Another Gunshot, Another Family

Northern Ireland woke this morning to another tragic event in its history.  Today we live in what many would call a normalised society in which we enjoy peace and the benefits it brings to us personally and too are economy, yet twitter this morning is ablaze with the news of a man shot on his way to work on the motorway between Lurgan and Portadown.  Here is a poem about what sprang through my mind as the news came in.  

Another Gunshot, Another Family. 

The news came through as I wiped sleep from my eyes

The morning ritual, barely awake a scroll down twitter

Heart sinking, fear entering, past awakening

Details sketchy, car crash becomes man shot dead as sky news update their status.

Details continue to flood in 

7am, Prison service employee, hallmarks of a republican ambush

The news came in as I wiped sleep from my eyes 

Thinking of family members left behind 

As they wiped sleep from their eyes, sleep giving way to tears and potential sleepless nights

The news came in as I wiped sleep from my eyes

24 years ago a rap came to my mothers door 

8.30 she was still wiping sleep from this little boys eyes

The news came in as she wiped sleep from my eyes

Gun shot, train, paramedics on the scene, we did all we could

As she wiped sleep from his eyes, sleep giving way to tears and endless sleepless nights. Just another guy who left for work never to come home 

The news came in as I wiped sleep from my eyes

Surely this province can wake from this nightmare 

Oh for a day to dawn when we don’t have to look back but stare into the future that comes with a new dawn 

Purple .... Just A Colour?

Hate crime towards gay and transgender people is on the rise across Britain, with thousands of people suffering abuse every year and in some cities, attacks motivated by sexual prejudice are up by as much as 170 per cent annually.

The rise in homophobic crime in England, Wales and Northern Ireland went from 4,805 offenses in 2009 to 4,883 in 2010. Campaigners say the figures are just the "tip of the iceberg" as research suggests three out of four people are still too afraid to report these crimes.

Take for example the story of Matthew Shephard:

Matthew was a 21 year old student at the University of Wyoming.  He wanted to become a diplomat or work in politics and in his spare time enjoyed camping, fishing and skiing. At around midnight on the 6th October 1998, Matthew was taken from a bar by two other men to a deserted field about a mile from Laramie.  Once there, these men tied him to a fence, beat him with a pistol, tortured him and left him for dead. A young cyclist found Matthew eighteen hours later. Matthew had severe head injuries and remained in a coma until his death at 12.53 am on October 12, 1998.

Matthew’s case illustrates one extreme but there are numerous other ways hate crimes and bullying exist in our society today, people can be bullied at work or by the institutions they work for, people can be denied housing and employment on the grounds of their sexuality or perceived sexuality and kids in the playground through the phrase ‘you’re so gay’ around and often times has nothing to do with the Childs sexuality but is seen as the worst slur you can inflict on someone.  

Wear it Purple Day exists to combat homophobia, bullying and hate crimes against LGBT people.  By wearing an item of purple clothing today you can show that you believe that such treatment as illustrated in the story of Matthew Shephard  is wrong and should not be taking place in our cities and on our streets . I fully recognize that among the readers of this blog there is a wide variety of opinion in relation to issues surrounding the LGBT community but surely today we can all agree that Homophobia is wrong and so is bulling of LGBT people and hate crimes against members of that community should not be allowed to go unreported and even happen in the first place.  

I thought I would leave you with a poem by Jenny Joseph which I remember reading at secondary school and when I heard it first it made me think about my Auntie Madeline and some how seems fitting today..... 

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.

I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.

I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other peoples' gardens
And learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickles for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

When I am old I will wear purple, why not wear it today?

Walking

Remember a time when walking was just about putting one foot in front of the other?

Remember the smile on a parents face, when the crawling gave way to walking?

Remember the times you fell, and then got back up again?

Remember a time when walking was something everyone did?  And didn’t belong to one community or the other? 

When did it change?

When did walking start putting on gloves and collarettes and marching to tunes?

When did walking start to offend?

When did walking get labelled contentious, and need resolved?

When did walking become seen as invading other peoples space?

When did walking become sectarian? And seen as one groups Christian right?

