Virtual Methodist

Dear DUP and Sinn Fein,  My fri end Stocki has already sent you, and our other political leaders, an open letter , and social media suggests that many agree with what he says (including myself), but I was already writing this when I saw his, and whilst it covers similar ground, and fewer may read this, I want to add my tuppence (especially since it takes a lot to get me writing these days!) And at the heart of it is this, I recognise that you both have a legitimate electoral mandate. The big question is what you do with it. Both of you have made great play of the fact that people voted for you on the basis of your statements before the election. Now I have no desire to get into the legitimacy of those positions. You campaigned on them and you each were elected on those platforms. Both of you grew your vote in a highly polarised election, and whilst the DUP lost a significant number of seats they are still the largest party. So you both have a mandate. And so far in the ...

Well, did you SPRING forward yesterday? Or did the loss of an hour’s sleep make yesterday morning more of a challenge than it normally would be? There’s a debate about whether there is much point in changing the clocks in spring and autumn any more, or whether we should simply have summer time all year round… If that guaranteed us actual summer time all year round I would be one of its greatest supporters, although in any normal year here that isn’t a great boon… where summer usually just means that we get slightly warmer rain… But the lack of sunshine in summer is not the only distinctive about this province. Every time the clocks change I am reminded of the old joke about the passenger plane landing at Aldergrove and the pilot announcing over the PA system, “We have now landed at Belfast International Airport, please set your watches back 300 years.” We do sadly, have a reputation for being more focused on our past than other places… Whether that past is hundreds of y...

Just a quick post to flag up something that you have probably picked up from elsewhere. Recently there has been much conversation about a marked lack of hope in political and civic discourse in Northern Ireland recently, with positions becoming entrenched in anticipation of the upcoming arrival of Richard Haass. But slowly, largely facilitated by social media and a few conversations over coffee, a momentum has been developing to articulate a more positive vision of how things might be. I am aware of a number of initiatives coming to a head, and will plug them here were I feel they have something to offer... I will also return in detail to the issue of hope when I get a chance to pull my thoughts together. However, over the past week I have been part of a group who have tried to articulate some thoughts on the themes of hope and healing from a Biblical perspective as Richard Haass begins his work. As we said in a brief introductory statement that went out via facebook and email today...

On one of the radio talk-shows this week (don't know which one as I didn't put the radio on and am not even sure at which point in the week I heard it) one of the callers, who was a participant in the current "flag-protests" (although we all know that it's not just about a flag) claimed that he and his fellow protesters were more faithful to the 1912 Ulster Covenant than those Unionist leaders in Stormont sitting in government with the "enemies of Britain." There could be some truth in that. Take a look again at the words and context of the 1912 Covenant. BEING CONVINCED in our consciences that Home Rule would be disastrous to the material well-being of Ulster as well as of the whole of Ireland, subversive of our civil and religious freedom, destructive of our citizenship, and perilous to the unity of the Empire, we, whose names are underwritten, men of Ulster, loyal subjects of His Gracious Majesty King George V, humbly relying on the God whom our fa...

After the brief triviality of last week's supplement, here are a few beefy posts for this Saturday. Two of the most controversial items in the contemporary church are evolution and homosexuality. One of my favourite bloggers, Rachel Held Evans, pointed to posts on both in her own weekly round-up last week : first a superb series on biologos aimed at helping us to understand evolution , which are both scientifically and theologically literate, and then a heart-rending piece in the Huffington Post by  Maria Burnham  about the time she "came out" to her Bible Study. In evangelical (and Methodist) circles, the only thing that could run evolution or sexuality close on the controversy stakes is alcohol, which is perhaps why I, as someone who enjoys the odd pint (some of them very odd) also enjoyed this piece from Hull concerning a Beer and Cider Festival hosted in a church that ran out of beer... It reminded me of a certain story in John's gospel concerning a wedding ...

And so the deal has been done ... But what a palaver it has all been and few have emerged with much credit from the morass. I'll lay my cards on the table... I wanted the devolution of police and justice powers simply because without it the whole shakey political side of the peace process might have ground to a complete halt. But I'm not naive enough to believe that this will bring huge improvements to policing and criminal justice here overnight... far from it... the political incompetence that the folks on the hill have demonstrated over the past few weeks suggests that they shouldn't be put in charge of a murder mystery dinner party, never mind a bribe/budget of £800 million (why does every significant political move here need to be oiled by collosal amounts of cash? Maybe Harold Wilson was right... maybe we are a nation of spongers). Their performance on other issues including education, job creation, planning, water rates etc wouldn't fill you with confidence eithe...

I'm writing this before the inauguration speech on Tuesday, which is being anticipated like no other political event in my lifetime... I hope it is not a letdown, and more than that, I hope that it is not mere rhetoric and that what comes of it is not a letdown... although I suppose against the backdrop of the current economic and international mess that the Shrub and his neo-con and big business mates have left, things can only get better... Although didn't someone come into power to that refrain about a decade or so ago!? I'm sure there will be plenty of comment AFTER Tuesday, but what I'm reflecting on here is not so much the words and (hopefully) the actions that flow from them, but rather the man and the movement for change that he represents... Barack Obama has managed to position himself as the embodiment of a desire for change... Part of this is due to the skils of his team in using new media to court financial support and get out the vote amongst a demographic ...