There is, quite rightly, a storm of protest brewing from Christians at all levels about the claim of BNP Leader Nick Griffin to represent "Christian Britain" - with former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey one of the latest heavyweight figures to challenge his claim.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the whole Question Time episode (and opinion seems to be changing daily on what the fallout might be) this claim of Griffin's is arrant nonsense and seems if anything to display a disconnection from reality. For example this article from 2006 includes research that shows that churchgoing is at a higher level among ethnic minorities than among what Griffin laughably describes as the "Indigenous population" - so Christian Britain (a term that Ekklesia points out means little in any case) is increasingly Afro-Carribean and African, particularly in the big cities - in London it's getting on for half of those who go to church, and in Manchester I can see the trend going the same way. And I rejoice that we have people who are committed to the way of Christ, whose love is for all, whatever their ethnic background may be.
What worries me about the likes of Griffin is that he's a political opportunist at a time when disenchantment with politicians in general means that many are looking for alternatives to the mainstream. At the moment the BNP seems keen to portray itself as the custodian of the Bulldog Spirit, the plucky little underdog that's going into battle against the big bad political giants - and yet when you consider their political background and history, you realise that all that's really changed from the bad old days of the National Front etc is that they've done what many other political parties have done and rebranded. Griffin and his party are more dangerous because they're shrewder than some have given them credit for: they're managing to pick up disenchanted voters by making themselves seem that little bit more respectable. Griffin didn't need to win any sort of debate on QT, he just needed to look and sound relatively personable and effectively not be a Neanderthal in a Combat 18 T-Shirt - for those who might be likely to say "I'm not a racist but...." that could well be enough.
Whatever he may say, when Griffin talks of "Christian Britain" let no-one be in any doubt: he does not speak for me, or the vast majority of those who actually go to church (and I wish I could say for all) - I do not regard the policies of his party, or his attitude to others such as Muslims, as remotely representing the love of Christ or the position of Christianity as a whole.
Sunday, 25 October 2009
Monday, 14 September 2009
When is Freecycle not Freecycle?
Over the last two or three years we have been members of Freecycle - a wonderful concept in many ways - but right now I am questioning whether to stay part of the groups that I am currently a member of. Let me explain about the concept, and then why I am becoming more disenchanted by it.
Freecycle involves a brilliantly simple concept: if you have something you don't want anymore, but may still be useful, you can offer it free of charge to someone from your local area - thus keeping something still usable out of landfill. No money changes hands, and it's expected that the person who wants the item comes to collect it. You can post "Wanted" ads on there as well, usually after you have already offered at least one item. Mostly what's on offer are things that are simply not worth selling - but that are still useful. For example we've received items including a bundle of clothes for our (then baby) daughter, a wheelbarrow, replacement drawers for our freezer, a food steamer, and a bike suitable for our son. In return we've given away any number of ornaments, a Haynes Manual for a car that had been scrapped, two sofas that were of no further use, videos, and all the other things that had collected in our house that we had no wish to move to the manse.
So where's the problem?
Well to start with what you might call the Freecycle Movement seems to be having more than a bit of internal strife. This article from the Guardian tells part of the story, and it's not hard to find other stuff as well. I'm not about to get into the debate about who is right or wrong, other than to observe that the reaction of The Freecycle Network (TM apparently) to the defection of the Manchester Group (to something that is being called Freegle) has been to set up a "new" Manchester Freecycle Group that at the time of writing has 61 members and no messages, compared to the Manchester "Greencycle" Group's 9500 members and 150 messages since Friday alone. Freecycle however remains the "brand" that people are most likely to have heard of, has a name that very neatly encapsulates what it is about, and the splits are unlikely to help the cause that both sides say they support.
What is more annoying to me now though is that whether it's Freecycle, Greencycle, Freegle or whatever, it is in danger of becoming a victim of its own success. A quick looks at some of the numbers tells a story... 156 messages since Friday Morning: 4 Announcements (mostly about the changeover to Greencycle); 60 Offer messages; 2 Received messages; 23 Taken messages; and 64 Wanted messages. More wanted than offered isn't the way I think a group like this needs to run to be healthy; a quick peruse of the wanteds reveals that many people are looking for what might be called "High Value" items such as Laptops and other computer equipment.
