And so it begins? No, was already here!

Went out to check whether the bins had been emptied and the very first person passing by greets me with, 'So whatdya think of the vote then?' 'What vote," I ask innocently (and honestly). 'That gay marriage thing,' says they, 'It's all wrong if you ask me!'

Appraised of the topic I ask whether they wrote to their MP to explain their views and received a, 'Nah, they don't listen to people like me!" And with that, they continued on their way to their blue-collar world of 'done to not done for' folk. This is more often than not the top of the pile in the area I serve.

And there we have it, forget the vote itself and take a step back and look at the issue of representation. I meet more and more people who regard themselves as not only marginalised but also voiceless. There are those who have lost jobs and can't get another because of age, location and the fact that work isn't that available anyway. These people used to be relatively comfortable (well they could pay their bills) and now they struggle and are resigned to being unemployed.

There are those who live within the culture of the benefits system and social housing. These are the people who range from living in a 'hand to mouth' life to those who, perhaps oddly, appear to have quite a lot of disposable cash. What this group all share is the fact that they know what they need and generally get it but the means by which this is brought about renders them as the voiceless detritus at the bottom of the pile.

The last group I regularly engage with are those who duffer some form of limitation or disability and the greatest grouping within this population are those who are mentally ill. The seek to be cared for in an increasingly stretched mental health system where often it seems the greatest goal is not containment or cure but finding a way to remove them from the list! The reality is that they are excluded from help and from relationships that might help.

So here we have it - 'gay marriage' doesn't really interest or trouble me because at the end of the day I'm dealing with hard issues. With families and child protection conferences; with repossessions and hospital visits, sections, self-inflicted illness through many of the various addictions; Sadness and stress that are because of the cancers and Alzheimer's and other 'end of life' (but not immediately) stuff. Because there is sin in the world and it not only hurts God but damages relations and mars His image in us and makes it  (the world and us) less than it can be.

This is what the Church is about:

A voice to the voiceless (come and work with me as we attempt to get people listened to).

Caring for those who society and state (stop me and ask me about the number of mentally ill who have lost any semblance of care provision).

A willingness to open our doors and provide a place where all are welcome and cared for (what Church has always been).

Our government has spent energy, time and money showing how much disunity there is in the Conservative party (as if we didn't already know) and how much import they put on things that neither affect nor benefit the rank and file - but then again that's why we have Church.

To care for and represent everyone (and that means heterosexual and homosexual too!).

Pax

Winterval - No more than we deserve?

I wonder how many people remember Winterval - that great British festival organised by Birmingham City Council over the Christmas period between 1997 and 1998. This was a two year dual-edged experiment (for it encouraged visitors and spending as well as secularising Christmas). Its published aims were that of making Christmas an 'inclusive' time for those of no faith and be attractive (and attract to the city) those of the world faiths (for it included Diwali and Hanukkah as well as Christmas).

At the end of the day, what we are supposed to believe about Winterval is that it was all about attracting visitors to Birmingham and getting them to part with their money in the shops, eating places and events. To be honest, regardless of the intention, I cannot but feel that what was true was that it was little more than a cynical attempt at hijacking Christmas and denying the faith of the majority of those in the city (even though some areas are now 100% non-British origin populated).

In parallel with the first Winterval, in a London borough, the council stated its intention to use money earmarked for Christmas-related activities and decorations to support a political group elsewhere. Ironically it was the raised voices of the Hindus and Sikhs that caused Christmas to continue as it always had. More ironic still is the fact that the 'Christian' voice was muted and largely impotent!

So many people bemoan the 'fact' that Christianity is becoming increasingly marginalised and recount the many ways in which Christianity as a public (or national) faith is seen to be acted against and in decline.

So many Christians harangue me (sorry - I mean engage me in conversation) and, having pinned me to the wall with their posturing, tell me how us 'church leaders' need to make a stand and 'stop the rot'! And I, more often than not nod in agreement and utter soothing words which agree with them and salve their fears and calms their ire! I agree that we (The Church) need to be 'more visible' and 'more relevant' (actually I really hate that trite, often meaningless little phrase) and 'more _ _ _ _ _' (insert your pet desire!) and eventually they move on to drone on at someone else!

Rude? Yes, I certainly am! Here's the reason why . . .

More often than not the self-same person who has pinned me to the wall and pointed out how the church is being increasingly marginalised; of how the church is not given the opportunities to be what it should be and act as it should act is actually the problem - not the solution.

It is. far too often, them that is the bird lime of the faith world that causes the living bricks that are the Church crumble and fall from their place!

It is them who call for the Church to be afforded opportunities, given respect and included in the running of our communities.

BUT

These are (far too often) the same people who think they are doing Christ a favour by turning up on a Sunday morning, mumbling through their prayers, dropping money into the hat as it passess, singing the songs that bless them and doing the same the next week. Church is something to 'do' rather than be and this is the real reason that we are seeing a marginalised faith in the shape of Christianity.

If you are one of those who wants to see a mainstream Christian faith then you need to examine yourself and ask yourself some really hard questions; we all do.

If all I am prepared to offer is myself for an hour (or so) a week, usually on a Sunday when I can meet my friends, sing my favourite songs and be home by lunch, then what does my faith really mean to me?

Three Questions

Do I want to live the way God is calling me to live or do I want a Christianity that lets me take what I want from my faith life and live the way I'm calling me to live?

