Enough is Enough

Text below from my Radio Bristol thought for today:              

  I’ve simply had enough of Christmas adverts? There are certain times of year when I really notice a massive disconnect between the ways of society, of which we are all a part and the message that I proclaim as part of my calling as a Christian.  Funnily enough Christmas is one of those times.  I announce week after week the message the angels brought to the agrarian night-watchmen: “you will find this babe wrapped in cloth and lying in a feeding tough.” Yet our Christmas has become a feeding frenzy of opulence and overindulgence, which many of us simply can’t afford.  Now please don’t get me wrong, I am no scrooge puritan humbug, any excuse for a party me, I love good food and I certainly enjoy a drink or two.  However, as the old drink driving campaign said: know your limits! Enough is enough.

                

Nelson Mandela also in a very different way realised enough was enough. He knew a system where people were judged by their colour and not by their personality was a perversion of reality. When he, along with many others, made his stand he liberated many white people along with bringing dignity and grace to those who in South Africa had become the underside of society.  Every person whether black ,white or coloured is of equal value and should be afforded equal dignity and rights.  I’m personally glad that he and others had had enough, that he was courageous enough to make his stand.

                So that is my thought for today, if you’ve had enough of something, especially if it’s something that robs others or yourself of dignity, make sure you too make your stand. Mandela proved that if together we stand for what’s right, the whole world really can change. 

Sea Horses are Predators and long noses can be beautiful

A blog from my recent Radio Bristol Thought for the day

                I am of the opinion that everyone has a particular gift, something that makes them special. I discovered recently that in the underwater world of sea horses this is also the case.  I think we’d all agree that sea horses are fairly odd looking creatures.. and despite living in the sea, they look like pretty poor swimmers. However scientists have recently discovered that despite looking slow and awkward they are actually ferocious and ingenious predators.  Well ferocious if you are an extremely small crustacean! The weird thing is these crustaceans, or dinner, as the Sea Horses like to call them, are incredibly fast swimmers. If humans could move like they do, we could swim at 2,000mph, and yet these fast food escape artists are no match for the Sea Horse. Apparently it is all down to those strange noses, they are simply perfectly designed. They allow the Sea Horse to creep up on the crustaceans causing no ripples or warning signals, before they pounce.

                Watching Rebecca Adlington discuss with Miss Universe Amy Willerton  aspects of female beauty I am led to a similar conclusion; everyone has beauty in their own particular way. Coming from a family with long noses, who says that long noses aren’t beautiful and actually who really cares, when attitudes and actions and kind words are so much more beautiful than simply an hourglass figure or perfect skin. So my thought for today is, look more carefully at the people around you and watch out for they are all surely amazing and potentially beautiful people. Who knows once we start appreciating all the beauty around us we may even get a little better at realising the beauty we have within us. God bless

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25103455    

Caged Contentment

A blog from my latest Radio Bristol thought for the day

              

   Let’s start with chickens; a recent report from Bristol University suggests that with “new enriched cages”, caged hens may actually now be better off than some free range hens. They have, and I quote, “space, they've

Contentment when the family are around

got a little perch and they've got things they can scratch on!”  I’m no expert on hens, but that sounds fairly limited. Truth is though that some, in the carnage of the Philippines or witnessing the on-going grind in Syria, would probably be happy with those provisions.  In Bristol do we have enough? Well you have access to a radio and probably electricity, you may struggle with some bills, or even attend a food bank to keep yourselves fed, but these are there. I wonder how many are living on a wage below the, “living” wage of £7.65 an hour. And with rising energy bills, is that really just an enriched cage, just enough to scratch by.

                 For me, this isn’t a one way street; I am not convinced that everyone gets happier or fulfilled the richer they become. Too much, seems often to be nearly as destructive as not enough. There is a lovely phrase in the bible saying godliness with contentment is great gain. I am convinced there are plenty of people in Bristol who have all they need, or even want, but still they are not content. On the other hand, some have no job, no prospects, not enough to feed their family nor enough heat to feel warm, but from my experience they can sometimes be wonderful contented generous people. So I guess my thought is, scratch it out with what you have, and always keep an eye out for other chickens less fortunate than you are!

Cold Tea

              I am becoming quite an expert in drinking cold tea. I am not referring to iced tea, a refreshing drink that I discovered first in America… no I mean good old fashioned tea… that has just got cold. I’m drinking some now, as it happens. One of the problems is that I don’t really mind cold tea, but it is not a good thing to be drinking too much of it!

