headwayyouth- phil smith's blog

John Sentamu: Respect!

The BBC website has a great video about John Sentamu's 7 day fast for the victims of the conflict in the Middle East.

Far be it for me to say what is and what isn't Christ-like, but at a time when so many are defending the destruction of the Middle-East in the name of religion, this prophetic act seems to get much closer to the response of the God I know.

In a world dominated by mass media we have a lot of loud and proud prophets (Bono, Geldof and the like) who change the world by dominating the headlines, reaching millions and having a direct line to the powers that be.

Sentamu is different; he changes the world not primarily through his eloquence but by living the parable; by putting on the hoody to challenge our stereotypes, by getting his head shaved to highlight the death, by fasting to manifest hope, by giving up a holiday Salzburg, Austria, to sleep in a tent, to demonstrate sacrifice.

Fortunately, I'm going to York on Saturday, so I suspect this won't be the last you've heard of Mr. Sentamu.

technorati tags:Sentamu, Faith, Middle-East

Disappointment

Today I am sad because I am not featured in the Guardian. Normally this would not be an issue but yesterday I was interviewed in relation to this article about ethical shopping (or the lack thereof by young people). Anyway, the spoil-sports decided to feature someone from People Tree instead. Another ambition therefore remains!

Web 2.0

Image:Web20 en.png - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Slowly but surely trying to get my head around Web 2.0. In the process of my browsing stumbled across this mindmap which i quite like. I don't understand many of the words and concepts, especially those on the periphery, but those concepts I do understand- like participation, remixabilty, simplicity and trust- I like.
Not quite sure how AJAX (Dutch football team/age old cleaning product) fits into it all though?

Young people turn off TV and discard newpapers to surf the net

"Young people spend on average 21 minutes more online per week, make seven more mobile phone calls and send 42 more text messages than older people. Broadband internet access is higher among young people, with total broadband connections up 63% to 9m.

Social networking sites such as MySpace and Bebo are used by more than 70% of young internet users, compared with 41% of other UK adult users. Most of them are downloading content on to mobile devices such as iPods or phones. 27% of young people said using the internet meant they read fewer newspapers, a trend which has come through in declining circulation figures for newspapers"

Internet replacing Saturday/Sunday morning papers- NEVER!!!

MediaGuardian.co.uk | Media | Young people turn off TV and discard newspapers to surf the net

technorati tags:Youth

Motorcycle Diaries

Thanks to FilmFour going free, last night I watch Motorcycle Diaries; the story behind Che Guevara's journey which inspired him and very much helped him discover his life's calling. The film was incredible and  really made me think about whether or not I do enough to serve the world's poor and whether or not what I do is as dynamic (read revolutionary) as it could/should be considering the severity of the global situation.

The website for the film has a section for people to share their views on how the world (or this film) has changed them; it's fascinating!

"Faced with Western stereotypes and Western attitudes, I packed all my common sense and left my judgments behind. In a new reality I learned that we all are the same inside and out with ideas, goals, triumphs, and personal struggles coupled with corupt governments and greedy religions. Peace is only found from within and needs to be shared with everyone. There is my place. There is my hope. Pura Vida!"
Brian, Phoenix, AZ

technorati tags:Che, FilmFour

Blogged with Flock

That bloody mess

Over the past two weeks the news has increasingly been dominated by the worstening situation in the Middle-East. The images of blown out bridges and blood covered children have been more graphic than usual but the disproportionate retaliation from the Israeli army is exactly what I have come to expect- incidentally a sarcastic note of thanks to America for continuing to supply all the weapons that the Israeli army could ever use; genius George W., genius (Ruthe has more on that here)!
Now Ehud Olmet has had the chance to prove he's as hard as his predecessor it seems we may start to get somewhere, but what is of even more concern than the dreadful loss of life caused by this crisis is the long-term effect that this is having on the attitude of the Arab community towards Israel. In today's Guardian Rami Khouri (editor of your favourite broadsheet Beirut's Daily Star) highlights three areas of concern:

1. a steady loss of fear by ordinary Arabs in the face of Israel's military superiority
2. a determined quest for more effective means of technical and military resistance to Israeli occupation and subjugation of Palestinians and other Arabs
3. a strong political backlash against the prevailing governing elites in the Arab world who have quietly acquiesced to Israeli-American wishes.

