So it's goodbye from us ...

And 'Good Riddance' from them?

As we all know by know, the people of the United Kingdom have, albeit narrowly, voted to leave the European Union.

Some will be cheering - others will be fearing.

Some will see this as an opportunity to regain sovereignty and put the 'Great' back into Britain whilst others will see this as us condemning ourselves to becoming a small minded nation on an even smaller offshore piece of land outside the rest of the world.

Much like the peasant's revolt of 1381, this was as much a revolt against those who govern and the taxation and nation's spending as it was about the other much proclaimed issues - although that said, the majority of the 'Leave' voices brought the issue back to immigration (more on that shortly though).  The Peasants Revolt was also about and end to serfdom - what I was taught of as 'unify' labour - whilst this was, for many, about 'free labour'!

So here we are, about to go it alone and this for me means that we should, immediately, look to Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty and start the two year exit process rolling. Many people are calling on us to hold fire with this because the effect it will have on us nation but it seems to me that this newly recovered sovereignty and national identity, as with everywhere in the world where people have fought to become free, comes at a price.

This price, thankfully, is not paid in blood or lives (unless you consider the assassination of an MP to count - and I do) but in cold hard cash. Freedom is never cheap and we will have to grin and bear the rises in the cost of living, the fall in our house prices and the jobs that are lost as the price we are all willing to pay for our breaking free from the bonds of European membership.

As we make our journey we need to realise that we are now looking towards the goodwill of those who remain in the EU and, like any divorce, this might not be a generous as we think we deserve. To quote European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker:

"Britons decided yesterday that they want to leave the European Union, so it doesn't make any sense to wait until October to try to negotiate the terms of their departure - I would like to get started immediately." 

You see, Europe would like us to be gone and whilst what some exit politicians are asking for is akin to a divorces settlement where one party retains the right to have meals cooked for them, their washing done and conjugal rights to continue - the other is looking to distance themselves from their estranged partner as quickly as possible, and despite the well meant words from family gained through marriage when divorce comes, the relationship are rarely continued and when they do, never the same!

Those who preached exit are now telling us that migration into the UK will continue - it has to, that's how the rest of the world lives these day - and that the money saved might not be what was first preached to be - that we will have to abide by EU laws if we want to trade with them and more besides.

So perhaps our exit is not going to be the paradise it was billed to be - but the trigger has been pulled and the bullet has left the chamber, there's no going back and the challenge for us is to work out how we can regroup and reform our national identity and that takes public will and solid and intelligent government. The key is for us to become a United Kingdom (talk of referenda regarding the Union from Northern Ireland and Scotland aren't helping this) and to look at the positives that being British bring.

We need to be open and honest about our views and seek a middle way - something the Church of England excels in - if that happens then this will indeed be something quite positive coming from the result.

I think we need a new government, not a new Conservative Prime Minister, because the government is looking at areas and actions never spoken of in a manifesto nor voted of at the last election. This is time for a new leadership across the board in the house of Commons.

One of the hopes of those who preached on the exit side of the debate was that we would return to our national roots and this, and of course I would say this, means a return to the biblical values and standards that shaped us and a putting aside of self and selfish ambition. We need to establish a nation where humility, not the nationalism that brought about a global conflict, is the hallmark. National pride not nationalism being the bedrock upon which we look to exhibit mercy and crave for justice as that which we value and live by.

We need to continue to welcome the oppressed and marginalised, to act to support those in other lands who face genocide and oppression, to stand with our neighbouring nations to work together for peace and freedom for all.

And oddly - if we do, it won't look much different from that we've just voted to leave!

So pray that 'God's will be done' rather than 'give us our own way!'

Going to be a very interesting time - and when the going gets tough (and I'm sure it will) look to the words and example of Jesus, the Christ, rather than the self-serving needs of our fallen race.

No man is an island - even when he lives on one!

