Blogging suspended

Sorry, I shan't be able to post for at least 48 hours. I am going on a wonderful family engagement to which I am almost sworn to secrecy. I will however try to keep up with any comments on the Android phone, but it may take longer for comments to appear.

Troubled conference to whitewash anti-Zionist slurs?

The troubled  British Methodist Conference, due to open on Thursday, is already the focus of media attention across the world. Chanah Shapira in Israel National News provides readers with a background note.

Methodist conference to be pressed to embrace EUMC definition of anti-Semitism

It is heartening to see that three circuits have submitted resolutions (or "memorials")  affirming Methodist opposition to anti-Semitism and expressing concern at the impact of the disastrous 2010 report and resolution purporting to about "justice" for the Israelis and Palestinians.

The charge is led by the  The Barnet and Queensbury (35/35) circuit which has the highest percentage of Jewish residents in the UK. Last month I heard their impressive superintendent speak at a meeting in Harrow and was very impressed by what he had to say.

Their memorial M32 outlines the growing difficulties facing the Jewish community in the UK and asks conference to reaffirm our formal opposition to anti-Semitism. Possibly the most significant sentence in the memorial is the inclusion of the The European Union Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, ‘Working Definition of Anti-Semitism’

This however will create difficulties for the British Methodist Church. For example at last year's conference a guest speaker Naim Ateek accused Jews of using the Holocaust as a Zionist tool, with the Holocaust used as an "industry" which is "exploited for financial gain". This speech was applauded by the very people, such as our outgoing President, who are now running round boasting that we are involved in interfaith engagement with the Jewish community in Britain.

Our outgoing President herself repeated, without evidence, an anti-Semitic urban myth perpetuated by the anti-Semites in Palestine. I heard  with my own ears one of the members of the working party  say that the Jews in Israel were creating a "new Holocaust" in the Holy Land. And as for Elizabeth Harris's rant which hung around on the official website for several years, what do we make of that?

All these actions, all in the official name of British Methodism clearly contravene the EUMC definition of anti-Semitism.It will be interesting to see if the Barnet and Queensbury memorial survive intact. I will comment on the other memorials later in the week. In the meantime, less there be any doubt, here is the working definition in full:

The defining issue amongst Jews and Christians

Our district "interfaith enabler" - what a daft title - is promoting a seminar at Queen's College Birmingham entitled "The Continuing Israel -Palestine Conflict: is it now defining the relationship between Jews and Christians?"  (If you are interested you need to contact  Dr John Pawlikowski  at http://www.woolf.cam.ac.uk/cjcr/staff/pawlikowski.php  by Thursday 30th September 2011  to  cjrelations@ccj.org.uk or Telephone:  Lindsay on 0207 015 5160).

I'm actually wondering about this. I object to the title which suggests all Christians and all Jews see the "Israel-Palestine conflict" as  defining the relationship. I do know that there are Jews who have a minority view of opposition to the State of Israel. I get scores of emails each week, most of which now go straight to my spam box. This does serve to demonstrate that there is not always a homogeneous Jewish view on the future of Israel.

A whole culture has evaporated in our lifetime

I read with interest Robert's post on attempts to revitalise a Sunday School in the Methodist Church closest to Birmingham city centre. Let us hope that God blesses this initiative in an area with as much need as that surrounding our own church.

But Robert's post got me thinking about Sunday Schools and the whole culture that it represented. It also reminded me that within my own quarter of a century of preaching Sunday Schools and children's work have simply disappeared across whole swathes of the Christian community in Britain.

It is not an urban myth that some churches celebrate the Sunday School Anniversary long after the Sunday School is closed. To my knowledge a church in our circuit - now heavily dependent on the excellent West Midlands "Ring and Ride" scheme - consisting of six elderly people, still marks the anniversary.

When I started preaching in the 1980s it was taken for granted that during  the morning service the preacher would be expected to include a short children's story and ascertain with the stewards the best time for the children to leave for their classes. I still do some children's talks, but it certainly is no longer a universal requirement. Where children's work continues new schemes are used such as Godly Play or Mucky Church.

Is Stephen Sizer barmy?

Stephen Sizer, already mentioned on this blog is the pin up boy of the Methodist Connexion's cell of anti-Semites.  We even quote him as a "resource"!

Apparently he believes that Colonel Gaddafi is Jewish. Is Sizer barmy?

An eye for an eye

Yesterday's news bulletins were distressing as the family of a young girl, about the same age as our own daughter, vented their feelings at the end of a traumatic trial.

So much of what happened is beyond any of our imaginations. None of us can begin to understand what it is like when our beloved 13 year old daughter goes missing. Nor can we comprehend the agony of a six month wait until our daughter's now soiled body is found. And as for being under suspicion of your own daughter's murder, well, just where do you start?

And then there is the perpetrator Levi Bellfield.What motivates any man to seek casual enforced sexual gratification? Just what was going through his head as he approached young schoolgirls with the intention of forcing them to do disgusting things? Where on earth did he think he had the right to act in such a way?

I just don't know the answers to so many of these questions. If someone wants to talk about it tomorrow after the service I have no idea what I will say.

What shook me was the absolute rage of the victim's mother. She encouraged his fellow prisoners to make his life hell. Newspaper reports this morning already indicate that this process is underway. I don't think anyone will be surprised if he is attacked in prison or decides to top himself. I feel thoroughly ashamed to say that I won't feel any sympathy for him, any more than I did when Bin Laden was killed.

