Drenched in grace - A non lectionary sermon for the baptism of Grace Sentance based on Matthew 20: 1-16

In just a few minutes I shall have the pleasure of baptising Grace. It's a mighty fine name for a girl. And yet it is something more.

Bono in his song "Grace" says that grace is;

"a thought that changed the world."

Wow! And I might add, grace goes on changing the world even today.

And yet grace is not always welcomed. You see, all too often within the church we want grace for ourselves yet we are quick to long for it to be held back from others. Surely, though, if we want to be close to the will of God, we should welcome grace wherever it is manifested.

When I attended Confirmation classes back in the 1970s, I remember being told that grace stood for "God's riches at Christ's expense." I think I go along with that. After all, we see in Christ the ultimate grace filled life - a life in which unmerited favour is shared with so many people who were not exactly flavour of the month with religious people. Think of the terrorist Zealot, the tax collector who was a collaborator with Roman occupation, the people who would have fallen foul of the sex police, the ceremonially unclean and those who were not exactly religiously orthodox.

Yes, time and again we find Jesus giving people the favour that most would say they were not entitled to.

Sometimes we talk as if the prime purpose of Jesus was justice and morality. But I want to question this. Justice can be a very cold concept. It can be used to justify keeping people in the pits by denying them a liberating possibility on cold legal grounds. Morality can all too often be the voice of tut tutting disapproval, an approach that is cold, unforgiving and inclined to shame transgressors or leave them frozen in their worst moments. Think for a moment of a justice system that denies those appealing against rejections of asylum claims denied of both the right to work or benefit. Think for a moment of those dreadful Community Payback jackets motivated by the Justice Secretary's desire to publicly shame those sentenced to community service. If this is justice and morality, I for one want nothing to do with it.

Give me grace instead. for as Bono puts it;

"Grace
She takes the blame
She covers the shame
Removes the stain
It could be her name."

Grace is rooted in a conviction that God affirms the value of each person's humanity. The hymns of Charles Wesley brim with the message that God's love is for all. Oh, we may turn from that love but the love never abandons us. As Wesley puts it in one of the greatest of his hymns;

"For all! For all my saviour died!
For all my Lord was crucified."

Even when we are at our most unlovely, grace causes this love to go on striving with us for in Bono's words;

"Grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things."

And this grace crosses man erected boundaries. Think to that story of Jonah. Probably written at a time when the exiles who had been in Babylon had returned and were pressurising Jewish men to get rid of non Jewish wives, this story speaks of God's love an compassion for the people of Assyria, the country which had for so long terrorised Israel. And amazingly it presents a disturbing picture in which the tyrant King of an enemy power would seem to get God's grace more than a thoroughly orthodox prophet of Israel.

And a few hundred years later Jesus will tell a story in which a despised Samaritan not only gets grace more than a priest and a levite, but also dispenses grace to an injured man at great personal risk.

See! Grace cannot be confined by our religious systems. It overrides our prejudices. It is not like karma where one earns one's good fortune. Far from it!

"She travels outside
Of karma, karma.
She travels outside
of karma."

Why you may ask. Because grace is gift pure and simple.

That brings us to the story that Jesus told concerning a man who sought workers for his vineyard. But this was a man with a difference. Unlike most such employers he is not an absentee landlord. Far from it, he does the hiring himself rather than as was the norm employing an agent to do such things. Perhaps this is because he is motivated by compassion for needy men rather than for personal gain. Certainly in a manner that would be unthinkable in a well organised vineyard owner who would know what needs to be done, he keeps going back to the market to offer employment to men who would have been desperate to earn the means to keep themselves and possibly their families. On his first visit early in the morning, he offers the men a proper day's wage of one denarius. On his next three visits he offers them that he will pay what is right whilst on the final visit he simply calls them to work without reference to financial reward.

Come the end of the day it is time for the vineyard owner to settle his accounts with the workers. But now he astounds us. Not only does he pay those who started last before those who have worked longer hours but he pays them all the same sum that he had offered those who had begun in the morning.

Not surprisingly merry Hell breaks out. Those who have worked the longest hours protest that those who came into the vineyard near the end of the shift have been paid as much as those who have laboured all through the day. In a sense we can understand them. This is not fair and yet none have been shortchanged.

Now we see the scandal of grace. It isn't fair. but it is generous. Grace shortchanges none but gives so so much more to those whose need is greatest. For here is the antidote to the mean spiritedness that so often excludes and condemns. Instead grace offers us the reality of loving kindness.

