Radio Africa

Local Radio is back in Amersham again this year, though only for 48 hours http://amersham.buckinghamshireadvertiser.co.uk/2009/12/charity-radio-station-set-to-g.html.

This year it is raising money for Africa Link, and broadcasting from Cafe Africa on 87.7FM and on the Cafe Africa Web site.

I will be broadcasting from 3pm until 4pm (the pm is necessary, this year it is running 24 hours/day) on Tuesday 22nd with similar mix of music and chat as last year. I plan to have at least one guest studying for ordination, so why not pop along and ask us some questions?

You might ask what the point of things like this is - and I looked back to find my blogged explanation from last year - but it wasn't there! So here goes.

Last year I had no idea where this would lead. After 4 weeks of broadcasting there was a greater sense of community around the whole town. Sure, not everyone joined in, but the age range of those involved must have spanned over 70 years. There were even stories of children listening to the radio together! It also generated a sense of community in the way that any event does - and on top of that it raised money for charity.

Being local radio it even has a really local impact - the first show I had to leave early as I was taking the 8am service. I announced this on the show, and when I got to church one of the congregation said that it was a good job that I had as it meant that they knew they had to leave too!

Copenhagen

Yesterday the Daily Express reported that the European Foundation have circulated a list of 100 reasons why humanity has not contributed towards climate change. This was rapidly debunked by the New Scientist but I want to ask why it matters!

We know that Glaciers are shrinking (see The Age of Stupid) and that Bangladesh is suffering severe flooding. Are those who want to argue that we are not the cause of it not worried about what is?

OK, knowing what causes it might help determine what we should do to reverse things, but saying "not our fault" doesn't help with that.

At the Wave Rowan Williams translated Matthew 28:19 as "Go and share the good news with all creation." and Vincent Nicholls said "Only when we are clearly prepared to change the way we live will politicians be able to achieve the change we say we want to see." It was time to "live simply, so that others may simply live".

It strikes me that those who deny our impact on global warming are saying that they are not prepared to make those changes to the way they live.

Spirited Exchanges

Spirited Exchanges is coming to St Michael's.

Monday 2nd November, 7.45 for 8.00 pm at St Michael and All Angels, Amersham on the Hill.

Jenny McIntosh, co-founder of Spirited Exchanges will speak further about people leaving churches and why, and the experiences of people in this space and what might be helpful for them. Many have already left the church. Some have felt marginalised and misunderstood, others have felt controlled and disrespected. For most it has led to considerable upheaval in their faith understanding and practice and has often meant the loss of previously valued community. If you know of anyone who might like to come along please feel free to invite them.

Spirited Exchanges is a network offering support, encouragement and resources for people who are experiencing challenges to and/or the unravelling of their faith.

The Orthodox Heretic

Peter Rollins is a philosopher by profession, and founder and co-ordinator of IKON, an emergent church community in Belfast. In this book he explains by way of parables some of the ideas he has written about in his other books. He is much taken by paradox and many of the parables are paradoxical in nature. Not all of the parables stand up by themselves, but in the book they are all followed by an explanation (which does sadly undermine the power of parable). However, the parables and the following explanations provide serious food for thought about what it means to be a Christian and the nature of what belief is. He is clear that we are to think for ourselves (this was evidenced in a talk at Greenbelt where he said "I'm not sure that I believe some of what I'm saying") and in this book provides enough challenging parables to make us do just that. You may not agree with his answers, but thinking about what he is proposing will challenge what you do think and believe.

The Departed

Just watched "The Departed" and just looked up and found it won 4 Oscars. It was a good film, and yet I find myself in a weird place having watched it. It is all about moles and hardly anybody is what they seem to be - throughout the film they are all terrified of being exposed, and now, about an hour later, I find myself inexplicably in that paranoid place that they were in. Perhaps this is an example of the power of the movies.

I used to think that it didn't matter what we saw (although I have tended to steer clear of horror films), but after this experience I am more inclined to believe in the power they can have over us. Perhaps it is a case of it only being good films that we have to fear?

The Great Emergence - and Anglican issues!

I have recently been reading Phyllis Tickle on the Great Emergence. Two things struck me. The first was that she says that about every 500 years there is a shift in Christianity, and that one of the first signs of this is a breakdown in authority. Just prior to the reformation there were 3 Popes, so from a situation where people knew who was in charge now there was a choice. What struck me forcibly was the analogy with the current times in Anglicanism, where cetainly among some there is a desire for a strong authority, when in fact Anglicanism could almost be defined as not having an authority.

The other strand that I noted was a restatement of the old believe- behave- belong or belong-behave-believe. What was added to this was an explanation of the accompanying approach to people who want to join. In the old style there were lots of rules, and if you kept the rules you could belong. In the new approach there is a centre towards which people are drawn - but to which they don't have to sign up before belonging.

This is not perhaps quite the problem in Anglicanism at present but I can see many similarities. If we take the battle over homosexuality in Anglicanism then it is largely between those who think it is wrong and those who think it is right. What doesn't get much publicity is the approach that says that it doesn't matter! To be fair, if you are going to have an authorised ministry then it does matter, but this might explain why, although there are many to whom this does matter, there are a large number of people to whom it doesn't matter at all. Of course in some sense the "it doesn't matter"s are by default on the side of change, as they cannot see what the problem is in the first place!

Archbishops letter

Following the American General Convention the Archbishop of Caterbury has written that:

9. In other words, the question is not a simple one of human rights or human dignity. It is that a certain choice of lifestyle has certain consequences. So long as the Church Catholic, or even the Communion as a whole does not bless same-sex unions, a person living in such a union cannot without serious incongruity have a representative function in a Church whose public teaching is at odds with their lifestyle. ...

http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/2502

My concern about this statement is that it seems to imply that only those who fully live the Gospel are allowed to have a representative function in the Church. Now call me picky, but I don't think any of us achieve that. I know of one priest who says that churches should have a big banner over the door - sinners only - and I believe that that applies to the priests too. I also liked the story of the priest who was asked whether he was a Christian and he said "I'm trying to be". Having googled this I know that there are a large body of people who will say that being a Christian is about grace - fine - so what makes people ineligible for a representative role?

Or is this something to do with hypocrisy? Many of our other sins are hidden and known only to us. If someone is living in such a union, but hides the fact, does that make them fit for a representative function? I would argue not and that the action of the Americans is at least honest about where they stand in a way that the CofE isn't.

For me a large part of being a priest is about an openness and honesty about who I am - hiding away parts of myself for fear of what others might think or say is to me denying God - and yet I find myself doing it. But at least I confess it and don't make a policy out of it.