Yesterday I met at the offices of SJI as part of the working group for Thirst for Life.

Thirst for Life is an idea from Andy Frost with the aim of raising awareness of the effects of alcohol abuse. The day before going to the meeting this weeks edition of Children Now which outlined the frightening statistic of how well over 1 millions children are affected in some way by alcohol misuse.

The idea in a nutshell is to challenge people to go 40 days without alcohol starting on March 1st (roughly following lent) in order to raise awareness, not to condemn or judge.

This could be a good program for youth groups to get involved in – keep an eye out for the materials – some of the stuff David, the designer for the project, was showing us yesterday was excellent.

Earlier in the week I wrote of my grey weekend. Gordon pointed me in the direction of an interesting article by Alan Jamieson – Off Road Faith.

In it, he talks of stages of faith, and how journeying through them is like learning to drive a 4 wheel drive, rather than a normal car.

He speaks of how we move through phases of faith, and as we do our faith is radically transformed as we pass through. Jamieson would say I am moving from a conventional to a post conventional faith, or from a first naivety to a second naivety. I like that term more as I think that really sums it up without sound presumptuous or superior in any way.

We will always only ever understand and know in part. W are all understanding from only one or two perspectives. In this sense we are all naive in our faith. When our faith ‘develops’, or changes or undergoes some shift, I agree that we just move from one opinion to another, from one naive viewpoint to another naive viewpoint. Not a better, more developed, more mature naive viewpoint, just a different one.

So now I am existing and journeying in a different naivety than the one I was traveling in a few years ago. I hope that in 2 years time I will be traveling within another one still.

One thing is clear to me, which brings me on to the car/4 wheel drive analogy that is used here. It is clear that I can’t navigate through my new naivety in the same way I did through my old one. The terrain is different. There are no roads. In some way its just me traveling this path. In other ways loads are, but tracks have not been left obviously. Its a bit like walking in the Lake District.

As I am journeying, I need to learn new ways to navigate. One step at a time! In many ways this is nothing new, Psalm 119 talks of God’s word being a lamp to our feet. I remember the old stories and explanations when it was explained to an impetuous me, that a lamp only lights up a little way. It shows the next few steps. It also strikes me that it confines the past to memory because as well as not being to see into the distance and work out where you are going, you can’t see behind you and where you have come from either. I wonder if this is why people harp back to the ‘good old days’, which really, deep down, we have a pretty good idea that they never existed. At least, not in the rosey way we like to think they did.

Navigating a new landscape – sounds quite scary and exciting all rolled into one. Go read the article, it certainly throws up some good stuff. In fact the whole Spirited Exchanges blog is pretty excellent and provoking in its thought matter.

I caught up with loads of (past and present) YFC friends today, and some new ones as well.

The day started with a great breakfast meet up with Leesa in Starbucks in Loughton at 830. It was good to catch up and share what was, and had been, happening since the last time we met. Leesa used to be director of Epping Forest YFC and is now assistant minister of a local church.

The rest of the day was spent with workers from across the south east region, with teams coming from as far as Norwich and from Wycombe, and as close as from Waltham and Kingston. I love these days when we get together to share,catch up, pray and hear from the YFC leadership Team what is happening and how we are moving, changing, or need to change, as a movement.

We started the day by looking at John 14 and Roy drew out for us, that for things to get better, for things to multiply, Jesus had to leave the disciples. He was basically saying ‘I have been with you for 3 years, and its been great, but now I have to eave so I can return and live in you’. In other words – you have learnt about me, but now, to move things on, you need to experience me.

Today, people don’t want to know facts about, today people want to experience life with a living God. I think people want to feel the life changing impact that God will have upon their lives, not hear a list of what they should believe to belong.

WE know this. It is not new to us. We know that in this post modern world that people place greater emphasis on the experience of spirituality than they do on the understanding of hat is actually going on.

I’m wondering, for those people that feel concerned with this, whether this, today, is really any different to those disciples 2000 years ago hiding behind the locked doors in the upper room. They were waiting for the Holy Spirit, for the experience of God, but they did not really understand what was happening. They had been with Jesus for 3 years, but it is still clear that they had very little understanding of who Jesus was.

I find it exciting to see, that even 2000 years ago, Jesus is pre-empting a post modern phenomenon, that’s it has been sat there for that long, and now speaks to us with a freshness and vibrance that only our creator can give. Truly amazing!

Tonight at SEITE we looked at the theology of community ministry. We attempted to look at bible passages, such as The Good Samaritan, from the perspective of the poor and marginalised.

As our group reflected on the passage, it suddenly hit us. The vulnerable person was not the beaten man in the road; it was, and is, in fact the Samaritan man. This guy was on the edge of society, ostricised and rejected. He was the victimised one. He was the one in real danger. Yet, this was the guy, despite all that he endured from the Jews on a daily basis, who chose to help. To be the neighbour.