Some of the experiences we've had of offering things have been less than good as well. There are some people who seem to reply to pretty much every message saying it's just what they want etc - we noticed this especially when we cleared a load of stuff out of our loft in Liverpool. Do they really just happen to want every single diverse item for themselves - or are they looking for stuff for a Car Boot sale etc? The one guy who was up front about wanting stuff for that purpose (specifically to raise money for a minibus for a local group) was fine - we ended up giving him quite a few bits - but you can't help being suspicious in some cases. It smacks of the many leaflets that appear through the door for "Clothing Collections" that in some cases seem to imply they're going to a good cause when in fact it's a company looking to sell stuff on - you feel like you're being deceived.
Then there's the people that say they want something, but don't turn up - leaving you wondering why you have for example kept an evening free when you could have been off doing something much more interesting than waiting for a doorbell to ring. That's happened several times, and you end up feeling so frustrated that you wonder whether this is really worth the candle.
What's the solution to these sort of problems? That's a tricky one, and depends in some ways where your idealism lies. Some people have no particular issue with stuff being sold on - after all, it's still staying out of landfill. Others (like me) don't mind so much if it's being done openly so that you know where it's going. Others would say you shouldn't be allowed to sell on anything under any circumstances. Some groups limit you to one or two "Wanteds" in a month - but can they police people putting themselves in the group multiple times effectively? Given that all the moderators are volunteers doing this in their spare time, that's a pretty big ask.
Another argument is that many of the items offered on Freecycle are the sort that would traditionally have been donated to Charity Shops - who are therefore potentially missing out. That's not the complete story - what charity would for example want the remains of a load of Topsoil, Daffodil Bulbs, Bricks, Windfalls from an Apple Tree, three internal doors, or a somewhat warped Piano, all of which I have seen offered - but it has to be admitted that there is plenty of stuff offered that charities would be happy to take and sell on.
The long and the short of it is that I'm probably just going to set the messages from whatever the group is called to be automatically deleted until such time as I have something to offer - and for many things, first try and find other places where they will be appreciated, such as the Charity Shops run by a couple of my churches and by Churches on the Edge. It feels like a shame, but for the moment Freecycle and the groups operating in a similar line just don't feel the way they should.
Freecycle involves a brilliantly simple concept: if you have something you don't want anymore, but may still be useful, you can offer it free of charge to someone from your local area - thus keeping something still usable out of landfill. No money changes hands, and it's expected that the person who wants the item comes to collect it. You can post "Wanted" ads on there as well, usually after you have already offered at least one item. Mostly what's on offer are things that are simply not worth selling - but that are still useful. For example we've received items including a bundle of clothes for our (then baby) daughter, a wheelbarrow, replacement drawers for our freezer, a food steamer, and a bike suitable for our son. In return we've given away any number of ornaments, a Haynes Manual for a car that had been scrapped, two sofas that were of no further use, videos, and all the other things that had collected in our house that we had no wish to move to the manse.
So where's the problem?
Well to start with what you might call the Freecycle Movement seems to be having more than a bit of internal strife. This article from the Guardian tells part of the story, and it's not hard to find other stuff as well. I'm not about to get into the debate about who is right or wrong, other than to observe that the reaction of The Freecycle Network (TM apparently) to the defection of the Manchester Group (to something that is being called Freegle) has been to set up a "new" Manchester Freecycle Group that at the time of writing has 61 members and no messages, compared to the Manchester "Greencycle" Group's 9500 members and 150 messages since Friday alone. Freecycle however remains the "brand" that people are most likely to have heard of, has a name that very neatly encapsulates what it is about, and the splits are unlikely to help the cause that both sides say they support.
What is more annoying to me now though is that whether it's Freecycle, Greencycle, Freegle or whatever, it is in danger of becoming a victim of its own success. A quick looks at some of the numbers tells a story... 156 messages since Friday Morning: 4 Announcements (mostly about the changeover to Greencycle); 60 Offer messages; 2 Received messages; 23 Taken messages; and 64 Wanted messages. More wanted than offered isn't the way I think a group like this needs to run to be healthy; a quick peruse of the wanteds reveals that many people are looking for what might be called "High Value" items such as Laptops and other computer equipment.
