Youth Work Placement in Yeovil from Sept 2019

We're looking to take on a youth work trainee for up to 3 years from September 2019, to work in 2 local secondary schools, support youth groups at both churches in the parish, and explore ways of connecting with local young people beyond the church. Bed and board are provided, along with a weekly allowance and expenses. Details are here https://swym.org.uk/placements/trainee-youth-worker-3/ - if you know anyone who might be interested please point them in our direction!

Trainee Youth Worker role in Yeovil

If you know anyone who is thinking about training in youth work and church leadership then please point them towards this. It's the outline role description for a youth work trainee based in our parish, starting in September 2019. We provide a local placement and accommodation, training is done through South West Youth Ministries, a well established Christian training agency which oversees dozens of placements around the SW every year.

Scouts add Alternative Promise for Atheists

After a consultation with over 15,000 responses, the scouts have taken a different route to the Guides. Instead of replacing the existing promise, there's now a non-religious alternative:

Alternative versions of the Scout Promise have been available for nearly 50 years and have been used by Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and those who live in the UK but are not UK citizens. This is the first time that the Movement has introduced a Promise for members and potential members who are without a faith.

The core Scout Promise, which refers to a ‘Duty to God’, remains intact and Scouting remains fully committed as a Movement that explores faith and religion as a core element of its programme.

and here it is..

The existing Scout Promise
On my honour, I promise that I will do my best,
To do my duty to God and to the Queen,
To help other people
And to keep the Scout Law.

New alternative wording of the Promise
On my honour I promise that I will do my best
To uphold our Scout values, to do my duty to the Queen,
To help other people
And to keep the Scout Law.

For Cub Scout section:I promise that I will do my best
To uphold our Scout values, to do my duty to the Queen
To help other people
And to keep the Cub Scout Law.

For Beaver Scout sectionI promise to do my best
To be kind and helpful and to love our world.

'Belief' remains one of the 5 'core values of Scouting'. All the more important after the recent findings about the quality of RE teaching in schools. This is unpacked a bit more in the very comprehensive FAQs page:

Scouting is not about ‘teaching’ religion, however it does encourage and enable young people to explore faith, beliefs and attitudes. This is in Scouting’s five principles of spiritual reflection, which are:
1.    To develop an inner discipline and training
2.    To be involved in corporate activities
3.    To understand the natural world around them
4.    To help to create a more tolerant and caring society
5.    To discover the need for spiritual reflection

Just as with the Guides, here is a youth movement committed to exploring questions of faith, spirituality etc. That hasn't changed with the addition of the alternative promise, which seems a sensible way to go. The best way for churches to engage with this is simply to get involved with their local units. It would be great to see the CofE respond with some resources that could be appropriately used by local churches with their scout and guide groups, though I suspect the best route to that is finding good practice at local level and then spreading it around.  

Youth Run Riot in Yeovil

in a good way.

'Explore my Beliefs' vs 'Do my duty to God'

The revision of the Guide promise last week has received a mixed reaction, including here. Yesterday I heard a couple of local guide leaders give their reactions to the change in the 'God' clause - on the one hand some concern at the dropping of a cherished promise, but also a sense of opportunity.

Which got me thinking. The guide promise to 'explore my beliefs' is more dynamic than the version it has replaced: 'love my God' (and the previous 'do my duty to God'). Guides will now make a promise to explore what they believe. Whether or not the church thinks that's a step backwards, we need to get over it (the Guides don't belong to us, they can do as they see fit so long as it's legal), and get with their programme. If thousands of girls across the country are promising to explore their beliefs, surely that's a great opportunity for local churches and Christians to say 'we'd be delighted to help you do that, if you'd like us to.'

The new promise also shifts the corporate focus from 'serve my country' to ''serve my community'. Again, this is right into home turf (I hope!) for most churches. If exploring faith is one possible point of connection, community action is another, and it shouldn't be beyond the wit of most churches to offer opportunities to local guide units for community service, whether it's the lunch club, food bank, old folks Christmas party or whatever.

Finally, back to the faith bit - I do actually wonder whether 'explore my beliefs' might actually be closer to the grain of Christian living than 'do my duty to God'. Whichever way you go with this, the facts on the ground are that the entire guide movement is thinking about God, faith, belief etc., and asking a lot of questions about it. Isn't that a good conversation to be part of?

