funky doo

Facing Domestic Abuse - Conference for Churches

Faith and Freedom are an organisation based in Essex who support women fleeing domestic abuse and train churches in how to better support and understand their situation. The Freedom Programme is one of the tools used and is very successful in helping women and men deal with the consequences of their actions.

Tearfund are partnering with Faith and Freedom to launch their 'Restored' Initiative http://blog.sophianetwork.org.uk/tearfund/ and to highlight the potential that churches and Christians can offer to those in this situation.

Faith and Freedom Conference will include the launch of Restored and should be a brilliant and inspiring day - and I encourage you to get someone from your church or organisation along:

26th June, Charter Hall, Colchester

9am-5pm

Speakers include Elaine Storkey and Catherine Clarke-Kroger as well as drama presentations.

Contact Natalie Collins Director of Faith and Freedom on be_free@hotmail.co.uk for further details and publicity of check out the Faith and Freedom website

Election Resources

 For many in youth-work or involved in church events, this might be the last weekend to consider putting some material together to encourage discussion and teaching around politics, voting and everything else besides...the challenge to make it engaging will vary from place to place!!

My colleague Paul has produced a helpful list of links and contacts over at his blog and I recommend you have a look - either to gain info for yourself or to pass on!

 

Young People and the Vote

I'm very fortunate in my role to be part of a team of Youth Advisers - one for each Episcopal Area. My Colleague Andy P writes a weekly message to his Kairos Community - youthworkers and leaders in his area of the Diocese and I'm graciously included in that! 

Each week it challenges and inspires me and I often forward it on or encourage others to sign up for the Facebook group of the same name. I'm posting Andy's offering for this week as it's timely and touches on the recent NASA (Natter About Synod Agenda)* focus group that we ran for young people recently. I was going to post on this anyway, but what Andy has written is much better and I hope encourages you and stimulates you in your youth work - or any other ministry for that matter - as we gear up for a monumental week or 10 days in our nation's history.

Over to Andy:

"Morning all, hope you’re fighting fit and ready for another week....

It’s just over one week till the General Election, and a very important one it will be too. The challenge for this week is to be considering how we can get our young people interested in this apparently dull subject and, if you have young people eligible to vote, getting them to do so.

I personally believe that it is very much part of our Christian responsibility, duty even, to exercise our right to vote. As is often quoted, ‘we get the Government we deserve’, in other words, if we choose not to vote we can’t exactly complain about who gets into power and how we are governed. I also think therefore that we have a responsibility and a task as Churches, and especially youth workers to help young people gain a better understanding of why and how they should vote. This is as important as teaching our young people about what Paul says about love or how to conduct relationships...this is Gospel stuff.

I have always believed this, but there’s one reason why this year, this is even more important than ever, that is, the rise and potential power of the BNP. Shockingly, in the Barking Episcopal Area, there are BNP Candidates contesting local council seats in nine out of fourteen parliamentary constituencies. Let me quote from Bishop David’s recent letter to Churches and now issued as a press release:

‘Along with Church Leaders across London, I call upon all people of goodwill to reject racist politics in the forthcoming General Election and local elections. 

We encourage people to vote in such a way as to prevent racist political parties making any more electoral gains - indeed to out-vote such parties where they have already been elected. 

In particular, we urge people to reject the British National Party (BNP) and similar political organisations.

As church leaders we do not endorse any particular political party and recognise that there are many social issues which require much closer attention from elected politicians, not least those of housing, immigration, unemployment and the sheer speed of social change in some of our white working class communities. However, we call on everyone to reject the BNP and like-parties. They will not provide unifying solutions to these issues.’ 

*As Youth Advisors we recently ran an event with young people on this very subject. It was quite remarkable to see the young people who, in the main, arrived ignorant of most things to do with politics or even any real idea of why it’s important, and who left so much more switched onto the power they have and the importance of voting.

Our own frustrations or apathy in regard to politics should not be an excuse for in-action, either in us not voting or failing to engage in this issue with young people.

When thinking of the power of politics and especially democracy we often use examples of places such as South Africa or Iraq where the right to vote is held in such high regard because it determines so much in terms of the dignity of human beings made in the image of God. This year in the United Kingdom, the importance of voting matters just as much – please vote, and please help your young people to do so too.

In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, ‘Darkness cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

Robert Beckford on Barack Obama

Dr. Robert Beckford presented an excellent programme on BBC 2 this evening - God Bless you Barack Obama?

