...strangely, we ourselves are being blessed. Individuals whose lives had been relatively comfortable, discover that by offering mercy and grace to someone who has lived on the edge of life, they themselves receive mercy and grace. Communities which had been caught up in minor internal squabbles, forget their differences in the face of a greater challenge. And denominations are together discovering a common mission in the service of Christ.
from this account of how churches are involved in helping refugees in E and SE Europe.
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
A Question for General Synod Candidates
I've just posted the following to the 'e-hustings' for our diocese, for the candidates for the new General Synod of the CofE
The Church of England is currently losing 10-15% of its adult members every decade, the figures for youth and children are worse. Projected full-time clergy numbers are 5,000, in a system designed to work with 3 times that number. What is the role of General Synod in a) promoting growth in parish churches and b) restructuring the national and local church before the CofE collapses under its own weight?
Background info
Attendance: recent, long-term
Clergy numbers.
Justin Welby is grasping more nettles than most of his predecessors put together, so I'm hopeful that we have the leadership in the CofE to engage with these issues. But we can't afford to faff about the way we did with women bishops. We have to have a Synod that makes engaging with these issues its top priority.
I'll be very interested to see what the answers are....
The Church of England is currently losing 10-15% of its adult members every decade, the figures for youth and children are worse. Projected full-time clergy numbers are 5,000, in a system designed to work with 3 times that number. What is the role of General Synod in a) promoting growth in parish churches and b) restructuring the national and local church before the CofE collapses under its own weight?
Background info
Attendance: recent, long-term
Clergy numbers.
Justin Welby is grasping more nettles than most of his predecessors put together, so I'm hopeful that we have the leadership in the CofE to engage with these issues. But we can't afford to faff about the way we did with women bishops. We have to have a Synod that makes engaging with these issues its top priority.
I'll be very interested to see what the answers are....
Monday, September 28, 2015
Northern Power Failure
1700 jobs are to go in Redcar, with the closure of the Teeside steel works. The response from the government is a 'taskforce' and a 'steel summit'. I can see the long grass from here. It doesn't help that there isn't a single Conservative MP in the urban NE of England. Biblical justice sees power being excercised on behalf of the vulnerable, not simply wielded by the strong. A 'Northern Powerhouse' worth the name wouldn't let Redcar go to the wall.
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Preaching/Communication - not 1 thing but 5 things.
"It is one thing to say something
quite another to have it listened to
a distinct third to have it understood
a different matter again to have it remembered
and a frequently unattainable fifth to have it put into practice"
(Paul Edwards 'The Practical Preacher')
quite another to have it listened to
a distinct third to have it understood
a different matter again to have it remembered
and a frequently unattainable fifth to have it put into practice"
(Paul Edwards 'The Practical Preacher')
Monday, September 21, 2015
On not speaking/singing in church
A further thought on the Jeremy Corbyn/national anthem 'incident'. Each time I take a baptism service, I make a point of saying that if we come to some words in the service people don't agree with, that they should feel free not to say them. There are already plenty of people who don't join in the songs anyway, and I don't want people to feel compromised, that they're being asked to say things they don't really believe. 2 things prompted this:
- Sitting down for a pint after one christening with a godparent who informed me he was an atheist. Work that one out.
- Getting a trenchant email from someone who'd attended a baptism at our church and accused me of brainwashing people and imposing religion on them. (As an aside, the Anglican church has such an effective record of brainwashing that 90% of people who attended Sunday school aren't adult members of any church, so that's gone well. And my personal record in brainwashing is so stunning that 99.8% of baptism guests never return).
I don't want a repeat of the email, but more importantly I'd like people to think about what's actually being said and to speak with integrity. So guests at a baptism are encouraged to choose the Corbyn option: supporting the family and the occasion in a respectful way, without feeling they have to join in with words they don't agree with.
- Sitting down for a pint after one christening with a godparent who informed me he was an atheist. Work that one out.
- Getting a trenchant email from someone who'd attended a baptism at our church and accused me of brainwashing people and imposing religion on them. (As an aside, the Anglican church has such an effective record of brainwashing that 90% of people who attended Sunday school aren't adult members of any church, so that's gone well. And my personal record in brainwashing is so stunning that 99.8% of baptism guests never return).
