Women, God and the Baptist Times

I am posting this on the move so unable to put the whole letter to the BT from Simon, Andy and Neil and me, but check it out at the BT or on their blogs and let's carry on this conversation:

Catching up with friends ... and catching up with God.

Just back, as are others, from the BUGB assembly in Plymouth.So many have agreed it was the best one for years. Which of course will give a problem for those who planned it ... what did we do differently that worked so well this time and how do we keep it good for Blackpool.

Unusually I was only an infrequent visitor to Prism, (which has been my venue of choice for a number of years now) but from what I saw and from conversations with others, it seems to have reclaimed its truly alternative status, being something distinct in itself again, not just the 'mini-me with a pint' it was threatening to become. So well done to all the others who worked so hard there. I will pledge my renewed patronage now.

However the Main stage events engaged me much more than over the last few years. I have not listened to the recordings of Friday night yet (so I will hold judgment on Amy's talk) but the celebration of difference in the style of speakers was most welcome. For me Anne Wilkinson Hayes had the most depth and resonated most distinctly but I found myself being spoken to by God through others on many occasions. So too did I appreciate the diversity of worship. The musicians showed themselves more than capable of a number of styles but for me a lot of this must go down to the great work of Chris Ellis, hardly on the stage at all but influencing so much with his care for overall development of the worship. I enjoy the Spring Harvest celebration stuff when it is balanced with world church, Taize, (thanks to Tony Ruth and Helen) as well as traditional hymns etc. Very well blended stuff.

So perhaps for the first time in a number of years I have come away not so much thinking that it was a good chance to catch up with friends ... but a good time to catch up with God.

Oh and an appreciative PS ... thanks for so many voting for the Public Resolutions ... whatever happens on Thursday i think there will be a chance for us to have a go at Trident next year.

Oh and a final PPS ... I really hope the final words from David Kerrigan on Monday were not throw away rhetoric but a first glimpse of genuine engagement with people too long unwelcome in our churches.

First glimpses

The first glimpses of our new baby came thanks to the lovely people at Llandough hospital today. We don't know if it is a boy or girl just yet, frankly we were just relieved it was not twins!

Time to start thinking about names again.

One nuclear bomb can ruin your whole day

At the moment I am preparing for the public resolutions at BUGB Assmebly in Plymouth later this month. Norman Kember and I are proposing a BUGB stance on Nuclear weapons and the Non Proliferation Treaty review: It is over 20 years now since I visited Hiroshima but the images and stories of what humanity is capable of doing to one another have never faded behind the fear mongering of deterance arguments. Recognising that such instant and decimating violence can be inflcited on those also made in the image of God and purposed for God's blessing makes the continued presence of 23,000 nuclear weapons (each more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb) in our world unncessary and immoral.

The BUGB resolution will say:

Recognising the continuing threat to peace posed by the existence and development of nuclear weapons, and the potential significance of the May 2010 conference to review the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), this Assembly:

· affirms its commitment to uphold the vision of a world free of nuclear weapons.

· calls upon the UK Government to join with others in taking courageous steps to strengthen the non-proliferation regime and build a secure future for all.

· calls upon churches to give support to the ‘Now is the time’ campaign.

If you don't know about the 'Now is the Time' campaign then have a look at Global Zero, an international movement for the elimination of nuclear weapons. Presidents Obama and Medvedev just signed a historic agreement to reduce their nuclear arsenals. With Russia and the US standing ready to lead, the following months could see the beginning of the end of nuclear weapons, but that will only happen if we seize this moment. To join me and the hundreds of thousands of people in every country in the world who believe in zero, click below:

http://www.globalzero.org/en/sign-declaration

We must now choose between two very different futures. In one, nuclear weapons continue to spread, increasing the chances that a country or terrorists use them, with catastrophic consequences. In the other, all nuclear weapons are eliminated according to a comprehensive global agreement for phased and verified reductions.

We want to show world leaders that the public supports the idea of a world free of nuclear weapons as they prepare to attend a special summit to address this global crisis.

If you are going to be at BUGB Assembly please don't skip the Public Resolutions, come and listen and debate and help us discern what God is saying to us and to the world.

Apollo 13

Forty years ago today the ill-fated Apollo Thirteen space-craft took off for the moon. Two days later the world heard those famous words: ‘Houston we have a problem.’ An explosion left the crew stranded with limited reserves of power, water and oxygen. Back on earth NASA began a rescue mission: teams of workers improvised scenarios for survival and helped as best they could with the preparations to sling-shot the rocket round the moon and bring it safely back to earth. That was an audacious plan and it seemed like the whole world held its breath to see if it would work.

