God's politics - The silence of the Church's prophetic voice

Why has the South African Church become so silent on matters that blatantly negate and deny the love, mercy, justice, and grace of the Kingdom of God?

As a minister of a denomination that was very prophetic (both in word and deed) during South Africa's apartheid era I have found it alarming to gauge the general lack of prophetic witness in Southern African Methodist Churches at the moment. (For a more detailed, although admittedly somewhat hagiographic, account of some of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa's prophetic stances please read the following paper that I presented at the Oxford Institute).

My friend, Wessel Bentley attempted to have a resolution passed at our recent Methodist Annual Conference that noted concern and alarm about a couple of things:

1. Concerns about the minister of health's (Manto Tshabalala Msimang) general conduct and the questions surrounding her management of public resources.

2. Grave concerns about how the South African health services are dealing with the pandemic of HIV / AIDS - it needs to be remembered that we have the highest HIV infection rate in the world!

Instead, we ended up with a vague, indirect, empty resolution that will not change or impact significantly on health care for people who are dying of a disease that we can stem! Sadly, it was members of our own Church, some who used to be pastors in Churhces, some who were leaders of the apartheid struggle, who now drive Mercedes, BMW's and occupy high positions in the new ANC government, some who win lucrative tenders for Government contracts, who were the main proponents of protecting the government, and seeking to cover over and silence the Church's call for radical action.

I remember some years ago (1992) as a young minister being 'hauled over the coals' by my Bishop at the time, Rev Peter Storey, for participating in a student march against the Apartheid government. The protest action was quite controversial, our in service training convener (Rev Paul Verryn) took us to the march in Potchefstroom on the University campus. Peter was concerned that many of us were being co-opted, uncritically, into movements that did not necessarily have the good of the people at heart. Paul of course was trying to help uncritical young white fundamentalists like me to realise that preaching the Gospel had radical consequences for the way in which society is structured! You cannot preach love, equity, justice and acceptance, without doing something to try and bring it about! However, there were some real issues among the organizers of the protest, and so Bishop Peter admonished us with these words (or something close to them) - "When the struggle is won, and the majority take power, and the injustice continues, then we shall see who the true prophets are - those who fall silent, or are co-opted, will be shown for who they truly are. True prophets will speak, not because of where they are, but because of who God is - a true prophet always speaks, and lives, the truth of God regardless of who is in power".

Let us never forget, this struggle is about someone who is lying in a bed, in a shack, in a rural area of our country, not receiving primary health care because of inadequate high level, and local, management! As the media, leading up to the Conference, reported - the health department has huge unspent budgets for equipment, staff and medicines, yet our clinics and hospitals are empty, our doctors and nurses are fleeing South Africa in search of better pay and better working conditions, and antiretrovirals are not reaching the poorest of the poor! Thankfully, the minister of health can get herself bumped to the top of the donor list, and disregard the fact that he liver damage was caused by Alcohol abuse (or so it is alleged, I cannot be certain).

Wessel, and Comrade Manto Matsepe, also sent a resolution to Conference through DEWCOM noting with concern how many ordained Methodist ministers are now serving in senior positions, and in the official structures, of the ruling party in South Africa... It was toned down... In the past we did not allow Methodist clergy to hold political office, now we "request them to consider their motives for doing so, and consider whether they are compromising the Church's prophetic witness". Again, this is my paraphrasing of the resolution. Of course we need Christians to be active in politics, in fact we need Christians to hold political office, but I am not convinced that we need Christian ministers to do so - who must remain objective, free to speak and challenge, yet also open to affirm and assist. The office of a pastor, the power of the pulpit, and the station of a servant in society, need to remain very carefully located in a 'God space' - political, but not aligned to party politics.

Yet, sadly, the Church is silent. And, let me say, it is not our leaders who are silent, it is the Church! I am amused by how we tend to sit on both sides of the fence when we speak of 'the church'. When it suits us we emphasize the role, importance, and power of the term that Rick Warren and Bill Hybels (Willowcreek) have made so popular - the local Church! Yet, when it comes to actually doing something about it we turn our eyes to the leaders of the Church, expecting them to be the one's who set the pace for mission, witness, and community transformation. I remember doing a SYNOD Bible study a few years back in which I challenged the SYNOD to realize that 'structures' don't do mission! People, filled with the Spirit of God, convicted by the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, living in areas of need and concern do mission!

Something I have had to repent of is my tendency to want to blame others - I find it easy, as many others do, to lament how others don't do the things that I should be doing.