                I am drinking cold tea, because I am distracted. I set out well, I plan things carefully, the cup and the kettle are all brought together in a perfectly brewed symphony of organisation but then it all goes wrong.. I am distracted here or there and an hour or so later I wander past and spot a cool cup of tea. At which point I decide if I try and make another one, I am just as likely to drink that cold so I gulp it down.  This habit of distractedness is not a good thing, it is symptomatic of a life that is unfocused and so I must make amends. But changing habits is not very easy at all. Children go through enormous stress simply at the thought of not sucking their thumb. Or adults can get confused if a particular rhythm is disrupted. I remember my mother had actual palpitations at the thought of missing her favourite TV program. (She was once reluctant to speak to me on the phone, simply because I interrupted her from watching Countdown. I wouldn’t have minded but I was ringing her to tell her I was engaged to be married… and she was watching Countdown.. on VIDEO!)

                I believe that the Christian life ought to become a habit for us, a way of life, a rhythm that gives meaning and order to our lives. Of course the easiest way for it to become like this, would be if we abandoned the calls of the world and all went off to live in monasteries where a bell would establish the rhythm of eating, sleeping, work and prayer. For most of us this will not be possible, but it is interesting to experience this rhythm if taking a retreat or a short break as I did last year on my sabbatical… no cold tea that week!  In normal life we will still face the distractions and opportunities that for me at least, leave that tea cold! How can I change and develop habits that leave me able to savour my tea, and truly experience all the other opportunities I often miss. I think the answer begins in confession, an acknowledgement that things are not right, cold tea is not good tea! Confession is not simply about accepting that something isn’t right, it is also to be accountable that you want to change. Hence I am confessing to you my desire to re-order my life around hot tea! (Actually I’d really like to see my life re-ordered around the values of God’s Kingdom… but warm tea seems like a manageable first step!) Finding someone or a group who can help us to make the transitions we need is vital if we are not to keep on making the same mistakes. People who have an inkling of what a balanced way of life might look like are very valuable. If we can find such people then we need to be prepared to make ourselves accountable to them.  Hence I make myself accountable to you, I must drink no more cold tea, but rather slow down and savour and enjoy all the opportunities that God places before us.

Stephen

Thought for the Day for Radio Bristol

Now you see me, now you don’t

                                Is it acceptable for a woman to give evidence or be cross examined whilst a veil hides her face from the jury? It strikes me today that an awful lot of communication goes on where we cannot see who we are talking to.  We chat on telephones, we write letters, we text. Our communication involves reading, hearing and speaking, but not always meeting face to face. But that is not always acceptable. I well remember being told as a boy to, ‘stand still and just look at me.’ Whilst being berated for some crime of which I was normally completely guilty.

                                And so we come to the sensitive and delicate area of the hijab. Is it acceptable before a jury or for a health professional to address her patient whilst hiding a large proportion of her face? These are difficult questions; we face a clash of cultures and values. I would argue both have merit, but can’t easily co-exist.  A woman’s absolute cultural modesty is not an easy bedfellow with a culture of complete equality.

                                My favourite Jesus stories often involve women; his ‘inappropriate’ meeting with the Samaritan women at the well. He shocked his disciples by simply talking to her, a Samaritan and a woman, he shocked her by revealing that he knew all about her life and yet still asked her for a drink, and perhaps she shocked him by being so moved by his acceptance of her that she went and told the whole town, despite her modesty.   So that’s my thought today; whatever your view on this matter always remain prepared to be surprised, to learn something new from someone who, face to face, may seem very different from you. 