Court on Canvas

We have just spent a fascinating afternoon at the Barber Institute for Fine Art in Birmingham's special exhibition on lawn tennis, Court on Canvas.

Even if, like me, you have no interest in tennis is a challenging way of looking at how a popular game has been represented in art. Running alongside is another exhibition called A Gem of a Game which looks at the history of the game from its inception in Birmingham and concludes with the story behind the iconic 1970s poster Tennis Girl.

The story of the development of tennis, especially its popularity among young women between the wars, says much about the changing social landscape of the last 150 years or so.

Allow about an hour and a half. The exhibitions runs until 18 September 2011.

Should I go back in time?

Sussex University from which I emerged with a degree in 1971 is celebrating its 50th anniversary in September. I "went up" - except I traveled south from Hackney - in 1967 and undertook a course in sociology. Within days of arriving I was chair of the Labour Club and entertaining the Lord Chancellor who had been booked as a visiting speaker.

This was the start of a career in student politics that took me to the giddy heights of sabbatical treasurership. Following that I wrote a weekly column for the student rag.

Anyway in September they are holding a whole weekend of re-union activities and I am toying with the idea of putting in an appearance. It will mean another weekend away from church.

Methodists have positive meeting with Jewish leaders - exclusive

Word reaches me that British Methodists and representatives of the Jewish Board of Deputies had  an upbeat meeting on Thursday. Apparently relations continue to progress in a positive direction. Neither the Methodist nor BOD websites say what is going on. However I've had whispers that some in leadership of the Methodist Church are now re-considering the anti-Semitic content and outcome of last year's disastrous report and resolution to Methodist Conference.

Next week the 2011 Methodist Conference meets in Southport. It will be interesting to see if the incoming President makes some positive gesture of support for the right of the people of Israel to live in peace and justice. It will also be helpful if we began the process of distancing ourselves from the disgraceful anti-Semitism, and the anti-Semites, on display last year at Portsmouth.

However my advice to our friends in the Jewish community is that they should be wary of Methodism's bureaucratic  "I only followed orders (sorry conference decisions)" mentality. Also be careful of the birds of a passage that make up the Methodist presidency.

As I pointed out earlier today even the Methodist Central Finance Board has jumped on the anti-Israel bandwagon. If you scroll down to the small print you find the sticky little fingers of our public affairs team in the persons of Rachel Lampard and Steve Hucklesby, well known for their antagonism to the people of Israel. These are people who are paid full time to paddle their own little boats and promote their own agenda. They are unsackable and out of control. Once the incoming team are on the way out, which happens the moment the incoming President gets his hands on Wesley's Field Bible,  their poison will resurface. Mark my words.

RE set to disappear from schools

Interesting story just posted on the BBC website. There are worries that the new English Bac will squeeze RE off the agenda. My understanding is that well taught theology is as academically challenging as any other subject.

Religious education is in danger of disappearing from the curriculum in many secondary schools, RE teachers say.

Schools in England are meant to teach the subject to pupils up to the age of 16.
But RE teachers say a new league table measure is drawing pupils away, because the subject is not included in this measurement.
The new English Baccalaureate measures pupils with GCSEs in five subjects.
These have to be good passes (A* to C) in English, maths, a language, two sciences and either geography or history. Rest of BBC story

Men in suits go off the rails with Methodist anti-Semites

The men in suits have jumped on the anti-Semite bandwagon now wending its way through the Methodist Church - and guess who will pay for this bigoted extravagance? That's right you and me - the people in the pews.

Some Methodists may pay an even higher price and lose their jobs! The anti-Semites in suits are now targeting manufacturing workers here in the Midlands. They want us to pull out of certain companies. This is all in the name of the disinvestment in Israel campaign dreamed up by Hammas and their allies.

All this emerges in a paper going to our annual conference next week. It shows how the stormtroopers have asked the Methodist Central Finance Board  to put pressure on Alstom and Veolia because of their involvement with the building of a railway across Jerusalem. Alstom is well represented here in the Midlands and employs many engineers, especially in the railway sector.

This railway will, of course, benefit all communities and if my memory serves me correctly was one of the centrepieces of the Oslo accord. Economic development is clearly an important priority if peace is to be achieved and good transport infrastructure is always a sound investment.

But this will cut no ice with those determined to drag the name of British Methodism in the mud and destroy the people of Israel. I just hope that at least one conference delegate has the courage to raise the voice of protest.

 

Busy time at City Road

We may not be the most glamorous church in British Methodism but we are certainly getting on with the job of bringing the gospel to one of the poorest communities in Britain. Work is now well underway to save City Road Methodist Church in Rotton Park, Birmingham from demolition.

We have competed the work on the dry rot and are now putting on a new roof.

A vintage evening at Warley Woods

On Thursday evening we had an interesting and enjoyable opportunity to explore the local history of our immediate neigbourhood at a special  exhibition run by the Warley Woods Community Trust.

It was a pleasure to meet up with local Bearwood historian David Yates who kindly looked at the deeds of our house, and made some surprising observations. I'm going to supply him with a copy for more detailed research.

