What does the bible have to teach us about Climate Change?

Over the last few decades climate scientists have been warning us with greater and greater levels of alarm about the potential dangers of human created climate change. While the exact outcomes of a warming world will always be a matter for debate it seems to be more and more clear that whatever the eventual effects, worse-case or best-case, this is a problem that we need to take seriously and to which we need to find solutions.

In our modern world the realms of science and religion have entered a quiet truce. Post-modern science has become less sure of its own certainty, while mainstream Christianity has become less strident in its truth claims. The Church has been pushed, or retreated, to the margins of many areas of public dialogue. In the eyes of most in our society Climate Science is principally seen as a scientific problem to be solved with scientific and technological solutions; religious salvation is an individual and private spiritual matter.

Such a worldview is very modern. Ancient cultures did not think in such compartmentalised ways. For many of our ancestors it was quite natural to believe that a bad harvest could be the result of having displeased God, or that a medical illness could be the result of a human conflict. Ancient people had a much more symbiotic view of different elements at work in our world. We moderns have thrown out many of these ideas as mere superstition, and perhaps rightly so in many cases, but we need to be careful that in throwing out this old bath water we do not lose older wisdom that might now be needed.

Is to understand Noah’s flood as a punishment for human sin (Genesis 6:7) that much different from attributing increasingly violent weather to our having burnt too much coal? Or is to understand the drought during Ahab’s reign as a consequence of idolatry (1 Kings 16:31-17:7) so much different from accepting that human caused climate change is causing the increased desertification of North Africa? Perhaps the stories we read in our bible about climate chaos and human action contain deeper truths than might be apparent from a simplistic reading. Many of our biblical stories are parables or vignettes which were edited and refined by generations of oral tradition before being committed to writing. The way an ancient less-scientifically educated people made sense of the world is very different from how we might, but that does not mean we should ignore their experience.

In Genesis 2 the first human is created by the combining of both the earth and the breath of God[1] (Genesis 2:7). Thus humanity is the fruit of a sacred union between God and the earth. We are dependent on both, called to be attentive our dual nature. We are images of both God and the natural world. In genesis (Genesis 2:15) humanity is asked to garden till the soil and to take care of the earth; these are words which come from the realm of agriculture not politics. We are placed in a relationship of inter-dependence, the earth relies on us and just as equally we rely on the earth for our welfare.

It is significant that the breaking down of humanities relationship with God involves an alienation from the earth and expulsion from the garden, the snake and the soil are cursed by God (Genesis 3:14,17-18). Perhaps in this ancient story we can read a warning as to what happens if we commodify and functionalise the natural world, seeing it as existing only that we might exploit it. We are called to be part of a partnership, not to dominate and subjugate for our own short-term benefit.

As the biblical narrative advances we are told stories of nature asserting itself against humanity. Noah’s flood (Genesis 7-8), the famine predicted by Joseph (Genesis 41), the ten plagues (Exodus 7-11), Ahab’s drought (1 Kings 17) and Jonah’s storm (Jonah 1) are all example of this narrative.

For the bible the salvation offered by God is rarely a matter of individual redemption but of fullness of life offered to all of creation, the restoration of the original Genesis 2 partnership between God, humanity and the natural world. This restoration involves a three way process of healing, the healing of our relationships with each other, with God and with nature.

So perhaps it is time to listen more carefully to the words of Job, “Ask the animals, and they will teach you; the birds of the air, and they will tell you; ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you.” (Job 12:7-8). Isaiah 35 speaks of the wilderness and dry land being glad, natural phenomena responding to divine deliverance. Ezekiel 36 paints a picture of renewal as abundant fields and fruit laden tree (36:29-30). In the New Testament, Paul tells us that salvation is not just for humanity but for all creation which waits with eager expectation for the coming of Christ (Romans 8:19-23); in Matthew’s Gospel Jesus (like Job) encourages us to take our example from the birds of the air and the lilies in the field (Matthew 6:26-29).

Are we in these more environmentally aware time beginning to realise that these words, which we had assumed to be just symbolic, are filled with greater meaning than we had until now realised?

