A digest of Laments from Christian Friends in my Facebook Network Today

 

speechless.... knowing that the work we do among the poor and the vulnerable is just going to grow! This is not a good thing.

 

Gutted Katie Hopkins is staying in the UK!

 

'The British election is still more proof that the problem with government of the people, by the people, and for the people, is the people'. (Tweet of God)

 

how on earth do we respond to what has happened in this country...

 

The Lib Dems have got exactly what they deserved. Now we can look forward to another 5 years of food-banks and austerity.

 

I despair of our so called democracy...maybe local organising of communities, local economies and welfare support is the best way forward..."politics" seems to have failed those on the margins... there are lessons from Scotland and it's new style of politics

 

Struggling to find an explanation as to why those who voted Lib Dem last time would now vote for the Conservatives in huge numbers - they have nothing in common!

 

I suspect the young people who we work with who may now be made homeless if changes to housing benefit for young people go through, may need a bit of hope just to survive. The future for them looks very bleak ...

 

So, those of us who can need to dig a little deeper in order feed, house, clothe those who the government have overlooked and will continue to overlook

 

Britain seems to have voted for £12bn additional cuts to benefits. Basically a pound of flesh from every person in need. All completely avoidable and unnecessary pain.

 

The news this morning is even worse than it was looking when I went to bed at 2.00. Labour wiped out in Scotland and losing a lot of seats in England, apart from in London. At least Caroline Lucas won in Brighton, and it looks like Farrage didn't succeed. It is not looking good for the poor, the vulnerable, the unemployed, disabled or homeless under this next "One Nation" Conservative Govt. It feels even worse than the second Thatcher victory following the Falklands.

 

The election result demonstrates for me that the Westminster establishment is no longer trusted in terms of its moral authority to lead a nation. I suspect the conservative success has a lot to do with the return to the Conservatives of LIberal defectors last time having lost confidence in Nick Clegg's leadership, and the poor Labour showing of the same problem with Ed Milliband. Cameron towers above them as a natural leader. Then there is the fact that what people seem to want for the time being is financial success in government on behalf of the successful in the electorate. What else would you expect in a society devoted to self and materialism? The social vision of Britain is in rags.

 

Farage fails to win his seat. I know it's a low bar, but I can safely say that it's the best news I've had all day.

 

The NHS, Education, Working Benefits, A Safety Net. Yesterday 58% of the UK voted against these priorities. A lot to ponder

 

Tough night for Labour but glad to have increased our voter numbers in East Surrey by 33%

 

Maybe now the church will rise up, speak up & be the radical, subversive, dissenting, advocating voice for the poor & excluded. Please?

 

Today should be a day of much rejoicing. And we will celebrate ******'s birthday and thank God for him. But in the midst of it all, we will also pause to reflect on the growing realisation that our country is becoming ever more divided and torn apart by social inequality and an access to opportunity only afforded to people by consequence of their social class and status. Watch the exponential growth of food banks, waiting lists for hospital treatment and the numbers of those in extreme poverty in our land, over the next five years. May God have mercy on us - heaven knows we'll need it......

 

"So a depressing election night draws to a close ... But politics doesn't just happen once every five years, it happens every day: in creative action, in voices speaking out about what they believe, in changing hearts and minds. So I will not cry into my morning cup of tea, I will aspire to go out and continue with the real politics I and others can believe in. Because boy will there be work to be done!"

 

There are things to celebrate election wise, great news in Lancaster, and the green vote is up. Mainly tho I can't quite believe so many people do not seem to care about the destruction of the nhs or the rise in food banks. So whilst I will today be despairing at the thought of yet more conservatives, I shall be grateful for all the amazing people I know who despite those "in power" will continue to do the powerful work of being alongside those struggling.

 

God help us all now! Foodbanks, poverty, inequality, demonising diversity, detaining asylum seekers > Where now for progressive politics?

