Today Damien Rice and Lisa Hannigan release ‘Unplayed Piano’ their new single in support of Aung San Suu Kyi. All profits from the sale of the record will go to support the Burma Campaign UK and the US Campaign for Burma. In 2003, Rice was nominated for a BRIT Award and an NME Award. His album O has now sold more than 1.5 million copies worldwide, and includes the hit single ‘Blower’s Daughter’, which is the lead track in the Oscar nominated film Closer starring Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman and Clive Owen. A moving video accompanying ‘Unplayed Piano’ shows footage of Aung San Suu Kyi and performance of the song by Rice and Hannigan.

Please go out today and buy this beautiful tribute to Aung San Suu Kyi, which will help raise awareness of her plight and contribute much needed funds to the campaign to free her. You can listen to and buy the single on-line through the Burma Campaign UK site at: http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/merchandise.html

Please encourage friends to buy ‘Unplayed Piano’ as a way of supporting Aung San Suu Kyi, or make it a present for someone to help spread the word about the situation in Burma.

… in fact it was flipping hot!

The people, though, were really cool. It was really exciting to see a church properly investing in their youth worker. The church has bought a house which backs on to the church for Dan and Hayley and they are now releasing him, and paying for, a course for him to go in. It’s so rare to see churches fully investing, so this was encouraging.

I met some fantastic young people too. Ollie, a 15 year old doing his work experience with Dan who is convinced he is called into youth work and is already asking and seeking the best way to pursue this. I also met a guy called Tom who is finishing his GCSE’s as we speak. This was a guy who really put me in my place (in a nice way)!

After I spoke about our mission teams he asked if we had ever thought about using rugby in the same way we have skate, football and basketball teams. I suggested it would be a good thing to look into, but that we would probably need to do a 7’s as getting 15 would be hard work. The look Tom gave showed that I had desperately fallen in his estimation from YFC worker of great faith to old man of little faith! \His answer – easy with prayer and proper recruitment. Maybe even get Jason Robinson involved he said!

I was put in my place quite rightly – how easy it is to lose a sense of edginess and expectancy in our faith. How easy it is to play safe. How easy it is to say no to young people when our task is to encourage and enable.

It was good to see Dan and Hayley – they are great people and fantastic hosts, and their boys are great fun too. It was good just to spend time chatting and eating together. It was good as well, though, to be reminded by Tom how it is indeed God that it controlling everything and not our plans!

I am off to Sheringham today to meet up with Dan and Hayley from Sheringham Baptist Church and be involved in their Saturday night youth event.

On Sunday morning I will be speaking in their church and sharing what is happening with YFC and why we do what we do.

It’s a very good question and although it has been tempting to give a standard answer and presentation I have thought about why I do what I do. Why do I work with YFC, and why do I continue to believe YFC is good and what we do? It’s an easy answer really – it’s all to do with young people hearing about Jesus! It’s important as young people are in crisis today, and I know that the cross of Jesus makes a difference and transforms lives. That sounds pretty twee, but ‘hey’ I know that’s true because I have seen it!

I’m looking forward to seeign Dan and Hayley as they arte pretty nice people!

The announcement today that Bishop John Sentamu is the next Archbishop of York is excellent news.

I posted a while ago how, as the British YFC President, bishop John joined us for a day before Christmas. He has a great passion for mission and real street cred with both those outside and inside the church. He is also a man of great integrity who speaks his mind openly. He is advisor on racial interest to the government, and yet this has not stopped him criticising them when it has been right to do so. When he became bishop of Birmingham I remember him saying he was to be known as the Bishop for Birmingham rather than of Birmingham.

This is an exciting appointment. The Church of England now has 2 keen missioners who are encouragers too of new ways and methods. Bishop John said today:

“It is imperative that the Church regains her vision and confidence in mission, developing ways that will enable the Church of England to reconnect imaginatively with England.”

I like the sound of the end of that statement, re-connecting is so desperately needed, and it most certainly needs to be done with imagination.

“It is important that the Church of England’s voice is heard locally,
nationally and internationally, standing up for justice, bringing good news to the poor, healing to the broken-hearted, setting at liberty those who are oppressed, and proclaiming the death of Christ and his resurrection until he comes again.”

Can we dare to get excited again?

I received this update today from the Burma Campaign. There will be a lot of news coverage this week so try and catch some.

