Today a 19 year old man is struggling in hospital to regain his strength. This is a fight he may not wish to continue. If his health improves, the trial will begin where he will be charged with offences relating to the bomb attacks at the
Boston marathon. There have been many shocking aspects to the events surrounding the marathon two weeks ago. However, it is the youth of this man that keeps coming back to trouble me. In the 80’s, there was a song that was number 1 in the charts for many weeks called “Nineteen" – the lyrics relate the fact that the average age of combat soldiers in the Vietnam war  was 19, compared with World War Two, when the average age was 26. 

The notion of “teenagers” is a relatively new one. For centuries, children went out to work, and in many countries today, they still do. Some are the main wage earners for their families. In the West, we aspire to protect and educate our children, to give them a chance to have a carefree childhood, before the responsibilities and realities of adult life sets in.

I think that is what saddens me about the 19 year old who is charged with designing and planting these bombs, which were specifically designed to harm and horrifically maim as many people as possible. The innocence of youth has been
swept away and replaced with a view of other people – including other young people and children - as no longer human, no longer lives of value. Three people have already died and there may be more. Violence is most easily perpetrated when the victim is no longer seen as equal or valued. Even in war, when violence against others has become legitimised, there is still horror when cruelty and torture is revealed. The most recent pronunciation by the G8 leaders condemning sexual violence within war is a good example of this.

All of this might seem a long way from our daily lives. It is very easy for us to slip into the place of not valuing others though, if we are not careful. Perhaps someone who understands scripture differently from us, or holds political views which are unpalatable.  Jesus, of course, understood this human trait. That is why the story of the Good Samaritan was so powerful in its day – it forced the listeners to re-consider how they viewed outsiders, people they did not value and so could dismiss. 

God bless,

Cecilia

When I was 18 and went to vote for the first time, my mother said “I don’t wish to influence you but the Conservative candidate is at the top of the form”. She had been born working class in the difficult days of the Depression and shared stories from her childhood of her parents struggling to make ends meet. She was a quick, intelligent woman with a love of words and in other circumstances would
have gone to university.

Marrying my father started her climb up the social ladder and by time I was growing up, she probably would have viewed herself as lower middle class. I was born and
brought up in Sheffield, the home of the National Union of Mineworkers and watched as the 1970’s recession closed down shops, the steelworks for which Sheffield is famous and felt the fear as the police riot vans parked up, Billy
Elliot style, in the city centre. In the miners’ strike, my mother was firmly on the side of Margaret Thatcher.

By the 1980’s, I was living in Bath and was a teacher at the beginning of my career. Once again, Margaret Thatcher’s influence impacted my life, this time in a very personal way. The Conservative government introduced the Local Government Act, which included the notorious “Clause 28”. This forbade local councils from “intentionally promoting homosexuality” and specifically prevented schools doing
anything that showed “acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship”.

This piece of legislation changed my life forever. It was the starting point for my life as a “reluctant activist”. I had already become involved in the local lesbian and gay group and helped to start Living Springs MCC in Bath. The then
new television station, Channel 4, started a controversial series called “Out on Tuesday” and I appeared on one of the shows, which discussed different types of lesbian and gay relationships. The show aired after I had left teaching, but colleagues at the school said it caused quite a sensation with pupils and staff alike. This was the beginning of my “media career”.

For over 20 years now, I have been willing to be a public and visible lesbian for those in our community who cannot be “out”. I have spoken of God’s inclusive love for all people and I hope I have made a difference.
 
Ironically, it seems the Iron Lady helped to make me who I am today.

God Bless,

Cecilia

Happy Easter! We made it – through 40 days of Lent, wrestling with our doubts, temptations and wilderness places, through the poignancy of the Last Supper, the agony of Jesus’ loneliness and despair in the garden of Gethsemane, the horror of the crucifixion, the desolation of Holy Saturday and arrived finally at the immensity of the Resurrection.

It certainly has been a rollercoaster of a journey. And now what do we do? The next great event in the church calendar is Pentecost – traditionally the birth of the Christian church. What do we do between now and then?

On Easter Sunday, MCC Newcastle launched its Twitter account with our Easter message:

“Jesus came out of the tomb, so you could come out of the closet”

Twitter is a way of sending short messages using the internet to potentially hundreds or even thousands of people. Our Twitter account is @mccnewcastle If you see a twitter message (called a “tweet”) that you like, you pass it on. We want to use modern technology to let people know the ancient and everlasting Good News – Jesus lived amongst us, died and rose again so that we could have life in ALL its fullness. This is what the disciples did between the resurrection and Pentecost. Little by little, they spread the Good News. Jesus kept appearing to them to reassure and comfort them, to let them know he was still around.

This Easter, we want the Good News to “go viral” – that is, to spread around the world. “Life in its fullness” will mean different things to each of us. “Coming out of the closet” might be about our sexuality, it might be about anything that is keeping us from being our true selves. Wouldn’t the world be an amazing place if everyone came out of their “self doubt” or “not good enough” closet and lived as the fabulous and beautiful people God created us to be?

Some of us will never quite get to grips with all the 21st century ways of communicating, but we can still just promise ourselves that we will pass on the Good News of God’s unconditional love to at least one other person this month.

Who do you know that needs to hear the Good News?

God bless,

Cecilia