The more I look at the local maps, the more convinced I am that it was a colossal mistake to build our row of houses. Had these not been built there would have been a fantastic area of open space stretching from the border of Harborne right into the heart of Smethwick. Meanwhile we enjoy a park to the rear and an ancient woodland to the front.

The evening gave me the opportunity of buying a signed copy of the recently published  Vintage Images of Warley Woods by Andrew Maxam, Alan Reynolds and Kate Slade. At £5.99 it makes a lovely stocking filler for anyone with Bearwood connections. It can be bought at the trust shop or from Amazon, WHSmith or Ebay. It is full of interesting information, a foreword by Steve Eling, and - I was delighted to find - a dedication to our old friend Dick Marsh, who was taken from us last year. All in all, a vintage evening.

The European Parliament under scrutiny

Yesterday I was at the London School of Economics where the European studies department hosted the launch of the 8th Edition of the standard textbook The European Parliament. It has been extensively updated to reflect the growing influence of the EP following the Lisbon Treaty and the enlargement to the East.

Only one of the authors, Michael Shackleton, was present but he was joined in a panel discussion by former MEP and government minister David Curry, Hugo Brady of the Centre for European Reform, and Sara Hagemann a lecturer at the LSE.

The main theme to emerge was that the EP has now grown beyond its institutional battles with the Commission and Council and was therefore able to enter a more ideological phase. During my mandate (1994-1999) I remember countless clashes with the other institutions that just reminded us how powerless the elected part of the European Union governance really  was. However, even with its new powers the EP will struggle for legitimacy and credibility.

There was one interesting development of which I was unaware. The two main European political families will each go to the next European elections with a designated candidate for the Presidency of the European Commission. In the past the selection of the Commission President has been an unseemly carve up. My suspicion is that will remain the case. However the next European elections, due in 2014, may offer more transparency than previously.

Dealing with depression

Another Methodist blogger, a minister, is suffering from depression. Like Winston Churchill he describes this attack as "Black Dog".

Sadly I'm concluding that a large proportion of Methodist Ministers in the UK suffer from varying kinds of depression. I don't have any statistical evidence but I have noticed since interacting with more ministers on the social media they seem to go AWOL for a few months and then return mentioning depression and stress for their absence. It does seem that  there are occupational health issues that need to be addressed. Perhaps something is wrong with our selection procedures or support systems. I don't know.

Just a couple of times in my life I have faced depression. I've never had it clinically defined but I've had periods of hopelessness, a loss of control, a complete lack of energy, and a profound feeling of disappointment. Both periods coincided with a time when I felt especially deprived of my faith

Not my style but great to see local youngsters enjoying our new facilities

I have mentioned before that Sandwell Council has taken over the management of Lightwoods Park just behind my house. One issue was the need to provide good quality skateboarding facilities. The youngsters went to see their local Labour councillors and now they have a skateboard area which, I am told, is second to none.

Several You Tube films have been produced (some of which wrongly tag the park to Birmingham!) but it is clear that the new area is being used and enjoyed. Not my sphere of interest, not my taste in music but it cheered me up seeing the skill being displayed.

Israeli nurse describes the hi-jack of British Methodism by anti-Semites

An Israeli Nurse with good memories of the people called Methodist has written a biting and detailed  critique of the disgraceful hijack of our good name by a grisly  bunch of  well known anti-Semites. It first appeared on the CIF Watch website and  appears in full on my guest blog as an affirmation that not many grass roots British Methodists approve of last year's conference decision.

The Romans face split

Sometimes I look over the fence at other traditions and take an interest in the way they do things. Last week I was in London and picked up the Camden New Journal. The headline on page 5 read "Priest booed as he bids to close bar". They toned it down for the online report.

May sinners be destroyed from the earth; may the wicked be no more.

Why is it that Methodism is afraid to acknowledge what the Bible says about the consequences of sin?

Take last week's readings from Psalm 104 especially the last two verses.

May he be pleased with my song,
      for my gladness comes from him.
 ³⁵ May sinners be destroyed from the earth;
      may the wicked be no more.
   Praise the Lord, my soul!
   Praise the Lord!

Note how the official Methodist lectionary (not available on line) listed in the Methodist Worship Book (1999) gives the reading as "Psalm 104:24-34, 35b" meaning that it should read:

May he be pleased with my song,
      for my gladness comes from him.
   Praise the Lord, my soul!
   Praise the Lord!

This is not a new edit. The official Methodist hymnbook, Hymns and Psalms, published in 1983 includes Psalm 104 in the responsive reading section as 870. Here it stops dead at verse 34 saying

May my meditation be pleasing to him
for my joy  shall be in the Lord.

 This is not the only example, but it just happens that one of our "preachers on note" pointed out the omission earlier today.

Is it that whoever compiles these lectionaries and hymn books can't trust our preachers and congregations to grapple with the aspiration that sin will be destroyed?

Or is it that we really want our theology to be pink and fluffy, threatening no one and therefore being ineffectual?

Twenty six years of Methodist rubbish

As business isn't too brisk at the moment I'm having a go at sorting out some of the physical things at our church.  I say physical but I can't help feeling that the problems are as much spiritual as physical.

One thing that has happened is that we have simply gathered a lot of rubbish. I spent part of last week simply emptying out cupboards and rooms. In this picture is just a fraction of it. This extension was built in 1985 and most of the stuff that has been collected since then.

