So, what exactly is Social Action?

Its not so much a crises, a moment of panic, indeed, anything dramatic at all. I’m just slightly dazed by the enormity of what I could choose to consider my “patch” in this new job. There’s an awful lot of it! As Social Action Parish Assistant, I could be said to cover campaigning, volunteering or indeed anything justice related, but none of these seems to fit. And there is only one of me, a lesson I may have to learn extra well this year.

The Songs We Sing

Another heavily religious post, so apologies to the atheists. This tends to happen at this point in the year, as I grapple with a bunch of issues that have come up during Soul Survivor and Greenbelt. One of the major differences between the two events is quite often the approach to music in the context of faith that comes between the two events, and the misunderstandings attached.

The Hand Gel Prayer

The last few weeks have seen an explosion in the number of people regularly using alcohol hand gel, so much so that Boots were reporting a national shortage of everything but the most basic 250ml bottles when I needed one before the cycle ride. No where has more comment been passed on the craze than in churches, where bottles are now routinely passed round before the peace, and during communion. So what if we developed some kind of liturgy around them?

Finding Momentum, Finding Vision

So Momentum is in full swing here in Somerset. My major feeling is that this is the first year when Momentum has really escaped from its image as “Soul Survivor grown up”, and begun to find a vision of its own. And its seen some truly groundbreaking talk addressing the concern that so many 20-somethings are quitting the church in such numbers, with our age group half as likely to attend as the general population and that 50% of those of us who do attend are within London; the regions being a place of total absence for an entire age-band.

My big fundraising cycle adventure

I wouldn’t normally use my blog for something like this, but I thought some of you might be interested to know why my postings are about to become less frequent. As I’m going to be working as a volunteer Social Action rep for St Mike’s and volunteer Administrator for Transcendence, I have to raise my own living somehow, and for the first few months, that’s going to have to be fundraising. So, tomorrow I set off on 240 miles of cycling to reach Soul Survivor.

Barriers to reducing HIV amongst Africa’s Gays

Amongst the many articles I have saved up and still need to write a blog post about (currently 36), was a news story on the HIV rate amongst Gay men in Africa. Its a difficult topic when one is dealing with entire states still in denial over the existence of Gay people. As a Christian, I realise this is an interesting topic to be dealing with, as many working to solve the situation would name religion as a major barrier to their work.

Majority of US Gays Still Interested in God

I recently stumbled upon an article on USA Today’s website reporting the release of research comparing faith across the Gay/Straight divide. I think it says something most in the church, and many outside of it, should probably take note of: that even though numbers are lower, there is still a huge interest in the Christianity, let alone spirituality, amongst those the church has most often sought to demonise.

Good and bad Church action to help Migrants

In the last 24hours a news story has broken concerning a vicar in East Sussex alleged to have carried out “sham marriages” to save asylum seekers from being returned. Last week I was in Copenhagen, where a church is giving sanctuary to about 80 asylum seekers. The two actions might have similar intentions, but I can’t help thinking the former is more damaging than anything else.

Why I think Slum Survivor is a good thing

“How bloody patronising” exclaimed my housemate as soon as I began explaining why I needed to locate cardboard boxes in earnest. Last weekend was Slum Survivor here in York, and whilst I wasn’t taking part in slum life, I enjoyed watching the project flow as I stopped off each time I passed St Mikes on my bike.

“It’s Friday, but Sundays coming…”

Last week and this week, my church in York has been doing a visual exhibition around the streets of York entitled “Via Luminosa”. It presents the Easter story in a set of 15 artworks, mostly with the help of video projectors. But on Good Friday, the day myself and 3 friends followed the walk, the resurrection video loop was replaced with another one which simply displayed:

“Its Friday… But Sundays coming… Watch-this-space…”