Global Poverty Prayer Week

This is our local church - St Ninians in Stranraer.

What is your local church like?

Tearfund completed the prompts for the Global Poverty Prayer Week by asking us to pray for the local church.

Tearfund's ten year vision is to see 50 million people released from material and spiritual poverty through a worldwide network of 100,000 churches.

At this link on the Tearfund resources page you can watch a 10 minute vidoe in which Cuthbert Gondwe, a worker with Eagles from Malawi, speaks of his hope in the local church to be the agent of transformation as God's people are united against all forms of poverty. Please do visit and watch this video.

Above all, let's pray that God would make all our churches agents of transformation for his Kingdom as we serve him in seeking to see his Kingdom come among us, his will be done here as it is in heaven.

Global Poverty Prayer Week

No pictures today.

We always hear news of disasters: earthquakes, tsunami, famine, drought, floods - we hear news for a while and then, all too quickly, pass onto the next thing.

Recognising the great generosity of many people who give so much money to disaster appeals, nevertheless, we are in danger of becoming a society that salves our consciences with a donation, without ever taking in who we are giving to or why.

The challenge of disasters is not always the immediate days after the disaster but in the long years of rebuilding and surviving. We are so quick to forget to keep on praying. Thank God that he does not so quickly pass over us onto his next project or appeal.

Reflect upon this verse

Prov 17:5 He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker;
whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished.

God of the poor, give us bigger hearts and longer memories. We thank you that you are making us more generous with our money, may this be reflected in making us generous in our praying and caring.

Lent

One of the things I do at Lent is to change my desktop picture. This is the Grunewald Crucifixion from the Isenheim altarpiece, from 1515.

Unlike other works of art from this period the artist is not searching for a portrayal of beauty, but has given over his work to provide 'a sermon in pictures'.

The figure of Christ upon the cross is in agony, suffering all the torments of this moment, notice the gesture of his hands.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, is in widow's clothing, Mary Magdalene, with her jar of ointment is wringing her hands in sorrow. John the Baptist stands beside the ancient symbol of the Lamb that was slain, proclaiming, 'He must increase, but I must decrease.'

I read somewhere that Karl Barth had a print of this altarpiece above his desk.

It is towards the cross, that place of atonement where by his sacrifice Christ turned onto himself all the wrath of God, that it might not fall upon us, towards the cross every figure in this work looks, and we journey there during Lent.

Global Poverty Prayer Week

In Feb 2007 I was able to visit tearfund partners in Malawi. These photos were taken south of Blantyre, in the Chikwawa district. The rightly proud farmer was explaining to us that over the past 10 years the villagers had noticed that their fields were being flooded where previously they had been able to grow good crops. Another poor village falls victim to global climate change.

In a very elegant solution, with help from tearfund partners Eagles, the village had planted this forest. Now when the river floods the waters are diverted away from the fields of crops behind the trees. Together with planting more flood resistant crops these villages are fighting a war against global climate change the effects of which are being set off by an over dependance upon carbon based fuels in Europe and America.

Why not visit the tearfund site and take on the Lent Carbon Fast this year?

Reflect upon this verse:

Psalm 24:1-2 A PSALM OF DAVID.

The earth is the LORD's and the fullness thereof,

the world and those who dwell therein,

2 for he has founded it upon the seas

and established it upon the rivers.

Please pray

O Lord, strong and mighty, King of glory, Lord of hosts, you love all that you have made and continue to sustain all of your creation, forgive us for our abuse of your creation, as you lead us into new life in Christ Jesus make us agents of change who will worship you by caring for your creation. Be with those poorest peoples who are suffering because of global climate change and bring them relief from this trouble that has fallen upon them.

Global Poverty Prayer Week

The effects of poverty - financial poverty, education poverty, water poverty - are multiplied by the effects of HIV/AIDS which disproportionately affects the poorest nations and poorest peoples of the world.

In 2006/2007 there were 10 AIDS deaths every hour and 10 new cases of HIV every hour in the northern region of Malawi.

There are too many children who have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS, too many communities who are missing whole generations because of HIV/AIDS.

There is a sign in a school in Ekwendeni, Malawi which reads, 'Education is a social vaccine against AIDS'. Local churches are running health care and health education programmes specifically designed to prevent the spread of this infection. Local churches are providing food to give those taking ARVs a balanced diet, training visitors to sit with those infected, those bereaved, those orphaned that they might know someone loves them.