In the eighties we ran a workshop to teach young unemplyed men woodworking skills. When that closed the tools and remaining wood was put  in a small store room under the stairs. Until last week no one had been in that room for over twenty years.

Subsequently we used the room as a playroom,  Sunday School area and a youth club. It has just gathered accretions of objects from all of these uses, now most in poor condition. In fact the very last time it was used by the Sunday School in January some years back room the heating failed and the room was  abandoned with the craft materials used by that class still on the table.

I found a box of dressing up clothes which had serviced many a nativity play. I know for a fact that those clothes haven't been used since about 1995. The "set" from every other nativity play has been put in one room to gather dust. Several people had brought in items of furniture. I think we were supposed to give them to the poor. They were already worn and crap then, and are crap now. All we have done is store people's rubbish in a way that salves their conscience. Why on earth do we still have the attendance register from the women's social hour for 1935?

The spiritual issue is that we have allowed the building to take control of us. We constantly tell ourselves that a church is people not a building. However we are now near the point where without a heavy investment of time, energy and prayer, we will simply loose control of  our meeting place.

On being a hypocrite....without a tattoo

I had one of those debilitating experiences last night that suck the life out of our Christian hope. I was leaving another church after a youth and children's event when a man tried to enter. He wanted to speak "to some Christians". It was pointed out to him that this was an event for young people which was just closing. Knowing the situation I felt the people in charge had made the right decision given child protection priorities.

However as we were leaving the man accosted me. His complaint was that he had been denied entry on the basis that he didn't wear a tie and had tattoos. As it happens I wasn't wearing a tie and was very casually dressed. He said that we were obliged to let him in as it was a place of worship. I pointed out that people often turn up at places of worship asking to see someone, when really what they were after was money.

He then got extremely abusive and even angry, calling me a hypocrite. Had I put my hand in my pocket and succumbed to his blackmail he would have gone off and spent the money on goodness knows what. At our own church we have a supply of food for these eventualities, no one can say that we left them starving. His behaviour however did not evoke my sympathy.

It was his insistence that we were judging him because of his dress and tattoos that got to me. To him I was in the wrong and yet at no point in my life have I ever asked anyone to have a tattoo. When he made that decision he was asking to be judged by those tattoos. It was an indelible mark for all time. That was how he wanted to be judged then, can he now complain of being judged in later life?

In all the confrontation lasted no more that two minutes and I was aware that there were others about and I had some semblance of protection. But it was a reminder that even leaving a church can be risky.

A few years back I had to provide a witness statement about a man that had turned up at our church in similar circumstances and with a similar attitude. He started shouting abusively in front of the children with lots of profanities. We managed him off the premises with some food and the offer by two burly members of a lift to the station as he was returning home.

In fact we saw him around the community for several more weeks. Then a local elderly loving priest was murdered on his doorstep.The abusive man is now serving a life sentence.

So many issues and so much fear condensed into a two minute  encounter.

Faith in social media

I spent yesterday at the Social Media Influence conference in London. In six years this has become the premier industry event for the growing social media industry.There were many specialist firms such as Poke, Brilliant Noise and Brew Digital, but they sat alongside established brands such as Tesco, Lynx, O2, Dell, Sony and even the US military.

My main interest was obviously commercial in the sense that this provided an opportunity to catch up with this fast changing discipline. And change is fast - someone pointed out that last year's conference had been dominated by the development of apps, but these were hardly mentioned this year. However I did try to see if there were some lessons for churches and faith organisations.

The first thing to understand is that social media is growing at a phenomenal rate. In fact it is growing so fast that even the experts and specialists are struggling to keep up. You Tube for example, set up in 2005, had 200 million viewers by 2009 and more than 500 million today. Twitter was launched in 2006 and already has 200m users, with 40% of British journalists admitting that they used it as a source of stories. Facebook started in 2004 and now has 700 million users.

No faith community can ignore the impact nor the potential. Simply by not being connected tells others much about us. By being connected badly or naively  we risk our reputation. By understanding the new channels and using them carefully we will have new ways of proclaiming the Good News.

The evidence from the commercial world is that well targeted and creative use of social media can be turned into real profits. It goes far beyond simply creating a "feel good" community, which may have been the aspiration of a few years back. Tesco used social media to reposition its clothing brands. They ran a series of different programmes across Twitter, Facebook, and engaged with fashion bloggers. In one day they recruited 40,000 Facebook fans for a "Friday Frenzy" offer, generating well in excess of identifiable sales worth £1,000,000.

What did I do yesterday, and what will happen today?

OK, I admit it. This blog is going through  a boring stage. This well known internal enemy of Methodism, the man many would happy to have out of the Connexion is busy - literally building Methodism.

The  roof and dry rot programme has entirely taken over my life. I spent all of Monday sorting out the stuff in the creche, arranging the siting of the skip, driving three car loads of rubbish up to the tip and getting rid of a load of stuff, some of it going back to the year 1903. And yet I hear on the grapevine that I am, according to one senior knob in the Connexion, "poisonous". It must be the dry rot spores I am cleaning and clearing.

Well today there is a change of tempo. I'm off down to London for the increasingly interesting and relevant Social Media Influence Conference. Now I know that I will be the oldest person there and the only one of three wearing a tie, but I will learn a great deal about current trends in blogging and the like. If you are a reader say hi! I need a change from chasing dry rot!