Do I want to be part of a faith that calls me to get stuck in and be about our Father's business; to be making a difference; to be engaged where the need is?

Do I want to reverse the marginalisation that I think the Church is being subjected to?

If you have answered 'Yes' to any of the above then I have to ask one final question, namely:

What are you going to do about it?

I know of a town where the local council have come to the realisation that Christmas is about more than Father Christmas and presents. They have realised that CHRISTmas (not Argostide) is a name that points to the person of Jesus (THE CHRIST) and have asked the Christians in that town to be involved with the town's celebrations that coincide with the Christmas tree lights being lit.

All they want is a nativity that tells the Christmas story and puts Jesus into the running order.

Now, if this was your town, what would you do?

Me, I'd rip their arms off in my haste to get out there and tell the nativity story.

Them? You can count those who have come forward to make it happen on the digits of a solitary person!

Marginalised? Perhaps it's what we Christians deserve.

Don't let us be put to shame, O LORD,
for we have cried out to you;
we turn up at church every week,
we speak of the great plans we have for others to do for you!

But let the wicked be put to shame and lie silent in the grave.
Let those you act against you feel your wrath.
Those who would marginalise and render impotent your church be dealt with severely.



hang on Lord, what do you mean that's me?

Christians - Persecuted, marginalised or victims?

I have waded through a few emails, all of which have sought to show me how we are, rather than how I seem to think they are.

The first group seek to point out that Christians are marginalised in every walk of life. We are "No longer the force we were and are thus marginalsed and ignored." They were the biggest group, so I'll address them first . .

Think I've dealt with this (to death) but one last nail (hopefully) in this argument has to be that we are where we have, in the main, placed ourselves with our particular brand of 'authority'. Where we should have taken a lead, we have been silent (or worse still, sat on the fence and sold that special brand of fudge that Christians are so good at making). It is for this reasons that we are so rarely listened to.

There is 'stuff' going on all over the world and yet when Rowan (or some other Christian worthy) speaks it is rarely relevant or even accessible. Lives are in disarray and we re-arrange the deck chairs on a sinking ship.

If Christians are marginalised, how can it be that when I look at the things that are happening in our community, the prime movers, those engaged with the needs of the community, those who are in partnership with the local and county council, number a great many Christians?

At ground level, where the need is (and the work done) we see Christians engaged and welcomed, respected and supported by the secular world.

Could it be that we want to be marginalised so that we might garner the sympathy vote to bolster the less desired place we feel we occupy. Could it be that those who are marginalised most are those who do least and want the highest esteem?

Is that the model Jesus brings us? Nah, don't think so.

Jesus came to this world, God made man to 'serve', that is to be a 'servant' and we know that servants don't get the money, they don't get the recognition their services perhaps demands, but the reward is in serving (not being afforded 'rights' and not being listened to as an authority).

So, let's be honest and admit that we don't have the position, power, authority or deference shown to us that the clerics of days gone by had.

Halle-blinking-lujah! We aren't called to be the ruling classes, but the serving classes. The days of 'father knows best' have, thankfully, gone and now we look to partnerships and to being Church together.

If you want to prove you're marginalised, it's easy - just go out and find someone to make a point against - works every time.

But if you want to see just how respected and valued we (Christians) are - get off your behindside and engage with the needs around you, love the unloveable and serve like Jesus taught us.

Christians! Who needs enemies?

The main focus of attention this week has been the fact that Christians have no need of enemies or people seeking to pull them down when they have enough people willing to do that from within.

If I had a pound for every mention I have had from people about the end of the world happening in May I'd have enough money for a case of Jaffa Cakes (no need to shoplift like the TV 'Rev'). "Ho, Ho, Vicar," They cry, "It's bad enough that your Jesus geezer isn't ever coming back without you having people making things worse by announcing his appearing! Won't come then, won't come ever - a permanent 'no show' your bloke and the prophesies fron nutters will only make more people see that!"

The sad thing is that I can see that they are right about that.

That said, He will come back (at a time no one will predict) and those who sneer, the naysayers and mockers will be wondering what has hits them (and worse still, what will be coming to hit them). Just like the Jehovah's Witnesses and their abortive expected due date, of which there have been sixteen thus far (if I have counted correctly) we're going to look like a bunch of lunatics and sad types if the 'prophets' keep it up!

Moving on. Those amazingly sad types who have prophesied that Japan was God's vengeance because of [insert blinking ridiculous reason here] bring the whole of Christendom into disrepute and also demonstrate that they have no understanding of who God is, or how He acts. To criticise a blatantly flawed, secular nation, because of their wrong actions is not to raise a hand against the Lord's anointed but is to uphold what God calls us to be and to do! To condone evil because of a name is to (once again) subject YHWH and His Son and the Holy Spirit to ridicule.

Staggering forward, we come to those who seek to bleat about the world not being Christian and, as proof of this, look for ways in which we can challenge the ungodly. The problem is that whilst the identification of things contrary to God might be right the manner in which they engage damages the argument and weakens our position as Christians even further. Acting in ways that deny God is something we are called no to do, but why let that stop a good campaign?

So, seems that those opposed to us need do nothing but let those outlined above keep on doing the work for them - after all, they're doing such a good job without any help from those who wish to see us ridiculed, mocked, marginalised and render ineffective.

To indulgine in a modification of the words of St Thumper of Bambi:

"If you can't say anything sensible (and biblical), keep your mouth closed!"