I don't want a repeat of the email, but more importantly I'd like people to think about what's actually being said and to speak with integrity. So guests at a baptism are encouraged to choose the Corbyn option: supporting the family and the occasion in a respectful way, without feeling they have to join in with words they don't agree with.
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
National Anthem Shocker
appalling, if they won't sing the National Anthem how dare they represent our country? Almost as bad as the woman on the left in this photo.
Why I no longer go to sporting events
discovered on Facebook, clever. People do have genuine reasons for leaving/not being part of a church, but most of them aren't the ones on this list.
Monday, September 14, 2015
Who's the Mummy?
“I am not a biological parent, but I am a parent. I have young actors and actresses that I mentor, I have nieces and nephews that I am very close to,” she tells host Jane Garvey.
“There is a way to become a mother in this day and age which doesn’t include your name on the child’s birth certificate. You can express that maternal side, very clearly, very strongly. It feels very satisfying.
“I didn’t change nappies, which is okay with me, but I did help my niece get through medical school. I did sit down with my nephew when he was [going through] a very tough time to join the army. And those are very motherly things to do, very nurturing things to do.”
Thus spake Kim Cattrall on Womens Hour. Is anyone else reminded of Rachel Dolezal, the white American woman who 'self-identified as black'? Kim, you are a mentor, and an aunt, and I'm sure you're very good at both. That doesn't make you a mother, just because you don't like being described as 'childless'.
At what point do words cease to mean anything, because the arbiter of meaning becomes our emotional response to them, rather than their factual content? If I self-identify as thin, because despite the fact that my BMI is 26.9, telling me I'm fat upsets me, then am I thin, or fat? Do I describe my body as thin, my parenting status as a mother, my relationship as a marriage and my tax dealings as honest, because that's how I like to think about myself? Or is there an actual measure outside of my narcissistic little world that gives either an agreed meaning, or an objective standard, to these words? If not, then we may as well go back to grunting at each other, because that would carry about the same amount of shared meaning.
Does this mean anything to you, or only to me?
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Inappropriate Clergy Awards
International Buy a Priest a Beer Day has passed without incident, and indeed without beer. On the same day a CofE vicar was reported as winning 'Funeral Celebrant of the Year', and I wondered if the beer had just found its way to the wrong place. Maybe it's just my British wibbliness about death that makes me slightly unnerved by a 'Good Funeral Awards'. After all, why not recognise excellence in this vital vocation?
There are so many awards going around now, and so many 'days' for different things (world sparrow day anyone?), half of them invented by someone on t'internet with a spare couple of hours. So I figured, why not enter the market?
Dishy Bishop Award presented by the staff of the Daily Mail, because what someone looks like is always far more important than what they think or believe.
Fullest Immersion: national competition for churches to see how many baptism candidates can be fully immersed in 5 minutes. Regional dunk-offs, followed by a national final in the Thames. Usually won by Vineyard, CofE churches often run out of candidates before the time is up.
Formation Thurible Swinging: troupes of altar boys and girls compete, bringing increasingly complex routines to tunes by Rutter (junior) and Bach (senior). This year, a new individual heavyweight contest, adult servers compete in an endurance test with a 20 kilo incense swinger, to see who can cense the most side chapels in Canterbury Cathedral during a sung Latin mass.
Most Tenuous Use of a Bible Passage nominations accepted from parishioners nationwide, though the winner is usually a speaker at New Wine.
Shortest Meeting: there has been an unofficial competition happening in village Church Councils for many years. Under the CofE's Simplification programme, PCCs are now offered a pro rata discount off their Parish Share (money paid to the Diocese) for finishing before an hour is up, whilst still discharging all their legal obligations. To date no-one has managed it.
Worst Lyrics to a Chorus there have been joint winners to this for as long as anyone can remember.
Vicars Voice Award for the vicar whose pulpit voice varies the most from the voice they use in everyday conversation. Congregations of 100 are blindfolded and asked to identify their own vicar from a lineup of 6 speakers. Several vicars have emerged pointless.
Sunny Side Up Award: presented annually to the people who compose the press releases about CofE attendance.
