change your picture!

Posted on by
Reply

Dear friend

On Friday 19th June, it will be Aung San Suu Kyi’s 64th birthday. She will spend her birthday detained in the notorious Insein Prison.

On May 18th Aung San Suu Kyi was put on trial, charged with breaching the terms of her house arrest after an American man, John Yettaw, swam to her house and refused to leave. The dictatorship are using the visit as an opportunity to extend her detention.

Her trial has now been adjourned until 26 June. Aung San Suu Kyi has already spent more than 13 years in detention and faces another 5 years in prison.

DEMONSTRATION
Please show your solidarity and join us outside the Burmese Embassy in London from 1-2pm on Friday 19th June.
19A Charles Street
London, W1J 5DX
Nearest tube: Green Park

Solidarity events will be held worldwide. Click here to find out details of events taking place near you.

SEND HER A BIRTHDAY MESSAGE
You can leave a message of support here.

More than 9000 people have now left a message, video or tweet calling for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, and all of Burma’s political prisoners.

Celebrities from around the world have sent messages, including George Clooney, Yoko Ono, David Beckham, Julia Roberts, Daniel Craig, and Richard Branson. Stephen Fry, Eddie Izzard, Kevin Spacey and Sarah Brown have been “tweeting” about the campaign.

As well as celebrities, the website has received political support featuring video messages to Aung San Suu Kyi from heads of state including British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Mohamed Nasheed, President of the Maldives and President Jose Ramos Horta, President of Timor-Leste.

Post your message now http://www.64forsuu.org

Thank you for your support

Johnny Chatterton
Campaigns Officer
Burma Campaign UK

PS. If you’re on Facebook or Twitter, we’re asking everyone to put Aung San Suu Kyi as their profile picture until her birthday. You can download the image here.

my wednesday

Posted on by
Reply

The meeting with Bishop Brian and bishop’s staff seemed to go well this morning. It was great to see these people giving good time to pioneer ministry and asking questions that led be to believe this is definitely high on their agenda. Clearly it is something I feel passionate about and I hope this is an early stage in the diocese coming up with strategy for pioneer ministry – that would be a really cool achievement.

Catching up with colleagues of the past at the YFC meeting in London was also a great experience. It always surprises me how the buzz of London really excites me; I could feel my energy levels rising as the train pulled into Victoria, and walking from Euston to CTIE just made me regret a little that I do not come to London as much as I used to.

The purpose of this day was to ask some good questions as YFC is in a key time of its ministry. I was particularly interested by the discussion we had around recruiting trustees – these people are key to things continuing and it’s an area where good investment is needed. It was also good to chat with friends – and to see that YFC really is the family organisation that it thinks it is!

A curry with these wonderful people brought a great end to a good day.

a big wednesday!

Posted on by
2

Wednesday’s are not always great days for me; they are days when I find I have to be really disciplined as it is normally a ‘study’ day and to be honest I really want to be back amongst the people I am slowly getting to know.

I realise however that study days are important in that they give me time to reflect and force me to consider in more detail what is happening. I think it also serves as a mini break as spoken of a few days ago. While it is painful to be away, the break allows some form of growth to occur.

Today, however, is a different Wednesday. In a couple of hours I a attending the Bishop’s staff meeting as he wishes to talk about pioneer ministry, hear from me about my first 10 months, and consider the way forward. It is a good opportunity to thank them for the opportunity but also to share the realities of the questions we need to be asking for the future – which for our diocese I think are about strategy and investment. It is also a great opportunity to share the stories of the last few weeks that I have blogged about – stories of interactions that have only happened after 10 months of daily visiting and stories of interactions that I do not think would have occurred with anything less.

I hope this meeting goes well and the people that can make decisions for proper investment in pioneer ministry.

After this I am joining others from YFC in London as we have a planning day for Local Ministries of YFC. I am really looking forward to meeting people I have not seen for a while and engaging with others as we look to see how we can creatively serve YFC as it moves forward in a new way.

Certainly not a normal Wednesday for me – and the first Wednesday I have looked forward to for a long time!

the power of the story

Posted on by
Reply

Last Friday was an interesting time in the pub.
One of the guys who I had been talking with over the last few days made it clear that he did not wish to talk and so, quite downbeat, I made my way to another table in the corner and thought ‘oh well … God must have some other plan for today!’

Within 15 minutes a different group of the regulars gathered in the same corner and we started to share stories of our childhood. Actually, these men in their 70’s and 80’s shared their stories while I listened. Stories of childhood scrumping, school tales accompanied by a fair amount of laughter. As we shared the group grew by one or two so that there were 5 of us by the end.

As they shared they realsied they knew lots of the same people, knew people who have lived in the same roads, knew the ‘rogues’ of the area and it soon became clear that their stories inter-linked in a number of ways that they had not realised before.