 

Oh dear I can't believe it

 

Not Ed Balls

Reasons to be depressed this morning: Tory majority, Murdoch victory, likelihood of Scottish independence, boundary changes & further shifting of BBC towards right-wing agenda making it even more difficult for other voices to be heard or prevail. Oh, and 5 years more of nasty, divisive scapegoating, marginalising the most vulnerable and cuts like we haven't seen.

Reasons to be hopeful: passion, compassion, solidarity and real politics start local, between neighbours; truth and justice, mercy and love *will* have the last word.

Now, as friends of mine have already said this morning, time to roll up sleeves and get stuck in. The politicians won't do it. We need to.

Can any of my friends tell me where one fills out emigration forms.....?

 

If you're moving to Scotland we're coming too........Isle of Mull is really nice, so I've heard!!

 

more years of government murders then?

 

My picture is one of mourning for our country and the impact this result will have on the most vulnerable. For the fact the Tory party have gained support despite what they have done for the last five years. For the disappointment of people voting to benefit the individual rather than the community. Devastating.

 

Whatever political landscape we find ourselves in, we all have the capacity to inspire and work out a soulful politics from below. Shalom.

 

A more hopeful message, "Politics is about far, far more than parties, elections and polling days. We need to resist the plans for a massive extra £12bn in welfare cuts, the privatisation of the National Health Service, the ongoing attacks on education and the welfare state, the fuelling of climate change, the sale of arms to tyrants and the plans to throw £100 bn into a new generation of weapons of mass destruction... We can resist such policies in Parliament, through fresh ideas, in the media, on the streets, in our workplaces, in our communities and faith groups and places of education, through strikes, through protests, through nonviolent direct action and in our daily lives."

 

Retweeted Polly Toynbee (@pollytoynbee): So much to fear - for the NHS, for the BBC, for the low paid and the sick

Labour seat in Lancaster & Fleetwood just announced!! a small piece of good news.. Congratulations Cat Smith.

I'm conflicted by the fact that despite getting 12.4% of the vote, UKIP has one seat. Glad we were protected, devastated that it can happen in a 'democracy'

Its a long way up this bloody hill !

I am tired of politics... I wish I was stood here again watching the sun go down over Derwentwater & Keswick. In fact - If I get my way, I might just do that tonight!

Pray, pray pray for our best beloved community- it's gonna get a lot worse

getting the Blues; feeling so sad; wish i were asleep...

Moment of silence please, for all those trying to make it in the arts industry for the next 5 years under a Tory-led UK.

What a disaster

Perfect fear casts out love. I cannot believe the political illiteracy and mean spirit of so many voters in England. More years of increased suffering for the poor and vulnerable looms. Those who voted Tory and hid their intentions from the pollsters should be ashamed.

Shame on you who voted Tory !

PR is a fairer system

Something has gone horribly wrong when the best bit of news all night is that George Galloway and Tim Aker have failed to win.

 Exit poll looks like UK could be on way out of EU and Scotland out of UK. Disaster all round then.

I can't bear the thought of another Tory government. They will destroy everything. I cannot believe so many people have opted for such an uncaring, selfish, arrogant, bunch of blockheads.

I am without hope !

 Would you please join me in hoping that those exit polls are wrong, I fear the people I love and work with simply won't last another five years. Especially with the threat that 'we will finish the job'.

Speechless......

Woke to find I live in a country where the desire and greed of the well off and rich few is put before the needs of the many

Shocking number of people in ‪#‎England who lied to the pollsters about their voting intentions..

I dread to think what will happen to the poorest areas now. It will signal the death knell of Local Government as central government funding is decimated.

I'm going to be having to work even harder for disabled people

Cameron's victory speech. Horrible, cruel drama tonight. Some bewildering losses. Expectation raised by polls & lost. So sorry. Knackered...

Looks like Conservatives will govern the Union, but have laid the foundations for destroying that Union in the process.

Reading Facebook posts, I don't seem to know any Tories . Do they just keep their heads down more than gobby lefties?

One consolation is that the lib dems are being destroyed (given how much they sold their supporters short of their 2010 manifesto, they deserve it!)

My former home, Nuneaton, stays Tory. Feel sorry for friends there.