Action Song Leader of the Year: for the person who can most enthusiastically lead 100 repetitions of 'Our God is a Great Big God'
King Key Vicar: subcategories for Most Keys on a Bunch, Biggest Key to a Church Door, Most Keys that Don't Fit Any Locks in the Building and Nobody Knows What They're For, Worst Thought-Through Title For an Award.
Biggest Timewaster on Social Media who put that there?
There are so many awards going around now, and so many 'days' for different things (world sparrow day anyone?), half of them invented by someone on t'internet with a spare couple of hours. So I figured, why not enter the market?
Dishy Bishop Award presented by the staff of the Daily Mail, because what someone looks like is always far more important than what they think or believe.
Fullest Immersion: national competition for churches to see how many baptism candidates can be fully immersed in 5 minutes. Regional dunk-offs, followed by a national final in the Thames. Usually won by Vineyard, CofE churches often run out of candidates before the time is up.
Formation Thurible Swinging: troupes of altar boys and girls compete, bringing increasingly complex routines to tunes by Rutter (junior) and Bach (senior). This year, a new individual heavyweight contest, adult servers compete in an endurance test with a 20 kilo incense swinger, to see who can cense the most side chapels in Canterbury Cathedral during a sung Latin mass.
Most Tenuous Use of a Bible Passage nominations accepted from parishioners nationwide, though the winner is usually a speaker at New Wine.
Worst Lyrics to a Chorus there have been joint winners to this for as long as anyone can remember.
Vicars Voice Award for the vicar whose pulpit voice varies the most from the voice they use in everyday conversation. Congregations of 100 are blindfolded and asked to identify their own vicar from a lineup of 6 speakers. Several vicars have emerged pointless.
Sunny Side Up Award: presented annually to the people who compose the press releases about CofE attendance.
Action Song Leader of the Year: for the person who can most enthusiastically lead 100 repetitions of 'Our God is a Great Big God'
King Key Vicar: subcategories for Most Keys on a Bunch, Biggest Key to a Church Door, Most Keys that Don't Fit Any Locks in the Building and Nobody Knows What They're For, Worst Thought-Through Title For an Award.
Biggest Timewaster on Social Media who put that there?
Wednesday, September 09, 2015
Chrissie Hynde nails it
"would you say young women should take more responsibility?"
"well I think everyone should, men should too. I don't think sexual assault is a gender issue as such, it's very much, it's all around us now. It's provoked by this pornography culture, it's provoked by pop stars who call themselves feminists but they're actually... maybe they're feminists on behalf of prostitutes, but they're not feminists on behalf of music if they're selling their music by bumping and grinding and wearing their underwear on videos. That's a kind of feminism - you're a sex worker, that's what you are...that's provocative in a way that's nothing to do with music. Captain Beefheart wasn't making videos like that, and I would say that those women are responsible for a great deal of damage."
from an interview on Radio 4.
In the sexualisation of young people, Hynde is right, pop culture has a lot to answer for. Madonna, Britney, Jessie J, Nicky Minaj, yes we're looking at you. Though to be honest we'd rather not have to.
“A study of 458 young adolescents showed that while girls were less accepting of sexual
harassment than boys, exposure to music videos reduced their resistance…For both boys and
girls, frequent TV viewing and exposure to pornographic material led to greater acceptance
of sexual harassment.” (source)
We could do with a new set of names for a start. 'Glamour' model? Porn 'star'? What's glamourous about parading yourself as a piece of meat for men to drool over?
Monday, September 07, 2015
Refugees: Head and Heart
Now we've had statements, petitions and an outpouring of 'something must be done', the question is 'what'? David Camerons 'something' is to offer sanctuary to a few thousand refugees from the camps around Syria, a tricky thing to do politically whilst trying to project an anti-immigration stance for the nation. However going to the first point of sanctuary in the journey is a good way of cutting the people smugglers out of the equation.
Already Calais is filling up with donations from UK citizens: the compassion is great to see, but as that link reports, not everything that's sent over is useful, and Calais needs people with time as well as people with spare blankets. As one church leader put it at the weekend "we need to be careful that we act well and not just out of a sense of panic". The wave of compassion needs to be harnessed to good information, or it will break on the beach and leave a flotsam of unused aid and unkeepable promises.
