I read an excellent article in today’s Telegraph by Brian Masters about Jon Venables, one of the two ten year old boys who horrifically murdered James Bulger 17 years ago.

The article explores the reaction to Venables’ return to custody and who has the right to know.  It also, perhaps more interestingly explores the reaction of ‘the public’.

Venables and Thomson were tried and convicted in an adult court.  They were found guilty and sentenced to a custodial sentence.  They were released on parole.  No-one has ever denied that the crime they committed was horrific.  No-one has ever suggested that they shouldn’t be punished.

What Masters’ suggests is that two 10 year old boys may be as much victims as their own victim.  And that seems to be something people don’t want to hear.

When they were convicted a crowd gathered around the police van, banging on the sides.  If the van had stopped and opened it’s doors the boys would have been taken out by the adults and killed.

If you read all of Masters’ article and scroll down to the comments you will see that 17 years later there would seem to be a significant number of people who would still volunteer to pull the switch, administer the lethal injection or pull the rope tight.

I don’t believe that children get to a point where they abduct and torture smaller children without influence (or lack of it) from adults.  I wonder what my children learn when they see a group of adults calling for the execution of children?

I have children.  If one of them was killed I would feel the same way.  I would want revenge.  I would want to kill whoever did it.

And that’s why it’s right that I should play no part in the administration of justice in a scenario like that.

The bigger question for me is why society, or at least a proportion of it, seems to completely dismiss the chance of rehabilitation, restoration and, dare I say it, forgiveness and why we seem to have reached a point where we see children as ‘evil’ and beyond hope?

What does that say about us as a society?  What does it say about forgiveness?

In his great post ‘After Haiti: What to say, sing or show in church‘ Andrew Jones (aka Tall Skinny Kiwi) gives a great summary of some words, images and music that could have been used following the devastating earthquake in Haiti.

He points to some powerful and moving stuff but it led me to a question…

Do we avoid the dark side of faith in our worship?

The Bible has some rich resources for times of hardship and suffering.  Lamentations, Psalms, Job… all full of pain but honest and real and full of faith.

Do we weep in worship?

And if not, why not?

(The DEC Appeal still needs your help.  Please click on the button on the image below and help if you can.  If you are a UK taxpayer don’t forget to Gift Aid your donation. Thank you.)

My employer, The United Reformed Church, has given its full support of the ‘Robin Hood Tax’ campaign launched on 10 February by a broad coalition of domestic charities, aid agencies, unions, faith organisations and green groups.

I don’t like the name but I do support the idea.

The campaign is calling on the leaders of the UK’s main political parties to support a global financial transaction tax on banks – of around 0.05% – to help repair damage caused by the global economic crisis, to protect public services at home, fight poverty abroad and help foot the bill for climate change environmental measures.

Financial transactions are one of the few transactions that aren’t taxed.  You pay tax on the interest you earn on your bank account and on almost everything you buy.

Commenting on the moral imperative for such a tax, the Revd John Marsh, Moderator of the General Assembly of the United Reformed Church said: “The human suffering caused by the global financial crisis has been immense and the impact on vulnerable households in the UK and abroad devastating.  Whilst it cannot restore lost jobs and livelihoods, this global financial transaction tax will go a long way to restoring public trust in financial institutions by raising up to £250 billion a year to fund critical development programmes here and abroad.”

Mr Marsh concluded: “Implementation of the global financial transaction tax would also serve to shift the public discourse from blame and retribution to hope: a governmental commitment to the common good is desperately needed in these stark times.”

In November 2009 the United Reformed Church adopted a motion in support of the financial transaction levy (the forerunner of the proposed global financial transaction tax).  The adopted motion highlighted the United Reformed Church’s concern over the impact of the economic recession on the poor and vulnerable; the possibility of cuts to social benefits and public services being advocated by political parties in the lead-up to the General Election; and the likely impact the enormous deficit in public finances will have on the UK’s commitments to international development and climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Why not sign the petition and show your support for the Robin Hood Tax.