Wow, scary looks as if the tories may have a majority, umm ukips getting some votes

Sorry to see Douglas Alexander go. One of the good guys, with a world-wide perspective on the common good.

Get Boris off the air!!!

Retweeted Milton Jones (@themiltonjones): Think tonight all returning officers should start with 'it's great to be back

Hey ho. The great British public have bottled it and voted in favour of another 5 years of Katie Hopkins. Self-interest once again looks like trumping the common good, but that's democracy for you (or at least what passes for democracy in a first-past-the-post system).

Tories taking Nuneaton with increased majority is bad news. Outcome is becoming clear. Sickening. The implications for the vulnerable and weak in our society are grim.

It just hit me and I sobbed my heart out. I am genuinely frightened for the sick, young, poor, disabled, all of us.

I think that I'll be re-discovering my Scottish Roots. I think that the Australian ones are less attractive at the moment ...

cannot tell you how sick the election results are making me feel

 

 

I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue Appreciation Society

 

I think I've become addicted to the Facebook Group of the I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue Appreciation Society  https://www.facebook.com/groups/ISIHAC/

 

Here are my contributions to the late arrivals at the Londoners' Ball

 

• From North London.. she's a real bruiser Tough Nell Park    
• Bowling along there the Irish cricketer Ken Ington O'val   
• And the noble batsman Lord Stjohn Wood        
• Mr Neymarshes and his journalist son known as Hack          
• The rodent operative from old Chinatown.. Chou En Limehouse       
• Mr n Mrs N Treeheath n their daughter Becca
• From docklands please welcome Mr & Mrs Ertown and their daughter Silv with her imaginary friend the Wool Witch Fairy          
• With their medical bags in hand Victoria, Albert and Sir Rey.. they must be some of the Royal docs
• I don't know who those three are ..Ah yes one's Ted Park
• And the other two must be his conjoined twin brothers Wes-Tam     

 

my contributions to the beauty queens at various carnivals

  

• the embezzlers' carnival had Miss Appropriate         

• the French translators/ carnival had Miss De Meaner
• the pessimists carnival queen was always Miss E Rable       

• At the Coroners' Carnival 
• spectators suffered death by Miss Adventure. This the police found a complete Miss Teree  
• the catholic priests carnival had Miss Al (though the Vatican covered it up for years)
• and the ornithologists (or Itchy Twitchers) had Miss Le Thrush

  

TRANSPOSED BOOK TITLES

 

Aches and Kale

Brie Then in a Moat.

Our van in Oman Ah!

Rigid Bones Dairy

The Mystery Han

The Tray of the Dyffydds

Chic Blouse by D'arles Chickens

A sad mummers dream night

 

 

News headlines from 1536

 

Tenpin News -- Last strike spells end of the Boleyn Annie

Blackpool Gazzette ... Bloody end to Hen Party

 

 

 

Dangerous sports with insects

 

• Pond skaters
• Golf caddies flies lava
• Jolly hockey stick insects
• Rugby leech
• Gymnas ticks
• Whore Netball

 

 

Late arrivals at the medical ball

 

Mr and Mrs Beticcoma and their Welsh son Dai

Followed by his Chinese friend In Su Lin

From the judge's bench M'lud Transfusion. He'll send you to the red cells

Ms N marrow - transplant and her latest Beau

And her cousins Kia and Mo Therapy

From France via Ireland Mrs De O'therapy and her husband Ray

Seven members of the Boat race crew with their Cox Yx who has suffered a stroke

Master Ramedic and his aged Pa

Mr Urgency and his ward Emma

Ms. NColagist and her favourite Guy

Ms Greenstick-Fracture and her ex Ray

The ostomy bag regiment and their senior officer Col. etc..

