RnBMail 31 March 2008

by David Nussbaum

The latest gathering of the Anabaptist Network Steering Group took place at a time of disturbance: in Kenya following the elections, in Pakistan in the aftermath of the assassination of Bhutto, and for rail travellers in the UK following the latest over-running engineering works on the line.

The theory was that if we arranged the meeting for early January there would be few clashes with other meetings. This is because of the unwritten rule that you can’t arrange meetings for just after new year, because everybody will be ‘doing things’ – whatever those things may be.

Globally, there are at least two ongoing, big disturbances: in the financial markets, and in the climate. Both are happening because everybody is – or has been - ‘doing things’.

We saw how people doing things brought down Northern Rock. Some people became worried that the bank might have financial difficulties. So they did something: they took their money out. They anticipated that if other people thought that the bank was going to have financial problems, those other people would try to do something: take their money out. That would lead to the bank running out of money, and then it really would have financial problems. So they acted quickly, before everyone else could. They got their money, but triggered the very event they were trying to pre-empt: a ‘run’ on the bank. Thus proving that they were right to do what they did (or perhaps just prudent, though under our present Prime Minister there may not be much difference). It seems like Adam Smith’s idyllic world of perfect markets in which the outcome of individual self-interest is societal benefit doesn’t work when it comes to banks – or perhaps to financial markets more generally...

Easter has come and gone for another year. Here in the UK we are heady with resurrection, and Lent is far behind us. But in areas of the world damaged by ongoing violence Good Friday continues.

We rejoice as Christians in the resurrection, but we can’t let its comfort blinker us to the suffering continually experienced by many of God’s children. The Christian Peacemaker Team in Palestine prepared a series of reflections for Lent following the Catholic stations of the cross. Here are the first four, still relevant though Lent is behind us for the moment. For the rest of the stations, please visit www.cpt.org:

First Station of the Cross—Jesus, accused by his enemies, stands condemned before Pilate
by Jean Fallon

As we recall Jesus standing before Pilate, who represents the Occupying Roman Forces, and the full weight of the Roman Empire, let us meditate on a scene happening in Hebron. Six Palestinian youths, between the ages of fifteen and nineteen, stand before the Israeli military, accused by a settler woman of breaking and entering her home.

Not knowing what would happen to them, they stood with their arms raised, hands on metal doors, legs apart, some of them still in the thin clothing they were wearing at home when soldiers came to arrest them. For close to four hours of standing in the cold, blindfolded and handcuffed, they endured a heckling crowd of settlers, before the police took them to the police station, questioned them, and finally released them after midnight. At a checkpoint on their way home, a soldier tore up one of their IDs.

Six Palestinian teenagers… whose actual crime was breaking through a fence into an open square near the settlers’ housing area to look for scrap metal. Even though their families gave witness on their behalf, the word of a settler condemned them. Two are now facing a hearing and the rest have their names on the Israeli police list of potential terrorists...

by Jonathan Dorsett

If you haven’t heard of it before, Peace School is a year long programme exploring what it means to be a peacemaker in every area of life; personal, local and global. The programme investigates peacemaking from the biblical perspective of shalom. It views peace as not merely the absence of violence, but as the presence wholeness; it is about life giving relationships with others, with God and with the rest of creation.

Peace School is a community of learning where everyone’s contribution is valued, where everyone is a student and everyone is a teacher. You do not have to have any experience or prior knowledge to take part, just a commitment to actively participate. The programme is open to everyone from homemakers to lawyers, teachers to shop workers, Peace School enables you to investigate how to be shalom activists in your own spheres of influence i.e. your work, community, family, interest areas etc.

The programme begins with a week long summer residential followed by four weekend residentials throughout the year. In between gathered times participants interact and support one another through an online blog and discussion forum. The gathered times give us an opportunity to explore a whole raft of subjects together from ‘The Myth of Redemptive Violence’ to ‘The Importance of Playfulness’. Throughout the programme there is a focus on story; our own individual stories; stories that inspire us; stories that warn us; stories from history; and stories in the making today. Around this idea of how stories inform and express our worldview are four other themes; Creativity and Expression; Theology and Values; Spirituality and Character; Strategies and Models. More information on the content of the programme is detailed on the Peace School website: www.peaceschool.org.uk...