Being alongside refugees is hard work, here's one summary what the asylum process involves. If you're offering a spare room, then you will have to support an individual family through all of this:
Feelings of loneliness, anxiety and despair are often evident in the people we meet through Restore. Many asylum seekers have left family behind and crave word from them. For some, there is no knowledge of their whereabouts and we encourage them to turn to the International family tracing service of the Red Cross, though this takes courage when there is fear that the missing person may be dead.
Asylum support is granted by the Home Office to those in the asylum system. Known as section 95 support, this amounts to accommodation, usually in a shared house, and approximately £37 per week.
Section 4 support is granted when an asylum seeker has been refused asylum but has made a fresh claim and is awaiting the outcome of this new submission. Such support is cashless and amounts to £35 being topped up onto a plastic Azure Card, which can be used in mainstream supermarkets. No money is given for travel fares.
Those who are refused asylum and unable to submit fresh representations have their Home Office support terminated and become destitute without recourse to public funds. Destitution is the plight of many an asylum seeker in our country.
Asylum seekers are prohibited from working and are not allowed to attend English language classes in the first six months of their asylum claim – the rationale being that their case will be determined in six months and if refused, they will be removed from the country. Invariably the case determination takes much longer than half a year and only a small percentage of those refused are removed or return voluntarily to their home country. Asylum seekers are required to report to a regional Home Office centre. People often attend these reporting sessions with great trepidation as it is the place where they are most likely to be detained and sent to a removal centre.
Quality legal advice and representation is essential if an asylum seeker is to present a case with substantiating evidence, expert reports and relevant case law. Sadly, legal aid for asylum work is limited to a few hours and representatives tend to drop cases when they perceive a case is unlikely to be successful.
Three other pieces that are worth a read:
Ian Paul on 'thinking about migration'. Challenges some of the simplistic responses to the crisis, and recognises that the media have an agenda in this too.
A local blog on what Yeovil should do about immigration and refugees. Argues that being better informed is part of our moral obligation to the migrants.
The Archbishop of York on the opportunity we have as a nation to offer a generous welcome.
Already Calais is filling up with donations from UK citizens: the compassion is great to see, but as that link reports, not everything that's sent over is useful, and Calais needs people with time as well as people with spare blankets. As one church leader put it at the weekend "we need to be careful that we act well and not just out of a sense of panic". The wave of compassion needs to be harnessed to good information, or it will break on the beach and leave a flotsam of unused aid and unkeepable promises.
Being alongside refugees is hard work, here's one summary what the asylum process involves. If you're offering a spare room, then you will have to support an individual family through all of this:
Feelings of loneliness, anxiety and despair are often evident in the people we meet through Restore. Many asylum seekers have left family behind and crave word from them. For some, there is no knowledge of their whereabouts and we encourage them to turn to the International family tracing service of the Red Cross, though this takes courage when there is fear that the missing person may be dead.
Asylum support is granted by the Home Office to those in the asylum system. Known as section 95 support, this amounts to accommodation, usually in a shared house, and approximately £37 per week.
Section 4 support is granted when an asylum seeker has been refused asylum but has made a fresh claim and is awaiting the outcome of this new submission. Such support is cashless and amounts to £35 being topped up onto a plastic Azure Card, which can be used in mainstream supermarkets. No money is given for travel fares.
Those who are refused asylum and unable to submit fresh representations have their Home Office support terminated and become destitute without recourse to public funds. Destitution is the plight of many an asylum seeker in our country.
Asylum seekers are prohibited from working and are not allowed to attend English language classes in the first six months of their asylum claim – the rationale being that their case will be determined in six months and if refused, they will be removed from the country. Invariably the case determination takes much longer than half a year and only a small percentage of those refused are removed or return voluntarily to their home country. Asylum seekers are required to report to a regional Home Office centre. People often attend these reporting sessions with great trepidation as it is the place where they are most likely to be detained and sent to a removal centre.
Quality legal advice and representation is essential if an asylum seeker is to present a case with substantiating evidence, expert reports and relevant case law. Sadly, legal aid for asylum work is limited to a few hours and representatives tend to drop cases when they perceive a case is unlikely to be successful.
Three other pieces that are worth a read:
Ian Paul on 'thinking about migration'. Challenges some of the simplistic responses to the crisis, and recognises that the media have an agenda in this too.