As an aside, I have just posted 30 hand made cards from Tom’s class – who said kids are not interested in politics!

Thank you for supporting the campaign to free Aung San Suu Kyi. If you haven’t already sent a birthday card, it is not too late. Send your card to:

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
54 University Avenue
Bahan 11201
Yangon, Myanmar

You can also email the regime demanding they release Aung San Suu Kyi here.

Yesterday there was a debate in the House of Commons about Burma. Every MP who spoke criticised British government policy on Burma as being too weak. MPs ridiculed the so-called sanctions imposed by the EU. It was very embarrassing for the government. It is a long read, but if you have the time, you can read the debate here:

BURMA ON TV
If you have access, you can see the campaign on the following TV programmes in the next few days.
All times are UK times. Breaking news may mean not all these are shown.

Friday 17th June BBC 1 News at Ten (10pm) – Report on Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday

Sunday 19th June BBC Parliament Channel, approximately 8am, Westminster Hall Debate on Human Rights in Burma from Wednesday 15th June.

Sunday 19th June BBC 1 9am-10am News 24 Sunday – John Jackson, Director of Burma Campaign UK, and Comedian Jo Brand talk about the campaign to free Aung San Suu Kyi.

Monday 20th June BBC Breakfast, BBC1 sometime between 8.45am and 9.15am – Damien Rice talks about his new single for Aung San Suu Kyi

BURMA IN THE NEWSPAPERS
On Saturday 18th June their will be articles on Aung San Suu kyi in The Independent, The Guardian and The Telegraph. On Sunday 19th The Independent on Sunday will have an interview with Damien Rice.

Today I spent the day with some of our directors looking at Integrate in a hotel in Dartford. The last three days I have been talking mission with people and, not that I ever needed reminding, it is interesting to see that we all mean different things when we use the term.

Today was really exciting. Today was exciting because it was a chance to hear about what God is doing in different locations in the south east corner of the country. These YFC centres are doing some outstanding work, and like most situations and organisations, I guess we do not tell them that enough.

Today was also exciting because we got to hear about each others struggles. That may sound weird, but to see that every single person was struggling with something, and that many of us were struggling with the same thing, id in a way a bit if an encouragement. Some of the time we beat ourselves up because we feel we should be doing more, achieving more as really we believe no one else struggles, and everyone else is better than us.

One person summed it up well: ‘We spend so much time doing doing doing, that we forget that we are called to just be’. Thanks Ruth for that excellent and timely (at this time of the year) reminder.

I don’t like to embarrass people. No really I do not! I won’t name the person who came over the Dartford Bridge, only to miss the turning for the hotel and then go through the Dartford Tunnel, then to the ext exit, to be able to turn around and come over the bridge again. This person is great and I’d like to thank him for sharing it as it gave us all a laugh … and may well do for a few months yet. You know who you are …

The last few days the postman has smiled as he has daily delivered a CD from CD-wow. I ordered 3 that were all dispatched on the same day yet they arrived on 3 successive days! I have lapsed on my music purchases and now there are simply too many CD’s that I wish to buy. Three is a modest start … don’t tell Sarah!

I had a top 3 delivered this week and by far the best is X&Y. This is a superb album, with great sounds and fantastic lyrics. Moorcheeba too is a beautiful album with their distinct sound that I have grown to love and chill with over the years.

Some of the lyrics from both these artists are deep and imply to me a real sense of searching and longing for something both ‘out there’ and inside. They talk to me of a fear of being left alone,and to a fear of being empty inside. Take these two from X&Y:

What If

What if there was no light
Nothing wrong, nothing right
What if there was no time
And no reason, or rhyme
What if you should decide
That you don’t want me there by your side
That you don’t want me there in your life

Talk

Woh brother I can’’t, I can’’t get through.
I’’ve been trying hard to reach you, ‘‘cause I don’t know what to do.
O brother I can’t believe it’s true.
I’m so scared about the future and I wanna talk to you.

Once again Coldplay seem to be able to capture the dominant thoughts and fears of ‘everyday Joe’ in their music which sounds great (have I said that already?!) No doubt we will be using some of this in worship activities in the not too distant future.

Going back to a post months back where I was thinking on how God talks to us through art and music today, I wonder in the lyrics above. You could so easily assume this as being a cry of man; but could it be a cry of God to his creation too?

