Wayne's World

Money has been in the news a lot over the last few weeks. Whether it is Wayne Rooney’s £250,000 a week salary or the massive spending cuts announced by George Osborne, money is in the news. And whilst it’s sometimes said it’s not polite to talk about money, we all do. Perhaps talking about the price of petrol, the price of a pint or how much our house is worth.

How people used their wealth concerned Jesus a great deal. On one occasion a rich young man asked Jesus what was needed in order for a rich person to go to heaven. Jesus told him that he needed to give away everything he had to the poor. On hearing this news the young man was very disappointed and in fact the followers of Jesus were amazed. Jesus then went on to say that it is very hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of God and in fact “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Mark 10:23

Teachings like this suggest the Christian faith is against wealth and money. People quote Christianity as saying “Money is the root of all evil” which suggests that money is to be avoided at all costs. In fact St Paul, an early follower of Jesus, said “The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” 1 Tim 6:10

I interpret this as Paul saying Wanting to make money for money’s sake is bad but using money to help others is good.

The founder of the Methodist Church John Wesley once preached a sermon called “The right use of money”. The sermon is over 250 years old and some of the ideas in it can seem old fashioned today. For example he talks about needing to ensure that we take care of our servants and don't hang extravagant works of art on the wall! Both things I relate to as a Methodist minister naturally.

But there is a great deal of truth within in it. And one idea John Wesley put forward seems to me a good rule for the right use of money. Wesley was clear that money made should be made legally and fairly without harm to others. People should save to have enough money to live comfortably but not extravagantly and then give away the money left over to help others.

Put simply Wesley said that we should “Make all you can, save all you can and give away all you can”.

It’s a good rule. But will it apply in Wayne’s world? And will it apply in the world of George Osborne's friends in the City I wonder?

A fight between God and the Devil. God won!

I'm amazed at the TV pictures coming from Chile showing the rescue of the 33 miners who have been trapped 600 metres below ground for the last two months. At the time of writing 11 have been rescued and I hope and pray that all the others will be rescued too.

What I find fascinating is the way the miners and their families all believe that God played a part in the rescue. On Sunday (when the rescue shaft broke through to the miners) family members were interviewed and all started off their comments by saying "We thank God".

And today, one of the miners on reaching the surface said "Down there it was a battle between God and the Devil. God won."

Mario Gomez one of the rescued miners said "God kept me alive."

Naturally, the press have referred to the miners' plight as being "in hell". Well, today once again hell has been conquered.

On BBC TV 1pm news a psychologist was interviewed about the after effects of this on the miners. And even he was talking in terms of heaven and hell.

How refreshing that people are prepared to talk openly abut faith in this way. What a witness. I'd be interested to see the reaction someone like Richard Dawkins would get if he were to suggest to these people that God did not have a hand in this!

Your country needs you

I try to keep my blog for spiritual and theological ramblings. But it's my blog and my rules. So today I'm dipping in to the murky world of politics.

I didn't hear much of David Cameron's speech to the Tory Conference last week and have read it this morning on The Guardian web site http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/oct/06/david-cameron-speech-tory-conference

Here are my thoughts and observations on his words of wisdom.

"The end of a Labour government that had done so much damage."

Even a devoted Labour supporter such as me wouldn't claim a perfect record. The Iraq fiasco being a prime example. But is reducing NHS waiting times damage? Reducing class sizes damage? Yes the deficit is damaging but why did this come about? Becasue of the need to bail out banks. If Labour had done nothgin to help the banks what kind of mess would we be in now?

Cameron listed the things that the ConDems have achieved so far. These included:

"Corporation tax – cut. The jobs tax – axed. Police targets – smashed. Immigration – capped. The third runway – stopped. Home Information Packs – dropped. Fat cat salaries – revealed. ID Cards – abolished. The NHS – protected. Our aid promise – kept."

As it happens dropping HIPS and the ID card I'm in favour of. But to claim the NHS is protected? How? Letting GPs run it will protect it will it? No. GPs will let outside agencies run it. Privatization by the back door.

"The mess this country is in – it's not all because of Labour....Of course, they must take some of the blame.... They left us with massive debts, the highest deficit, overstretched armed forces, demoralised public services, endless ridiculous rules and regulations and quangos and bureaucracy and nonsense."

