The Easter story in stamps

My friend Theo the Philatetilist is posting his Easter collection of stamps. Well worth a look.

A credit to Methodism

Just in case anyone missed it, there was a wonderful little article in yesterday's Observer.

The article was a review of a book about a British officer in the First World War called Walter Tull.

Tull played for the Clapton Orient, Northampton and Tottenham Hotspurs football teams. During the war he was commissioned as an officer, quite a feat for someone from the ranks not born the the officer class of Victorian and Edwardian England

Remarkably he had been bought up by the Methodist children's charity the National Children's Home after being orphaned at the age of nine. Even more remarkably he was Black, the grandson of a Barbadian slave.

The writer observes:

Methodism shaped his character, producing an uncommonly moral and stoical man, who endured casual, institutional and official racism throughout his life. Even essentially well-meaning football writers habitually referred to the forward as "our dusky friend", while one chilling report of a Spurs match away at Bristol City in 1909 says "a section of the spectators made a cowardly attack on him in language lower than Billingsgate".

At one point, shortly before being killed in action, his commanding officer recommended him for the Military Cross but this apparently proved too much for the top brass. It is a shame that we don't make more of this role model of a Black British  Methodist, it may have something to say to our young people today.

The price ticket for an emotional, sensuous act of worship

Like many other preachers this morning I preached on the wonderful story of Mary who washed Jesus's feet shortly before his passion (John 12:1-8).

In terms of emotion this must be one of the most "sensuous" passages of Scripture. Mary uncovers her hair and massages the feet of Jesus. This is surely something that would have caused outrage. It was an emotionally charged and scandalous act.

Those around did react, but they didn't react by complaining about the senusual nature of the encounter. They focussed on the price of the nard used to wash the feet.


For the last forty or so years I've seen wonderful expressions of Christian faith and service squashed by those who seek to quench the Holy Spirit. Strangely they rarely question the movement of the Spirit. They look to see if a "rule" has been broken, they point out that it may cause offence to others without specifying who those others are, above all they look at the price ticket. If all else fails, it is too expensive.

Time the non-Evangelicals moved on?

As an Evangelical Christian who makes no secret of being on the political left, I have an additional sensitivity to the political and social stance of many church organisations.

There was a time, not so many years ago, when the politics of an Evangelical Christian could be discerned with ease. Issues such as abortion, sexuality, the Cold War, social justice, race and so on were easily summed up in a few glib sentences. I was once told, for example, that I could not appear on the platform of a certain annual Christian event  because I held views that were "iffy", "non Christian" and "unscriptural" on some social issues.

Times have now changed. Evangelical Christians have undergone massive changes in our attitudes across a whole range of issues. It is no longer as easy as it was to predict the politcs of a British Evangilical Christian.

I was fascinated to come across this article from Walter Russel Mead. He writes from an American perspective where many Evangelicals simply gave up on the mainline churches. This has happened  in this country to a lesser extent. Starkly put: we are in the empty mainline churches wondering where the young people are, whilst they worship down the road at an overcrowded car boot church in a school hall.

Walter has picked up the same changes that I have detected amongst Evangelicals and "fundamentalists". However he makes a radical challenge to the mainline churches, one that I suspect resonates with our experience in the United Kingdom.

Just a taste of what Walter says:


Beginning really with Billy Graham’s pilgrimage, for two generations evangelicals have been working to free themselves of cultural detritus (culturally determined views on race and on the place of women in society, for example) while holding on to the vital principles of the fundamentalist core — doctrines like original sin, the atonement, and a strong belief that God, however mysteriously, acts in history.

The heirs of the modernists, I fear, have not really had this ’second stage’ movement.  If anything, the most noticeable trend in many mainline denominations has been to go farther down the road of the modernists......

......The mainline churches seemed to feel that little of value was really lost when the fundamentalists left.  The modernists won the fight with the fundamentalists, after all.  They ended up with the big buildings, the prestigious and academically well respected theological schools, the patronage of the social elite, the bully pulpits that commanded attention and respect, the control of the denominational machinery.  Why look for anything more?

In truth, the split impoverished the mainline churches as much as it did the fundamentalists.  Modernity in religion became progressively unglued from the foundations of Protestant faith; the mainline churches lacked the kind of compelling, burning message of faith that would have kept new generations of educated, thoughtful believers engaged in the church.    For too many mainline congregations, faith faded into a habit, and the habit faded away.

I feel that too much energy is expended by some Methodists and other denominations trying to prove that we are not like the "fundamentalist" nutters down the road, when in fact there have been massive changes, of which we are unaware because we have been holed up in our denominational bunker.


It's a challenging article. I'd be interested to have some comments from the several non-Evanglicals who read this blog

Change can be difficult - but have its rewards

For the second week running I want to tell readers the good news from our tiny inner city Birmingham church.

The last decade hasn't been kind to us. The congregation fell, the building aged, and there were one or two issues which caused problems. At one point last year we had to take a formal vote to continue meeting.

Over the last few months we have been working hard to regenerate the cause. We have also been crying out to God.