I do believe God is reaching out, crying out, finding it hard to reach us. It’s quite challenging too to think he is scared for us and wondering what to do. Is God calling out in these lyrics? Does God think and ask ‘what if … you reject me’? What if you don’t want me in your life?

We have a God who made himself vulnerable by becoming human, and he started that off by being born to what looked like a scandalous mother who was pregnant before she got married. In those Jewish times this prejudice would have been hanging over Jesus as he was growing up.

I think a big part of God’s vulnerability is shown through through giving us free will. He opened himself up to the pain of rejection. He felt it as a human and know understands the hurt in a deeper way than he did before his 30 year visit. I guess he feels that pain today as he looks out and asks ‘what if’ and begs ‘I wanna talk to you’

I met with Dennis today from Weald YFC, with Rachael from our Church Resources department as part of the Integrate mission process.

We chatted for 3 or so hours about his dreams for the area, what things may work and what things definitely would not. We heard about the exciting things happening, such as running 60 assemblies in one school and holding regular survival weekends to give young people an opportunity to see Christianity in a different light. (den is running one this weekend so I am glad the weather forecast is good). If you want something different and challenging for your youth group then book a survival weekend!

On the way back from the Weald with Rachael I was struck by the real privilege it is to just sit in and listen to peoples dreams and how they think God is challenging them with this task of ‘mission’ – whatever that may be. A real privilege tinged with quite a lot of excitement as we look at how we can support in partnership and see more exciting things happening! Exciting times!

The Jackson saga is another ‘victory’ for American justice. I want to ask each of the supporters who were cheering and the jurors if they would be happy for their children to visit the Neverland Ranch on their own.

I am totally amazed at the lawyers quote as stated by the BBC here

Michael Jackson’s lawyer said the singer will no longer share his bed with young boys, after the star was cleared of 10 child abuse charges.

“He’s not going to do that any more,” lawyer Thomas Mesereau told US network NBC. “He’s not going to make himself vulnerable to this any more.”

So … he’s not going to stop sleeping in bed with children because it is wrong.
Or because it is morally unacceptable.
Or because most of the world are disgusted at the thought of this happening.
Certainly not because Jackson now thinks there is something fundamentally sick with this.

Michael Jackson will stop sleeping with children in his bed because he does not wish to make himself vulnerable!!!

I want to swear!!!!

Ok – the jury made the decison and they heard all the evidence – although I cannot help but think that America shows more and more that it’s judicial system can be bought off. Whatever, the decision has to be accepted. That’s democracy and a correct outlook of innocent until proven guilty.

Despite that, however, I am outraged that a lawyer can make a statement like this and feel it is an acceptable statement to make. Jackson should not sleep with children in his bed because it is a wrong thing to do, it is a sick thing to do – not because he might get dragged to court again!

Children being sacrificed again … it says a lot about the moral fibre of a country.

I spent most of the day in Luton today on one thing or another.

I caught up with the rest of the YFC Integrate planning team. It’s great to see things developing and how so many of our centres are lapping up the idea of planning co-ordinated mission where local and national YFC work in partnership. I think I have said before, but I believe this is a different concept as we are planning events backwards by looking at what we ant to achieve and then asking the questions which will ensure things are in place for the dream to happen.

A big question we are having is what happens with young people after a time of heightened mission. They need church and I think in some places the church is ready and would be able to work creatively and successfully with an influx of, say, 50 new Christians. I think, actually, that Gillingham is such a place.

In Gillingham the churches know and trust each other and work to their strengths. The cell structure that I have mentioned could more than cope with an influx f new Christians and give them both the support and the space to develop creatively and differently that young people would need.

The trust between the church leaders in Gillingham to allow this to happen in phenomenal. In fact, when I worked there locally I think, looking back, that I took this trust for granted. In all the other places I have been I have not encountered such a great trust, apart from possibly in Newham.

In some areas, though, the thought of so many new Christians might just freak the churches. Here I think we need to be looking at new missional communities/church planting/new expressions of church. Church in school, church down the club, church wherever the group of young people meet all need to be looked at.

I think we agreed that one size will not fit all – it really does depend on the location. That kind of fits in with my mission overview; looking and seeing where God is working and joining in with what he has already started. If that happened everywhere I wonder what would be achieved with such a powerful display of unity?