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[1] The text contains a wordplay in Hebrew, humanity (ha-adam) is made from the earth (ha-adamah)

When you hear of War and Rumours of War, do not be alarmed (Mark 13:7)

Sometimes the lectionary throws up very timely readings. After Friday 13^th November, a day which saw deadly attacks in Paris, Beirut and Baghdad, on the Sunday (15^th Nov) we were given Mark 13, perhaps the longest teaching on how Christians are called to respond to War and violence in the whole of the New Testament. The following Sunday (22^nd Nov) we read another pertinent text from John 18; Jesus tells Pilate “If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over...but as it is, my kingdom is not from here”. Tomorrow we have another text of war and turmoil, Luke 21:25-36. “There will be signs ... nations in agony, bewildered by the clamour of the ocean and its waves; men dying of fear as they await what menaces the world”

These readings speak very powerfully in the context of a wealthy world racketing itself up with war fever; in a context of millions of refugees fleeing war and seeking safety elsewhere; and in a context of multiple guerrilla armies, backed up by religious beliefs, filled with young men willing to die for their cause.

The bible’s words read in the current international climate have much to teach us, I urge all of you to spend some time reflecting on these passages. I believe they proclaim a very different gospel from that of our tabloid newspapers and political leaders, and equally very different from the ideology of Islamic State.

We are in a moment when the loudest voices on all sides are proclaiming a message of redemptive violence, if we kill these bad guys then all will be well. This message is fatalist, there is no other way, only through the use of violence can we end this evil which threatens us. Evil must be separated from good in very clear and distinct ways, our group is Good and the other is Evil. Righteous are those who strike to destroy this evil.

Against the overwhelming momentum of this ideology of redemptive violence those voices speaking for a different way will likely be drowned out, too quiet to be heard above the shouting, those that advocate alternatives will be quickly attacked as being weak, or dangerous.

Our gospels were written in a context very similar to that in which we now live. Mark was likely written in the midst of the Jewish Roman War of 66-70; Matthew and Luke were written in the decade or so after the war, John a little bit later still. War, destruction, refugees and persecution of the losing side are realities which hang over the gospels.

Mark 13 was probably written during a moment of crisis. The Jewish rebellion of 66ce has momentarily been successful, but everyone knew that the Roman Empire will return for revenge. In this moment of coming war each side is polarised. Both sides’ absolute belief in the justness of their cause is solidifying, no dissension from this ideology will be tolerated. Each person must decide, are you with the Romans or with the Jewish fighters.

Jesus’ words in Mark are striking, his advice is that his followers should run away! Redemptive violence is a dead-end, so run for the hill (Mark 13:14). As Christians we are instructed to reject the very idea of participating in this violent struggle and simply step aside.

This stepping aside, or running away, is not a passive act. Mark 13 makes it clear that non-participation in violence is itself seen as a threat to those who have chosen the way of violence, persecution will follow from both sides.

Following Mark 13 in which the myth of redemptive violence is thrown down, Mark’s gospel moves into the passion narrative in which Jesus’ alternative ideology is presented, the way of redemptive suffering, or as we modern day Christians might call it, the way of creative non-violence. Jesus does not run away from conflict but neither does he participate. His way is to challenge the very heart of our belief in redemptive violence, to make visible in his own body the consequences of such a path. The centre of Christian discipleship is to embody this way of peace.

We are not called to simply ignore the suffering of others and pontificate on the wrongs of war from the comfort of our cosy warm homes. We are called to challenge the ways of redemptive violence wherever we find them and to risk the consequences of walking such a road. We are called to suffer alongside the victims of violence.

We find ourselves in an historical moment with many similarities to that of Mark’s community in the midst of the Jewish Roman War of 66-70ce. A radical, violence group, motivated by a religious identity of martyrdom and willing to fight to the last man, has taken control of a large swathe of Syria and Iraq. The great military powers of our world are preparing to engage this group in battle.

As Christians we need to find a response fast. All too quickly events will leave us behind. Some Christians will actively bless this coming war and declare it righteous. Most of us will likely find it all too depressing and turn over to watch Bake-Off, Strictly Come dancing or the Premier League.

The real question for all of us is how to avoid these two temptations, how can we reject the ideology of redemptive violence? While still taking the suffering of Syria, Beirut, Iraq, and Paris seriously?

“What I say to you I say to all: Keep awake!” Mark 13:37b. Events are moving very quickly.