What a day for a public holiday

In the past I have bemoaned the separation  in the 1970s of the British Spring Bank Holiday from Whitsun or Pentecost.

Most of Europe has kept the link and is on holiday today. We had our holiday when they were working a fortnight ago. Had we kept the link we would not have lost two days trading.

And had we kept the link today would be a public holiday and I could have celebrated my birthday with a day off from my toils!

Pentecost - a special Sunday

This morning we had an excellent sermon from a students at Queens. For those who know me and my worries about Queens I shall repeat that: we had a excellent sermon from a student at Queens, which is our local Methodist ministerial training college.

David, the Queen's student, has been doing some visiting around the Rotton Park area and has uncovered much of our church's past by talking to people who, in the main, no longer attend. His message was both challenging and reassuring, and ideal for Pentecost.

At City Road we have always, at least since the 1970s, made a great fuss about Pentecost. We were one of the first - and very few - Methodist churches to experience the twin dynamics of the growing awareness among Evangelicals that Christians have responsibilities for social and racial justice, and the gathering Charismatic revival.

This led to a church which celebrated both the spiritual and community consequences of Pentecost. I came close to tears as we read (led by my wife) that amazing description of the gathering of Jews in Jerusalem. Sometimes we played with the text and substituted the names of  islands in the Caribbean, parts of Africa and the Indian sub-continent to celebrate our diverse congregation.

¹ When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. ² Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues^[a] as the Spirit enabled them.
 ⁵ Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. ⁶ When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. ⁷ Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸ Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? ⁹ Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,^{[b] 10} Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome ¹¹ (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” ¹² Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

The sun didn't shine all day

Once again we had the world famous Abbey Branch Labour Party Garden Party in our back garden, having the biggest garden in the borough of Sandwell. Alas the weather wasn't with us and we tended to congregate near the shelter.

At first it was fairly sunny and warm. About 50 members and friends turned out.

Local Labour MP John Spellar (right) came to congratulate winning candidate in May's election Councillor Steve Eling. Councillor Ann Jaron looks is in the background.

Then it got very cold - in fact the coldest it has ever been for an Abbey garden party. Councillor Bob Piper (left) had to be wrapped up in a blanket, bless.

However a good time was had by all and there was some serious politics discussed.

Soon we will raise the roof

Since 2006 we have been quietly working away on trying to defeat our church's dry rot problem and getting our building weatherproof.

Last year we managed to find enough money from savings on heating, a windfall donation and a matching circuit grant to replace six celestory windows and repair the two side roofs. Once you look through the dust you can see the big improvement just by having uniform double glazed windows. Our new minister Paul, has been a great encouragement.

Now we are going for the big one and replacing our 100 year old main roof. It is a massive step of faith. We are undertaking local fund raising, approaching former members and have negotiated a loan. Then we need to sort out the remaining dry rot.

According to my calculations there is a potential shortfall of between £3-7,000. But we believe that nothing is impossible with God and that the money will be found. Work starts on Monday so we've been busy contacting potential donors.

Our church is located in one of the poorest areas of Birmingham's inner city. There is a very high crime rate, poor housing, low incomes and many new arrivals, especially from Eastern Europe and the Muslim world. Sometimes we feel quite overwhelmed by the need around us.

A weatherproof building will enable us to create a space for our broken community. We want to open a playgroup, launch a weekly meeting for older people, use our community kitchen and provide something for younger people. In September we are going to launch one of the most comprehensive surveys ever undertaken by a church to get a clearer idea of needs and priorities. We desperately believe that an encounter with the living Jesus changes lives.

We'd also appreciate your prayers. Those of us managing the project are finding the whole thing exhausting. Nothing ever seems straightforward and I've had to handle shed loads of paperwork. Sometimes you realise why God gave you a particular personality and skill set!  But God is moving in our tiny church in the back streets of Birmingham. He cares, and so must we.

If anyone reading this feels led to contribute please contact me direct to arrange a BACs payment or send a cheque to City Road Methodist Church, 118, City Road, Birmingham, B16 0NL. Make it payable to City Road Methodist Church. In fact if every regular reader sent £100, preferably Gift Aided (I can supply the form), we would raise £10,000+ in a week.

We meet each Sunday at 11.00 am and just love to have the encouragement of a visitor or two, so come along some time.

Why Jews are suspicious of Christians quoting Galatians 3:26-29

²⁶ So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, ²⁷ for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Like many Christians I find the words of Galatians 3:26-29 among the most exciting in Scripture. To us it promises the new creation. We see it as meaning that there is no Black and white, no Asian or African, no rich no poor, no male nor female. It speaks of equality and when used properly and in context gives our Christian faith a vibrancy that is all encompassing.


However when used badly and insensitively it can create enormous offence, especially if it is used to indicate the destruction of Judaism, either in ancient history or in our contemporary world.