When did walkers begin to be greeted with protests?

When did walkers start requiring police escorts?

When did walkers first meet stone throwers and petrol bombs?

Surely we all walk .....

Surely we all  walk past each other everyday,

Look at our toe-paths, shopping centers, streets, villages and towns what do you see?  Nothing more than people walking past each other 365 days of the year.

Remember that story in the bible about walking?

The one with the injured man lying at the side of the road?

There were plenty of people walking by that day - and no one wanted to stop 

Perhaps they were walking their traditional route and weren't going to be rerouted because of a corpse

Perhaps they couldn’t see their neighbors need because he wasn’t one of them

‘Go walking, thats what to do’ or so the television jingle used to tell us

Go walking together 

Go walking new routes of peace  

Go walking without the baggage 

Go walking to a new united tune

Go walking into a new chapter of our nations history 

Remember when walking was just about putting one foot in front of the other?

‘DESTITUTE SIZE ME’ - Day 3 in association with Northern Ireland Community of Refugees and Asylum Seekers

So day three and I am still hanging in there, I have to be honest there were a couple of stages where I thought, ‘well sure if I quit now it won’t look as bad as getting further into the week and then deciding to call it a day’.  But yet again I find myself, sitting, typing words and trying to formulate thoughts.  

Yesterday was tough.  Tough on a number of levels.  

For work yesterday I had a meeting in the city centre - clearly on my budget city centre parking wasn’t an option so I decided I would get the bus one way and then walk to the office after, so I boarded the bus only to discover that the fare for a one way journey almost equaled  as much as the food I had bought the night before for three nights.  Nearly two tenths of a weekly budget on one journey ..... it really isn’t easy is it ...... yet again something I don’t think very much as I drive myself around town in a one year old car which I had thought about trading in for another brand new car a couple of weeks ago.   

Last night I found myself at a friends birthday party ( I felt it would be unfair not to go)  but with no money to spend and not excepting gists from other people I sat there all night without so much as a drink of water.  Now those who know me well will know that I love a party and a night out as much as anyone, and at times, more than most people.  But strip away the cash and the drinks and a night out becomes something entirely different, you begin to watch others enjoying themselves, you see your friends being able to buy themselves drinks and you almost become resentful, angry or even annoyed that they are willing to spend £5 on a drink .... that is half my weekly budget .... One glass of wine in the John Hewitt or I starve .... grim reality.  The question I am left asking myself is, what must it be like to live in the city, walk past all that is going on, people out for a good night, people celebrating, yet constantly to be living a life that allows you to look through the window at others enjoying themselves while you make your way back to the shared accommodation that you are living in for the moment hoping that you can fall asleep on a empty stomach.  

But in the midst of all this I find myself asking deeper theological questions of myself as  I reflect on the experience, is there such a thing as a theology of asylum?  It certainly wasn’t a module or even a single lecture at the college where I trained to be a minister yet the thought doesn’t leave my mind easily.  Matters probably aren’t helped by the fact that this year I have been using Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals for my personal devotions and its focus the past two days has been on Justice and Fear .... ideas and concepts that sit quite happily with my current experience.  Came across this online today and think says more than I could ever do ...... http://www.ctbi.org.uk/pdf_view.php?id=22.  

Reflecting a little of the refugee situation I am reminded of the words of Dolly Parton in Travelin Through 

Well I can't tell you where I'm going, I'm not sure of where I've been 

But I know I must keep travelin' till my road comes to an end 

I'm out here on my journey, trying to make the most of it 

I'm a puzzle, I must figure out where all my pieces fit 

Like a poor wayfaring stranger that they speak about in song 

I'm just a weary pilgrim trying to find what feels like home 

Where that is no one can tell me, am I doomed to ever roam 

I'm just travelin', travelin', travelin', I'm just travelin'

‘DESTITUTE SIZE ME’ - Day 2 in association with Northern Ireland Community of Refugees and Asylum Seekers

