Great day in Luton today, although the traffic did not allow a breakfast stop.

Today was a unique and possibly groundbreaking day for the leadership team of YFC as we listened to Pastor Jonathan (Glory House), Ruth (Waltham Forest YFC)and Pauline (Wandsworth YFC) along with Liz (Transform Newham)and some other guys from Glory Hose whose names, sadly I can’t remember. Today we listened as we want to learn and understand how we can best serve the black majority churches of this country.

For some time I have had a problem with our mission statement: ‘To take good news relevantly to every young person in Britain’. It is a massive, and some would say unachievable aim, but an ambitious one. It has concerned me for some time that actually, as YFC, we do not understand anything outside our own culture and mindset, and so most of our work is with white, and often middle class young people in schools.

If we are seriously going to adhere to our mission statement we need to listen more and try to understand the other cultures such as black, Hispanic, eastern European…..(the list is endless) and what good news will be to these churches and to these young people.

I remember a while back reading Kester Brewin’s ‘The Complex Christ‘. He talks early on of ‘advent times’. By this he means a time of waiting; ‘Before the church can change, before I can change, before anything changes, comes waiting.’ He talks of Mary waiting to give birth and Jesus waiting in the desert; the bibical precedence for a time of waiting before anything can happen.

I think that listening can be part of that waiting. As YFC we could try out lots of ideas after a discussion with wonderful people like Pastor Jonathan, which may sound biblical, but find that we had not listened properly. That instead of listening accurately, that we had listened with our cultural filters fully switched on and interpreted what we said. We think we listen, but actually we go and do what he had planned to do before we listened.

Today there was no interpretation, there was just raw listening. The task now is to consider what we have heard, listen to, and mull it all over with God, and then meet up again and listen more and ask more. I believe this is the start of an incredibly exciting dialogue and it was great to be part of it today.

I saw these spirituality cards mentioned on Jonny’s blog. They look great and I’m just about to put in my order.

I can think of ways that I can make loads of use of something like this.

The day is ending.

I paid £40 at the dentist to have pain at the start of the day. Ithought today that the dentist is just one of those placess where you need to use the Francis ofAssissi principle (use words when necessary), although it’s more of a ‘can’t use words so just smile’! It’s impossible to share anything with a numb mouth with people drilling holes inside it.

After visiting Den and Sha it was time to take Joe for his Birthday Party at Kid Zone in Rochester. Other people’s children are so delightful! Joe had a great time, and us adults had a great time too catching up and chatting over coffee.

Before the football I was able to have a little ‘hello’ type chat with my good friends Mal and (the rapidly expanding) Abby before the match kicked off. We won (have I said that?) and then I had a couple of pints with Pete.

I’m looking back on the day and just marvelling of the variety that one can pack into a day. It’s amazing. On days like today it is so east to see where God is – in the wonder of friendships, in the beauty of the countryside, in the passion of football support, in the trust between friends, in the miracle of child birth and pregnancy, in the wonder, amazement and trust of children and in the plain simple ability to be! God in the community, God whom we need to point out to others as they let him pass by un-noticed. Mission!

Tomorrow I need to be in Luton for a day long Leadership Team meeting of YFC which starts at 915. So I guess I should be thinking of turning in as I need to eave at 630ish to guarantee being there on time. Hopefully I’ll get there early and get a decent breakfast before we start!

It was a pleasure to catch up with Dennis and Sharron today from Weald YFC.

We talked mission and what that means for the Weald of Kent, which is predominantly a rural setting. In the Weald, for YFC, it means getting alongside the churches and supporting them in what they doing, possibly supporting more in the follow up from ‘mission times’.

Den has two or three mission times planned for groups of villages over the next year – it will be exciting to see what happens.

“Great result at the footie tonight!

I have not blogged about football much in the last few months – maybe it will be become a regular feature now that we are starting to play well. Great goal from Sancho, and well deserved.

I was able to catch up with a friend Pete that I have not seen for a while – always great to reminisce in a pub afterwards, even if that pub is The Star and you end up being the oldest people there by a good 20 years! Anyway, I think we were a novel it of entertainment for the normal punters!

This weekend I had the pleasure of speaking at a prayer breakfast for Kick at West Wickham and Shirley Baptist Church. Kick are great and use football as a means to help young people connect with God. My role at this morning was to talk about why we use sport.

Kick have developed a football academy which could be seen as quite contentious as it runs on a Sunday. (It’s great to know that Holy Trinity Richmond, where Kick is based, changed the time of their morning service to accommodate the Academy!)

While at SEITE the week before I was caused to think differently about the story in Luke 24 where two followers of Jesus are walking towards Emmaus. Some things struck me anew as Justine, our lecturer, spoke and introduced me to this picture.

The things I drew from it that I shared:

These 2 followers are walking away from Jerusalem. They are going the wrong way! They are moving away from where they should be.

Jesus joins them. Unlike most of what I have experienced in mission, Jesus does not stand in front of them and point out their mistake, nor does he tell them that they should stop and turn back. Jesus walks with them. Jesus walks in the wrong direction with them; or at least he walks in what appears to be the wrong direction. Jesus journeys with these two followers and listens, earning the right to speak into their lives only because he has spent time with them.

A lot of what Kick and YFC does generally through our local ministries is an Emmaus journey type experience, rather than a Damascus type experience. An experience where we get alongside and walk with young people. Interestingly, the ‘church’ can look at what might seem to be things going in the wrong way, such as running a football academy on a Sunday morning maybe!

Mission has to be about risk. Mission needs to be breaking new ground. Mission needs heroes to immerse themselves in local cultures, forsaking themselves and asking ‘what is good news o these people?’ Mission sometimes means stepping out even when others say it is foolish (too big a risk), even when your head tells you this is madness (too big a risk), even when you feel very scared (too big a risk) but when your ‘prayer heart’ tells you its right (just another risk!)

