April 2007

Just a quickie…

For those interested in The God Delusion you can find here a 2 part podcast of a debate between Prof. Richard Dawkins and Prof. Alister McGrath, hosted by The Times.

I came across it on a site that looks full of interesting articles to prompt the mind of the thinking Christian. Find it here (bethinking.org) 

On an entirely different note, remember me at 10.20 am UK time Wednesday, as I’m up for root canal surgery! Say AAAAAAAAAARGH!

I’m reading my way through the Psalms, making notes as I go. Yesterday I came across a question  pertinent to becoming a political animal and not least the Localworks campaign: 

“When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?”  (Psalm 11:3)

Mrs Mandylion is reading the Bible in chronological order using a book called Cover to Cover. This scheme places Psalm 11 with Saul’s behaviour towards David in 1 Samuel 19, and David’s friendship with Jonathan in the following chapter. One part of an answer to the question above is that if we consider ourselves to be righteous (always potentially dangerous, admittedly), we need to ally ourselves with others who are righteous, just as David did in his friendship with Jonathan, not in order to bring Saul down but to enable David to keep saying what he needed to say, to keep being what he needed to be, and stay in touch.

It was encouraging at the Sustainable Communities Bill rally to see members and leaders from the Women’s Institute, CAMRA, several large unions, The Conservative, Labour, Lib Dem and Green Parties speaking in support of the bill. Each was there because they see, as I do, some foundational things in British society being swept away. It is happening, I believe, in the name of following a raw socio-economic dogma that has some very debatable precepts at its heart.

There is, of course, room to argue about what is ‘foundation’ and what is dispensible (and I am not one just to preserve ‘in aspic’ anything to the detriment of genuine progress and improvement), but in this instance at least there is a growing consensus that many many good things, things which are to the benefit of local communities are on the brink of being sacrificed and lost.

In the 1950s and 60s in the UK many attractive and functional buildings were lost, demolished to make way for ‘modern’ developments (which later became slums and housing nightmares). Are we about to allow the same on a much grander and more catastrophic scale with British society? Alone, we might feel like this, but collectively we may have more of a say. I hope and pray so.

Well, for a lot of clergy I know reaching Easter Monday is a big relief. For me, alongside the even greater significance of Easter over Christmas, there is usually a greater workload - not that it is excessive, but just that I haven’t had a clear week’s break since October and on Palm Sunday my body succombed to the bug that various others in my family have had for weeks and right on top of Holy Week I found myself feeling very drained, with a hacking chesty cough and needing to think straight and finding that nearby impossible.

At times like this, I think I learn lessons from my body. Feeling ‘How am I going to get through this?’, as I prepared for Maundy Thursday (recalling the Last Supper), feeling drained on Good Friday and then noticing going through Easter Sunday a sense of light at the end of the tunnel is a little Lent reflection all of its own. 

The cry of ‘Holiday!’ after the services were over was heartfelt, and I entered a short period of being silly around the house and playing games with the children. The joy of resurrection was immeasurably greater. I quoted several times over the weekend, “We may not know, we cannot tell what pains he had to bear” (There is a Green Hill), but I guess it is also true that “We may not know, we cannot tell, what joy he later shared”. And in that vein, just as we have a hand in the events of Palm Sunday through Holy Week to Easter Sunday, so too we like St Paul may continue to pray ourselves towards knowing more deeply the cross and resurrection and the power of Christ’s suffering and joy.

Happy Easter! Happy holidays!

The Sustainable Communities Bill (download here to read in pdf) has attracted a lot of support from MPs and others in recent years as it has been submitted and resubmitted to Parliament. This year it looks like the Bill has the best chance yet of being adopted.

Recently I travelled to Westminster Central Hall ,a Methodist Church at the heart of London, close to the Houses of Parliament for the Localworks Rally in support of the bill, sponsored by Unlock Democracy.

Chaired by the editor of the Evening Standard, an impressive succession of speakers, (including Rt Hon David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, Sir Menzies Cambell, leader of the Liberal Democrats, as well as a government minister, the CEO of Help the Aged, the Chairwoman of the Women’s Institute and others) rose to voice their support for the bill, present their own reasons for supporting it. (For example, you can watch Ming Cambell’s speech here.)

The BBC report on the evening does a good job of summarizing what was said, and on the same page there are items on ‘The Death of the High Street?’, which illustrate some of the problems the bill seeks to address. The range of issues is in fact very wide indeed and impinges on a huge number of areas of public policy. Everyone realised the need for the bill to be workable, so it doesn’t go as far as others would like, for instance in tackling problems with planning laws, but what it does address seems to me to make a great amount of sense - it scatches where many many ordinary people are itching whether they realise it or not.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll try some analysis!

Question: Can one be a Christian and ignore politics?

Answer: I thought so, but my mind is changing.

On Monday of last week I travelled up to London from my home on the South Coast to a rally in support of a ‘Private Members Bill’ soon to be getting its second reading in the House of Commons (fully elected part of UK Parliament). It isn’t my habit to do something like that, but in this instance I felt it was very important.  Over the course of a few posts I’ll describe what I took part in and why I think it is important.

It began months ago with casually picking up a newspaper styled leaflet in the village Community Centre on my way out from a toddler group. Casting my eye over it, I was struck that the points this ‘Localworks’ paper was making about the danger of creeping local community disintegration were surprisingly stark and common-sensical. It described an attempt to pass a private members bill in Parliament, with cross-party support, to stem a tide of closure and withdrawal of amenities and community-building facilities and functions from local areas and place more power in the hands of local people. Reading more, I was intrigued, and although being far from a politico, I decided to sign up for the campaign emails and try to stay a more in touch with the campaign. One thing led to another…

Enough for now, but if you can’t wait for more details, go to the Localworks site for an overview.

Well, nearly two months later, I return to the Blogosphere. Nothing the matter in the intervening time, just rotten internet connection and a lot of work to do in Lent, and a sinful amount of lethergy. Thanks Chavlin for your concern and support - much appreciated, and sorry not to have been in touch!

With any luck now a torrent of stimulating posts will appear following this rather meagre stopgap one.

To keep things rolling for the next day or so, watch this video on the need for blasphemy, or rather, the importance of keeping free speech, and the possibility of giving a critique to religion open. Not unbiased, but very fair generally. See you soon. love Mandy.

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