This morning as we prepare for the baptism of Grace Sentance, we celebrate the grace of God which blesses and gives us and loves us more than we can ever deserve. In baptism we rejoice in the grace made manifest in God loving Grace before she can earn anything of that love. And for Grace we pray that she might come to know that love in her own life and that she might experience the blessing of knowing people who mediate God's grace to her. And more than that we pray that Grace might be true to her name, not brought down to bitterness and harsh judgement. But instead we pray that she might be true to her name so that what Bono writes of grace may be equally true of her;

"Grace finds beauty
in everything.
Grace finds beauty
in everything."

So may a girl called Grace and each of us be well and truly drenched in the grace that just goes on changing the world.

Spanish Flu - a rhyme

With all the concerns about "swine flu," many people are asking the frightening question of whether it could turn out to be as bad as "Spanish flu" which incidentally did not orignate in Spain but is belived by some commentators to have killed twice as many people as the First World War which was ending as the pandemic took affect.

I am not qualified to answer but in the belief that we should laugh in the face of death, i offer a poem from those times:

I had a little bird,
Its name was Enza,
I opened the window,
And in-flew-enza.

Not quite up to Keats I admit but it'll do for me

Craig Murray exposes torture link - but who is listening?

Today is one of those days when it is just a little embarassing to be British. After all we are meant to be a nation that believes in fairplay and human decency. Yet our press is strangely silent when the image is exposed as hollow and meaningless.

I refer to yesterday's evidence by Craig Murray former Ambassador to Uzbekistan that the British government is in collusion with torturers. As Murray says it it schizophrenic to cndemn torture but use its fruits. Murray lost his ambassadorial post for daring to stand up against this practice introduced by the master of weasel words, Jack Straw.He also was subject to a campaign of vilification from New Labour's practitioners of dark arts.

Murray's blog has long been a valuable source of information concerning the deception of the likes of Jack Straw. It includes his witness statement to the Joint Committee on Human Rights which makes for profitable reading.

Now there is on Youtube a valuable series of videos of yesterday's evidence to the same Joint Committee on Human Rights starting here;



These videos show the need for a most critical investigation of the British government's conduct. Furthermore, it shows the need for this story to be at the centre of news coverage so that those responsible be drummed out of public life. After all, Thatcher for all her faults was adamant that we should not use evidence acquired under torture. How low have Blair and Straw suck this land!

Not just that but they have dragged others down into the cesspit of their making. Nowhere can this be more clearly illustrated in that the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee refused to hear evidence from Murray yet allowed the duplicitous Jack Straw to disparage Murray - but of course our Justice Secretary would not know the meaning of either justice or truth!

This makes me question whether our Parliamentarians are more interested in defending their leaders than in standing for a basic principle of opposing torture in its awful reality. Straw and co have hidden behind duplicious words. Now is thetime for the House of Commons to apologise to Craig Murray for their cavalier conduct in 2005 and to make proper recompense to those whose screams from the pains of torture they chose to ignore for party political reasons.

Kate Devlin, Superstar

I saulte my cousin Kate Devlin who yesterday not only smashed her own London Marathon record but totally humiliated her new best friends, Katie Price and the muscle bound Peter Andre.

Kate can walk tall after raising a substantial sum for St Johns Ambulance although I am concerned that with her new celeb friends, the likes of poor me will be spat out.

Meanwhile this weekend I was unable to accept my being invited for an X Factor audition at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff. Being a diligent sort of bloke, I gave priority to caonducting a wedding and three baptisms. My hitting the town with Mr Cowell will just have to wait another year.

Bonking all over the year

A fascinating story of a game lady whose present to her husband on the occasions of his fortieth birthday was sex every night for a year.

It seemes to have worked wonders for them. What is more I find myself anticipating with great enthusiasm my fiftieth birthday. I am not sure that my wife sees things in quite the same way. Anyhow, the result of nightly bonking would probably be that I would need the wheel chair that she brought home on my thirtieth birthday.

Still a man can dream!


HAT TIP: David Keen

Derek Drapers sings along with George Formby

Absolutely brilliant!


HAT TIP: Recess Monkey

Times get tough so Gordon encourages get bankrupt quick gambling

A letter in the Guardian today says it all;

Today the Lords will debate a doubling in "one-armed bandits" and their jackpot prizes in seaside arcades and pubs - not as a result of public pressure but because, in the government's words,"many operators across the gambling industry are finding trading conditions very difficult in the present economic climate".

During the passage of the gambling bill, the government gave two important undertakings, viz: "In future we will continue to put the interests of children and vulnerable players first, second and third"; and "there will be not one but two further gambling studies before we even consider any calls for further relaxation of the new regime".

