Off line until further notice

I'm afraid I've had a catastrophic computer breakdown. Everything has gone and it looks as though I will have to start all over again. Apologies but until I've got it sorted there will not be time for blogging.

Optimism for Methodist-Jewish relations

I've just seen this week's Methodist Recorder. Sadly an absolutely first class article (with just a few discordant paragraphs at the end) highlighting the divisions - and the hopes - between Methodists and Jews is not available on line.

In recent weeks I've spoken to many Jewish people. Some old friends, some very new, and it has been fascinating to hear them speak of their relationships with Christian people.

One gentleman told me of his experience with the Quakers. He pointed out that it was they who organised the kindertransport which saved thousands of young people from Hitler's gas chambers including him. He feels so betrayed that many Quakers have now turned against Israel.

Several Jews have reminded me of their admiration for Donald Soper (I have no idea what his views would be on the current crisis between Methodists and Jews), especially his outstanding work against apartheid and his campaigning against colonialism. We clearly enjoy, along with the Quakers a residual goodwill among British Jewry.

My feeling is that within Methodism there is a growing regret that conference plunged into this issue having allowed ourselves to be led by the nose by a tiny internal pressure group. The report in the Recorder indicates this recognition.

The forthcoming legal challenge will allow the Church's trustees to think again as to whether this has been a sensible and legal use of the Methodist name and resources. I think there will be a sigh of relief in many quarters to have a good reason to revisit the issue, withdraw the poisonous report and rescind the resolution that has led to the crisis.

For what it is worth here are the few lines of the Recorder report that are on their website:

THE controversial Methodist Conference-approved report on Israel-Palestine has led to deeper dialogue and engagement between local faith groups, despite the “pain” the report has caused the Jewish community, national Methodist and Jewish leaders have revealed.

The “Justice for Palestine and Israel” report, received by the 2010 Conference, sparked a national row about the Methodist Church’s position on the conflict in the Holy Land. Among other things, the report had called for an end to Israel’s occupation in the West Bank and had invited Methodists to boycott “Israeli goods emanating from illegal settlements”.

At the time, senior Jewish leaders attacked the Church about its decision to back the report, which they alleged was “flawed”, “biased” and harmful to interfaith relations in the UK. Now, five months on – and with national “Inter Faith Week” currently under way – Methodists and Jews have shown signs of optimism for the future of inter-religious relationships.

Southern Electric - your card is marked

Having worked in various press offices for nearly forty years I have enjoyed the rapid rise of new technology and social media.

One of the greatest innovations has been google alerts. It is an amazing little system. It costs nothing and yields all sorts of information. You put your company name in - or that of a competitor - and the google webcrawlers alert you by email when something appears on a news site or a blog. It is very fast and is providing real competition to the traditional press clippings service.

Whereas just ten years ago the first job of the morning in a press office was to scan read the newspapers nowadays we click through the google alerts. We look out for the good things, we also look out for the negative stuff. And so do any competitors.

Well tomorrow morning the press team at Southern Electric based at Grampian House, 200 Dunkeld Road, Perth, PH1 3GH will be seeing this blog entry. I'd suggest that they have a word with their transfers team as quickly as possible and find out why Methodist Preacher is upset with them.

My advice to Southern Electric is to get it sorted asap. I am disgusted with their behaviour regarding an elderly vulnerable woman. I'd be interested to know if anyone else has had dealings with this company.

Homosexuals should be protected from murder

There's been a very depressing development at the United Nations where the "Third Committee", responsible for human rights have been meeting. Slightly off my normal track as this is an issue that I don't often cover on here but provides an interesting case studies in the way different countries see human rights for people with non-heterosexual orientation.

An international homosexual pressure group explains the significance:

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) and ARC International are deeply disappointed with yesterday’s vote in the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly to remove a reference to sexual orientation from a resolution on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. The resolution urges States to protect the right to life of all people, including by calling on states to investigate killings based on discriminatory grounds. For the past 10 years, the resolution has included sexual orientation in the list of discriminatory grounds on which killings are often based.

The removed reference was originally contained in a non-exhaustive list in the resolution highlighting the many groups of people that are particularly targeted by killings - including persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, persons acting as human rights defenders (such as lawyers, journalists or demonstrators) as well as street children and members of indigenous communities. Mentioning sexual orientation as a basis on which people are targeted for killing highlights a situation in which particular vigilance is required in order for all people to be afforded equal protection. 

