Drink Fairtrade

Don't read on if you have given up alcohol for Lent...

Fairtrade wine used to be regarded as inferior but it's now seen as good value, fruity and easily drinkable. Check out Worthy, but tasty, an article about Fairtrade wine. Maybe you should try one of these bottles during Fairtrade Fortnight?

See also: Fairtrade communion wine

Borrow books and save money

Did you take advantage of the Library Free Day last weekend? Here's another credit-crunch offer: just borrow 6 books on your ticket and save money with a free loan of any CD, DVD or talking book. This seasonal special offer is available in all Leicestershire libraries from 23 February until 6 March.

The truth about recycling

Taking part in the Carbon Fast for Lent? If so, this article from today's Guardian on The truth about recycling should reassure you to keep going, despite the growing backlash against recycling and the collapse in demand for recycled materials.

Lent devotionals

This Lent IVP is running a free online devotionals service. Each day for 40 days, you will be able to log on and read a short extract from an IVP book which the publishers hope will encourage you and teach you more about our great God and saviour. Visit the service and bookmark it at http://www.ivpbooks.com/lent.

See also all Lent-related blog posts.

Pancake Day!

...or rather, Shrove Tuesday.

Stuck for a recipe? You can opt for the traditional pancake recipe, alternative recipes (from Lakeland Limited), or Michelin-starred pancakes (from the Guardian).

Looking Good Being Bad

A group of us have booked to see Looking Good Being Bad - the subtle art of churchmanship with Adrian Plass and Saltmine Theatre Company at Loughborough URC next week. This is billed as "comedy, theatre, and churchmanship all in one hilarious and thought-provoking evening".

Not sure whether it's your cup of tea? Check out the Adrian Plass website for more about this writer and speaker who has produced over thirty books in the last twenty years. "Adrian's central motivation continues to be his love for Jesus. His passion is to communicate the need for reality in faith, and a truth that he learned during a difficult stage in his life: God is nice and he likes me..."

A credit crunch text from the Bible

Have you listened to "What Is the Recession For?" yet? In it John Piper suggests that 2 Corinthians 8:12 might be the clearest "recession text" in the Bible, as it describes the roots of the joy of the Macedonian believers in their "recession".

In their "severe test of affliction" and "extreme poverty" their abundant joy "overflowed in a wealth of generosity". Their generosity didn't come from prosperity but from God's grace - and this grace rooted in "our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich" (2 Corinthians 8:9).

Fairtrade Fortnight 2009

Fairtrade Fortnight 2009 will be launched on London's South Bank on 22 February 2009. One of the activities will be Go Bananas! on 6-7 March when supporters are encouraged to eat a Fairtrade banana and be part of the world’s biggest banana event.

Carbon Fast for Lent

Ash Wednesday falls in a week's time, so it's a good time to publicise the Carbon Fast campaign that Tearfund are encouraging us to consider this Lent - cutting our carbon use and helping protect poor people from climate change. You can sign up to receive daily emails during the Carbon Fast - each email includes the daily action, facts, prayers and reflection.

'Love does no harm to its neighbour' (Romans 13:10). Climate change can mean our neighbours go hungry because of drought, or lose their homes because of floods. Faced with that reality, there are many things we can do, acting as part of the global church's response, to change the way our lives impact poor communities.

Students need to know Bible's 'great stories': poet laureate

Children should be taught the Bible throughout their education because it is an "essential piece of cultural luggage" without which they will struggle to fully understand literature, according to the poet laureate, Andrew Motion in the article students need to know Bible's 'great stories'. Try the quiz: How much do you know about the Bible? and see also:

• Interview with Andrew Motion
• Poems which passeth understanding
• The essential Bible stories

Library Free Day: Sat 21 Feb

A special event is being held across libraries in Leicestershire where literally everything is FREE! On Saturday 21st February, until 5pm, if you’ve forgotten to take a book back recently or if you’ve been too scared to take it back for a while, now’s your chance, as you won’t have to pay a penny in overdue charges.

The event celebrates the free nature of libraries - everybody knows it’s free to join the library, you can borrow books for free and most people know libraries have computers, with access to the internet via broadband which is also free, but what else can you get for nothing that day? No overdue charges, free DVD hire, free CD hire, free talking book loans, free requests, and free printing (note: some conditions apply).

Link: Find your local library

What is the recession for?

Have you heard a sermon preached on the recession yet? If not, listen to "What Is the Recession For?" for a reminder that God is sovereign over all finances and when the economy plummets, God has His purposes.