It is barely 18 months since the full implementation of the Gambling Act, and there has been only one gambling prevalence survey. Yet gambling promoters are to join investment bankers in not being allowed to go to the wall as a result of the recession. Punters and their families will pay a heavy price for this.
Dr E Moran
Specialist adviser on pathological gambling, Royal College of Psychiatrists


Tonight those proposals went through Parliament. This can only be considered as a shameful abdication of morality. We see revealed a government and Parliamentarians who care more for an unscrupous nasty industry than for vulnerable people. What do I say to people concerned at a teenage relative struggling with a serious gambling problem?

I can't say that those nice people at Westminster have that young person's interests at heart. I have to tell them that our political class care more for the exploiters than the exploited. Their relative can now get himself deeper into debt all courtesy of Mr Brown and the tossers who make up Her Majesty's Government.

And what a pathetic crew they are! Our economy is in a mess and people are losing their jobs due to an insidious form of casino capitalism. Now the gambling mob are the latest beneficiaries of their bail outs.

Remember how we were not going to have further steps to assist the mobsters until time had passed. Well I tell you the truth is that we are ruled by liars of the lowest order. A govenment that is nasty enough to subject community service offenders to wearing jackets of shame, now stands in need of being shamed itself. I hope that those who voted to put the interests of exploiters over the needs of the victims are well and truly ashamed. For a long time I have disliked this government that is high on violence, weak on principles and petty beyond belief. Now I find myself positively detesting a government that would cause honourable figures like Kier Hardie and George Lansbury to vomit.

So dear reader, the time has come to treat the government with the contempt it deserves. Knowing this lot they are shameless enough to start up a scheme to encourage those who have lost their jobs to gamble their dole on a pub machine.

Lower than vermin - that's what they are!

Last word on Smeargate - hopefully!

Please read this excellent post on Smeargate as a car crash waiting to happpen. Excellent jouralism by the Labour sympathising, Christian, former lobbyist Paul Linford. Like me, he sees no heroes in a tawdry story.

between a rock and a hard place

I am in a state of shock having discovered that Ministerial Synod clashes with Darling's doubtless cheerful 2009 Budget. This is like a choice between which serial killer I want to be done in by.

Any ideas of how I might find something else that day so as to avoid both of these treats?

Susan Boyle - A triumph for substance

Often people succed in popular music because they have style rather than great singing talent. Yet just occasionally someone turns thngs rightside up. Such a person is Susan Boyle. When she came on "Britain's got Talent" I had no expectations of what followed. Nothing about her screamed of "star quality." That is until she sand. And wow did she sing! See and hear her here.

I hope she wins and I hope she has success not by being changed by the industry but by being as she is. Now, wouldn't that be a triumph for substance!

Is Christianity a generation from extinction in this land?

I do not like to bring bad news but it is obvious to me that Christian have to stop seeking to relive the past and get out of a state of denial that fails to address the very real difficulties we face today.

Indeed as this article Christianity in Europe is but one generation away from extinction. New ways of being church need to be explored but we need to resist being tempted into gimmicks which may suit us but will not connect with our communities.

Meanwhile, the church needs to get away from petty divisions and to seek to include rather than to exclude. There is definately spirituality in our world. Our trouble is that Christianity is all too often failing to connect with that spirituality.

Sir Clement Freud RIP

Sir Clement Freud was one of the good guys. Entertaining and witty despite that hung dog look. I think the best way I can suggest remembering him is with this wonderful joke told in his own inimitable style.

Viciousness from Mail that makes McBride look like a saint

Having attacked the nasty behaviour by people around Gordon Brown's 10 Downing Street, I think it is important to balance that by drawing attention to nastiness amongst the media including those who have been self righteous over "smeargate." It is also right to point out that Labour is not the only nasty political party.

This appeared in the Mail on Sunday;


There is no way that I can defend the masked police officer caught on video striking a man on the back of his legs with a steel baton and then shoving him so hard that he fell to the ground. The man subsequently died of a heart attack.
To be fair, the police were undeniably provoked during the G20 riots in London. But to be equally fair, some officers hit out at demonstrators with disproportionate violence.
To compound matters, Scotland Yard chiefs initially concealed the facts surrounding the death of Ian Tomlinson, until the emergence of that deeply disturbing video that further tarnished the Yard's already battered image.

However, there is a second aspect of this story, which, I fear, gives another unpleasant insight into modern Britain and it concerns the way Ian Tomlinson's grieving family relished the media spotlight.

It was reported that his former wife, Julia, had been 'torn apart' by his death, though the couple had been estranged for some time.

As the mother of their nine children (five by her previous relationships), she added: 'When I close my eyes, I can't stop the video playing in my head. How Ian slams to the floor. How the officers don't go to his help. It is disgusting.'