The amendment removing the reference to sexual orientation was sponsored by Benin on behalf of the African Group in the UN General Assembly and was adopted with 79 votes in favor, 70 against, 17 abstentions and 26 absent

I was really surprised at some of the votes cast. Why would countries like Jamaica and South Africa vote the way they did?  One would have thought that the new governments in Iraq and Afghanistan would have wanted to demonstrate their liberalism. What an interesting "absence" by Turkey, which is hoping to join the EU. In fact only one country in the Middle East voted with the UK, US and other liberal democracies.

Nations voted as follows:

In favour of the amendment to remove sexual orientation from the resolution on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions (79):

Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belize, Benin, Botswana, Brunei Dar-Sala, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, China, Comoros, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Republic of Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Opposed to the amendment to remove sexual orientation from the resolution on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions (70):

Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bhutan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Micronesia (FS), Monaco, Montenegro, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Samoa, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Timor-Leste, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela.

Abstain (17):

Antigua-Barbuda, Barbados, Belarus, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Colombia, Fiji, Mauritius, Mongolia, Papau New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Vanuatu

Absent (26):

Albania, Bolivia, Central African Republic, Chad, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Honduras, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Marshall Island, Mauritania, Nauru, Nicaragua, Palau, Sao Tome Principe, Seychelles, Solomon Islands, Togo, Tonga, Turkey, Turkmenistan

Disturbing thoughts about faith

Earlier this week I posted an item about a local footballer, Cyrille Regis, who had accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour.

There are two things about this post that have bothered me ever since.

Firstly the source. Secondly what Cyrille said.

There was a third point as well about which I won't dwell: most Methodist bloggers received this item for publication, but this blog was the only one to use it. Perhaps I just jumped at a local story?

Let us start with the source. Unbelievably, given its content, this item came courtesy of the Methodist Church Head Office. It came from the connexional communications team. Now it didn't make a press release, but just a quick look at what has been published by the comms team this year shows just how unusual this sort of item really is. It would be so good to have more material like this.

What really struck me was the content. It seemed so unlike anything that a "modern" Methodist would say.

Cyrille was to the point "My greatest experience, greatest lesson was to know Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour". He described what happened when he first understood. He had read a book by Michael Green. He suddenly found a great peace. He knew that Jesus was in the room with him.

I knew immediately what Cyrille meant because I had an identical experience on Friday 25 March 1966 at about 8.45 pm. Just fifteen minutes before I was explaining why I was an atheist.  Then one minute I felt lost, uncertain, and  confused. The next minute my life was changed.

Now a modern Methodist will sing about such a experience: "Long my imprisoned spirit lay Fast bound in sin and nature's night; Thine eye diffused a a quickening ray. I woke, the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off, my hear was free. I rose went forth and followed thee" (Hymns and Psalms 216).

But we shy away from sharing that experience in our sermons, Bible studies and personal witness. To prove the point: when did YOU last hear a testimony of the transforming power of Jesus from a new believer in a British Methodist church? 

I would love someone to come on here and tell me that I am wrong, that there are Methodist churches where people speak of the experience that both Regis and I know.

We as Methodists no longer speak in that way. Why not?

The last thing we need is another bank holiday

The biggest mistake in British history was to relinquish the position of Lord Protector in 1659. I personally don't have a problem with the present head of state. I've met her on three occasions and always have a polite though formal conversation.

American guests in particular are impressed by the photograph of our last meeting at Hereford Cathedral. But I think our next head of state should be elected.

Now one of her grandsons is to get married. Not a problem. I hope that the family can afford the wedding. I don't see why us taxpayers should fork out. They should do it discreetly at Windsor Castle one Saturday so we don't have to tie up the whole of Central London for a week.

The latest nonsense is the suggestion that there should be a public holiday for the day. The last time this happened was when the groom's father married. I was working for Walsall Council at the time, running the civic newspaper.

We had a newly elected Tory government that was absolutely hammering public services (there's nothing new under the sun). Walsall council was especially hit.

The Tory government - on a sort of bread and circuses basis - decided that the entire country should have the day off, a Bank Holiday. I rang the Downing Street press office and asked how much this would cost the country and whether the additional costs to the council would be met by central funding. I am still waiting for the call to be returned.

We are being told to cut public spending, to tighten our belts because we are all in it together blah blah and the government is now seriously considering the expense of a public holiday.

All businesses are obliged to pay employees on a bank holiday. It means our public services stop for the day but not the expense. People like me who sell our time by the day can't work and won't pay taxes. The months of April, may and June are especially problematic in this respect. The whole idea is just a massive extravagance.

If we've got money to spare let's protect services not waste it on another royal vanity project.

My guilty secret is that......

...on a Friday evening I just want to relax, have a good meal, a cup of cocoa and watch the telly.

The BBC programming normally gets the mood right for a Friday evening - and have done for about forty years.

