funky doo

Fort Hood

It's been a troubling week in the news with the Fort Hood massacre and the shooting of British soldiers by one of the mentees in Afghanistan.

I was reading some reflections on the Fort Hood tragedy and was taken with this comment from Brian McLaren

I hope every reader of this blog will respond to the Fort Hood shootings (and every act of religious bigotry, racial intolerance, sexual stereotyping and prejudice, unequal treatment of gay folks, etc.) by rededicating themselves to follow the example of Jesus: move toward "the other" with love and respect. Don't fear, avoid, dehumanize, stigmatize, or allow bigoted statements to go unchallenged, but instead, have a cup of tea, take a walk, exchange dinner invitations, hear their stories, and treat "the other" as you would be treated. Learn to see "the other" as your neighbor, and respond as Christ taught.

Couldn't have said it better myself...praying, praying, praying above all else.

thoughts on Question Time

It's been interesting to read the responses to the Question Time controversy over the last week. I didn't watch it live as I was delivering Child Protection training in Havering Deanery on Thursday night. However, on the drive home there was some live commentary on 5Live particularly picking up on the issue of Mr Griffin's Holocaust denial. 

Some of the most helpful reviews and commentaries on the show itself have been for me:

http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/2009/10/bbc-commissions-nick-griffin-show.html

http://benedson.blogs.com/benedson/2009/10/nick-griffin---texts-of-terror---immigration.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/oct/23/nick-griffin-question-time-audience

http://maggidawn.typepad.com/maggidawn/2009/10/nick-griffin-bnp-and-question-time.html (this post is particularly good for the comments discussion that follows)

My brother in law also summarised the feelings of many I know in his facebook status - asking how it is that Nick Griffin can call himself a Christian? Obviously many heinous crimes have been committed in the name of religion over the decades and centuries and continue to happen. However, for a man who states that Britain should only be for the indigenous British, it seems rather incongrous that he should say he religiously follows a dark skinned, apolitical, Jewish Arab criminal, whose followers, from non-white backgrounds brought the Christian faith to these shores.

Ultimately tho, it is not the usual audience of Question Time, nor the enhanced audience of Thursday night who are Mr Griffin and his cronies 'targets'. My guess - most of those who subscribe to the policies of BNP were not watching Question Time on Thursday, don't care what he said or did. Hopefully, if nothing else it will have shown Mr Griffin for the spineless and inconsistent bully and bigot that he is.

women bishops - some thoughts and questions...

The Church Times this week leads on this issue after the recent publication of proposals of how to begin working on the inclusion of women in the episcopate as agreed at Synod last year.

Maggi Dawn, whose blog I love, has also entered the debate and generated much discussion with her post and I quote this excerpt as an example of it's prophetic and forthright voice:

Maybe we should start a new movement - campaigning for all women to leave the church en masse.  That would change the minds of those men at the top who allow these abuses to continue just as significantly, and maybe a lot faster, than putting a nice face on it and accepting each setback.  It's been a long hard struggle for several generations of women to be heard by the Church at all. The Church has spoken its mind: all but a few who shout very loudly consider women to be essential and equal members. So how is it that once again we are being downgraded with this lame, cowardly,  bullying behaviour? And how is it that the guys in power think that they must include the bullies at any cost?

Many of you know, based on recent posts and personal conversations that a statement often made to me or a question asked of me is something like "You'd make a lovely Vicar dear"...I've already said that it's not going to be me taking that step anytime in the near future, although, God willing, someone close to me might be. I'm totally in agreement with Maggi, and this watered down proposal makes me run even faster from any form of ordained ministry in the Church of England. I'm marginally reassured by many members of clergy whom I know personally, who I hope, sometime in the next 20 years might just make this ludicrous situation work effectively for women.

Let's get real here - and take a leaf out of Royal Mail's book. Sometimes a strike, for want of a better word, is the only way to really highlight and draw attention to matters at hand. Let's see how much children's work, youth work, hospitality, welcoming, flower arranging, preaching, leading worship, setting up, pastoral connections etc. are done in YOUR church if women don't do it?