This script was so word-perfect that I almost expected to see PR svengali Max Clifford (who offered his services to Jade Goody's family for an estimated £200,000 fee) to be hovering in the background. What Mrs Tomlinson forgot to add, however, was that her husband was a homeless, chronic alcoholic who had not lived in the 'family home' for 13 years.

And what about the fact that this man, apparently so cherished by this family, had for some time been forced to sleep in a series of hostels for the homeless or even on the streets?

Of course, I am not suggesting that the family are not grieving, but the facts of Ian Tomlinson's recent life must lead one to question the depth of their grief.
There is also something rather queasy about the instant appearance of campaign ribbons appealing for 'Justice for Dad' and the sight of lawyers rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of a large compensation claim against the Metropolitan Police.

What an indictment of our tawdry world that 15 minutes of fame - and, if you're lucky, a small fortune in compensation - can be achieved through the public airing of grief. But then I suspect that Jade Goody's legacy will be with us for a long time.

The author of this nasty piece of poison less only a week after Ian Tomlinson's death was Amanda Platell who was William Hague's Press secretary from 1997 until his defeat in the 2001 General Election. I doubt that this woman who does her best to piss over a man who died in tragic circumstances and accuses his family of having "relished the media spotlight" would have been any better than Damien McBride. Indeed, I suspect she would have made him look benign by comparison.

So when you hear Tories suggesting that Labour is uniquely bad, ask them why they were prepared to inflict such a woman on the nation. When you read the Daily Mail or Mail on Sunday venting its spleen against the Labour Party, ask why they employ this woman to spread her poison.

Aye, if you want nastiness, just go to the Mail on Sunday or its sister paper the Daily Mail - the very newspaper that cheered the Blackshirts!
Dare I say it, Mr McBride clearly still has too much moral rectitude to work for the Daily Mail - the voice of hypocrisy!


HAT TIP: Rachel North

Bishop of Durham on historicity of resurrection of Jesus

Well worth watching and contemplating!

Screw the poor but pay for my groceries!

Nice to know that James Purnell who encourges us to report benefit cheats and proposes a tougher regime for claimants manages to claim up to £400 a month for his groceries.

Surely that is one for Irony Corner. Please note it is such mindnumbing hypocrisy rather than people like me who just can't vote for this corrupt government who will be responsible for a Conservative Government and all that means!

Jacqui Smith honoured for contribution to standards in public life

HAT TIP: Don't Panic

And by the way she could use one of the two televions she got last year to watch this astonishing attack on a woman by an officer of the Met last week which is here from You Tube - about 3 minutes 45 seconds in:




HAT TIP: Tim Ireland

Come on Jacqu! Show us you're worth the cash!

Smeargate - a scandal without a hero

Some time ago, I blogged of my concern at the return of Peter Mandelson to the Cabinet. It reminded me of the unscrupulous conduct of spin doctors in the early Blair years. Soon others such as Derek Draper and Charlie Whelan made their returns. The onslaught on George Osborne following his drinks on a Russian oligarch's yacht showed that the gloves were off and the Brown government were prepared to get down in the mud to fight off the Tories.

However, I could never have imagined the events of the last few days. Smeargate is about a high ranking aide to the prime Minister, Damian McBride being prepared to use smears against not just Tory politicians but their wives. The details in today's newspapers make very ugly reading. That a man at the right hand of the Prime Minister could act in such a way raises important questions about the mood music in 10 Downing Street.

No evidence has been produced that the Prime Minister had any knowledge of what was going on. Yet what concerns me is that as with Tony Blair, we have a Prime Minister who surrounds himself with men of few scruples. Too often whilst being protected like teflon, these two Prime Ministers have deliberately surrounded themselves with people who like Henry 11's knights will stop at little to do what they pereceive to be the bidding of their masters.

It is a sad time for the Labour Party when its servants seem more keen to play the man than to play the ball. I cannot believe that the likes of George Lansbury would be able to believe that a time would come when the Labour Party wuld be so attracted to the gutter.

It seems yet another indicator that we have a tired out of touch leadership within the Labour Party. The opposition benches seem to be beckoning. But more disturbing is that this is bigger than just a Labour Party matter. After all we saw a similar arrogance within the Conservative Party in the 1990s before it was rightly removed from office. As with the expenses scandals, we see a political culture that needs the most radical of overhauls.