Restorative Justice

This is powerful:

A good example (of Restorative Justice) is the work that one London borough (Enfield) is doing with young people who are getting into trouble and are on the periphery of the gang culture. Sessions are held by the community (ex-gang members, parents or friends of people who’ve lost their lives, and older people living on estates). These sessions are held in the austere surrounding of a Crown Court, out of hours, where the community members talks about the impact that gangs have had on their lives. 

These tough youngsters are asked to explain why they behave like they do; you can hear a pin drop. Most of these young people are not bad or evil; they’ve walked down the wrong path, made poor choices, and are quietly grateful for being given a helping hand to recover their lives. And believe me when I say that there is nothing more impactive than a Grandmother explaining the horror of losing her grandson to a knife, and the daily pain she is living through, and then opening the door of her house to these kids and committing to be there for them, no matter what the time of day or night. These are the quiet leaders in our communities.

from an interview between Matt Bird of the Cinnamon Network, and Commander Tony Eastaugh of the Met.

Scouts still keeping their promise to God

The National Secular Society has turned its attention away from setting legal precedents with small district councils, and is now trying to undermine the foundations of the world Scouting movement. Unhappy with a promise that invokes God, and unwilling (it seems) to set up an atheist alternative...

the NSS has now written to Mr Grylls, urging him to support the introduction of a secular version of the scout promise. They say that, unless this happens, atheist children will be excluded or will have to lie in order to join the organisation.

The NSS were unable to provide an exact figure for the number of complaints they have received.

The Scout Association told the BBC that the scout promise is an integral part of the worldwide scouting movement.As a membership organisation, they say they are entitled to set certain criteria for joining.

Spokesman Simon Carter said the association was aware of the views of the NSS but did not intend to change the wording of the promise: "We will continue to offer adventure and development opportunities to our membership of over 500,000 adults and young people which is steadily growing”

full story here. I'm not surprised the NSS can't provide any stats, their membership has been a thing of mystery for as many years as anyone can remember, despite repeated calls for them to publish the figures.

Motivational Signs for Teenagers

Reminds me of a quip attributed to Mark Twain, which goes something like "when I was 14, my dad was so stupid I could hardly bear to have him around. By the time I was 21 I was surprised by how much the old guy had learned in 7 years."

thanks to various people on Facebook for this one.

Prevention of Young Suicides ('Papyrus') - a more deserving cause than the X Factor.

'Home' by Dave Hart. Great song, but it has a tragic backstory. This email arrived yesterday:

Our youngest son Dave sadly took his own life a couple of weeks ago aged 17. He had been depressed but had slipped through the net with regard to help from the medical services and we were not aware of just how bad he was - he we was the 'life and soul of the party' to his friends - and of course doctor/patient confidentiality meant we were in the dark. We are keen to try and help promote the cause of teenage suicide so that others don't suffer the same fate.


To that end we are releasing a song Dave wrote with a friend last year on itunes, amazon mp3, spotify etc in order to raise funds for Papyrus-UK (a charity dedicated to helping prevent young suicide - http://www.papyrus-uk.org/ ) It has been on youtube already and mentioned over the last week on BBC Somerset and Bristol. The song is called 'Home' - search for 'Dave Hart Home'


If you can circulate details of this and encourage people to download a copy (or copies!) of the song that would be great - the amazon link is http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-music&field-keywords=dave+hart+home&x=0&y=0 . It was released today (5th Dec) and we are looking for maximum sales this week to stand a chance of making the charts and therefore more exposure of the cause. So, any help much appreciated.

Miserable Children Surrounded By Toys

A very blunt piece from the BBC's Mark Easton, on the recent Unicef report into children's quality of life.

Unicef paints a picture of a country that has got its priorities wrong - trading quality time with our children for "cupboards full of expensive toys that aren't used".

"Parents in the UK want to be good parents, but aren't sure how," the research suggests. "They feel they don't have the time, and sometimes the knowledge, and often try to compensate for this by buying their children gadgets and clothes."

The research compares Britain with Sweden and Spain. While the UK languishes in 21st, and last, place in the child well-being table, they come second and fifth respectively.

The report argues that the pressure of the working environment and rampant materialism combine to damage the well-being of our children. They want our attention but we give them our money.

"All children interviewed said that material goods did not make them happy, but materialism in the UK seems to be just as much of a problem for parents as children," the research concludes. "Parents in the UK often feel compelled to purchase consumer goods which are often neither wanted or treasured."

It is a profoundly depressing analysis of British life, not least because it rings true.

The importance of parents devoting energy and love to the rearing of their children is accepted by political leaders from across the spectrum, but maximising income and encouraging consumption are regarded as vital components for economic growth.