Ideally we wanted all our problems to be sorted out in one go. That hasn't happened. One of our biggest problems was heating the church. We were getting gas bills in the region of £2500-£3000 a year. Part of the problem was that we weren't really sure how to run the central heating effectively. We now seem to have it under control.

But another part of the problem was that we were meeting in a large hall that cost a fortune to heat. Sometimes our congregations were struggling into double figures and we felt marooned and distant from one another.

This was a real dilemma. We all have great memories of the wonderful things that had happened in that hall (for example I met and later married my wife there) but the gas bill was our only variable cost and the one that we had to reduce.

After a great deal of heart searching, we decided to meet in the foyer area which is much easier to heat and considerably less costly.

I have tried to work out why I found the move so difficult.

Firstly, it was step into the unfamiliar. We would effectively be sitting cafe style and I wondered how this would impact on worship. I think the discussions reminded me how fearful we can be of change.

Secondly, I was worried that somehow we would cease to be seen as a real "church". I know that outsiders and other Christians often have an idea of what church should be.  I had a feeling that we may put off potential recruits. We may even put off some of our existing members.

Thirdly, we wondered how it would be for preachers working within such a confined space with the congregation just feet, rather than yards, away. Would it lead to a greater informality, something that we moved away from in the declining years?

Fourthly, and I find this difficult to admit, there was - at least on my part - a huge element of pride involved. Retreating from the main hall felt like an admission of defeat, a sign that our church was in its death throes.

Well eventually in January we made the change. Given the recent weather it was probably just as well.

It has taken us a few weeks to settle down. Trial and error eventually located the musician and preacher. Our elderly members have worked out where they are most comfortable and we've sorted out the heating.

During January the weather took its toll: icy pavements were not encouraging for our more elderly members.

But spiritually and socially things seem to be stirring. Instead of twenty people strung around a hall the size of a tennis court we are all sitting close together.There is much more face to face contact There seem to be more conversations before and after the service. Many of our members seem to coming more regularly so the average congregation is bigger. No one has left because of the new arrangements.

The services have changed. We are more intimate and there is a creeping informality. There is more interaction between preacher and congregation.

But there seems to be an additional element creeping in - the Holy Spirit seems to be present in a way that He hasn't been in recent years. This morning we sang some wonderful hymns from Songs of Fellowship which seem to suit the new arrangement well. There was a point when I wondered  if we would burst into tongues!

For all our anxiety about change we have been reminded that "church" isn't a particular place or a particular set of activities. It is about people meeting with simple hearts, confessing our sins, worshipping God and waiting upon the Holy Spirit.

If you live in or near Birmingham, or are visiting the West Midlands, and would like to be part of something new, please feel free to join us one Sunday just before 11.00 am.

For once the Judge is wrong

I really came to respect Mrs Justice Butler-Sloss when I represented our Church in the High Court at a very sad family case. The court sat in private so I am not at liberty to disclose the nature of the case. One of the things that is often not appreciated is the sheer complexity of the issues that a good church can face.

Nevertheless we sat for three days in court. Each eveniong we had a prayer meeting and we prayed togther outside the court. The stress before the case was unbearable, it really was, and we had to work very hard to contain the situation.

Our judge was Mrs Butler-Sloss. It was really remarkable the way in which she put us all at ease, drew out the full story, and then delivered her judgement. She described the representatives of the church "as most impressive witnesses" which we felt was a vindication of our  efforts and a good witness for a Methodist Church.

So I was a little disappointed this morning to read Mrs Butler-Sloss's comments about the age of criminal responsiblity. The more I read about the Bulger case the more convinced I am that those two children should not have been tried in an adult court or been identified. So on this occasion I have to differ with the judge, much as I know her to be a humane and caring person. My feeling is that the age of criminal responsibility should be raised to 13 as was the ancient Hebrew tradition for the definition of an adult.

Which does remind me. About 12 years after the court case, a political enemy (someone who loathed me and what I stood for with an absolute passion) approached me with a very sketchy outline of the case and a completely false interpretation of my role and that of the church. He was going to "expose" me. He didn't care that his information was wrong, nor that it would seriously damage other people, nor that I would be able to challenge his version of events. We had absolutely no defence except prayer. I shared the issue with a handful of close friends I know to be prayer warriors. We prayed and prayed. We never heard another word.

Welcome to high speed rail

At long last we seem to be getting movement on plans to build a high speed rail link between London, Birmingham and the major English cities of the North. This week I have spent many hours travelling these routes and simply cannot understand why it has taken so long to get to the planning stage. About 14 years ago I travelled on Japan's "bullet train" and know full well that the technology has been around for a long time.

Looking back at the past though reminds us how much transport has changed. The horse drawn "flyer" coaches between Birmingham and London used to take between three and four days. By narrowboat along the Grand Union still takes a hectic week, so I am told.

