10 things we didn't know last week!

1. 23% of plastic bags used in the UK are from Tesco.
2. Someone is deported every eight minutes, according to the Home Office.
3. In 1752, the day after 2 September was 14 September.
4. Ugandan tribes recognise and deal with depression.
5. 70% of mental health inpatients are smokers.
6. For the first time in US history, more than one in every 100 American adults is behind bars.
7. There are 200-300 quakes in the UK every year.
8. Teenagers are having fewer babies.
9. Web browser Netscape Navigator once commanded 90% of internet traffic. Now it is 0.6%.
10. It is possible to donate half a liver.

bbc

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Martin Luther - Old Testament

I beg every devout Christian not to despise the simplicity of language and the stories found in the Old Testament. He should remember that, however, simple the Old Testament may seem, it contains the words, works, judgments and actions of God himself. Indeed the simplicity makes fools of the wise and the clever, and allows the poor and simple to see the ways of God. Therefore submit your thoughts and feelings to the stories you read, and let yourself be carried like a child to God.
Martin Luther

Philippians 4:6-7

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Almost anything's possible if you put your heart in it!

LONDON (AFP) - A blind British man is to run seven marathons on seven continents in the space of seven days next month to raise money for guide dogs, he said on Tuesday.
Dave Heeley, 50, will start his extraordinary challenge on the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic at one minute past midnight on April 7 before flying to the Chilean capital Santiago for the second stage the same day.
Accompanied by his running guide Malcolm "Mad Mac" Carr, Heeley will then run marathons in Los Angeles, Sydney, Dubai and Tunis before finishing his odyssey in the London Marathon on April 13.
"I know we're going to be exhausted by the end, but I'm determined to run through the London Marathon because that medal will be a little bit special this year," Heeley, who has clocked up hundreds of miles in training, told AFP.
Heeley, from West Bromwich in central England, was born with an eye disease and lost his sight completely at the age of 16, curtailing a keen interest in running.
He began competing again at the age of 40 when he heard of someone doing the London Marathon to raise money for the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association.
He has run marathons seven times in the past decade, including London six times, and has already raised 200,000 pounds (260,000 euros, 400,00 dollars).
The seven-marathon challenge will take his fund-raising for guide dogs into another dimension with an estimated one million pounds pledged by individual and corporate sponsors.
Heeley said: "Hopefully it'll bring funding in for years to come. It's a lovely feeling to think it'll keep trickling in."
He and his running partner will be accompanied by a four-person support team, although his own guide dog - Wicksie, a three-year-old German Shepherd cross -- will not be making the trip.
"He's stopping at home, warm under the radiator. When I told him about what I was planning, he said 'blow that'."
Despite the gruelling challenge to come, Heeley said he was most concerned about the travelling.
"I'm not the greatest flyer in the world, so that is the thing that's worrying me the most. I'm never happier than when the plane wheels touch the ground," he said.
"But once I've done the marathons I think I'll have no trouble sleeping on the plane.

The Passion on the Beeb this Easter

It's the start of Passover week. In the next few days thousands of pilgrims will pour into Jerusalem to celebrate the most important festival in their religious calendar. For their Roman masters, led by Pontius Pilate, it is the most difficult time of the year. For the High Priest Caiaphas and his Temple priests the workload will be heavy and the pressure to maintain civil order will be intense.
Then news is brought that Jesus the Galilean is approaching the city on a donkey's colt, and will be entering Jerusalem through the East Gate - thus fulfilling two of the most powerful religious prophecies of the coming of the Messiah. The one who many believe will lead them to military victory or spiritual salvation.
On the streets a crowd is beginning to gather.

And the week has only just begun...
The Passion is a bold event drama, retelling the last week in the life of Jesus Christ and written by Emmy Award winner Frank Deasy (Prime Suspect 7). The Passion will be shown throughout Holy Week on BBC ONE, drawing to a dramatic climax on Easter Sunday.
Joseph Mawle (Jesus), James Nesbitt (Pontius Pilate), Paul Nicholls (Judas), Ben Daniels (Caiaphas), Penelope Wilton (Mary), Denis Lawson (Annas) and David Oyelowo (Joseph of Arimathea) lead the cast in this unique and compelling dramatisation.
Visually arresting and rich in colour, the story is rooted in the chaotic world in which it took place - the city of Jerusalem during Passover week. Set in the political and religious context of the time, it combines both narrative tension and thematic power to convey the events that took place that week.

The Passion places the audience at the heart of the action by telling the story from three points of view - the religious authorities, the Romans and Jesus. For the first time, all the key players are intimately characterised, with Jesus (Joseph Mawle) at the centre. The drama begins with Jesus' prophetic entrance through the East Gate, following him to his crucifixion and its startling aftermath.
Jane Tranter, Controller BBC Fiction, says: "The Passion is an example of BBC Drama's commitment to deliver ambitious and distinctive projects. It is a privilege to be making such a major piece of drama from the brilliant Frank Deasy, directed by Michael Offer (The State Within) with an amazing cast."
Award-winning producer Nigel Stafford-Clark (Bleak House) says: "The Passion is a gripping, multi-stranded dramatisation of not just the most familiar but arguably the greatest story ever told. Both truthful and simple - it gives it back to the audience in a way that will feel as fresh, contemporary and surprising as if it were happening for the first time."
The series will be available on DVD at a later date. Bible Society is producing a pack of educational materials to accompany the series for use in schools, churches and adult education. It is legal to record the broadcast for your personal use, but it is illegal to use that copy for public display.