I’m so excited about being part of YFC. Today, many centres have received their teams of young people that have taken a year out to be used by God in mission. This is always a great time; its great because these young people are taking that risk, scared, feeling mad, ignoring some safe suggestions of others – so that they can learn more of god and put themselves in the place where they can be used.

I’m looking forward to hearing about more Emmaus journeys from our centres.

This has saddened me. Why are people always so eager to have a go at successful people who fall or either mess up. We have seen the same with Rooney, and with others.

I remember a while ago I was chatting to a Man City fan while camping. It was a few days after Gills spectacularly threw the lay off final away. We were, however, talking about how we both disliked Man Utd, but a few days earlier, how we were supporting them in their spectacular victory in the Champions league against (I think) Barcelona. We were discussing why everyone ‘hates Man Utd.’ We came to quite a weird and worrying decision. That was that this country, or the press (which we keep in business by buying their papers) does not seem to like individual, or team success, and is constantly looking for people to fall down. This, we thought, must come from simple jealousy.

Kate Moss has made a mistake – big flipping deal! Does that mean companies should dump her? I think not. For years they have made millions our of her looks and her body, without meaning to sound or insinuate coarseness. Company after company have made millions by using Kate in their advertising.

I can’t begin to imagine what pressure you must feel when you know your career is based not on who you are, nor on what you can do, nor on what you can achieve, nor on reaching certain targets – but simply based on how you look.

What must it feel like to know that you are going to be discarded when your looks start to go, or body shape starts to mature. To know that people are only interested in you for your looks, rather than who you are, must be a horribly painful experience.

And yes there will be people who say things like ‘well … its a job she chose’ or ‘she did not have to take that route’. Those people would be right. But, at the age of 16 or so, which young person would turn down the chance of success, fame and money. How many of us look back and regret decisions we made in earlier years which have an impact on us now.

Kate Moss made a mistake with the alleged cocaine thing. She has apologised. Why can’t we now leave her alone to rebuild her life?

Rather than looking on and smiling at the misfortune of a women in the limelight, we should be praying that she can find herself and value in who she is.

I found this – just by accident and liked it!

I have heard it all my life,
A voice calling a name I recognized as my own.

Sometimes it comes as a soft-bellied whisper.
Sometimes it holds an edge of urgency.

But always it says: Wake up my love. You are walking asleep.
There’s no safety in that!

Remember what you are and let this knowing
take you home to the Beloved with every breath.

Hold tenderly who you are and let a deeper knowing
colour the shape of your humanness.

There is no where to go. What you are looking for is right here.
Open the fist clenched in wanting and see what you already hold in your hand.

There is no waiting for something to happen,
no point in the future to get to.
All you have ever longed for is here in this moment, right now.

You are wearing yourself out with all this searching.
Come home and rest.

How much longer can you live like this?
Your hungry spirit is gaunt, your heart stumbles. All this trying.
Give it up!

Let yourself be one of the God-mad,
faithful only to the Beauty you are.

Let the Lover pull you to your feet and hold you close,
dancing even when fear urges you to sit this one out.

Remember- there is one word you are here to say with your whole being.
When it finds you, give your life to it. Don’t be tight-lipped and stingy.

Spend yourself completely on the saying.
Be one word in this great love poem we are writing together.

© Oriah Mountain Dreamer, from the book The Call, Harper Collins, 2002

Today I am wrestling with Liberation Theology.

This really interests me which could be an indication of settling down to SEITE, or a sadness that I never realised was there in my life.

liberating theology originated in Brazil – I’ not going to give a history lesson as you can find that for yourself! What is interesting, is that in a society where people were being abused, treated unfairly and justice was not an option unless you had money to buy it – in those surroundings people looked to Matthew 25 and developed this whole idea.

The whole idea of Jesus as liberator, and as God having a preference for the poor. Even a quick read of Jesus’ words on the poor and oppressed in Matthew 25 show clearly where this idea comes from. This theology, though, is personalised. It is not tied up in tradition or history – this is a theology of ‘the now’, a theology of reality – people being oppressed, people in poverty, people wanting liberation; people seeing Jesus as their liberator – not in Heaven, but now, here on earth!

These people had suffered the rape of colonialism and the result was to reject the established, colonial, church and meet in small groups without the priest. They met in small communities to pray for liberation, to share the liberating love of Jesus with others. Meeting in small groups, moving out from the established church, serving the poor, the poor being agents of mission to the poor – the pattern seems to be quite a familiar one.

It seems to me that Liberation theology is a real threat to the established western society. The western society needs the un-liberated to tread on. Without them it cannot climb the ladders of consumerist desire. The idea repulses me, but I can’t see how this can’t be a reality. I hate the fact that I am part of that western consumerist ladder climbing model.

I do not know enough yet, and I am not pretending to know more than a little of this theology – I am writing early thoughts here for a SEITE assignment. But I wonder if this is why the Vatican stamped its authority on Liberation Theology. Was it seen as too serious a threat to allow to develop into anything substantial?

the big question for me, though, is what is mission to those who need liberation and view Jesus as liberator. I sit here and think; but everything I think of has the same problem, the problem of being tainted with colonialism. Surely, anything the west tries to do, the west being church or missionary, is going to be viewed with great suspicion and a fear of returning to the old days of oppression.

So, what are the implications here for mission (and if you answer, yes you would be correct in thinking that I may use your comments in our groups presentation of Liberation Theology!)

I’m worried.
Today I am taking the car off to be serviced.
I hate these times of uncertainty!
I just know that the bill is going to equal my tax refund when there are so many more things I could give it to or spend it on.

Here’s hoping the nice man at the garage does not find anything that needs major work.