On this blog, more than once, I have made critical comments about the silence of the United Methodist Church about one of its members gross misconduct and un-Christian behavior, George W Bush (yes, he is a Methodist)! However, I need to repent that I have been slow to criticise my own silence of our State President (who has indicated that he is a Christian) when he removes people who ask tough questions, sidesteps issues of national concern (like the accusations of criminal misconduct against the National Police commissioner Mr Selebi).

I am silent. Forgive me Lord! I am sure you are much more vocal, much more prophetic. I am sure that even now you are setting the captives free, healing the sick, proclaiming good news and jubilee for the impoverished, and not allowing injustice to go unnoticed. Give me the courage to be part of your work in the world, your mission, your uncompromising love.

A fantastic new book is out - I have read some reviews, and already ordered my copy. As with all Mclaren's works I am sure that it will ruffle some feathers: Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope.

For a little taste of Mclaren's prophetic perspective (a separate commentary from that in the book) you can read the article below from the soujourners website 'God and politics'.

I remember about eight years ago when then presidential candidate George W. Bush repeatedly claimed that he would restore honor to the presidency, soiled as it had been by our previous president's infamous affair. I remember hoping he would succeed. But a new kind of shame has come to the office and to our nation as reports surface about our government's secret authorization of torture. We all share in this shame.

Conservative columnist and blogger Andrew Sullivan expresses what many of us feel. He reminds his readers:

... my first response to reports of abuse and torture at Gitmo was to accuse the accusers of exaggeration or deliberate deception ... It struck me as a no-brainer that this stuff was being invented by the far left or was part of al Qaeda propaganda. After all, they train captives to lie about this stuff. Bottom line: I trusted this president in a time of war to obey the rule of law that we were and are defending.

Sadly, he laments, that trust was betrayed:

And then I was forced to confront the evidence. He betrayed all of us. He lied. He authorized torture in secret, and then, when busted after Abu Ghraib, blamed it on low-level grunts. This was not a mistake. It was a betrayal.

The word "betrayal," of course, recalls Moveon.org's Sept. 26 ad. Many considered the pun childish at best, politically unsavvy at least, or worse. There was a rush to condemn anyone who failed to condemn the ad. But Sullivan's use of the word strikes me as anything but childish.

Our nation's reputation, not to mention that of the presidency, has been dishonored by this betrayal of trust. Honorable people - conservative and liberal, Republican and Democrat - need to follow Andrew Sullivan's example, coming together to express our grief and outrage about the political hypocrisy and betrayal to which we have been subjected by people we elected.

This is challenging stuff! I am also currently reading the book of my friend Joerg Rieger "Christ and empire". This is a much more scholarly, carefully researched, and hard hitting prophetic theology! Joerg, who is from Southern Methodist University, will be visiting us early next year. He is coming to do some sabbatical work at the University of Kwazulu Natal (that has the exceptional Theology and Development program), and he will take some time to visit John Wesley College whilst here.

Technorati tags: prophetic, Mclaren, Selebi, Manto

True humility... I need to learn more of it.

The day is over... Amazingly, this spoilt brat (yup, that's me!) survived the day just fine! No phone, no electricity, no car...

I suppose I need a few more days like this (not only to be reminded how lucky I am to have a car, electricity, and telephones on hand), but also to be reminded of the many who live their lives without these luxuries and commodities!

Thanks to those who read the post and smiled... To the one or two who emailed me their horror stories about Telkom, ESKOM, and various car problems. At least I didn't feel alone.

However, as I sit at home, my children are asleep, Megan and I are catching up on some correspondence, I am at peace.

So, after the rant of this morning I turned to my devotional reading the heading is True humility:

1. Prayer of invocation: Almighty God, you have sent Jesus to show us how to live. Grant me the power of your Holy Spirit so that I may follow him in faithfulness all the days of my life. Amen.

Basically humility is the attitude of one who stands constantly under the judgment of God. It is the attitude of one who is like the soil. Humility comes from the Latin word humus, fertile ground. The fertile ground is there, unnoticed, taken for granted, always there to be trodden upon. It is silent, inconspicuous, dark and yet it is always read to receive any seed, ready to give it substance and life. The more lowly, the more fruitful, because it becomes really fertile when it accepts all the fefuse of the earth. It is so low that nothing can soil it, humiliate it; it has accepted the last place and cannot go any lower. In that position nothing shatter the soul's serenity, its peace and joy.

-- From Living Prayer by Anthony Bloom.

2. Benediction: Live today in Christ's presence, remembering he is near and will sustain you as you serve his name. Amen.