It was quite a special 90 minutes or so and I left feeling what a great privilege it had been to be part of that experience. It also reinforces in my mind the real power of stories – not just in how powerful they can be in illustration, but also in breaking down barriers. Today the stories served to do that – they served to bring this small group of men closer together. Something was shared between the group which is hard to describe but will be remembered for a while.

In including me as well, I think it shows the power that the story has to overcome generational divides. People want to tell their stories. If we are honest, we all like to talk about ourselves – what is often lacking is someone willing to listen to the story. Maybe part of loving service in this setting is as easy as being prepared to listen?

3rd gathering: The Vine

Posted on by
Reply

Today we had our third gathering of people who are investigating together a new way of being church. Again, I believe it was a special time as children and adults inter-mixed and discussed and thought about the theme for the gathering, which was Jesus as the Vine from John 15.

We started with some liturgy that I have adapted and added to which I originally found from Mucky Paws years ago. When each verse of liturgy was read some of the children brought stuff forward: a candle which was then lit, bread which was then broken, a bowl of fruit and a cross.

Following a short time of reflection we made bead branches which we hung from the vine in the picture. This was a great activity because it allowed the children and adults to sit together and discuss and chat over what we felt Jesus was getting at in John chapter 15. This was a great way to get deeper with the ideas and i think we ended up with more questions then we had answers – but that is quite exciting.

Sarah than asked a vital question – ‘so what … what difference does this make to us as Christians in our everyday lives?’ which sent the discussion along a different route again.

Following this we prayed and ate together and chatted a lot more.

This was quite a special time. I think we possibly need to think more still on whether we need to structure our time together better and how we end. At the moment we seem to slide from prayer and worship into eating, which might be the right thing to do, but I do wonder whether we should be doing something more tangible to mark the change? But, on the other hand, if our lives are worship then maybe we should slide from pray to eating as we do at the moment.

As I said …. lots of questions develop. At this point in time, though, I am encouraged. I’m encouraged and excited because of the way community is developing just through interest in each other being real. I am excited because the children engage and feel free to come in and out, to contribute or not, as they see fit.

Today felt more like a Sunday afternoon family gathering than anything else – and that in itself is quite exciting!

Poll says: Jesus is the person people want to meet

Posted on by
2

I’ve been subscribing to the EA’s Friday Night Theology email for quite a while and this weeks email intrigues me. Jesus is the person most people would like to meet … read on:

One of the more unlikely poll findings you could imagine was revealed this week from the team that brought us Primeval. Three thousand people were asked which dead person they would most like to meet, and top of the list came Jesus Christ. A surprising one in three said they would like to meet him above anyone else. Those who organised the survey had fully expected Princess Diana, who came second, to head the list, but it was Jesus who apparently captivates the British public’s hearts and minds the most.

A spokesperson was quoted as saying, “These results show that Jesus Christ will always be the British Public’s ‘Superstar’”, which if you think about it, is truly remarkable. It must also be particularly galling to John Lennon fans who infamously claimed that the Beatles were ‘more famous than Jesus’. Well not any more: Lennon didn’t even make the top ten!

So what can we conclude from the fact that Jesus did top the poll, and what does that say to us in the church, whose main purpose is to introduce folk to him? In particular, does the fact that so many people want to meet him suggest we’re not doing an especially good job at it? For if we were, the third of Britons that want to know him would presumably have already been introduced.

Two points arise from all this. The first is that to those who say the church is dying, that secularism has all we could ever want and that atheism can satisfy, we can easily point out that a large section of the British population would disagree. It’s Jesus they want to meet, not Nietzsche or Bertrand Russell.

More importantly, the poll also indicates that despite our obsession with celebrity, there remains within the British soul a deep spiritual need which presumably people are looking to Jesus to meet. Of course, not all those who put Jesus top did so out of some kind of spiritual longing, but a significant proportion will have. Yet many of those people will be sceptical that the church is where that spiritual need can be met. To use a business analogy, the demand is high, it is just the package we’re supplying that is the problem. They want to meet Jesus, just not if they have to go via Christians, and probably evangelical Christians in particular.

Hence, we need to be willing to ask some challenging questions about ourselves. What is it that we’re doing that despite such evident spiritual hunger is putting people off? Why is it that they like Jesus but not the body commissioned to represent him? And what do we need to start doing differently in our communities and neighbourhoods to more authentically be the arms, legs, voice and heart of Jesus in the way that we are called to be? For surely that is what it means to be both the body of Christ and his ambassadors here on earth. And anyway, if we think about it, Jesus shouldn’t even be on the list – he is after all alive and more than willing to get to know any member of the British public who wants to!

Justin Thacker, Head of Theology.

Any answers to the questions gratefully received ….

normality returns … nearly

Posted on by
Reply

Back to normal today in my drinking location. Well … nearly normal. Someone insisted on paying for my early morning coffee as I had bought them a beer the other day. I wasn’t invited to sit with the guys and so I sat at my normal table and returned to observing and praying for the people around me.