However every  November they spoil the rhythm of the week by insisting on broadcasting the awful Children in Need programme. Every year I feel that I should make an effort. Every year I cringe.

Now I'm sure that the money is much needed and well spent but why make me feel guilty by interfering with my privacy on a Friday evening? I might add that I worked behind the scenes at a local radio station one year and that confirmed my view. So my guilty secret is that I simply do not enjoy Children in Need night.

Canadian Premier has a message for British Methodists

Facebook readers will find the link here

As others see us.....

.......fascinating look at Methodist blogging on the Jewish Chronicle website

Baggies star Regis meets Jesus

Former Baggies star Cyrille Regis has met Jesus. And he talks about that meeting on Methodist Web Radio today.

He has now brought out a book about his life, My Story.

Cyrille has quite a tale to tell from his days as one of the "three degrees", the first Black players to transform British football (one of whom was former Orient player the late, great Laurie Cunningham, who I saw several times at Brisbane Road before he was famous).

The Methodist Church news service has brought out a podcast where Cyrille speaks for himself and describes the moment he accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour. He also talks about his life as a footballer and gives timely advice to football mad youngsters.  Hear it here.

Fighting Back on Radio Manchester

My old school friend Martin Sugarman appeared on BBC Radio Manchester recently on the Jewish Citizen programme.

Martin's section appears after about 16 minutes talking about his book Fighting Back - Britain's Jewry's Military Contribution to the Second World War.

You can  find the recording here.

Later on in the programme the Jewish chaplain to the armed forces talks about his work and this may be of interest to Christian clergy.

My guilty secret........

......it is time that I said publicly what I feel deep in my bones.

I will make an announcement on Friday.

Note for my  kids: do not worry, practically every other British adult has the same secret and I am not about to win, yet again, the World's Most Embarrassing Dad Award.

Birmingham is no longer in my back yard!

Until sometime last week my garden fence was effectively the boundary between Sandwell and Birmingham. The City Council had retained control of Lightwoods Park throughout all the various local government reorganisations.

With the park now in Sandwell hands for the first time since 1902, the Birmingham boundary has moved about 400 yards from my house. 2000 local residents celebrated on Saturday.

During the various funding cuts in the 80s it was clear that Birmingham was not committed to caring for a park over its city boundary. It recent years we got the impression that it was being allowed to go to rack and ruin.

Concern about Lightwoods House the centrepiece of the park, one of the oldest buildings in Sandwell, was confirmed to be justified when the Hardman stained glass manufactuers moved out. Since they left two years ago the building has rapidly deteriated.

Congratulations to Abbey ward councillors Bob Piper, Steve Eling and Ann Jaron who have worked hard to get the park in local hands. All the best to the Friends of Lightwoods Park.

Blogging and moderation

It seems that  over at the semi-official Connexions site things are beginning to fall apart. Long gone are the days when the Reverends Richard Hall and Kim Fabricius  could post their anti-Israel, anti-Palestine  views unchallenged and simply insult anyone who disagrees with them. A number of experienced and knowledgeable bloggers are obviously tracking their posts

Selected contributors to Connexions are now barred, comments are censored, and discussions - the length of which were until recently a source of earthly pride - are now routinely curtailed once Richard and Kim realise that they have lost the argument.

On this blog I don't go out of my way to solicit comments. My main purpose in blogging is to express my own views, not run a debating society.  Readers are welcome to comment  and often provide  valuable insights. I realise that I'm legally responsible as the publisher so I do take down anything which I think crosses the line.

Following a recent post I got a spate of unacceptable and unpublishable comments. At the same time I am working behind an eccentric firewall and am unable to "moderate", or sometimes even see, comments posted during the day or overnight. In any case anything to do with blogging or the church is only possible during lunch breaks.

So comment moderation is ON Sunday night to Thursday evening. That means contributed comments will not appear until I explicitly decide to publish them. During the weekends I am able to check posts once every three or four hours so moderation is OFF. Any contributions to posts more than a fortnight old are also subject to moderation as these are usually spam messages.

Women at War: Remembrance Sunday 2010

'I risked an apprehensive glance over my shoulder. Mrs P had turned on her back, had her legs crooked , the long operation stockings in concertinas round her ankles, and the whole head of a baby between her thighs. The head was small, bald, round and in the small round face were two placidly blinking eyes. Whilst I glanced, the rest of the baby slid placidly into sister's waiting brown hands. You've got your daughter, my dear! Well done, Mrs P."