It is discriminatory, manipulative and cowardly, as well as bullying as Maggi says, to think that a decision taken however many years ago to ordain women as priests can, at this stage be quietly adapted for the sake of the minority. Synod and the church at large has spoken. Let's get on with this. The rest of the world, popular culture, young people, Joe Public, look at us arguing about an issue which is of no interest to them. All the while, people are losing their jobs, having their homes repossessed, struggling with their own personal issues and the world is facing a billion people starving each day and communities are trying to rebuild after tsunamis and earthquakes. Get a grip Revision Committee.

Final quote from Maggi:

The prophet Hosea gave a heartbreaking account of something that is known by countless generations of people who have endured forgivingly in faithless marriages: that there's a very fine line between being a faithful saint and being a doormat. But there comes a time when love becomes the willing acceptance of abuse. And it has to stop.

Do have a look at Maggi's post and the comment conversation - a great 10 minutes of your life worth wasting!!

Would you like to go to Copenhagen??

 

ECO-ESSAY COMPETITION

 

·     Are you a Christian?

·     Are you aged between 18 and 29 years old?

·     Are you passionate to make a difference in God’s precious world?

·     Would you like to be a part of one of the most significant events of our time?

·     Could you be an ambassador and champion in our Diocese of churches?

 

“Yes!”.....?

…then this Eco-Essay competition is for you!

 

December's UN climate summit in Copenhagen will shape the way the world combats climate change.  It’s vital an effective deal is done for the sake of the planet which is God’s good creation and for the millions in the poorest countries who are suffering the effects of climate change now.

Chelmsford Diocesan Environment Group (DEG) is pleased to be able to offer to pay to send

FIVE DIOCESAN DELEGATES to Copenhagen.

 

Could you be one of the five?!?...

 

If so, you will be joining a group from Christian Aid, for a packed itinerary!...

 

Friday 11^th

·    Travel from UK to Copenhagen, arriving in the evening for dinner and bed at a school, where basic accommodation will be provided in dormitory-style.

Saturday 12^th:

·    Participate in large civil society march from Copenhagen city centre to the Bella Centre, where the United Nations climate change talks are taking place. You will be marching with Christian Aid partners who have come to take part in the talks and campaigners from all over the globe.

Sunday 13^th  

·    Participate in an event, where Archbishop Desmond Tutu will handover all the Countdown to Copenhagen pledges collected in the UK together with actions from across the globe to a representative of the UN. This event is being organised by Aprodev, the European coalition of which Christian Aid is a member.

·    Participate in an ecumenical church service, at which the Archbishop of Canterbury will speak. The service is taking place in Copenhagen cathedral; we hope to join in via big TV screens nearby.

·    Depart Copenhagen early evening. (time TBC)

Monday 14^th

·    Arrive back in the UK at various times!

So, what do you need to do to enter this competition and be one of the five?...

 

Simply write an essay of between 2000 and 2500 words, which addresses the following brief:

 

 

“Climate-change and sustainable lifestyles are vital issues for our shared future in God’s good creation. What perspective and contribution can the Christian faith bring?  And how do we raise up a prophetic generation of young people to live out this faith and make a difference?”

  

Submission deadline: Friday 13 November 2009

 

Entries will be judged by a panel of members from the Diocesan Environment Group.

The winners will be announced by the Bishop of Colchester on Friday 20 November 2009.

 

Please send your essay entry to Paul Trathen, the Bishop’s Advisor for ‘Faith in Action’, at:

 

Rawreth Rectory,

Church Road,

Rawreth,

Essex.

SS11 8SH

 

or

 

paul.trathen@btopenworld.com

An Anglican at odds with herself...

It's been some time since I've been so prolific on this blog...but this is a post that has probably been brewing since our visit to Tennessee last summer...so I'm writing what I feel. This by no means represents the views of my Diocese or Episcopal Area or my current church; it's just a way to make sense of my history and my future and where I sit in the crazy world of the Anglican Communion and the Body of Christ.

(warning, a bit long winded, but bear with me!) make a cuppa and pull up a chair!

I am a Christian to the core but an Anglican as my history and my path thus far. I became a Christian at the age of 15, being part of a local (5 minutes walk) church which just happened to be Anglican (Church of England). Youth workers there discipled me, taught me the faith, helped me process, journeyed with me. Friends there remain - many Facebook friends, others I see more regularly, one is now a spiritual director of sorts. As far as I was concerned, this was church...I didn't really know there was any other 'type'. It was only when I embarked on my year out that the denomination issue really came home to me. But I was pretty certain of my faith, what I believed and my relationship with my Saviour and I enjoyed getting to know new 'reformed' ways!

