iGod

'Red Rev' Giles Fraser?

Just reflecting about the resigination of the Canon Chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral, Rev Dr Giles Fraser. While left-leaning The Guardian fetes the man, I hear, maybe not surprisingly, the Daily Telegraph takes another view.

Whatever side you take, he typifies the need for the Christian to speak up and get involved in politics and injustice, even when it doesn't always make you universally popular with your own peers.

US Christian activist Shane Clairborne says:

"Theologian Karl Barth said, 'We have to read the Bible in one hand, and the newspaper in the other.' For too long we Christians have used our faith as a ticket out of this world rather than fuel to engage it.

"In his parables, Jesus wasn’t offering pie-in-the-sky theology… he was talking about the real stuff of earth. He talks about wages, debt, widows and orphans, unjust business owners and bad politicians. In fact Woody Guthrie breaks it all down in his song “Jesus Christ.” The song ends with Woody singing, “This song was written in New York City. If Jesus were to preach what he preached in Galilee, they would lay him in his grave again.”

"The more I read the Gospels, the more they seem to confront the very patterns of the world we live in. At one point Mary, pregnant with Jesus cries out: “God casts the mighty from their thrones and raises the lowly… God fills the hungry with good things and sends the rich away empty…”. You can’t help but think if she were alive in contemporary America some folks would try to accuse the Virgin Mother of being Marxist or promoting class warfare. But all through Scripture we see this–over 2000 verses about how God cares for the poor and most vulnerable.

"What would Jesus say about Wall Street?"

 What would Jesus say about the Square MIle?

Would he be for locking up St Paul's Catherdral or for an open air church service?

The thing I am taking away is that if we want our message to be heard we have to first hear what culture is saying. This is not so much about wanting to sound populist like a politician, but to help us avoid sounding pompous like an old fogey.

May God grant us wisdom and courage in these times!

ASD

Sweeping change

Well, what an interesting time we are having as a nation. If you are from the US looking in you may well be wondering what on earth had gone on or for that matter gone wrong. 

This week I spent time with two financial guys. One whose business it is to advise the football world on buying and selling clubs and the other to advise normal people, like me, how best to invest their hard earned money to aim for a half decent retirement, among other things. The latter tells me that he has seen 20% of value has been wiped off the Footsie 100 in less than two months. Not a good time if you are looking to cash in your pension. It is something, as we have seen Stateside, that politicans seem unable to influence or affect the outcome.

And if that is not enough we have had the erruptions on the streets of our beloved country. After the peaceful demonstration over the death of Mark Duggan last weekend the term rioters has been quickly replaced with Looters. Yet, some politicians such as the Mayor of London tell us that Britian is not broken. At this point that remark feels very English and stiff-upper lipped. Others might say it is just sheer denial.

Social network platforms such as Twitter and Blackberry Messenger Service have been criticised for fanning the flames of angst-ridden teenagers. But actually, surprisingly, I have come out in support of Twitter and other social platforms. As much as they have been used for bad they have also been redeemed for good.

The community has struck back - with a broom in its hand. It has drawn communities together, black, white, young and old, not seen for a long time. Now no communtiy leader or church leaders seems to know exactly what the Conservatives mean by 'The Big Society', but something has happened without too much involvement from the politicians themselves. This, perhaps, could be described as a great example of their philosophy. Dunno.

A friend of mine who runs a young peoples' charity in South East London is plain exhausted with the constant round of meetings with police, politicians and local organisations, but as a Christian leader in the community he has been encouraging supporters to do acts of kindness.

For instance, I heard how one police station in SouthEast London had had delivered to them a load of cookies to their exhausted and emotionally tired officers. With all the recent bashing the police got from politicans the public alternatively has shown their solidarity with their local bobbies. I cannot stress that these expressions of love are equally important as any rushed through law or government initiative.

if you are near a police station that has been on the frontline, maybe this is something that your church could organise to do.

The church, at its best, shows compassion through practical outward signs of invisible grace. For as James said, "faith without works is dead." We stand with all, we cry with all, we shout justice for all. This is God's love in action.

This is the outward-focused church at is best. It is not idle, a talking shop, inward-looking or obsessed with evangelism programmes or simply going deeper with God with discipleship courses. It is loving, generous, kind and sacrifical. It loves without terms and conditions.

Meanwhile, on a more mundane note, our church is about to own a football team, but not sure we will be using the services of my city banker friend. Apparently there is no money in it for him. Ah well, that's the fickle world of football.

ASD

 

 

 

 

Faith, Politics and a Duck Hoisin Wrap

It is said that the three topics to avoid in conversation are politics, sex and religion. Yet I have to be honest, I have broken all three rules. Yet, survived to tell the tale.

Speaking as a humble  pastor anyone of these subjects is a minefield. Politics - because if you show partisan feelings it can be a real stumbling block to others. Sex - well, because we are British. And religion because it should be left up to the conscience of the individual.