Within the current scandal, the blogosphere has received much attention. The far right blogger Guido Fawkes is seen to have pulled of a spectacular coup. Yet before applauding him for exposing McBride, it is worth noting the content of his blog. After all it seems that McBride and Draper were contemplating a pro Labour equivalent to compete in the blogosphere. I confess to reading Guido's blog most days. It is as it were a guilty secret. One does it out of fascination and a wondering what stories are likely to break in the mainstream media. Yet each visit makes me and I suspect many others, feel just a bit dirty.

Guido's site is a site that revels in malicious gossip. It is all too often homophobic. Its attacks on the Prime Minister go too far in suggesting a mental disorder with the Prime Minister often labelled the Prime Mentalist. The comments left are in the main deranged, abusive and homophobic. In the past comments have often been racist and it is to Derek Draper's credit that he has sought to challenge that. In the current controversy, Guido's motives are in part political and in part an effort to maintain his won monopoly of the gutter. McBride's crime to Guido is basically wanting to be like him albeit from a different political position.

So this whole scandal reflects well on nobody. It leaves a nasty taste within the blogosphere. It suggests an inceasingly bankrupt political culture in which those who think differently and the families are mere targets to be destroyed in a politics that is increasingly more based on personalities and their distortion than on the issues which the electorate are entitled to have taken seriously. It is a sign that we are becoming a steadily nastier society.

McBride will disappear from the public view for sometime and rightly so. He deserves his disgrace. And yet unlike his nemesis Guido, hasn't put the lives of men, women and children at risk from drunk driving twice in the last 10 years and done so with an arrogant swagger. But he has misused his position of influence and privilege. And that is certainly an unnacceptable beach of trust whose ramification may not yet be over.

"Easter changes the world" - A sermon for Easter day based on Mark 16: 1-8

Just two days ago on Good Friday we gazed into the abyss with the closest friends of Jesus. It was a day of total and complete defeat. The man in whom they had invested such great hopes was now attached to a cross, Rome's barbaric instrument of torture and painful execution. Everything, all the hopes and dreams that had taken hold of them, were completely and irrevocably destroyed. No more would they see healings. No more would they here the stories that offered such hope. No more would they party with diverse company ranging from Zealot freedom fighters against Rome's occupation to tax collecting collaborators, from earnest Pharisees to the sort of woman who is no better than she ought to be. Hope destroyed! Oppressive power triumphant!

Not that many of Jesus' closest friends were there. Most of them had run as far from the scene as their legs could take them. Even Peter, once given a name that meant "Rock" was nowhere to be seen having denied that he ever knew Jesus. Only a small group of women were to be found at the scene and even they were watching from a distance.

Maybe that was a a blessing for them. For they could not see the full horror of the day. The man with whom they had laughed, was experiencing the heartbreaking reality of desertion. Even the God about whom he had spoken so much, was not to be found - God silent when most needed! No wonder the dying Jesus cries out those haunting words that have reverberated down through the centuries;

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me."

So when death comes, it is almost as a relief. And with the air of defeat all around, Jesus without a true friend available to him, has his body handed over to a less than heroic member of the very council that had condemned him, Joseph of Armithea. This man lays the body in a tomb. But the normal decencies are left unattended. These will be addressed a couple of days later by the weeping women who watch from a distance.

Today, we recall the story as those who know what the ending will be. But for those who lived through the story, the hours that followed would be dark hours, hours with only defeat, despair and heartbreak as companions!

Yet the story does not end there. On the Sunday, the women who had seen where Jesus was buried, come to make good the failure of Joseph of Arimathea to annoint the body. A gruesome task indeed in a warmer climate than we experience. We marvel at their desire to do the right thing even amidst their despair. But a shock awaits them. The corpse of Jesus is absent. Instead a young man tells them that Jesus has been raised from the dead and that they are to tell those crushed disciples to get back to Galilee where the story began so that they might meet him. Now, we might expect excitement. Now might expect their joy to be akin to Handel's Hallelujah Chorus. But wait! Mark is having none of it. After all these things are not meant to happen so it is with some terror that the women flee the scene, telling none of what has happened.

Or is that how it happened? You see, the original manuscripts of Mark's Gospel end here. What follows is add ons by scribes wanting a neat ending. But ultimately something must have happened. Mark's community would not have existed if the women had remained forever dumb. At some point, these women talk and talk in a man's world where their testimony counted for little. Without them the story of Jesus would have died - which makes it all the more strange that churches fight over whether it is biblical for women to lead or be ordained when this story suggests that it is the role of men that is more truly questonable!

But now the world is changing. If you have watched the film, "The Lion King" you will know that moment where the grey landscape becomes multi colour as Simba enters into his own. So too does the resurrection of Jesus transform the world. The powers that kill are now defied. Their limitations are laid bare. We see what William Sloan Coffin once describes as the victory of "powerless love over loveless power" And this can but change our vision of the world. for now we see the nature of God revealed. Fot it is God who has raised Jesus from the dead. And this reveals a loud YES by God for the words and deeds of Jesus. No more can we see God as a dour big fist. Instead he is the host who welcome all people to his feast.

