9/11 + 10

Sunday is the tenth anniversary of 9/11. I’m surprised there is so little about it in the blogosphere that comes my way. Brian Draper has a piece in the LICC stream here which references the songs of P J Harvey Let England Shake; the BBC is running a US faces ‘credible 9/11 threat’ story, and my brother bishop of Ely is going to mark the occasion with the people of Meldreth this Sunday

Bishop Conway said today that he will “acknowledge the tenth anniversary of the events of 11th September 2001 and will invite the congregation to remember the people of the United States and to honour the memories of those who died, particularly those who died saving others.”

Bishop Conway met members of the New York Fire Service on a visit to America in 2002 and was profoundly moved by their courage and by their vivid memories of colleagues who had died in the fire.

Prayers for peace, reconciliation and healing will be said in churches across the Diocese of Ely throughout the weekend.

For those preaching on Sunday, the lectionary readings raise some interesting questions:

Exodus 14.19-31: The Crossing of the Red Sea
Both the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks and we with those who were attacked and have responded to the attacks believe that the LORD is with us. How do we resolve that dilemma? Although not everyone would agree with me, my own understanding is that the one whom Muslims call Allah is the one whom we as Christians know as our Father and Creator God, although not unnaturally I also believe that within the Christian faith and through Christ we have a fuller, deeper understanding of who He is (and assume that a faithful Muslim would make the same claim on the basis of the Koran). I would also like to think that within the Muslim tradition there are many texts and traditions that would not see attacks such as those made on 9/11 as likely to be within the will of God, but that is for them to speak about not me. What I am most sure about is that the God whom we encounter in both the Old and the New Testament is a Redeemer, and whether we are talking about the Exodus, the Resurrection, the working out of 9/11 or our own eternal destiny, we can look to him and trust him for redemption. Can we – especially when we feel under threat?

Romans 14.1-12: On Passing Judgment
Paul is writing to members of the Christian community when he urges them not to pass judgment on each other for their different attitudes to eating meat (meat offered to idols would have been in their minds, I think, not modern debates about vegetarianism). But I suggest that we can fairly generalise to a principle that if God is the judge of all, all our human judging is provisional, and that even if we do in practical terms have to make judgments, we must not do so in such a harsh way that others are caricatured or worse as a result.

Matthew 18.21-35: On forgiveness – The Unmerciful Servant
No surprise if Jesus goes to the heart of the matter. Forgiveness and mercy are at the heart of our understanding of God (and of Islam too); and we hear a clear call to be merciful as God is merciful, to forgive as we hope to be forgiven – even when we must mourn with those who mourn and share their pain.  Back to Brian Draper and P J Harvey:

Harvey researched her album of war songs meticulously, speaking to soldiers who served in the so-called 9/11 conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. She crafted this collection of songs to bear witness, as a war musician, and to explore the broken, emotional humanity of all conflict.

We got up early,
washed our faces,
walked the fields
and put up crosses.
Passed through
the damned mountains,
went hellwards,
and some of us returned,
and some of us did not.

It’s hard to know how to respond personally, whether to her music, or this decade. We can, at least, mourn with those who mourn, especially this weekend.
But next time we suffer any kind of attack – an assault on our personal pride, perhaps, or a wounding, literal or metaphorical, trivial or catastrophic – we can pray, hard, for resolve: to remember those who have fallen; and for God’s sake, and theirs, and ours, to shake this world of escalating hate and respond – imagine – in love, as love, as Christ.

Post Communion Prayer
God of all mercy,
in this eucharist you have set aside our sins
and given us your healing:
grant that we who are made whole in Christ
may bring that healing to this broken world,
in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Filed under: Current affairs

Peterborough Schools face cuts

The BBC have published the full list of school buildings which are to have their rebuilds stopped under the government’s proposals today to cut the Building Schools for the Future programme. No Cambridgeshire Schools are affected, and as far as I can see nor are any of the Norfolk Schools in the Diocese of Ely. Peterborough Schools do not fare as well though, and the full list for that authority is as follos:

Ormiston Bushfield Academy Academy – for discussion
Arthur Mellows Village College (Glinton) Stopped
Hampton College (Hampton) Stopped
Jack Hunt School (Netherton) Stopped
Ken Stimpson Community School (Werrington) Stopped
Orton Longueville School (Orton) Stopped
St John Fisher School (Central) Stopped
Stanground College (Stanground) Stopped
The King’s School (Central) Stopped
The Voyager School (Walton) Stopped

Filed under: Current affairs, Schools

Photos from Bethlehem

Local student Joy Stacey has just graduated at Anglia Ruskin University. In the final year of my Photography degree she has put together a photo-documentary on Bethlehem and the effect of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict there. She is currently trying to exhibit as much as possible in order to both raise awareness and hopefully find sponsors to go back and create a bigger project. You can her work at www.joystacey.co.uk, and do get back to her if you are interested!

Filed under: Current affairs, photography

Greater Cambridge Partnership News

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GCP have issued their March 1020 newsletter, which is online here. They lead with their quarterly economic report read more .…

Filed under: community, Current affairs

Christian Vote Matters

Theos, the public theology thinktank, leads off its March newsletter with a comment on the vital role the Christian vote may pla yin the coming General Election.

Research undertaken by Theos, in conjunction with the polling company ComRes, revealed that voters with a religious faith commitment could determine the outcome of the general election, widely expected to be on 6 May. The latest snapshot of the state of the parties put the Conservatives on 38%, Labour on 30% and the Lib Dems on 20%. However, there were some striking differences among people with a religious faith.

Despite the government’s support of the Iraq war and a stack of ‘anti-terror’ legislation, 57% of Muslims intend to vote Labour. Only 18% plan to vote Conservative. In a close election, the Muslim vote could be critical for Gordon Brown’s prospects. The problem for the government, however, is that only 32% of Muslims are ‘absolutely certain’ to vote – well below the national average of 47%.

In relation to the Conservatives, support amongst people of ‘no religion’ has increased sharply since the 2005 election (up from 21% to 34%) but amongst Christians it has only increased by a modest 2% to 40%. However, David Cameron can be encouraged by the fact that 48% of self-identified Christians are ‘absolutely certain’ to vote, a figure which rises to 61% amongst those Christians who claim that their faith is ‘very important’ to their lives.

To read about this research in full, click here.

Filed under: Current affairs

Theos February Newsletter published

Here are some extracts and links from the latest Theos newsletter. You’ll find Theos online at http://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/.

 

Big majorities are bad for politics, says Bishop of Durham   

Tom Wright, the Bishop of Durham, delivered a lecture in parliament on Wednesday night, as part of the Theos/KLICE ‘God and Government’ project.
In his lecture to parliamentarians, political staff, theologians and clergy, the Bishop of Durham said "Ever since the massive majorities of Margaret Thatcher, for most of the last generation we have had governments that could, and did, effectively ignore parliamentary process, with a very small number of people, sometimes only one, taking key decisions which nobody dared to oppose and which were rammed through Parliament with scant regard for proper debate."
The full text of the lecture can be read here.

Book of the month

Congratulations to Lucy Winkett, a founding adviser for Theos! Lucy’s new book, Our Sound is Our Wound: Contemplative Listening to a Noisy World, has been named the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book 2010. Our Sound is Our Wound explores how we listen for the voice of God within the soundscapes of our lives and how we find our own voice. Sensitive to the cadences of modern life, Lucy reflects on this through the prism of Scripture and tradition.

To purchase a copy of Lucy’s book, which retails at £9.99, click here.

Current Debate: Is the BBC marginalising religion?

On Wednesday the Church of England Synod voted to express ‘deep concern’ about a drop in religious programmes on British television. Is the BBC living up to its ‘public service’ remit?
What do you think? Join the debate!

What is blasphemy today?

In the Guardian’s Comment is free blog, Nick Spencer recently wrote that blasphemy was a form of hate speech, uttered not just against God but against everyone and everything. Blasphemy depends on a sense of the sacred. The less we hold sacred, the less blasphemy will matter. Some may welcome that prospect but its flip side isn’t so appealing.
To read Nick Spencer’s Guardian piece in full, click here.

