Climatic Genocide?

“We are angry with the people who are doing this. We have made no contribution, but suffer the highest impact… the global nation states must take action. If not, we’ll be calling it climatic genocide.”

[Dr Atiq Rahman, Bangladesh]

Last night I went to this meeting. Ricardo Navarro from El Salvador gave his perspective on how climate change is affecting poor communities around the world. I liked that it took a development slant more than an environmental slant on it.

We were addressed by a man from the Transport & General workers union, then by Kirstie Shirra who works for WDM, and finally by Ricardo Navarro, before the floor was opened for questions.

Some thoughts:

It’s not just that climate change is happening, but climate change is killing – in huge numbers too.
– If the glaciers disappear, 1/6 of the worlds population will lose their water supply.
– Reducing poverty can’t be done without addressing climate change.

CO2 emission is the result of consumption, which is the result of production.
– The solution is relatively simple – reducing emissions reduces climate change. But the CO2 already in the atmosphere has an inertia – it will continue to affect us for 50-100 years, even if we completely stop emissions now.

– Trade means more consumption/production. Governments are pushing for free-trade agreements, but they are pushed by big corporations.
– Trade as such isn’t bad – but it is promoted at the expense of social and environmental concerns.
– Countries are made poor through a process. The process of impoverishment and enrichment are the same side of a coin – for example, you can’t look at the wealth of Shell without looking at the poverty of Nigeria.

– The most effective weapon of mass destruction is poverty – it kills the equivalent of one Hiroshima bomb every 2 days.

– We have to be conscious about the problem – that means looking at the whole process.
– We have to be committed – it’s a 24/7 thing.
– We need to convince others – discuss what to do in your local context.
– We have to stop it by acting at every level – economic, social, religious, etc.

Baptism

My baptism last night was so amazing. Baptism as a symbol of my faith in Jesus and my love for Jesus is powerful in itself, but to celebrate it with my family there and so many of the people I’ve grown to love here in Glasgow. There are no words. I had some coffee with my parents, my wee brother and my aunt afterwards, then headed back to the flat where a few friends came round to celebrate… such a lovely lovely evening…

baptism c,s

p,r,c fridge

m,r,e c,p,ru

p,a,ra food

family

I’ve waited all my life to be here face to face.
I never knew that I could feel this kind of grace.
The way You show me that Your blood has washed me clean,
Could never be erased; it lives inside of me…

I stand here in this place,
See the Glory on Your Face,
Taken by the wonder of Your name.
I’m desperate for Your touch,
Never needed it so much,
Cause all I want is You.

[All I Want Is You – Planetshakers]

Celtic Soliton Sessions In Review

About time I got another post up here, process some more…

Andrew lead a conversation on dangerous living as it impacts new communities. We looked at Luke 10:1-10, specifically paying close attention to the verbs. The verb I noticed most was ‘eat‘ – that in this context it’s not us giving away food, but becoming a beggar and accepting someone else’s food.
Andrew talked about how ministry is shaped by whose house it happens in. In Luke 10, the party is held in Matthews house, not some church building or whatever. Matthew already has the relationships with the tax collectors, so its the most logical place to hold the party. We often find this style difficult as we aren’t in control then – if we are in control, we can determine what it looks like, but sometimes (usually!) it’s wiser to let the kingdom stuff happen among the people where it is already stirring, rather than trying to force it happen on our terms.
This also ties in with the progression in Luke 10… As people become more comfortable, needs become obvious, which provides opportunities to share / explain the Gospel.

Loved Brodie’s comment:
“What we need is not a bigger flat, but a bigger mind”

In the afternoon I was in Mark’s conversation on the emerging church and the poor… quite a difficult conversation due to the size of the group! I know it put me off expressing opinions somewhat. Someone talked about how we often would rather do that which is glamorous than that which is necessary. Do we really want to help the poor, or do we just want to be able to say we help the poor? Good question.
Pete talked about this kind of “parallex view” – we can see the hurt and pain on CNN but we look out the window and everything looks fine. We know what’s happening in our heads, but how do we reconcile these things?