You can view it again here on iPlayer.

Beckford is someone who always stimulates thought, discussion, debate and much agreement in the Smith household. We have deeply appreciated many of his previous documentaries, particularly the recent Christianity: A History episodes and the Nativity Decoded last Christmas.

This documentary was clever and merged once again his own perspectives with some really interesting guests with varied opinions. To include the interviews with both Jeremiah Wright of Obama's previous church and the current (deluded and unable to answer a question straight) president of the Southern Baptist Convention was brilliantly contrasted and made his point about Obama socio-political and also liberal evanglical standpoint very well. Add into the mix the brilliant Jim Wallis and this is another excellent example of Beckford's accessible, contextual and relevant theological relationship with the media.

 It was a great programme charting the journey of Obama's faith and particularly looking at his social action and outreach initiatives in Chicago in his early political career. It was a fascinating insight into his application of what he knew in the civil rights movement, what he saw in the community's poverty and what he believed about his faith and what God had to say in it all.

Robert Beckford is also very cool - this evening's documentary sees him sporting a nose ring, shaved head and a very sleek brown coat with upturned collar. A contrast to his looks at greenbelt this year (or so Andy reports!) when he saw him in huge red hoody and dredlocks! Cool whichever look you prefer!

If you'd like to know more about Robert Beckford, check out this profile from the Guardian Higher Education supplement

This is Me blog - a view from Haiti

This is Me - a blog written by a missionary worker in Cayes, Haiti.

It seems to me that this perspective has a little more reality in it than some of the hysterical news reports of recent days. As she says - let's not get distracted watching and rewatching news reports, but spend some of that time praying and actively seeking ways to help.

I commend her story and her ministry to you and your prayers.

Haiti responses

India Knight has some suggestions for making a response to the tragedy in Haiti and for helping those waking up each day facing homelessness, hunger and deep loss.

We will be sponsoring an additional child in Haiti through Compassion where you can also donate directly to their projects in Port au Prince and the outlying settlements involving basic care, provisions and healthcare and ultimately, I am sure, housing for those who have lost their families.

Young people at the Solid ReMix event in Chelmsford Cathedral last night (320 of them!) donated to the Tearfund relief projects.

Finally, Bishop TJ Johnston, from the Anglican Mission in the Americas who ordained our friend Jack in Knoxville TN in 2008 while we were visiting has dropped everything to fly to Haiti to deliver medical supplies. As you will see from this article it is a place which holds a special place in +TJ's heart for many years. This is a shining example of how our church leaders should act in these times of tragedy and crisis and we will be praying for +TJ's effectiveness in his ministry out there - for however long he stays.

Christmas shoplifting

Our good friend and mentor, Fr Tim Jones, who was a priest in York Diocese when Andy and I were youthworkers in Scarborough, has stepped into the public domain with a 'rallying call' sermon about the neglect of the poor and needy this Christmas time.

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/4813866.Full_transcript_of_the_sermon_given_by_Father_Tim_Jones/

The full transcript of his sermon as preached on Sunday 20th December can be seen from the link above - and I suggest you read this in full before contemplating reading any of the online or paper based media, and draw your own conclusions about what he really said.

This whole sermon is based around a personal story - which has been sadly and conveniently forgotten in the furore of a Vicar (bloody hell, a Vicar saying something controversial, whatever next) 'encouraging' people to shoplift. What utter rubbish our media portrays and what shoddy journalism.

The least and the lost seem to be forgotten at this time of year as we all retreat into our homes and feed ourselves and our friends with food we are privileged to buy and spend fun times with people who love us and want to be with us. Tim's challenge for us to consider and include the least and the lost and to reform the system which prevents them from accessing even the most basic necessities is exactly the sort of thing we Christians should be speaking out about - because it's exactly what Jesus did.

Shame on you York Diocese for distancing yourself from one of your most prophetic priests...think hard now before you accidentally find yourself rejecting and distancing yourself from the key gospel message for the sake of political correctness.

This is Tim and Andy last Easter when we visited Tim and his family in York. It was Tim who first challenged Andy about his ordination path - and it is Tim who found himself in the papers last May for challenging the branding and product placement of Playboy merchandise. He is a man who is not afraid to challenge and question and stand up for injustice and I for one am proud to call him my friend.

