united

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Another privileged day as another group of centres met with the YFC Leadership Team. Another group of diverse people united in their passion to see young people reached with the gospel. Another group of people who make daily sacrifices to see God’s mission work out in their lives.

Today I feel yet again that I have met up with friends rather than colleagues. It was good to be able to chat to so many good, both old and new, friends and hear of their highs and lows. It does seem that we are in a special time of ‘favour’ with loads of new doors opening which will enable us to share the gospel. As is always the case in all mission, there are also the many struggles that we experience and feel hopeless to intervene in.

As we prayed with each other at the end we were reminded by God that he is central to what we do, and that we need to feed our relationships both with each other and with him which can often be neglected in exciting times such as these seem to be. Ending the day by sharing bread (which had been baking all day in the bread maker at the front of the church)and wine was a great way of bringing this to the front of our minds.

Transsexualism

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Tonight was the hardest task so far for SEITE training. The first assignment for this module asked for a presentation of an argument for how eschatology or pneumatology contribte significantly toforming Christian understanding on an issue of sexual ethics. For a number of reasons I chose transsexualism and eschatology.

I say this was the hardest as this was quite challenging. The traditional Christian view, supported by O’Donovan seems to be that this is wrong based on physical characteristics, and in this case sexual organs, being God given. The majority argue against acceptance of a transsexual lifestyle as it seperates physical and mental identity in a kind of gnostic way, arguing the God-givenness of sexuality should not be tampered with. The difficulty I have found with this is the question of what is God given, and I have come to the conclusion, at this point in time, that to deny the orientation of the brain as also God given seems to cut off the mind in some way that it is also created by God. In light of this I am led to the conclusion that to accept and allow sexual realignment surgery (SRS), as a means to remove suffering as we look to the coming Kingdom of God, is the ‘Christian’ thing to do.

I ended my presntation with a quote from a Claire Weiner article:’Maybe not God given by birth, but God given by the ability of medical science developed through the God given talents of compassionate human beings’.

I’d appreciate your comments, and if you’d like to read and critique the 1500 word presentation that would be welcome to.

EU sanctions for Burma

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The Burma Campaign UK today welcomed an announcement by the European Union that it will impose targeted sanctions against the regime in Burma. The EU has agreed a ban on investment in, and imports of, Burmese timber, metals and gems. It is also considering a ban on all new investment if the regime does not enter into genuine dialogue with the democracy movement.

Great to see that the EU has come to a decision. You can read more here.

privilege of mission

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It been a great few days catching up with my YFC friends in the south west of the country.

Every year the Leadership Team of YFC meet up with the centre teams to listen to what is happening and share ideas that they are having. This is always a great time. I left the house at 5.30 am on Thursday morning to get to Weston Super Mare for the LT Tour so that I could combine the time with having brief conversations with these great people who are all over the south west.

It’s just such a privilege to meet with these people who are incredibly humble, often in very challenging circumstances, who do outstanding work in such a graceful way while counting it a privilege to be involved with God in his mission. It’s really cool to spend a day in a room with a lot of other people sold out on reaching young people with the gospel.

I left Weston to drive to Weymouth and send the evening with my mum and brother. On my journey I prayed and asked God that I will never lose the grace that I saw my friends displaying today; that I will always remember the privilege it is to work with a missional God.

OPM Day

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It was great today, and an honour, to meet up with others training for OPM (Ordained Pioneer Ministry) in the Church of England. It was great to network, to meet up again with Michael and Gareth.

We discussed issues around training, selection and first posts and it struck me how we are very much still pioneering pioneers. That probably sounds a bit twee but I do think it is amazing that the CofE has moved so quickly in such a short space of time. I think the clear and courageous leadership of Archbishop Rowan, who joined us for lunch and an short talk beforehand, has had a lot to do with this. I believe that this mans ministry of some 4/5 years has already achieved so much more than the Decade of Evangelism under the last Archbishop.

Bishop Graham Cray shared how he thought OPM was part of something bigger which could be taken as exciting, or as scary. In short, I don’t think any of us know where this thing is going and we need to decide whether we are going to trust the Spirit and follow God on it; or play safe and stay as we are!

Michael spoke well about his experiences at Gloucester Cathedral and Ben led some great worship at the end of the day focusing on hope which I found very challenging. I think pioneer ministry is going to be a challenge, and costly to individuals who get involved, but I guess we have to ask who has called us to this and where, or in whom, are we placing our hope?

Another great day!

Oh – the pic … it just made me smile as I have often made the mental link between OPM and poppies … and these poppies look kinda holy!

reflections on the last few days

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It’s been a busy few days and I need to get up early in the morning to travel to Weston Super Mare to meet up with some of our centres working in the south west.

But I wish to write some reflections on the past few days – I welcome the discipline of reflection and writing and have a concern that the less I do this, the less I force myself to stop and reflect.