What each of these subjects have in common is that there is an expectation that  these views are should remain private for fear of upsetting people.

Which brings me to Nick Clegg, leader of the Lib Dems.  The poor guy can't win. He gets criticised by Christians for being contrary about his religious beliefs and no doubt whined at by neo-atheists who thinks he should probably not appeal to any faith-based group. What's a politician do?

Whatever the colour of our politics it should allow us to be respectful to all. Yes, we know cynicism surrounds our hopeful candidates, but as Christians we need to vote for the policies, not the personal beliefs. Unfortunately, being Christian does not make someone's policies naturally are better.  As if. On the other hand, I would like to think an atheist would vote for a Christian who had good policies.

I, for one, hugely value the privilege of our democratic electoral system. Surely Zimbabwe has reaffirmed that to us all.

So I think I shall just sit here and ponder it all with my Duck Hoisin wrap from Pret a Manger.

ASD

Hear the three main political leaders' views on faith

As we begin to get focussed on the forthcoming general election, thought you might like to hear what our politicians think about faith, the church and faith-based organisations.

Baptist minister Steve Chalk has interviewed all three main political leaders on behalf of Faithworks and is encouraging this video to be shown in church small groups. 

“We have a duty as government to see that more faith-based services are provided,” said Gordon Brown.

 Nick Clegg said that “churches and the community groups that work out of them will have an even bigger role” in the future. “Whitehall shouldn’t do everything.”

“The church should be active in the community,” said David Cameron.

Time to reflect and pray, me thinks.

ASD

Inaugural Prayer by Rick Warren

If you like me caught the Inaugural Prayer by Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church this week you might have been incidentally judging his performance. It's hard not to, isn't it?

After all, we are conditioned to judge performances through a TV screen. It makes a big part of the schedule nowadays. It gets the ratings.

However, I have felt, like Mark Driscoll, quite uncomfortable with some the criticism this guy has been getting. As a Brit watching an All-American event I tuned in as a casual observer and putting aside my cultural deference, I recognised that Rick Warren did something that I never would have the guts to do - pray in front of millions of people all over the world. He is to be applauded.

Apparently there was some discussion online and in newspapers whether he would pray in Jesus' name or, even more fundamentally, was the right person for the job. Yet, when the big day came I believe he did a pretty good job.

It is every pastor's fear and discomfort that their performance is being judged every time they get up and open their mouth. Yet, we still get up and do it. Why?  Because the rewards to seeing lives affected by our actions when we stand up in His name far outweighs the negativity we sometimes have to endure.

Rick Warren is just flesh and blood like you and I. Whether we like his style, theology or churchmanship is neither here or there. I believe his heart is in the right place and he loves Jesus.

Unfortunately for Rick he has been put on the highest Christian pedal stool in the world, perhaps after the See of Rome, so the potential for disappointment and criticism was proportionally higher too. At the end of the day, he was always going to offend somebody, but I doubt very much that he offended God.

As my 11-year-old daughter says, Chillax!

ASD

"So help me God"

Been watching the 44th President of the United States of America being sworn in today on BBC, Beyond our own wonderful news service it has been interesting to view US news sites. ABC News have a video clip of the just 39-word oath which ends poignantly with the words "So help me God".

We might think as Brits that we are casual observers and it is just something that is happening over there, but the truth is the world needs a US president that leans on God for strength and wisdom in all decisions.

The best thing we can do as Christians is pray for him, regardless of our political colours, nationality or racial hang-ups.

The worst thing we can do is prejudge and not give him the space in our minds to help reconcile a broken, damaged global community.

God bless America! God bless the Obama family.

ASD

Saving faith from irrelevance and extremism

Our former prime minister Tony Blair said last night: "For religion to be a force for good, it must be rescued not simply from extremism, faith as a means of exclusion; but also from irrelevance, an interesting part of our history but not of our future." Too many people saw religious faith as stark dogmatism and empty ritual, he added.

"Faith is reduced to a system of strange convictions and actions that, to some, can appear far removed from the necessities and anxieties of ordinary life," Blair said. "It is this face that gives militant secularism an easy target."

He was speaking at his first lecture as part of the launch of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation and seems to make some thoughtful comments in the process.

Read more from The Guardian's blog here.

Have a good weekend.

ASD

When being an active citizen means being a convenient convert to Anglicanism

David Cameron, leader of Conservatives made an interesting comment this week in defence of parents that ‘coincidently’ found faith in God just as their child reaches school age.

To quote David Cameron: “I don’t believe blame anyone who tries to get their children into a good school...most people are doing so because it has an ethos and culture. I believe in active citizens.”

Out of context, we might assume that being an ‘active citizen’ was about being a thoughtful member of the British public who took it upon themselves to telling hoodies off for putting their grubby trainers on bus seats so elderly people couldn’t sit down.

