Don't miss TRUE tomorrow night! Details here.

Abstinence hurts??

Sometimes I feel like a liberal but I guess my upbringing in religious N.I. has resulted in me being quite conservative in reality.

Therefore I found the article I was reading today uncomfortable. I used to volunteer with Christian Aid. As it is World Aids Day this Saturday I wanted to read up on the current issues. I found an article on the C.A. website quite shocking.

They are basically saying that Christians should not teach abstinence as it is causing people to catch HIV. They claim that (according to their partners) the teaching of abstinence is fueling the AIDS pandemic.

Here are some quotes that Christian Aid have included in their article:

In the US, the much-publicised True Love Waits programme, under which teenagers vow to keep their virginity until marriage, has left young people vulnerable to unwanted pregnancies and sexually-transmitted infections.

'Abstaining is not realistic. The church says to abstain, but it is a lie. It is better to tell the truth and use a condom.’

'I stand on the side of comprehensive programmes. Abstinence alone does not work; we have to face reality. Abstinence preaching is unrealistic, and it is not Christian.

‘Those who preach abstinence are running away from responsibility, not facing life.’

I am passionate about the world finding a way to end the spread of HIV/AIDS. I understand where they're coming from but find it really hard to accept. Firstly in the light of scripture and secondly in my own experience of 27 years, in which I have found that abstinence is difficult but definitely possible.

You can find article here.

I would love to be better informed by those with more knowledge. Any thoughts?

Sheep and Goats

(from asbo Jesus)

This week Tearfund are trying to mobilise local churches into a global week of prayer for poverty.

There are 2.2 million children in the world today. One million of these (EVERY SECOND CHILD!) are living in poverty.

The statistics are head wrecking and unfortunately often mind-numbing. However in the gospel I read we aren't left with much of an option but to do something. To pray and then be ready to be the answer to our prayers.

I've been really challenged by Matthew 23 where we are basically told how God will decide who spends eternity with him. I don't need to blog about it because my brother has just done it beautifully. Check out davymull. Brilliant!

Saints and Sinners

Some of my favourite worship songs are-
- Amazing Grace
- Be Thou my Vision
- Gloria- U2
- Our God Reigns- Delirious
- Indescribable- Chris Tomlin
- 40- U2
- Anything by REEDSTAR!


I went to see Shane Claibourne speak last week. He was talking about how the world needs to see Christians as being broken, screwed-up sinners just like them. Not the pious, holier-than-thou image that is often portrayed.

I saw a song on TV today that reflected this. Unfortunately it wasn't on a Christian channel. Rather it was MTV2 and a flippin teeny-bopper goth band. A song called 'The River' by Good Charlotte.

Good Charlotte for goodness sake and yet the lyrics seem to reflect the gospel message more than many of the white-washed vacuous 'artists' that you would find in a CCM magazine. Here's the chorus, watch the video below:

They say that evil comes disguised
Like a city of angels
I'm walking towards the light

Baptized in the river
I've seen a vision of my life
And I wanna be delivered
In the city was a sinner
I've done a lot of things wrong
But I swear I'm a believer
Like the prodigal son
I was out on my own
Now I'm trying to find my way back home
Baptized in the river
I'm delivered
I'm delivered

I confess I'm a sinner
I've seen a vision of my life
And I wanna be delivered

Na na na na na na HEY!!

I feel like a rant.....

Everyone who knows me knows I'm not the greatest fan of contemporary 'worship' music. I've been feeling particularly aggrieved recently. When you go through a hard time music can be crutch, expressing part of your soul that words can't. But it's hard to find Christian music that does this.

I find it so frustrating that when we worship the great Creator that we often sing such dreary, trite, repetitive music. Around the world we have created Christian singer superstars (check CCM magazine). Our own celebrity sub-culture to match the world's. Except ours is crap.

Big-selling albums with one decent tune and a load of fillers. The same chords and lyrics in a different order. Surely God deserves better. I seem to find the fingerprints of God far more in music that is supposed to be secular.

Its especially difficult to find any Christian songs that speak in an articulate way about a world that is seriously screwed up. If we want a song about mission we have that 'God of Justice' tune and that's about it. Or else the Delirious song 'Our God Reigns' in which we leave out the verse because it's not 'congregational'.


Anyway here's my 5 favourite and 5 least favourite worship songs:

Least favourite:
1. Come now is the time to worship
2. More love, more power (How can we ask for more....He died for us!)
3. I Love , I Loooooooooooove, I love your presence................................
4. Over the mountains and the sea (How can a river run over a sea? Also, I don't really 'feel like dancing' at 30 bpm)
5. I'll let my words be few (Becomes ironic after repeating it 12 times)
(Bonus number 6- The one that goes 'Na na na na na na Hey!')


All this cynicism has worn me out.....I'll do my top 5 next time!

