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Community
'WE ARE ALL EQUAL BEFORE GOD' London did it! Now it's get ready for 2012 'Social entrepreneurs' generate jobs and community facilities Mushroom time Woodland walks getting shorter Who cares about granny? Walk the waterways Bonkers about conkers Web betting is dangerous
WE ARE ALL EQUAL BEFORE GOD
The tenth annual Racial Justice Sunday falls on 11th September. Coming as it does just two months after the London bombs, it is a salutary reminder that there is only one race – the human race. The message is: 'We are all equal before God.'
Organised by the Churches' Commission for Racial Justice, the occasion is an opportunity to focus on some real problems, such as the way in which gypsies continue to be a race-hate target. According to a report by police chiefs, gypsies are now being treated the way Black people were in the 1960s.
Many people from abroad, including asylum seekers, are being victimised in various ways. A Scottish minister recently described meeting a young man from Zanzibar whose face and nose were scarred and twisted. He asked the man whether his injuries had been due to torture in Zanzibar. “Oh no,” replied the man. “This happened in Milton Keynes.”
Even in rural Britain, minority ethnic households can suffer isolation and exclusion from communities unfamiliar with, and afraid of, people from different religious or cultural backgrounds. But a report published last year found that introducing elements of diversity into school classrooms had been effective in confronting prejudice among schoolchildren in mainly White rural areas.
Also encouraging is a survey of more than a thousand British Muslims, of whom almost 80 per cent agreed that there is no clash between being a good British citizen and having Islamic values. Whereas Muslim beliefs and practices are often portrayed as a barrier to social integration and harmony, the survey results suggested that discrimination, poor media coverage and British foreign policy were the main obstacles.
Although Racial Justice Sunday is an ecumenical rather than an inter-faith initiative, Muslims will be represented at events around the country.
Special worship materials have been produced on this subject. Readers concerned about these matters can contact the Churches' Commission for Racial Justice, Bastille Court, 2 Paris Gardens, London SE1 8ND (Tel. 020 7654 7254, or email ccrj@ctbi.org.uk).
London did it! Now it's get ready for 2012
Stewart Weir of Christians in Sport considers the opportunities ahead
Rarely have there been such scenes of euphoria in London and throughout the country as greeted the announcement of London as the venue for the 2012 Olympics. (Tragically, the excitement was replaced by horror next day when the explosions across the capital put sport in perspective.)
The 2012 Olympics are still seven years away so it is difficult at this stage to be too excited. Most of us are more concerned with next week's commitments rather than next year's – let alone 2012.
However, experience of previous major events has shown that a major sports event like the Olympics gives the Christian community a wonderful opportunity to be involved in the community and to serve it.
In Manchester during the 2002 Commonwealth Games, 150 churches worked together under the banner of More than Gold. The key words were service and witness. The churches served the city, the Games, the organizing committee but as Christians they did it as a witness to the love of Christ.
The 2000 Olympic gold medallist and current London 2012 ambassador, Jonathan Edwards says 'the Olympic Games and the Olympic Movement can change people's lives. I don't think there's anything that could change this country in so many ways as hosting the Olympic Games will.'
Christians in Sport is committed to serving the 2012 Olympics. We want the 2012 Olympics to be the best ever and to reflect well on our country and capital city. We will encourage churches and individual Christians to approach the Games with humility and a desire to serve.
Just to put some flesh on the bones, here are some of the ways the Christian community in the London area can get involved in this unique project.
* Serve as official Olympic volunteers; * Offer accommodation to relatives of overseas competitors; * Churches near a venue or on the marathon route can offer refreshments to spectators;
In addition the following ideas will work anywhere
* Show events on a big screen and invite the community in to watch with you; * Pray for the Games, the athletes, the officials, the administrators; * Give your Sunday services a sports focus around the time of the Games;
The Olympics will almost certainly not return to the UK in our lifetime. Let us make the most of this opportunity.
See www.christiansinsport.org.uk/2012 and www.london2012.com for more details.
Social entrepreneurs generate jobs and community facilities
An initiative that stemmed from a Christian “think tank” has had remarkable success in combating unemployment and helping to regenerate deprived areas of Britain.
Now an independent charity, Citylife came into being in 1999 through the work of the Jubilee Centre, which was founded by Dr Michael Schluter in Cambridge in 1983 and aims to apply biblical principles to a range of issues in public life.
Citylife identifies first an area where there is social need – an area of high unemployment, for example – and then sources of investment (people or organisations) willing to help finance, through the mechanism of an Employment Bond, a carefully costed programme designed to meet that need.
Investors, who can be individuals or businesses, contribute sums of £100 upwards until a total is reached that is sufficient to finance the agreed project. Around three quarters of the total is lent to a housing association at an agreed interest rate for construction of social housing, workspace and other community facilities, with the loan repaid to Citylife at five years amounting to the full original amount the Bondholders subscribed – so all investors can be repaid. This loan is bank guaranteed to make completely sure people have confidence in the mechanism. The balance of around a quarter is effectively the interest the investors are foregoing, and is used for local enterprise and employment projects such as business start-up loans and job-matching with those who fall through the statutory net.