Khouri continues,

"The Lebanon and Palestine situations today reveal a key political and psychological dynamic that defines several hundred million Arabs, and a few billion like-minded people around the world. It is that peace and quiet in the Middle East requires three things: Arabs and Israelis must be treated equally; both domestically and internationally, the rule of law must define the actions of governments and all members of society; and the core conflict between Palestine and Israel must be resolved in a fair, legal and sustainable manner.

Because these principles are ignored, we suffer outbreaks of military savagery by Israelis and Arabs alike, for the sixth decade in a row. The flurry of international diplomacy last week to calm things down was impressive for its range and energy. But it will fail if it only aims to place an international buffer force between Hizbollah and Israel, and leaves the rest of the Arab-Israeli situation just as it is."

Amen brother, Amen!
And now I've got rid of anonymous commenting I won't get any nutters saying Israel can do what it likes because it's God's chosen nation. Well I might do but at least I'll know who they are!

New book...

Having finished Tony Parsons latest novel- not bad but not half as good as Man and Boy- I've recently started reading God's Politics. Really enjoying it. Best quote thus far;

'God is personal, but never private. If God is not personal, there is little meaning to faith. It becomes merely a philosophy or a set of teachings from religious figures who died long ago. Without a personal God, there is no personal dimension to belief. There is no relationship to God, no redemption, salvation, grace, or forgiveness. There is no spiritual transformation without a personal God, and no power that can really change our lives beyond mere self-improvement. …

However, that personal God is never private. Restricting God to private space was the great heresy of the twentieth-century American evangelicalism. Denying the public God is a denial of biblical faith itself, a rejection of the prophets, the apostles, and Jesus himself. Exclusively private faith degenerates into a narrow religion, excessively preoccupied with individual and sexual morality while almost oblivious to the biblical demands for public justice. In the end, private faith becomes a merely cultural religion providing the assurances of righteousness for people just like us. …

Our private religions have failed, but we must not lose a personal God. Instead of trying to strike an elusive ‘balance’ between private piety and the social gospel, we must go to the heart of prophetic religion itself in which a personal God demands public justice as an act of worship. We meet the personal God in the public arena and are invited to take our relationship to that God right into the struggle for justice. Indeed, without that personal relationship we will lose the political struggle. That shift—bringing the personal God into the public arena—is at the heart of the prophet’s message and will transform both our religion and our politics.'

Good decision!

I don’t know how it took so long, but it was great to see that General Synod found over the weekend that there is no theological reason why there should not be women bishops (BBC). Like homosexuality, this is another issue which has little effect over me yet has deeply concerned me.

It seems clear to me that Paul’s concern about women in leadership is sociological, not theological; based on his knowledge of the Greco-Roman world, and not his knowledge of God. In the first century, women in leadership would have been an outrage and may well have destroyed the church, two-millenia on it’s the other way around; in the democratic nations, where equality is valued and oppression is despised, the absence of women in significant positions of leadership, has been a PR disaster, both for the church and for God, whom church leader too often claim to represent.

So, in closing, well done church synod. Good decision.

Evangelical Alliance criticised for slur against same sex couples

Following on from Monday's post, it would appear I'm not the only person riled by Don Horrocks comment.

The Evangelical Alliance UK is facing criticism from both Christian and secular commentators for an “outrageous” remark made by Don Horrocks, the EA’s head of public affairs, in which he equated allowing same-sex couples to marry with “people wanting to marry their horse”.

The comment appeared in an Observer newspaper article (28 May 2006) examining the controversy surrounding a High Court challenge being made this week by two women, both Canadian academics, who want to have their civil partnership recognised as a marriage.

More over at Ekklesia

 

Dear Don...

In Saturday's article there was an article entitled, Accept it: we're married, lesbian couple tells judge. Needless to say it included a quote from the religious right, this time care of Don Horrocks, head of public affairs at the Evangelical Alliance (pictured right).

'Where does it stop?' Horrocks asked. 'Soon there will be people wanting to marry their horse or perhaps three or four people all want to get married. If the word marriage is going to be infinitely plastic it loses all meaning.'

'We said this would happen all along,' Horrocks said. 'We know that when the homosexual lobby get one thing they move on to the next stage. It was always going to be the case that once they had got civil partnerships somebody who had been married in Canada would mount a test case in Britain.'

The above quote more than riled me. The ignorance of someone to compare gay marriage to marrying a horse is astonishing, and the man's got a Phd!!! Anyway, I've decided productively vent my frustration by writing to Mr Horrocks. Anyone wishing to read the letter can do so by clicking here.

P.s Don's face reminds me of someone off the TV but I'm not sure who. If anyone can help there will be the handsome reward of two fair trade chocolate bars!!!