At Uni I spent time at a Black Pentecostal Church and at an ex-Brethren Christian fellowship church and really began to understand the variety and beauty of the ways in which church happens and what it means for different people. I loved the fact that I had a choice, but I also knew in my own mind that there were clear issues around which I had strong opinions. The place of women in the church always troubled me...both my Uni churches didn't encourage women to speak apart from in offering 'testimony'. I grappled with this instinctive rebellion alongside what Scripture says, particularly in Paul's writings.

When I moved to my first Parish youthworker post, I don't remember particularly taking much notice of the theological standpoint of the church I was applying to when I filled in the form. In the Sunday morning service during the interview weekend, I knew I was at home. I resonated in my soul and my spirit with the 'form' of the worship. Yes it followed a familiar Anglican pattern, but it was FAMILY. People spoke the words to each other and administered Eucharist in a profondly moving way. It all brought me screeching through the previous 4 years of my life and squarely back to this Anglican heritage that I hadn't really realised was so embedded within me.

This 'Anglican legacy' that I live with is a comforting knowledge but it hasn't been a bind. I've been in 2 non-denominational churches since then, as well as an Anglican Church...I'm in relationship with Jesus, that makes me a Christian first and an Anglican somewhere down the line in terms of how I define myself.

HOWEVER, that doesn't make me unreactive to all that is and has been happening with the worldwide Anglican Communion. I am not really someone who is interested in the detailed discussion, motions, votes, although I do follow a few choice blogs that keep me updated (mainly Dave Walker on Church Times blog).

Our visit to Tennessee last year, to a church in the Anglican Mission in the Americas (AMiA) was a profound experience, in which we had to acknowledge the distinct and seemingly irrepairable differences that had come about leading up to and directly after Gene Robinson's election as Bishop. Just recently the founding of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) seemed to be, to me anyway, an incredible shoot of collective possibility, as factions, denominations and church traditions met together in the forming of a new province which focused on mission and extending the kingdom to those who DON'T YET KNOW.

This is the rub: the Church of England is too focused on maintaining what it has and keeping the people in the pews happy. (I speak my own opinion here but I travel a wide area and talk to a lot of people so I am making a considered generalisation). Mission, Kingdom, talking about Jesus and making disciples is RARELY the top of the agenda. Running programmes, thinking about Alpha, doing a fun day, etc. are all important but not at the expense of the fundamental call of Jesus - to go, preach the kingdom, heal the sick, share people's lives, Acts 2 living. People in this country are frightened to leave their churches...and the Church of England has made people believe that there is a threat to the existence of the church from those who are already within it - women and homosexuals.

This is utterly crazy talk. The fundamental basis of the Christian faith is that through Jesus, who broke himself open for us, we can find wholeness in our brokeness. The foundation of the Eucharist (read more about this thinking in Rob Bell's book Jesus wants to save Christians) is a broken body and spilled blood. A sacrifice made once and for all - FOR ALL. 

(some great stuff on this blog reflecting on this teaching)

Frankly, my opinion of the Anglican Communion at present, and to be honest, other churches that I know well and not part of this 'worldwide family', is that 'it' (the church) is not prepared to sacrifice itself for anyone else. It's investment focus is on keeping the status-quo and if there was anything further from Jesus mind, it was the status quo. 

But I am filled with a strange hope when I read about the formation of the ACNA and it's attempts to restart...the AMia could have stuck to it's guns, stayed seperate and not risked further collaborations, since it is already doing well by itself. But this sacrifice gives me strange hope and it's something I want to keep an eye on. 

On the flipside I am frustrated that, just by writing this, I am running the risk of being categorised as a conservative evangelical...yes I am, but no I'm not. Why is it that we have to categorise ourselves in our doctrine and worship styles?? As I outlined above, I've done a bit of everything and ultimately, I'm still in the same place I am. I'm comfortable in the sense that I trust God to work these things out...but regardless of 'theological standing' I am not seeing many churches that are working out the Acts 2 principle in a way which is authentic without becomign ghetto-ized.

My mind is so all over the place with this, so please forgive the random junctures. 