The church planting conference last week was a great day and a good opportunity to catch up with some friends, and make new ones. I had some concerns which I shared in one of the workgroups that a ‘motivation’ given for church planting was that the church was in decline and so we needed to plant. I have a problem with that. I think we plant because God has started to do things. Motivation from a negative self preservation stance is always going to be artificial and humanaly motivated wheras the creation of new church as a response to God must be the only possible way forward.

My day in London was a time to meet with a variety of people. It was great to be able to meet up with Andrea Minichiello Williams, of LCF and Christian Concern, who I have not seen since we left Weymouth Grammar School some 24 years ago! Andrea was one of those people at school who was integral to my coming to faith. We shared stories and I left the meeting glad that we were able to find the time catch up and very conscious that Andrea needs the support of our prayers as she deals with many complex issues of todays society.

Afterwards I caught up with John Baxter Brown from Churches Togethr in England to chat a little about the Olympics and Greenbelt. Afterwards I was able to check out a coffee shop with Rachael before meeting SEITE friends to think about worship using a Labyrinth at our next residential.

Packed days … I love them!

Don’t forget Burma!

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Things come and go in the news and when issues disappear from front pages we move on in our interest. Terrible things are still happening in Burma – please read this latest update from Burma Campaign UK and act upon what you read if you can.

Dear Friend

The true scale of the horrific crackdown on peaceful protesters in Burma is not yet known. Thousands have been arrested, and hundreds killed. We have received reports of crematoriums working through the night on the outskirts of Rangoon.

The first priority for the Burma Campaign UK was to make sure that the world knew what was happening in Burma. The question now is, how will the world respond?

10,000 people marched through the streets of London on Saturday, and 200 protests took place in 30 countries around the world. Click here
and here to see pictures.

And the pressure is working. We are pleased to be able to tell you that the British government is now using its considerable diplomatic resources to push for international action on Burma. The government is backing many of the steps we have been campaigning on for so long, such as action by the United Nations Security Council, targeted economic sanctions by the European Union, and the personal engagement of the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary. You can view our media release here.

BUT WE ARE NOT THERE YET! The United Nations Security Council has still not agreed on a statement condemning the brutal crackdown, and the European Union has yet to agree on targeted economic sanctions. Now is a critical time, please spare a couple of minutes to take these urgent actions.

TAKE ACTION
The Burma Campaign UK and MTV have joined forces again to call for action by the United Nations Security Council. Click here to email the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

TAKE ACTION
Email European Union governments calling on them to agree targeted economic sanctions that will ensure European companies no longer help pay for the guns and the bullets used against peaceful protesters in Burma. Click here.

Thank you for your support.

Anna Roberts
The Burma Campaign UK

seite community

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I’ve returned from a good weekend with friends. The content of what we learned was OK, but the pace was a bit slow and I think we could have achieved more .. but I’m not complaining as it was great to spend time with friends. It’s an interesting time as we all share what will be happening after ordination and start to focus on the fact that we are in a series of ‘last of’s’ in this little community that we have unintentionally formed e.g. the last time we will be at this particular place as a group etc.

Highlights of the weekend …
seeing friends
laughing with friends
cheering England on to victory
leading the pub in song during the above match

lowlights …
hearing the (not so)mighty Gills loose 5-0!
sitting in lectures
being away from the family

On reflection on the weekend I think I have given myself a job. My ongoing thinking around community caused me to consider on the way home how we have developed this community as a year group.

I don’t think we intentionally planned to do this, but the strength of the community is clear for all to see. Rather than setting out to develop a community, we set out to listen to each other, to respect each other, to be honest with each other, to look out for each other, to try to learn from each other; I think in the exercising of these values we have developed a meaningful and strong community. It’s a community that I know I am going to miss at the end of this course.

As I anticipate building community in the future I think it is these values I need to exercise rather than think in an intentional building way. Rather than having set ideas, a set plan with a pre-determined way ahead I wonder if the only set criteria need to be those values of respect, love and honesty?

Amnesty International march for Burma

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I wish I could join with this march.
I am on my first SEITE weekend of the year so I can’t.
While I’m supposed to be thinking about ‘education, initiation ad formation’ I’ll be praying this march is well attended around the world and that the Burmese generals take not of the world’s eyes.
God … let justice be done!

For those that can go here are the details from AI:

Please join us on Saturday 6 October to march in solidarity with peaceful protestors in Burma. We are demanding the release of all Burmese prisoners of conscience.

11:00 MEET BY TATE BRITAIN (PIMLICO)
11:30 SET OFF ON MARCH
12:00 PHOTOCALL ON WESTMINSTER BRIDGE
12:20 PHOTOCALL AT DOWNING STREET
12:45 TRAFALGAR SQUARE FOR SPEECHES
14:00 ENDS

Over the past week, security forces in Burma have raided monasteries and attacked peaceful demonstrators, firing live bullets as well as tear gas and beating protesters with batons.

An unambiguous message must be sent urgently to Burma’s military leaders that their brutal crackdown on peaceful protestors will not be tolerated or fuelled by any member of the international community.