Photo: Rob GT

The Church of Scotland’s Church and Society Committee are hosting a day looking at ‘Virtualisation & Society in Edinburgh on Thursday 21 January from 10am – 4pm.  The day is FREE.  To book your place email vcano [at] cofscotland [dot] org [dot] uk.

topics:

• How has virtualisation impacted on notions of identity?
• How has virtualisation impacted on our values as human beings?
• How has increased connectivity impacted on the nature of our organisations?
• How has increased connectivity and virtualisation impacted on our ability to develop meaningful communities?
• Is a regulatory framework desirable?
• What are the theological implications of the changes being brought to individuals, to society and to organisations by increased connectivity and virtualisation?

Speakers:

• Prof. John Eldridge. University of Glasgow. Dept. of Sociology, Anthropology and Applied Social Sciences
• Prof. Phillip Schlesinger. Professor in Cultural Policy. Institute of Cross Cultural Studies. University of Glasgow.
• Dr. Heidi Campbell. Texas A&M University. Department of Communication.
• David Pullinger. Head of Digital Policy. COI.
• Prof. Michael Northcott. University of Edinburgh. New College.

Come and say Hi! if you’re going.

Seth Godin is giving stuff away again.  He’s gathered together 70 thinkers who share What Matters Now.  You can download this inspirational collection of thoughts here for free.

Substance

In his comment on part 1 of this little series of posts John grasps on of the key criticisms of both Emerging Church and of Youth Work… lack of substance.

I often hear that both are prone to style over content.  Both suffer from a tendancy towards the flash and attractive.  I’ve seen it and can hold my hand up and say that I’ve also done it.

But I’m not sure that lack of substance is a fair criticism of either Emerging Church or Youth Work done well.

At the heart of both seems to be a desire for relationship.

Youth work has struggled to get past the attractional model where we put on some big fancy event that lots of young people will come to and hope that for some strange reason that will be enough to get them to stay for the rather naff games and poor attempts at bible study where we tell them what the Bible should mean to them.

Emerging Church is informed by a similar process where big church for grown ups had a go at being all interesting and attractive.  It was called ‘Alternative Worship’.  Churches discovered that presentation mattered and that people wanted to be involved but many of the ‘Alternative Worship’ experiments were little more than a reformatted version of the standard church service.  People saw through it and discovered that, like attractional youth work, all that glitters is not gold.

Substance is the goal for both.  Depth of relationship, participation, learning, sharing and growing together seem to be the key factors in youth work… and in emerging church.

The cycle has been the same.  Attractional followed by a move to deeper more substantial communities.

I wonder if that is because those who now inhabit leadership positions in the church and experienced the attractional youth work model are now being joined by a younger generation of leaders who have grown up on incarnational youth work and who experienced youth groups where they were loved and valued and experienced opportunities to know God?

It seems to me that both areas are rediscovering something that has been lost.  Both youth work and emerging church are pursuing models where stillness, spiritual practices, relationship building and learning in a collaborative manner are all valued.

These seem to me to be the practices that grow from the values of community work I outlined in part 2.

It also grows from a sense of disconnection.  I heard Mark Lau Branson talk about how he has abandoned the lectionary because the people in his church don’t understand the context of these weekly fragments of scripture as they jump around the highlights of the Christian story.  That seems to bear out my own experience and those of many worship leaders I meet.

I think that’s partly the fault of the attractional youth work model which focused on highlights, particularly from the Gospel because that was the most important bit and the rest didn’t matter much.

Church has been the same.  Scotland has never been big on Bible Study for adults.  The 15 minute sermon on a Sunday morning has been the main teaching for the majority of adults.  In any other context 15 minutes a week would be laughable.  Can you imagine trying to learn a language, to play an instrument or to build a relationship by spending 15 minutes a week on it?

Youth work is about building community.  Church should be too.  Emerging Church seems to be up for going deeper… but still needs to guard against the ‘cool for the sake of it’ phenomena which happens when any group of creative people get together… apparently.emerging

I’m Bored!!!

Every Teenager… ever…

Malcontent and restlessness used to be the domain of adolescence and political radicals.  But it seems that discontent has seeped into the very heart of the establishment and into the very soul of the ultimate expression of conformity, the church.

All over the place people are ‘emerging’.  New kinds of worship are developing daily.  New ‘missional’ projects sprout up in the least likely places.  Many have tried to explain this phenomena in sociological terms and with theories.  That’s all great.  It’s helpful and has given rise to a whole ‘new’ stream of theological thought but I’ve had a niggling thought that has scratched away at my consciousness for years now…

Is all of this emerging church stuff  just good youth work?