On Thursday I watched a film that I often seem to watch at this time of year. It is "Chocolat." It tells of a young woman called Vianne who arrives with her daughter in a picturesque French village. Up to now, the village has been ruled by a puritanical mayor who rules village and church with a rod of iron, even venting the new priest's sermons. Nobody dares to dissent. That is until Vianne arrives. A free spirit she comes during Lent to set up a chocolate shop. The mayor urges the villagers to boycott the shop and even tries to persuade her to leave. but Vianne seems to ignore the rules of respectability and befriends those who are either shunned or live in fear of being shunned. When the canal travellers are met with a campaign against immorality, Vianne is their friends regardless of cost. Eventually after an arson attack on the canal travellers at a party, she is about to give up and travel on once more. That is until at the moment when despair has finally overcome her, the Mayor trying to destroy her chocolate accidently tastes it and effectively become drunk on it. Next morning the priest Pere Henri is finally free to preach his own sermon. It is made up on the spot but it is pure gospel. Listen to this;

“I want to talk about Christ’s humanity, his kindness, his tolerance. We measure our goodness not by what we don’t do, what we deny ourselves, what we resist, or whom we exclude. Instead we should measure ourselves by what we embrace, what we create, and who we include.”

And is not that in accordance with the spirit of our Risen Lord?

Back for a moment to Marks's Gospel. No neat ending but at it the beginning he has introduced his account with the words;

"The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God."

I want to suggest that Mark wants us to think how we carry on the good news about Jesus Christ. The story goes on. And guess what? Now the God who raised Jesus from the dead, is going to continue the story through guess what - people like us!

Easter message from the President of the Methodist Conference, Rev Stephen Poxon

This year's Easter message from the President of the Methodist Conference is well worth a read;

“Life is full of thrills…..some come unexpectedly whilst others we go looking for, perhaps on the latest ride at the theme park or fun fair….the thrill of being thrown around, often uncontrollably, stomach wrenching and cries of laughter or fear! Yet sadly these are also the emotions for many of us at the moment in our daily living and it isn’t quite the thrill we were looking for! We are caught in a recession that is beginning to bite and almost none of us are immune. It evokes feelings of fear and uncertainty, worry and concern within us. We continue to be aware of the unfolding events in Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka with continuing natural disasters around the world and all of this against the backdrop of the recent G20 meeting here. So what has Easter to say to the world and our nations? What is the good news we are called to offer?

“The emotions of that first Easter morning are exactly the same as many of us are experiencing now. The women and disciples came to the tomb feeling empty, a sense of desolation, all their hopes gone….and they find the stone rolled away, the body gone, the tomb empty. This is surely how many people are feeling today. Through the loss of a loved one, worry over a parent with Alzheimer’s; concern over finances or employment…a deep sense of loss, of emptiness. Yet is the tomb empty? There is a message: ‘he is not here, he has risen’ and the women are filled with wonder and excitement – their emptiness is replaced by hope……

“A woman from Brazil shared with me long ago that ‘the last thing to die is hope’ …and as I have travelled this year I have discovered, no matter how dark a situation, wherever there has been hope people have been alive to change and new life. Church people have shown me projects that have come about because they never stopped hoping and I witnessed exactly this at the opening of the new church in Weymouth a couple of weeks ago. 7 years after the original church was burnt down, after just finishing its refurbishment, there was a real sense of loss and emptiness - they never let their hope die and it was a tremendous privilege to share in celebrating their new life.

“As the disciples and women approached the garden that early Easter morning I’m certain they were frightened. This was intensified as they heard the message that Jesus had risen and was alive. A mixture of excitement and fear, what could it all mean?

“We live among a people who are frightened. Fear of the recession, fear of terrorism, fear of growing old, fear of speaking out for justice, fear of…

“As Jesus meets and greets people that first Easter his first words again and again are : ‘don’t be afraid’ or ‘Peace be with you’ for it is only when He breaks through our fear can we see and receive the love He offers us….and then there is only joy. It’s this mixture of emotions I felt whilst watching Wales play England at the Millennium Stadium during my district visit to Wales…wanting Wales to win but the game so close and the fear building up within me and most in the stadium…and as the final whistle blew the eruption of joy…In some ways the fear stopped me enjoying the game to the full and this is perhaps where many of us are in our living – the fears and worries of everyday life are stopping us enjoying fully being alive. The message of Easter is that Christ comes to break through our fear that we might know the joy of life….of being alive and in relationships with others and enjoying all that God provides.

