Greenbelt Highlights!

What were your greenbelt highlights?

Click on "comments" below or write a new post to let us know. Even if we don't know you, let us know what you enjoyed/inspired you about greenbelt this year.

I'm writing this before leaving for Greenbelt in the hope and expectation that there will be lots of good things at Greenbelt.

If you see this before you go, check out ASBO Jesus and CAP when you get there.

happy camping!

What would Monet have wanted?

Schof asked someone recently : If Monet was your art teacher, what would Monet have wanted you to do? They replied that Monet would have wanted them to produce their own piece of impressionist artwork.

I thought that was a great illustration. Surely he wouldn't have wanted groups of Monet admirers 100 years later, arguing about which were the really authentic examples of Monet's work and try to reproduce them time and time again. Surely, he wouldn't want them to reproduce copies of a garden in Giverney or a street in Paris. Surely, its about taking what was a hugely radical way of doing art and asking what it might mean for a Rochdale Council Estate or a Sheffield Steel works.

How bizarre, then, that 2000 years after Jesus people are all busy trying to reproduce authentic replicas of the church 2000 years ago and arguing over what was really authentic, instead of being genuinely creative and asking what it means to be a Jesus-follower in 21st Century Sheffield.

Guantanamo Images

I was thinking that it would be really good to have some visual images for our Guantanamo event in October and I came across these. Gwyneth Leech was commissioned to paint the Stations of the Cross for an Episcopal parish in Connecticut. The ones above are amongst my favourites. They brilliantly draw in some of the political images of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. I think the presence of the woman in the crowd dressed in Muslim clothes is brilliant. I also think the association of Jesus' death with the victims of Guantanamo is great. I know this is nothng new. I think someone has already blogged about the way Jesus is presented as a Guantanamo inmate in Manchester's Passion. There's a quite good theology of guantanamo available here, which says, "if Jesus were caught living the vicious subversive Gospel today, he would not be on a wooden cross, since the wooden cross no longer symbolizes what it did then: the dishonouring and dehumanization of the individual in the presence of the entire city as a punishment. He would be wearing an orange jumper, living in a cage, dishonoured and dehumanized, in the presence of the entire world who behold all this on the TV screen."

About the one of Jesus naked, Leech writes, “The Roman stripped the condemned and crucified them naked as a way of humiliating them and utterly breaking their spirit. Here, I had dozens of images of modern prisoners stripped for the same reasons,” Leech said.“I decided to compose the 10th station with the man threatened by dogs, echoing Psalm 22, sung each Good Friday: ‘Deliver me from the mouth of the dog.’”

To see the rest of the stations of the cross, click here.

For me, I want Engage to a holistic thing that brings together the creative as well as the logical, the mysterious as well as the cerebral and blurs some of the lines of distinction between the religious and secular, the pietistic and the political. I'd love the event we have in October to draw together some of these things that are often kept disperate. Can we get prints of some of this stuff and leave it on tables for people to bounce off on the evening?

Feel free to bounce off it here on the blog.

More Guantanamo Images

More images for you to bounce off, make comments on etc.

Taking Action on Guantanamo!

In blogs and conversations with people over the last year, the resounding consensus seems to be that people want to do something about their faith. Its not enough for Engage to be a talking shop. There needs to action too.

Also, out of our blog conversations just such an action idea has emerged that we would love feedback on. We are thinking that it would be good to do an event (probably in October) about Guantanamo Bay. We might watch some of the film, "Road to Guantanamo". We might ask people to contribute artistically, with music and pictures about Guantanamo Bay. We want to book a neutral venue and we want the evening to be one where we are taking action. Spending some of the time writing to inmates or to governments or just being made aware of some of the things that we could be doing about Guantanamo. The ideas are deliberately left up in the air, because we really want others to contribute ideas and get involved in this. We'd love it to be open to anyone and everyone. Although it will come from a distinctively Christian perspective, we hope it would be accessible to all, but certainly not proselytising in any way. To be honest, we haven't decided on the level/nature of the Christian element. Your thoughts on this would be appreciated.

If you've missed some of the blogging about Guantanamo, I recommend you click here to catch up on what you've missed.

In the first week or two of September we hope to have a get together (down the pub) of all interested parties to talk/plan and enthuse about what we are doing. Please post a comment or e-mail to let us know if you are interested in coming along.

Also, please post a comment either to say - I'm interested, I've got an idea - here it is, have you thought of this etc etc. Even if we don't know you we would love to hear from you and involve you in what we're doing.

Ebor Lectures

Ebor lectures are on Wednesday evenings at 7pm at York Minster or York St. John University. The theme this year is "The Challenge of Climate Change: Eco-crisis, Sustainable Living and the Future of God's Planet.