So, God clearly anticipated my mood, and the situations that would expose my need of growth and grace. I thank God for knowing me even better than I know my self. This day has ended well. Thanks be to God.

Technorati tags: grace, patience, devotion

No power, no phone lines - it's becoming a bit of a concern

This morning ESKOM decided to cut the power to our suburb in order to shed the load throughout the country. Normally this would not be a problem since we are notified in advance so we can prepare to boil bottles, and prepare Liam's food for the day... Sadly there was no warning. I guess it is time for this child of the first world to buy a gas stove...

Oh, and we've also had no telephone lines whatsoever since a storm on Saturday. So if you phone my office it will simply ring... Telkom says they'll attend to it, but 4 days later there is still no sign of a technician.

So, if you need to reach me please phone my cell phone... That is, until the battery goes flat...

If you're thinking 'how can Dion be blogging without a telephone line and power?', well, I am sitting in my 1 year old car at Hatfield Volkswagen (fourth time in two months with the same electrical fault) - this is a 'moblog', submitted via email from my Nokia E90 cell phone.

Aaaarrrggghhh! Today I need to pray for patience

Technorati tags: ESKOM, Telkom, patience, load shedding

The gift of insomnia... Reviving an 'old project', a book on Bede Griffiths

I have never slept particularly well (my dad tells me that even as a baby I slept badly). Over the years the doctors suggested various reasons, most commonly it seems to do with a deficiency of melatonin. I don't really mind - every now and then I feel the effects of lack of sleep, but on the whole it is more of a gift than a curse! I am capable of getting by on about 4 hours of sleep.

This has meant that a lot of my thinking, writing, planning, praying, and working, happens late at night, or early in the morning.

Over the last two weeks I have not been sleeping particularly well, so I have revived a project that I had been working on some years ago - a book on Bede Griffiths' Christology (that is, what Bede Griffiths believed about Jesus, for those who are not familiar with the jargon).

Bede Griffiths was a remarkable man. He was born in England, educated at Magdalen College in Oxford (a lovely place! I've visited it). He was converted under the guidance of CS Lewis and entered the Benedictine Order. He spent most of his life in India in a unique and special Benedictine community that offered a fresh expression of faith in Christ to many Indian Christians, and also to many westerners who had given up on traditional Christianity.

What is of particular interest to me is the way in which Fr Bede adapted the daily rule of St Benedict to match his incredible theology. Both (the rule and his theology) were fundamentally influenced by his mystical spirituality. Fr Bede believed that the mystical experience of God was his primary goal for existence - this experience of the divine achieved two significant purposes. First, it offered devotion to God the source of all that exists. Second, it formed the substance of God's revelation to humanity (i.e., revealing God's nature, God's will, and God's mission in the world).

I did a Masters degree under Professor Felicity Edwards many years ago in which I studied Bede Griffiths spirituality. It was a significant milestone in my spiritual and theological development. It was from Felicity, and Fr Bede, that I came to understand and love the rich insights that theology can gain from science, and vice versa. However, Fr Bede's fundamental approach to the Cosmos as an expression of the nature of Christ (divine and human, physical and spiritual, non dual, and permeated with the sacred intention of God) has remained a central thrust in my life. It has informed my theology, ethics, and daily life.

My Masters Thesis was published by the Bede Griffiths trust in California and now forms part of the archives. It wasn't a brilliant piece of scholarship, even though I got a distinction for it. It needed reworking and refining.

So, in my sleepless nights I have been reworking it into a book. At this stage it will not be a very large book (perhaps 130 or so pages). It is a Christology, discussing the significance and contribution of Fr Bede's Hindu-Christian approach to the Cosmic Christ for spirituality and theological discourse. I think the title is likely to be Discovering the Cosmic Christ - a Hindu-Christian approach to Christ in the spirituality of Bede Griffiths.

So, watch this space! I am about two thirds of the way with my edits - perhaps in a week or so I will have the first draft done.

Technorati tags: Bede Griffiths, spirituality, Christology, book, insomnia

Free tickets to the World Cup Rugby final!

Do you want tickets to the world cup Rugby final? Well, there may just be someone who can help you with that! Take a look at picture below!

Now, how's that for a suggestion? Come on Kiwi's you know you don't need them! Send them our way!