Mts P's answer was drowned by what sounded like a plane skimming our roof. Instantly, the worst hell of that, or any other night, for me that summer, was let loose. Impossible to differentiate between ack-ack shells, traces, aircraft engines and explosions, but we all heard the whistle of one falling bomb. Every instinct I possessed demanded that I dived under Mrs N's labour bed, but her baby's whole head had shot out and with the bomb's explosion he catapulted from the virgina into my hands trailing a long blue veined cord. He was covered in grease and  and so furiously flaying the air with minute arms that I was too busy trying not to drop him to be more than semi- conscious that medicine and lotion bottles, metal kidney dishes, enamel bowls, jugs and blackout screens were dropping around us.

Sister dodged back from the other bed to tie the baby boy's cord in two places and cut between the ties. He lay on the bed in the curve of his mother's legs, bellowing with more strength than I had ever heard from a new born baby. Sister told me to wrap him in towels and blankets, tie round his wrists the waiting name tap, put him in the waiting cot. "Then get that large kidney dish in position for the placenta.' She  shouted, but not as loudly as before. 'You've got a son, Mrs N, with good lungs. Just the afterbirth, dear!' She noticed the blackout screens. 'Andrews! Get those screens up, fast! I must have the lights on.'

Two screens needed replacing. A third had been blown out of its frame and torn in half. I stuck it together with rolls of three-inch adhesive strapping, and then noticed the raid over. The guns were firing spasmodically and the sound of engines had gone. I looked properly at the patients faces for the first time. Mrs P had her baby in he arms, her eyes closed, and looked exhausted. Mrs N did not even look tired. She was smiling to herself but breathing as if she had been running hard. Sister told me to go back to my shelter family. 'I can cope here, thanks.' She held the baby boy, and as I left the labour ward I saw her put him in Mrs N's arms, 'Meet your son, my dear,' she said.'


Lucilla Andrews No Time For Romance Corgi Books price £7.99 pages 154-156.

Mrs Andrews' daughter, Veronica (who will be known as a formidable Labour Party press officer by some readers) was a guest at our wedding held a City Road Methodist Church where we will read this extract during our Remembrance Service this morning.

Time for BT to disconnect

Campaigners against Israel, having found the Methodist Church a pushover, are now setting their sights on BT.

According to the Reverend Richard Hall:

"In January 2010, BT welcomed Israeli company Bezeq International into its Global Alliance. Bezeq International is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bezeq, which provides telecommunication services to illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (sic). The settlements are not just illegal under international law – they violate the human rights of Palestinians living under military occupation. Settlements are also an obstacle to a just peace."

Well for one Palestinian, disconnection can't come fast enough. Let Associated Press take up the story:

Walid Husayin — the 26-year-old son of a Muslim scholar...... Known as a quiet man who prayed with his family each Friday and spent his evenings working in his father's barbershop, Husayin was secretly posting anti-religion rants on the Internet during his free time.



Now, he faces a potential life prison sentence on heresy charges for "insulting the divine essence." Many in this conservative Muslim town say he should be killed for renouncing Islam, and even family members say he should remain behind bars for life.


"He should be burned to death," said Abdul-Latif Dahoud, a 35-year-old Qalqiliya resident. The execution should take place in public "to be an example to others," he added.

Unlike neighbouring Israel, which supposedly "occupies" Qaliqiliya, the West Bank has no tradition of  legally enforceable religious freedom. Husayin is an atheist, a position  with which a Methodist would disagree,  but for which we would not want imprisonment or death.

For Husayin  it is a tragedy that his cover was blown on the internet. If BT get an opportunity they should disconnect him for his own safety.

BT is a great company (declaration of interest I have worked for BT and members of our family benefit from the BT pension scheme) which I hope will not be intimidated by this campaign. We should welcome a British company investing in one of the most dynamic economies in the Middle East. Good communications was an essential ingredient of the Oslo Accord and a new telecommunications infrastructure will benefit all, both Jew and Arab.

However the way things are developing it is only going to be a matter of time before we have picket lines outside Jewish owned businesses. Will they be wearing their snazzy brown shirts and polished jackboots again?

Wednesday's demonstration - time for the parents to march!

 I rarely blog about family matters. One of my  children took part in Wednesday's demonstration against the proposed crippling rise in university fees. Both she and I are annoyed that since Wednesday the publicity seems to be about the actions of a handful of clowns who used it as an  opportunity to bring the other demonstrators into disrepute. Agent provocateurs?

Meanwhile as a good parent I set aside a redundancy payment from ten years back to pay the fees. In fact I still have an article from The Observer dated 1 October 2000 (above)  advising parents with a young family how to save and  prepare for the future.

So far so good. My forecasts and planning have been on track.