One of my regular Jewish readers Ric, who was attended the 2010 Methodist Conference debate on "Justice for Isreal and Palestine" has drawn my attention to the striking similarity of what one speaker, Nicola Jones, says of modern Israel and the notorious Bishop Richard Williamson. The similarity in their supersessionism is striking and really does make me wonder where Methodism is going
Nicola Jones, Portsmouth 2010:

"In the Bible we learn of the Chosen People. Who are they and what were they chosen for? Genesis tells us again & again that God chooses Abraham and makes a covenant with Abraham & his heirs: a covenant being a two-sided agreement with obligations on both parties, like marriage......Of course, Israel today is not the same as Israel in the Bible: in the Bible, Israel refers to the people of Abraham's descendants, who are in covenant with God. Israel today is a modern, secular state, created in 1948.......For years I cherished the Galatian text...now I read it properly: 'In Christ there is no longer male or female, slave or free, Jew or Greek (we could say Jew or Arab): we are all one in Christ.' We are heirs of Abraham, and so inheritors of the promise of Abraham. Jesus, who makes with us a new covenant which transforms us utterly, never speaks of the land or owning it: he speaks of the Kingdom & joining it and invites us to do so. He teaches us God is not a racist God with favourites, but God loves all his children & blesses them. What is it God requires of you, asks Micah today: to do justice, to show mercy, to walk humbly with God....."

 Here is Bishop Williamson in conversation recorded in  La Croix The interviewer, Pierre Danet was a candidate for the European elections on the anti-zionist ticket of the right-wing French comic and political activist Dieudonne M’bala M’bala. It is worth reading the whole English translation to understand the context.

Panet: What about the Chosen People?
Williamson: There was a Chosen People. The Old Testament had its chosen people. It was the Hebrews and in the moment of Our Lord’s death on the Cross, the Chosen People are no longer chosen according to the flesh or the physical descendents [should be descent] from Abraham… It becomes as St Paul explains clearly in his epistles… the Chosen People are chosen by the faith and descendents [descent] from Abraham is through the faith. This means all Catholics and all the Jews who believe and all non-Jews who believe. There are no longer Jews-elect and non-Jews-non-elect, it’s Jew and non-Jew elect if he has the Faith. Everything depends on a faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Nasty incident in an English country town

Bewdley must be one of the most picturesque towns in England. I had the privilege representing the town in the European Parliament. For those of us in the West Midlands conurbation it provides the venue for a great summer weekend day out.

I was therefore sorry to read of neigbours from Smethwick who were racially abused as they strolled across the bridge.

The Kidderminster Shuttle reports:

The couple, from Smethwick in the West Midlands, were walking across the bridge, heading away from the town centre, with their young son in a pushchair, when a small red Ford Fiesta-type car sped past them. 

The windows were open and a male voice shouted racial abuse at them. A substance believed to be sauce was also thrown at them and landed on the woman’s top.

There is of course no evidence that the occupants of the car were from Bewdley. Perhaps we should celebrate the fact that an incident like this now warrants a newspaper story and a police investigation. A few years back there would just be shoulder shrugging and an acceptance that these things happened
 

Speaker at Methodist Conference to praise suicide bombers as "martrys"

The programme  for the Methodist Conference has now been published.

Amongst the worthy list of fringe meetings about "fresh expressions", the Bible and evangelism is a meeting listed with the heart rending title "A mother's voice".

Speakers include  "Mrs Hind Khoury, a Palestinian Christian". It will be chaired by Mrs Jill Baker, President, Methodist Women in Britain. Also speaking will be Ann Farr who is now apparently building a political career on the back of a three month stay in the disputed territories. Organiser is Warren Bardsley, an old lag of the anti-Israel campaign in Methodism and co-author of the notorious 2010 Methodist Conference report on Israel and Palestine notable for the absence of any concern for Israeli people.

One would expect a Christian mother, of whatever nationality, to take a fairly hard line on sending 13 year old  children onto school buses to blow up other children. It is what we Methodists like to call a "prophetic witness". Mrs Baker would no doubt take that view. I can't speculate where Ms Farr would stand. Nor can I predict Warren Bardsley's position.

So will this "mother's voice", listed in our official Methodist Conference programme, condemn suicide bombers?  Well no, this "mother's voice" speaks  in English (I can't discover what she says in Arabic) of suicide bombers being "martyrs, who are not criminals, nor presumably those who send them on their missions. Thier only mistake is to take a course of action that was "incorrect" because it was not "strategic".

Her exact words:

"But I am of the persons who believe our martyrs even if they were suicide bombers were martyrs. I believe we can’t just think of them as criminals. They can’t be, I refuse that. OK, the method was incorrect. It certainly was not strategic….."

If Warren Bardsley wants to organise a meeting celebrating suicide bombers as martyrs that is his concern. But what are we doing listing this event on our official Methodist website? And what on earth is the President of Methodist Women doing to chair such an event?

Could be a lively meeting.

Questions about Stephen Sizer and Methodist standing order 013B

Stephen Sizer is a well known Anglican priest. His books on Zionism feature in the "resources" offered by the Methodist Church to those wanting to learn more about the problems facing Israel and Palestine.

However Sizer keeps some very dubious company which has been documented on Harry's Place.

The author of these Methodist "resources" is off to Malaysia where he will be hosted by Viva Palestine Malaysia a pro-Hammas front organisation.

Some of his fellow guests go even further with outright anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial which no Methodist can support given our recently adopted standing order 013B.

So why do we continue to lend Sizer credibility by listing him as a "resource"?

Kingdom annointing - power for service: guest post

Guest contributor the Reverend John Bedford asks some questions about healing and comes back with some inspiring and encouraging answers: 

Sometimes it is helpful to ask the Bible questions – like, “Why did Jesus not heal the sick or cast out demons until he was about 30 years old?”   

