Persona non grata

Last night I attended a showing of the documentary film Persona non grata which was showing at the Glasgow film theartre.before the movie I had the privilege of meeting the film maker and his father Frans Wutak whose life the film was about.The guy was 70 odd years old yet still full of passion for the liberation of working people.

The film itself was fantastic well made and with so many real people from the slums of Venezuela it was difficult not be moved.Frans is an amazing man who was sent there as a priest and decided to live and fight with the people.He was exiled and then returned with the help of freedom fighters but was exiled once again only to be able to return in 2000 after the new government there recognized all he had done for the poor.Men such as him are few and far between and in these days we could do with more like him.

http://www.fabiowuytack.com/persona-non-grata

Down to earth god

DOWN TO EARTH GOD

Please take the time to have a look at this paper or as I like to call it a show about our down to earth god.

Create or destroy

I have been thinking about the nature of some of the communities we have in Glasgow and why it is some seem to be so destructive in nature and a few seem to be more creative.This led me to think about the creative nature of God, the godhead, the community of God being creative.As we are made in his image I believe we are also made with a creative nature but in some of our communities that creative nature has no value,even in our church’s the creative nature is under valued.It is no wonder that destruction then takes hold.Jesus spoke to us about the evil one coming to steal kill and destroy and when we leave a creative void then destruction seems to reign.

This is much clearer with young people .When creativity has no value it is very easy for them to slip into being destructive for no reason.When you look at there behaviour there is no clear reason them being so destructive .I think that if given the chance and encouraged they can become creative instead and discover something about the creative heart of God.I look at Glasgow and see very little of the creative nature being expressed by the church and wonder if that might be a way for us to engage with the young folk we know.

It is in the heart of God to be creative and I believe that flows to all of us ,can the people of God lead the way and can this help to see the transformation of some of our communities.Is it only the educated, better of who can be creative ?I dont think so .So can we the people who claim to know this creative God lead the way forward in our communities.

Are events more events like thishttp://www.theproject.org.uk/project2/  needed and do we need to take them to some of the more destructive places?

Beyond our imagination

They say patchy fog is the most dangerous kind for driving in.One minute you cant see in front of your nose the next its clear.In the clear air you will be tempted to speed up only to be confronted again by the thick pea soup that slows you right down again.
Over the last few weeks I have been living through that same type of fog,most of the time you cannot see a thing then suddenly you feel like everything is as clear as a bell.

Up until now this has been my experience of trying to take some time out from church leadership.Some of this is my own fault as I find it hard to sit still and wait.But some of it is also due to feeling like I had to get involved again because of the serious situation we were in.going along to out team meeting only thickened the fog and on the way home my prayer was simply one of HELP!!

I have no doubts about what God has called me to .So I suppose the doubts must be about where he has put me.And if after 20 odd years it might be time to move on.My problem with that is my loyalty to those around I find it almost impossible to think about walking away and leaving them.In fact this only serves to make the fog thicker.

So I have asked for a few more weeks and after a rare moment in the clear last night I have a lot more peace about the future whatever that might be.So in all of this I remain convinced that God is good and that he has plans for all of us that go beyond even our wildest imagination.

Tony Campolo’s challenge

On wednesday I went along to Findlay memorial church Glasgow to hear Tony Campolo speak on behalf of Singpost International http://www.signpost-international.org/main.php ,but truth be told he was speaking on behalf of the poor.His passion for what God is doing around the world touched me and challenged me.I always feel my spirit disturbed when I hear the kind of stories Tony shared.
And while I agree that the poor of the third world need all the help we can give my passion remains here in Glasgow .The challenge to bless the poor among us is perhaps the most difficult one.There is resentment about our own poor ,after all they are cared for by the state and they are not realy poor .This resentment can be felt accross the media and even in church cirlcles.
So we have to be creative in the way we reach our inner city urban poor .We need to try and change and challenge the dependency culture that has grown up in urban areas.As we now know we cannot solve the problems of the thrid worlds poorest by just giving them food in a crisis but we need long term commitment to there over all needs.The same principal applies to those in our cities who for generations have become dependent on goverment hand outs and petty crime to get by.
We need efforts like this http://www.tbnetwork.org/home/index.php and others to make an impact in our own nation so that another generation does not end up in the hand out booze crime drug circle that kills who God has made them and keeps them as prisoners in there own community .I have no magic answers but rather see the need to keep pluging away where God has put me and to keep looking for those creative ways the get involved in “doing it to the least of these”