The world needs a hug

Last weekend was slightly unexpected and crazy but so good.

I made it to 'the rescue'in Edinburgh on Saturday after rearranging my study plan and I am so glad I did. The protest started out with us meeting outside the parliament buildings to be made into a group of 20 and given a rope to hold on to (I ended up at the front of my group). We then walked to Princes street gardens to symbolise the children being abducted. Once we got there we did some photo and film shoots before setting up camp, well, rolling out our sleeping bags. Letters were then written to be sent to Gordon Brown and David Milliband. Billy Boyd (aka Pippen from the LOTR films) came and rescued us, he made a speech and stuck around for quite a while which was really sound of him. We left in the morning at 6.30pm, knackered but happy.

It was my first experience of being involved in a protest like this, it didn't seem to make too much of a difference at the time but knowing that it was happening in a 100 cities in 10 countries all over the world made it special. Hopefully the media attention and letters will drive the governments into making a difference and get the peace process back on track. Those children out there, who are suffering in an invisible war, who are killing for a man who is insane and who are dying in the process, need a hug and may that happen soon.






On Sunday afternoon I ended up on Sauchiehall Street giving out free hugs with a group from church. You should have seen the faces of the public, some were shocked, some confused, some excited but all those who got a hug left smiling. It's amazing what one hug can do, a few people said it made their day and a few came back for more. The free hug was just a way to show how much God loves us.

God

Loves

Us

It can be hard to see this in situations like in Uganda but just because we can't perceive a reason for it doesn't mean there isn't a good reason. Sin has caused this injustice but God has a plan to end it.

He wants to give us all a hug.

He wants to give the world a hug.

Protests

Saturday the 25th, time to raise awareness for the child soldiers who are abducted every day in Northern Uganda by a rebel organisation called the 'Lord's Resistance Army', led by rebel leader Joseph Kony. There are events happening all over the world on that day with one of them being in Edinburgh. I would be there if I didn't have to study for my finals.

Gutted.

If you have no idea what I am talking about then check out http://therescue.invisiblechildren.com/en/#/watch/

It will hopefully stay peaceful and hopefully get the attention of the Government.

The guardian website today tells me that the policeman who pushed Ian Tomlinson who died at the G20 protests is to be faced with manslaughter questions. OK the manslaughter charge would be a bit extreme from looking at the video evidence but I wonder what his defence will be, the victim was walking away to slowly, or maybe, I was bored with the majority of the protests being peaceful. I suppose he might have just got caught up in it all, he is probably feeling completely guilty about it all now.

I havn't actually been part of a mass protest before but I reckon there must be some thrill in it all, the adrenaline rush. I reckon alot of people that get involved with protests don't actually know what they are protesting but just jumped on the bandwagon. For example in the recent Israel-Palestine scenario, there was a protest at Strathclyde University and the protesters had ridiculous demands. I bet if I asked say 80% of those who were protesting about the demands they wouldn't have had a clue or had actually thought them through.

However, when protests do make a difference, are peaceful and are for a worthy cause then I hope that the people who can change things take heed.

25th April 2009 will hopefully make a difference.

Hope in the 21st Century

The news is full of bleak stories, the credit crunch and the earthquake in Italy to name a couple. Innocent lives are being taken in unjust wars, jobs are being lost in the recession, families being torn apart with the stress of it all. How can the death of a 1st century Jew provide any hope for us in the 21st century?

The unbelievable happened.

This first century Jew rose from the dead and defeated death. Wow, people don't rise from the dead, but when they are the son of God they do.

Empty tomb.

There was no objection to the empty tomb, just excuses made why the body wasn't there. It's so hard to believe at times and I can be full of doubt at times but it all makes sense in the end. The hope of Jesus is that we will have life after death but also that we have life before death. I'm not saying your worries will disappear just that a different worldview will become possible, a world view where the rich and powerful, the unjust rulers and the evil in the world do not have the last laugh.

Hope.

I will finish with the words of Tom Wright in his book 'Surprised by Hope'.
"And this is the point where believing in the resurrection of Jesus suddenly ceases to be a matter of enquiring about an odd event in the first century and becomes a matter of rediscovering hope in the twenty-first century."

Happy Easter all!

The Nazarene

So today being Good Friday I can't help but mention the crucifiction of Jesus Christ. He suffered so much for us, it was innocent blood that was spilled so that we may be free. He suffered the pain silently and hung on that tree, so that we may be free and our sins forgiven.

Freedom.

Awesome.

I pray that everyone on this planet will see the truth and realise the who Jesus is and what he did for us. I worry that so many people that are celebrating Easter don't know and understand what it is about.

The Nazarene who courageously died for us so that we may have freedom. Who was resurrected so that we may have eternal life.

Not long until Sunday.

Another World is Possible

King of the Road

Went for a 10k run this evening and it occurred to me that whenever people are out running they lose all sense of road safety and are very arrogant on the pavement. My flatmate saw a guy run into a women and then just continued running. When I was training for a marathon last year, I was tooted at, flashed at and got the finger put up at me all because I just wouldn't pay attention to cars and just kept running in front of them.

Subconscious King of the Road syndrome.

I wonder if it has been reseached.

Doing the dishes

This morning I noticed that there is a huge a pile of dishes to be done in my flat. This reminded me of community mentioned in Claiborne and Hartgrove's book entitled 'Becoming answers to our prayers'. They have T shirts with 'Everyone wants a revolution but nobody wants to do the dishes', a reminder that the route to a revolution is through small aspects of love like washing someone's feet or doing the dishes.

Love - a beautiful word.

What does love fully mean, is it all emotional or is it in part a choice, a choice to completely care for a certain person or thing? I think when you love something you don't need to question it. Love should be a word that describes the Christian Church along with grace and forgiveness. However many people associate the church with words like hypocrisy and hatred.

Something has went horribly wrong somewhere.

I was challenged at church on Sunday when my pastor spoke about how he was out with a group at the bottom of Buchanan Street holding a sign saying 'Sorry' while the others were giving free hugs. This is similar to what Donald Miller talks about in his book 'Blue like Jazz', where he set up a confession booth at college and people came to listen him confess about the Church's faults, past and present.

Confession and Forgiveness.

The church needs to look out for the oppressed, help the poor and first and foremost be Christ-like. May people describe Christians as full of God's love.

Now to do the dishes.

A Sunday Evening

Blogs....not sure if they are out of date and I am behind the times but I decided to start one. My thoughts will be about life, God, the world and general randomness.

Not unusual for a blog.

We will see how long it lasts but at least I have another way to procasinate for the time being.

Enjoy. (There is a coffee shop on Great Western Road called that, has a certain memory linked with it).