Mr & Mrs Neystone and their little kid

 

 

Late arrivals at the USA ball

 

• It may be hot in Texas but gal keep that vest on for decency's sake
• From north of 49th parallel.. Mr Pegg and his poohy wife Winnie
• Chief Native American B... in an earlier state known as Indian A
• and now the Pitts (elder and younger) both munching burgers
• Here come the Getty's .and the Burgers.. but they are late because we gave the wrong address

My new paper Faith, Progressive Localism & the Hol(e)y Welfare Safety

New e-book series takes on key debates on religion in public life

What role does religion play in modern British society? What are the key debates in religion and public life? How should we begin to explore them? Temple Tracts is a series of seven short and accessible e-books offering engaging analysis, case studies and discussions on contemporary concerns for religion and society.

Researcher Greg Smith has spent 40 years working in urban mission and community development. Launching the series, Smith's pre-election analysis of the British welfare system takes a candid look at the role of faith-based organisations, asking how and why these groups have tried to plug service gaps. Faith, Progressive Localism & the Hol(e)y Welfare Safety Net explores the relationship between Local Authorities and faith-based service providers, combining revealing case studies from the North West of England with strong theoretical analysis.

Find out more and download for just £2.99 from williamtemplefoundation.org.uk/temple-tracts

Sign-up for the William Temple Foundation newsletter and be the first to know when each new book in the series is published.

Coming Soon

Mapping the Material: Religious Practices in Changing Times By John Atherton and John Reader

No Faith in Equality & Diversity: Church, Sexuality & Gender By Hayley Matthews

God and MoneyBy Eve Poole

Christian-Muslim Relations in the UK By Philip Lewis and Charlotte Dando

Work, Leisure & The Good Life: A Trying Triangle By Ian Steedman and Arrigo Opocher

Religion, Social Policy and the Body By Tina Hearn

BIBLICAL BASES OF SOCIO-POLITICAL ACTION

 

 

Back in 1986 I wrote this paper on BIBLICAL BASES OF SOCIO-POLITICAL ACTION

 

Some people might be looking for something like this today.

 

The URL http://gregsmith.synthasite.com/resources/BIBLICAL%20BASES%20OF%20SOCIO.pdf

The hierarchy of needs and the web of provision.... where churches fit in..

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a familiar theory in psychology proposed by Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper "A Theory of Human Motivation" in Psychological Review.^[2]

While this model is open to question as

1. it is individualistic based on psychology and ignores the social and political
2. it may not work in practice as a ladder or pyramid up which people progress
3. it seems rather "new agey" and about personal fulfilment rather than rooted in a Christian or Biblical theology of the human condition
4. it focuses on need and has little recognition of assets which every human being brings into the world

Yet it does give us some useful categories and fits into the mission strategy put forward by William Booth, the first General of the Salvation Army “But what is the use of preaching the Gospel to men whose whole attention is concentrated upon a mad, desperate struggle to keep themselves alive?”  However it should be noted the same Booth is quoted as saying.. “To get a man soundly saved it is not enough to put on him a pair of new breeches, to give him regular work, or even to give him a University education. These things are all outside a man, and if the inside remains unchanged you have wasted your labour. You must in some way or other graft upon the man's nature a new nature, which has in it the element of the Divine.”

Until recently it was assumed that the British welfare state had the base of the triangle well covered, that no one would be left without basic needs being met. The church and it's mission was therefore to work higher up the hierarchy offering belonging through the fellowship of the church, and salvation through the gospel of Christ. There would be a measure at least of personal transformation, which Anna Ruddick in her study of incarnational urban mission suggests is the added value brought through faith in terms of a new sense of human significance even if personal circumstances are not greatly changed.

With the growing inequality that has resulted from the global neo-liberal project or recent decades, which has culminated in the new destitution of recent austerity programmes, churches have responded with a new emphasis on meeting basic needs.  Food Banks are the most obvious example; in Lancashire alone we have over thirty handing out over 30,000 parcels a year, almost all started up and managed by churches. There are also numerous soup kitchens and community cafes, homelessness ministries, street pastors and charitable handouts of blankets and clothing all designed to address basic needs of those who are destitute and vulnerable.  Some of these ministries also offer genuine love and belonging, and address the highest level spiritual needs by providing opportunities for prayer and worship, albeit sometimes in a rather full on, clumsy and heavy handed way.