Filed under: Current affairs, Resources

Will future scholars be able to read?

‘Strategic disinvestment’ at King’s College London means future students of the Middle Ages may not be able to read the manuscripts their work depends on.

The College has informed Professor David Ganz that funding for his Chair in Palaeography (reading old writing and understanding handwritten books) will cease from 31 August this year.

In fact all academic staff in the School of Arts and Humanities at King’s have to re-apply for their own jobs before the 1st March with the aim of losing 22 academic posts. It is of course a response to massive cuts in Government funding not wanton vandalism so perhaps a shock headline is not very fair. And the Government themselves are broke so cuts are coming everywhere. But the King’s Chair is the only established chair in Palaeography in the UK.

Ganz’s personal contribution to the field is immense, and not only firing him but deleting his post will prejudice the serious study of Palaeography itself, and with it the underpinning of other subjects like the study of Chaucer and Beowulf, the Wars of the Roses and Anglo-Saxon England. Push much further and you have to ask just how many people will actually be able to read more than the simplest manuscripts in our archives at all.

I have to admit a prejudice. My own academic aspirations were fired up by the immense privilege of a week’s course in Palaeography with a senior academic when I was still a sixth-former. Heaven knows how it was funded, but that’s the way we should surely be going, studying the Dark Ages not going back into them.

If you want to join the campaign to stop the cuts, it is suggested that you write to Professor Rick Trainor, The Principal, King’s College, The Strand, London WC2R 2LS and copy to Professor Jan Palmowski, Head of the School of Arts and Humanities. There’s a Facebook group here.

Filed under: Current affairs

At the Jalama Checkpoint

Hansa, a volunteer Ecumenical Accompanier at Tulkarem in Israel/Palestine, has written this account of a recent journey that brought home to me what it must be like to live and work in that troubled country today – with memories of the account of other difficult journeys there 2010 years ago still in my mind. It puts my own experience at airport check-ins into perspective! It is taken from “EA PLACEMENT UPDATE January 2010” and the EA programme (of the World Council of Churches) is online at www.eappi.org. I can imagine reasons for every step in the security procedures – but if I had been in Hansa’s shoes I would have been very anxious and quite scared all the same, especially by the long waits and the absence of anyone to explain what was going on.

The most logical way to get to Nazareth from
Tulkarem seemed to be thru the Al Jalama
checkpoint in Jenin. Getting there was easy but
crossing thru is where the nightmare began.
I stood in line at the turnstiles with the locals. The
first hurdle was to answer a score of questions and
show my visa to an official who sat behind a
transparent barrier. Then I had to put my luggage
thru an x-ray machine, walk thru a metal detector
and cross thru another turnstile. Most of the locals
who had permits were cleared, but I was asked to
enter a little cubicle. I complied, and when I entered
the small room, I was alone, and after a while, a
voice via a speaker asked me to enter into another
room. There were four doors, I tried all, and they
were all locked. I kept asking the voice," which
one?", but there was no clarification. Finally, I
succeeded in entering another little room and I was
instructed to leave my luggage in yet another room.
I was disoriented; I stood in the room without my
luggage, phone, money, etc. for about fifteen
minutes. Then a voice bid me goodbye and asked
me to take my luggage. I then waited in another
line, standing behind locals as they gave their finger
prints so as to pass the final turnstile. When it was
my turn to exit, I was pulled aside again – my
passport was taken and I had to wait for an hour
and twenty minutes. I was the only one left at the
checkpoint. Finally, I was told, "Welcome to Israel",
and I was free to go. I thought that this must be the
norm for Palestinians at numerous checkpoints
around the West Bank. Needless to say, this is not
the route I chose to return by. I had a choice, most
Palestinians do not.

The situation is particularly worrying just now because  a new policy seems to have been introduced in respect of work permits for foreign NGO workers. See this article in Haaretz, Israel’s oldest daily paper: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1143854.html).

Filed under: Current affairs

Christian Aid appeal for Haiti

Christian Aid launched an emergency appeal immediately the Haiti disaster was known. To date they have raised in excess of £1million, which is being released for immediate emergency relief.