Preaching: who is it for?? Is it so we can be confirmed in what we think and go away feeling happy that we have it right...or is it meant to be about starting a discussion, bringing questions, grappling them together and then taking then OUT THERE...?

Worship through singing: is not a performance and is not the way we should grade a church. Excellent worship is not about it being tight or beautifully sung or contemporary or traditional. Surely it is about HOW it enables each and every person to draw near to God? The Bible clearly states that when one or two are gathered together in His name, Jesus is there. Do we need to invite him in? Does the quality of the worship affect my relationship with God? It shouldn't...but it does. How have we allowed this to be the norm...cos it is in my life and the circles I move in. Should we say to the person who leads our singing (whether organist, guitarist or vocalist) 'that was great this morning' or 'I didn't like it'...I hear those comments every week...not sure that's the right place to be?

Sundays/Church: I'm having major issues with church right now...passionately believing in it and yet finding that nothing is peaceful within it. Now I could be falling into the same trap as I outlined above and probably I am to some extent, replying on feelings...I don't enjoy or feel content or challenged at church right now (not just my own but everywhere). I feel disatisfied...More than anything, I want to be reconciled with myself and the fact that I feel ultimately Anglican at my heart and my heritage, but I am not comfortable in the core of any church structure. Some of the meetings I was in this week frustrated me to a point of jacking it all in...maintenance and buildings and keeping the bare minimum rather than saying what is working and how can we develop and encourage and resource it? Going to a non-denominational seemed to give me (us) the freedom to explore and be questioning and be on the margins without anyone thinking that was odd...but we have slowly been sucked in. Maintenance is still a prime focus and while there has to be some stability, the same old concerns come throough for me and attendance and membership and being categorised are the things that identify you. I don't think I want to be so pinned down anymore. Sunday after Sunday we rush around, packing cars, picking up instruments, setting up, setting down, teaching, singing, talking, eating and drinking and then we go home and get set up for the evening activities for the same people...something is wrong. 

Something is wrong because we are so busy on a Sunday and a Thursday and a Tuesday with church stuff that we don't stop to talk to our neighbour who is doing gardening out the front or the family opposite who arrive home the same time as us. We lose half a day of Sunday, which should be a day which focuses on God and we spend that half day setting up a service when we could be out there meeting people where the actually are, which isn't in our building.

Finally...some key thoughts from the blog post I linked to above....with my own italics added:

A church is invited to be a Eucharist to its community - broken and poured out...

Luke 22:18 - "Do this in remembrance of me."

What if Jesus was using this in a broader sense of saying, "Do this (what you see ME DOING) in remembrance of me?"  ...an invitation to be a living eucharist for the world we live in.

Too often, we try to reproduce another church's Eucharist without being broken or poured out.  The reason it worked there in the first place was because SOMEONE poured out.  So we need to ask the question: What does it mean for me to be a Eucharist to these people (in our communities/culture) here and now?

If our church was removed from our community, who would protest?

What does it mean to be a "good gift" to our community? 

There is always a cost...  If Eucharist is "pouring out" you must allow time to pour back in.

Where are you in the Eucharist rhythm?

I've been writing this piece a while now and it should probably get published. Regular readers, my friends and soul mates, those who we've journeyed with me and Andy before will recognise this restlessness from times before - sorry!!...be assured that it's the same questions we've always had, just seen through the telescope of world affairs in the Anglican Communion and our current context. We've grown up a lot, especially since having M and we don't do the spontaneous, quick decision making anymore, can't and shouldn't. And we certainly want to do our thinking and wondering with you as we take stock a bit...so however long we've known you, or even if not at all and your a stranger in person but a friend of the blog, talk to us in the comments - recommend books to read or things to consider, tell us your journeys...

Thanks for your time...for getting this far at least! Having finished your cuppa (as instructed at the top) have a nap now!

I will ;-)

MP's expenses

I'm in my office today, working on my usual (and this week, on time) Monday Morning Update and I'm getting hugely infuriated about this scandal on MP's expenses...so I'm venting my spleen on here otherwise I'll not get a jot done today between screaming at Radio 5!