My observation of church linked social action programmes is that they are often not so good at offering esteem and a feeling of accomplishment to their "service users". Indeed this label itself often sets customers apart from providers as people who need to have good done onto rather than fellow human beings with talents and gifts to share with the wider community. Nor are they always good at offering a hand up rather than a handout; sometimes it feels as though the primary need is for the good Christian volunteers to feel needed, that they are helping those in real need, and that it is convenient to keep the recipients in permanent childlike dependency. For some activities this is justified by the "unique Christian ethos" of the project and the assertion that only through the truth and power of the Gospel can the highest level spiritual need for salvation be properly addressed. At the extreme this becomes arrogance which ill behoves followers of the one who  "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;" (Phil 2;6)"  and breeds a rugged independence which prevents collaboration with other services that remain invisible from the depths of one's own silo.

In reality, even in the much reduced remnants of the welfare state, a wide variety of  services remain, some statutory, some secular and not for profit, some in the form of social enterprises or private businesses working under contract, and some operating to professional standards but inspired by religious faith.  The best of these, because of their professionalism and specialist expertise, can be much better than the churches at a holistic approach which leads to overcoming dependency and offering the hope of personal and community development and empowerment; while the worst can be dire, chaotic, coercive or conditional and entangled in red tape.  Surely Christian social activists have much to gain by engaging with due diligence in this wider web of provision. I'm not totally sure that this is what Chris Baker of the William Temple Foundation means when talking about "entangled fidelities"  . However, the potential gains range from economies of scale to better signposting and referral processes, to opening new paths to funding and resources and a seat at the table where policies are shaped, where we might use some power for the blessing of the weak and the promotion of the common good. In the messiness of such involvement sometimes we will find allies and a warm welcome, sometimes indifference or misunderstanding, and occasionally at least hostility and hatred.

The challenge of course is an old one, to remain realistically involved in the world as it is, while remaining faithful to the heavenly vision of the world that is to be. Or as Jesus himself put it “not of the world, but sent into it.”

Public leadership - a vacuum at the top and a load of suckers at the bottom?

As someone who has been involved in Church activities for over 40 years I should have known the ninth Beatitude. “Blessed is s/he that doth not immediately refuse to volunteer, for s/he will be lumbered with doing it”.  But a few weeks ago, as a result of forgetting the golden rule, that one should keep eyes focussed on the floor, when nominations are asked for in an AGM, I found myself appointed to the office of chair of the local Voluntary Community and Faith Sector forum. While one can see this new personal role as stepping up to the plate in an act of Public Leadership and an opportunity as a Christian to serve the local community and influence the life of our city for good, I doubt it is going to be a smooth road or an easy task.

With the General Election pending, the public seems perplexed and cynical about the political leadership of the UK, and fragmented over their voting intentions. Part of  this results from the growing sense of disillusion with politicians and party leaders. The public at large has a very negative view,  which has real underlying causes such as the expenses scandals, the failed look-alike policies of the main parties, and the distance of Oxbridge educated elites  of Westminster based career politicians from the ordinary provincial voter. Contempt for politicians is probably further fuelled by satirists and the media focus on stories such as Dave and Georges exploits with the Bullingdon Club, Ed's kitchen and his bacon sandwiches, and Farage's flagon of ale well described  in Laurie Penny's piece  on the far-right:

Orwell was wrong, the English will accept a far-right government, so long as it’s dressed up in silliness and accompanied by a farting trombone.

The British political class does not understand how badly it has alienated its voter base. It does not understand the rage against a democratic system that has failed to provide any coherent, liveable alternatives to falling wages, rising rents and persistent unemployment. From within Westminster, it is impossible to comprehend how out-of touch politicians look, how much the expenses scandal meant, and continues to mean, for people who do not drink in the taxpayer-subsidised Commons bars.

In  a recent survey  of Evangelical Christians (mostly comfortably off. educated people who overwhelmingly value British democracy) only 6% said they think politicians can be trusted to keep their manifesto promises and half are less likely to believe what a politician says than they were five years ago.   Above all they  are looking for personal integrity. 93% say it is most or very important for the candidate to be honorable and not corrupt and two-thirds want politicians with clear and strong convictions.

