Accessories to murder - UK in dock as our weapons kill!

As the dictators of Bahrain and Libya use lethal force against democracy campaigners it makes sense to be reminded that amongst their armoury is much supplied by the UK.

No longer is the debate about arms sales able to be conducted in an abstract manner. As protesters die in the streets we as a country have become accessories to murder.

Our only means of redemption is to shut the arms industry down now!

Pentecostalism changing the church

Anyone interested in the implications of the rise in in Pentecostalism in the poorer parts of the world might find this Ekklesia article helpful. Interesting discussion of a phenomenom that is particularly flourishing amongst the poor yet sometimes bankrolled by the rich.

Peace Prayer of st Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is error, truth;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
It is in self-forgetting that we find;
And it is in dying to ourselves that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.

Of course we do not know who wrote this prayer despite the popular idenfification with St Francis of Assissi. What matters is not just the beauty of the words which we can aloow to lull us into a false sense of security. What really matters is the challenge that comes from asking how we measure up. Do we bring God's peace into the world we inhabit?

Panto days come to end

What I suspect will turn out to be my last pantomime performance has taken place. for the fifth year I have been a panto dame with Northam Bright Stars who play at the Northam Methodist Church. This year I was Mother Goose for a six performance run.

I have enjoyed these forays into amateur dramatics. If ministry is showbiz for ugly people, I have enjoyed my ugliness. I've enjoyed being part of a splendid team of people. I've enjoyed making people laugh and occasionally shocking them. And I've enjoyed the fellowship that really exists amongst the Bright Stars.

On the last night I was presented with a lovely clock and a very nice card by my colleagues. At that moment I realised that it was now over.

Soon I move to the Nottingham East Circuit where I shall be based at Arnold. The new challenge there will not allow me time on my first year to give the necessary time for such activity. And I doubt I will ever again encounter as tolerant a producer as Mike Sale who must have year by year endured sleepless nights wonderingif I would get around to learning my lines. Indeed I'm not sure I ever have really managed to do so, relying as I have done on adlibbing to fill the gaps. So that it even if I am tempted to add;

"Oh No it's not!"


Anyhow here is an article from the local press

And now I return to blogging.