Washing Feet

In Matthew, Mark and Luke we can read the story of the last supper, the first eucharist or communion service, Jesus’ new Passover meal. From the very earliest times up until today Christians have regularly shared this meal in many and varied forms.

It is worth reflecting on the fact that in John’s Gospel we do not find a Last supper meal. Instead we find the story of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet. It is curious to reflect on how the Church might be different if from the earliest times we had regularly followed Jesus’ instruction to was each others’ feet? Not just our own feet but those of our neighbours and friends. Would we have had so much division over questions of who was allowed to have their feet washed by whom?

In getting down on his hands and knees to wash his disciples feet Jesus took the lowest place, the lowest social position. We can sense the scandalousness of the act in Peter’s reaction. Is this love taken too far? And yet it is only a precursor to an even greater act of love a few hours later on the cross. What Peter is not able to understand is that Jesus is not able to love from a position of superiority. Love can only ever be incarnated in weakness, from below. If Peter is to receive love then he must allow Jesus to lower himself. Peter is not the source of love, only if he receives can he in turn pass on this love to others by washing their feet. None of us can remain faithful to living the radical love of the gospel unless we are open to receiving this same love.

At its heart the way of Jesus Christ is very simple, we are called to welcome love into our lives through prayer, through accepting the service of others and through our reflection on the bible. If we devote ourselves to these practises with all our hearts then we will not be able to do anything but let this love flow out to others, slowly God will transform us and convert us into a community of love whose most natural inclination is to wash feet. 

You are the Salt of the Earth

To follow Jesus is to be Salt in our World (Matthew 5:13). What can we make of this obscure metaphor?

Salt has many uses. In cooking it is best used in moderation, just a small amount of salt in a pot of food can make a difference while too much can spoil a meal. We are often called to be this gentle, almost imperceptible, transforming presence which makes a positive difference to those around us. This difference can be so gentle that it can be all too easily missed by the wider world. Simple acts of kindness, money given without great fanfare, hospitality offered, the homeless fed and sheltered, food banks stocked and staffed. As Christians we are called to a gentle gospel of quiet humble service to those most in need. Even if we can only do a little bit it is important to begin, to do something and to trust the fruits to God. 

But salt is not always a subtle substance. There is the expression “To rub salt in the wound”. Salt can be used as a way of cleaning wounds, in the immediate moment this cleaning causes pain but this pain is for a greater healing. As Christians we have a vocation to be this salt in the wounds of humanity. There are times when we are called to make painful challenges in the pursuit of healing. We are called to challenge our society’s addictions to over-consumption, to sectarianism, to excluding the foreigner and to the accumulation of wealth. We are called to challenge unfair trade, tax evasion, the trade in arms, destructive fossil fuel extraction and cuts in services for the most vulnerable. We are called to challenge the demonization of the poor, the immigrant and the Muslim. When we become this salt in the wounds of humanity those we challenge will inevitably feel pain, and in their fear will undoubtedly send some of this pain back in our direction. Such is our privilege as part of the body of Christ, to share in the sufferings of Christ (Colossians 1:24).

We are salt of the earth. We must not lose our saltiness.

Preparing for War

This year we mark the 100^th anniversary of the beginning of the First World War. It is a time when we should be encouraged to remember, to reflect, to study and to debate. By coincidence this centenary moment is likely going to coincide with a pullout of American and British troops from Afghanistan. It is already a couple of years since our British soldiers left Iraq. Perhaps the heightened present of the military in our culture is about to diminish. Time will tell.

So how best can we use this coming time, when images of war, both historically and present-day, will seem further away from our everyday experience? Emotions might become less heightened, debates less controversial.

I would like to propose that it is precisely during these moments of quiet that we are called to re-begin to think about war, spiritually, biblically and theologically. History tells us that war will return. In the moment of crisis there is never enough time to decipher fact from fiction. There is never enough time to go through a long process of spiritual discernment about rights and wrongs. These moments of crisis come as if from nowhere and call us to action, the question is not whether or not we will respond, the question is how we will respond. Doing nothing is always a decision to side with the most powerful.

When the moment of conflict looms (and be sure it will loom again) the nature of our response will be determined by the work we have done during the lull. It is in these moments of quiet, in the space we’ve been given to dig deeper foundations, that we will prepare ourselves to find a way through the confusing fog of war fever.