Sadly Christian Aid and its partners in Haiti are all too familiar with emergencies and are very experienced in responding due to the frequent disasters they have experienced.  

Five CA partners are providing food, tents, hygiene kits, blankets, jerry cans for water and water purifiers. One of these partners, Aprosifa, is a specialist healthcare organisation, and will also be providing medical support. We plan to source food from markets in Haiti if possible, but all other items will need to come in from outside.  Food is the urgent priority, and Christian Aid is funding Aid is funding 48 food distributions in eight locations in and around Port-au-Prince over the next three months. The distributions, led by five Haitian partners, will take place fortnightly. Food rations per person, for fifteen days, are: 6kg rice, 0.9kg beans, 0.9kg sardines, 0.45kg veg oil + 0.075kg salt.

• The CA Haiti staff are coordinating closely with colleagues over the border in the Dominican Republic to source materials there where possible.
• Each of our partners in the Dominican Republic is assisting in the relief effort in Haiti. CA and partners in the Dominican Republic are part of a 23-strong Help Haiti coalition. The coalition now has bases at all four border crossing points and is channeling aid overland into Haiti. Christian Aid is specifically supporting the provision of medical equipment and supplies for tent hospitals at the Jimani border, providing first aid and health care to Haitian refugees injured in the quake.
• Christian Aid is also working closely with our colleagues from ACT (Action by Churches Together).

This is a particularly difficult emergency because of its magnitude and because most of the people who would usually be part of the response have been personally affected. Christian Aid’s Haitian staff have been impacted.  When our office building collapsed Prospery Raymond, our Country Manager, took evasive action and escaped injury.  Two other members of staff were trapped in the collapsed building but were rescued unharmed.  They are all now actively engaged in the humanitarian relief operation.

We are sending additional staff from neighbouring countries, and from the UK, to provide essential support. One of our key priorities is to work with other agencies and the UN to coordinate the distribution of aid on a far wider scale.

Thank you for everything you have already done. Please could you support the people of Haiti in one or all of the following ways?

1. Continue to pray for the situation

2. Publicise this need and Christian Aid’s response (you can keep up to date with how we’re responding here)

3. Encourage support of the Haiti Earthquake Appeal as widely as possible. Please visit the Haiti Earthquake Appeal site to donate.

4. Join our campaign to drop Haiti’s $800million debt (http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/drop-haiti-debt )

Some basic facts:

Our partners are reaching the following people in and around the Port-Au-Prince area:

Aprosifa - 2,000 people in Carrefour Feuilles

Koral – 4000 people (3,000 in Leogane, 600 in Font National and 400 in Canape Vert)

National Human Rights Defence Network - 5,000 people in Petit Goave

Gramir - 2,500 people in Miragoane

Garr - up to 2,500 people (1,500 in Plaine du Cul de Sac and up to 1,000 in Delmas 33)  

CONTACT DETAILS

Mandy Loveder
Regional Manager
Christian Aid East Anglia
Peterborough Office

email:   mloveder@christian-aid.org
Mobile: 0785 844 0907
Office:  01733 345755

Archdeaconry House
Rooms 3 & 4 Second Floor
15 Gravel Walk
Peterborough
PE1 1YU

Filed under: Current affairs, appeal, Christian Aid, Haiti

An interview with Jenny Kartupelis: new faith adviser to the Government

Earlier this month the Government announced the appointment of a new panel of experts to advise the Secretary of State for Communities, John Denham, on faith matters. The 13 new advisers come from a range of backgrounds and faith perspectives. They include serving Bishops, academics and local activists.

Photo: Jenny Kartupelis being interviewed by Owen Spencer-Thomas MBE, who was himself recently awarded the degree of DLitt by Westminster University for services to broadcast journalism.

One of these new panel members lives in Cambridgeshire and works closely with the Diocese of Ely. Jenny Kartupelis is Director of the East of England Faiths Council, which represents faith interests to government and actively supports faith and interfaith work in the community.

Jenny is also a Fellow of the Faiths and Civil Society Unit, a national centre that brings together policy, practice and research relating to faith in the public realm. She spoke to Owen Spencer-Thomas about her recent appointment.

