Wednesday 29 June 2011

Wind Turbines

A leaflet was dropped through our letterbox the other day. It encouraged us to object to the proposal to build a wind turbine along the valley from Aboyne. The heading was, "Not on our patch".  Sigh. Always it has to be someone else's problem. I have a certain amount of sympathy for people whose part of the world really is beautiful and who chose the location of their house for its outlook and would definitely not have bought if there had been a turbine there already. But my sympathy stops short of agreeing with them. Thinking people on the whole seem to agree that we cannot continue to exploit the non renewable resources ad infinitum. If this is the case, we need to become part of the solution. Part of the solution is to become renewable resources friendly. And this has to include my willingness to see turbines in my back yard. Too many of us are prepared to agree there is a problem, but when we are unwilling to play, the problem becomes someone else's to solve. We are no longer identifying with it ourselves. Unfortunately there are too many problems which are not amenable to that treatment. Ok, we have to be willing to set boundaries and say "no" sometimes, but often there is a better way, a way that invites our positive participation. Strangely enough, this is also so so true of Church. 

Monday 13 June 2011

Answers to prayer

In our prayers of intercession in church on 12th June (Pentecost) we prayed over the issue of increased aid for vaccination programmes in the developing world. I read in today's Independent (13th) that the government is announcing increased aid of over £8m towards this. It is immensely pleasing to be able to note this here and for thanksgiving next Sunday. To keep me becoming too triumphalistic in my approach to prayer, I should also add that we prayed for peace in most of the warring countries that are hitting the headlines at the moment. Sadly I think it will be a little longer before this prayer may be answered, although I continue to look for speedy resolutions to the conflicts.

To be honest, I was also surprised to read the news about vaccinations in the paper. It occurred to me to say I was ashamed to be surprised, but I wasn't. I'm not ashamed of my being surprised, not because I've stopped believing that God answers prayer, but because I have become used to the fact that we tend to couch our more formalised prayer in the setting of the institutional church and formal church services, in a more generalised way, which doesn't seem to look for specific and speedy resolution or immediate solutions. I know that the human condition throws up far more things that we would like to see mopped up quickly than ever are. Neither God, by direct and miraculous intervention, nor the progress of humankind, clear up all the problems as soon as we would like. This latter is hardly surprising, given that we cause many of our own problems. However, the news that increased resources are being made available for the vaccinations does remind me to be more intentional about prayer, and to raise the bar of my own expectations with regard to it. I need to hold this in tension with what I like to call realism, or spiritual common sense with regard to prayer. Some things could not be cleared up quickly even if God did intervene directly and miraculously, and some things need the development of goodwill and wisdom before they can be addressed. And many of the things which God could clear up instantly, he doesn't. I suspect he doesn't so that we will learn wisdom and patience, and not tire in endeavour to make things better. This means that prayer also involves management of the expectations of those with whom or for whom we pray, since we all know of cases where people have been bitterly disappointed and even lost faith because they did not get the answer for which they longed. And then there are some things which could be miraculously changed by the application of things like grace, which is within the gift of every one of us to give, but so often we fail to manage. 

Sunday 5 June 2011

I'm looking at a column in Scotland on Sunday by Duncan Hamilton entitled War on drugs has also become a war on free thinking, and as I read, my mind drifts, and makes a connection between what he is saying, and the current impending crisis in the Church of Scotland, with many in the evangelical wing breathing heavily, gathering in corners, and making altogether threatening noises about their position in the National Church being no longer tenable.

The Global Commission on Drugs Policy produced its report last week. It is recommending the decriminalising of certain drugs. Why? It has evidence that the costs, social and financial, of incarcerating, on a global scale, millions of people, are massive and moreover do nothing to restrict or reduce the flow of drugs. The war on drugs is not being won in other words. The commission wants to find other ways of dealing with the problem which centre mainly on undermining organised crime by making drugs like cannabis legally available. Using other forms of treatment like heroine assisted programmes are also suggested. Hamilton says that for many these proposals will be offensive. Cries of "weakness" and "throwing in the towel", "letting them off the hook" etc can be heard in the wings.
.
Now, what is the goal of those who want to leave the Church of Scotland? Do they want a church which cleaves more closely to Scripture? A better purer one than the one they would leave behind? One which does not support clergy who are committed to sinful lifestyle choices? Fair enough in its own way. Let us for the moment give the ground to the anti gay lobby. For the sake of argument only, let us accept that a gay lifestyle is sinful. Are those intent on exiting the national church going to adopt the same stringency on the gluttonous in their midst, on the mean, on the proud? These too might be construed as life choices, and can certainly in the light of Scripture be shown to be sinful. And given that the debate rages between equally God and Bible loving Christians about whether or not it is sinful to act out a homosexual orientation, whereas we could agree on gluttony and pride fairly easily, I am to say the least, confused.

The connection for me between this and the decriminalisation of drugs is that we need to truly debate these things, rather than shout at each other from entrenched positions. That latter is not surely what we learned from Christ. A practical situation forced a decision upon us; one which we would rather have avoided making. But for years, we have had gay people in the ordained ministry, some with an active sexual life kept low key and secret, others celibate. Was turning a benevolent blind eye better? I don't think so. We need to keep talking to each other, and keep affirming that what makes us different from each other is not badness.