“Would Jesus want us to be more nice or more angry?”

Brodie was in both the conversations I was too, you can check out his thoughts on them here.

We shared communion together before enjoying a intimate concert by Aaron Espe and Juliet Turner (who was also with us for the weekend).

Sunday entailed an early-morning walk along the White Rocks beach with Jim, who used nature to remind us of God’s heart for the broken, for us. Andrew posted a short video of it here, and Chris blogged on it here.

Current Musings

Some stuff I’m interested in / reading / thinking about / acting on at the minute:

The Still Small Voices blog is sharing stories of asylum in the UK, well worth checking out. This is a big thing in university at the minute too, as asylum seekers are being forced to pay international student fees if they want to study.

Awaiting the release of Black Gold, the film adaptation of a book (of the same name) I read last summer. Starbucks are getting some pretty bad press because of how they are treating their Ethopian coffee farmers. Oxfam have a campaign to make Starbucks pay fairer happening now.

Also awaiting the release of Amazing Grace, a film telling the story of William Wilberforce and the abolition of slavery. This year marks the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery… but there are still so many people in slavery…

600,000-800,000 men, women and children trafficked across international borders each year. Approximately 80 per cent are women and girls. Up to 50% are minors.
[US Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report 2005]

Stop The Traffik are campaigning against this, check them out.

 The Truth Isn't Sexy

I have some friends involed in the “The Truth Isn’t Sexy” campaign, which is attempting to raise awareness of sex trafficking. They designed and printed a load of beermats which are going into as many pubs, clubs and bars as they can get them into. I heard recently that the NUS has agreed to put them into 100 university students unions, which is great. If you want to get involved, for example, get some beermats to take to your local, get in touch with me (leave a comment is probably easiest!) and I’ll forward your info to the appropriate people!

Belfast Soliton Sessions

east belfast

Gareth kicked the Soliton Sessions off for us in Belfast on Thursday.

Trevor facilitated a conversation on the impact of Martin Luther King’s writtings for today, and how we can gain hope from them. We talked briefly about the idea of heaven coming down to earth, figuring out what it looks like to build Gods kingdom in our midst. Someone (maybe Trevor?) commented on how we can claim and use the title ‘New Belfast’ just like there is a ‘New Jerusalem’. We discussed how it can be so discouraging to look around at the world and feel like we have nothing to give – not enough money or whatever – but sometimes all we have to do is get on the same level as people (Big Issue sellers, homeless guys, etc) and simply acknowledge their humanity. The question was raised, has our culture taught us not to dream, but instead to stifle our creativity?

“Answers are never really answers – just hints of truth.”

ccci

After lunch Derek Poole and Linda Gould from CCCI spoke briefly on peace and reconciliation, in Northern Ireland particularly. When asked about one thing they’d like to see change in the church, Derek said something that’s stuck with me:

“We are social creatures that are shaped by the poetics of space. I’d like to see a change in emphasis from a strong emphasis on immanence (the God who is near) to a stronger emphasis on transcendence (the God who is other and mystery). For that change to affect our spaces and gatherings. We need a deep sense of the otherness and the mystery of God so that we may learn to see the holy in the ordinary. A space that is fundamentally about an alternative consciousness, and nudges us again towards the numinous. One expression of numinous today are the artists”

belfast soliton

The afternoon conversation I took part in was facilitated by Rob and Angela Spain, and looked at the death and regeneration of churches, and decentralised methods of church. I loved this session I have to admit – helped me to understand it a bit more!

We talked about the passage from John 15, and how we look at it very introspectively – what if we look at it in a world-wide view? Vineyards are pruned, but the parts that are cut off aren’t burned, they could be used to compost, fertilise.
Rob talked about how the Internet is a model of this type of scale-free organisation – not random distribution, but connected around hubs that are seen as important, and the hubs are also all interconnected. The connections are fluid and liquid, as the nature of the system is that it is always changing.
Is the ‘dying’ of church then a form of redistribution? It’s not necessarily a bad thing then, if we learn to embrace it, and view the redistribution from a more kingdom mindset.

“Maybe the church appears where connectivity between each other appears.”