Galatians 5:22-23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

LOVE — never fails
JOY — cometh
PEACE — rules
PATIENCE — waits
KINDNESS — tenders
GOODNESS — does
FAITHFULNESS — fights
GENTLENESS — bows
SELF-CONTROL — stops

Fruitfull Exhortation

Scripture in some places is easy, and in some places hard to be understood. This have I said, as touching the fear to read, through ignorance of the person. And concerning the hardness of Scripture, he that is so weak that he is not able to [eat] strong meat, yet he may suck the sweet and tender milk, and defer the rest, until he wax stronger, and come to more knowledge. For God receives the learned and unlearned, and casts away none, but [does not discriminate]. And the Scripture is full as well of low valleys, plain ways, and easy for every man to use, and to walk in: as also of high hills & mountains, which few men can climb unto.

"A Fruitful exhortation to the reading of holy Scripture", from the Anglican Homilies [1562]

Climbing Photo courtesy

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Homelessness - Practical Help

Homelessness does not simply mean sleeping rough or selling the Big Issue, the Blue Triangle Housing Association project in Lanark, and Wiston Lodge homeless shelter near Biggar highlighted at a Tuesday meeting of churches in Lanark, Scotland.

It is rather a problem with local roots, and which can affect a wide range of people, the groups said at the meeting to discuss ways in which churches in the Clydesdale area of Scotland could support local homeless people.

The meeting was organised by Scottish Churches Housing Action and brought together Christians from different church congregations and local projects who agreed to set up an initiative to help people who become homeless locally.

Stewart Gibb of South Lanarkshire Council gave an indication of the challenges ahead, when he told of the 600 families - including 336 children mostly undre the age of 11 - and individuals who came to the local council for help with homelessness in 2007.

Despite the scale of the need, the council has just over half the number of houses they did 25 years ago, meaning that it depends on other organisations to help make up the shortfall in council housing provision.

Val Holtom, also of South Lanarkshire Council, explained what being homeless means: “Homeless people find themselves moving from address to address, being short of money, having nowhere to cook a healthy meal, experiencing stress and anxiety, and relying on the decisions of others.”

The impact on children of disrupted education and friendships can last much longer than the homelessness itself, Scottish Churches Housing Action added.

Clydesdale churches and organisations at the meeting agreed to scale up the joint response of local churches to people facing homelessness.

They will now come together to produce ‘well-being packs’ – a set of toothbrush and toothpaste, deodorant and other hygiene items to provide to people who have nothing to keep themselves clean and fresh.

It'll never take off!

CS Lewis - Go into the world

Jesus Christ did not say, "Go into the world and tell the world that it is quite right."
C.S. Lewis

Mothering Sunday

Mothering Sunday is the fourth Sunday of Lent. Although it's often called Mothers' Day it has no connection with the American festival of that name.
Traditionally, it was a day when children, mainly daughters, who had gone to work as domestic servants were given a day off to visit their mother and family.
Today it is a day when children give presents, flowers, and home-made cards to their mothers.
History of Mothering Sunday
Most Sundays in the year churchgoers in England worship at their nearest parish or 'daughter church'.
Centuries ago it was considered important for people to return to their home or 'mother' church once a year. So each year in the middle of Lent, everyone would visit their 'mother' church - the main church or Cathedral of the area.
Inevitably the return to the 'mother' church became an occasion for family reunions when children who were working away returned home. (It was quite common in those days for children to leave home for work once they were ten years old.)
And most historians think that it was the return to the 'Mother' church which led to the tradition of children, particularly those working as domestic servants, or as apprentices, being given the day off to visit their mother and family.
As they walked along the country lanes, children would pick wild flowers or violets to take to church or give to their mother as a small gift.

Silly record - Good cause!

NEW DELHI (AFP) - Sixty Indian chefs on Saturday cooked a rice dish weighing 13-tonne (28,600 pounds) in a bid to enter the Guinness Book of World Records, organisers said.
Three cranes dumped 3,000 kilos of Basmati rice, 85 kilos of chilli peppers, 1,200 litres of oil and 3,650 kilos of vegetables into a giant vat at a New Delhi sports stadium in the presence of a Guinness observer.
The steel vat was mounted on a three-foot high furnace while the chefs clad in fire-resistant outfits perched on a platform to stir the biryani -- one of South Asia's most popular dishes -- with oar-like ladles.
The cooks threw "a pinch of salt" weighing 86 kilos into the 16-foot (4.87-metre) deep steel vat, organiser Gurnam Arora said.
The sponsors used a hose to pour 6,000 litres of water into the vat and sprinkled 10 kilos of exotic spices and aromatic condiments to prepare the tangy biryani, Arora said.
"This is a great activity to revive the feasting and celebration tradition associated with biryani in India," New Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit said.
Kaoru Ishikawa, a records manager from the British-based Guinness Book of World Records who was on hand for the 10-hour cooking session, said: "I'm here to certify them for preparing the world's largest biryani weighing around 13,000 kilograms," Ishikawa told AFP. Official recognition of the record is expected later in the year.
The dish would be divided and trucked to city orphanages once Ishikawa certified the weighing of the cooked biryani, garnished with carrots and 750 kilos of creamy yogurt, Arora said.
"This event is a one-of-a-kind endeavour unmatched by any other past culinary activity," Arora said to the cheers of hundreds of spectators.
Currently, there is no listing for the largest biriyani in the Guinness Book of World Records, Arora said.