Awards Dinner

We held our first work Awards Dinner at the weekend. It was a fantastic evening celebrating all that the young people with disabilities that I work with have achieved over the last year. We were able to present awards, both silly and serious, look at photos taken over the last year and show our appreciation to the hard working volunteers who make it all possible.

I was so incredibly proud of all the young people, both those with disabilities and our volunteers, who put so much effort in throughout the year. All the hard work organising the evening was worthwhile just to see them all enjoy looking back, while also looking to the year coming up.

Celebrating the achievements of people is something we should all do more of.

Be careful the words we use

There have been lots of words used to describe Raoul Moat over the last few days - and some of the strongest were by our Prime Minister. While I think what Raoul did was utterly horrendous, and I can't understand why some members of the public are treating him like a hero, I do think we have to be very careful about the words we use to describe him.

Because, despite all he has done, he is still someone's son and someone's brother and he is still the father of his ex partner's children. I can not begin to imagine what it must be like to come to terms with he did if he was a member of my family. But having to come to terms with it in the public eye, with so many nasty words used to describe him must be simply awful. I believe we must let them grieve the loss of their family member in private. The police need to carry out their investigation, but lets not add to their pain by the language we use.

Burning Embers or Flickering Flames?

I'm now relaxing after an evening in the woods with 36 Cub Scouts. As part of the evening we were cooking over fires. So often the Cubs were disappointed that there were only embers in the fire pits and no roaring flames. They got frustrated that it was taking so long to cook and so were so excited when a flame started to flicker. Unfortunately, in their enthusiasm, they thrust their skewers with the dough twiddled around the end into the flame, only to see their food burnt within seconds. You see the dough needed to cook slowly in the hot embers.

Our churches can be like that. We can be in such a rush to action, and can get so frustrated when things take a long time that we jump straight into doing things. So often we can end up getting burnt, or burnt out, because we rush into action too quickly. There is too much of a focus on what we do in church, and less of a focus on who we are.

Flames in a fire flicker around from place to place - going wherever the wind blows. Yet the embers are a stable and secure source of heat. They may not be as exciting and active, but in the long run they are far more effective. Maybe sometimes, we need to consider being burning embers rather than flickering flames.

A transforming church

I've just listened to the recording of Eunice Attwood's speach to the Methodist Conference - and what a breath of fresh air! Eunice is the new Vice President of the Methodist Conference and spoke with such passion, humour and down to earth common sense about the love of God, the impact that love has on us and the impact it should have on those around us. There were a number of things that struck me.

1. God's unconditional love for us. It is not 'God loves me if...' We need to be offering our world the unconditional love of God. This does not mean that we shouldn't challenge people about their lives, and it doesn't mean that we don't need changing, but we don't have to do any of this for God to love us.
2. Our faith must engage with people. It is no use being safe in our churches when the people who are suffering are often somewhere else. We need to find where people are, and we need to walk with them.
3. Small acts of kindness can have profound effects on people.
4. We need to create safe places for people to truly be who they are and be able to tell their story.
5. God's love should transform our life and our church. Knowledge about God is not enough. Only an acceptance of that love can truly transform us.
6. A church that doesn't transform will stagnate. As hard as change is, the alternative doesn't bear thinking about.
7. Methodism is a rich church in terms of members - both lay and ordained - and buildings. Lets use the resources that we have.

It is so great to hear someone speaking with such passion, hope and confidence in the gospel and in the Methodist Church as one of the bearers of that gospel. My prayer for Eunice and Alison (the President) is that their passion and vision for the Methodist Church will be infectious so that the Methodist Church can rise once again to what God has called it to.