Reflect upon this verse:

Matthew 8:3 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, "I will; be clean." And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

O Lord Jesus, who touched the man with leprosy, give us grace and strength, as your disciples, to reach out to victims of HIV/AIDS, to touch those who have been made to feel excluded because they are ill. Make us worthy to be partners with those who visit the sick, who feed the hungry, who care for those in great need.

The Special One

As Jose Mourinho welcomes Sir Alex Ferguson to the San Siro this evening, to renew their special friendship, let's remember all the joy the Special One gave us during his time at Chelsea.

Global Poverty Prayer Week

We are taking part in Tearfund's Global Poverty Prayer Week, 23 Feb to 1 Mar. We've turned one of our church halls into a prayer room which will be open for 19 hours this week, and for a youth event on Sat evening.

There are lots of resources and information available from Tearfund.

On day 1 we are invited to pray for those struggling with water and sanitation poverty issues. There are 2.5 billion people sharing this planet with us who do not have access to a toilet. Every day 5,000 children die due to poor sanitation and dirty water.

Pray that our generous, creating God would provide clean water and safe water for all those burdened with water and sanitation poverty.

Please reflect upon these verses:
James 1:27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Isaiah 10:1-2 Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees,

and the writers who keep writing oppression,

2 to turn aside the needy from justice

and to rob the poor of my people of their right,

that widows may be their spoil,

and that they may make the fatherless their prey!

A New Network Site

Stewart Cutler has started up a new network site Emerging Scotland. This looks like a great resource, well worth a visit and if you are interested why not sign up.

The Jesus Way and the world's way

On the final pages of The Jesus Way I found this quote from Peterson. He is writing about the uniqueness of following Jesus,

"It is like nothing else. There is nothing and no one comparable. Following Jesus gets us little or nothing of what we commonly think we need or want or hope for. Following Jesus accomplishes nothing on the world's agenda. Following Jesus takes us right out of this world's assumptions and goals to a place where a lever can be inserted that turns the world upside down and inside out. Following Jesus has everything to do with this world, but almost nothing in common with this world."

This connects with so many things I've been thinking about.

The life of the citizen of God's Kingdom, a follower of Jesus, is counter every culture of this world. However, Peterson's final sentence here won't allow us to escape from the world into some other-worldly kind of existence. Following Jesus is done in this world and engages with life as it is lived in this world (or as Qohelet would have it 'life under the sun'). But the values, the patterns, the means of this world are rejected by the follower of Jesus in favour of the values, patterns and means of Jesus. Living Kingdom lives now will turn the world upside down, for the blessing of all, Gen 12:3. Peterson's final sentences in this must read book,

"But in every generation a few do follow Jesus. They deny themselves, they take up their cross, and they follow him. They lose their lives and save them - and long with their own, the lives of many, many others."

A Poem for Today

I've been reading The Jesus Way by Eugene H Peterson and finding it a most wonderful book, there will be more posts on the themes from this book soon.

Today I came across a poem Peterson quotes of George Herbert, a seventeeth century priest. The poem is called 'Aaron' and is a study of priesthood. Peterson uses the poem to illustrate the anonymity of a genuine priest, an 'anonymity which suggests their authenticity.' (page 226)

I hope you find this poem helpful and challenging.

Aaron - by George Herbert

Holines on the Head
Light and perfections on the Brest,
Harmonious bells below, raising the Dead,
To lead them unto life and rest,
Thus are true Aaron’s drest.

Profanenes in my Head,
Defects and darkenes in my brest,
A Noise of Passions ringing mee for Dead
Unto a place, wherer there is no rest,
Poore Priest thus am I drest.

Onely another Head
I have, another hart and brest,
Another Musique, making live not dead,
Without whom I could have no rest,
In him I am well drest.

Christ is my only Head
My alone onely hart and Brest,
My onely Musick, striking mee even Dead,
That to the old man I may Rest,
And be in him new Drest.

So Holy in my Head,
Perfect and light in my deare Brest,
My Doctrine tun’d by Christ, (who is not Dead
But lives in mee, while I do Rest)
Come people; Aaron’s Drest.

Italics and spelling as in Peterson.

Money and questions

Today's headlines read that the Government will be investing, or giving as support, £100billion to the UK banking system.

There are only 60 million in the population - and here come the questions ...

What would happen if the Government saved £40 billion and gave each person in the UK £1billion?