TRUE

I'm really excited about the missional community that we have kicked off in church (Big Al's vision). I believe that through TRUE we will inspire and invision eachother to live out kingdom values on the earth. It feels like this is how church should be. It feels like this is what life should be.

Stevie Mc was dying with the flu but played a blinder. Check out his words on the TRUE blog!

The video above is something I put together for the worship. Acknowledging our numbness, voicing frustration and worshipping a God who reigns.

Grace

I've felt so aware recently of the power of God's redemption and love. The need for and reality of grace.


Grace, she carries the world on her hips
No champagne flute for her lips
No twirls or skips between her fingertips
She carries a pearl in perfect condition

What once was hurt
What once was friction
What left a mark
No longer stains
Because grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things

Grace finds beauty in everything

Grace finds goodness in everything

Summer's End

So the kids are back tomorrow. I never want to be one of those teachers who complains about starting back to work after 2 months holiday. I'm grateful for the opportunities that I have been afforded from the holidays that my job offers.

This summer has been a great adventure finished off with two weekends away with two different groups of brilliant friends, Doing Best Man for Gav last weekend in Scotland and Wiggy's stag this weekend.

I was chatting with some mates recently about what we would like our epitaphs to be. I said mine would be 'Lived Life to the Full'. I know this is cliched but here are some of the things that this means to me:

1. To daily work out my salvation for myself and follow the teachings of Jesus.
2. To care (really care) about the world and it's people, especially the poor and those struggling with injustice.
3. To the best of my ability, share in the pain of friends who are hurting.
4. To be passionate about the simple things that interest me (music, Liverpool FC, U2, The Last of the Mohicans etc).
5. To have a healthy body and mind.
6. To go the extra mile in my job even when not noticed.
7. To be the last person to go to bed at a party or night out.

I fail often in these but it's good to clarify and focus your mind at this time of year.

All of us are stained.

Since travelling to a place of war and little hope it has been a big encouragement to reflect on how far my own little country of Northern Ireland has come in recent years. We have seen things happen that we never thought we would see. I was chatting to some of the guys about an experience I had when I was 16. We were walking home from doing a GCSE when we saw 2 IRA men shoot two policemen in the head from about 3 feet. I wrote this poem quite a few years back about the experience. Lurgan and N.I. has become a better place since I wrote it.



This is the land of black and white,
Whose God is a province and might is right.
Where babies get born in orange and green.
Red hair, left foot.
Yeah you know what I mean.
This story's found in Lurgan Town,
Where all of us are stained.

Enniskillen, Omagh, Shankill, Roselawn.
All of these days had a dawn.
On this day's dawn we lay uncovered,
Quiet and undiscovered.
But it came around in Lurgan Town,
All all of us were stained.

Sixteen years old and the futures bright,
Another milestone the world to light.
When to the left a thunder call,
Red cloud, staccato fall.
In Lurgan Town the two fell down.
And all of us are stained.

Growing up in a bubble shelter
I reached the bottom of the Helter Skelter.
Saw my innocence erode,
As I watched his head explode.
Lurgan Town will wear a frown,
And all of us are stained.

This is the land of black and white
Whose God is a province and might is right.
Over oceans and seas in many guises,
Cowboys and Indians and no surprises.
The world is found in Lurgan Town,
And all of us are stained.

COEXIST

(more pics on flickr)

So the adventure has come to an end. i've been wanting to write some concluding thoughts and then give the blogging a rest for a while.

But how do you come to any conclusion? For a part of the world that has never seen peace. The birthplace of our Messiah has been a land of oppression and bloodshed. A meeting place, a melting pot, the centre for the clash of culture, politics and religion.

Babylon, Assyria, Persia, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Islam, Britain, Jordan, Israel, Hamas.......occupation and war.

I feel God brought me there and now I'm trying to work out why. It was perfect because I wanted to see both sides and the Israel team just happened to finish the day that a group were going out to Palestine. There are not many teams that do the practical stuff and meet people like we were able to in Israel. There are literally no other groups of foreigners who are able to go to the places and meet the people that we met in Palestine (thanks to Elias).

And so I feel privileged to have been immeresed briefly in both sides and I'm seeking guidance on how to follow-up and develop in my life. I don't want the experience to drift gradually into photoalbums and memories.

I visited places of extreme beauty and extreme pain. On both sides I met hurting, inspiring, hopeful and hopeless people. I lived with human beings without freedom. I experienced the best and the worst of religion.

For now I'll leave the theology of Zionism to the hundreds of book writers who have never set foot in half of the land. The facts are that right now Israel exists as do the Occupied Palestinian Territorys...
.....and when their people are considered simply as human beings, they are not equal.

It's so complicated and there are few answers but there is one thing I'm sure about...... It could never be God's will for one people group to prosper as a direct result of the oppresion and suffering of another.

If only Jews, Muslims and Christians could see their purpose in life like Jesus saw his....

'The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.'





SHALOM SALEM PEACE