Reviewing at the proposals from a Midlands perspective I'm delighted to see that the high speed route will be based on the old Curzon Street station. This wonderful piece of Victorian architecture would make a fitting centre piece to the project. And getting rid of New Street would be a great bonus! I just hope that within the conurbation there is an adequate system of rapid access  (in my case a metro line along the Hagley Road)

Work is due to start in 2017, by which time I will be preparing for retirement or pushing up the daisies somewhere, but I wish bon voyage to the long distance commuters of the future.

A new identity

The continuing furore over Jon Venables leads to an interesting article in the Jewish Chronicle about a similar murder committed against a 2 year old girl, Sharona Joseph that did not recieve the media attention that the murder of James Bulger achieved.

The final paragraph makes the telling point:

Perhaps this debate resonates for Jews because we have so many times in history had to survive terrible loss within our families. We are, as a people, experts in hiding from mobs who want to kill us, moving to new places, taking new names and absorbing huge shifts in our identities. Perhaps this Shabbat we can take time to remember Sharona Joseph, one of our lost children, remembered by her family in many acts of charity and kindness.

A really encouraging Sunday

I had very little time to post over the weekend and I'm now catching up with myself and giving some thought to what happened.

Between us my wife and I attended morning service at three churches. Mrs MP led at one church in the circuit, I led at another and  then returned to our own church as a member of the congregation (well Frances Young was preaching and it is always worth the rush from one service to another!).

At the service where I led, I stuck to the lectionary. The story of the tower of Siloam is always a stark starting point.

The congregation seemed larger than when I was there last year. We sang "On a hill far away", better known as "The rugged cross" and the mood changed dramatically. My prepared sermon felt distinctly lightweight and I changed it in mid-flow. For the first time in many years I felt the liberty to preach about salavation and our impending death. At first I thought several people looked uncomfortable but as we concluded by singing "Just as I am" I really felt the Spirit move.

Frances took a very different approach to the same reading, focussing on the equity of God's love, but I notice that she too had chosen "Just as I am". Again our congregation was larger than normal. Following problems paying our gas bills we are meeting in the foyer during the winter months. This has created an intimacy that has been misssing since our recent turmoils. There was the feeling of unity and love that first bought me to the place all those years ago.

Over lunch my wife told me of her experience. The congregation seemed larger than previous, this being a church that seemed to be teetering on the first slopes of decline. She felt there was a real spirit of commitment and enthusiasm. What had particularly moved her was that an 11 year old girl had joined the congregation. She had no connection with the church, but wanted to find out what happened there.

We felt really blessed and really encouraged. Perhaps the patient work of so many Saints, many of them now in Glory, is about to pay off?

A revival in Methodism within our circuit would spark a revival right in the heart of England. We continue to pray.

Venables - time for compassion

I had a small two year old son called James at the same time that two year old James Bulger was abucted and later found cut in half by a train on a railway track somewhere on Merseyside.

We found it hard to imagine what had got into the two boys aged ten who had done this awful thing. The headlines were all about James and we were so thankful our child was safe in his bed.

Naturally we were upset, even angry. However the first moment that I became concerned about how this would turn out was the television coverage of adults in Liverpool stoning the police van that carried the two ten old children accused of the crime.

Those who stoned that van were louts. At the very moment that those two boys should have received love they were the subject of hate.

I was astonished that the two were put on trial and found guilty in an adult court. This seemed to be a response to the louts who stoned the van rather than an acknowledgment of the rule of law.

These children were well below the age of criminal responsibility and should never have been put on trial. It is not the job of the criminal justice system to compromise with a lynch mob.

Broken children from a broken home means broken adults. Are we now surprised that one of the children has now allegedly  re-offended as an adult?

For the mass media this is a wonderful "story", as a Dad I just feel sick that this lad was given a life sentence when hardly into puberty.

Something special

In a busy, busy week something really special happened.

On Friday I was at a client's site in London when a note came round advising us to be careful because a demonstration was to be held in the vicinity by the "English" Defence League.

I was particularly concerned because I knew that one of the lads in the office was a devout Muslim and his route to the rented hall where they held Friday prayers would have taken him near to the demonstration. With his obvious ethnic minority complexion, beard, cap and dress, he looked like  an obvious target. (Incidentally when I nip out for the lunchtime service at Westminster Methodist Central Hall I tell him I am off to "Wednesday prayers")

I did offer to walk with him pass the demonstration but he assured me that he would be safe. However I did nip out of the office at lunchtime and joined a counter demonstration, even getting filmed by the Metropolitan Police.

When I returned to the office we had a conversation. I explained that my school had a large Jewish contingent and they had suffered the same sort of provocation in the early 1960s from the forerunners of today's BNP.

He told  that he had many elderly Jewish neigbours and they had told him of thier struggles.

As we talked we both realised that in fact, thirty years apart, we had attended the same secondary school in Hackney. Like my big brother he had been born under the auspices of the Salvation Army Mother's Hospital in Clapton. My mother had been evacuated to Willesley Castle for the actual confinement. He had attended a primary school, not far from mine who rivals at football.

Suddenly I felt the Hackney of the 1950s and 1960s merge with the Hackney of today. That lad was one of us.

With enemies like this......

......Methodism must be doing something right!

And I don't think John Wesley would have been "spinning in his grave".