Dave, you think you inherited demoralised public services? Well you've certainly cheered them up with 25% cuts looming haven't you? The massive debts come from bailing out the banks. And Dave didn't you support Labour spending plans up to 2008 - just before the banking crisis. What I'd like to know but you'll never tell us is what would be the deficit without the banking bail out?

And then we get on to the stuff abut "pulling together" and "we're all in it together" etc etc.

"We can build a country defined not by the selfishness of the Labour years but by the values of mutual responsibility that this party holds dear. A country defined not by what we consume but by what we contribute. A country, a society where we say: I am not alone. I will play my part. I will work with others to give Britain a brand new start."

Who did so much to demolish society and bring in selfish individualism Dave? Margaret Thatcher. You don't like mentioning her do you?

"The big society is not about creating cover for cuts. I was going on about it years before the cuts. It's not government abdicating its role, it is government changing its role."

Yeah right. It's funny how about a week before your speech Nottingham PCT announced it would be axing chaplaincy posts to save money. No doubt thinking that churches and other faith groups will step in and supply chaplains free of charge. That's the Big Society at work. http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=101118

And where are all these people queueing up to volunteer Dave? And volunteer to do what? "I've got an estate car so I'll collect the rubbish for our street" is that what you mean?

"Our emergency budget showed the world that Britain is back on the path of fiscal responsibility. It took us out of the danger zone – and the man we have to thank for that is George Osborne."

Is that the same George Osborne who announced he would cur child benefit for higher rate tax payers but hadn't realised that households where two people earn slightly less than higher rate tax threshold would still be eligible for child benefit. http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/oct/04/george-osborne-under-fire-welfare Well done George. Genius.

"Fairness means giving money to help the poorest in society. People who are sick, who are vulnerable, the elderly – I want you to know we will always look after you. That's the sign of a civilised society, and it's what I believe.

But you can't measure fairness just by how much money we spend on welfare, as though the poor are products with a price tag, the more we spend on them the more we value them.

Fairness means supporting people out of poverty, not trapping them in dependency."

Fine words Dave. but what do they mean? How will you achieve this?

"Your country needs you. It takes two. It takes two to build that strong economy. We'll balance the budget, we'll boost enterprise, but you start those businesses that lead us to growth.

It takes two to build that big society. We'll reform public services, we'll devolve power, but you step forward to seize the opportunity."

Ah yes. Conjure up the words of Lord Kitchener. Rally the troops and then send them over the top to get mown down in the gunfire of a double dip recession.

A couple of weeks ago we got a surprise phone call from a German friend who was over in the UK at Basingstoke on business. We were able to go and meet our friend who we’d not seen for over a year.

We enjoyed catching up and chatting as friends do. And at some point the conversation turned to the Pope’s visit to Britain and then on to a wider discussion about the church. This was interesting as our friend is certainly not a practising Christian and in the 30 years we’ve known her this was probably the longest discussion on faith we’d had.

And it turned out that what had sparked her interest in faith was that she had read a book called (in German) Die Hutte. As our friend started to explain about the book I realised I had read it. In English it is called The Shack.

In case you want to read it at some point I won’t give too much of the plot away. Written by Canadian William P. Young, The Shack’s main character is Mackenzie Philips, a father of three, called "Mack" by his family and friends. Mack was not a devote Christian and when his daughter Missy was abducted and murdered four years previously he loses what little faith he has.

However, he encounters God and over the course of a weekend spent at a camping shack, Mack spends time with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. This encounter leads him to re-evaluate his life and his priorities.

I found the book very interesting and was taken by the way William Young explores the different aspects of the Trinity.

And certainly our friend found the book making her evaluate her beliefs – though I think it fair to say that she is still looking.

It has to be said that not all Christians like the book. Some have been very critical of it even saying it is heretical. Personally I think that is unfair, as I feel The Shack can help us try and think of God and the Trinity anew. And that can’t be a bad thing. One thing for sure it is a Marmite book – you’ll either love it or hate it!

God is multi faceted. In other words there are many aspects to God. And we get different glimpses of the different facets at different times. I feel The Shack is a book that makes us think about this.

So if you do read it, I’d be interested to see what you think of it. Is it a help or a hindrance to your journey of faith?