GadgetVicar

An Iranian Pastor Needs Our Help Today.....

Yousef Nadarkani, a Church of Iran pastor faces imminent execution if he does not recant his faith in Jesus Christ.

Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani has repeatedly refused to renounce his Christian faith during a court trial and if he continues to refuse, he can be executed any time from Thursday onwards. Pastor Nadarkhani was arrested in October 2009 while attempting to register his church. He was tried and found guilty of apostasy (abandoning Islam) in September 2010. For further details click here.

The pastor is in court in Rasht this week after the Supreme Court asked for a re-examination of his case. The deciding factor was whether or not he had been a practising Muslim adult before he converted to Christianity. The court ruled that he wasn’t a practising Muslim, but still upheld the charge of apostasy because he has Muslim ancestry.

Join Christian Solidarity Worldwide’s urgent appeal today to see justice upheld. Email the Iranian embassy, urging them not to go ahead with his potential execution which could happen any time from Thursday onwards.

Please also continue to pray for Pastor Nadarkhani, his family and legal team.

To Cut Or Not To Cut?

I was talking to a very gifted secondary school music teacher and a talented young actor this afternoon about their prospects for work. Clearly, cuts in secondary education will hit the creative arts curriculum hard, with teachers not being replaced when they retire and posts being slashed. The knock on effect on the confidence-building and socialisation that these subjects give young people are incalculable, but I fear for generations of them, for they might not have the opportunities or the joy that such learning brings. With two artistically gifted children in the final stages of secondary education, this is something close to home.

Are there other ways that the deficit might be met, other than massive cuts? Here are some suggestions:

 

It Cuts Both Ways...The Alternatives from Oonagh Cousins on Vimeo.

Bulgarian Metal

Yesterday I discovered a couple of people in the skip which currently adorns the rectory driveway. It's there to receive the stuff left in the basement, but never taken away, by fifteen years of people passing through the 'granny' flat. That's a lot of stuff.

This man and woman had on fluorescent safety jackets and they turned out to be Bulgarians. In broken English, they explained that there was no money in Bulgaria, but they could make a living here from scrap metal and electronics. I helped them get as much as they could, and they helped the latest refugees move in to the basement. It was a lovely encounter and I admired their resolve and commitment to making a living for themselves.

As I thought on it I began to wonder if, as things get more difficult economically, we'll see more such entrepreneurial endeavour here.

Christmas Tree In The Jungle

Here's a good Christmas story:

Columbian army gives FARC rebels early Christmas gift

The Colombian army says it has installed a giant Christmas tree in Farc rebel territory, to encourage guerrilla fighters to demobilize.

Special forces infiltrated the remote Macarena mountain range to dress a 25m (82ft) high tree with 2,000 lights.

Movement sensors will make the tree light up when guerrillas approach.

The army says it will put up trees in nine other rebel-held zones to spread the message that Christmas is a good time to abandon armed struggle.

Such tactics wouldn't work in Afghanistan or North Korea of course, but I like the thinking behind it. Can you imagine the briefing session where the plan was laid out? Battle-hardened special forces being trained to hang Christmas decorations! There's something about swords into ploughshares there.

Preach Jesus

This is an amazing story: a Christian mobile phone shop manager tells an apologetic Christian armed robber where to get some help.

Vuvuzelas

I have a severe headache. It comes from a combination of the drumming in Kelvingrove Park at the opening of the West End Festival and the incessant noise from the vuvuzelas which accompanies every World Cup game.

Please, don't let the latter come to any open air events here.

Last night someone suggested we could use them at church. What for? To drown out the preacher? To lead in musical worship? As a cheap fanfare for the King of Kings? I don't think so. My heid is bursting as it is.......

National Prayer Breakfast Scotland

I left home at 5am this morning to hook up with some of the board and staff of Glasgow City Mission. We were travelling together to the Hilton at Haymarket in Edinburgh for the National Prayer Breakfast. It was good to see some old friends, and though the format was a bit staid for my taste, nonetheless it was poignant to pray together for the military, their families and the nation in general. All the more poignant as events in Cumbria unfolded this afternoon. I've just begun reading Pete Greig's 'God On Mute' which trys to deal with the silence of unanswered prayer. It's an appropriate read for such a time.

The First Minister, Alex Salmond, was at the next table, as were Cardinal Keith O'Brien, Annabel Goldie, and the Moderator of the General Assembly. I was glad I wore a suit! I was still wearing  it at the Gibson Street Gala meeting later in the day. The manager of one of our local coffee emporia, Offshore, was amazed at this sight.

General Sir Richard Dannatt GCB CBE MC (Chief of the General Staff 2006-2009) was the main speaker, and a fascinating one at that. He shared his personal testimony of his walk with Christ, and gave an excellent presentation on good leadership and leaders' failings. He twice mentioned Radislav Krstić's loss of moral compass when he was ordered to kill over eight thousand muslim men and boys in 1995. Dannatt saw the realisation of that failure in Krstić's face as he was sentenced in 2001. A stark reminder of the need for leaders to keep the moral high ground, even at the cost of one's own life. 

I was reminded again that 'Obedience to God, Commitment to Christ and Openess to the Holy Spirit' are key attributes of Christian leaders. I needed to hear that and was much encouraged by the main speaker's contribution. He had much to say about the state of the nation and the need for Christians to reassert with confidence the contribution that Christ brings to any society which embraces Him.