In 2001 There were 25 short days of calm between the 9/11 attacks and the beginning of the war in Afghanistan. Suddenly the whole world was asked to declare its allegiance; the Church was no exception to this call for polarisation. Christian people across the world were forced to reflect very quickly on ‘what would Jesus do?’ Some chose to actively support the American military, others spoke up for peace, most failed to react at all stunned into inaction.

Given only 25 days most of the Church failed to respond, not because they were not moved by the events unfolding on their screens, rather because they were unprepared, Few had thought deeply about how Jesus might respond to the realities of modern warfare and religious extremism. And so we were paralyzed, the churches either took the road of least resistance backing the home side (so to speak) or we retreated from the public conversation to concern ourselves with raising money for our roofs or to organise another social event.

There are still a lot of people who are justly angry at the way our world is organised; history tells us that it is not difficult for promoters of violence to harness this anger. So we are called to do all we can to work for justice, we are called to do all we can to live much more simply, and to be ready to respond when the next moment of imminent crisis suddenly darkens our horizon.

A longer and more details version of this article can be found http://bit.ly/1rKSyoO

This post has also been published on the Put Down The Sword Blog

Austerity

Bringing the Cuts Home - video

Jesus is a super hero?

An article written by me, recently published in the Carrs Lane church magazine.....

A few weeks ago, during Sunday morning worship at Carrs Lane we sang a new hymn. It was an action song, as we sang about Jesus having the characteristics of various super-heroes we were encouraged to display the appropriate action for that super-hero. As a song it was perhaps simply a bit of fun.

And yet it got me thinking. There is a strong tendency within present-day Christianity to look upon God as if he were a superhero. Much of our prayer is formulated around our belief that an all-powerful God is present to us and is able to grant our requests. We often imagine God in the position of a benevolent king or of a just ruler. We imagine a God who is set apart from our reality, looking down on us from above. This God, like a super-hero, is able to fly in to help us, or to grant us super-natural favours.

If we believe in this image of God, then this belief will inevitably be reflected in our worship and in our practise. We will develop forms of worship which are about offering business deals to God; we will attempt to exchange worship and praise for help and assistance. If we believe in a super-hero God then this will be lived out in our models of leadership; we have pushed God away from our reality into a faraway heaven, and so we will push our leaders away, onto an elevated pedestal, we will emphasise their superiority, their difference from ourselves, their set-apart-ness. In the act of pushing both God and our leaders onto a pedestal we infantilise ourselves, pushing away our own importance and agency.

When I look at the British Church of 2014 I see this ‘Jesus is a super-hero’ theology all around. Such theology has the potential to be very dangerous. How can such a theology deal with human failure? Or with human pain? How can we understand an all-powerful God who chooses not to heal our friend’s illness? Who chooses not to prevent deadly earthquakes and typhoons? This image of God can draw us towards an unhealthy relationship, God is our master and we are slave, this super-hero God is someone we must obey, not a person we can get to know.

At the beginning of the bible we meet a very primitive understanding of God who gives us the impression that he is a super-hero. Then gradually, as we read on, the bible takes us on a long journey of incarnation. The all-powerful image is slowly unmasked, humanity comes to see that God is weaker and more vulnerable than we could have imagined. This God is not a shouter but a whisperer. God is not sat on a heavenly throne directing Kings and Generals, no; he is whispering love into the souls of the excluded, the hungry and the exploited. In the Gospels we meet a God who is not a super-hero, he is human, just like us; he is exposed to the same weakness, temptation and fragility as are we. This God approaches us from below, offering to wash our feet, inviting us into a relationship of love and friendship, not servility and domination. Each of us is invited into friendship, we are invited to follow.

A Church which worships the ‘super-hero’ God will always remain at a distance from those it is called to serve. It will give to others only out of its surplus. Just as the ‘super-hero’ God lives in heavenly comfort so will we. We will emulate the one we worship, and think of ourselves as generous while doing so!

A Church which attempts to follow the ‘incarnated’ God knows that it has received all it has as gift; that which has been received is there to be given in turn. This Church will know that it is no different from those it is called to serve.  Just as God gets down and washes our feet, so it too will get down on its hands and knees to wash the feet of others. Just as God became like a slave; so as it will humble itself to be alongside those who are excluded and exploited by our society. This Church will give generously, not from its surplus, but rather from the very best of what it has, because it knows that everything it has is gift.