Some of the experiences we've had of offering things have been less than good as well. There are some people who seem to reply to pretty much every message saying it's just what they want etc - we noticed this especially when we cleared a load of stuff out of our loft in Liverpool. Do they really just happen to want every single diverse item for themselves - or are they looking for stuff for a Car Boot sale etc? The one guy who was up front about wanting stuff for that purpose (specifically to raise money for a minibus for a local group) was fine - we ended up giving him quite a few bits - but you can't help being suspicious in some cases. It smacks of the many leaflets that appear through the door for "Clothing Collections" that in some cases seem to imply they're going to a good cause when in fact it's a company looking to sell stuff on - you feel like you're being deceived.
Then there's the people that say they want something, but don't turn up - leaving you wondering why you have for example kept an evening free when you could have been off doing something much more interesting than waiting for a doorbell to ring. That's happened several times, and you end up feeling so frustrated that you wonder whether this is really worth the candle.
What's the solution to these sort of problems? That's a tricky one, and depends in some ways where your idealism lies. Some people have no particular issue with stuff being sold on - after all, it's still staying out of landfill. Others (like me) don't mind so much if it's being done openly so that you know where it's going. Others would say you shouldn't be allowed to sell on anything under any circumstances. Some groups limit you to one or two "Wanteds" in a month - but can they police people putting themselves in the group multiple times effectively? Given that all the moderators are volunteers doing this in their spare time, that's a pretty big ask.
Another argument is that many of the items offered on Freecycle are the sort that would traditionally have been donated to Charity Shops - who are therefore potentially missing out. That's not the complete story - what charity would for example want the remains of a load of Topsoil, Daffodil Bulbs, Bricks, Windfalls from an Apple Tree, three internal doors, or a somewhat warped Piano, all of which I have seen offered - but it has to be admitted that there is plenty of stuff offered that charities would be happy to take and sell on.
The long and the short of it is that I'm probably just going to set the messages from whatever the group is called to be automatically deleted until such time as I have something to offer - and for many things, first try and find other places where they will be appreciated, such as the Charity Shops run by a couple of my churches and by Churches on the Edge. It feels like a shame, but for the moment Freecycle and the groups operating in a similar line just don't feel the way they should.
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
A walk - and annoyance
Today I went for a walk on my own, something I like to do and need to do every now and then. So off I went to Dovestones Reservoir on the edge of the Peak District. As you can see, the scenery even on a cloudy day is pretty impressive.
And then halfway round I saw this.
Do you ever get the feeling that you don't understand what motivates some people? I simply don't get why what was probably a family group goes off somewhere like this for a picnic and then spoils it for others by leaving their rubbish around like that. There were lots of juice bottles, a disposable barbecue, empty cider bottles and lager cans....
I walked on for a few yards, muttering under my breath about the sheer thoughtlessness of others. Then I stopped: I was challenged. Moaning about it wouldn't make the eyesore go away; however, I could make a difference.
Back I went to the pile. Some of the stuff was in carrier bags; I put some more of the rubbish into them. I didn't carry all of it away, because to be honest there was too much - but the five bags worth I did take helped to make it look somewhat better.
Then came another thought. The stuff had probably been there for the best part of a couple of days and in that time how many people had walked past it? Dovestones is a popular place. Dozens? A hundred? More? Most probably found the sight as deplorable as I did, so why did it seem that no-one (or at least the vast majority) had done more than shake their heads about it?
Reflecting on it now, what springs to mind (although it didn't at the time) is the parable of the Good Samaritan. Something obviously wrong, something causing others to shake their heads about the state of society - but no-one stopping to do anything about it.
Apathy reigns... but it doesn't have to.
(For a few more pictures of Dovestones, check out my Flickr account here!)
Saturday, 4 April 2009
Revenge of the Bad Speller
There are times that I realise that I'm becoming something of an Intellectual Snob, and yesterday was one of them. There's some building work happening just outside my Son's school, and this sign has been placed on a blocked path.
If anyone finds out what a Pedestrain is, and why one might need access to anywhere, let me know!
If anyone finds out what a Pedestrain is, and why one might need access to anywhere, let me know!
Monday, 30 March 2009
A little cross....
Some time ago I blogged about making a cross for my study - well, here is the finished article. With the exception of a small screw in the base and the string, it's created only with the bits I picked up on the beach in North Wales last summer.
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
Social Too-Much Networking?
Some time ago now Sally Coleman over at Eternal Echoes talked a little about something she was looking at in terms of whether it is possible to offer Pastoral Care via Blogs and Facebook. I remember at the time thinking that it could be good up to a point, but that face to face is still the best way. However, when it comes to Facebook in particular, I'm beginning to wonder how much is possible.