Now I find that those fees could triple. We will, of course, find the money. It will not be easy. However I do feel angry at  those politicians who made cheap promises about scrapping university tuition fees just six months ago and now sit on the front benches raising them.

Perhaps us parents should demonstrate? Tell the kids to stay at home. That will give the press something to shout about.  And show the kids a thing or two. The veterans of Grosvernor Square on the march again!

Armistice Day 2010: God be with you till we meet again

This hymn was often sung as a farewell to Methodist young men on the Sunday before they reported for duty. It is 914 in the Methodist Hymn Book (1934) and 651 in Hymns and Psalms (1983) though slightly altered.

John Telford in "The Methodist Hymn Book Illustrated" said "The hymn was a great favourite with the Christian soldiers in the South African War. The number of the hymn in Sankey's collection was 494 and this was used by the men as a password. 'On sentry, men meet and whisper, "four nine four" they write it in their letters, and shout it as they or their comrades go into battle. They murmur it dying on the velt" quoting from Chaplains in Khaki p 32

I'm not certain if the embed will appear on facebook in which case find it on Youtube here

 

Let's raise the standards of Methodist blogging

I'm working away from home at the moment and behind a client's eccentric firewall (one of the reasons why I am reluctantly operating comment moderation at the moment) so I'm not able to post as much as I would like. This post comes from an internet cafe in London.

Earlier this year a code of practice was discussed for Methodist blogging. To be honest I'm not certain I know what the final outcome was. I do know though that there was a bit of a moral panic about the way some discussions on some blogs were conducted.

In recent weeks the Methodist blogsphere has been enlivened by contributions form several other bloggers who actually know quite a bit more than the average Methodist about the issues surrounding Israel and Palestine.

One of those contributors has been Alec. Now I don't know if Alec is a Methodist or even a Christian but I have seen him develope some very interesting arguments. He has, on occasions disagreed with me. He has always been polite. He contributed to the outstanding discussion that developed on Dave Warnock's site (ignore the first five or six posts).

Which brings us to today. I'm not certain I followed the entire discussion but I was very disturbed by a reference to Alec on the semi-official anti-Israel, anti-Zionist Connexions site.

Alec had made a point and the Reverend Kim Fabricius responded (comment 40):

 Alec is a very confused individual. As well as not knowing his ass from his elbow, he doesn’t know you from me........ [This] business demonstrates just how monomaniacal poor Alec is. Let’s put him on our prayer lists for the intellectually ill.

What an insulting way to speak about someone trying to engage in intelligent debate.

And what a blasphemous misuse of the word "prayer".

Now Kim Fabricius is the effective co-editor of the Connexions site. I gather that Richard, the blog owner, was one of the chosen few to comment on the proposed code of conduct.

Yet here we have a very unpleasant example of cyber abuse and bullying. As worrying is the misuse of the word "prayer" by a Minister of a Christian church to abuse someone who may be a non believer.

Now possibly Kim and Richard see this all as one great enormous joke. When I have dealt with abuse and bullying  as a trade union official the perpetrators always say "I was only joking", "can't she take a joke?", "some of my best friends are Jews/Blacks/gay" etc.

I believe this nasty language is totally inappropriate and merely serves to bring Methodist blogging into disrepute. Sooner or later the behaviour of our professional blogger will have to be called to account.

Meanwhile Alec, you are welcome on the Methodist  blogsphere and thank you for your thoughtful and insightful contributions.

God bless you. You and Joseph have been an answer to prayer. And I mean that.

A bunch of sweet peas

This morning I will, as usual be making my way down to London on the 6.50 am from Birmingham New Street. As I sit on the train I read a passage of scripture and tomorrow arrive at Psalm 23.

I've been looking forward to this since Sunday when I came across an old Bible that had been retrieved from a saint who had passed to glory.

Inside the front cover he had written "This book will keep me from sin. Sin will keep me from this book".

A slip of paper fell out and it was headed "A bunch of sweet peas". It turned out to be a simple but profound analysis of Psalm 23.

v1a  PERSONAL "The Lord is my shepherd" John 10:7
v1b  PROVIDES  "I shall not want" Matthew 6:3
v 2a PLEASANT PLACES "He leadeth me to lie in green pastures" Matthew 11:29
v2b PURPOSE "He leadeth me" John 10:4
v2c PROTECTION "Beside still waters" Revelation 7:17
v3a PRAISE "He restores my soul" Luke 10:20
v3b PERFECTING "Leads me into paths of righteousness" Philippians 5:15
v3c PERFUME "For His name's sake" John 15:16, Song of Solomon 1:3
v4a PRESENCE "Thou art with me" Colossians 1:27
v4b PEACE "Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me" John 14:27
v5a PARENT - PREPARATION "A table before me" Luke 11:11-13
v5b POWER "In the prescense of my enemies" Luke 10:19
v5c POSSESSION "Anoints my head with oil" Ephesians 1:13
v5d PLENTIFUL "My cup runneth over" John 10:10b
v6a PRESENT "All the days of my life" Hebrews 13:5
v6b PERMANENT "I shall dwell forever" John 14:2-3, Acts 1:9-11, Revelations19:7,  Revelations 22:4