Okay so Day Two of the challenge.  What has happened since yesterday?  Well since the last blog post, JAB made to it Tesco’s to buy some food and managed to only spend a total of £1.83 on dinner and breakfast that should last three days (I’m working out that during the process it might be easier and more cost efficient to focus on two meals rather than three) and a major catastrophe was averted by Gillian Fitch, for when I discovered I had bought all tinned food and had no tin opener she very kindly came to my aid.  So I actually managed to have dinner last night.  I feel that Gillian’s very kind offer doesn't break the rules as we heard yesterday how the asylum and refugee community continually lend each other stuff including food ....... Startling when you think that they have very little for themselves or their own families without then giving it away to others ...... It seems to me that there is something very ‘gospel’ about this - looking after one’s brother or sister and sacrificial giving ... to name a few ideas that immediately spring to mind.  

Though in todays post I wish to share with you, some of the conversations I had yesterday with Refugees and Asylum seekers along with some personal reflection.  

What must it be like for a family who lives on this budget? - Well here are the words of one father .....

‘The baby goes through a lot of nappies and so much so that we can’t afford nappies for her all the time so at night we need to wrap her in a towel and place her on a plastic bag for the night.’ 

Or how do you dress yourself when you have left all your belongings back in the country who ave come from? Again i refer you to the words of one refugee ... 

‘clothes ... we can’t afford clothes ... if you need something there is somewhere you can go and rummage to see if they have something that fits you ... if they do its yours, if not you leave with nothing ... we can’t even shop in charity shops.’ This hit me hard!  As I sat there dressed to the nines and thinking about some other stuff I would like to get for the summer wardrobe.  Stupid really!

Despite the apparent financial hardship, accommodation issues and lack of job prospects, one area I had overlooked was that of mental health - men and women living like this day after day with no real sign of hope 

The strain was evident when one of the men commented, ‘living like this is mental torture’ with that look in his eye that articulated what he was trying to express so  more effectively then his words ever could........

‘How do I think of having a nice meal with these beans as I have been eating them everyday for months.’ 

I really had to stop myself from crying - when I audit the places I have eaten recently and the weekly shop from Marks and Spencer’s - Even on weeks when I was budgeting it was nowhere near as severe as this guys experience.  Yesterday I truly realised how affluent I am ... not just in terms of money, processions but also in terms of family, community and friends .... sometimes it is easy to take these smaller things for granted but your messages of support, encouragement and love has been amazing!   

‘DESTITUTE SIZE ME’ - Day 1 in association with Northern Ireland Community of Refugees and Asylum Seekers

So on Friday I was set the challenge of living this week solely on a £10 Tesco food voucher.  But why I hear you ask?  Well,

In Belfast, in 2012 would you believe that NICRAS is supporting 16 destitute asylum seekers with £10 a week and a small food parcel from NICRAS?....They  have absolutely no access to mainstream benefits, housing,  a G.P and are not allowed to work, to earn enough money to live above the poverty line?

Many of you know that I often talk about how important it is for the Evangelical church to not only preach the gospel but to live it in terms of social justice issues.  So the time has come for me to step up and take one small step myself.  

Shane Claiborne has commented ......

“We do need to be born again, since Jesus said to that guy named Nicodemus.  But if you tell me I have to be born again to enter the kingdom of God, I can tell you that you have to sell everything you have and give it to the poor, because Jesus said that to one guy, too.  But I guess thats why we invented highlighters, so we can highlight the parts we like and ignore the rest.” 

Either we as so called ‘evangelicals’ believe, practice, and live the whole scripture or we at the very essence hypocritical, we can’t pick and chose.  

The original challenge was to live on the £10 voucher though I have added an additional challenge for myself, to fully experience what life is like for those who enter Northern Ireland seeking Asylum, I will also be spending one night sleeping rough on the streets of our city.  

I feel this challenge is one that will be extremely daunting at times, I usually live on around £70 a week, enjoy traveling around in my car and really enjoy the added benefits of city centre living such as the cinema, theatre and gigs (in fact the wine I drink during the week  with dinner comes to more than the total I am allowed to live on for the whole week) .... so I can only imagine what it would be like to loose all of these luxuries.  

In fact I am so far removed from such destitution that I needed to run a spell check on the word ‘asylum’ .... I am sure for those who live this way on a daily basis, they do not need to run a spellcheck, because for them it is a living and breathing reality.

