Better Together - Praying together

One of the strengths of Church is its the collegial nature - meaning that we do what we can together and only do the stuff we cannot share on our own rather than the opposite. This, if taken to heart is something that leads into relationship and a solid, professional, engagement with people outside the Church family.

One of the ways in which this is manifesting in Tamworth (Staffs) can be seen in the four weeks of 24/7 prayer running during June and July:

w/c 22nd June: Holy Trinity, Wilnecote

w/c 29th June: St Catherine's, Two Gates

w/c 6th July: St Andrew's, Leyfields

w/c 13th July: Glascote Methodist Church

So what are we waiting for Tamworth?

Tamworth Street Angels - Another step further

Three years or so on and Tamworth Street Angels has a bunch of trustees in place and the various elements relating to training and linking in to the town's services are also coming together and so it is with some great pleasure that I can announce a public meeting to inform, recruit and generally enthuse those who would like to become part of Tamworth's Street Angels group.

click to enlarge

Please tell your friends (if you have friends),  acquaintances, fellow church members (if you go to church), colleagues, fellow unbelievers (if you're non-theist) and strangers you meet in the street, on the trains, buses and down the nick!

Anywhere and everywhere - spread the good news that Tamworth is moving up a gear when it comes to being a caring society.

And be warned - there's more good news to come very soon (so have a nap!).

You have the time, the date and the location - so see you very soon I hope (refreshments provided)

Want to stop turning a deaf eye?

Then take a look at the poster below and sign up if you're near to Tamworth and if you're not, then why not think about running a course in your own patch?

This is one of the most worthwhile areas of engagement a church can have in its community - so stop missing out on meeting and understanding a wonderful bunch of people ( AKA 'the deaf') and start learning to use you eyes as ears and you hands as your tongue:

But one bungler destroys much good.

Today as I read the passages set for the daily office's morning prayer I was challenged by some words from Ecclesiastes chapter nine:

'Wisdom is better than weapons of war,  but one bungler destroys much good.'

Ironically I turned on the radio to hear that the Secretary of State for Education was making an(other?) 'embarrassing turnaround' over his plans for a British baccalaureate. It seems that once again the man with his hands on the future of our children's education (and therefore it follows, their futures) has once again been a bit of a bungler.

No sooner had this news passed that we turned to a report on a Mid-Staffordshire NHS trust by Robert Francis QC. The report explained how nurses were being investigated and how some would find their careers ended - and having read the abstracts I sure this is right) and yet throughout the report not one person pointed the finger of guilt at those who managed the place and surely set the condition by which patients and their families were so sorely treated. It seems that at the root of the problem is a multitude of bunglers - and despite the NHS featuring large in the Olympic celebrations as a jewel in the crown of our nation - many bunglers are destroying that which is good!

When I worked in industry we used to refer to people being promoted to the level of their incompetence - the greater the bungler the higher they went until they were placed somewhere where their incompetence was minimised (and conversely their salaries maximised).

Reading complaints of the Staffs debacle it appears that many of those running our hospitals, rather than be censured, have been rewarded - how on earth can this be justified or defended?

The ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory is to be found in many places and sectors - the politician and NHS executives whilst being the creme de la creme of bungling are not isolated places - so when you see bunglers - bin them!

And of course this goes for Church too - let's hope the new ABC is up for the task as we seek to bring an orthodox, effective and inclusive church to the fore - A church that will criticise those who abuse the system (Well done for the banking comments Boss!), who oppress the poor, who seek to legitimise injustice and to reward the bunglers.

Pax