A local blog on what Yeovil should do about immigration and refugees. Argues that being better informed is part of our moral obligation to the migrants.
The Archbishop of York on the opportunity we have as a nation to offer a generous welcome.
Thursday, September 03, 2015
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob spotted at Calais
"one can categorise Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the terms used by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Abraham begins as a voluntary migrant, but then lives in Egypt as an environmentally induced, externally displaced person.
Isaac is born to immigrant parents, and he subsequently becomes an environmentally induced, internally displaced person.
Finally, Jacob is a third generation migrant who involuntarily migrates to seek asylum for fear of physical harm. Jacob does eventually repatriate by choice, but he lives out the remainder of his life as an immigrant.
It is no stretch to say that migration and the experience of being an immigrant among foreign groups forms these patriarchs’ identity and is, in this way, inscribed into the very foundations of Judaism, Christianity and Islam." (Casey Strine 'The Old Testament as a Resource for thinking about Migration')
So when God introduces himself to Moses as 'The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob' in Exodus chapter 3, God is introducing himself as the God of 3 generations of immigrants. He does this to a man who himself is an asylum seeker, to call him to lead a mass migration across the Middle East. And that's before we even get to Jesus and Paul.
Lots more food for thought at the very timely 'Migration' special of The Bible in Transmission, a journal produced by the Bible Society.
Abraham begins as a voluntary migrant, but then lives in Egypt as an environmentally induced, externally displaced person.
Isaac is born to immigrant parents, and he subsequently becomes an environmentally induced, internally displaced person.
Finally, Jacob is a third generation migrant who involuntarily migrates to seek asylum for fear of physical harm. Jacob does eventually repatriate by choice, but he lives out the remainder of his life as an immigrant.
It is no stretch to say that migration and the experience of being an immigrant among foreign groups forms these patriarchs’ identity and is, in this way, inscribed into the very foundations of Judaism, Christianity and Islam." (Casey Strine 'The Old Testament as a Resource for thinking about Migration')
So when God introduces himself to Moses as 'The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob' in Exodus chapter 3, God is introducing himself as the God of 3 generations of immigrants. He does this to a man who himself is an asylum seeker, to call him to lead a mass migration across the Middle East. And that's before we even get to Jesus and Paul.
Lots more food for thought at the very timely 'Migration' special of The Bible in Transmission, a journal produced by the Bible Society.
Wednesday, September 02, 2015
Rebranding Sin
"Ashley Madison is the number one service for people seeking discreet relationships."
translation: "Ashley Madison is the number one service for people seeking to cheat on their spouse/partner and get away with it". Adultery rebranded as discretion.
"Some journalists have turned the focus of the criminal act against Ashley Madison inside out, attacking us instead of the hackers," the company said on Monday. (source)
that's right, because what you do stinks. It isn't illegal but it's destructive and evil. Every secret will eventually be revealed, so the hackers have just given 33m people a sneak preview of one small aspect of the day of judgement. People will sin if they can persuade themselves that a) they aren't really doing something that bad and b) they can get away with it. Ashley Madison is complicit in both.
In other news, Mammon continues its baleful patronage of global football. Spending £1bn on footballers in a calendar year isn't obscene conspicuous consumption on bread and circuses, it's 'investing in playing talent'. Of course.How many desperate refugees in mainland Europe you could effectively transfer to a fruitful new life with £36m, instead of moving 1 football player?
translation: "Ashley Madison is the number one service for people seeking to cheat on their spouse/partner and get away with it". Adultery rebranded as discretion.
"Some journalists have turned the focus of the criminal act against Ashley Madison inside out, attacking us instead of the hackers," the company said on Monday. (source)
that's right, because what you do stinks. It isn't illegal but it's destructive and evil. Every secret will eventually be revealed, so the hackers have just given 33m people a sneak preview of one small aspect of the day of judgement. People will sin if they can persuade themselves that a) they aren't really doing something that bad and b) they can get away with it. Ashley Madison is complicit in both.
In other news, Mammon continues its baleful patronage of global football. Spending £1bn on footballers in a calendar year isn't obscene conspicuous consumption on bread and circuses, it's 'investing in playing talent'. Of course.How many desperate refugees in mainland Europe you could effectively transfer to a fruitful new life with £36m, instead of moving 1 football player?
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