I met a retired lady who had been looking to chat with me for a while. I felt a bit down after the excitement of the last few days but it is amazing to see God in control yet again. If I had sat with the blokes, this woman would not have been able to have the chat she wanted to have, and she came to the pub just for that purpose.

My big question now with God as relationships start to move here, is where do I go next? By that I do not mean where to I physically move to, but what do I do now that relationships have started to develop? I guess it has something to do with continuing to show that I am not out to try and convert people. Even today, after 10 month, the guy who bought me a drink made a joke about others teasing him about being ‘born again’ now that he was talking to me. A joke, but with a serious edge and concern to it I think.

I merely wish to connect, chat and see what happens. I am not here to coerce, or to preach – I tend to think that people know where to go if they want to hear sermons (I’m preaching on Sunday by the way at 945am – shameless plug!!) I keep asking myself how can I offer loving service in this place, how can I be good news in a way that means something to the people around me? How can I help to build the Kingdom of God here?

10 months in and I’m still incredibly conscious of how I am still at such an early stage in this massive journey of discovery. to be honest, I only have question after question fter question …. it would be good to get some answers just now and again.

surprise!!!

Posted on by
Reply

well I am amazed – the same thing happened in Wetherspoons yesterday morning. I sat with the same group of guys and we just generally chatted about stuff.

I am conscious on how important two guys, or men of peace, have been in all of this. They have had short conversations with me over the months and it is them that have invited me to join the group.

On Sunday, I have to preach on a passage from Mark’s gospel where Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God being like a seed and a mustard seed in particular. I’m still getting my head around what that might mean, but I think there is something about little beginnings, something we do not fully understand happening underground in secret which is followed by a sudden burst of life and the plant grows.

I wonder if that is what is happening here? Stuff has been secretly going on ‘underground’ while I have been in Wetherspoons. I have become part of something that I do not understand. Others have planted seeds, maybe I have as well, and somehow in some amazing way God has been doing what God does. Suddenly I am seeing the reality of some growth. It is a massive surprise.

I wonder if massive surprise is what Jesus was trying to get across when he spoke in mark about the Kingdom of God?

I am intrigued to see what will happen next when I arrive at Wetherspoons. After this surprise will things calm to normality or will stuff continue to happen?

Not in My Name

Posted on by
Reply


The BNP having seats in the European Parliament is a shocking disgrace.
They don’t sit there representing me.
Sign up to Not in My Name as no doubt you feel the same!

a journey to acceptance?

Posted on by
2

I had an amazing experience yesterday. This pioneering stuff, being in the community and waiting does strangely take a lot of effort. I certainly have not prayed so much in my whole life. Before you think that’s super spiritual of me …. it’s not; I mean … what else can you do when you are sit alone for most of the time in a pub in the morning! As I gaze out the window, or look around the pub I pray and ask God to show me what he wants me to see.

Yesterday I bought my coffee as normal and was invited to sit with a group of the guys that are regulars in the pub. I sat and as others turned up who normally sit there they joined us and we had a great time just talking about ‘stuff’. I am not sure what I was expecting but I was very conscious of the fact that some of the regulars may be put off by me sitting with them and although surprised to see me there seemed more comfortable than I felt.

We chatted for about an hour and a bit before it seemed right for me to move on.

After 10 months is this a small step towards acceptance? It’s interesting as I have been praying for weeks to be invited in and had almost started to think it might never happen, and so I was pretty surprised yesterday by the simply way the invite came.

Does this mean people are starting to feel more confident, will the invite come again or was this a simple one off to see what would happen? I can’t answer any of those questions and I am not entirely sure what to do later today (when in about an hour to be exact) when I return. I guess I will have to play things by ear and see what seems and feels to be the right thing to do. In fact it strikes me that the questions are unimportant; this happened and God was working through it in some way. If God is in control he sorted this in some way and God will do the same again at the right time.

In my mind this is a significant step towards building relationships but it is interesting to note how long this has taken. I started at the beginning of September visiting this place nearly every day and we are now at the beginning of June. Ten months is a long time; building genuine authentic relationships cannot be rushed, it takes time to just start to be accepted by the community.

I say ‘start to be accepted’ because I am under no illusions that yesterday equates with acceptance. There were uncomfortable silences. Whether I like it or not I am seen as different because I am ordained and for this group of people that is so far removed from their reality (as it is for most people in our society). Most people in our society do not come into contact with clergy people – and this group have to see me nearly every day! It’s entirely possible, in fact probable, that today will be very different and I will go back to normal to sitting alone and waiting for the next invite.

A big question I have here is how do I seek to serve as Christ would serve in this environment. I don’t feel I’m here to build church, or to convert people or anything like that. That is all God’s work as it is only God that can achieve those things. What does loving service look like in this setting? How can I be good news in this environment? How can I help people to encounter the amazing generosity of God. In short, how do we focus on the Kingdom of God here and create the space for that Kingdom to be noticed?