OS-T Jenny congratulations on your appointment. How did you react to the news?

JK I was very pleased. As I come from one from the regions where so much work is happening ‘on the ground’, it gives me the opportunity to contribute an additional interfaith voice with practical experience.

OS-T Were you surprised?

JK Well, yes. Certainly surprised to have been chosen as I believe there were several hundred applications for the 13 places. The new advisers come from a range of backgrounds and faith perspectives and include serving Bishops, academics and local activists. I gather we were selected for our commitment to faith and the diverse experience we have had in our chosen careers.

I first heard about the appointment in late December, and it was formally announced on 6 January.

OS-T Of course, you’ve already had considerable experience as Director of the East of England Faiths Council.

JK Yes, we represent faith interests. The Council gets actively involved with faith-based social action and local interfaith groups by providing training and networking. We’ve produced our own publications, for instance, Planning Guidance for Faith Groups and also information for local authorities on working with a range of faith traditions.

OS-T You’re now a member of the Panel, what will be involved?

JK We’re working on the finer details, but overall the remit is to enhance Ministerial understanding of the faith perspective. For instance, we’re being asked to advise on big issues, such as social justice, the economy and climate change.

Our task is to provide a ‘sounding board’ and give advice on how to encourage a deeper and broader relationship between the Government and faith communities nationally.

OS-T What do family and colleagues think of the appointment?

JK I have been so touched by the many kind words people have sent, on learning of the appointment. I do hope I can live up to the responsibility to bring something of use to the Panel. Certainly for me, it will be a real learning experience, to hear the views of people who are very knowledgeable in their field – I’m certainly looking forward to working with them.

OS-T Interestingly, you have a Public Relations background.

JK Yes, I established a PR consultancy in Cambridge back in 1987, which went on to win a number of national awards. I still retain an active interest in PR.

OS-T What one piece of advice would you give the Churches of our region?

JK The church leaders in this region have really led the way in inter faith matters, by inviting leaders of other faiths to join them in forming the East of England Faiths Council, and by supporting its work in so many ways. They’ve done much to dispel the largely unfounded belief that faith has created divisions in society. 

I wouldn’t presume to give them advice, but I would urge all churches to continue to look outwards and seek ways of working with other faiths that bring benefits to our society as a whole and especially its most vulnerable members.

OS-T Thank you very much, Jenny. We wish you every success in your new appointment and look forward to hearing how your new role develops.

20 January 2010

The members of the panel are:

• Canon Dr Alan Billings – Formerly Director of the Centre for Ethics and Religion at the University of Lancaster.
• Dr Harriet Crabtree – Director of the Inter Faith Network for the UK.
• Marcia Dixon – Editor of Keep the Faith, a publication distributed to black majority churches.
• Dr Doreen Finneron – Founder and director of the Faith Based Regeneration Network.
• Jenny Kartupelis – Director of the East of England Faiths Council and Fellow of the Faiths and Civil Society Unit at Goldsmiths College.
• Wakkas Khan – Director of the Exploring Islam Foundation and a founding member of the Radical Middle Way.
• Alveena Malik – A Principle Associate at the Institute of Community Cohesion and a Trustee of the Muslim Institute.
• Mehri Niknam – Founder and director of the Joseph Interfaith Foundation.
• Rosalind Preston – President of the Jewish Volunteer Network and Chair of Nightingale House.
• Dr Jasdev Singh Rai – General Secretary of the British Sikh Consultative Forum and Director of the Sikh Human Rights Group.
• Bishop Tim Stevens – Anglican Bishop of Leicester and Founder and Chair of the Faith Leaders Forum of Leicester.
• Arjan Vekaria – President of Shree Kutch Leva Patel Community (UK) and the Hindu Forum of Britain.
• Prof Paul Weller – Head of Research and Commercial Development, Faculty of Education, Health and Sciences and Professor of Inter-Religious Relations, University of Derby.

Owen Spencer-Thomas can be contacted on owen.spencer-thomas@ely.anglican.org

Filed under: community, Current affairs, faith, Diocese of Ely, East of England