Worshipping the ‘super-hero’ God seems attractive because very little is asked of us, while it seems to offer so much. In truth, I believe, such worship only offers us an illusion. It is in following the ‘incarnated’ God that we are enabled to enter the heart of God; it is only there that we will find the inclination to give deeply of ourselves and to discover fullness of life.

The Story of Stuff

I recommend this video, it is a very interesting introduction to the economics of our modern world.

If you want more then take a look at the Econowhat introduction to economics.

Is this really the kind of society we want to live in?

This week has involved much to prove the maxim that all political questions are in the end economic questions, and I might add that perhaps most of our economic questions are in the end philosophical or theological questions.

This week we have seen senior church leaders from the Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, URC and Quaker denominations speak out on behalf of those in food poverty and against the welfare policies of the current government.

Over the last few days in response to their words articles have been written questioning whether Church leaders should get involved with politics, articles condescending them as being naive, articles slurring them as being from the lefty north and articles making (the sometimes valid) criticism that the Church’s own wealth is not always spent on helping the poor.

Alongside these direct challenges have been a number of other articles aimed at undermining their wider argument.  Today’s Sun headline being a clear example: “Welfare Madness Exposed, Benefits made me 23st”. Or the constant claims made by the coalition government that people must take responsibility for themselves and stop relying on handouts. Recent programmes such as ‘benefit street’ or longer ago ‘Shameless’ reinforce this ideological message.

The reality is that the government spends a far greater percentage of the welfare budget on benefits for those who are in work but whose wages are aren't high enough to provide even a subsistence living; than it does on supporting those who are not working. These working poor who receive very little reward for their labour are hardly the irresponsible class David Cameron and Nick Clegg would have us believe they are.

The wealthy beneficiaries of the current status-quo don't want us to understand these realities. Much better that the working poor direct their anger and frustration against the relatively few non-working poor, than that they direct it at their own employers who refuse to give them a living wage or secure contracts. Much better that these “Hard working families” are deceived into believing their bosses earning six figure salaries have to be rewarded for their exceptional talent while they struggle to get by on minimum wage, in some cases needing to visit food banks in their lunch break. Much better that we allow the Sun to find convenient weak scapegoats for our society’s ills.

And what of the educated middle class? Those with a little more money and a little more natural intelligence are normally able to climb a little higher up the income ladder. Their own middle class gifts being “they believe” worth more money than those of the people who clean our toilets and stack our supermarket shelves. The only request which the market economy asks of this group is simply to close its ears and eyes, live in your middle class suburbia, feel a little bit superior to those not so fortunate perhaps throwing them a few surplus pounds not needed for your morning coffee in Starbucks, and throw your energy into following television non-reality shows, the premier league, planning your next holiday or redecorating your home.

Is this really the kind of society we want to live in?

Words of Wisdom from Jean Vanier

People come to L’Arche (or to community) to serve the needy. They only stay if they have discovered that they themselves are needy, and that the good news is announced by Jesus to the poor, not to those who serve the poor.

               

Mission, then, does not imply an attitude of superiority or domination, an attitude of: ‘We know, you don’t, so you must listen to us if you want to be well off. Otherwise you will be miserable.’ Mission springs necessarily from poverty and an inner wound, but also from trust in the love of God. Mission is not elitism. It is life given and flowing from the tomb of our beings which has become transformed into a source of life. It flows from the knowledge that we have been liberated through forgiveness; it flows from weakness and vulnerability.

Jean Vanier in Community and Growth (page 99, revised edition published in 1989)

Thoughts on Matthew 11:2-11

This morning Steph and I had the opportunity to speak at MCC-Journey a church based in the city-centre of Birmingham.

We spoke on today's lectionary readings - Matthew 11:2-11 & Psalm 146.

Here is what I spoke about. Notes on Matthew 11 and Psalm 146

Some Words from Nelson Mandela

Some words from Nelson Mandela which I was sent earlier today and thought were worth sharing .........

“It was during those long and lonely years  that my hunger for the freedom of my own people became a hunger for the freedom of all people, white and black. I knew as well as I knew anything that the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed... The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity.”

 

“I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended.”  

(Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, the last page)

Prayer: A Challenge of Authenticity

The Below is an article which I wrote for the Carrs Lane Monthly News Booklet December edition ....

The Carrs Lane Lived community is now entering its fourteenth week; it is still very early days, we are still working out slowly what this step into the unknown is going to become. One question I have been asked several times over the last few weeks is “How are the prayers going?” a simple question without a simple answer.

Our Gospels are stories of light and darkness, of brightness and shade. As we read the intensity of this paradox gradually builds, the contrast becomes uncomfortable; we are drawn forward by the light of Love and yet repelled by the reality of where living this “Good News” seems to inevitably lead. The Resurrection is both a present and a coming reality, we can continually rejoice in our freedom; and yet the cross stands unavoidably in the way.

This spiritual tension sits at the very heart of prayer; I have felt it intensely over the last few weeks. In prayer there are times of light, and times of darkness. There are times when the joy is overwhelming, and times when a sense of despair is all encompassing. At times I can be inspired with possibility and energy, at other times stricken with a sense of palpable panic at what God might be calling me to do, and at still other times I can be lulled into a sense of unhealthy self-righteousness. There are days when I feel close to God and other days when he feels a long way away. Some days I am a pillar of salt, other days a sea of emotion, and on still other days I pass through our times of prayer with my conscious mind half asleep.

For me all of this is part of prayer, I can only pray as I am, not as the person I would like to be. But being who I really am before God, is at times hard work. Allowing God to love me just as I am is not a simple task. In prayer there are times of emptiness which make no sense, defying all rational explanation. Emptiness and vulnerability are part of prayer. There is always a strong temptation to be like Jonah and run away.

I was struck by an article which Neil Riches (URC minister here at Carrs Lane) wrote in last month’s Journey, he wrote about the temptation which we all experience to become “Functionally Atheist”. For me this temptation lives itself out most deeply in my times of prayer. In prayer it is very easy to become what the Gospels call ‘Play-actors’¹ , we pretend to seek a relationship with God but are all too aware how challenging that encounter will be, we know deep down that we are called to give everything, and so, because we don’t want to lose our comfortable existence, instead we pretend to pray. There are times when make-believe religion seems very attractive; I find it oh so easy to convince myself, and everyone else, that it is the real thing!

Perhaps it is for this reason that we need community, I am too weak to be able to really pray alone, I am realising slowly that it is better that way.

[1] The Greek work ὑποκριταί (hypokritai), used 17 times in the New Testament (13 of those in Matthew), means “an actor playing a part in a play”. It is by extension from this meaning, and possibly due to the way in which Jesus uses the word, that it has come to take on our modern day definition of “hypocrite” as one who says one thing and does another.

At The Edge

The word ‘Christian’ means ‘Follower of Christ’. As Church and as a Christian community we are aspiring and I hope attempting, imperfectly, to follow Jesus. Not an easy task! I am often astounded that we dare even to state such an aim.

If our intention is to follow someone then the first question which needs asking is a geographical one, where is he? Where can we find this Jesus?

The New Testament gives us a clear but challenging answer,

Jesus most often placed himself at the edge, at the edge he is a compassionate servant to the poor, the marginalised, the ill, the possessed and the forgotten. But his presence at the edge is much more than that, Jesus incarnates not just as a human being  but more deeply than that as a human being at the edge. The mystery of the incarnation is that whenever we exclude, oppress or ignore another person it is with these very people that Jesus seeks to be incarnated. To follow Jesus is to be a moving people, moving towards the periphery, incarnating ourselves, at the edge.

But Jesus is also present at the centre, he does not live there but he does make regular visits. At the centre he is a courageous prophet speaking truth to power on behalf of those at the edge, taking the risk of being smacked (and sometimes actually being smacked) by those who neither want to listen or to let others hear.

As Christians we are called to attempt to follow along such an incarnational path, to reject the lure of the comfortable, to spend most of our time at the edge, to be compassionate, patient and servant-like to the victims of our society. The asylum seekers, the homeless, the addicted, the depressed, those evicted by the bedroom tax, those far from a familiar home, those separated from family, those on zero-hours contracts, those crippled by debt, those forced to pay exorbitant rents and energy bills; we are called to be among those without hope.

