Easter Fun

I had a lovely Easter weekend, which involved a good balance of reflection and worship and time with family and friends. I had a surreal evening out on Sunday after church. I ended up in the pub with friends from church and then went to another pub with some of Neil's mates. And then it turned into a bizarre spontaneous school reunion as loads of blokes from Neil's year at school turned up. It was very surreal as Neil has only seen most of them once or twice in the last 12 years. It took an even more odd turn as Neil works for Crusaders, a Christian youth group organisation, and most of his school mates used to go to a Crusaders group at Enfield Baptist Church. I actually found it quite encouraging cos, despite messing about lots in the youth club all those years ago, a couple of them actually remembered a lot of the Christian stuff and still seemed interested in it. So, maybe the more challenging young people that I am in contact with are actually taking some of this stuff in?? The evening finished in a snooker hall with me making an absolutely incredible pot which I think without doubt proves the existence of God cos there was no way I did that in my own power!

Had a lovely time last night cos Pete and Sooz came around for dinner. At this point I would make a link to Pete's blog but my technical skill may not allow it. Does this work??

http://levesons.blogspot.com

The week will end in a more dramatic fashion as I am taking 30 young people to Spring Harvest on Friday...

Electioneering

Tony Blair spoke to the Faithworks group of London churches today. You can read about it here:

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/election/story/0,15803,1443470,00.html

Apparently, he said that Christian organisations have a crucial role to play in helping young people and wants churches to play a bigger role in national life. The election is probably now just over a month away and faith issues keep hitting the headlines. Is it just me or are 'religious' issues getting much more space for debate in the media and politics than they have previously?

And if so, why is this the case? Is it partly the influence of America? Or could it also be because evangelical Christians, who in the past have not focussed much on social issues and instead concentrated on their personal relationship with Jesus, are starting to realise that to follow Jesus means taking a passionate interest in the world around them - and being a voice to the voiceless?

As always, there are lots of overlapping issues here, but any one else's comments would be great...

On the ball, city...

I am currently facing up to the fact that Norwich are not going to be in the Premiership next season. They lost to Bolton on Saturday and their next 2 games are against Arsenal and Manchester United - their future in the top division looks bleak. However, miracles can happen and I am praying that they stay up... is it alright to pray for your football team?!?

Summer is in the air...

I love the way we seem to have skipped a season and we now appear to be in the middle of summer. I walked to the gym yesterday in a skirt and Birkenstock sandals - this weather is great if somewhat freaky! I am praying it keeps like this for Spring Harvest...

I can't believe it was snowing a fortnight ago.

Passion[fruit]

Just to remind all of the EBC crowd that it is Passion[fruit] on Sunday night at 7pm. We are looking at following Jesus at school and Phil Kingham from N:Flame is speaking. Bring your mates! See you there?

Jackie Pullinger

I went to a conference on Saturday where Jackie Pullinger was speaking. Jackie works in Hong kong and wrote a great book called Chasing the Dragon. Here's a couple of my personal highlights:

• Jackie was talking about Matthew 25 when Jesus is talking about separating the sheep and the goats, and he says 'For when I was hungry you gave me something to eat...' She made the point that we don't need to pray when we encounter poeple in need, because we don't need to pray about the things that we have been told to do.
• Jackie was also talking about the relationship between men and women and said some really good stuff, including, 'I don't care to be equal with a man. I just want to be secure in my relationship with my father .'
• She also talked about the need to raise up our young people to have perserverance. She said that many young people have soft feet and hard hearts when they should have hard feet and soft hearts.

Those far too brief summaries are just some of the things that she said. Any comments?!?

Hotel Rwanda

Me and Neil went to see Hotel Rwanda today. It is a wonderful film but also deeply disturbing as it portrays the Rwandan genocide in 1994. The film reminded me of Schindler's List as it shows how one family can make a huge difference; it is based on the true story of Paul Rusesabagina who sheltered about 1200 refugees in a hotel. The film also reminded me of how ignorant I am of so much of the stuff going on in the world. Hotel Rwanda is well worth watching but be prepared to be moved.

The Beginning

Hhhmmm... although I am hopelessly technophobic, I am entering the world of the blog! Please bear with me as I attempt to master the art of blogging and setting up links etc. I am very excited and will give some chocolate to the first person to post an interesting and insightful comment.