Alan Green Quotations

The [book of the bible] Song Of Songs is an amazing erotic love poem that the church has tried very hard not to notice. It is really beautiful, and musical in its poetry.

I grew up in the church, with traditional hymns, but at the same time I was beginning to listen to pop music, the mid-60s, The Beatles, which had just as much influence on me as those hymns did. Then the hippy stuff like Pink Floyd started to raise questions about how I lived my life and the world in which I lived.

As a teenager I was very clear that I wasn't in the church just to toe the line, but I saw there was a capacity within Christianity and the bible not to fall into line but to question the status quo, that's what kept me in the church. I was listening to the sort of music that did that questioning.

That level of expectation that I'm going to be conservative is really disappointing, but it is how many people think about clergy and the church

I'd signed up not just for Christianity but the established Church of England. That has a particular history and I think we rather lost it in the 19th Century, we became so much part of empire and colonialism, the language of the Church Of England still reflects that Victorian time. As the 20th Century developed, not surprisingly people left the church and I can see the church's role in losing people.

I want to be able to open up the really good treasures of the Church and Christianity to people, and that's not going to be achieved by shouting at them to convert or they'll go to hell. It's about giving them an opportunity to reimagine Christianity.

Spirituality is a natural part of ourselves, as natural as emotions, but we've got all the language wrong and made this divide between secularism and spirituality, whereas instead it's about being human.

I think what we're really bad at doing is recognising that it is possible to have lost of different views within the church.

Phil Dowd checks his whistle and blows his watch.

Being a Christian does not mean that there is one way of living a Christian life, people do it differently in different cultures because they have different interpretations, that's how it should be. The disciples had arguments with Jesus! It is about listening to one another, and respecting one another with those differences.

It was the game that put the Everton ship back on the road.

This will be their 19th consecutive game without a win unless they can get an equaliser.

Well, he had two stabs at the cherry

The bible is not a blueprint for every day of your life, it is an inspiration not a blueprint. That requires that we listen to one another and get challenged and grow by living with difference within the body of the church.

Here's Brian Flynn. His official height is five feet five and he doesn't look much taller than that

A few question marks are being asked in the Honduran defence

I don't know where this Arctic wind has come from but it's freezing!

As a parish priest of the Church Of England I promise to look after everyone in the community, not just those who come to church, not just white people, not just the Christians.

Bruce, on his right foot, is still running...

Ziege hits it high for Heskey who isn't playing

Xavier, who looks just like Zeus, not that I have any idea what Zeus looks like...

I've never really separated out the spiritual and the secular.

John Arne Riise was deservedly blown up for that foul

John Moncur has been much more effective since he came on

Tugay is writhing around all over the place as if he were dead

In the time of Mrs Thatcher the church, to give it its due, spoke out and was an enemy of the Conservative government.

They care about their club, and that's why they always have something good to say, even when it is negative

I've bought QPP shares but unfortunately both times I bought it they immediately dropped by over 10p. Do you pay much attention to the dealing notes?

You don't score 64 goals in 86 games at the highest level without being able to score goals.

Mark's on his own out there. Help is often a long way away. This is a really big job.

I'm so excited about our lineup. We had said we were going to cut it back this year. But with Third Day, Jeremy Camp and The Newsboys, it's as big as ever.

With the death toll still rising, it will take untold millions of dollars to get back some semblance of life along the nation's Gulf Coast. Most of us will never truly understand what it is like to have your life turned upside down overnight. No place to call your own. To become homeless in a day is unthinkable.

We consider them a sponsoring church if they're doing that.

Do you ask a kid to sacrifice perhaps his best event for the sake of a possible team title? Track has that dual interest. It's a team and individual sport.

This does turn the convoy into a bit of a farce,

I'd say every second building is damaged -- some completely.