I'm 31 years old (Just), I have a degree and a PGCE, plus 9 years full time work in the youth work and charity sector, all within the public sector.I have chosen to work in the profession I do because I don't want to be focused on making money or lining someone else's pockets. I want to see organisations such as the Church of England, for whom I currently work, serve the people and make life better and full of hope for those whom it comes into contact. I believe this is my call as a Christian but is also a responsibility of anyone working for an organisation with this sort of ethos at it's heart.

Members of Parliament are elected by the people to serve the people. Yes, they are involved at the highest levels of Government and live a lifestyle very different to many of us at the grass roots level. However, they are in position by virtue of the electorate's belief in them. They are not self employed but employed by us. I can understand that the role they perform is never ending and that serving in Westminster and also having a constituency at the other end of the country adds a difficult element in terms of organisation and keeping schedules.

HOWEVER, the respect I have for MP's, (it's a job I could never and would never want to do) and the work they do for their community and the country is being severley eroded and I have to align my own daily life experience to just make this point.

I have 1 home, which I was able to get a mortgage on down here in the South East only because we had bought cheaply in the North East and made some profit to invest down here. I pay my mortgage out of the salary I am given. I worked 52 hours last week (paid to do 37) - that was with a Bank Holiday on Monday and taking a day off on Friday for my grandfather's funeral. I pay out of my monthly salary for my own food, furniture, childcare, gardening equipment, lighbulbs and all the other things that MP's seem to need help in purchasing or doing. I don't believe that I should be given money to do these basic elements of my daily life. I tidy and clean my own house, do my own washing and drive my own car that I require for my job but for which I only get a mileage allowance. There was a time, about a year ago when we had a cleaner, who came in every other week to do a once over, but we couldn't afford it once we remortgaged last summer, so it's back to us. Joint effort.

I am paid a good salary for the work I do but between £400 and £500 is paid out on work related expenses every month. Once we have paid our mortgage, childcare, food, other bills and maybe had a takeaway, we have very little left at the end of the month. I wait with bated breath each time I submit expenses...not because I have been claiming for unnecessaries but because the questions of 'necessary work related expenses' is also open to question.

Most other people in normal jobs - and let's be clear here, MP's have a normal job, doing work expected of them by a bigger organisation - have to arrange their own lives around their expected income and make financial decisions based on these bare facts. If you can't afford a new sofa, you don't get one, or if you do, you get credit and you pay it back OUT OF YOUR MONTHLY INCOME/SALARY.

Essentially, it seems that MP's get given their salary figure, around £80 -£140,000 depending on their position, but they then have access to an unlimited pot of other money to gain for themselves, and themselves alone, the things they want and which they don't have to spend their salary on. None of these items listed in the various newspaper reprts today seem to come under 'work related expenses'. And if the system is not clear then it should be tightened up to such a point that there is no question of whether something should be reimbursed or not. MP's are not self employed and don't have the right to decide for themselves what expenses they can or should be paid for.

Alan Duncan, Shadow Leader of the House of Commons has claimed, ar attempted to claim (depending on which report you read) £7000 for gardening costs in 1 year, for less than an acre of land. When questioned, he stated he had been asking for the expenses system to be reviewed and overhauled for a number of years because it was open to abuse. It seems to me, Mr Duncan, that your scruples have come a little too late? When will those who actually have principles come to the fore-front and be congratulated for NOT claiming. Without more careful scrutiny we will focus for too long on those who have inappropriately claimed and not profile those who have been more than fair with their claims.

This makes my blood boil - especially as I am attending a conference shortly looking at practical measures to take to end child poverty and disadvantage in our communities. If this 'sofa, lightbulb, new kitchen, LCD TV, cleaner' money could have been diverted, I wonder how huge the differences could have been. Perhaps the solution is to cut the MP's expenses to a couple of thousand a year and to gift what is saved into local community projects in each unscrupulous MP's constituency...then they can see the real value of what their money can do, for others and not for themselves....

it's feeling like a good day!

Hey! how y'all doing? Good I hope and happy Tuesday!

It's Tuesday night and I'm enjoying a night in and enjoying listening to my husband laughing a lot at our latest Love Film delivery - Young Frankenstein - his choice not mine! I'm waiting til The Other Boleyn Girl gets to the top of our list! He's enjoying it and that's why I bought him the subscription so that makes me happy!

