Virtual Methodist

Over the past year MPs and public representatives in general have taken a bit of a hammering for their acquisitiveness, racking up huge and unjustifiable expenses claims while so many people are feeling the pressures of the credit crunch. And the attempts of some MPs to resist the findings of Sir Thomas Legge's enquiry will not endear them to the public at large, particularly after a few weeks of party conferences where they have cheered to the rafters various proposals to put the squeeze on public sector workers and those claiming benefits... But whatever claims for moat-cleaning or multiple-homes have occurred, most of them pale into insignificance when compared with the selfishness of John Ward MP who, many, many years ago, owned a large part of Dagenham. When he died, among his papers there was said to be found the following prayer which he had written. “0 Lord, Thou knowest I have mine estates in the City of London, and likewise that I have lately purchased an estate in fee-s...

Here's a quick question for you that comes from my morning reading... Is James a hypocrite? As in James the writer of the New Testament letter... I'm one of those who is fully signed up to the idea that in scripture we find a bias towards the poor (whether that significantly affects how I live my life is another question altogether, but I at least have accepted the principle). As a result I often speak about that, and in particular the implications of that for the ministry of my current church, which is in a relatively low-income public housing estate, set within a much more affluent suburb of Belfast, which in global and historic terms is part of the most prosperous societies in world history. Often when I raise this, one of my congregation challenges this analysis and reminds me that "God so loved the world" not just the poor and the marginalised. He is one of the more economically comfortable in my congregation, so it might be easy to write off his comments as defe...