Why I wear a poppy

On a couple of other Methodist blogs I note that one or two Ministers are expressing their misgivings about wearing a poppy and Christian involvement in Remembrance Sunday services. I was little alarmed that so many assumptions were made about those of us who do wear poppies - that it is to do with nationalism or as a recruitment tool for unpopular wars.

My reasons for wearing a poppy, and commemorating Armistice Day, are much more simpler.

Given what previous generations went through I don't begrudge my annual donation to the British Legion. It helps fund their works with ex-servicemen and their families and actually provides employment for some.

As an MEP I was often contacted by ex-service personnel needing help with pensions, expenses and other advice. I must say that I was really very impressed by the fieldwork of the British Legion. One telephone call from my office and I knew that help would be on the doorstep with professional advice within a few days.

Nor do I mind pausing just for a few minutes each year to remember all participants and victims of conflict. I always make that point, when I lead a remembrance service. We pray for those who are fighting, those they  are fighting against and the families of all those whose fathers, brothers, and children are away fighting. I don't see any conflict between remembering those afflicted by war and being born again as the result of the sacrifice made by the man who turned up on a donkey.

Then I think of my own family. We still haven't completely recovered from the impact of two horrible wars. My Dad came back and was not a well man. I shan't go into details but I can still be moved to tears as I think of what happened to our childhoods. I multiply that by hundreds and thousands and believe that a few moments thinking and praying for our family and others is not a bad thing. There is still much healing to be done.

Then I think of my grandfather.

As a child I could see the four bullet holes across his chest that were reminders of day on the retreat from Mons he was mowed down by a machine gun.

He was triaged and left in a tent with about 200 other men. He asked for water and was refused as the little clean water they had  whicj was reserved for those in the next tent who had a chance. He was told he would be dead by the morning.

During the night he heard the moans. He heard the moans gradually subside as his comrades died around him.  He got it into his head that if he stayed awake and wiggled his toes he would live. The following day they came to clear the tent for a trench burial. Granddad was still alive so they transferred him. His was in terrific pain so they gave him several shots of morphine, the drug that comes from the poppy.

I think of my own brush with the British army in Northern Ireland. I was a volunteer on an ecumencal playscheme in the Ardoyne district of Belfast shortly after Operation Motorman. Members of the Provisional IRA opened fire  at an army base on a flax mill from the roof of the school dinner hall which was being used by the playscheme.. The British returned fire and for the first time in my life I knew the terror of being under fire. Trying to manage 50 excited children as bullets whistled around is not easy. However one of the IRA bullets killed a British soldier.

I found out afterwards how sordid war can be when I was beaten up by that soldier's comrades who swamped the area in force.

So my act of remembrance is not about glorifying warfare or fanning the flames of nationalism. It is about remembering what war does to individuals, families, communities and whole nations. I find remebrance Sunday a helpful time when I can pray and lead prayers, for the healing of the nations.

Same old Tories, with Lib Dem support

Surprise, surprise. Having done their best to create unemployment the Tories are now going to punish those they make unemployed.

The Sunday Telegraph tells us:

In one of the most controversial measures, the Government will bring in compulsory work placements, whereby unemployed people who are judged to be failing in their efforts to find work will be given an "extra push". 
 
Those forced to take up Work Activity Placements will be expected to spend 30 hours a week for four weeks at a time in a local business or project benefiting the community. 

If they do not attend or fail to complete the placement a "significant" financial sanction will be imposed, such as withholding Jobseeker's Allowance for at least 3 months, government insiders said. 

One source close to the plans said: "We know there are still some jobseekers out there who need an extra push to get them into the mindset of being in the working environment. 

Of course it would be  much more sensible to reflate the economy, boost wages, and give people an incentive to go to work. After all if there is all this work available in local businesses or community projects why aren't people being paid to do it?


This is all about stigmatising people who are unemployed and creating a low wage economy. But this is what the Tories do every time. Why did people believe that Cameron and his glove puppet Clegg were any different to any other Tories?

