Happy Easter!

Two stories that would have made it into a sermon if I were preaching today!

The first came in an assembly I attended at the local secondary school to see how it was done.  Duncan Dyason of Streetkidsdirect was speaking and spoke of the power of the resurrection to change the perspective from which things were seen, quoting from his personal life, but using as an example the time he was upgraded to business class, and how while in economy he had wanted to go and see what was in business class, but once there resented the person from economy who came in to do just that!

The other was Richard Rohr via my Bishop talking about how blessings follow suffering.  He talked about how in primitive cultures boys become men by going through some form of initiation which involves some form of suffering, and which means that they recognise that they are not in control, and not the centre of the universe (how many narcissists does it take to change a light bulb - one, they hold it and the universe revolves around them).  In western society men can remain teenagers forever - or at least until their business fails, or they are made redundant, or their marriage fails - believing that they are in control and there is no need for suffering.

Happy Easter.

Count Your Blessings - 4 April

Three mornings a week Anna Akerlund stands at the main checkpoint between Bethlehem and East Jerusalem, where around 2,000 workers pass each day. She is there to monitor human rights abuses. ‘It’s important just to witness what is happening,’ she says. Thank God for his most costly gift. Reflect upon the freedom it bought you. Give an additional gift of your choice, if you wish.

Looking back over Lent that is 52.79 in total -  + an amount that I am not going to share with you!

Thanks for those who have been following this posts during Lent.  I hope you have found them helpful and challenging.

Social Media Manipulation

Tomorrow we will know if it has worked!  What do you make of the attempt to get Delirious? or the Wurzels to top the charts following on from Rage Against the Machine at Christmas?

This is not a rant against social media - I believe that social media have a valuable place in society - it is a question about what people choose to do with them.

However, I can see nothing wrong with this use - after all, what have the record industry been doing for years?  In this case all that has happened, as has happened with blogs, is that something previously restricted to the few is now open to everybody - and is more transparent.  The danger is that big business will jump on the bandwagon - as they have with viral ads - and there are signs that this is already happening (I read a report about children as young as 11 being rewarded for recommending products on a Facebook like web site, but I can't find it - anyone else know where it is?).

Personally I deplore the manipulation - what is the point of a "fixed" chart - but did we ever have an unfixed one?

The Power of the Crowd

I recently came across this horrendous story (h/t Mad Priest) about the victim of a convicted rapist having to move because the town supported the rapist - who then raped again.  Just after reading this I then read this article in the Guardian about a girl who killed herself after being bullied.  For me the shocking thing about both these cases was that people knew about them, but did nothing - or did worse than nothing and colluded.

Count Your Blessings - 2 April

Children in nearly a third of all families in Gaza experience anxiety, phobia or depression – as do many children in the Israeli town of Sderot who live in fear of rockets fired from Gaza. Pray for all who battle mental illness.

Absolutely - this is a tough one and there is more of it about than is obvious.

So what might happen?

So what will the Pope and Archbishop do with their job swap?  (H/T Bosco Peters for the story).

Lets assume that Rowan realises that he has to act fast.  Under the imprimatur of Papal infallibility he could approve married, women and gay priests and women bishops and popes.  He could then authorise the sharing of the sacraments with other denominations.  This of course would leave a number of quite conservative Roman Catholics feeling a bit disgruntled.

Pope Benedict on the other hand would find that he wasn't able to do anything - everyone would just stick two fingers up at him (one if you are reading this in America).  However, after he realised that he didn't want to go back (and nor would Rowan) he could settle in - approve the Anglican Covenant and offer a special welcome to those in the RC Church who were disgruntled with the direction that had been taken - forgetting that obedience means when you don't like the outcome as well as when you do.

Many of the more liberal CofE would of course now convert, and lo and behold problem solved...  Well not quite - I doubt that Anglican Mainstream would be too happy, but of course they could separate off and join an evangelical grouping.  At least if we are going to have separate denominations it would help if everyone shared more of their beliefs than at present!

Even the Lutherans might be happy - a spokesman, Loof Lirpa, welcomed the  suggestion and expressed a desire to be in Communion with a Rowan led RC Church.

Well, I can dream - but I am not even sure that this is my dream!  After all, the next pope could be Peter Akinola!

Count Your Blessings - 1 April

‘YMCA is the spirit to my body. They gave me olive trees and helped me plant.’ Palestinian farmer Abed Rabin, Bethlehem. YMCA replants olive trees where they have been uprooted. Give 5p for every tree outside your window.

I can see 30 another  1.50