Technorati tags: World Cup, Rugby, South Africa, kiwi

The liberation and love that frees us from fear

This morning in my morning devotions I read this wonderful little
passage:

"The source of all freedom is the freedom of Jesus Christ. By our
association with him we are invited into the kingdom of liberation
and love. We pledge our faith, "green as a leaf." We receive the
spirit that disentangles us from sin, from the narrow perspectives of
the law, and from the fetters of fear. We join all of creation in
struggling to reject what is evil, submitting to the greater law of
love, and in sharing in the glorious freedom of those who belong to
God."

-- From 'Every bush is burning' by Joan Puls

What does a Christian look like?

It was 7 years ago, November 2000, Megan and I were at a Conference in Jerusalem, Israel. At the Conference were a number of passionate young Christians from Sweden... Nothing strange about that - I'm sure that there are MANY passionate young Christians in Sweden. However, what set these young men and woman apart from the other passionate young Christians who were at the Conference was the way they dressed, and how they looked! These guys had mohawk haircuts, pierced ears, noses, eyebrows, they wore tartan 'bondage' pants, had leather jackets and ripped T Shirts, and they were covered in tattoos... However, these were not ordinary tattoos, they were much more like the icons I had seen in Orthodox Churches, they were images of Christ, the virgin Mary, they also had knotted Celtic crosses, and ornate Germanic script with verses from the Bible...

These young people were passionate about Christ, and they weren't afraid to show it.

That got me thinking - what do Christians look like? I am sure that when God surveys all of the diverse and beautiful people that God has created there are lots of people with purple hair (heck I had a whole team of them in a Church I once served - they were called the 'WA' (woman's auxiliary). But I am sure there are a few young one's as well). I'm sure that there are respectable people - men in checked shirts and women in neat pinnafores (in South Africa we would call these folks the 'Woolworth's clan' (I'll confess that I am one of those who LOVES to buy a nice checkered shirt and a pair of Chinos from Woolworths!) - Woolworth's in South Africa is more like Marks and Spencer than Woolworths in the UK).

Today I came across the following great blog by a Christian who has tattoos - I'm sure God enjoys the art work! Go here to see some remarkable Christian tattoos from kingdom.iblog.co.za.

Oh, and for those who don't know me that well... Did you know that I have two tattoos? Yup, nothing quite as spectacular, or Christ honouring, as those that can be seen by following the link above... In fact, my tattoos are merely a reminder of a misspent youth! Let's see if anyone has noticed, and can say, what tattoos I have...

Technoratti tags: tattoo, Christian, judge, Woolworths

Visionary Leadership: It's a sad day.... Bishop Tutu banned from speaking at St Thomas University in Minnesota

I have a friend who once commented that if you life the kind of life that Jesus lived, you need to expect the kind of treatment that Jesus got... He has a rather disturbing, but true, catch phrase that says "If you live the truth, you'd better look good on wood, because sooner or later people will want to crucify you".

Well, this is not exactly comparable to the suffering of Christ, but heck, people hate to hear the truth!

Today it was reported that St Thomas University refused to host retired Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu because of comments he made about Israel's treatment of Palestinians!

This report from the Star Tribune explains what transpired:

A plan to invite Desmond Tutu to speak at the University of St. Thomas next year was scuttled by university officials who did not want to offend the Jewish community over the Nobel Peace Prize laureate's views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, university officials confirmed Wednesday.

In addition, Cris Toffolo, an associate professor who supported inviting the South African archbishop and activist was removed as director of the St. Paul university's justice and peace studies program in August.

She remains on the faculty.

Tutu's visit will be shifted to Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, according to a local group that had planned to bring him to St. Thomas.

Doug Hennes, vice president for university and government relations at St. Thomas, said the Rev. Dennis Dease, St. Thomas' president, made the final decision not to invite Tutu after consulting with his staff.

"He [Tutu] has been critical of Israel and Israeli policy regarding the Palestinians, so we talked with people in the Jewish community and they said they believed it would be hurtful to the Jewish community, because of things he's said," Hennes said.

The truth hurts - but sadly, it also sometimes hurts those who stand for it...

Technoratti tags: tutu, Desmond Tutu, Israel, Palestine

Were you caught in 'the perfect storm (hype)'?

If you live in Gauteng (Pretoria, Johannesburg etc.) in South Africa then you will know exactly what I am talking about if I mention 'the prefect storm'. It turned out to be nothing other than 'the perfect hoax'. Today emails circulated the web, warnings went out on radio, people were even getting text messages warning them of 'the perfect storm' in Gauteng. Supposedly a storm so fierce was brewing in Gauteng that it was going to turn into a tornado by 6 pm! Well, my wife's company let their staff go home early, the roads were packed with early traffic...