“Easter eggs will abound once again this festive season and I still don’t know the answer as to whether it was the chicken or the egg which came first. Whilst in Wales I preached at a small village chapel in Carew and here is one of the most historic Celtic crosses in our islands. In the Celtic design where is the beginning and the end? We are sometimes guilty of celebrating Easter Sunday as the end, the culmination of Lent and Holy Week. ‘Christ is risen. Hallelujah!’ And what happens next? The stories in the gospels tell us that those who encountered the living Christ couldn’t keep it to themselves and couldn’t wait to tell others. So we celebrate that Easter is not only an ending but a beginning.

“Life for us all is a journey of endings and beginnings. Our task is to help lead people from their endings into new beginnings at whatever age and stage of life they are.

“So the emotions of the first Easter are still very real in our society today. The challenge for us is to know how we can offer the hope, joy and new life that Jesus offers us all. One simple way is to believe and live these emotions in our own life that others may see the risen Christ living in us.”

Ode to the Daily Mail

Here is a treat for any who are sufficiently misguided to actually like the chip wrapping paper that goes by the name of the Daily Mail. Enjoy!




HAT TIP: Tim Ireland

Revolution - A sermon for Palm Sunday based on Mark 11: 1-11

It's been quite a week for processions on the streets of London. A week ago, the scene for the G20 was set by the Put People First march. And then during the week there have been a range of protests. Particularly eye catching were the parades led by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse which eventually met at the Bank of England - processions adressing war, climate chaos, money crimes and land grabbing respectively. Street theatre at its most vivid! This one time regular street protestor has rarely felt more deeply a regret at being so far from London - sentiment shared with my wife who would not exactly be unhappy at a few days peace and quiet, never mind the hope within her that my treading the streets of London might just possible reduce my meagre waistline!

But protest and street theatre are in no way a new innovation even if they regularly require new creativity if they are to catch the public attention. After all Palm Sunday is very much a day of protest and street theatre despite it often being misrepresented as a sentimental, twee Praise Party.

Mark's narrative is clear that Jesus leaves nothing to chance in the manner of his entry to Jerusalem. All the details concerning the colt have been meticulously made and carried out. So why should the entry into Jerusalem itself be anything other than planned in absolute detail?

But wait a moment! Jesus' show was not the only show in town. After all this was Passover, a time when religious sentiments were at their strongest, a time when many a hothead would dream of insurrection. And Rome would not be unaware of this. After all this was a time when many a pilgrim was greeted by the sight of crucified bodies on approaching the city - state terrorism being hardly a modern innovation.

And this brings us to a different parade. Pontius Pilate lived at Caesarea Maritima which served as the political and military capital of Judaea. But this was not a time for domesticity. At Passover, he would be in Jerusalem in order to assert Rome's authority and he would come accompanied by his military reinforcements. Markus Borg and John Dominic Crossan have suggested that at the beginning of the Passover celebrations, Pilate and his military procession would enter the west of Jerusalem. Yes, this would be a mighty procession that celebrated the power of Rome, an impressive procession of war horses, soldiers and weapons of war. A parade of might that pointed to the glories of empire!

Now we can see that this procession is quite a contrast to that at the eastern entry. Here come Jesus and his motley crew of nobodies, many of whom would have come from backward Galilee. Here are no weapons of war. Here are the humble, even the rif raff! For these are so powerless that surely they and their vision are no match for the empire.

But their seeming weakness dows not mean that Jesus is without purpose. For in this kingly procession accompanied by shouts and palms, a statement is being made. And no bystander - or Roman observer - could fail to note the echoes of another day two centuries earlier when after military sucess against the Greek oppressors, Judah Maccabees entered Jerusalem in triumph. Oh this was a day when people looked to Jesus as a coming liberator. No wonder people who had been the victims of empire cried out "hosanna" not so much in charismatic ecstacy as in its true meaning of a cry to "Save us!"

Holy Week reminds us that the hopes of that day were fulfilled in unexpected ways. Jesus would be so very different from the Maccabees whose violent conduct suggests that they were what my mother would describe as "no better than they ought to be." Jesus would on this day but look at the Temple. When he returned the next day, it would be to confront it rather than renew it as happened with the Maccabees. But because Jesus did not use force in no way takes away from the reality of conflict in the air on Palm Sunday.