This article is your very own, no expense spared, invitation to The Big Dress Network Gathering in Sheffield this May! Hosted by the SPEAK Network (made up of Christians who are passionate about connecting with God and His plans to bring about justice for the oppressed of the world). It will be held under a gigantic marquee which also happens to be the biggest dress on the planet!

Throughout the weekend, the Dress will be filled with music, comedy, petitions, a debate about companies and people and the environment, inspiring teaching, prayer and a fair trade cafe! We'll have a lot of fun and learn loads about how we can be better neighbours to those around us. We're hoping to mobilise around 200 people for the climax of the weekend - the Network day on Sunday 11th May. The event has amazing potential to challenge our political leaders to act on behalf of the world's poor and as we commit our day to God we trust that through us, He will reveal His compassionate heart.

International Business has brought us much prosperity and potentially is a great force for good, but we want the law to punish companies that for example, use fabrics spun in sweatshops or that fuel war by purchasing natural resources from conflict zones. We aim to record 300 mp3 messages at the gathering, which will then be mixed down and sent to the government as part of our 'Unfinished Business' petition...

To say…to [a depressed] person, ‘Just have faith’ is a peculiar form of mental and spiritual cruelty. To say ‘if we had more faith you wouldn’t have got depressed’ is even worse. A person with depression can’t muster faith as defined by this sort of remark. And Christians get depression just as Christians get flu or repetitive strain injury, because depression is an illness, not an attack from the devil.

It’s very easy to refute from the Bible, the idea that the person of faith will always have an easy life and will never encounter any suffering. You have only to read the book of Psalms, or Job, or indeed the story of Jesus’ own life, or that of his first followers. Suffering is an intrinsic part of life, and one would hardly expect God to exempt those who follow him (what would you think of a God who allowed only the Christians to survive an earthquake, for example?).

Christians will encounter the everyday obstacles, griefs and losses of life just like anyone else. Some will also suffer persecution directly because of their faith. The difference, perhaps, for us is that we see our suffering as having a purpose and even a redemptive value: ‘Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you...but rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed’ (1 Peter 4:12 -- 13). It’s as though we, like Jesus, have to go through suffering in order to experience resurrection joy. Of course, at the time we are experiencing the suffering, it is not easy to catch a glimpse of the joy ahead, or even believe in it!

What, then, if you are a Christian and you have depression, and you don’t want to lose your faith because of it?

I think there are a number of practical things we can do to sustain some sort of faith in the midst of the Slough of Despond (as The Pilgrim’s Progress defines depression)...

by Colin Patterson

2008 is an exciting new year for Bridge Builders. Our ministry never stands still and we’re adapting to meet what we sense to be the direction God is leading us. This year we’re creating a new basic week-long course, a “foundation course” for Christian leaders.

Talking to those who have trained with Bridge Builders, we’ve discovered that the most transformative aspect of our ten-year-old flagship course (Skills Training for Mediation and Facilitation in the Church) has been the way it has helped people engage with new ideas about conflict – our perspective and understanding of it as well as our response to it. So in future we want the course to provide more help with making the significant shift towards viewing conflict differently - as a potentially healthy aspect of daily life, a normal catalyst for growth. We’ve also recognised for some time that those who attend our courses have made more use of new skills in facilitating groups, and in offering leadership in difficult situations, than in conducting formal interpersonal mediations.

Nevertheless, a significant minority of our “graduates” want to develop a more specialised ministry in mediation, having got some basic skills under their belts. So our new course Transforming Church Conflict, while retaining the key work on communication skills and self awareness, and still giving an introduction to mediation, will broaden the range of other “conflict skills” covered. We pray that it will be an exciting foundation course for Christian leaders who want to contribute positively to the lives of others and to the health and vitality of their congregations and work places...