Instead, the Tory leader seems to be advocating that it is okay to do to do a bit if queue jumping, pushing and shoving to get your child into the right school. Indeed, he, himself, is trying to get his child into a local CofE school. A 2006 poll suggested that 44% of parents would use underhand tactics to secure a place at a good school.

It is interesting that although the media delights in constantly reminding us that the Anglican Church is in decline, the general public still looks to the church for instilling values for life and continues to be recognised as a hallmark of a good state education. Even though my own personal experience of CofE schools makes me much more wary.

Church schools, of course, need to have a set of criteria for entry and that means, in short, including some kind of commitment to following Jesus, which equates to church attendance.

I have great sympathy with CofE schools which have an impossible position. Can they really see who has real faith versus those who suddenly get all churchy and religious? Can they really so easily tell the sheep from the goats? As a result, they left with no option but to go for the latter.

All of this active citizenship leads a parent to be an active hypocrite, but here’s just one solution: rather than just everyone pretending to be a good Anglican and follower of Christ maybe we should just accept parents for what they are – desperately caring people just trying to do the best for their children and let them into our faith-based schools as they are – no strings attached.

Surely as long as they subscribe to the Christian ethos of a school and its culture and are happy for a Christian education, let them come, let them all come!  We might, ourselves, even be drawn closer to Jesus as a result of our unconditional acceptance.

ASD

In God's name

Thanks to Andrew Jones for the link to an interesting article in the Economist this last week about the role religion will play in world politics. If you've got time, give it a read.

Here's an extract: Part of that secular fury, especially in Europe, comes from exasperation. After all, it has been a canon of progressive thought since the Enlightenment that modernity—that heady combination of science, learning and democracy—would kill religion. Plainly, this has not happened. Numbers about religious observance are notoriously untrustworthy, but most of them seem to indicate that any drift towards secularism has been halted, and some show religion to be on the increase. The proportion of people attached to the world's four biggest religions—Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism—rose from 67% in 1900 to 73% in 2005 and may reach 80% by 2050.

ASD

Stalin and Stuff

It’s not often a civil servant makes the news, but Sir Andrew Turnball, formerly the UK’s top man has this week made it big time.

He has accused Gordon Brown of having a “Stalinist ruthlessness.”  Friend of Gordon’s, MP Harriet Harman, sprang to his defence, saying, “All I can conclude is that not all civil servants admire strong leadership.”

Not that the real Josef Stalin would need defending, He would have just taken the civil servant outside and had him shot.

A clash of culture? You bet.

Turnball is rather old-fashioned in values. Big into politeness and social etiquette.  Brown, on the other hand, apparently holds his colleagues “more or less in complete contempt.”

To be truly Stalinist, he would have to hold everyone in complete contempt – even his peers. Another of the Chancellor’s alleged “Stalinist” tendencies is his failure to “conduct serious discussions about priorities.”

The great man himself made life simple: “First let’s collectivise; then let’s industrialise; then let’s give string vests to the naked traitors in Siberia.”

As you read this you might be thinking, “This sounds a little like my boss. He never listens to my point of view, he’s always right. I never feel valued. Come to think of it, I have never received a pay rise in all the time I have been here.”

You might feel in all this he has prioritised his golf practice over your need to leave the office on time.

But let’s get some perspective.

There is, indeed, a difference between strong leadership and pig-headed leadership.  One takes people with you, the other leads to a fast turnover in staff.

Yup, life is tough at the top - and it is a pretty thankless task. It seems easier to be a minion and have a good old grumble on the shop floor than it is to lead a company to success.

Is there room for Christian values like humility and servanthood in true leadership? I’d like to think so, but often fear of being taken for a ride financially or personally can intervene. As believers, we hear it but we’re not quite sure whether we believe it.

Would Jesus have been more successful if he took on the persona of Alan Sugar or had the leadership style Chancellor of the Ex-Chequer? Which one would you want to rule over your life?

The truth is the leadership style of Jesus would scare many CEOs in our land.

Ex-MP and now political commentator Michael Portillo commented on the team around David Cameron by saying, “They are bright and they are nice, but they are not killers.”

One Cameroon, Steve Hilton, chief strategist, is described as being “a very, very, bright guy…and he has a nastiness.”

So if you could adopt a leadership style whose would it be?

To be a true Stalin-like leader you would have to fill the office and reception with large pictures of yourself and then monitor how much respect is shown to them.  (This will entail employing office snitches.) You might want to pick out the most impressive employee and set them on a dais and hold them up as figure of all things excellent. 

You might want to rewrite company history, airbrushing out others’ achievements and then finding a way of having them removed.

Other qualities to adopt would be to shout at people, stonewalling or ignoring them. And I have saved the best till last, making threats against your family.

On a serious note, if you are in an abusive situation like this, get out!  Don’t be noble.  Find someone who has been to the Jesus School of Business Leadership, if possible.  Better still, start your own company and lead by example.

ASD