In the UK, the demands of the latter often undermine the former.

Parents work all hours to increase family income but then are too exhausted or too busy to give their children the attention they need and deserve.

More on the report here, and here's the report itself. It's worth a read, there are plenty of uncomfortable home truths. Page 26 is simply frightening.

The solution has got to go beyond banning advertising aimed at children. There are lots of factors here. Notable in the report above is the loss of confidence among parents. We're desperate to do a good job but we no longer know what a good job is. Parents seem to lack the confidence to identify a set of values and stick to them, which isn't surprising, as we no longer have any framework of accepted social values.

There are all sorts of other factors too: we're propping up the league tables on families that eat together: that's partly about planning policy (many new properties no longer have a separate eating area, or are just too small), partly about the structure of work (the drive to a 24/7 society, shift work, Sunday working, and rising housing costs forcing parents into work and kids into childcare).

Possibly most concerning, is that the shape of youth culture in the UK is on a massively different trajectory to anywhere else in Europe. Less than half of our 11-15 year olds find their peers 'kind and helpful', and we are almost off the scale when it comes to 'risk taking behaviours' - ie smoking, underage sex, poor eating habits etc. Many of our teenagers are miserable, rude, confused, desperate to be happy but clueless in how to be happy because their parents don't know either. After all, we thought that what would make us happy was having those children in the first place.....

This is all a bit broad-brush, but for goodness sake lets start debating this stuff, and working out what to do about it.

The riots were the tip of an iceberg, this is the iceberg.

If Only We'd Listened to Rowan

From that New Statesman editorial back in June:

"I don't think that the government's commitment to localism and devolved power is simply a cynical walking-away from the problem. But I do think that there is confusion about the means that have to be willed in order to achieve the end.

If civil society organisations are going to have to pick up responsibilities shed by government, the crucial questions are these.

- First, what services must have cast-iron guarantees of nationwide standards, parity and continuity? (Look at what is happening to youth services, surely a strategic priority.)

 - Second, how, therefore, does national government underwrite these strategic "absolutes" so as to make sure that, even in a straitened financial climate, there is a continuing investment in the long term, a continuing response to what most would see as root issues: child poverty, poor literacy, the deficit in access to educational excellence, sustainable infrastructure in poorer communities (rural as well as urban), and so on? What is too important to be left to even the most resourceful localism?"

The Coalition response back in June, in a time-frame so rapid it could almost be called 'knee-jerk' (© Ed Milliband) was fairly dismissive. Perhaps Nick Clegg should invite the AB of C to contribute to the latest government listening exercise.

I heard earlier this week of similar problems at the other end of the age spectrum. The resources available for home visits and support for the vulnerable elderly are drying up. It may be that an army of well-meaning volunteers steps into the breach, or simply that people rediscover what it means to be a good neighbour.

But these folks aren't going to riot to draw national attention to themselves (where do octegenarians riot anyway? Boots? Pilates?) Here too, there need to be 'cast iron guarantees of standards and continuity'. But will the vulnerable elderly get this, or does someone need to start kicking off about it?

PS sorry about the font, seems to have a mind of its own.

Riots, Fathers, Materialism, God and Redemption.

This is quite something. Former gang member on Sky telling the story of how he got into gang membership, and how he discovered Gods love and changed. This is really worth listening to all through.

"I was very bitter and resentful about my father...I was seeking that father (figure), I wanted it."

"If you have a broken society you can't ask them to take control of their children. Most of these mums are scared of their children."

"We have seen more people cry in the last few days over material things than they ever have over the life of a young person... we cannot be a society which puts material goods as more important than the life of a young man."

"What are your hopes for the future?"  "I wanna change London and the world."

One of the good things about 24 hour news coverage is that there's the chance to hear people at length, rather than soundbites, followed by a lengthy piece from Nick Robinson. So well done Sky (words I never thought I'd see myself writing) for giving these 2 guys the airtime.

An Outbreak of Peace?

When the Church of England and the British Humanist Association are found singing from the same hymn sheet, we are likely to sit up and take notice. And when we find their joint anthem has further education as its subject, we might be forgiven for asking: what?

The answer is represented by the initials SMSC, which stand for “spiritual, moral, cultural and social” - normally found with the word “teaching” or “support” attached. You might as well get used to them now as SMSC is showing all the signs of being the next “big thing” in Further Education.

so begins this article in the Times Educational Supplement. So far, SMSC, or PSHE (physical, social, health and emotional I think it stood for) or anything which was aimed at children as whole people, rather than just repositories for knowledge and skills, has been confined to under-16s.

