John Watson - Priest in Residence

'Right', said FRED

A report out today from OXFAM reveals the hidden poverty and the challenges many are facing in the light of increasing financial pressures. Those who are Forgotten, Ripped-off, Excluded and Debt-ridden (FRED) need support and change in policies now.

This poverty is not restricted to our inner-cities (of which I have 12 years experience of) but also in outlying towns. I made a visit to one home the other week and was shocked to see the conditions and issues present.

Jesus said that our neighbour in the one whom we place ourselves among - not avoid or pretend are not there. They are not be ridiculed or taken advantage of. People in such circumstances often have further issues due to cheats and loan sharks preying on them.

Our churches are called to engage with those in need, to offer food banks, debt advice, soup kitchens, shelter.  Let the National Secular Society campaign all they want to against faith involvement in the relief of suffering and pain in our national institutions and country - we who do the actions and deeds will carry on regardless and look to see what they offer too, other than words and a stagnant position.

Free to worship, free to live

Yesterday saw one of our Sunday readings focus on the 10 Commandments - cue mutterings of approval and hints of a judgement.

One thing which struck me was the opening line - God did not say "Here is the Law: You must obey it or else". He did say "Once you were slaves, but now you are free'.  He gave them in the context of the freedom they had just been released into. They are far more than a tick-box to moral living. Behind the precepts lies a more obvious force:

They were once slaves - now they are free. They are a call to live in the oppositite to that which they have just escaped from. To become a liberating people as well as a liberated one.

They were once having to work 7 days a week, perhaps 52 weeks of the year – you do not have to do that now – you can take a rest, you need not be chained to the desk, or home, or field – God is the one who provides, who creates work, but also rest and fun.

They were free from that.                                                    

You do not have to steal to make a living, or kill to make your place secure in this world;

you do not have to follow the desires of your heart and pelvis when it comes to loving your neighbour and honouring their freedom – there is a higher way, a better way.

You are free from all of that.

You need to not be concerned about how your neighbour is getting on, how much they earn, placing your own value and sense of worth on the amount you have or have not. You do not have to keep up with the Jonses.

You are free from all of this.

Keith Harding '5th Commandment'

This kind a' changes the way we view them - not as binding laws, restricting life - but liberating ones which release it.

Former CEO of RBS pension madness

In this season of Lent - only a day old - where we are called to begin to examine our selves and I would add our society for improper attitudes, sin, and greed (among other things) - Lo and behold the former chief of RBS- the bank whose records losses were recorded today (over £24bn) -  the  BBC states:

that Sir Fred Goodwin, the bank's former chief executive, is already drawing a pension of £650,000 a year, despite only being 50.

In a year already loaded with huge job losses and more to come, how can this be justified.

Oh I know that some will say he has earned it, the stress and everything and the long hours -but there are some I know who work 18 hours a day just to put bread on the table and keep a roof over their heads.

Perhaps he would like to examine his own conscience and not sit behind lawyers arguements.
Cartoon by Dave Brown of the Independent

Zimbabwe - quiet but unflinching resistance

This article in the Times by Archbishops Rowan and John shows the spirit if Lent in the Zimbabwean churches - they continue to witness, to show mercy and love, generosity and justtice in the face of hunger and oppression. This is the example we can learn from our brothers and sisters there.

In the face of overbearing suffering, they continue, steadily and surely - to hold there heads above the darkness to reveal the light of Christ.

Pray for them, Support (via USPG) them and stand with them.

Lent - quiet resistance against the darkness

Into the dark world
a snowdrop comes,
a blessing of hope and peace
carrying within it a green heart:
symbol of God’s renewing love.
Come to inhabit our darkness, Lord Christ,
for dark and light are alike to you.
May nature’s white candles of hope
remind us of your birth
and lighten our journey
through Lent and beyond.
Kate McLlagga

The snowdrops have appeared announcing quietly the turning of the year and a movement towards a new season. Despite the heavy snow and hard frosts – they pierce the ground and show forth a resilient nature – laughing at the inability of winter to stop their growth. Yet theirs is not a haughty head seeking praise and affection, or a high one mocking the darkness, but a quiet confidence, stern enough to turn the tide and humble enough to not walk in pride.