Speaking to an Asylum seeker today the following words, really moved me, living like this, ‘you loose track of what you need but have to put up with what you have...... when you think you are moving forward with your life - you just don’t move.’

So journey with me if you will this week as I seek to try and experience in a small way what life must be like on a daily basis for those who enter our country as Asylum seekers and refugees.  

Love the sinner hate your own sin

In Northern Ireland there has been a lot of talk in recent years under the slogan of ‘love the sinner hate the sin’.  Having been reading a lot of Tony Campolo recently I wish to suggest that we need to change that slogan to the one he has suggested, ‘Love the sinner, hate your own sin’.

At easter I read the following excerpt by Brain McLauren and it has dominated my thought process since. In fact I have nearly used it in two sermons but pulled it out at the last minute because of fear of how it would be received .... yet it still haunts me on a daily basis and makes me want to examine every conversation and exchange I enter into with others.  

I don’t want to be closed-minded or judgmental, but in good conscience I simply can’t approve of the lifestyle. I personally believe it’s a choice, not something predestined or forced upon anyone by anyone. I understand that parental upbringing is undoubtedly a big factor and that some people believe genes play a role in predisposing people to this orientation, but I also know that adults are responsible for their behavior, and the behaviors associated with this lifestyle are no exception.

On the one hand, I believe that we live in a free country, and people should be free to do what they think is right. But on the other hand, I believe freedom has limits—one limit being where others are hurt by the chosen lifestyle. And this lifestyle, there can be no mistake, is hurting a lot of people. Families are being torn apart by it, and churches and denominations too.

Everybody has an opinion on this controversial lifestyle, but I believe God’s opinion is the one that matters most, and there is absolutely no question what God’s opinion is according to the Bible. This orientation and the behaviors associated with it are thoroughly condemned, especially by Jesus. He was very compassionate toward many groups of people, but there is one group he had an absolute and uncompromising commitment to confront and expose, and it was those who dishonor themselves and others as humans made in the image of God by engaging in this lifestyle and its practices...........

Activists may use the word love to justify their behavior, but those who disagree with them are seldom treated with love. Many of us have already faced the scorn of the activists who promote this chosen lifestyle and defend it as legitimate and even godly. For do- ing so we have received hate mail peppered with a wide range of threats and abusive speech, with many calling for our damnation. But even so, we have learned that we must not respond to hate with hate; we must love these people and seek to help them, even though we do not approve of their behavior.

McLaren in this passage is talking about the judgmental lifestyle! The kind of lifestyle that Jesus spoke so openly against in His sermon on the mount.  The lifestyle that finds faults not people, the kind of lifestyle that relishes in its perceived superiority and righteousness yet cant see its flaws deep down within itself.  

It is always easy to point the finger, to notice what others are doing wrong, to say that people aren’t coming to church, to say that people are living in sin, to say that certain lifestyles are wrong, even to say certain things lead you straight to hell, but it is some what harder to take a long hard look at your own life, to look at the things that you do on a daily basis and then attribute to them the same level of judgement.  The bottom line is that we all sin! No if’s, no buts, no maybes.  Since the Garden of Eden we all sin and keep on sinning on a variety of levels.  

Now don’t get me wrong I am not saying that the Christian Church or the Christian leader should not point out sin in sermons and pastoral conversations, because after all there is a biblical mandate to do so, but what I am saying is that it must not be done without examining your own heart, looking deep into your own soul and asking forgiveness for your own sin first.   

In the words adapted by Joni Mitchell ‘I have seen (judgement) from both sides now’  Both giving judgement and receiving it, and all I can tonight is, its a lifestyle I want nothing to do with.   

Arch Bishop Tutu has commented ‘I have always striven for a life of love in action’ I would rather have this kind of lifestyle, one that says I love you not sort yourself out before i’ll talk to you.  

Love for the person who is at the end of their rope

Love for the person who just can’t cope

Love for the questing and doubting soul

Love for the person who feels unloved by church

Love flowing from the one who first loved me

May love win!