I wasn't an early adopter of Facebook, but I have become someone that goes on there at least once a day now, and as more and more people join the site (and some of them find me) my friend list went up. I still don't have that many compared to some, but the disparate crew on there includes family, friends from college, people from my University days, one or two people from messageboards I frequent, various people who have roles within the Methodist Church, friends of my wife's.... a wide variety in other words, of people who I have some sort of connection with.
The end result of this is that I'm discovering that I'm being a lot more cautious about what I put on there. There are things I shared last year through my Status that I simply wouldn't post this year: it used to be I knew everyone personally, and in many cases well (or at least well enough to trust with my inner thoughts and feelings), but now there are people I haven't seen in over 15 years, some who I have never actually met in person, and others who while friends are not what I would call close friends. Suddenly sharing some of those things becomes far too risky - do I really want people who are not close to know these things?
Some things are of course still possible, with Messenger conversations and private messages hidden from view - but in some ways I no longer feel that I can be as open because Facebook is throwing up too many friends, too many people who while it is nice to be back in touch with, don't have the same sort of connection to me.
Is this inevitable with Social Networking? One of my favourite Podcasts, Buzz Out Loud, reported recently on a story that a Juror who used Twitter to talk about a verdict before it was announced in court may cause a mistrial.
It's beginning to look that the more people join these services, the more we have to think about how we use them. Facebook does allow you to only share certain things with certain people - are we all going to have to learn how to use it?
I wasn't an early adopter of Facebook, but I have become someone that goes on there at least once a day now, and as more and more people join the site (and some of them find me) my friend list went up. I still don't have that many compared to some, but the disparate crew on there includes family, friends from college, people from my University days, one or two people from messageboards I frequent, various people who have roles within the Methodist Church, friends of my wife's.... a wide variety in other words, of people who I have some sort of connection with.
The end result of this is that I'm discovering that I'm being a lot more cautious about what I put on there. There are things I shared last year through my Status that I simply wouldn't post this year: it used to be I knew everyone personally, and in many cases well (or at least well enough to trust with my inner thoughts and feelings), but now there are people I haven't seen in over 15 years, some who I have never actually met in person, and others who while friends are not what I would call close friends. Suddenly sharing some of those things becomes far too risky - do I really want people who are not close to know these things?
Some things are of course still possible, with Messenger conversations and private messages hidden from view - but in some ways I no longer feel that I can be as open because Facebook is throwing up too many friends, too many people who while it is nice to be back in touch with, don't have the same sort of connection to me.
Is this inevitable with Social Networking? One of my favourite Podcasts, Buzz Out Loud, reported recently on a story that a Juror who used Twitter to talk about a verdict before it was announced in court may cause a mistrial.
It's beginning to look that the more people join these services, the more we have to think about how we use them. Facebook does allow you to only share certain things with certain people - are we all going to have to learn how to use it?
Monday, 16 March 2009
Staff Retreat
Last month saw the Circuit Staff Retreat, which took place over three days at Whalley Abbey - picture above, and more on my Flickr Stream.
It was a great chance to stop, take stock, and take in instead of give out - there was plenty of opportunity to be creative and to enjoy the surroundings; many of the pictures were taken on a walk that some of us did literally from the doorstep.
I did a little bit of writing while there, and I thought I'd share them here....
I found somewhere to sit and rest
I found a place – just me
An opportunity to be refreshed
A chance to simply be.
A thousand things that must be done
How many want things of me!
But God demands a single one:
“Spend time alone with Me!”
The time I spent alone with God
Enabled me to see
It mattered not the speed I trod
Much more, it was with thee.
As I sought silence
Time to spend with God
Sounds reached my straining ears
Birds singing
A distant car
Footsteps
A door opening
My own breathing
Where was the quiet?
How could I seek God?
But in these moments
Those gentle noises
Helped me to know that God sought me.....
“Seek and ye shall find” came the words
And so I went out to seek.
I searched the skies
I searched the Earth
I turned over the rocks
I delved into the deeps of the ocean
I looked in every place I could find
But I did not find what I was seeking.
In despair, I stood still;
In silence, I thought of all I had seen
Then I began to laugh – for I realised that what I had been seeking was there all along,
Just needing me to name and recognise the God that is everywhere that we seek
And that is also within ourselves.
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