London 8/12

Some board games are more dangerous than others. If you dare play War on Terror, you may end up with Evil plastered all over your forehead. In London, some friends and I spent several hours one Sunday figuring this game out. If I gave board games stars, I would give this one 3 out of 4. Recommended as an entertaining way to get educated about the crazy turn our world has taken. Apparently, WoT's creators, who are peaceniks from Cambridge, have been banned from some game conventions because of the controversy surrounding WoT. Read The Guardian's coverage of the game here.

Bibliographic Interruption

Please excuse this interruption of the 12-part London series.
I just want to point out my nifty new search widget entitled 'on my bookshelf ' (scroll down, on the right).

Go ahead, search my library. You know you want to!

London 7/12

I bought two books while in London, received one as a gift and borrowed another.

The first book I bought from Metanoia Books, the book shop affiliated with the London Mennonite Centre, where I was staying: and that book is The Human Being by Walter Wink. The human being Wink writes about is none other than Jesus. This promises to be a provocative book which builds on Wink's Powers Trilogy but ventures beyond what some would consider acceptable Christology. I've only read one chapter, but am already intrigued. As soon as I finish (and the title of the book subsequently appears on one of my new sidebars!), I'll let you know what I think.

The second book I bought for a fiver at a second-hand book market near the Thames: and that book is The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever by Stephen Donaldson. It's actually a compendium containing the first three books of a 10 book series (only 7 of which are currently published). My friend Vic recommended this series to me as some of his favorite books of all time, so I couldn't help but snap this volume up when I discovered it at the market.

The third book Vic gave to me. It is one of his own: Sign of the Manipogo. (It's also available on amazon here.) Vic has written two novels, the second of which is as of yet unpublished. I very much look forward to reading them both!

A book which I borrowed from my hosts and read in its entirety was Short Cuts, a collection of short stories upon which the identically titled movie is based, which I blogged about earlier. I recommend the collection of stories just as highly as the film. Raymond Carver exudes brilliance.

London 6/12

While in London I spent a mind-blowing day at the British Museum. Most of the aforementioned mind-blowing occurred while encountering artifacts like this one: an ancient Assyrian relief sculpture depicting Israelite captives playing their harps nearby a grove of trees. (Click to enlarge.)

Viewing this image both awed me and broke my heart. I remembered Psalm 137:

By the rivers of Babylon— there we sat down and there we wept when we remembered Zion.

On the willows there we hung up our harps.

For there our captors asked us for songs, and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

How could we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? (NRSV)

When I first viewed this piece of art last week, I was impressed by how the faith expressed in the Hebrew scriptures was grounded in concrete, earthy experiences - many of which were tragic. Here is a portrayal of Israelite musicians: conquered, captive and marginalized as 'the other'. I could only gaze in sadness and wonder as the real, lived experience behind this artifact (and the psalm) leapt forward, demanding my attention. Today, as I think back to my afternoon in the museum, I wonder about the real, lived experiences of the 'captives' in Western societies. I chose to emigrate to Holland; many immigrants leave their homeland against their will. In what ways are they required to sing their songs in order to 'entertain' the powerful majority? In what ways do we use others to satiate our own 'need' for mirth? By refusing to take seriously those who are different, how do we impoverish our own souls?

London 5/12

While in London I was enthralled by Kathy's stories about her experiences in Israel/Palestine with a Christian Peacemaker Team delegation from 20 November to 1 December 2006. (Krista participated in a similar delegation in January of this year.) Check out photos of Kathy's amazing journey here.