The Con of Christmas...hear me out!!

This post will also appear on the family blog here.

This has been a post in formation for weeks and I was never sure I felt brave enough to write it in a real way for people to see...but Bishop Nick Baines has got in before and dealt with the stick over the weekend...so I feel a bit like I'm jumping on the bandwagon - but hey, we all do that in the world of blogging!

So, check out Nick's post here Grumpy Bishop. He's recently published a book which I'll say now, just like all the media who have entered the scrum of interviewing him, I haven't read yet. But based on this post, he is from the same stable as me - if you'll excuse the pun! (Cos it was probably a cave!!)

My problem with Christmas (I love it really, don't get too worried!!) came with the arrival of M 3 years ago - her first Christmas didn't really matter as she was only 10 days old. But come her first birthday, followed rapidly by Christmas Day, it was very difficult not to get caught up in the assumption that Father Christmas would be visiting our house in the dead of night and delivering presents.

I love the idea and the legends of Father Christmas and the root of it's story in St Nicholas who was a 3rd century miracle worker, renowned for secret gift giving and whose feast day is this Sunday. But I have a problem with the commonly held assumption that Santa (who is a character developed by cartoonist Thomas Nash in 19th century America and then taken on by mighty Coca Cola), who in contrast to St Nicholas is a jolly, red faced, red suited old man living in the North Pole, are one and the same.

The titles Father Christmas and Santa Claus seem to be interchangeable - indeed in the North East where we used to live, Santa is often Santee (try it with a Geordie accent!!)

But the roots of these characters - fictional, historical, the stuff of legend, whatever - are very different and portray different aspects of the Gospel and the Christmas story. Whilst I am not going to go down the extreme line of saying the whole thing is a lie and Father Christmas can't possibly visit every house in the world in one night etc., I am going to make sure that the traditions we have and the story we tell is faithful whilst also being magical and not ultimately confusing to a 6/7/8 year old in years to come.

Ultimately - I want M to understand that she receives gifts, not because she has been a good girl, but because we love her and because we want to celebrate the wondrous story of Jesus' birth and his life given out for her and for us. It always has everything to do with GRACE - and giving gifts is not because we are good, but in fact the opposite - but we are LOVED, by God and by one another and so we can bless one another...that is our call as disciples.

I HATE it when people ask small children whether they have been good this year and if Santa is going to come - of course they haven't been good...they are small children!! But in our house, M will get a small stocking of presents, outside her door, from us to open in bed and Father Christmas will have visited the house overnight - drinking a bit of something, scoffing a mince pie and maybe leaving some gold coins as the original St Nicholas is said to have done. All her other presents will come from us - real people who love her and know her and want to be part of the pleasure of giving gifts as she is in the giving of gifts to others.

 

Ok, so that's the Santa bit done...

Now a quote from Nick Baine's blog, referenced above: Now, some commentators say that Christmas is about sentiment (feeling), nostalgia and ‘magic’. They say that simple carols are great for children to begin to learn the story. Absolutely right. But the people arguing this are not children, but adults who want to stay as children when it comes to matters of God and faith and so on. Think like a child when you are a child, but, for goodness’ sake, grow up when you are an adult.

 

I find it ironic that for the rest of the year, a majority of our population want nothing to do with Christian tradition in any way but suddenly at Christmas they become hugely defensive of anything being different or changing or being criticised. The depth of understanding of what Christmas and this huge celebration are really all about is missing - and I see 2 reactions as I go about my work and experience life.

Some churches and Christians do nothing to celebrate Christmas...no carols or Christmas services or trees or anything which is vaguely pagan or rooted in tradition - everything just carries on as normal until the BIG DAY. Missing out Advent, in my opinion is the real shame here...but that's another issue! 

On the other extreme, there are many churches and Christians who do everything traditionally and don't question 'why' or whether it's helpful. I remember one of my first parish posts and the whole of December being taken up with either visiting or hosting Carol Sevices or nativity plays - by schools, Townswomen's Guild (yes seriously!), nurseries etc. You did want to tear your hair out by the end and it had slightly lost it's magic in the repetition.

 

My reaction is to try and do something in the middle - I love Christmas carols but hate Away in a Manger and the 'How silently' verse of O Little Town of Bethlehem. Mary was NOT silent in labour, OK!

