29 March 2024
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Was Barabbas a bad man?

In short, almost certainly yes. Barabbas was the condemned man who was released by Pilate instead of Jesus (following the intervention of the religious leaders who got the crowd to call for the criminal). Barabbas is a minor character but an interesting one and mentioned in all four gospel accounts. His name possibly means “son of the father” (bar-abba), which would have a strong irony in the story, although it could mean “son of the teacher” (bar-rabban) or be coincidental.

However, here is why I was pondering if he might not have been a bad man. I was at a three-hour Good Friday vigil and it had been set around the text from Mark’s gospel. In Mark 15:7, it says “And the one named Barabbas had been imprisoned with the rebels who had committed murder in the revolt.” That is the NASB translation and the NIV and several others are quite similar. Could he have been an innocent man imprisoned along with a group of murderous rebels?

If only Mark had mentioned him, you could draw that conclusion. However Matthew (27:16) describes him as “notorious”, John (18:40) says he had taken part in an uprising (combined with Mark, a stronger reason to believe he was a murderer) and Luke (23:19) leaves us in no doubt: “He was one who had been thrown into prison for a revolt that took place in the city, and for murder”.

When studying the Bible, it is worth looking out for the things that strike you but also worth doing a little extra research, particularly when it seems a novel idea you don’t remember hearing before.

28 March 2024
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Speedy Delivery

Hurrah for Crossmyloof Brew. I put in an order for some brewing grain late on Tuesday night and it arrived first thing this morning. That’s pretty good service.

For anyone, like me, who hasn’t found a supplier within easy distance of home (shout out to Stonehelm, who used to be my supplier of choice when I was based in Oxford), the lads based in Crossmyloof are certainly worth considering, with a good range, free delivery and excellent service.

27 March 2024
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Helleborus – ageing well

I’ve put in an order for some more brewing supplies which, hopefully, will arrive ready for the weekend or early next week. Meanwhile, I’m onto the last few bottles of my Helleborus brew, bottled last December. Although it is a lighter brew than the Ruby Return (about 4.5% ABV compared to just over 6%), it has still benefited from a period of bottle ageing. I wasn’t wild about the first few bottles but it seems to have settled down well. If I can get a couple more brews done before the summer, that will set me up well to keep them long enough to enjoy at their peak during the warm season when I tend to lay off brewing (no cooling component in my set up and I’ll be busy in the garden and allotment).

26 March 2024
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Standing and Jumping

My spell as a lab rat is over! I did my final session on Monday morning. It was quite different to the other ones and much more enjoyable. Instead of sitting down, wired up with electrodes and getting the occasional stimulus (loud noise / electric shock!) this was conducted in a different room and mainly involved standing on one leg.

The special thing was that there was a pressure-measuring plate on the floor and so the researcher could track how I made tiny movements trying to maintain my balance. Most of the balancing was easy and more so when I was performing cognitive tasks (clicking a mouse on colour changes or memorising a short sequence of numbers). Apparently, in older patients that is more likely to switch, with extra thinking making balance worse rather than letting the subconscious take over. The other part involved some jumping and then balancing, either from a short distance or from a small (20cm?) height.

It still wasn’t the most fun I could imagine having but it was the least arduous of the sessions and I think a good design to include that as the conclusion. I’m looking forward to being sent a copy of the results in due course although that could take a while – data collection should finish this June (still time for reasonably healthy local people to sign up!) and then the write-up and publication process can take a few months. It will be a small contribution to the world of medical science but hopefully there will be some insights which can make a positive difference to the care and support of people experiencing balance issues.

25 March 2024
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Looking Down on the Back Garden – March 2024

I’ve missed a couple of months of my back garden series (since a snowy day last December) but here is an update from this morning:

The grass had a bit of strimming last week although the return of wet weather means it will probably get a few more days to grow. Growing is the theme all round: lots of plants are making a start on their 2024 season.

24 March 2024
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Magnolia Bloom Bottled

I got my Magnolia Bloom beer bottled yesterday morning. It had gone from 1.042 (bang on target) to 1.006 (a little lower than the recipe) so that gives an ABV of about 4.7% or drink with a little bit of caution. I saved a bit of the brew that didn’t get bottled – put in glasses and left covered in the fridge, most of the sediment drops out and you get a drinkable brew. However, I’m hoping a few weeks in the bottle will turn an okay drink into one that I’m pleased to share with friends.

