Stuff Michael Meeks is doing
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This is my (in)activity log. You might like to visit
Collabora
Productivity a subsidiary of Collabora focusing on LibreOffice support and
services for whom I work.
Also if you have the time to read this sort of stuff you could enlighten
yourself by going to Unraveling Wittgenstein's net or if
you are feeling objectionable perhaps here.
Failing that, there are all manner of interesting things to read on
the LibreOffice Planet news
feed.
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- Up early, looked after the babes; breakfast - off to NCC:
Simon Matthews of plubline speaking, enthusiastic albeit low on content.
- Lunch with Harminda, everyone to bed. A triumph with N. - 1st
true (partial) production on the pot: chocolate appreciation. Subsequently
rather keen on sitting on the thing - perhaps a missing connection.
- Gordon
sermon on
John 2:1-11 - "An Open Bar and the Glory of Christ"
- A disturbing double irony: 34 miracles related in detail
in the NT. Jesus chose to start his ministry in a startling way: this
miracle seems least to do with human need, as the others do.
- A 2nd irony: Jesus turned water into wine. Why not stick with
fruitcake / jewelry ? also the sheer quantity is astonishing,
120-180gallons of wine; 2-3000 glasses of wine.
- Jesus criticised in Mat 11
no matter what you do, you can't win with some people: John the Baptist
called to abstain 100% from alcohol - criticised for that: followed by
Jesus, The Son of Man came eating & drinking, and they say: 'Here
is a glutton & a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and 'sinners'.
But wisdom is proved right by her actions.
- Was it non-alcoholic ? no: new wine clearly
alcoholic - cf.
Acts 2:13-15
- Perhaps no alcoholism in that time ? no:
Isaiah 5:11
Woe to those who rise early in the morning to run after
their drinks, who stay up late at night till they are inflamed with wine.
- scripture recognises some people live to drink & drink to live; have to
have compassion, but reject it as God's intention for us. Also passages that
stress the lethal mix of alcohol & youth.
-
Prov 23 - drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes
them in rags. - the ruin of lives & careers as we see now.
Prov 23
goes on to 6 diagnostic questions with excessive use of alcohol:
Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has
needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?
- However - Jesus turned water into wine - thus, it cannot be an
unqualified evil; a question of use & abuse. Much like eg. sexual
attraction - wonderful inside marriage, but open to abuse outside; or eg.
'things' - nothing wrong with owning them, but problems when they own you.
- Another lesson is Jesus loves marriage - He thinks weddings are
a reason for celebration. Previously seen John 1/2 paralleling Genesis 1/2,
also a 7 day chronology. Jn Ch 2 - finished the week; the 7th day; Gen 2:
a wedding. What about the 2nd Adam ? his opinion of marriage ? follow his
example ? he never got married - clearly not: a stunning affirmation of
marriage. He & his disciples celbrating & engaged in a wedding
feast. Jesus having fun, parties are good.
- 3rd lesson - the Glory of Christ; he thus revealed his
glory, and his disciples put their faith in him. Not really about
weddings, wine but about Jesus. Mainly because his miracles - not that
amazing; Jesus fed 5000 for 1 day; Moses 1 million for 40 years. Pointing
to himself: I am the bread of life etc. other miraculous signs:
pointing to himself.
- We provide the stone vessels & the water - he does the
rest. Post enlightenment as we are: we have an anti-supernaturalist bias:
religion may help mentally, but don't expect religion to affect the
material world. Jesus didn't hear that view - He spoke the universe into
being, he can change water into wine like that. He can change you too,
transform you into a new creature.
My content in this blog and associated images / data under
images/ and data/ directories are (usually)
created by me and (unless obviously labelled otherwise) are licensed under
the public domain, and/or if that doesn't float your boat a CC0
license. I encourage linking back (of course) to help people decide for
themselves, in context, in the battle for ideas, and I love fixes /
improvements / corrections by private mail.
In case it's not painfully obvious: the reflections reflected here are my
own; mine, all mine ! and don't reflect the views of Collabora, SUSE,
Novell, The Document Foundation, Spaghetti Hurlers (International),
or anyone else.
It's also important to realise that I'm not in on the Swedish Conspiracy.
Occasionally people ask for formal photos for conferences
or fun.
Michael Meeks (michael.meeks@collabora.com)