Here's the comments of a CofE educationalist:
“It is about knowledge over ignorance,” he said. “It is not about religion. We are coming up with inclusive guidance. Colleges are secular, which is fine, but this has defaulted to mean that we will do the training but not offer some morality or humanistic education.”

Dr Breadon said that educationalists often felt uncomfortable offering moral or spiritual guidance.

“There has been a slippage where people do not put forward their views on morality or spirituality for fear that they may be seen to be forcing these views on young people,” he said.

“But this is really about having intergenerational conversations.

“Staff in FE need to be Jacks of so many trades. Much is demanded of them in terms of teaching and nurturing young people post-16.

“Out of the blue, a tutor in construction or health and beauty may be asked about climate change, sexual ethics, terrorism, or depression. Without a strong sense of their own identity and morality these questions might be ducked rather than dealt with.”

Our local FE college has things like Holocaust memorial day, and stuff dealing with moral issues, but most of it is extra curricular, and more and more seems to fall to the chaplaincy to organise. That can mean it gets pigeon holed, which isn't helpful. It does seem bizarre that, according to the current curriculum, individuals officially stop being 'spiritual' when they hit 16.

At the same time, if people are learning workplace skills in further education, but not a moral and ethical code suitable for the workplace, then it's no surprise to find unethical working practices bringing the country to its knees. Workplace ethics is, alongside foreign policy, the big issue for the UK of the last 2 years.

The loss of confidence is also a big issue: I remember our rabidly left wing head of 6th form in Sheffield having no problems using General Studies lessons 25 years ago to educate us in the faults of the USA, and the role of the CIA in destabilising governments around the world. How many of todays teachers/lecturers would feel comfortable being so open about their ideology and convictions? This is where the current litigious atmosphere doesn't help: there are already too many stories of people getting into trouble for 'imposing' their beliefs on others, and that makes people nervous. One new parent recently asked our local school whether they were still 'allowed' to do Nativity services. There's a bit of unhealthy paranoia over faith, values and so-called tolerance (= 'don't you dare say anything to me that I disagree with or I'll do you for harassment').

The guidelines are being developed together with a government quango, so I'm not sure what legal force they've got, but it seems to be a step in the right direction. And it's great that both secular and religious groups are behind it. Perhaps we can find ways to cope with each others existence after all.....

Sacred Space for 6th Formers

Tim Abbott has just been involved in helping to run a prayer room at his local 6th form college, and has blogged each day of the experiment.

After a slow start we had a steady trickle of people coming through in ones and twos, more than twenty over the course of the day. With a few people in the room the gentleness and peace that pervaded the atmosphere once again inspired some deep one-to-one conversations. The girl who had come in for a long and quite serious conversation the day before came back looking brighter, happier, freer and I was able to chat to her about her life and her ambitions for quite a while. Yesterday's encounter had definitely made a difference.

There is something amazing about creating a sacred space where people can reflect, pray, wonder and worship. "Come and see" rather than "go and tell". Our task was harder due to the location of Sanctum this year and only having 4 days, but in the end we had over 80 visits. Here is what a few people had to say:

"It is the peace I have been looking for, it will be sad when it goes. My life has been very down, I hope this will help it go up."

"I didn't get a chance to spend much time here, but I loved it. It woud be good to have something like this in college more often or a permanent space or something similar."

"A wonderful place, very calming and it helped me feel better about a few things. College should have a permanent version of this. Thank you."

"Very calming place, made me think about things I take for granted."

It's sounds like a more active/interactive approach to providing space for reflection and prayer than a normal college 'quiet room'. Quite a tricky one in a diffuse community like a college, which doesn't really have a community gathering or core meeting place. Reading Tim's blog, they've tried to combine a personal approach and a desire to build a sense of community, with a 'come and go' element to the prayer room, rather than any fixed events or focal times.

Ross leaving the BBC

Jonathan Ross has announced he's leaving the Beeb later this year.

"Although I have had a wonderful time working for the BBC, and am very proud of the shows I have made while there, over the last two weeks I have decided not to re-negotiate when my current contract comes to an end," he said.

Couple of thoughts.
1. He's made the decision during the holidays - I remember once hearing that a high proportion of clergy who took sabbaticals then quit their jobs during the year after they returned. There's nothing like a time of reflection for adjusting your sights.

