RnBMail 24 July 2007

Practicing the Politics of Jesus: The Origin and Significance of John Howard Yoder's Social Ethics
by Earl Zimmerman
ISBN: 9781931038430 (2007) 276pp
Publisher: Cascadia
£15.25

'Practicing the Politics of Jesus' holds potential to be the definitive book on John Howard Yoder's social ethics. Through a treatment of Yoder's thought that is insightful and sophisticated yet surprisingly accessible given the profundity of the issues being analysed, Zimmerman lays out the relevance of the politics of Jesus for people committed to the power of God's transforming love. As foreword writer John Paul Lederach mentions, the book reads almost like a novel - because Zimmerman has managed skillfully to how Yoder's personal and church-related narratives helped shape his theology.

"This book is a treasure. It would be worth having for no other reason than its being a well-told tale of an unusually complex life story. Beyond that, it provides at least a partial answer to the most heartbreaking response to Yoder's call to pacifism: 'Yes, we want to follow Jesus, but it's just not practical.'" --Nancey Murphy, Author (with George F. R. Ellis), On the Moral Nature of the Universe: Theology, Cosmology, and Ethics

CPT-UK, the network of CPTers and CPT supporters here in Britain, has been busy lately, with both actions and dreams. We joined the ENOUGH! Coalition, which included taking part in a rally on the 9th of June to mark the 40th year of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.

We are also continuing to plan for a CPT training here in the UK. If you are interested be sure to hurry and sign up for a delegation within the next year!

Delegations in the next year include:

MIDDLE EAST

(Israel/Palestine)
2007:

• July 30 - August 11
• October 16-28
• November 19 - December 1

PHILIPPINES

• October 13-27, 2007
• February 15-29, 2008

COLOMBIA

2007:

• July 18-31
• September 26 - October 9

NORTHWEST ONTARIO

Aboriginal Justice Delegation

• August 16-26, 2007

The new Cross Currents calendar can be found at www.menno.org.uk/pdf/Calendar2007Autumn.pdf

The LMC is also pleased to announce:

Transforming Conflict: Peace by Peace
Called to be Peacemakers
26-28 October 2007

• How can we transform the world around us?
• What is conflict transformation?
• And how does it apply to our lives on a daily basis?

The Fellowship of Reconciliation's annual Called to be Peacemakers conference offers a unique opportunity to learn what conflict transformation is and how it applies to us. The residential weekend conference will provide expert speakers, in-depth workshops and training. The conference is for 18 to 30 (ish) year olds who want to be challenged, gain practical skills and meet others who share their concern for peace and conflict issues. Conference places are only £40 before 1st October (and £45 after). Bursaries and subsidised places are available!

For more details please contact:
Fellowship of Reconciliation,
St. James Church Centre,
Beauchamp Lane,
Oxford, OX4 3LF.
Tel: 01865 748 796
Web: www.for.org.uk
Email: Martha@for.org.uk

By Andrew Francis

For many in the Anabaptist Network, the local elections in early May raised faith issues for us. This is because several of the 'Church-State' issues, which Anabaptist-flavoured Christians (amongst others) have historically questioned, become focussed afresh in the different local issues affecting our neighbourhoods.

Many of us have political sympathies forged by our family backgrounds. Both my grandfathers were Trade Union officials, my Dad is a retired pastor, my Mum worked for Christian Aid and I have served as a shop-steward before ordination. Christian responsibility for us meant voting was as important as breathing in 'working for change'. Our families and the congregations we joined were all committed to seeing Jesus set our values - rather than the Christ of the historic Church.

by Jo Frew

New SPEAK Netwerkz

Through friendships and connections across Europe some students have begun a SPEAK Network in Germany. Most of them are connected through the Jesus Freaks movement and want to get active. So rather than just talking about it for a while, they decided the first thing they would do would be to host a neighbourhood at the G8 activist campsite this summer.

Some of us travelled to be with them and take part in what they were doing. It was an awesome week where God really blessed their genuine desire to be there, alongside the activists, and their offering of hospitality in their tea tent. Activist campsites are hard work and demos are tiring so it was great to have a chill out space on the campsite and to be a part of offering peace to people.

Campaigns and Activism

After 2005 and the Make Poverty History year of high hopes and big promises from world 'leaders', there is a recognition among campaigners that asking for more promises is unlikely to yield any results. Really what is needed is a strong statement that says 'you cannot act as self appointed leaders of the world, you should abide by the conventions you've signed, meet in a fair and democratic setting (ie the UN) to draw up new ones, and be guided by your conscience'. To be fair the UK has often been the best of a bad lot, especially on debt, but we haven't kept our promises.

More information, including applications available for download, can be found on our website: www.menno.org.uk

Church Mediation: An Ecumenical English Conference

The Royal Foundation of St Katharine, East London
19 September 2007

Skills Training for Mediation and Facilitation in the Church

Ushaw College, Durham
8-12 October 2007

Jesus Facing Conflict: An Exploration of Matthew's Narrative

London Mennonite Centre
24 October 2007

by Sarah Warburton

This is a year of celebration for Urban Expression, as we have recently celebrated our 10th birthday. It was a lovely day, held in London, with representatives from the three UE regions as well as those who have supported us.

An anniversary is always a chance to reflect. UE has always seemed so fragile that those who started UE wondered if it would still be in existence now. However, interest in our values and our stories seems to be continuing and growing, and there is now much discussion with church planters in the Netherlands.

One of our values is:

"We believe that, in Jesus, God is revealed locally, and that we should be committed to our local community or relational network and active members of it."

Urban Expression isn't about big stories and big headlines. It's about people living in a community, being a part of it and sharing the highs and lows of that community. We come, knowing that God is already at work there and will continue His work after we are gone...

This piece is extracted from a sermon preached by Veronica Zundel at Wood Green on 13 May 2007. (Wood Green Mennonite Church is currently using Ched Myers' book Binding the Strong Man for a sermon series on Mark's gospel.)

Passage: Mark 9.30-10.16

Recently I was watching a programme in BBC-4's Edwardian season, called 'A pocketful of posies' in which very elderly people recalled their Edwardian childhood. There were two stories that stayed with me particularly.

One was a girl who, with her twin sister, was placed in an orphanage at about 5 because their father had died in the First World War and their mother couldn't support them. In the orphanage they were separated, and one day one sister was being inspected to see if her pinafore was clean. She kept asking to go to the toilet but the nurse wouldn't let her. Eventually the nurse found a spot on her pinafore, and took a hairbrush to spank her. As she spanked her, the girl found herself uncontrollably pooing, as she put it. The nurse was so furious that she rubbed the girl's face in the poo, and then took her next door to show her sister, who was horrified. It's hard to imagine such cruelty.