Rev Matt iBlog

It was my day off and Helen was away for her Ministerial Training, so I wanted to do something. I ended up going to the Everyman cinema to watch The Joker.  The plot: Arthur Fleck is a party clown who lives with his  mother in the famous Gotham City. Gotham is realistic because like the majority of cities it's high with crime and unemployment, leaving segments of the population disenfranchised and impoverished. Arthur suffers from a disorder that causes him to laugh at inappropriate times and depends on social services for medications. Society judges Arthur on his outward appearance. I don't want to spoil it for you! My view: Joker was brilliant but disturbing. Joaquin takes the Joker to the next level. The film paints a dark and necessary view of mental health.  The Joker is a complicated character. His terror is ideological and his motivations are philosophical. However, the point of the film is that Arthur became the Joker because society ignored his conditi

Helen and I have recently joined our local Slimming World because we both felt like we needed to lose weight. Slimming World is a weight loss organisation that provides lifestyle weight management programmes for people of all ages. This year Slimming World is celebrating 50 years since it was founded in Derbyshire in 1969 by Margaret Miles-Bramwell.  This is only our 5th week and we are both doing very well. I've lost one stone and Helen is 0.5lb off losing her first stone. The Lunn house is very competitive at the moment, but all in love. We are both enjoying the new recipes especially cooking with fresh ingredients. However, what caught my attention was how the group look out for each other. Members have group support through shared experience with other slimmers to encourage behaviour change. Looking out for each other is evident when members clap an achievement or support a member when feeling down. Accountability is demonstrated in the group. Since start