23 March 2024
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Sing-around on the Six String Bass

Today’s sing-around might have been the last one at The Plough Inn for a while, depending on when it actually shuts its doors. I decided to take my six string Sei Flamboyant bass for a number of reasons: I don’t think I’ve given it an outing there before, I haven’t really found much time to play it since it came back from the luthiers and it opens up much fluidity in approaching songs than I can apply on most other instruments. I also took my amp, my Zoom B3 FX box (much more portable than the Helix) and my Jackery battery so I didn’t need to try and find somewhere to plug in.

It was a pretty busy session so I just got to lead three songs. Early on, I chipped in Diving Duck Blues. I did that last week at the Bluegrass jam but, on the bass, I was also able to throw in the riff from the Taj Mahal version. On my second go, I went with Fly Me to the Moon – a little harder for others to play along with but a good one to exercise my comping chops. Finally, it fell to me to close the afternoon so I opted for Valerie (The Zutons / Amy Winehouse). The verse vamps around a couple of chords, the chorus is mainly around another couple of chords and there’s one more required to pivot back to the first vamp. It’s also pretty well known as a song and I’m confident on the vocals and able to give a strong lead to bring people along.

How did the bass do? Brilliantly. I’m very happy with the work that was done and, with better access to the battery compartment, I think I’ll be making more use of it in active mode again.

22 March 2024
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The Lab Rat is Almost There

I did my third research study session yesterday afternoon. In this one, it was a little different as, instead of pulling my ankle towards me, I was pushing it away from me. As always, not the most pleasant experience (I wouldn’t choose to have my muscles stimulated by electric currents for fun) but hopefully the collected data across all participants will reveal something useful.

Next week will be my final session and I think this one will be more about moving and balancing rather than sitting still and being measured, which I think I’m looking forward to.

21 March 2024
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Consequences and Cost

There was a useful article by Andrew Horton published on Premier Christianity’s website this week: Is the Church facing a cost-of-serving crisis?

His answer seems to be yes. It is very easy for churches to put out messages about all the things that need to be done and then to put on more events, to generate even more things to do. There is a high risk of people burning out or just staying away but that isn’t how the church script ought to run. More than any other group of people, we should know how to do what is important without losing our ability to enjoy God’s rest. I spoke on this myself a few months ago although I wouldn’t pretend that I solved the problem or don’t have to keep considering it both for myself and for what I put on others:

When we did that series, we also produced a weekly study guide, and you might want to ponder that week’s edition:

Readings: Matthew 11:28-30 / Isaiah 28:11-13

Jesus calls us to rest but he means more than doing nothing or finding ways to entertain ourselves. The Jews already had a long tradition of Sabbath rest, going back to Genesis chapter 1, but Jesus calls us to
rest in him.

Think back over the past week. What things have kept you busy and what ways have you rested? If you look back over a longer period (years or even decades), has this pattern changed? If so, do you think
it has got better or worse?
What things could you choose to do that would help you to rest in Jesus? Many people would probably feel that they could do with more rest in him so is there a suggestion that you could work into your daily or weekly routine? It might help you to find someone to be accountable to about trying this.
Many people around us feel stressed and worn out, so ‘rest’ is probably good news for them if they would stop and listen. How can we share that with them? How can we help each other be people who demonstrate rest and not stress?

20 March 2024
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Fizzy Red

Looking back, it appears I failed to either record when I bottled my homemade wine from last autumn or my first impressions of it. By the end of 2023 (I think) and drinkable if somewhat different to my experience of commercially produced wines should cover it. Batch one was darker with a not unpleasant mixture of sweetness and sourness and batch two was like a very dark rose although probably the better drink of the two.

I had a few of the small bottles I put it in but it has been sitting for a while now and I’ve discovered that batch 1 has turned bubbly. I’ve tried three bottles recently, all of which have been “open in the sink” jobs. Fortunately not too much harm was done when I opened the first before realising that! If anything, it has improved as a drink but I’ll need to get the rest used up soon in case the pressure keeps building.

I haven’t tried a bottle from batch 2 yet but I think, when I do, I’ll go for the sink option there as well, just in case!

It suggests that the campden tablets and sodium metabisulfite I added weren’t enough to completely kill off the yeast and the extra sugar helped whatever survive get going again.

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