In Cambridge

Sitting on a bridge over the river Cam...

Everyone really wants to be in Cambridge. Every academic wants to be a fellow at King's. Every student wants to cycle the narrow streets, punt the river, and live in a grade 1 listed building. Other places are great, but you say, 'this is as good as Cambridge', or 'even Cambridge can't compete with this.' Remember the VW Golf advert? Cambridge is what we really want.

Why do we want to be in Cambridge? Does life, in its fundamental interactions and tasks, become any different? Nope. Friends are friends. Work is work. Love is love. What's different is context. It's like when the snow settles - suddenly the world feels alive, you feel like you're living in a movie, an adventure story. Your life is significant, it means something. That's why we want to write for the Telegraph, not the Southern Daily Echo; why we want to help AIDS orphans in Cape Town not young carers in Thetford; why we want to go out with a model, not a mate. So we know we matter. Our thoughts and fears and feelings and friends and work and future...

I'll tell you the best news you'll hear all day. You are in a great story, and you do matter. Ok?

Honesty

If there are people around you now, look at them.
If you’re on your own, remember your last crowded room.
Look at their faces.
Look at their eyes.
Behind what they’re saying, behind what they do,
What are they thinking?
What do they feel right now?
What about you?

‘People actually do that?’
‘Yeah, they do.’
It had not occurred to me that anyone I knew would go and use a Christian dating site. I must have assumed that everyone was pretty cool about the whole thing and it was just me who wondered about relationships half my empty brain time.

I wasn’t interested in who (he didn’t tell me anyway) – just the fact that some lovely people from church were desperate enough to stop trusting Jesus and take matters into their own hands was like a splash of water in my face. They may look like they haven’t got a care in the world, but inside they’re surviving. That’s so tough.

I used to say Christians should frown inside church gatherings and smile outside, instead of the other way round. No doubt that’s too simplistic: rampant misery won’t make anyone feel welcome, and it’s a good sign when people get happy engaging with Jesus! But what does it say to our neighbours about Jesus if he doesn’t seem to help with any of our problems? And if you can’t get help for your hurts in the Church, where can you go?

If you let your feelings go, dear
It's scary what you'll find
I find I'm on your street, dear
And you're always on my mind
And no one needs to know
That you let me in tonight
That you let me see the world
Behind your eyes
- Jon Foreman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_pehtMmGSs