I had my meeting with Bish Laurie and Peter Collins from Traidcraft today...which i think was helpful on both sides. Peter reflected afterwards that although the message about encouraging preference towards Traidcraft in this credit crunch was not realistic, he now had other ideas about how to support the furtherance of the development agenda that is a key distinctive of Traidcraft's work (in contrast to other supermarkets, who sell Fairtrade but don't invest in development and bringing producers out of poverty). The only down side was that my other colleague, Paul the Faith in Action Adviser for the Area forgot to come...I blame nappy brain as he has just added to his family with the arrival of twins to add to his other 3 children who are 7 and under!!

I dropped Peter off in Chelmsford to kill some time while I went to my next meeting which was the inaugral gathering of my new support group. This is a different way of organising my supervision and accountability in this role and it was very affirming and encouraging. I'm grateful to those who agreed to be part of this process of reflection and hope it will firm up all I'm trying to do in this role and help me think strategically in terms of it's future sustainability.

A lovely bonus today was that Matilda and Andy came home early from school/childminder's and so while Andy took Peter to the airport, I had the latter part of the afternoon with my lovely daughter. She was in fine form, language and sentences forming at a rate of knots and her sense of humour really developing too! She's now in a big girls' bed and her favourite word to describe it whenever she gets in is 'cosy'!

I also got to speak to my lovely friend Jenny (a different one from the previous post!) who is also Matilda's godmother, just to confuse things even more...maybe we'll have a Jennifer next to make things totally off the wall!! Anyway, Jenny has been in hospital recently with appendicitis which made her very sick and poorly, so she's just recovering and getting back into things.

So, I'm off for an early night cos I can't watch the CSI Vegas while Andy's got his film on!! nighty nighty (pyjama pyjama!) x

criminal justice

As I sit here tonight writing this post, I am a jumble of emotions. I have just finished watching the last episode of BBC1's 5 night series Criminal Justice that has been running all this week. The Independant and the Guardian have published mixed reviews on it, mainly around the accuracy of the behaviour of the legal team around the accused, Ben.

That I don't know about, but what I can vouch for is the damning, damaging and harrowing effect prison has on young lives. This week has caused me to think again, for the first time in a while about my time working at Aquila Way and of some of the young women who lived at Naomi Project with us. I remember going to interview one young woman, we'll call her Jo, who had been in a Young Offenders Institution for 2 years for possession of class A drugs and intent to supply. She had previously lived at Naomi Project in a different property and had asked to be referred to us again.

While in prison, she had gone cold turkey from heroin and had managed, gradually to rebuild her health and deal with her addiction through a variety of means offered in the prison. She came across as a quiet, sincere and broken young woman who wanted to give herself the best start possible. We offered her a place and upon her release we picked her up from the prison and brought her back directly to the house. We knew that if we left her to make her own way to us, previous dealers or others would get to her first.

Within 6 hours she had been out, spent her release money - apparently on clothes, fags and some food but we later found out she had purchased a mobile phone from an old 'friend' she had met in Gateshead town centre. The number she was now using had quickly been distributed to her old 'friendship' group who were quickly in touch, encouraging her to come and meet them and hang out. Within 48 hours, she had returned to the project, high on something and frantically packing her bags as she had been offered a bed in the house of her friend's boyfriend's mums' place or some similar story.

Jo was not a typical story within the project, we only had 4 women come to us directly from prison in the time I was there. BUt she was desperate not to be alone. She had specifically requested to have a shared room and was very jumpy when the house was quiet. The group of friends she connected with so quickly had a hold on her because of the environment she had experienced whilst in prison. Isolation, not knowing who to trust, feeling dependant on others all led to extreme responses to the outside world and a quick descent into heroin use again.

I don't know where she is now, but I do know that the system failed Jo. We were not allowed to protect her from those influences, we couldn't keep her captive inside the house and yet nothing had been done to prevent her descent back into her old life. Rehabilitation within the prison was a small fraction of the work done for her or with her and from other 'ex-cons' I know how corrupt and gang cultured the prison staff and prisoners alike can be. Fear rules and a safe place is something unheard of and therefore to be feared in itself.