We are called to occasionally take trips into the centre, to protest, to criticise, to be among the 75’000 at the conservative party conference lobbying for the NHS, to be among the 25 at our local drone factory protesting about killing in Pakistan and Afghanistan, to be outside the DSEI Arms fayre in London, to write to those imprisoned in the pursuit of right, to write letters to our MP and MEPs.

To attempt to be a Christian is to seek to be incarnated with those at the edge and to risk rejection from the centre, not an un-daunting calling ....... We have a long distance yet to travel.

Solidarity

The last seven days has been an eventful time in the world of politics, a lot of questions have been asked about the rights and wrongs of war, both in Syria and more generally.

On which note I would like to make people aware of two upcoming events.

Four weeks today in Louisiana, USA, sentences will be handed down to three brave individuals who broke into an American military base and symbolically dis-armed weaponry. their actions was a well planned act of non-violent resistance to American military violence.

We can all support them by writing to the judge, see details as this link:

http://transformnowplowshares.wordpress.com/2013/07/07/transform-now-plowhares-needs-your-help/

Also,

All through next week the biggest Arms Fair in the world will be taking place in London (www.dsei.co.uk/). Many of the world's most discredited regimes will be welcomed to buy weapons.

Here are some details of how you can make your voice heard against this event:
Pax Christi - Events
www.stopthearmsfair.org.uk/
War on Want - Anti Drones Event

Please write to your MP and speak out against this event happening.

You can let William Hague, the minister responsible, know what you think using twitter: @WilliamJHague 

and if you want to send the exhibition organisers a message also on twitter use: @DSEI2013 

and while your at it you could to let the excel centre know what you think again on twitter: @excellondon 

The Cogs of Community are Beginning to Turn

Steph and I have now been living in the community flat at Carrs Lane church for a couple of weeks. We have been attempting to both find time for rest and time to make preparations for living community life, it is an evolving process. The different aspects of our community life will only slowly become reality.

We do however have a website: www.carrslanelivedcommunity.org.uk

Over the next few weeks we will finalise our community rule of life and publish it on our website.

Public prayers, morning and evening, will begin on Monday 2nd September.

things are beginning to happen

Some wise words from Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Life together under the Word will remain sound and healthy only where it does not form itself into a movement, an order, a society, a collegium pietatis, but rather where it understands itself as being a part of the one, holy, catholic, Christian Church, where it shares actively and passively in the sufferings and struggles and promise of the whole Church.

Every principle of selection and every separation connected with it that is not necessitated quite objectively by common work, local conditions, or family connections is of the greatest danger to a Christian community. When the way of intellectual or spiritual selection is taken the human element always insinuates itself and robs the fellowship of its spiritual power and effectiveness for the Church, drives it into sectarianism.

The exclusion of the weak and insignificant, the seemingly useless people, from a Christian community may actually mean the exclusion of Christ; in the poor brother Christ is knocking at the door. We must, therefore, be very careful at this point.

An extract from ‘Life Together’ by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906 – 1945)

Smile Smile Smile

a poem by Wilfred Owen (1893 - 1918)

Head to limp head, the sunk-eyed wounded scanned
Yesterday's Mail; the casualties (typed small)
And (large) Vast Booty from our Latest Haul.
Also, they read of Cheap Homes, not yet planned;
For, said the paper, "When this war is done
The men's first instinct will be making homes.
Meanwhile their foremost need is aerodromes,
It being certain war has just begun.
Peace would do wrong to our undying dead, --
The sons we offered might regret they died
If we got nothing lasting in their stead.
We must be solidly indemnified.
Though all be worthy Victory which all bought,
We rulers sitting in this ancient spot
Would wrong our very selves if we forgot
The greatest glory will be theirs who fought,
Who kept this nation in integrity."
Nation? -- The half-limbed readers did not chafe
But smiled at one another curiously
Like secret men who know their secret safe.
This is the thing they know and never speak,
That England one by one had fled to France
(Not many elsewhere now save under France).
Pictures of these broad smiles appear each week,
And people in whose voice real feeling rings
Say: How they smile! They're happy now, poor things.

23rd September 1918.

Feeling Empowered - Two Quotes

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Nelson Mandela in 1994

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent
enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of
saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an
opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master
builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.

Bishop Ken Untener of Saginaw 

(Often wrongly attributed to Oscar Romero)