 To read the whole post click here.

A circuit retreat with a difference

Today we had our annual circuit retreat, but with a difference.

We went to the  Beth Shalom Holocaust Centre in Nottingham. I was one of the few on our circuit  who had been to Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and was aware how upsetting the day may be. I was upset but I learnt a little more about my own background.

There are two exhibitions. One was clearly aimed at the general public, I suppose by that I mean adults. It covered in depth but on a smaller scale the issues covered at Yad Vashem though it had more detail about the historical context of European anti-Semitism.

The other was aimed at children and looked at the background to the Kindertransport, the exodus to the UK of Jewish children in the period between Kristallnacht and the outbreak of war.

It was the one aimed at children that I found particularly upsetting. The descriptions of petty anti-Semitism were very difficult to absorb. The way in which the story is told, called "The Journey"  is brilliant in its use of exhibits, re-creations and audio-visual technology. This is a place where a youth club, Sunday school or uniformed group could learn much.

The high point of the day though was a talk by Iby Knill, a Slovakian, who had been through the Holocaust as a teenager. Like many of Europe's Jews she kept her story to herself for many years, until sometime in the last decade she put pen to paper and wrote her best selling account of her ordeal, "The woman without a number".

Hearing a witness describe her experiences was incredible and her talk is well worth hearing. Her book is  available online from Amazon and WHSmith. So I won't here try to sum up what she said.

But like all good retreats we learn something about ourselves. As she was speaking I realised that this was the first time I had heard a former inmate of a concentration camp describe her experiences. It suddenly seemed strange that despite living in a Jewish community as a child I had never heard this sort of story at first hand. Despite the fact that I knew many of my friend's parents and grandparents had fled Germany, some arriving post war.

During her talk Iby explained why it had taken her until she was in her early 80s to write her story. Basically she wanted to forget the horror. I had the chance to speak to her afterwards and she again explained that you had to try and forget the horrors "otherwise" she said, "you go mad".

Then my mind went back to a member of our family who had serious mental health problems. He had been at the two mental health hospitals which served Hackney in the 1950s and 1960s, Goodmayes and Long Grove. I remember him saying that most of the people on his ward were former concentration camp prisoners..

It became clear to me: they couldn't forget; we mustn't forget. A challenging outcome to a retreat.

Poison on the agenda of today's Methodist Conference

One of the poisonous outcomes of the debate and resolution from last year's Methodist Conference was the suggestion that the Faith and Order Committee looked into the issue of "Christian Zionism".

The  report attacking Israel was, of course, authored by some of the the Connexion's most ardent anti-Semites. Sadly there was not enough backbone amongst ordinary delegates to look at detail at what was being said.

One of the most sinister suggestions was that any Methodists supporting Israel should be ranked alongside Freemasons in the 1980s and members of the BNP in 2009 and the authors questioned whether  such  "beliefs are acceptably held by Methodist members" (Paragraph 3:15). In  this scant and scatty copy and paste report the authors admitted that "This report does not have sufficient space to explore fully the place of Christian Zionism", much like  every other serious issue in this tatty document.

Lord Sacks, the Chief Rabbi did point out before the report went to conference that "This document goes far beyond legitimate criticism of Israeli actions and policies and appears to attack the very legitimacy of the Jewish state. It seeks to begin a theological process that would demonise supporters of Zionism in both the Jewish and Christian communities." 

There was an effort to row back a little late last year after a meeting of between the then President of Conference and the President of the Jewish Board of Deputies. The Alison Tomlin attempted to clarify the situation when she said "[The Methodist Church] Has agreed to explore the meaning and scope of  "Christian Zionism.‟ This term refers to a theological belief held by some Christians that links events in the Middle East to the Second Coming of Christ as foretold in the New Testament. We reiterate that its meaning is different and separate from the concept of Zionism. We acknowledged our own need to understand these two terms better."  

So today we arrive at the Faith and Order report. They are now putting together a "discussion paper" - a little different from what the anti-Semites who authored the original report were after. The F&O  tell us "Much of the early work in preparing this document has been gathering information from interested parties and encouraging confidence in the project."  Isn't is strange? I am in contact with many of the "interested parties" and all assure me that no one from the F&O has been in touch with them. I personally offered my assistance and this was rejected. We haven't heard much from the "Friends of Sabeel" crowd so I suspect that they are well pleased with progress and have been consulted. For the record I don't have "confidence" in this project.

So let us make sure we understand what is emerging. If a Jew reads Holy Scripture and declares themselves a Zionist we patronise them and accept this little eccentricity in the name of interfaith relations.

However if a Methodist reads Holy Scripture and comes to the same conclusion their beliefs will not be "acceptably held by Methodist members". So there will be a witch hunt. My local church will have to find someone else to be treasurer. I will be in good company.  Not even the Earl of Shaftesbury could become a Methodist - the man who did so much to eliminate child Labour in the UK was an ardent supporter of Zionism.

This is the poison we are now in the process of swallowing. I just pray that someone at conference will have the sheer guts to move the reference back of this part of the F&O report. But I won't hold my breath.