Here are a few that appeal to me - fancy going?

Wed. 29th Oct: "Silence in heaven: Reading Climate Change through the Book of Revelation" by Timothy Gorringe (I've read a few of Gorringe's books and I like them).

Wed. 4th March: "Creation, Ecological Crisis and the Global Poor" by Elaine Storkey

25th March: Rowan Williams - lecture title to be confirmed.

22nd April: "Disturbing the Present" by John Sauven (director of Greenpeace)

6th May: "Consider the lilies of the field: How Luke's Gospel could save the planet" by Mary Grey

I'm sure the full list of lectures will be available on the website soon!

Abolish the cross!

Read something today that I quite liked. A chap called C.S. Song (no idea who he is) said that the task of Christian mission is "to work towords the abolition of the cross", understanding the cross as "the height of human cruelty and the depth of God's suffering with humanity." Another guy, building on this said, "The reverence for the cross in the church appears unrelated, or even counter, to the struggle to end the suffering of the oppressed...The anthropology of the cross sets out God's concrete solidarity with victims, and a sharp critique of the collective mechanisms of violence turned against them."

I like that. I think it was Moltman (a concentration camp victim) who famously talked about the crucified God - the cross as God sharing solidarity with the victim. Girard's stuff also shows how through this solidarity the mechanisms of scapegoating are unmasked. I like the idea that in this way the cross works to end all such similar atrocities - darfur, guantanamo, bosnia, zimbabwe. It makes me think about the stuff Jesus said about "do this in rememberance of me" functioning a bit like Holocaust Day - remembering so nothing like this would ever happen again.

Torture and Guantanamo

Listened to "The Moral Maze" (available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00cm9pd//b00cm9n5 until tuesday 29th July 2008)

It reminded me of why we are thinking of doing some action to try to make some differences on Guantanamo. Michael Burke says,

"In the week that the first of the suspects held at Guantanamo Bay goes on trial for war crimes, there is a growing sense of unease that we have given up the moral high ground by using torture to fight the so called, 'war on terror'. The Americans acknowledge using techniques like 'waterboarding' (a sort of simulated drowning) to get information. Last week a Canadian court ordered the release of a video showing a sixteen-year-old prisoner at Guantanamo pitifully begging for his mother after being deprived of more than three hours sleep at a time for 21 days. An American government lawyer is on record as saying, "torture is a matter of perception". Here, at the weekend, a Commons committee accused our government of 'out-sourcing' torture of British nationals to others, notably the Pakistani security services."

And, don't forget, the inmates of Guantanamo have, on the whole, not been charged with anything.

What more reason do we need than to do something about this?

Can You Love Your Neighbor If You Hate Yourself?

Click below for Brennan Mannings short 2 pager from beliefnet -

Can You Love Your Neighbor If You Hate Yourself?

End of Sola Scriptura?

I can't say I'm wanting to defend Sola Scriptura (the Bible alone), but I have been rather shocked by its abandonment within Conservative Evangelicalism. I've noticed this in some of personal chats with conservatives and really taken aback to see it in "The Jerusalem Declaration" (the declaration by conservative Bishops in the light of Lambeth). It reads:

"The Bible is to be translated, read, preached, taught and obeyed in its plain and canonical sense, respectful of the church’s historic and consensual reading. "

Of course, the church has a clear historical and consensual reading, doesn't it?

The need to add this clause about the historical and consensual reading belies a lack of confidence in the Bible to clearly state that homosexuality is wrong. So resort has to be made to a historical reading of it. It clearly demonstrates to me that their claim to be the ones holding to the Bible is just simply not true.

What was great about Sola Scriptura in its day was that it gave the individual the right to interpret the Bible, without recourse to Popes, Bishops or Priests. It meant that practices that were accepted simply because this is the way they are always done, could be questioned and challenged. We might not be wanting a return to Sola Scriptura per se, but in the light of the homosexuality debate today, surely we need, more than ever, to not just accept things because that is what has always been believed, but to weigh it against Scripture, experience, common sense and justice.

Banksy Bouncing #5

Slightly different one this week - what's this one provoke in and from you?

Community Risks

Read Naked Pastor website the other day and two blogs really struck a chord with me (this one and the one below).

This one matters to me a lot. This is what NP said:

"I want to talk about the difficulty community brings to friendship. Being in the church has its good parts. When it’s good it’s awesome. But it is also a very difficult way to live. Like one friend said to me recently: she’s found the church to be a place of incredible pain when it comes to relationships. She’s surprised she’s still committed. But she’s right. Which is why mixing friendship with religion and community is incredibly delicate, risky and often painful. I could choose to have a few friends, kindred spirits, and keep it at that. Then go to a church where I can remain anonymous, get my liturgical fix and go home to my buddies afterwards. But no. That’s not me.