How many people would pay off their mortgage?

What would happen to house prices and the housing market?

How many people would give up work?

How many people would use some of their money to invest in life saving projects in Peru, or Malawi, or ... ?

If everyone was a billionaire, would this stop the rat race of measuring self worth by piling up possessions?

Would people devote themselves to the arts? To study? To engineering and medicine for the benefit of our community?

I really don't know the answers, but it would be different and would create a different economic climate and structure, and we really need one of those.

'Blizzard' Portpatrick

I was over visiting in Portpatrick yesterday and it was a glorious day, unlike the rest of the country buried in snow!

I took these two photographs with my phone, I've never taken photographs with my phone, and was very pleased with how they turned out.

Ten Blogging Commandments

Over on What's Next, Krish Kandiah was blogging on a Radio 4 programme, God.com, and gave a link to the Ten Blogging Commandments. I enjoyed reading them and though it worthwhile copying the link here for others to look up.

Time to stand for justice in Scotland

The Herald carries some very distressing news today. In a front page story, Sold into misery, followed up inside, Why Scotland is struggling to curb the sex traffickers, The Herald exposes this evil trade happening among us.

This is not prostitution, this is slavery, and it is happening in Scotland. We can no longer pretent that young girls are only abused in the developing world, or some other place, they are being enslaved in our cities and towns.

I know there are many issues facing Christians and churches today, however, we cannot close our ears to the cries of the oppressed, we cannot close our eyes and not see the violence done to the poor. It is a scandal and a shame to our nation that there have been no prosecutions for sex trafficking, that there are no safe houses specifically to help and care for these young and vulnerable victims of this horrible crime, that in our nation there has been no priority given to catching and stopping these human traffickers and their gangs. Perhaps if our MSPs spent less time playing party politics with a budget we might get some justice for the poor.

Some years ago tearfund ran a campaign to raise awareness of this issue. They produced a very helpful video which you can view at this site - Stop the Traffik video. Please do watch this short video and share it with others.

O Lord our God, who cares for the poor and the victims of violence, forgive us for turning away from this evil among us. As we follow Jesus our Saviour, who died to set us free from every form of slavery may we become agents of change who stand for justice, who stand with the poor and the victims. Lord, save these young girls and women and put an end to this vile trade. Amen.

EA Slipstream Podcast

There's a new podcast available from EA as part of their Slipstream programme.

Ruth Valerio, who runs A Rocha's Living Lightly 24:1 initiative speaks on environmental issues. A good podcast, one to share with young people who are very engaged in environmental concerns.

Favourite book?

The eldest son and heir (presently in line to inherit half a collection of books and cds) asked me the other day which was my favourite book.
I think I went into some sort of default loop, how do you answer such a question?

I'm going to take up the challenge and work on a list and have decided to post on these books, and also some music.

24

While just about everyone else is watching season 7 via Sky, we don't have Sky, or cable, or channel 5! We've had to resort to rewatching season 5 on dvd.

Krish Kandiah has a really interesting post on 24, this link will take you there - Krish on 24.

We've watched all six seasons, and the film Redemption on dvd. I really like the concept of the show, the events happen in real time in and around LA, this generates its own tension and energy as the clock ticks round.

My favourite is still season 1, not wanting to spoil the plot if anyone hasn't seen it, but the tension is kept very high right up to the final minutes and through each episode Jack really struggles between getting the job done and doing the right thing.

From season 2 on Jack becomes much more focused on getting the job done, and in my opinion, some of the things he does to get the job done would have been better not done - even if that meant the operation failed.

There is a real issue about ways and means. This is the major theme of Eugene Petersons, The Jesus Way, another really excellent book from Peterson. Jesus is concerned about the way, what we do and how we do it matters just as much, if not more, than getting the job done. Indeed, sometimes the way we do things is the job that is to be done.

I'm sure when the dvd of season 7 of 24 comes around I'll watch it and get caught up in the action. But the ways and means adopted by Jack Bauer can't be the ways and means adopted in Christian discipleship.

Blizzards and Budgets

Just home from the Budget Group meeting in Edinburgh. A long day.

All the way east of Kilmarnock snow and blizzards. Didn't think to take any pictures with my phone (must remember next time!).
I used to think the Ballieston Interchange was the boundary, I've moved it to the Fenwick Hotel - east of there is a land of snow and ice, and there are dragons.