Well, i’m going to try to follow that thought in a series of posts over the next few days and weeks and see where it goes.  Let’s begin with root causes:

Bored Adults

It started in the 50s.  The invention of the ‘teenager’ and the steady decline of the established church seem to me to be inextricably linked but not because teenagers are disinterested in church.  Far from it.  They are linked because teenagers have grown up into ‘bored adults’.

I suspect that ‘bored adults’ have always existed.  Boredom can be a powerful force for good and bad.  Some bored people are driven to find ways to entertain and amuse themselves.  They discover things, take risks others would never dream of and push boundaries.

The other side to boredom is the one parents of teenagers know all to well.  The stereotypical can’t be bothered, stay in bed all day, never leave their room, hate everything, never want to do anything teenager that we have all come to recognise, mostly because we were once that person.  Apathy and inactivity seem to define a generation.

And yet we know that generalisation is really a myth.  Young people are active and motivated and engaged.

But we’re not talking about teenagers.  We’re talking about the ‘bored adults’.

In evolutionary terms ‘Bored Adults’ are the descendants of the ‘teenager’.  Many sociologists have observed that adolescence has extended well into people’s 30s.  More people are living at home with their parents for longer.  People are settling with a partner later.  People are having children later.

This elongation of adolescence has led to some interesting things.  There is a whole new industry built on the 30 something with disposable income and few responsibilities.  The average age of the ‘gamer’ is the early 30s.

Bored adults display many of the characteristics of teenagers.  They find it hard to commit, they are wary of authority, they complain about how things are but show few signs of willingness to engage to make things better.  Bored adults have disengaged.  They don’t vote, except on the X-factor.  They don’t participate, except with their close friends.  They don’t sustain relationships, except with their 300 facebook friends.

We have strategies and tools to work with teenagers.  We call it youth work.  Youth work seeks to engage with young people who don’t engage in society.  We have clubs and activities where they can engage with their peers, learn to take responsibility, develop new skills and even challenge authority.

I would suggest that the Emerging Church is youth work for ‘bored adults’.

Today we are talking about media and power in class.  Any thoughts on the role of the media?

The last three surviving service men of First World War died this year.  There is no-one left who can tell us first hand what it was like.  Some have suggested that we should stop remembering and move on.  I don’t agree.  I think we should try even harder to remember and to understand because we don’t seemed to have learned much.

I watched the act of remembrance at the Cenotaph this morning.  Apparently if all those British soldiers killed in war since 1914 were present in the parade it would stretch from London to Edinburgh.  We should never forget those who gave everything or those who are left behind with scars, both physical and mental.  Their decisions are not political.  They went where they were sent and did what was asked of them on our behalf.  They deserve our respect and thanks, no matter what we think of why these brave men and women are currently placed in harm’s way.

I used these words as part of last year’s worship on Armistice Sunday.  I don’t know who wrote them but they speak of why we should remember… and hope.

‘I’m only an old man now – my hair is grey, my face lined and my back bent.  Only an old man.  But I’ve got memories.  I remember the wars.  I remember how we fought to rid the earth of evil, to make the world a better place.  I remember the blackouts and rationing, newspapers filled with battles lost and won, ships sunk and planes missing.  Countless millions dead, dying on foreign fields and in strange waters.

And yet – there was a dream.  After the war things would be different – things would be better.  We won.  The war, as all wars must eventually do, ended.  We won, and now, looking back, I wonder?

Did we lose that for which we fought?  Were we simply swept along powerless on the tide of history?  Did we try to control events, shape them for a better, finer world?  Or did we only swim with the ebbing tide of dying visions?

And you, young with the strength of youth, will you also be swept along?  Controlled by self-centred dreams and selfish visions?  You have all the things we did not, leisure, money, affluence.  Too late for me, and perhaps too dangerous for you.

But we had a dream, a burning, shinning vision.  We would remake the world, a world with peace and harmony, a world of respect and love, a world of truth and righteousness.  But it was only a dream.

Now, I confess, I do not like this world.  Perhaps my generation failed you.  We did not make this world, and yet, we built it.  Forget, if you will, our suffering and disappointments.  But please, please an old man.  Take up our dream, our feeble vision.  Make it a shining beacon in a world without hope.  And take up hope, not in princes or armies; not in political systems and leaders but in the God of hope.’