Tuesday 30 June 2009

10 times the food!


If you give to World Vision's campaign to feed the people of Southern Sudan, the World Food Programme will match it tenfold!

Serious hunger is affecting the people of Southern Sudan as a result of a civil war and natural disasters. Amina Ahmed is 15 years old and has 7 brothers and sisters to look after. They ended up in a refugee camp having been forced to flee their village by the conflict. Her father is missing and her mother is ill. So, it is up to her to feed her family.

I couldn't find anything about this on the net, but I am making this our school's fund raising this term. So, if you want to give as part of that, you could let me have a cheque and I will include it. Otherwise call 0800 088088.

Friday 19 June 2009

Alternative worshippers look down on church!


Us bloggers love to sit behind a computer screen in our 7th floor vacant rooms and look down on church goers, alternative worshippers, other bloggers, and generally treat the whole world with disdain. How easy it is to be a blogger!

Sunday 7 June 2009

Stop the Settlements!


Why not support this campaign by Avaaz?

President Obama just made a remarkable speech in Egypt, committing personally to building peace in the Middle East. Unexpectedly, his first move is to directly challenge the new right-wing government of America's ally Israel - pressing them to stop their self-destructive policy of settlements.

Obama’s bold strategy is facing powerful opposition, so he’s going to need help around the world in the coming days and weeks to strengthen his resolve. Let’s start right now - by raising a massive global chorus behind Obama’s statement that the settlements in occupied territory must stop.

We’ll advertise the number of signatures in key newspapers in Israel, as well as in Washington DC (where some are trying to undermine Obama in the US Congress). Read Obama’s words now and add your signature to them at the link here.

"Israeli Settlement Growth Must Stop, Says Clinton":

Saying something positive about charismatic worship!


I've spent the last few months absorbed in a study of the Spring Harvest 2008 songbook - mostly in order to confirm all of my prejudices about charismatic worship - and yes, most of them were confirmed!
Its lack of engagement with contemporary issues is quite shocking. Only one song, for example, out of the 120 songs, mentions ecology! Only 6, in my opinion, really engage with issues such as poverty or oppression. Yet, in these 6 songs (by 3 authors), I detect a change. Particularly when you consider that the 1994 songbook had no songs about any of these issues and had a picture of Christians dressed as the Crusaders! Certainly, these 6 songs are framed in the typical charismatic ways (not always helpfully), but their presence in the songbook is worth noting. They are marked by an engagement with contemporary issues, a concern for justice and the oppressed, an integration of God with the day-to-day and a recognition that as Christians they participate in the bringing in of God's kingdom to the earth.
I think this is the best lyric. There are some aspects of the song I'm not a fan of, but here are some good charismatic lyrics:


"Bring heaven to earth, Lord,
... You invite us to partner with you,
to see your kingdom come.

...Bring home to the homeless,
...Bring worth to the purchased,
and touch to the shamed,
...bring truth where there's spin
...bring justice to profit,
bring patience to growth;
bring wisdom to progress,
...bring freedom from debt, Lord,
an end to excess."

Listen to the full song here.

Thursday 4 June 2009

VOTE (Don't let 'Christian Values' kick Jesus out of the country)

Its elections today - GET OUT AND VOTE - otherwise, certainly in Sheffield and many other towns in the UK there is a real risk that the BNP might get in.
What's that on Nick Griffin's lapel - why a cross of course - because the BNP supposedly stand for 'Christian Values', good old England and all....
So Nick, this Jesus of yours, was he a swarthy skinned Palestinian Jew and one time asylum seeker in Egypt? Would you even let him into this country....

Tuesday 2 June 2009

Guantanamo Reversal?


“Now some have suggested that this represents a reversal on my part” – Barack Obama.

Those were the words we really didn’t want to hear from Barack’s lips about his pledge to close Guantanamo, but we always feared that hidden in the fine print and the practical details, would be a reversal of sorts.

First, he has decided to revive Bush’s practice of trying terrorism suspects in military commissions. Whatever happened to a fair trial?

Second, he blocked the release of photos showing abuse of detainees. Whatever happened to justice for victims?

Third, “prolonged detention” of terrorism suspects who are deemed a threat to the US, but who cannot be tried, because the evidence is “unusable” having been got under torture. Isn’t this just moving Guantanamo to the mainland?

Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty, right to a fair trial, right to a lawyer?

I have some sympathy with Barack’s position, having to make the real decisions, but am I too harsh in seeing this as a reversal of sorts?

It prompts me to remember to pray for a man with tough decisions to make and that he wont go the way of practically every person I know who has power.