Sunday, July 29, 2007

Stories in Community

We've just got back from New Wine, where I was serving as a Pastor to one of the children's work teams. During the week, I had a few conversations with people about stuff that is going on in their lives, did some Bible teaching and prayed for and with the team. I also got a bit of reading done.

In all this, a couple of themes kept coming up.

The first one is how important community is. We really cannot function effectively in splendid isolation. Time and again the thing that people needed was someone to work through an issue with them, and support them as they worked out the best way forward. We all need friends and mentors, and this is just as true for Christians. Jesus wandered around with a gang of mates, teaching them together and getting them to work through things together, holding each other to account and supporting each other.

The second theme is that of story. When I was chatting to people, I wanted to know something about them and where they were coming from. So I would ask them how they came to know Jesus. The stories they told me, even when fairly simple, were so powerful. Sometimes just the act of recalling and telling the story was enough to bring encouragement and hope where there had been confusion or disappointment.

The two themes came together in two very different books I read over the week.

In "Velvet Elvis", Rob Bell writes, "Our story is God's story. So many of us have been conditioned to think of our faith as solely as issue of us and God. But faith is a communal experience. A shared journey. I have heard people say that their stories and not exciting... But the point of our stories and our faith journeys is they are something much bigger."

In "Bacon Sandwiches and Salvation", Adrian Plass writes, "the place where we are as individuals is of little importance compared with the body of Christ as a whole. That person who seems to project the love of Jesus so effortlessly is a part of me, just as I am a part of them. Their smile is my smile. My low wattage glow is their low wattage glow. Do I dare to own whatever I find, good or bad, in my brothers and sisters? Do they dare to do the same?"

Story and community. Both key to living life to the full.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Prison

I have just finished a two week placement at Lowdham Grange Prison. This is one of the few privately run prisons in the country, run on behalf of the Home Office by Serco.

I was well looked after by the Chaplaincy team, and was privileged to spend some time with the prisoners, finding out about the issues that they face.

One of the things that struck me most was the number of children that there are in our communities whose fathers are in prison. These children have done nothing wrong, but are growing up without contact with their dads. One project that aims to help these kids, even if in a small way, is Angel Tree.

Another key issue is finding somewhere to live and to work when you get out. I heard the story of one lad who had left prison and got himself trained up as a forklift truck driver. After 120 job applications over 18 months he had lost hope and motivation and ended up back in prison. I know that employing an ex offender, or renting property to one, is a risk, but if we are truly about redemption, surely it is Christians who ought to be taking those risks.

I experienced the power of Victim Awareness programmes, in particular one called Sycamore Tree. This is part of an initiative to introduce restorative justice ideas into the UK penal system, in place of the retributive justice ideas that we currently work within. If we are actually going to reduce offending behaviour in our society and reduce prison population I believe that it is only through improving communication between different groups in society and owning the effects that our actions have on others.

Finally, if this stuff has been nudging you to get more involved, there are lots of opportunities to visit people in prisons, and take your own place in this healing process of communication.

Thursday, July 05, 2007

The Lurgy

Last week Tabitha had the lurgy, and most of the week off school, but it abated for us to be able to get away for the weekend. The kids to Uncle Jez and Aunty Clair's and me and Liz to a hotel for a anniversary weekend away (10 years, can you believe it). Liz might blog about it, but we didn't get any decent photos of the place because it rained all weekend.

Anyway, now Liz has Tabitha's lurgy - horrible sore throat and achy/shivers and Nathaniel has an infection in both eyes. It's a real blessing that Liz's mum is staying with us, otherwise the first week of prison chaplaincy shadowing for me would not have been able to happen. Anyway I now have one dodgy eye and a itchy throat - it's not looking good for the weekend.

Really need to be well for New Wine in a fortnight, please God.

TimC