Choral evensong in honour of Samuel Wesley

It is the bi-centenary of the birth of Samuel Sebastion Wesley the grandson of Charles Wesley, brother of John. Samuel was one of the greatest 19th century composers of church music and a pioneer at retriveing the reputation of the musical standards of the Church of England

One of our local Anglican churches, St Agustines of Hippo, held a choral evensong in his honour and did him proud. They included a couple of grandfather's Charles's hymns and it was fascinating to hear O thou who camest from above sung by a well rehearsed choir.

It made a pleasant change but I think the chanting and sung prayers could, over time, prove too much for my non-conformity. Nevertheless, thanks to our friends at St Agustines for some some wonderful music and a refreshing and restful hour.

Distressing case used to ignite racist passions

Today's Daily Mail shows just how close Britain is to a collective nervous breakdown. They report the distressing case of a gang of men in their 20s who systematically abused young girls in their early teens.

The headline read: Gang of Asian men weep as they are jailed for total of 32 years for abusing white girls as young as 12


The online comments (193 when I looked) are foul, absolutely full of racist abuse.

That these men should be punished, and punished severely is beyond doubt.

However before my fellow ethnics get too carried away I would want to remind them that that one of the most horrific child abuse gangs, that led by Sidney Cooke (pictured), consisted entirely of white middle aged Englishmen.

I particualarly recall the death of Jason Swift at their hands as he was murdered on a housing estate near my home in Hackney. Cooke was living on "the mead" when I was a teenager. Perhaps I could have been a victim. I reiterate: Cooke was white.

A Messianic perspective

The Leeds Messianic Fellowship have produced a response to the Methodist Church report on Israel and Palestine

Bigots in North Wales

An astonishing story has emerged from Wales. It is of interest to the British Methodist Church where a carefully selected working party is currently examining whether "Christian Zionism" is compatible with Methodist belief.

The Father's House, a small standalone Christian congregation has been evicted from holding services in a public community centre because its congregation has expressed support for Israel.

The village hall committee wrote to the church saying:   "There has also been great concern expressed about the content of your website, and the very controversial views it contains. The Village Centre Committee does not wish to be associated with your views".

It is possible to register your disgust at this outrageous attack on religious liberty by contacting the Gwernymynydd  Community Council direct. 

This seems such an obvious case of religious discrimination that I hope this community council face the full force of the law.

It's not fair!

Over at The Kneeler Angela has posted a provocative (in the best sense of the word) article on the recent campaign to encourage members of the public to sign the donor register. John on Listen, think, act has written a robust defence of donor transplantation. Some of the comments on Angela's post have been written by people actually involved in donor transplant programmes and counselling. A very interesting strand of discussion.

Responding to a sarcastic remark about Israeli democracy

I put the 27th comment on the Reverend  Dave Warnock's blog which I thought  worth re- posting here:

Dave you say:

"Oh well everything is fine then. If non-Jews can vote then automatically there can be no injustice. (note sarcasm)."

I think this gets to the heart of the issue about the State of Israel and the understanding of many Methodists including you.

Israel has always been very jealous of its belief that all minorities should be full citizens. The Knesset is elected by an extreme form of proportional representation.

At each election representatives of Arab political parties are elected to the Knesset. In order to form a government the main parties normally have to come to an understanding with these Arab politicians.
I know you find it difficult to appreciate that I have some experience in this but for five years I was a member of a standing committee for relations with the Knesset.

I have actually sat, discussed and ate with Arab members of the Israeli Knesset. They are no different from the politicians in our our councils and parliaments. They ask questions, they speak, they vote. They have full citizenship.

Israel also has an active supreme court. There have been occasions when Arab citizens have taken the government or councils to that court and won. I am on the mailing lists of several Israeli civil rights organisations (and have been for years) so I am aware of the role of the rule of law across the territory of Israel.

In 1994/5 I played a role in securing the funding from the EU that would underpin the creation of a Palestinian Authority. At the same time, privately, I was sending part of my tithe to support the work of a friend who had set up a youth club in a West Bank town.

My belief then - and this was supported by the Israeli government - is that a stable Palestine was the surest guarantee of Israeli security. One of my little projects was to push for the training and funding of the Palestinian police force. I have seen this training at first hand.

This was at the time of the Oslo accord. The aims and ambitions of the Oslo accord were absolutely mind blowing. There would be joint industrial zones, the creation of a highway from Cairo to Jerusalem and then onto Amman, Damascus and Baghdad and a binding security agreement.

I had several discussions with Shimon Peres (it is really worth reading his autobiography "the Battle for Peace") and other politicians. It was clear that we were visiting a functioning democracy.

At the same time that I was working with the Knesset I was also on the joint parliamentary committee with Slovakia.