On the eighth day of Christmas

Apple having put aside their Twelve Days of Christmas giveaway this year has given me the chance to get people thinking, praying, learning, listening (to some great music) and finding app's they might not have otherwise done: Day Eight...


The Church
Celebrates the 'Circumcision and naming of Jesus' - no, it's not just a feats for the Catholics and 'high church' types - an opportunity to reflect on the recognition of who Jesus (Yeshua) 'God saves' (more accurately '(in) God is salvation' is.

Today we reflect upon the invisible God make visible. Today, as we begin a New year! we remember that the Church too, like Jesus, exists to make the invisible visible!

That the circumcision would have started in anywhere other than the temple (as many sermons I have heard preached have claimed) is an important element - for it would have been carried out 'at home' (whatever that means when you've had your sprog in a stable!) just as the recognition and making God's salvation visible God's begins in our homes. There's no point in relying upon being welcoming if no one comes. It's nice, but regardless of the invites a church might issue, they won't come because they know our boring, killjoy, critical, hypocritical labels and so (generally) avoid us!

This new year we need to start salvation where we are if we are to see others saved; and that is what it is about, not numbers.

So 2015, a year of wondering why there aren't more people in relationship when we aren't building and engaging in the relationships where we are?

Another year where we wonder what those in leadership are doing to bing mor people in to our congregations (and ask where are they)?

Another year where those in leadership wonder why the congregations won't get stuck in to bring others to our buildings because they have developed a relationship with them?

Jesus - the God made visible - is celebrated today. Let's commit ourselves to making Him visible in us this year, what do you reckon?


The world
Used to be that when I was a child it was the New Year sales that drew the crowds.Every year (as I remember it) I would be dragged off to Knightsbridge to spend a day I. The retail temples that were Barkers, Derry and Toms and Pontings. This year, listening to my radio, I'm hearing that we are all spent out and the sales are pretty much done.

I'm hearing that 2015 will be a year where many firms will go to the wall with the result that many more will be unemployed.

The situation for those oppressed and threatened by the presence of the IS fighters remains relatively unchanged, but if the press don't report it people assume it has gone away.

The numbers of people in refugee camps is set to rise over the coming year and which this could be the year when we see Polio finally eradicated completely from the planet- a year when the remaining forms of malaria as conquered - we need to be engaged and involved.

This will be a year when there is a new government elected in the UK. With the rise of such parties as UKIP such that some are billing them to as having expanded the political scene to four parties now (Conservatives, Labour and Lib Dem being the other three), we need to be informing our churches of their policies and to be preparing NOW for hustings in our churches.

So a bright, hopeful and challenging new year for the world - now watch someone go out and spoil it - and when
they do, how will we respond? Like the world or like the Church?

A giveaway?
Now I was always taught that if something looks too good to be true then it probably is!

But there's always an exception to the rule and this is to be found in the Church of England's 'Daily Prayer' App which you will find here: http://bit.ly/1xlK90l 

It is a strange thing but I am often amazed to find that despite the apparent prayer, study and full-on worship that some groups present as a perception, I still find some of the deepest and more consistent stuff to be found within the Church of England. Makes me wonder why I ever bought into the 'vain repetitions and babbling' put down that I encountered within some of the more outwardly effective churches - all part of growing up in the faith I guess!


Something to listen to

Apparently 'the' song of 2014

Whilst 'the' hymn of the year is that Wesley great:

Almighty God,
whose blessed Son was circumcised in obedience to the law for our sake
and given the Name that is above every name:
give us grace faithfully to bear his Name, to worship him in the freedom of the Spirit,
and to proclaim him as the Saviour of the world;
who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

On the third day of Christmas ...

Since Apple have put aside their Twelve Days of Christmas giveaway this year I thought I would have to do something too redress the gap left by them: Day Three ...

The (Western) Church
Celebrates the feast of St John (the Evangelist - the theologian - the Divine)
Him what has a Gospel and some letters and Revelations.
It's Him what (as the Evangelist) has an Eagle as his symbol and this is often said to be the reason for the design of many of the lecterns - as the place from whence the word goes out into the world!