In East London, for example, just under £2 million was raised recently and already over 200 people have found full-time work through a 'Getting London Working' programme. There are now several Employment Bond projects on the go in London, Newcastle, the Welsh Coalfields, Sheffield, Cambridge and Edinburgh. Not only do such projects save the Treasury millions of pounds in welfare benefits, but they have been created at a fraction of the cost of large Government programmes.
Citylife regard the Bonds as a practical mechanism through which positive relationships can be developed across communities, encouraging people to love their neighbour (e.g. Luke 10) by seeking the welfare of the city (Jer 29:7). And 'he who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord' (Prov 19:17) – something to ponder?
For more details of this work, call Martin Clark on 01223 421275 or email martin@citylifeltd.org
Mushroom time
It's mushroom season from now until the end of October. Fungi flourish in warm damp autumns, so if there is a lot of rain this month and next, an afternoon's walk in the right habitat can reveal the wonderful rainbow colours of waxcap toadstools, earth tongues and fairy clubs. Fungi hate modern fertiliser and vanish if the land is ploughed or reseeded – so don't look for them on farmland. Instead, join the local walk organised by (local group). It will take place on (date) starting at (place) at (time). Ring (contact number) for more details.
Woodland walks getting shorter
We've lost 50 per cent of our ancient woodland since the 1930s. Older folk can think back to the grand old trees from their childhood, but how many of us can easily visit ancient woodland? For example: in Kent's Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty alone, ten per cent of ancient woodland was hacked down between 1960 and 1990.
Who cares about granny?
'Do not cast me off in the time of old age! Do not forsake me when my strength fails!' wrote the Psalmist. But many elderly people today find that they are indeed avoided when they become frail and no longer independent.
Sadly, research has shown that even elderly people who have attended church for years are quickly forgotten by their congregations when they can no longer attend church. Many clergy pay the odd visit only on request, but few are pro-active in maintaining contact with former members of their churches.
In this area, the situation looks like this...
Walk the waterways
September is a great time to walk the waterways of Britain. You'll have plenty to choose from: – we've got 4000 miles of rivers, lakes and canals. In fact, some experts estimate that half of us live within five miles of an inland waterway.
These days the canals especially are well worth a visit. Snaking their silvery trail across Britain from Taunton to Inverness, they are a nature reserve and a museum of living history rolled into one. There are a 1000 wildlife conservation sites and 3000 listed buildings strung along the 2000 miles of still water.
They are being restored as fast as they were being built 200 years ago, at the height of 'canal mania'. Over two billion pounds has been spent on regeneration projects in the last decade. They are now popular with boaters, cyclists and hikers as well as boaters.
When you walk the towpaths, try and spot who has just hired a boat, and who has been at it a few days. The new arrivals will be tearing at the throttle, trying to get more than 4mph out of their narrow-boat. The ones with a few days experience will be moving in a more dream-like state, and going to bed at 8pm, their brains disengaged from the normal chaotic pace of daily life.
The last major new canal in the country was the New Junction Canal, which opened in 1905. The Millennium Ribble Link built in Lancashire includes a new four-mile stretch of waterway – but forms part of a scheme which is 200 years old. For more details visit: www.britishwaterways.co.uk or www.waterscape.com
Bonkers about conkers
With the arrival of autumn, it will be conker time soon. For 36 years, the Northamptonshire village of Ashton has played host to the World Conker Championships. The Championships started by accident when a group of pub regulars, thwarted in their attempts to go fishing, decided to play conkers instead. Today, the event attracts visitors from around the world – and competition is fierce.
A Conker Quiz
Q When was the first ever recorded game of conkers played using horse chestnuts? A (In 1848 in the Isle of Wight. Before than, hazelnuts were used.)
Q What other names are there for the game of conkers? A (Conquerors, cheggies, hongkongs, obbly-onkers and cobs.)
Q What was the most victorious conker ever? A (A 'five-thousander' which won the BBC Conker Conquest of 1954. Although it has been suggested that this might have been a 'ringer' - probably an ivory or tagua nut.)
Q How do some people cheat at conkers? A (By covering their conkers with varnish, superglue, or injecting them with resin.)
Q What do you call out in order to ensure first strike in a game? A (Competitors call out one of the following: 'my firsy', 'firsy jabs', 'first donks', 'first hitsy', 'bagsie first cracks', 'iddley, iddley ack, my first smack', or 'hobbily, hobbily honker, my first conker.'
Web betting is dangerous
Online gambling is dangerous because it offers easy access to hard forms of gambling, The Salvation Army has warned as Party Gaming shares recently began trading.
Because the games are often played alone, there is nothing to break the psychological urge to chase losses, says the Salvation Army. In addition, most online gambling is carried out with credit cards, so people can lose money they don't even have.
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