Sure, there was a bit of rain, some lightning and thunder - heck, it was nothing more than a regular 'high veld' thunderstorm!

Now Saturday the 6th was an awesome storm in the Pretoria area! High winds, hail, and driving rain.

If you got caught by the hype of 'the perfect storm' then read this great post from thoselegends.blogspot.com. It makes for a very interesting read. If you got caught in the hype drop me a line and let me know (I know I was worried for a while!) Isn't human nature just strange?

I have often wondered about the mass mentality that overtakes groups... We get ourselves worked up, we feed of each others' neuroses, and eventually we come to believe just about anything. Does anybody remember the bad old days in South Africa when white South Africans feared 'die rooi gevaar' (the communist threat), 'die katolieke gevaar' (the liberal Catholic threat)...

I wonder what dangers we've created?

I seem to remember it being written somewhere that "there is no fear in love; perfect love drives out fear" (1 Jn 4:18). Lord, give me the courage to be the a calm head in the storm, help me to follow your lead, your love, and not to be taken in by the hype of 'the perfect storms' of life.

Technoratti tags: hoax, fear, love, irrational, urban legend

A prayer for the world... Acceptance, God's Character, Christ's ministry, and our responsibility.

Yesterday I had the great joy of preaching at Calvary Methodist Church in Midrand (just between Johannesburg and Pretoria). My friends Alan Storey and Siviwe Waqu are the ministers of this incredible congregation. I have the great fortune of traveling throughout Southern Africa visiting many of our Methodist Churches. Each Church that I visit has some unique and special element that makes it a gift from God to the world, and a gift from the faithful members of that congregation to the Kingdom of God (I like to think of Churches as being gifted, and being gifts).

Calvary is one of the most remarkable Churches in the world! I have the great pleasure of preaching there every few weeks (mostly when Alan is traveling to Sudan, or the USA, or somewhere in South Africa, to do the 'Manna and Mercy' course (do a google search for 'Manna and Mercy' and 'Daniel Erlander'). It is always humbling, because he is a far more gifted and prophetic preacher than I shall ever be. However, what makes the experience so wonderful is that this is perhaps the most integrated congregation in the 6 nations that make up the Southern African Methodist Conference.

I will never forget the first Sunday that I was asked to preach there (way back in 2004). In the morning service as I presided over the sacrament of Holy Communion I had an elderly white woman, a young Indian woman, a young black professional man, an older black homeless man (who lived in the shelter at the Church), and myself a young white male, behind the communion table. It reflected the diversity of the Kingdom of God, all ages, all races, varied demographic, economic, and theological positions, various sexual orientations, and varied needs and desires. Yet we were all united in service of Christ our King - united in our common need for salvation, forgiveness, and acceptance and love in the Body of Christ. That was perhaps the first time in my life that truly understood the mystery of the Eucharistic meal.

This is truly what the Gospel LOOKS like... Not just what it sounds like!

Yesterday I preached a message on 'Acceptance' (you can download the MS Word transcript of the sermon here: Acceptance7Oct07.doc - if anyone is interested) - it was based on that question 'What does the Gospel look like?' Sitting in the congregation were young people, old people, white people, black people, gay people, straight people - in some ways it felt like preaching to the choir, or trying to convert the already converted. Yet, I realise that there are still issues and prejudices that needed to be address and dealt with. My prejudice against those persons who will not lovingly open the Church to all. There were men in the congregation who struggled to submit to the leadership of women. There were parents who struggled to accept the new perspectives, lifestyles, and choices, of their Children. There were HIV + positive people who were struggling to accept their status. There many, many of us, who needed hear that acceptance is part of God's nature, that it is central to the ministry of Jesus, and that it has to be foundational in the ministry of every disciple for the Kingdom of God.

So, what did we do? Well, we prayed! We were lead in prayer by Siphiwe Ndlovu, an incredible lay preacher (and a former colleague of my wife Megan). He lead us in a prayer that blew the cobwebs out of my soul! Afterwards I commented both to him, and Alan, that Siphiwe's prayer was enough... I did not need songs, liturgy, sermons - all that I needed to was that prayer. I will pray it over the next few days, or weeks, in the hope that it will become a part of the common life I share with all the people who God loves and accepts - even the one's that I struggle to accept.

The context that shaped Siphiwe's prayer was an experience on a previous weekend where he and other members of the Congregation engaged in 'Kairos' prison ministry. Kairos prison ministry is much like the Emmaus movement, but it is directed lovingly towards persons who are in prison.