The Western World
Continues generally unabated with its sad affection with crime as the body of Father Gregorio Lopez was found near the Mexican city of Ciudad Altamirano. Fr. Lopez accused the drug gang 'Guerreros Unidos'* of the kidnap and murder of 43 young people (something few see to have been affected by in this country) in September and it is this group that many suspect to be behind the killing. He is the third priest to have been killed this year!

* United Warriors

China
Apparently Christians are still coming in for attention from the state as reports of crosses being torn down and congregations tear gassed. The number of those who have made Christianity a lifestyle is, according to some, as large (if not larger) than the number of those in the Communist party itself - and this is obviously seen as a bit of threat.

So much of a threat it seems that the authorities are enforcing rules forbidding minors from engaging in any religious practice in an attempt to put an end to stop Christian organisations working with those under the age of 18 whilst 'requiring' local legislatures to work with this age group to spread an atheist message.

So Christians are still spreading the word, making a stand for what is right, and being opposed.

Hallelujah or what?

Something to listen to

and for those who like something a little older in style'

Merciful Lord, cast your bright beams of light upon the Church:
that, being enlightened by the teaching of your blessed apostle and evangelist Saint John,
we may so walk in the light of your truth that we may at last attain to the light of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ your incarnate Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Child Soldiers - A simple guide?

According to one source (and they all vary quite markedly) around 300,000 child soldiers exist in the world (a third of them in the continent of Africa). These generally are children who have been enticed, coerced or forced into becoming soldiers (some, usually orphans join because they have nowhere else to go). The lower limit seems to be somewhere around eight years and these children are used to kill and witness killings and atrocities - and no one (i would hope) can ever endorse this.

I personally support groups who seek to make people aware of the situation and plight of the child soldiers and would hope that others might too (Red Hand Day 12th Feb - have I mentioned that before).

Talking to people yesterday there were many who were saddened that, as ever certain groups time their open letters and edicts to coincide with Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day. Their opinions, and the rarely ever presented offer to dialogue, would have been just as valid next week as it would in the last working day before our nation remembers. But then they wouldn't have been talked about (nor perhaps as universally rejected by those who spoke to me) if they'd have waited, would they?

Now I understand that many are confused by the whole 'Child' soldier issue and thought that, as a picture is worth a thousand words, I'd give you a little graphical assistance based on what people told me yesterday:

Now it's easy to understand it really - a sixteen year old who is education was generally regarded by ALL I asked to be A CHILD.

A child who is eight, ten, twelve, fourteen, sixteen even - and is given a weapon and told to kill or maim was also declared by ALL to be A CHILD SOLDIER.

A sixteen year old* who marries was also regarded by ALL as a MAN (and I was mazed how many told me of marriages in their families of sixteen and seventeen year olds).

Then came the million-pound (I don't do dollars!) question:
What about a sixteen year old who joins the Army?

Simple they all said - He's a SOLDIER and MAN and then many added ('And I'd be proud if he was my son, grandson, nephew, etc.')

So I think yesterday was a bit sad:

Sad in the timing which, intentional or not (and you can make up your own mind on that) distracted from Remembrance as the proper focus at this time.

Sad because I had so many people have a go at me because of the 'bleeding heart, meddling Christians who should stick to [so many different ideas fit here] and !*!*! *** sticking their oar in where they had no business to be' - Because this is everyone's business - Child Soldiers are, or should be, an affront to every decent person and something that is indeed the Church's business (of course those who signed were members of a church - but were not 'The Church'.

Sad because we need people to take up the cause of the third of a million abused and damaged children who find themselves dragged into conflict as combatant and worse (and believe me, there is worse).

So please - don't lose focus regarding child soldiers and don't blame 'The Church' - it's just some of 'The Church' just like it's not all of 'The World' that does these wicked things - there are balanced, rational and sane people in both.

Pax






Nigel and Sharon Davis - source Daily Mirror