This simple flower teaches us the way towards Lent. For Lent is a season that asks us to begin to resist, not a violent or outward stance against the darkness of our world, but an inner beginning to recognise where the darkness may have hold within us and upon us.

It is call to begin a journey to travel with Christ – towards the cross – to confront the darkness, to reveal it for what it is so that the new creation may be begin while the storms and winter of the chaos of this world still try to ravage us. and bend us towards death and violence, hate and greed.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer talks about the need for ‘holy worldy’ people – followers of Jesus who live in the world but who are sustained by a secret discipline of prayer. ‘Contemplation’ or ‘action’ are false alternatives. Both are involved in a Christian lifestyle. A person who prays deeply will be driven to act against injustice. Similarly, a Christian who is engaged in the problems of the world will be driven to prayer. Contemplation is not escapism, a turning one’s back on the world which God loves. Prayer is at the heart of a genuine Christian radicalism – one which truly gets to the root of the matter.

Enter this season of prayer, contemplation as the snowdrop begins to move the earth under the frost, as they begins to reveal green shoots in defiance against the snow; become a people who quietly stand against the darkness of our age – to bring to birth the new creation.

Gaza

Ths situation rightly continues to occupy my daily prayers. The cynic within me thinks of the timing of this conflict. Both sides are guilty of violence and terror and it is the innocent in the middle that so often pays the heavy price.

What ever provoked Israel, the retaliation meted out is extreme. The US has been silent on its call for restraint amid the readiness for a change over of power in Captiol Hill. Are we witnessing the last minute dash for time and violence before the change over takes palce and perhaps a more intollerant attitude to revenge takes charge at the Whitehouse?

My prayer is that the US will take a more peaceful route and more condemnatory stance over its influence of Israeli 'foreign' policy.

A New Land

At Morning Prayer today - the reading is apposite to the situation in Gaza and Israel on this day when we think of the Epiphany - the coming ofthe Glory of God to the nations from that charismatic visionary:

Isaiah 60:17-18

I will appoint Peace as your overseer, and Righteousness as your taskmaster.
Violence shall no more be heard in your land, devastation within your borders;
you shall call your walls Salvation,
and your gates Praise.

I like this painting entitled 'Epiphany' found on a recovery website for those with addictions to drugs and alcohol - for it seems to me that humanity is itself addicted to violence and war and self-interest. When O when will we ever learn and see somethig new?(see also Rowan Williams response)

The words of that wise and brave prophet call to our imaginations of daring to dream of something different.

http://www.oasas.state.ny.us/pio/campaign/recovery2005/art/pages/21.htm

Time for something new

It seems we are always playing catch up with life. Time is seen as an enemy, when we’re feeling the lack of it. Time is seen as drudgery when we’re bored or young and a thing to accept or even fear when we are old. Time is a mysterious element that seems to speed up when we’re having fun and slow down when we’re not.

  To ‘have time’ is a quality of modern life. That pearl of great price, that hidden treasure, that elusive grail. Time is a commodity which is sold at ever higher prices if you have the knowledge and power, yet time is also a burden if you have nothing but long days of illness, no prospect, no friends, no home.

To waste time seems to be a sin, to enjoy time a luxury. Does mastering time make us more than conquerors? Does serving time make us saints?

Into this mixed up metaphor full of inconsistencies and inequalities God steps in. At a moment in time – the God of all time – enters the world where time is the controlling factor. By entering into time he makes a moment, he begins a journey, he faces challenges, he embraces weakness and vulnerability. Yet this does not make him any less than God or any more than human. But entering time he is the reality.

Time is not changed, nor transformed. But understood and accepted.

To live ones life is not to fight time or fear it or even find it – but to acknowledge it and embrace it. Time become sacred for God is found now, here at this moment. Time is the meeting place of the eternal and things temporal.

Time then rather than enemy, become a gift, in which we encounter the Timeless One. If we live continually in the past or seek to live in the future, thereby escaping from the present, we will miss the extraordinary way in which God wants to meet us in the now.

The passing of time may seem arduous yet on the road to Bethlehem, the God-child was alive and kicking, wriggling and moving, growing and developing. Boredom? Monotony? Earth breaking? Cosmos shattering?

Time will tell.

Not quite my experience....!

Credit Crunch at Christmas

Thanks to The Work of the People for this free video exploring our basis of faith in these credit crunching times. Double click on the space to play it.