We'll be having a tree even though it stems from pagan tradition...(!)because it forms a focal point in our home for Christmas celebrations and it is a precious family occasion to buy the tree and decorate it. We will feed people, host people, visit with people - mainly those we know or are related to, although when M is older we endeavour to be spending time with those who don't have the advantages of Christmas traditions and family that we are blessed with.

 

The difficulty of taking an extreme reaction to Christmas traditions and popular culture is that you get bah humbuged by everyone else...which is difficult to take, in what is supposed to be a season of goodwill after all!! But if we Christians can't communicate seriously the true meaning of Christmas, then how can we expect those who only take part in the traditions once a year to really know what we're all about??

+Nick continues: The ‘magic’ of Christmas is fine – up to a point. But ask any clergy and they will tell you about the ways in which Christmas is hard for many people and how the ‘magic’ makes it harder. It is for them that the reality of Christmas hits home: that God has not remained a million miles above contradiction, but opted in to the muck and messiness of the world and meets us where we are – in the vulnerability of the baby in Bethlehem. To tell that story is not to be miserable – but the opposite.

I am just not prepared to encourage people to live in a fantasy world, but doing my job as a Christian bishop in calling people back to the original story. Grasp it – and then celebrate hard and fully. I’ll be belting out the carols and watching the nativity plays along with the rest of them. But I will also be living in the real world and engaging my brain.

+Nick - I'm with you. I'll be doing mobile carolling on 20th December, going into London and experiencing the Christmas lights and soaking up the excitement. I'll be making mince pies and sausage rolls and wrapping presents and sneaking about on Christmas Eve, stopping Andy from squeezing presents and we'll probably be eating and drinking too much. But I hope in the midst of all that, I'll be reminded of why we get to celebrate this amazing event - because it changed the world, it changed my world and I want it to change the world of my daughter and her friends and our families and our community because we tell it how it really is...if you take the 'text' out of 'context' - what are you left with??

Comments awaited!!

Advent thinking, ideas and resources...for YOU!!

 I'm having an at home working day - which is not feeling very sensible as I have builders in and out fixing my chimney and roof where the felt has gone...but I'm getting lots done, snuggled in my hoodie and slippers in the dining room with the fan heater and fire on while the front door is wide open for the ins and outs...ho hum!

I'm getting ahead on various bits of preparation for youth sessions over the next few weeks up to Christmas and also for some training on 8th December and the Labyrinth in Chelmsford Cathedral on 15th January. I love having the time just to go through my Google Reader blogs, see what people are thinking about and linking to, following those links and finding great websites and ideas and stuff to provoke my thinking.

So I'm listing below some of the interesting stuff I've found just in the last 2 hours...and hope it helps you and inspires you - in your youth work and personally - as you prepare for this busy time!

http://www.barefoottraining.com - this is an American based website offering training workshops but it has some great looking downloadable resources to purchase.
http://www.nailscars.com/journal/2009/11/30/creative-christmas-idea-manger-or-cross-reading.html - a dramatised reading useful for Christingle services, 9 lessons and carols or other Christmas service (from the Confessions of an Average Youth Minister website)
http://www.emergentkiwi.org.nz/archive/advent-blessings-creative-prayer-stations/ - Steve Taylor has 2 posts using prayer stations with a theme of Advent blessings...some great ideas here and the thinking behind it is refreshingly simple yet soundly theological.
http://godspace.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/celebrating-advent-with-kids/ Christine Sine has some brilliant suggestions for interacting and involving kids (of all ages!) with preparations for the birth of Jesus. I would see these being used in families as well as worshipping communities, during services, home groups etc. Also check out her Advent meditation film, available on You Tube or for download if you want to show it in church or on a big screen.
http://holdthisspace.org.au/ - liturgy, prayers, reflections for all occasions on Cheryl Lawrie's site - click on blog or writing and take some time to scroll through and browse.
http://www.youthspecialties.com/blog/2009/advent-agous/ - I was struck by this reflection when it first came to my attention so I link to it for you to be struck too.
www.thestoryofstuff.com - this is a 20 minute film, highlighting stuff around the materials economy - boring you may say?? well, kinda appropriate as we come into the season of giving and receiving - lots of stuff, where does it all go? This could be a good discussion starter...adults or kids. They also have a new film released today linking into the Copehagen summit next weekend which is current and relates well to our impact on the world.

and finally...for now!
Never Underestimate the power of a Good Story!

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.