I laughed when he described how Sandhurst is designed to strip away everything a young potential officer was in order to rebuild them in to what the army needs them to be (I believe this involves quite  a lot of something known as beasting). That sounds just like many experiences of Coates Hall (the defunct Theological College of the Scottish Episcopal Church), only without enough of the rebuilding bit!

It was a very worthwhile morning which I'll need to reflect on a lot more.

Scottish Prayers For The World Cup

The bishop of Croydon has written some prayers for the World Cup.

How about these for Scottish soccer fans?

Forgive us for failing (again). We'll really try to do better, but can't promise anything.

God who is always on the side of the depressed and defenceless, can we please have a go next time?

O, Lord, please let anyone but England win, for we are their neighbours and have to live with them.

Grant to our spouses unfailing patience as we watch the games, and may they supply us with an abundant supply of nibbles and liquid refreshment. Forgive them their inability to appreciate the beautiful game which you have created, and stop up their mouths from moaning about there being nothing else on the telly.

Rima Update

Many readers will know about the St Silas' couple who are fostering a young Eritrean asylum seeker, Rima Andmariam. They are on television (BBC1) in Scotland only on Wednesday 19^th May at 22:45. The programme is called “Truth, Lies, and Asylum Seekers” and is a full-length documentary about the situations of three asylum seekers in Glasgow. The story of their family is one of the three. It is also available on Sky 971.

With a new Parliament and a new Government and a new Home Secretary there is a fresh opportunity to bring Rima’s case to the attention of new Ministers.

Robert and Alison write:

Our campaign is entering a new critical phase. Rima will turn 18 on 1st July, and the law covering her situation changes. There is a good chance that the Border Agency will try to deport her soon after then if we have not managed some progress either legally or politically beforehand. However, we have new MPs and a new UK government is in power, so now we are able to resume campaigning.

Thanks to your support, our MP, John Robertson, did write to the former Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, on Rima’s behalf just before Parliament was dissolved, asking that at the very least she be given the opportunity to claim asylum in the UK. Unfortunately the reply he received simply announced that with Parliament being dissolved and the election period imminent no action could be taken. In addition, Catherine Stihler, our MEP, raised a question in the European Parliament (thanks to Rima’s friend Douglas, aged 8) and has received a full and helpful reply from President Barroso, President of the European Commisson.

A new range of letters is suggested, depending on who was elected to Westminster in your constituency. We do not believe at this stage that we need more letters to MSPs or the Scottish Government at the moment, but Scots may wish to write to the new Scottish Secretary as well as to their MP. This is especially worth while given the announcement by the new Prime Minister, David Cameron, that there will be full co-operation with then Scottish Government on all issues. Please do personalise the letters as much as you feel able, and have time for. The more individual a letter the more impact it makes on all of these politicians and their administrative assistants.

Sample letters are available at:

http://www.letrimastay.org.uk/

 

ACTIONS

 

As a first priority please write to the new Home Secretary, Theresa May. See Letter A

 

If your MP was re-elected, then you could use one of this range of letters:

 

B1 – If they have already expressed support

B2 – If they have expressed support and you know they have had a reply from the Home Office

B3 – if they have refused to express support

 

If your MP has now become a Government minister, it is well worth congratulating them on that also. To our surprise, a number of Cabinet Ministers in the previous Government were very positive in their replies to constituents, so there is no reason why the same should not apply to the new ones. You might mention this to them, to encourage a positive response. If you have friends in the constituency of the new Home Secretary (Theresa May, Maidenhead) or Immigration Minister (Damien Green, Ashford), could you ask them particularly to write to them as their constituency MP.

 

If you have a new MP, then you should use letter C1. MP’s who have been helping us with our campaign have informed us that where new MP’s have been elected then previous files are closed. So where there are new MP’s I’m afraid we need to start again, on the ground.

 

If, as a Scot, you want to write to the new Scottish Secretary, Danny Alexander, you could use letter C2.

 

We are also printing up a new Postcard, addressed to Theresa May. Let us know if you would like some of these for your friends and contacts to use.

 

Please also send hard copies of all your letters to Rima’s named UKBA ‘case worker’:-

 

Liam Fenning,

Third Country Unit, UKBA

7^th Floor

Green Park House

29 Wellesley Road

Croydon

Surrey CR0 2AJ

 

A New Hope?

I've been out tonight, so missed the events in Westminster. I have mixed feelings. Gordon Brown's farewell speech was wonderful. His smile and words were genuine. A good man gone. Mandelson and Campbell are gone - hurrah (but who will be the new spindoctors?).

Cameron and Clegg seem to be forming a real alliance. The reason for this can only be that things are REALLY bad (worse than we've been told to date) and there needs to be a broad government to deal with it/take the blame for tough decisions. That's commendable. However, I foresee significant problems - Trident? That's a £100 billion deal isn't it? Wouldn't that go a long way to dealing with the deficit? I suspect some Lib Dems will not be pleased with that and many other things. Fixed term of five years? All that does is lock in the LibDems.

Labour will regroup. I hope some new blood gets to fill some of the leadership roles that will now appear. Next year's Scottish Parliament elections will see Labour and the Nats strengthened with the Lib Dems getting hammered senseless for aligning with the Tories. Scots can be very unforgiving when it comes to politics.

Praying for David Cameron/Nick Clegg and their families. None of them have an easy gig.