Out of Africa

As some of you know I had hoped to blog while in Africa... this was not possible.For a good chunk of our time we had neither electricity nor running water let alone internet coverage! And yet what a banquet of experiences we have shared....from utter terror and real fear for our own safety right through to raucous laughter, uncomplicated joy and sheer wonder at the whole beauty of it all. Uganda is rightly known as the "Pearl of Africa" and so it proved. It is a truly stunning place, I will post photos once I've begun to get my head and home sorted... but expect lions and mountains and more teeth in smiles than you would ever think possible from fellow human beings..to say nothing of majestic fish eagles and utter ramshackle dwellings and "butchers" with the highest standards of cleanliness!
 In short we have had an incredible journey. Upon arrival in Uganda..(I won't tire you with the boredom of travel itinerary) we were met with the reality of the fact that our "guide" was recently imprisoned. We discovered, gradually, that the offence was speeding and evading capture thus hitting a motorcycle and seriously injuring the riders. Although we were met with a more than ample replacement, Samuel, we were left without a vehicle capable of transporting the 5 of us to our destination near Kasese in SW Uganda. So the bargaining and bartering that I have come to understand "is" Africa begun. Sitting in a "cathedral" cafe looking out over the vibrant and yet apparently chaotic life of Kampala we watched and listened and wondered as our "fate" passed between pastors and family men and dare I say shady men, who we knew only by the increasingly bizarre and inflationary demands they seemed to be making as we sought simply a vehicle that could transport us through this teeming jungle of impossibilities. Night drew in and our fate seemed with each passing hour less and less clear, just where was Avis car rental when you needed it? Eventually a vehicle did arrive, there were complications, of course, there was literally no way our luggage could fit (a backup vehicle for the evening was provided until we could lash the luggage on the roof!).And then 50 yards up the teeming Kampalan unlit street we ground to a halt. There are no pictures of this terrifying event, for as we sat in our newly acquired steel coffin the world screamed past us on every side blazing out the internationally recognizable language of abuse that is the screech of a car horn. A fellow pastor eventually returned with a Jerry can of hope and we slumped and bumped our way to the only thing we now craved, a bed for the night. When we awoke at 5am it was time to strap suitcases to the roof and venture again onto the streets of Kampala. Long before I realised we actually were, I commented that we seemed to be travelling a similar route to fellow explorers, May, Hammond and Clarkson of top gear. Africa gradually awoke with children streaming along roadsides, motorcyclists carrying removal trucks and the sights sounds and smells that later became commonplace awakening our senses. And so there had been night and there was morning...the first day....confusion!
More reflections will follow, but note out of confusion comes hope, and we were not disappointed!

Out of Africa... an adventure

This year has definitely been my year of adventures: a pilgrimage on a bike to Holy Island a building project (involving for me a pilgrimage from office to office!) and now a trip of a lifetime with my family to Uganda.  We often hear life described as an adventure, but not so often the lives of those who call themselves Christians. It was not always this way. Although Jesus’ own life could be described as almost domesticated: he didn't seem to travel much beyond his own borders. The life of the early church was anything but. Paul is of course famous, and many of us learnt all about his travels when we were at Sunday school. But Peter also traveled to Rome, Thomas perhaps as far as India and there are even the stories of Joseph of Arimethea, the supplier of Jesus’ tomb, travelling to Glastonbury. History has seen many like them, St Patrick, Gladys Aylward in China, David Livingstone to Africa and countless unnamed ones. They seem to have taken Jesus’ command to preach/ live out the good news in “Jerusalem, Samaria and to the ends of the earth” very seriously. Let’s be honest about this, it wasn't always the spirit of adventure that moved them. Sometimes it was persecution and the need to flee, that led to the opportunity to spread the good news. However they certainly did take some risks, and one could well say that they learnt to live their lives to the full, just as Jesus promised they should.

Of course not all of us are called to adventures in travel, or to cross cultural encounters, but the idea of our Christian life as an adventure is a rich idea. This is something of what pilgrimage or even discipleship means. I wonder though are you comfortable describing your life or your faith with this language? Sometimes I think we have made the fundamental mistake of mixing up faith with certainty and we thus become encamped around certain ideas; static and immovable. This is my one fear with the beacon project; that we will see this as an opportunity to settle down again in our new, now comfortable, surroundings. A beacon is a flame that lights up a pathway; an adventure is a journey without certainty where there may be struggles. Faith is the same. None of us can understand or comprehend completely where our life will lead, there are always surprises. Faith helps us to face these challenges and keep moving forward. Faith is the hope that at each crossroad there is still a pathway that leads to peace, and also the re-assurance that we are not called to travel that pathway alone. By faith we take hold of Jesus’ words that: “he will never leave us nor forsake us,” that he is with us, “to the end of the ages.” For the man or woman of faith these words give us strength for each day and the adventures that they may bring.  

Stephen Newell

I look forward to sharing my adventure stories from Uganda with you, and also listening to the stories of your own adventures and struggles and joys.

PS if I get the chance there may well be a blog to follow while we are travelling in Africa see: www.zuchurch.co.uk for details