Penetrating the Church

I've just read this comment about the church:

We fence Jesus off from everyone, hiding him behind religious jargon, impenetrable church services, music which has no connection to popular culture. Then we have the nerve to complain that no one seems interested in religion any more. Perhaps they would be interested in Jesus, if only he wasn't hidden from sight behind the strange trappings of religion.

Although it was written about 15 years ago, it has a familiar ring! However we try to make church "accessible" (to use modern jargon), it's so easy to slip into it being an "in" club, where only those in the know really understand things.

If you go to church, next Sunday, try and view everything from the point of view, "If I'd never been here before and know little about Christianity, would I understand what was going on and would I know what I was supposed to do?"

See how you get on!

Fairtrade

A couple of weeks ago the Institute of Economic Affairs issued a fairly negative paper on Fairtrade. One is tempted to say, "Well, it would, wouldn't it?"

The trouble is, Fairtrade isn't free trade, and that's what they don't like. Their line is that free trade in the long term is best for the developing world.

Like, I suppose, "free trade" in this country where our own farmers are shafted by large multi-national supermarkets.

In a free market, when the price of, say, coffee slumps on the world market, the 3rd world producers are left penniless. How does that benefit the growers? But Fairtrade promises not to pay less than a certain price, whatever the markets do.

I was surprised and heartened to read an article in the Money section of the weekend Guardian in response to the IEA paper. It was written by the editor of Money, Patrick Collinson, who has been to Tanzania and actually seen how Fairtrade has benefited the lives of people out there. He ends his article by saying:

Fairtrade is an easy target for people who, for reasons I can't fathom, want to attack "do-gooders". We should be proud of it. It is a global movement but one that is outstandingly successful in convincing British consumers to pay that bit more to help the less fortunate. These are do-gooders who have done good.

So, don't be put off by those who try to denigrate Fairtrade. Keep buying the tea, coffee and whatever else you can get hold of!

Go to www.guardian.co.uk/money and search for "Fairtrade" for Patrick Collinson's article. The article has a link to a report on the IEA website about its paper on Fairtrade.

Post very early for Christmas

Last week we ordered a number of items over the Internet - most of them for Christmas. Then we waited for them to arrive. As both of us are often out for large parts of the day, it didn't surprise us when we found one of those notes saying they had tried to deliver a parcel.

This one was from UKMail. On the note there were two boxes the driver could tick - one to say he'd left it with a neighbour, the other to say he'd try to re-deliver tomorrow, or for us to phone a number if inconvenient. As neither boxes were ticked we decided to call the number and arrange to collect the parcel ourselves, as that was one of their options.

So, the next day my wife goes down, as arranged, after work and rings the bell at the desk, by the note asking customers to be patient if no-one comes immediately.

After ten minutes of waiting and being ignored by two people who walked through, her patience ran out! When finally someone did come, they said the driver had re-delivered it that day! But she had arranged with them to pick it up! Oh, well, he said, the telephone number on the form isn't theirs, it's another office!

Actually the parcel was NOT delivered. My wife has made a formal complaint and they are looking in to it. In the meantime, the parcel has gone missing! What a fiasco!

Welcome to the world of privatised mail.

A pill too far

I read that contraceptive pills are to be available to girls as young as 13 on the Isle of Wight. They will be available over the counter at some pharmacies, without the girl's parents or GP knowing about it. The aim, Primary Care Trust says, is to cut down teenage pregnancies.

But I haven't read of any evidence that this type of action actually works. Furthermore, what does it say to these kids? Let me suggest three things:

1. Society says it's alright to have under-age sex.
2. Society says it's OK to sleep around.
3. Society will collude with you to ignore your parents' wishes.

If this is the kind of society we now live in, then society stinks.

Hallowe'en

Yesterday was Hallowe'en. We had 17 kids knock at the door in total, although often in groups. What does one do?

In the morning I preached on the subject, and if you are really interested, your can hear it at
www.laindonbaptistchurch.org/sermons/halloween2.mp3 (the Scripture readings are heard first).

We prepared a little leaflet which we gave to the parents of those who called, and offered the children something from our basket of "goodies", which included little books with Bible stories, pencils and rubbers with either a Bible verse, or "God loves you" written on them.

The little leaflet read:

As Christians we have reservations about celebrating Halloween. We believe that it is better to celebrate things that are good and ‘light’ rather than concentrate on dark things. However we do not want to disappoint children who call at our door so hope you will allow them to take something from our basket and accept this short explanation of our views. If you want to talk further please call again or get in touch via Laindon Baptist Church.

Whether or not the leaflets were read, only God knows. But it made us feel a little happier about a rather dubious evening in our society's calendar. As I said in the sermon, at any other time of the year, if a parent allowed their child to go around knocking on the doors of complete strangers and demand gifts to prevent vandalism, they'd be reported to Social services.

To the Cinema

Earlier this evening we went to see the film Africa United. It's about a group of kids who travel across Africa to see the World Cup in South Africa. A light-hearted film which, however, managed to touch on HIV/AIDS, child soldiers and trafficking, almost without you realising it. As well, of course, addiction to football!

It was in one of the "Studios" in our local mutiplex, and it has 50 seats. My wife said, "It's obviously minority viewing." It turned out even more than we thought as we were the only people in the place!

A good evening out - why pay £1,000's for your own home cinema?