Keys texts:
Genesis 17:8
Genesis 48:4
Psalms 132:13
Isaiah 11:11,12
Isaiah 66:8b,10
Ezekiel 36:24-28
Zechariah 14:16
Luke 21:24
Acts 15:13-16
Romans 11:25-32
Revelation 21:10-12

Big savings promised on government stationery - don't bank on it

Just a little smile to myself when I read a story in today's Telegraph that the government thinks it can save £10 billion by centralising the purchasing of government stationery supplies.  Whilst there is always a margin for improvement I doubt if they really can recover the equivalent of the annual running costs of 20 NHS acute hospitals.

Ten years ago I was working for a hospital which had run into financial difficulties. I was asked to look into the purchasing and supply of photocopiers, computers, paper and ink. The theory was that with a little central management there were easy savings to be made.

My first surprise was the resistance to central purchasing. Ward managers and consultants had, over many years, simply given up using the central purchasing system for two reasons - firstly the central system was inefficient and they could find themselves out of stock, secondly they could often buy cheaper by going to a choice of several suppliers themselves.

An extraordinary lecture

Earlier this evening I had the real privilege of attending a lecture at Birmingham University given by Professor Amy-Jill Levine on "Jesus and Judaism - the Connection Matters". Amy-Jill is a Jewess and lecturer in New Testament studies at the Vandebilt University. She is author of a book called The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus.

The thrust of her lecture was that both Jews and Christians would benefit if we were to see Jesus in his Jewish context. For her Jesus was very much a Jew of his time with the "accessories" of contemporary Jewish clothing, his observance of  a kosher diet, his prayers,  and his parables.

Her take on the parables of the Prodigal Son reaches far back into the Old Testament and draws on other brothers such as Cain and Abel, Isaac and Jacob and Joseph. She turned the  Good Samaritan parable on its head in a way that was shocking and challenging, not just to Christians, but to today's Jews. Her analysis of the Lord's Prayer showed that it is primarily a Jewish prayer and one that both faiths can be comfortable with.

Her take on Naim Ateek, who recently spoke at a Methodist Conference was actually disturbing because she demonstrated that from both a Christian and Jewish point of view his theology was seriously flawed. Ateek is a leading light in the Sabeel movement and many Methodists would do well to listen carefully to Amy-Jill.

Which reminds me that I should offer the disclaimer that my summary of her points here will go nowhere near doing her justice, so I shall buy her book. If you get a chance to hear her in person, do so, she is an entertaining lecturer.

Meanwhile whilst in the UK as a visiting professor at Cambridge she has been looking at how Christians are analysing the  Israel Palestine issue. Her paper looks in depth at the Methodist Conference 2010 report and does a brilliant job of pointing to its many flaws. Again well worth reading and available here.

An evening at a synagogue

It was a real pleasure last night to enjoy the welcome and hospitality of the New Middlesex Synagogue in Harrow for the third in a series of lectures organised in conjunction with the Zionist Federation on minorities in Israel. The synagogue belongs to the reform tradition and is very unlike any I have been in before, in fact its layout could easily be that of a modern Protestant church, and the Rabbi was a woman! As a Methodist I felt very much at home.

The Reverend Geoffrey Smith formerly a director of the Christian Friends of Israel gave an extremely detailed analysis of the position that Christians, including Arab Christians, have in Israeli civic and commercial life. He also pointed out that Israel was the one area in the Middle East where numbers of Christians are actually increasing whereas elsewhere persecution is leading to the destruction of many long standing Christian communities.

The other speaker was Methodism's own Reverend Colin Smith the superintendent minister of the Barnet and Queensbury circuit which serves an area with a substantial Jewish population. Colin outlined hi efforts in the last year or so to heal the damage of the report received at last year's Methodist Conference and subsequent resolutions.  

This meeting also gave me the opportunity to meet with several leading members of the Zionist Federation and Board of Deputies. All were deeply appreciative of the work of those Methodists who have expressed our disquiet about the report.

One lovely reminder of the previous closeness between Methodism and the Jewish community  came when an elderly gentleman told me of his experiences at a Methodist school. After arriving in Britain shortly before the war the school had offered a free place to a Jewish refugee boy so he had spent his adolescent years as the sole Jew among several hundred Methodists!

I also had the opportunity of meeting one of the commentators on this and other methodist blogs, "Offended Jew". He had an encyclopedic knowledge of the report "Justice for Israel and Palestine". He pointed out that many of the quotes attributed to Israelis were seriously taken out of context. Even the Balfour declaration, a document publicly available since 1917 had been misquoted. I don't know if this was malignancy on the part of those drafting the report or whether they had simply cut and pasted from other anti-Israel documentation. I supect the latter and it once again highlights the sheer lack of balance and professionalism on the part of those drafting the report. The worrying thing is that the Conference received the  document with hardly a murmur.

One final story from Colin Smith. The conference report almost put in jeopardy an interesting three way community project in his circuit as it was being funded by a Jewish charity that expressed serious concerns to Colin. That is now all in the past and the project underway. For those who talk much about inter faith relations get your head round this: A homework project on Christian (Methodist) premises, for Muslim children from Somalia, funded by a Jewish family and provided through Jewish teenagers.

I had a dream....

Back from London very late last night and not in bed until shortly before one, then disturbed at five by the neigbours burglar alarm, so I was happily oversleeping. I had this amazing dream that our church was full to overflowing with a congregation of 150, a worship band and services which lasted two hours.....and then the phone went and I woke up......