When I visited Bratislava we were followed by Korvac's thugs everywhere we went. My room was turned over by the secret service. Members of the opposition - many from the Hungarian speaking minority - feared for their safety. The President who had fallen out with Kovacs was isolated in a former monastery. His son had been kidnapped and beaten up. At that point it was obvious we were not visiting the institutions of a functioning democracy.

In this debate within Methodism a great many people - including you - have taken a knee jerk reaction to Israel that just isn't born out by the facts.

Now that doesn't mean there are not problems. You cannot sit down in meetings with Israeli and Palestinian politicians without being aware of the many issues.

But it does us no credit when someone in your position believes they can make sarcastic comments about the rights of all Israeli citizens to vote.

Picture for illustrative purposes only. Is was not taken in Israel.  

Correction (05/11): I got my Slovakians mixed up. I should have referred to  Mečiar

First they came for the Jews, then they came for the Christians, then they came for....

I was really distressed to read the story in today's Guardian of the massacre of Christians in Baghdad. Until recently Christians in Iraq had been protected by the state.

Sadly this is remeniscant of the story I mentioned in a book review of a massacre of Jews in Baghdad during the second world war.

I don't think we appreciate in the UK the tremendous pressure that both Christians and Jews have faced in the Middle East over the last century. For much of the last milleninia communities of Christians and Jews flourished in most major Arab cities.

During the 20th century many Jews had to flee their homes as some sections of Islam felt their continued presence was unwelcome. Few Jewish communities in the Middle East now survive except those in Israel. A large proportion of Israel's population is made up of Jews who were forced to leave their homes in fear of their lives.

In recent years there have been signs that Christians are now facing the same problem. This is a comparitively new development and one that we must raise in prayer. It is often one that is avoided by those who believe the issues in the Middle East are simply one of European migration.

These anti Christian and anti Jewish pogroms are not typical of Islam, but they are effective.

I just happen to note that the professional Methodist bloggers haven't mentioned Sunday's massacre.

Just fancy that.....

Sometimes the most unexpected things happen.

In a comment on this blog someone asked where they could get a copy of my book about Eliza Asbury. I suggested Amazon but when I looked at how much was being charged in the US for second hand copies I was astonished - $67!

There are cheaper copies available on Abebooks but if you want a brand new copy, even signed, you can order direct from me on the Francis Asbury.org website, price $24.50USD outside of the UK and £10.45 GDP in the UK, including P&P.

You never know, this could prove to be a good investment. $24 to $67 looks like a good return to me. Now where is that box of mint books in the loft?

A very welcome and robust debate

My near neighbour in the Methodist blogsphere Fat Prophet takes the rest of our blogsphere to task for the language used during recent exchanges about Palestine and Israel.

That there has been a very robust debate is beyond question. In the circumstances though, should we expect anything different? Especially when our debate is joined by a number of people who are slightly better informed than most Methodists.

In fact the debate hasn't turned out to be as bad as it could have been. Some very interesting discussions have emerged, most notably on  Dave Warnock's blog.

We in the Methodist Church have allowed ourselves to be dragged into one of the world's  most difficult problems. Inexplicably we chose to take an extremely partisan position. A small group of activists led us by the nose into taking a decisions which many Methodists just don't understand or support.

Should we be surprised that we receive hostile comments on Methodist blogs that are supportive of the current position?

Just one example.

1. We provide a platform for a Palestinian clergyman, Naim Ateek.

2. He tells the Methodist conference that Palestinian Christians "appreciate" Hamas.

3. Hamas is the organisation that brainwashes 15 or 16 year old Palestinian schoolgirls to put on suicide vests, get onto Israeli school buses and kill several 15 or 16 year old Israeli schoolgirls.Thankfully this activity has stopped because Israel built a security fence around its territory.

4. No one from the Methodist Church (apart from me and one or two other lowly individuals) has sought to distance British Methodists from Ateek's statement.

5. Israelis  take grave exception to the Methodist Church apparently endorsing this "appreciation" of Hamas and its murders.

The British Methodist Church took the decision to open our collective mouth and make statements about a complex situation in two territories where we have neither churches or members. Some were delighted that our position was greeted with acclaim. Others questioned that decision and were disappointed.

I came to the conclusion that in any case the conference resolution was probably illegal. It went well beyond the powers of conference and risked being discriminatory. In recent days we have had on the blogsphere the sort of debate that should have been had at conference.  It has got heated and will get even more heated as the date for the court hearing approaches. But it in not a bad thing that we have this debate.

Uncertain future for Birmingham's Central Hall

Birmingham's Methodist Central Hall is no longer owned by the church (thank goodness), but is still causing controversy about future use. The Birmingham Post take up the story. But let's hope we can get the word "Methodist" out of the building's name.