An amazing journey

Alan McBride (pictured here) reduced me to tears tonight as I watched a Channel 4 programme called "The Bible - A History". Gerry Adams, the President of Sinn Fein was asking who Jesus is, and using the Bible he toured the Middle East to ask what Jesus stood for.

Talking to a Catholic theologian, he is told the message of Jesus can be reduced to one of forgiveness, and loving those who would do you harm. Adams is forced to look at his own story, and how he was a spokesman and advocate for the IRA as they unleashed a campaign of murder and violence. To his credit, he recognises that his political views may or may not have reflected the views of Jesus.

But the most amazing moment was when Gerry Adams met Alan McBride. Alan lost his wife Sharon , and his father in law Desmond in October 1993, as an IRA bomb ripped through a fish shop on the Shankill Road. The bomber, Thomas Begley, was killed by his own bomb and just three days later, Adams carried the coffin of the young bomber.

It is a sign of just how far Northern Ireland has come that this programme recorded a meeting between Adams and McBride, and that the two men shook hands. But the bit that moved me so deeply was when McBride says that Northern Ireland today is "a hell of a lot better", and he turns to Adams and says "you played your part in that, so fair play to you". Adams looked deeply moved, and replied "and thank you for being an inspiration to people like me". A deeply moving moment, and profoundly meaningful. The fact that McBride could, despite all that has happened him, turn and recognise the part Adams played in the peace process was so profound. McBride went on to say he had made his peace with Adams.

That is what I think the Bible means by forgiveness and grace, and I suspect Jesus would approve of conversations like this.

Love Changes Everything

Our President, Archbishop Desmond Tutu talks about Church Army.....and how our work shares the love that changes everything with other people. Watch and be inspired!

Youth work as urgent as pensions

Today the Church Times publishes a letter from me, where I say the Church is facing a crisis with young people akin to the crisis with pensions.

There is no doubt the Church of England recognises we have a crisis with pensions. In every session of General Synod for the past 3 years (the Parliament of the Church of England) we have had a debate on pensions, and in the past week we had two debates! The best minds of the Church have been put on a special Archbishops' Task Force to help produce fresh thinking.

I argue the Church's mission with young people is as much of a crisis, if not more. In a recent publication of statistics, we read that the Church of England has an average age of 61, which is 15 years higher than the average age of England. We discover 48% of Anglicans are aged 65 or over, and only 7% are aged between 18 and 35. We are neither reaching nor discipling young people in any significant way. Of course there are examples of some brilliant youth work, but on the whole over half of the parishes of the Church of England have no young people at all.

This is a crisis, and unless we take action then these figures will get worse. The church will get older, and less relevant to young people. And most of the members of the General Synod will not be around in 30 years time when these numbers come home to roost.

Of course this is not about shoring up a dying instituton, this is about the church actually needing young people. We need their energy, their life, their creativity and their passion. We need their idealism and committment to social justice. We need them to be a cultural thermometer to our church. And young people need to discover how much God loves them.

This is time for action - and in my letter I suggested we now need a summit of bishops, youth workers and young people. A summit to ask serious questions about how we re-engage the gospel with young people. I am prepared to host it - the question is our our church leaders ready to take part and give this issue the attention and resources it demands.

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

The power of prayer...

As the political talks between the DUP and Sinn Fein stall again in Belfast, the Rev Ian Paisley made a startling revelation in an interview at my alma mater, Queen's University Belfast. He revealed when he was First Minister, he prayed with Martin McGuinness, the Deputy First Minister.

It was clear that McGuinness and Paisley had a warm relationship. The press jokingly called them "the chuckle brothers". That in itself was amazing when you consider the journeys both men had walked. Paisley revealed that when McGuinness's mother was dying that they prayed together. The Belfast Telegraph reports HERE

"Mr Paisley said: “There were some individual matters that he had, home matters of people being ill and his mother being ill, and we prayed together.”
“I did the praying and he did the listening, but he wanted me to do it. I said I can do nothing but the God that we believe in can do something.
“And I would suggest we pray. He said ‘yes, do pray’.
“I offered prayer for him and I think that was the right thing to do, I don’t care what people say. "
“I hope that I have the same heart as Christ had, a love for others who needed help in times of need.”

I have always believed in the power of offered prayer. I have many friends who never would profess any faith, in fact they resist if I try to talk about faith, but when moments of crisis hit their lives, if I offer to pray for them, no one has ever refused me. Even if people have no faith, or a flicker of faith, I think if they come to the end of their rope, they will happily accept the prayers of someone else.

I guess I have come to realise, prayer offered is a real gift, it is a means of grace, and it is evangelistically powerful. Go on..who can you offer to pray for today?

www.nowachristian.org

This week Church Army launched an exciting new project called Now A Christian.

If you have just decided to follow Christ, or you have been following him for a while and fancy a refresher as to why the Christian faith is so exciting, this is for you!!!

Go to www.nowachristian.org where you can sign up for this free programme. Every day for 5 weeks a little email will pop into your inbox prompting you to spend 5mins, reading, reflecting and praying. You can also log onto the website and leave your comments and see what other people are discovering as they do the course together.

Now a Christian was developed by Church Army Communications Officer, Neil Thomson, and by Peter Graystone who helps develop Church Army fresh expressions of church, and is a well known Christian writer.

Now a Christian is not dogmatic, it encourages you to think, to grow, and to discover the amazing wonder of following Jesus. I decided I wanted to do the course myself, and I am on day 4 of week 1 and loving it!!!

Watch the video!!!

Bishop's Houses

I always assumed Bishops lived in the places they are Bishop of, and most of them do. The Bishop of Newcastle lives in Newcastle, the Bishop of Liverpool lives in Liverpool, the Bishop of Manchester lives in Manchester, and so on..

But did you know the Bishop of Dover lives in Canterbury, the Bishop of Lewes lives in Eastbourne, the Bishop of Ebbsfleet (in Kent!) lives in Oxfordshire, the Bishop of Fulham lives in Islington, and the Bishop of Dunwich lives in Ipswich because Dunwich was lost years ago due to coastal erosion...

Should bishops live in the places where they are bishop of? Discuss!

Does snow make for better community?

I am very lucky to have an amazing private garden behind the block of flats where I live in Southeast London. It is a wonderful place to sit, be still and relax. In this snowy weather it looks particularly idyllic and peaceful.

We all know Britain panics when we have a few inches of snow. Planes, trains and automobiles seem to have problems, the roads are like ice, and the pavements even worse. There is no question this is a particularly harsh period of winter, but I do wonder....is snow a good thing?

As I've walked to the station or bus stop in London these past few weeks, more people have spoken to me than normal. People smiled , talked, passed chit chat. Now that is fairly normal back home in Northern Ireland but almost ten years of living in the London area, I have become accustomed to being ignored by passers by. However when the snow hit, people have been chatting more. Even in the block of flats where I live we have had a communal effort to help each other push cars or shovel snow. It seems the snow makes us more human, and perhaps a little more inter-dependent...Or maybe it is just we all have something in common, a story to share together? Even if that is so, surely it shouldn't take this cold weather to make us better neighbours?