The two processions of Palm Sunday bring into focus a clash between two kingdoms, the Kingdom of God proclaimed by Jesus and the Kingdom of empire. And what a clash! Jesus proclaims a kingdom rooted in non violence whilst the empire that Pilate stood by was sustained by violence and the threat of further violence. Jesus' kingdom was one that valued the powerless and the poor whilst empire was based on enhancing the power of the powerful and the wealthy exploiters. Jesus' kingdom proclaimed a welcome for the outsiders whilst empire proclaimed the threat of exclusion for all who did not fit in. Two totally irreconcilable kingdoms in conflict on Palm Sunday! Still two totally irreconcilable kingdoms today. For whilst power excludes, the kingdom of God proclaimed by Jesus is constant in its invitation into radical inclusion.

This conflict is at the heart of Holy Week. It will lead to Jesus' brutal execution on a cross. But yet the conflict will not end there for violence cannot destroy Jesus' kingdom which goes on challenging the empires of today.And it is a conflict that we cannot ignore. For Borg challenges us with a choice for today. Which procession will we be found in as individuals, as church and as nation? A choice that cannot be ignored. A choice illustrated in the question whether we will stand for proper housing for all or instead devote scarce resources on gleaming, murderous weapons of mass destruction!

It is as simple as that. We are challenged as to what our vision is. Jesus or Caesar? Then as well as now! Look back to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and we find a titanic clash. A day when empire and its practices came under threat. A day when revolution was truly in the air. And what a joyous day that was! Today, Jesus challenges us to a way of being that threatens the ways of empire. To the barricades that enhance the dignity of the least significant, let us go! Let us embrace the ways of revolution for Jesus inspires us with a vision of a new way of being - a way that recognises that each of us is endowed with the dignity of being God's children along with the rest of the great diversity of humanity. And that simple realisation demands that we reject the paths of violence, exploitation and exclusion. That realisation draws us to that revolution which is rooted in love.

X Factor judge to lead England's Catholics

The world is coming to and end.

I think Louis Walsh is the new leader of England's Roman Catholics.

What next? Will Simon Cowell be President of the Methodist Conference? Will Cheryl Cole be Archbishop of Cantherbury? Will Dannii Minogue be Chief Rabbi?

The world is going mad. I'm off for a stiff drink!

I'm a Christian so one day I'm gonna need no breakfast.

HAT TIP: Mad Priest. Where does he find such nonsense?

Christianity incompatible with BNP

Three British Churches have reminded people of the true Christian message of love for all people following the inclusion of Jesus in a BNP election campaign.

The Baptist Union of Great Britain, The Methodist Church and The United Reformed Church support inclusive policies and promote diversity.

Christine Elliott, Secretary for External Relations for The Methodist Church, said: “When Jesus was asked about what was the most important rule of life he said, 'Love God with all of your being and love your neighbour as yourself.' It’s ironic that the BNP is using the world’s most famous Jew to promote its racist message. Our traditions have a history of promoting racial justice and inclusion and rejecting messages of hate and fear.

“It is always important that people go out and vote, especially in these extremely difficult economic times. Sadly, in the past, economic problems have been exploited by extremists as opportunities to scapegoat minorities.”

The three churches will be launching an election pack at the end of April, which will call on local church leaders to engage positively with politicians and reject racist political activity.


SOURCE Methodist News Service


COMMENT: When the BNP seeks to portray itself as representing Christian principles, I feel the urge to throw up. They are totally opposed to the spirit of hospitalisty and inclusiveness that lie at the heart of the Christian witness. Indeed I believe that a Christian who supports the BNP is a knave or a fool. To support this mendacious organisation is akin to hammering nails into the arms of Jesus.

My favourite Lent post - get rid of the cosmic puppeteer!

This post from David Perry is a must for reading this Lent.

David reminds us that our portrayal of God as a cosmic puppeteer controlling everything is a parody of the God whom Christians seek to follow. Here is an example;

A God who pulls the strings and is responsible somehow for everything which befalls us lies underneath that most vexed question which is sometimes asked of us: how can you believe in God when....? For the dots substitute cancer, genocide, child abuse, rape, war crimes, car crashes, earthquakes and any number of the calamities and tragedies which regularly beset humanity. If God is the cosmic puppeteer then God is responsible, because God is pulling the strings.

Except that there are no strings attached. We are not puppets. God is not a man with a plan in the sky making us dance to his tune.

And I say a loud Yes to all of that. We need to be serious about God rather than wedded t6o a childish illusion. Anyhow read the whole post - even if you read nothing else in Lent.

Land of the free - my arse!

You may like to think of the USA as a land of freedom but you'd be wrong. When children face being kicked of the bus or ven arrested for mere flatulance then those who believe in liberty must make a stand.

It is not that I would suffer under such laws but surely we are all to some degree our brother's keeper!

HAT TIP: The Zeray Gazette