2. Ross was one of the crowd of 'kidults' in the History of Now, a BBC analysis of the noughties, which looked a couple of nights ago at the effect on the generations. It trod just the right line between being trendy and being informative, and Steve Tilley has some excellent thoughts on it. Along with Blair, Botox, Top Gear, and pretty much everyone else you could think of, the noughties gave us a generation of adults who wanted to carry on behaving like children (yes, I went sledging yesterday too). This creates a real dilemma - how are you going to be a rebellious teenager when the Prime Minister likes the Artic Monkeys? Or when the prime symbol of your rebellion is immediately bled dry by the market - no sooner had the phrase 'Hoodie' been coined after a shop in the Bluewater centre banned hoods, than other stores in the same complex saw sales of the same garment rocket.

So I guess Ross is 'iconic', in that he stands for a generation who've tried to behave young whilst growing middle aged - Robbie Williams would be another example. This seems to be more of a man thing (we used to call it immaturity), whilst women have gone more for cosmetics (hadn't realised that Botox was actually short for Toxic Botulism). No doubt he will be back.

Drop the Gun

great track for an important cause.



by the superb West End Gospel Choir, a group of West End actors who get together to sing gospel. One of the founders is a Yeovil girl. It's part of Intermission, a fresh expression of church for folk in London theatreland, arts and media.

Teenagers and the 2 Minutes Silence

Young people today......

In a survey of over 1,000 adults conducted by ComRes, 93% of 18-24 year-olds said that when at school they had observed two minutes' silence on Remembrance Day, compared with only 73% of 45-55 year-olds. Eighty-six per cent of 18-24 year-olds said that they believed more should be done to encourage people to observe the two minutes' silence, compared with only 72% of 45-55 year-olds.

The poll was undertaken to explore public attitudes towards corporate acts of remembrance and grief. It found that 82% of Britons observed one or two minutes' silence on 11 November 2009. Sixty-three per cent watched the service at the Cenotaph on television or listened to it on the radio on Remembrance Sunday. Twenty-two per cent attended a church service. Ninety-six per cent said that they believed it was important to have a special day for everyone together in Britain to remember those who have died in war.

I helped out with an 11th Nov service in Yeovil College canteen, and it was packed. 200-300 students there, plus a healthy turnout from the staff. This doesn't surprise me, and is a shot across the bows of anyone who doubts the spiritual seriousness of younger people. It may look different, but it's there.

full report here.

Digital Natives in a strange land

abridged version of an email I got the other day:

A new report, Life Support: Young people's needs in a digital age, looks at how digital communications have impacted on the psychological and neurological behaviour of young people – and the challenge this poses for agencies and organisations who aim to support them.

As part of it, 994 young people were surveyed about their attitude to the internet, and here's some of what they said:

• 75% said that they couldn't live without the internet
• 45% said that they felt happiest when online
• 32% agreed with the statement: 'I can access all the information I need online, there is no need to speak to a real person about my problems'
• Four in five (82%) said they had used the internet to look for advice and information for themselves and 60% had for other people
• 37% said that they would use the internet to give advice to others on sensitive issues.
  

Of those surveyed, 76% said that the internet ensured their friends are available 'whenever they need them'.

According to the report, the internet does, and will increasingly, play a vital role in the full process of advice gathering and exploration for young people. In the survey responses, the internet is consistently rated alongside family and friends as a source of advice in stressful situations. For support on issues related to sex and drugs, it took precedence over all other forms of advice.

Anonymity was the single most important reason for 62% of young people seeking advice online rather than from other sources, while ease and speed of access to information were also cited by 56% and 53% of respondents respectively.

the report concludes: "For young people, the internet is part of the fabric of their world and does not exist in isolation from the physical world, rather it operates as a fully integrated element.
In the future, as access becomes ever more mobile, multi-platform, faster and with richer media – in other words ever on and everywhere – the need and demand for advice through the internet will become even more critical."

YouthNet Chief Executive, Fiona Dawe, said: "This timely report is an essential read for any youth policy maker, parent or teacher. The incredible speed in which communication methods are changing means that young people are trailblazing new ways to converse that many of my generation struggle to understand. With the huge number of unregulated and unmoderated websites, blogs, networks and groups that exist online, the need for a safe, trusted place has never been greater."

Comments:
1. The anonymity thing is interesting - online 'confession'? Where in the Protestant churches is there the opportunity for anonymous advice, confession, exploration etc.? The flip side is that anonymity allows people to do things they'd not do in person, which makes temptation a bit more tempting, as there seems less chance of being caught. Anonymity makes the net both safer, and more dangerous.