Or I could just keep faith out of my relationships altogether. Don’t even bring it up. But unfortunately faith isn’t just a hobby with me, an intellectual pursuit, a passing interest, an anthropological obsession. Somehow, faith, spirit, religion, relationship with I AM, has gripped my life to such an extent that it’s become essential to who I am. It is integral. To neglect it or deny it or suppress it in my relationships would be at least inauthentic and at worst suicidal. I can’t stand relating on a superficial level, pretending to be something I’m not pretending you’re someone you’re not. I have to be all out there or not at all. I resist becoming a rubber stamp endorsing what others do just to avoid conflict and make the mood in the room comfortable. I wish not to dial down just to stay in relationship with someone. And this has brought me the loss of many, many friends. It continues to happen to this day. And it tears my heart out every single time.
Let’s see: keep friends but deny who I am and live on a superficial level; or live freely as who I am and risk the loss of relationship? Believe me, the choice is a difficult one. "

I could have written practially all of that. Certainly, mixing community and friendship has not been a very positive experience for me. The closer the Christian community the more I've been hurt and very few friendships have come out of it. I have made more friends in situations where the community has not been so 'close' (do I mean 'intense'?) I want a church that allows distance. I want a few close friends and not much more. And yet, I can't practice my faith outside community. Herein lies my dilemma.

Your thoughts are most welcome.

There's no Santa!

This is a compendium of comments on a blog by Naked Pastor that really rung a chord for me:

"The other day a friend of mine who is a member of our community was feeling overwhelmed by the incredible weakness and immorality that is displayed in the church - the whole church in general and ours in particular. He came to the rather alarming conclusion that there’s no evident difference between believers and non-believers, Christians and non-Christians. We’re all the same. Believers and church-goers are no more holy, righteous or good than anyone else, but just as crooked, lustful, adulterous, hateful, angry, greedy and self-centered as everyone else. I agreed, having come to that conclusion decades ago. It’s sad to watch someone suddenly realize there’s no Santa, and that’s what these experiences always feel like to me.

If Christians are as depraved as non-Christians, then presumably non-Christians are just as good and hopeful and peaceful and generous and risk-taking and grace-filled as Christians, are they? Let’s start from the life we have in common. Then we can begin to make a difference.

The problem is, pastor, that when the gospel is sold to us, we are told that Jesus will change us, as he has changed others. Then we become Christians and realize that he isn’t changing us and he has never changed anyone. That’s the problem. People’s behaviour, mine included, prove the inability of a non-existing being to change lives. Change by Jesus is another broken promise of the Christian faith.

I understand what you are saying Lorena. By all appearances it does seem that Jesus doesn’t change lives. I agree that we don’t look different. I think the “Jesus is the answer” kind of Christianity actually leads people to leaving the faith because they see that it is truly a bankrupt position to take. "

Would value people's thoughts on this exchange.

How great their Art?

NT Wright on the call to take up paint, chisel, quill, etc in telling the story of good news -

Banksy Bouncing #4

hmmm...

Feel powerless on Zimbabwe? Do something now -

Courtesy of CAP -

In the last week a small but significant dent was made in the government's policy of destitution. Gordon Brown removed the immediate threat of deportation hanging over the approximately 11,000 Zimbabweans refused asylum in the UK.

At Prime Minister's questions, Gordon Brown said the government is "actively looking at what we can do to support Zimbabweans in this country who are failed asylum seekers, who cannot work and who are prevented from leaving the UK through no fault of their own."

Whilst he and the Foreign Office have been actively advocating regime change, the Home Office and UK Borders Agency have just as actively been trying to starve thousands of people back to Zimbabwe. One arm of the UK Government wants to build the capacity of exiled Zimbabwean civil society, but another arm is working hard to denigrate the skills of the future of leaders by making them destitute and banning them from working. It is tragic that it has taken the gruesome events in Zimbabwe to force the government to think again about its policy.

QUICK ACTION!
While this is in the news this is an excellent time for you to contact the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith. We have a special website that gives you a template and automatically emails it to her. Please take few minutes to do this here.
Also if you also have time, write to the Foreign Secretary to make the point to him that Britain's foreign policy interests and responsibilities are best served by letting Zimbabweans work. Do that here.
Thank you for your efforts,
Strike while the iron is hot.

Alan Thornton
(Church Action on Poverty)

PS. If you want to know what destitution is like read this week's blog from Revd Canon Nick Sagovsky, of Westminster Abbey, who is living on the food and income of somebody refused asylum.

Seriously - don't

Courtesy of Ecclesia Collective flickr