As we reflected we came to a realisation that there are a number of occasions and incidents when we are vulnerable and in need, when it is other vulnerable and in need people that are the answer to our worry or predicament. Sometimes it is true that those we expect to be the answer walk on bye. Those that we would naturally think would help us, end up letting us down. The vulnerable stop, the vulnerable relate, the vulnerable understand, the vulnerable act.

I wonder how the beaten man felt. I can imagine when the first 2 guys came past that his spirits lifted, only to be then dashed. When the Samaritan appeared, he must really have feared for his life. Extreme fear, to extreme relief, to extreme shock!

WE don’t know what happened next – well actually it is just a story that Jesus told. But, if it were in real life, this Samaritan traveler would have had a massive transformational impact on the life of this beaten man.

And this led us to our conclusion for the night. So often, we think of the poor as being the object of our mission, but in reality they are the trigger that transforms the lives of those in mission. (Morisy, beyond the Good Samaritan).

There are many examples of this happening in reality. In YFC we send young people on Gap Years. They do contribute to mission in their location, but the real result is a transformation of their lives due to an encounter with the poor and marginalised. Others go on gap years or mission experiences overseas, and again the interaction transforms the lives of those who go and return so that their lifestyle and outlook change permanently.

So – ‘who is my neighbour’ asks the person. Our suggestion – the vulnerable serving the vulnerable. I found this fascinating, as I have always looked at this passage, without exception, from the point of view of the beaten man. Today, through looking differently, loads of new stuff has appeared in my (rapidly filling to capacity) brain.

Jim spoke really well yesterday morning and challenged me with a new take on the vine and branches passage from the bible.

He asked if we were fruitful or fruitless. Quite often the take on this passage is centred around what we achieve, the number of people we witness to, how quickly we get bums on pews and so on. Not yesterday. Yesterday it was refreshing to hear this instead.

Yesterday we were challenged regarding how we are living. Are we living out ‘Kingdom values’ in our everyday lives. Am I living a distinctly alternative lifestyle which is obviously different from those around me. Would people in my road, or others that I know, be aware that I am a Christian just because of the way that I treat them?

I was challenged because the answer is ‘no’. A definite, unequivocal ‘no’. My neighbours around me know I am a Christian because they see us go off to church on a Sunday and because our children like to talk about it. People on the train may guess when I get out a theology book or magazine to read.

If we get his right, suggested Jim, then the rest would follow – others would become attractive as they would see an attraction in how we lived.

I have been re-challenged because my lifestyle is not distinct, alternative, or attractive in any way. People could not possibly guess my faith by looking at me, and I am not totally convinced that they would by spending time with me. It’s nice to think they would, but I think I might be fooling myself.

As a challenge yesterday, we had top think through how we would like to change. How we could be more fruitful in our lives. To be honest I can’t cope in an ‘on the spot’ decision like that. For something this important, this challenging, I decided I needed to take some time to think about this.

So now I am thinking …

I’m off to Glasgow in a few weeks with YFC and I have just booked my air ticket with Easy Jet.

I know this is going to sound very sad … but, hey, I’m quite excited! The little boy in me appears again!

I have had a weekend of grey conversations. One might get all excited and possibly say God was at work, but maybe this is something about getting older, more mature, more reflective in ones outlook. I don’t know. Let me say a little more of where I am coming from …

The evangelical church, as I have grown up within it, has been a very black and white place for me. By that I mean that there have been very clear and definite opinions on what is right or wrong; clear and definite opinions on the right and wrong way to do things, clear and definite opinions on the right and wrong things to believe, clear and definite opinions on the right and wrong Christian authors to read, clear and definite opinions on the right and wrong social things to do. In fact, you could say, that the types of ‘church’ I have grown up in, if there is no clear and definite opinion, then the subject matter is not worth bothering about.

This weekend I have had a load of conversations with people wondering over these black and white issues. In fact, they have been more questioning them than wondering, and deciding that the issues are greyer than they thought. Their definite opinions are being challenged, and although they have not been destroyed, they are no longer the sacred strongholds that they used to be within the mind. As they have reflected, as they have had the courage to think and listen more, as they have taken time to wait on God and return to scripture; they seem less certain than they ever were.

Maybe I am strange, but this excites me massively. It excites me as I think this may be an indication of God trying to stir us up, of God pulling u away from set ideals and urging us to re-think him, and re-think ‘worship’ ‘mission’ ‘care’ in a new world, a new society, and a new mindset.

As I get older and reflect more, I have been worried how more and more issues have become greyer for me personally. At one stage I thought I| was losing my faith, and it took a great guy called Tony from church to wake me up to the fact that I was not, and was merely invstigating and putting things ‘on trial’. It has concerned me as I thought, and still part of me does, that I should have greater understanding, but it seems in so many ways that I have less. I am less certain about so many things; apart from the fact that God loves me and died for me.