Many Christians, concerned with the poverty they encounter in the food bank queues in their church halls, are longing for an alternative political narrative to any that is on offer from the main political  parties. In this context the Bishop’s pastoral letter, Who is my Neighbour?”, seeking to articulate a political theology of the common good can be seen even by some politicians such as Jon Cruddas, (and Maurice Glasman who apparently was the ghost writer of his  article) as a true act of leadership

Yet bishops and clergy are in many ways poor examples of leadership. They've come a long way since the days of the Borgia popes, yet all have their human frailties and besetting sins, some scandalously so. They are still overwhelmingly drawn from the ranks of the white, male privately educated establishment elites. The long drawn out and inward looking debates about gender equality and sexuality seem to have brought the church into disrepute, especially among the young.   More significantly it is becoming less certain that leaders of religious institutions have any followers behind them, or much ability to provide the spiritual inspiration and role models that move their shrinking band of disciples to greater faith and effective mission. The Green report seems to advocate that they need training in the dark arts of corporate management, which were so evidently useful in the leadership of major banks such as HSBC.  In Weber's typology of authority the bishops as leaders have moved from that of traditional unquestioned sacred hierarchy towards a rational bureaucratic mode of control.

Evangelical Christians and their churches, which are the exception that often proves the rule in building and sustaining thriving communities of followers often have an alternative approach to leadership, which more closely fits Weber's mode of "charismatic" and personal authority.  Gifts of performance, in public speaking, music or  the seemingly miraculous of prophecy or healing ministries are what qualify a person for church leadership. This, especially in an age of global mass media and celebrity culture has many downsides and can lead to a fetishism with leaders, and with the very concept of  "leadership".  The same techniques are sometimes not far removed from the politics that in other times and languages brought us leadership personified in the "Furher", Il Duce, or  North Koreas  "dear leader". At the extreme end of the church we have examples of shepherds fleecing their gullible flocks for private gain, and numerous others where such styles of leadership have proved hollow and ended in disgrace and tears.

The Biblical traditions suggest other models of healthy leadership. Moses for example was hesitant, asked God for a spin doctor to package his message to Pharaoh, and eventually understood the benefits of delegated and widely distributed leadership. When Kingship was established in Israel it seemed that God regretted it, and with few exceptions it proved disastrous. A balance of powers, involving prophets and priests in counterpoint with rulers was required. Some of the most notable political leaders in the Old Testament, Joseph, Daniel and Nehemiah were in charge not of their own people but slaves in exile or under foreign occupation. And it was into such a situation that the Messiah Jesus of Nazareth was born in humble circumstances and not in a palace. His alternative approach as a servant leader, yet speaking with authority, inspired many yet led him into conflict with, and death at the hands of the political and religious leaders of that age.  One can read the story of the early church as understanding these principles, where authority, ministries and leadership was widely distributed among the brothers and sisters of each local congregation, with the "big name" travelling apostles and overseers being above all connectors and networkers between the churches.

In our culture which distrusts institutional authority, and in which open and flexible light touch networks are critical to the function of society these types of leadership, which Roger Haydon Mitchell describes as kenarchy are surely more appropriate. Or as Mother Teresa put it  "Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person."  It might be better to say "do it together".

So in developing public leadership in the UK today I doubt that the establishment coalition of bishops, large charities and benignly progressive political parties can articulate the solutions, let alone rebuild national institutions that are needed for the justice and welfare of all. Longing for celebrities or charismatic demagogues, in church or state to lead us out of the wilderness, is even more dangerous.  Rather it is going to require a struggle from below, a careful building of alliances of democratic member led independent voluntary associations, community groups, progressive local authorities, parish churches, other congregations and faith communities.

And that is going to need hope, grace, humility, patience and time.

My New William Temple Foundation Blog

"Our Second-Rate Third Sector? Charity in the Age of Austerity"

 

http://williamtemplefoundation.org.uk/our-second-rate-third-sector-charity-austerity-greg-smith/