Capital of Culture opening weekend

Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture began in earnest this weekend with two eye-catching events. They were both designed with the media in mind to grab the headlines and provide some photo opportunities.

On Friday "the people's opening" was a show in front of St George's Hall. Liverpool people tuned up in their thousands to see the fireworks, the aerial ballet, the performers and the the music. Many were there to see Ringo Starr whose song "Liverpool 8" became the anthem of the night.
I was hugely impressed with the event. It was so well organised and produced. As so often happens in Liverpool. the people were the stars.
I wasn't so impressed with Ringo. His mimed performance wasn't about Liverpool, it was about himself. When he sang, "Liverpool, I left you, but I never let you down", we almost believed him. Almost but not quite.

On Saturday the new Liverpool Arena was officially opened with an event called "Liverpool the Musical". This was two hours of music and dance with stunning visuals. the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra were magnificent. Each performer was in a capsule at the back of the stage, bathed in blue light. Musicians who impressed me included The Farm and Gary Christian.

The audience was full of celebrities, with two McGanns, Les Dennis, Cathy Tyson, Kenny Dalglish, Peter Reid, David Morrisey, Sue Johnston, Claire Sweeney and Gerry Marsden all sitting near to where I was.

I had the same gripe about Ringo Starr and I had on the Friday. When we were told to "stand up for Ringo" and calls of "Ringo for President" rang out from the stage I for one thought, "no, this is Liverpool's night". But Liverpool still loves its Fab Four.


The Capital of Culture year began well and I think everyone in the city now has confidence of its success. How will success be measured? I hope it will be an increased confidence of the city in itself as a prominent European city. Not really English but firmly European, on the edge of the continent geographically and yet central to its aspirations and identity. I hope success will also be measured in Kingdom terms: that we should be a city conforming more and more to the purposes of God: kinder, fairer, more trusting and more rooted in the love of God.

Open Culture thought for the day

The Open Culture website is excellent, and it's a refreshing part of the new democratised approach to the Capital of Culture since Phil Redmond came on board.

They're publishing a "cultural thought" for each day of the year and they asked me to write one. I had lots of ideas floating around and the one I chose became more solid after I had a chat with Phil Redmond yesterday. It wasn't anything Phil said, it seems that just being with him helps you to be creative!

Anyway I've sent them this thought on "Christian Culture". I don't know when they'll put it on their site, but here it is for you to see first, and to comment on.

"Christian Culture"

A new word has entered our vocabulary in recent months and it’s even been the topic of a debate in parliament. The word is “Christianophobia”. It’s related to words like Islamophobia and homophobia and I suppose it means something like “an attitude of prejudice or discrimination against people who practise the Christian faith”. And if that definition ever ends up in a dictionary you’ll know who made it up.

As someone who is a practising Christian I recognise what such discrimination feels like, but I’m not one to stamp my feet or throw the dummy out of the pram. In 2008, in Liverpool as much as anywhere else, practising Christians - and there are still hundreds of thousands of us in Merseyside - need to earn the right to have our voice heard. Christendom has been and gone and I’m glad of it. All I would ask now is that Christians are treated as well as other sizeable minorities in our glorious, chaotic jumble of a society.

And then there’s “Christian culture”. What does such a phrase mean? If it’s taken to means olde worlde buildings and a yearning for the way the world used to be, then I want nothing to do with it. If it means a world where people are nicey-nice with one another, holding their passions in bay for the sake of politeness and inoffensive gentility, than that’s not for me either.

For me the marks of true Christian culture have to reflect the character of the one from whom it takes its name, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ. That culture will be a marked by a passion for justice and for real goodness. It will have a firm foundation of unashamed belief without scoring points off others. It will be attractive and real and subversive.

My hope for 2008 is that those in our great city who are passionate about their faith will have their voice heard alongside everyone else. I believe that voice, if heard authentically, will be both attractive and challenging.

Scouserati

On January 1st the Liverpool Echo published a list of "the 366 most influential Scousers on the planet" and much to my amazement I'm on the list! All I can say is that I'm glad it's a leap year so that there were 366 places to fill!
It's interesting to look at how many on the list would be identified as being practising Christians: only five or six I think.