I’ve just reflected on the above – it sounds like I am saying I am right and others are wrong, or even that I have thought this for a while, and that others are now catching me up. I ma definitely not saying that – the fact that issues are grey in my mind should, I hope, relay the fact that I genuinely consider that others are far more likely to be right in their thoughts and opinions than I am.

I do, however, take comfort in the fact that others are feeling the on-turn of a greater amount of greyness in how they read the world and the Bible, and how we should be as Christians, and what our opinion should be on things.

Maybe grey is healthy, maybe grey is bad? I don’t know! It certainly lays the ground for some great and challenging conversations with friends, colleagues and your maker!

Maybe some of what I am trying to express has already been written beautifully by John Cowper Paris in Weymouth Sands (you can take the boy out of Weymouth, but you can’t take Weymouth out of the boy) I have just found this on a google search!:

It now struck him that in the greyness of those two expanses of un-solid matter, visible from his window, a greyness so neutral and unassuming as to hover on the edge of nonentity, there dwelt the essential mystery of beauty. For what was beauty if not a manifestation in the midst of objective reality of something half-created and half-discovered by the craving of our human organism?

Could it be that in our craving to engage with the unassuming greyness, that we can find the true beauty that we are searching for?

from the Burma Campaign:

URGENT ACTION, PLEASE WRITE TO JACK STRAW, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY

Dear friend

If you only do one thing this year to support the struggle for democracy in Burma, please make this the action you take.

Fifteen years after Burma¹s military refused to accept the results of democratic elections, we finally have a chance of making real progress in bringing democracy to Burma. However, we urgently need your help in order to seize this opportunity.

On September 20th Vaclav Havel and Desmond Tutu published a report commissioned from global law firm DLA Piper. The report found that Burma fits the criteria for United Nations Security Council (UNSC) intervention.
It calls on UNSC members to pass a resolution requiring the regime to work with the United Nations in restoring democracy to Burma, and to release Aung San Suu Kyi and all prisoners of conscience.

You can view the report here

Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, has backed the report, and called on governments to act. The government of the United States of America has responded by saying it will work with other countries to bring Burma to the UNSC in October. However, the British government has been silent on the issue, and we fear that unless it acts, a unique opportunity to begin the process of change in Burma could be lost.

The British government must publicly support this initiative, and use its diplomatic resources to work with UNSC members to build support. Time is running out. Iran is likely to dominate the UNSC from November, and next year UNSC members may not be so sympathetic.

Please write to Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, urging him to throw Britain¹s diplomatic weight behind this initiative and to make a public statement in support of UNSC action. For too long Burma has been at the bottom of the international agenda. We have the opportunity to change this.
We can¹t let it slip through our fingers.

Letters in your own words are most effective. It takes a little longer, but has a much bigger impact. Letters don’t need to be long, one paragraph is enough.

Key points to make in your letter:

Burma’s regime has ignored all requests from the United Nations and governments to restore democracy to Burma. UNSC decisions are binding on member countries, and the UNSC has the power to enforce its decisions. The regime could no longer ignore the international community.

The British government must use all its diplomatic resources to persuade UNSC members to back a resolution in support of restoring democracy to Burma.

Send your letter to:

Right Hon Jack Straw MP
Foreign Secretary
Foreign & Commonwealth Office
King Charles St
London, SW1A 2AH

Thank you for your support.

Poverty can never be truly beaten without Trade Justice.

Since Make Poverty History began real steps have been taken to cancel Debt and increase Aid. Though we have further to go, you should be proud of the vital part you have played. But on Trade, a critical piece of the jigsaw, there has been little movement.

The rules that govern world trade are currently biased towards Rich countries and their corporations.

The chance to change that, the chance to make trade work for the world’s poorest people, is approaching fast.

In December the World Trade Organisation will meet in Hong Kong – around that table will sit the politicians with the power to change the world’s trade rules and deliver trade justice.

We need your help.

On Wednesday 2nd November you can join thousands of others for a Mass Lobby of Parliament ahead of the crucial WTO meeting. The gathering will give you the chance to let your MP know that you expect the UK Government to support the call to deliver trade justice – not free trade.

Click here to tell us you are coming to Lobby your MP.

Millions of people remain in the lethal trade trap. No matter how hard they work, they earn less every year. Currently, world trade rules rob poor countries of £1.3 billion a day – 14 times what they get in aid.

Be part of the solution… Join the Mass Lobby in Westminster on 2nd November.

Thank you,

The Make Poverty History team

I did not ever think I would be ashamed of the party. My party that, until recently, welcomed debate and dialogue.

Today is one of those days – Blair’s apology, although genuine, does not excuse the attitudes that resulted in this happening.

Unbelievable!I could say more … but it would seem there may be a possibility of being arrested under the Terrorism Act!