2. I used to be a bit embarassed to ring up my mates on the one house phone with mum and dad listening from the next room. The net does make friends easier to contact, but I don't know if that makes us more selfish or less: are friends available when we need them, or are we available when our friends need us? Perhaps it comes down to what survey question you're asked.

3. The level of dependence is quite scary, but I guess every generation comes to depend on the gadgets it creates - the fridge, the TV, the car, the web. Strange that younger people both depend on the internet, but feel a sense of control when using it. Who's controlling who?

4. We're still working out how this changes the quality of relationships: Facebook and the rest allow breadth to replace depth, keeping in touch with dozens of people at the same time, compared to previous generations whose 'gang' size was limited by the nature of face t0 face communication. The fact that a sizeable number don't see the need for face to face communication at all is rather worrying. Can we really relate to other people properly through the medium of technology? Among the first signs of fracture in Genesis are the couple hiding from God as he walks in the garden: the avoidance of face to face relationships isn't a sign of health.

5. Big challenge to the church if it's going to engage with this age group: church stuff tends to be quite 'lumpy' - an hour or two in a specific place at a specific time. Modern communication and community is threaded through everything. How does the church for Digital Natives differ from what we're used to?

Remembrance Day Dilemma

A tweet on Saturday night got me wondering. "This is beyond hideous. Am now trying to produce order of service which will square circles of traditional expectations & youthful boredom."

1. the Remembrance Service is a standard part of the church's year, and it's expected on the 2nd Sunday of November every year. It has standard elements: wreath laying at the local war memorial, certain hymns, involvement of uniformed organisations and the Royal British Legion etc. It's a right and proper part of what we do, to remember the dead and their sacrifice, and to give thanks.

2. But: those who come from the uniformed organisations are met with church at its most traditional - solemn processions, organ music, a format which it's difficult to do much with if you want to be creative or child/youth-friendly. At the same time it's a big day for some of them: being in the flag party for a big civic event is quite something for a 13 year old.

3. Result - if Remembrance Day is one of the few bits of exposure to the church which those youngsters get, then it may leave them with a skewed view of the church, one rooted in a culture several generations adrift from their own. So preserving the traditions in the present may be turning people off in the long term.

4. At the same time, young people are keenly aware of issues of war and peace, and in this part of the world there are many with Forces connections. We had a short Remembrance ceremony at Yeovil College last year, and (without any great publicity) roughly 100 students were present to remember, and reflect. We used war poetry, some video clips, a bit of U2, and a prayer. It's been even higher profile this year, so there could be quite a crowd on Weds morning. Using 'Fortunate Sons' by the Lost Dogs (a war lament by a rock group) with war images on powerpoint, the poem 'Flanders Fields', the traditional 'we will remember them' response, and a couple of short prayers.

5. Is it possible to reinvent Remembrance Day, or does it have to remain forever bound to 'I Vow to Thee My Country' (a sub-Christian hymn, unless you substitute the word 'Saviour' for 'Country', but then it isn't a bit of patriotic music anymore) and 'they shall not grow old'. 'We that are left' have grown old, and most have died, so that particular poem is drifting so far from its historical moorings that it's no longer a lament for lost comrades. There are new poems to be written for Iraq and Afghanistan. How much can we tinker with the formula without upsetting people for whom the very familiarity is a key part of the event itself?

6. Our situation is unusual: the 2nd Sunday of most months sees a traditional service at the church, and a 'Cafe Service' in the local community centre. At the cafe service on Sunday we kept a minutes silence, got the children making poppies, and thought about a wider theme of 'arguments' - what causes them, and what the Bible says about them. Because it's always the 2nd Sunday of November, there's always a link to Remembrance, and we recognise that it's Remembrance Sunday. At the same time that's only part of what goes on in the service, rather than taking it over completely. As a result there's a choice for worshippers, and on Sunday morning we had a number of families present who, had it been a traditional Remembrance service, may well not have come at all.

7. Is there more flexibility outside the church? Many will remember on the 11th itself, not on Remembrance Sunday. Local supermarkets will announce it over the tannoy. Factories stop. There may be a chance for someone to offer a brief 'thought', or a prayer, or something which makes it more than just silence. Ritual is one of the few things which people still expect the church to do well, and this is one where we can help wider society mark it meaningfully.

another way of joining the dots here: 'Black Swan Song' by Athelete

Lost Generation

can't remember if I've posted this before.



like it. HT several people on Facebook!