this year, but that means the team will be released to face the new challenges that God gives them, and will learn for themselves how to do this to the best of their ability as they cover new ground and set new boundaries for us all. Bring on September!

Share on Facebook

Diet

Dave Poulson — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 23:43:51 +0000

So, another full weekend has passed. And my diet has taken a battering (not a ‘diet’ diet, just my regular, everyday consumption of sufficient healthy calories to get me through the day). It went like this:

Friday morning, we got sidetracked from our intended leisurely breakfast, and ended up at McDonald’s, followed by a sandwich lunch and a late burger at the 1100 event at the cathedral. Saturday saw a bacon breakfast, another burger for lunch (on cathedral green), followed by several more burgers for tea (at a barbeque). Sunday was the healthy highlight of the week (which isn’t saying much), with weetabix for breakfast, followed by another barbeque lunch and a KFC for tea. Not good.

Thing is, it was a great weekend; I saw lots of friends (and a lot of Colette) and had plenty of time hanging out and doing very little. But I’ve ended up feeling a little bit sluggish all the same. Why? Because I’ve filled up on a whole bunch of quick-fix junk food, and not a lot else!

Unfortunately, life can mirror this haphazard culinary experience in many ways – my particular interest here is the spiritual. I can think of times when I’ve felt low spiritually, tired in my Christian walk, if you like, and when I look at what I’ve been putting into me, it’s the equivalent of that pile of burgers and bread rolls – kinda nice in the moment, but not much good long term.

I’ve recently changed my bible reading pattern – I’d got into the habit of reading notes over breakfast (now, I’m not knocking this as a general principle – regular time with God is vital, and the start of the day is a good place to meet with him), but I noticed that I was simply reading the verse of the day, skimming the accompanying notes, and moving on to the next thing. It had become a quick fix, junk food. So now I’m finding more time in the evening, and I’m taking in chapters of the bible at a time. For me, it been like going from snacks to a full meal.

Of course, bible reading on its own is not the whole picture, but the same things apply to our time in church, our prayer lives, even our relationships. As with our food, we need a measure of variety as well as consistency, and a snack every now and then won’t cause harm as long as the diet itself is sound. But if we slip back into living on snacks, fast food and junk, then we should expect to feel ourselves losing energy and slowing down.

Remember, the Christian life (and life in general) is a long distance trek, not a half-mile dash, and those of us who plan to make it to the finish in good shape should make sure they fill themselves with the right stuff.

Share on Facebook

MJK

Dave Poulson — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 18:30:48 +0000

This week has been a good week. Busy, but good. It’s been built around a group from Manchester called MJK, or Make Jesus Known, and in the space of the last seven days, they’ve been at Life on the Beach, two churches, three schools and the FNX youth event. Like I said, busy week.

But there’s been a whole bunch of highlights: at a rough estimate, the team (MJK, Riverside’s schools team, Exmouth ICE and youth workers from across the city) reached around 2000 students this week, talking directly with them about Jesus, the Christian faith, and what it means to lead a God-centred life; there were two lunchtime gigs that saw hundreds of young people bouncing, clapping and joining in (and spending the remainder of the week muttering “I’m repping, repping Jesus” up and down the corridors); the summer FNX event at West Exe saw some 300 young people from schools across the city enjoying a free outdoor performance complete with inflatables; and most excitingly, 25 people made responses to Tim’s message, some of which were first time commitments to build a relationship with Jesus!

Over all that, what’s impressed me most is the attitude and approach of the people involved. Everyone, from MJK to Heads of RE and the youth workers offering their time, has given so much in order to help people find out more about Jesus. There’s been no egos, no self-promotion, no rigid desire to stick to a particular way of working. Instead, it’s been an absolutely awesome experience to see experienced schoolsworkers turning to each other and saying ‘What can I do to help you here?’ ‘What will best fit with the work you’re doing?’ or ‘Is there anything you need?’. With such a God-honouring attitude, it’s no wonder that this has been such an incredible week.

If you’d like to find out more about MJK and what they do, you can check out their website at www.makejesusknown.com

Share on Facebook

Words

Dave Poulson — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 19:09:43 +0000

One of my favourite stories is that of Alice, with her adventures in Wonderland and her journey Through the Looking Glass. Over the years I’ve read the books, seen the films, even directed the stage play, and I’ve developed quite a liking for the character of Humpty Dumpty – his chapter in the second book is full of word-play, literalism and riddles, and in the midst of all that, he produces one of my favourite lines in the whole thing; “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it mean – neither more nor less”.

Of course, Alice challenges this, and if I’d been there, I would too – we have very little control over what our words mean, because they’re always read by other people (just as you’re reading this right now) who will have their own understanding, their own interpretation of the meaning of what they are reading. That’s not a bad thing, but it does mean that what I write and what you read are not always the same thing.

The danger for us is that media like email, facebook and blogs rely on written words, and what we intend as a light-hearted joke can easily be read as cutting put-down. And once it’s out on the net, you can’t get it back. I’ve come across (and sometimes been involved in) totally unnecessary feuds that grew out of a single badly thought-out email or facebook comment that caused offence, which led to an equally thoughtless reply, and then spiralled into a mess of insults, put-downs and general nastiness, all from a remark that was never intended to cause offence in the first place.

The book of James reminds us that a whole forest can be set on fire by a single spark, and that our tongues are like that spark. Sadly, a tiny thing, a single word, can cause massive destruction. With such a powerful tool at our disposal, let’s make sure we use it wisely, not carelessly.

Share on Facebook

Chips

Dave Poulson — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 10:11:50 +0000

Last night was our annual Chip Challenge – the whole group take to the local high street amd eat enought chips to determine which chip shop deserves the accolade of ‘winner’. This year (our third), the honour returned to the first-ever holder of the title, after a year at their rivals over the road. It wasn’t even close – the champions won by a landslide, and last year’s best just weren’t what we were looking for.

The same is true of our youth work – what was great last year may not be the right thing for this year. The first time we ran this event we had just a few leaders and 20 or so young people wandering round en masse. By last night, we had more than twice as many young people, split into four separate teams, each with a planned route to avoid overloading the chip shops all at once, and a suitably big team of leaders to accompany them. Both nights were successful, but both were planned around the group we had – if we’d gone out yesterday with a single block of 50 young people and leaders, it would have been a nightmare, and no fun for anyone.

Let’s not get trapped in old ways of thinking. Change is not a criticism of what went before – it’s a recognition that everything moves on. As a child gets older, we provide new shoes, different clothes and fashions; there’s no point in handing a teenager a pair of dungarees and saying ‘But you looked so cute in these when you were 5′ Instead, let’s embrace the challenge of constantly renewing and rebuilding what we do.

(And if you live near Cowick Street, Kong’s Fish Bar comes highly recommended…)

Share on Facebook