Some of His purposes made known in the Bible include: "waking us up to the constant and desperate condition of the developing world where there is always and only recession of the worst kind; and relocating the roots of our joy in His grace rather than in our goods - in His mercy rather than our money, in His worth rather than our wealth".

Ethical foods backed despite downturn

A recent poll has discovered that consumers are buying more Fairtrade and locally produced products despite the tough economic climate. In addition to locally-produced and Fairtrade foods, shoppers are concerned to purchase goods with higher animal welfare standards. Only organic foods have suffered a decline, food and grocery researchers IGD found in a poll of 1,051 shoppers conducted in December.

Remember the LOAF principle? It encourages people to choose food that meets at least one of the following criteria: Locally produced, Organically grown, Animal friendly or Fairly traded.

Anglican website survey

Just after posting about the God.com radio feature, I have discovered that the webmasters from the national Church of England web-site have launched an on-line survey to gather visitors’ views, recognising the need to engage directly with visitors to the site. It is available now at http://www.survey.bris.ac.uk/cofe/cofeweb and will be there until the end of March. The survey questions will help the Church discover who is accessing the site (and why), whatpeople think about the Church of England site compared with those of other large organisations, and how the site can be improved.

Also worth noting is that, following the success of the Church of England’s monthly podcast People and Places, the website is now featuring a weekly podcast.

God.com

In God.com (broadcast yesterday on Radio 4), Dr Robert Beckford examines the popularity of religion on the internet. Every traditional religion and their denominations within has a web site as do a fast-growing number of individual churches, mosques and synagogues. In the programme, a podcasting priest, a blogging rabbi and an imam whether on-line religion is replacing more traditional forms.

Language Cafes

Language Cafés are being set up all over Europe to take language learning in an exciting direction. In a Language Café you can meet people to practise speaking other languages, share cultural interests or just simply socialise. Language Cafés can be found in real cafes and also in cinemas, bookshops, libraries and even online. They haven't reached Leicestershire yet, but its a great idea...

Checkout other blog posts on languages

Google Earth dives under the sea‏

Google has upgraded its global mapping software, Google Earth, to include large swathes of the ocean floor and abyssal plain. Google Ocean lets users "dive" beneath a dynamic water surface to explore the 3D sea floor terrain. You can visit locations including underwater volcanoes, as well as running videos on marine life, shipwrecks and clips of favourite surf and dive spots.

The alternative office

The Google chaps have got to have the most hilariously fun office ever at their European HQ. It's like a giant kiddies' playground. It seems too silly to be a workplace, but wouldn't it just cheer you up to see your boss arrive in the canteen via the helterskelter?

The idea is that Google's employees become more creative in their interactive workspace.

Reminds me too of a Clive Anderson article in the Beeb's online Magazine about creative workspaces - check out the clutter!

Still more on buses as billboards

See Let there be adverts: Christians hit back at the atheist bus for details about three Christian groups which have created their own series of advertisements to run across London buses - the "medium of choice for the battle of beliefs, it seems".

Out of the mouths.....

Thought-provoking cartoon by Ros Asquith from guardian.co.uk.

Bus Slogan

I tried out the Bus Slogan Generator... how about this for an answer to the atheists' campaign of there being 'no cod'?

Happy Birthday, Facebook

Facebook is giving its 150 million users a mystery virtual gift to celebrate its fifth birthday. In five short years, Facebook has helped a global change in the way people keep in touch with one another.
Infusion Facebook group
Learning what makes Facebook tick

Bus slogan generator

If you have been following the news story about the Atheist Bus Campaign , you may be interested to discover that now you can add your own message on the side of a bus using the Bus slogan generator.

Snowfall in Leicestershire

The BBC Leicester website has a great photo gallery of shots taken round the county: Your (Leicestershire) Snow Pictures.

Presenter breaks snow teapot

On video, weather presenter Carol Kirkwood breaks a snow sculpture of a teapot.

Literary snow

This is the biggest blizzard in parts of the UK for 18 years, so the Guardian recommends that you wrap up well and exercise your grey matter with some quiz questions about literary snow.

Hope for Planet Earth: Coventry meeting

After the advance notice about the 2009 Hope for Planet Earth Tour, the nearest event will be held at Blue Coats School, Coventry on Wednesday 4th March (tickets £6 or £3 in advance). Supported by Tearfund, A Rocha, Share Jesus International and John Ray Institute. Further information from http://www.hopeforplanetearth.co.uk.