Here is Siphiwe's magnificent prayer:

We bring now our chains to you who have set us free from the clutches of sin and death and brought us new life. Even though you have freed us we continue to be bound, our sin forever seeks us, fears and anxiety form our shadow, suffering and many problems hold us captive, unwilling to release us, to live fully the life to which you have called us. So we cry out to you this morning. Look upon this world with merciful eyes. Look upon us with merciful, love-filled eyes and release us. Free us from that which entangles us.

Oh Lord we bring to you this morning those among us bound by fear. Lord you know us, you see us, we who are immobilized by fear of failure and rejection; we who are unable to speak the truth or have meaningful relationships; we who are fearful of tomorrow; we who are bound in the mentality of scarcity, afraid to release our resources of time and money to free others from the chains of poverty and hunger. Oh Lord you see us and you see our chains – so look upon those who are caught in improper relationships, unable to escape. Have compassion upon us, those for whom the fear of death and crime are real as a result of having had guns pointed at us and our privacy violated. Those of us who have tasted death and live in perpetual fear that it will come soon. See those of us caught in many addictions – drugs, alcohol, busyness, work and sin. Jesus, you came so that we could have life in all its abundance, our fears bind us and limit our lives, our addictions call us back to feed them again and time again. Come again and again, come everyday and free us!

Oh graceful God, we pray for those bound by grinding chains of poverty. Parents who have to sacrifice their dignity to stand at traffic lights to beg from people who will not even look at them. Children who have to forego school and opportunities to learn and grow because they have no money, families for whom the rains are not good news because their roofs leak or they have no shelter.

Kids who are unable to enjoy the carefree ways of youth, caught in an adult world of being providers for their siblings; bound in chains of a world they can hardly cope with. Laughter has dried, questions of what games to play replaced with heavier questions of what they shall eat or what they will do if their parents die.

And Lord we pray for those who are bound in the system of wealth and the pursuit of it. Those for whom riches and fantasies of having more mean everything; those who sacrifice the relationships with spouses and children as they want more of the things that make them look good on the outside while they are dry and empty on the inside. Look upon those caught in an untenable situation of debt with no relief in sight. Come, Lord and loose their chains!

Even as we pray for freedom and release, Lord you know that for most of us chains are all we know. We are so used to being bound that the idea of freedom is threatening in itself. So we continue to resist your freedom. We long for it and yet do not have courage to take hold of it. We pray for courage to be free, to live free, fulfilling and life-giving lives. Root out all systems of oppression, those that are institutional and those that are entrenched in our hearts and minds.

And Lord we pray for those who are bound and live behind prison walls. For those who have wronged society we pray that you will bring them to a place of repentance and a new life. We pray for those who are in jails of the world. We pray for those who are in the jails of Myanmar, Zimbabwe, Darfur and for all those who fight to free their people from the chains of dictatorial powers. You Lord are on the side of the oppressed and the bound, for you know too well what it means to be bound, to be tried unfairly and to be given an unjust sentence. So we know that when we pray to you, we pray to the one who can emphathise, and one who intercedes on our behalf. The world is bound in chains – come now and free us – for whom the son frees, is free indeed. Amen

Technoratti tags: sermon, Gospel, prayer, Acceptance, Methodist, Dion Forster

Global warming, depletion of our oil reserves, HIV infection, malnutrition - what must God feel? It's time to start paying attention!

Sivin's blog is my current favourite! I love the way he thinks, but also the diversity of issues that he challenges me to think about. This morning, just after my devotions, I checked my RSS feeds and came across the 'World Clock' countdown. I used it as a prayer tool - as I watched the planet warming and the oil draining, as I saw the population grow, and people being infected with HIV, as I realised that the little ticking numbers represented real living (and dying) people, asked God to forgive me for my lack of care for God's good earth, and all the people that God loves! I prayed that God would help me to be more environmentally conscious, more compassionate and caring for others, more responsible with my consumption and spending... and encourage others to do the same.

Poodwaddle.com

Technoratti tags: global warming, poodwaddle, earth clock, prayer, environmental ethics

4th of October - Free Burma day!

To add this simple form and image to your site please go to the free Burma web page and simply copy the HTML directly into your blogger client. No hassle, no fuss! Remember, every person that clicks through and signs the petition adds another voice, and every voice counts. If you don't want to go through the trouble of finding the HTML yourself just drop me a line and I'll email it to you!

The simple proverb rings true - "When spider webs unite, can they not bind a lion?" You can make a difference!

Free Burma! Petition Widget

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