Resurrected in me tonight is a desire to prevent young people ending up in these institutions because they are ruined when they come out...that is not a reflection on those who work with them inside, but it is a reflection of the lack of provision on the outside. The church is afraid of  this sort of work - the church generally I mean. Fearful young people and a fearful church are not a good combination. But mission is right at the core of this stuff, dealing with the needs and life of people we meet. Jesus said preach the good news and heal the sick...what is our sickness today? If the current pattern in London of teenage murders and violence continues, how are we to respond? We cannot put this down as a random series of isolated incidents.

Frontier Youth Trust and Worth Unlimited sent out a flyer today in response to their consultations on The Future of Youth Work. Without responding to these issues, there is no future to youth work. Young people are killing each other, ending up in prison and coming out as damaged, broken and shamed adults. If we do not respond to this in a practical, heartfelt way, we should not call ourselves the church, let alone Christians. What would Jesus do?

A flyer came through the door tonight- a summary of recent decisions made by the Neighbourhood Action Panel about community policing. There's a meeting on Wednesday night to agree the next set of priotities. I'm going to go and I'm continuing to pray about and work on relationships with the staff at Pavilion Cafe - I do think that place has potential for outreach and contact, a safe place. Who knows where that fits into the 'priorities'...but perhaps I can ask the questions.

Thank you, producer, director, actors etc, for a gripping, well acted and affective piece on TV. There has not been anything like it on TV for some time.

Todd Bentley, Florida revival?

I've been tuning in on and off recently to God TV and watching the meetings led by Todd Bentley...in the surface, some amazing healings, words of knowledge and incredible sense of outpouring of the Holy Spirit. People have been boarding planes and heading out there, similar to scenes during the Toronto Revival in the 90's.

I've felt the Spirit of God undoubtedly through watching these meetings at a distance, particularly as you hear people's testimony and see them healed...questions about medical authentication are rising up in different places but it's a little early to dismiss everything Todd is doing on account of that.

Have a look at what other people are saying about these meetings...

Connexion

Mark Byron

The thing that particularly strikes me about what I'm seeing is that God appears to be moving in a practical and demonstrative way and changing people circumstances in front of our eyes. With Toronto, the focus seemed to be on refreshing and being soaked in the presence of God, and I know people who got addicted to that experience but it didn't seem to have any marked difference on their lives as time went on. With the current focus on Hope '08, servant evangelism, social action and community impact, we need to embrace aspects of such a move of God which empowers people to do His will more effectively in their worlds - and if they are healed and better able to do that, surely it is something we should rejoice about?

My wise pastor SUsie spoke at our church about it today and I believe her main concern is that we know about this outpouring, that we pray to God for Him to show us more and we believe that God will change and move us on when He reveals himself more fully to us...God wants us to know Him more...

It's been exciting to watch Todd Bentley coupled with today's live broadcasting of Global Day of Prayer, worldwide coverage all day on God TV again...really amazing to join with millions of other Christians to pray for our nations. As I was sitting in my lounge with a poorly Matilda and feeling a bit hot and bothered with the heat wave (!) I sensed again a move of the Spirit in my own self, a tingling, an awareness and sense of God being 'just there'. Particularly when Wendy Alec was praying for our nation, little, tiny Britain who sent missionaries across the world and had amazing revevalists like the Wesley's and Smith Wigglesworth and others...now we need missionaries to come to us.

Restore, O Lord, the honour of your name in our land.

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The big 3-0 is really looming now - Tuesday to be precise. We've started to get ready here at Smith Villas for the getaway to Rye tomorrow for my birthday weekend, meeting up with my parents and my sister and her husband for a chilled family weekend with no driving, lots of fun and lots of food!! I did some work today, despite it being officially my day off just to tie up some loose ends and I have just put my 'out of office' reply on the email for work which was very satisfying!

Wondered if anyone else saw part 3 of the Tanya Byron series 'Am I normal' on BBC 2 this week? Fascinating viewing looking at the ways in which religious affiliation and dedication are sometimes interpreted with respect and other times treated with disdain or alamingly considered to be signs of madness. Particularly issues about hearing voices/God were considered as well as such manifestations of the Spirit like speaking in tongues and being 'slain in the Spirit'. I thought it was a hugely well considered and well researched piece of documentary TV which will prove a useful discussion tool and has certainly got me thinking through this week. If you didn't see it, recommend using the BBC iPlayer service to take a look.

So, off to Rye for the weekend and despite the weather predictions, I plan to have a brilliant time!!

Will be back with you on Tuesday!