Recently I watched the movie that recreated the events. I was impressed at the efforts NASA made to get the astronauts home. No expense was spared. All their resources focused on just three men. And the whole world sighed with relief when they splashed down safely in the ocean.

Time and again in the face of trouble the human race proves itself able to overcome what seem like impossible odds. But sadly, just as often, we appear unable or unwilling to put the same effort and resources into events that may be less dramatic, but are no less tragic.

Maybe it’s because we do not recognise the face the one child who dies from hunger every five seconds in our world, perhaps it’s because we haven’t met the families struggling in extreme poverty, it could be that climate change hasn’t threatened the life of those we love just yet, and so these people and the seemingly inevitable catastrophes they face do not receive the urgency of care that we might extend to beleaguered astronauts.

Jesus told his followers, that where ever their treasure was found, that’s where their heart would be. Our hearts once went out to just three men facing an almost certain death in space. How audacious would it be if today we could treasure the millions of people facing a preventable death here on earth?

the secret is ...

A thought for today that stuck from Anne Lamott in 'Travelling Mercies':

The secret is that God loves us exactly the way we are ...

and that he loves us too much to let us stay like this.

Sick of Church?

Sick of Church??? .
.. er ... umm ... well actually no.

Nicest thing I've heard for a while was last week when one of the children who is part of our church told her mum that she'd been feeling 'church sick.' By this she meant that in the same way as people may get home sick, the family had been away for two weeks and now she was missing being in church: she was therrefore church sick!

Makes perfect sense to me ...
wish it did to more people

Letting Rima stay

If you've been following and supporting the campaign to let Rima stay with Robert and Alison in the UK here's the good news ... they visited the UKBA yesterday and came home with confirmation that no removal directions were being prepared and a review date is set at the end of June. Things are far from settled and it is still a stress to live under this shadow so do not give up campaigning, but lets give thanks for this blessing of respite. Don't forget www.letrimastay.org.uk

Before you give anyone your vote ...

The first ripples of election fever are finding their way through my letter box. I have decided to set a task for every prospective candidate I meet ... I will consider the proposals of their manifesto if they promise to read this book and come back and talk to me about it. I may even buy copies to give away.

The Spirit Level by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett gets to grips with the central thesis 'Why Equality is Better for Everyone.' These two well respected epidemiologists name the way the quality of life diminishes for everyone when we value growth over equality. Looking at everything from crime to mental health, stopping on the way to review education and life expectancy it almost has the chapter headings of a political manifesto but it's central theme is simple: almost everything we do is affected not by how wealthy we or our nation is .... but how equal a society we live in. Cultures with a bigger gap between the 'haves' and 'have nots' are bad for everyone ... including the well off.

I didn't always spend the time I should have on the statistical analysis and the graphs included (not my way of thinking) ... and perhaps I lingered much too long on the cartoons (but they are both funny and poignant) ... but the book remains compelling if disturbing reading for how we might shape our country in the future ... because here is the proof that we do life better when we do it together and do it as equals.

Of course it is not just about how the politicians might make this happen, it's what I (or you) might do about it too. So maybe I won't just give it away until I'm doing something more about this stuff myself.

No word has come ...

Today is Day Fourteen for Rima. Or Zero Days left of Border Agency grace remaining. The Facebook entry from Alison says so much: 'Today our home is no longer safe.'

In such a moment 'homes' often become no more than 'houses.'
but I cannot bear the imagining of Rima Robert and Alison being without a home ... left only with a house. The foundations of hospitality go too deep in them in their place of belonging for 'home' to be lost.

As I prayed for them all today it felt to me as if a robber had posted a calling card through their front door and said 'I might be back anytime soon.' This may be an unfair image for the UK Border Agency or the Home Secretary but it is what came to me. And it came on the day when Wales celebrates its patron Saint, David. It seemed significant that Robert and Alison live as a Columban Home ... offering sanctuary ... as part of their commitment to the Rule of the Iona Community and it seems to me that whether it was Columba or David no-one I know is more in need of the protection of the saints, the angels, and all the host of heaven than this family. If St David could make the ground grow beneath him so better to speak to his congregation ... perhaps another miracle today ... that the words and prayers of those who have written and petitioned and spoken out would be raised high so that those in power and authority could hear better and respond well by doing what is right...

So today I did in private what I managed to avoid twice in the pulpit yesterday ... I wept for them. Psalm 121, the text for yesterday evening, promises that God will watch over us ... not that no bad thing will happen, but that God who made both heaven and earth is present even in the apparent absence ... in the darkness ... in the silence ... and so I bowed and knelt and offered my hopes and fears but as RS Thomas once said: for one who knelt no word came.

Except perhaps the word to keep on kneeling
and believing that goodness remains stronger than evil