As many  of you know, I am passionate about giftedness. I believe that the Holy Spirit  works through every single person and every person has particular spiritual  gifts. These are often the things that we do so easily and intuitively that we  don’t even consider them to be gifts, or even to be
particularly special. They  are so normal for us, we assume everyone else must be able to do the same things  we do and respond to the world in the same way.
  
The vote  at the Anglican Synod which narrowly rejected the proposal to allow women to  become bishops has angered and dismayed folk both inside and outside the Church  of England. It also plays to the notion that God calls by gender, rather than by  giftedness. In the same way, some of us have been told that God saves by  sexuality, rather than by grace. We know that the God we serve is beyond human  ways of dividing up people into “worthy” and “unworthy”. Jesus chose the most  unlikely group of people to share in his ministry and went out of his way to  spend time with individuals that society had placed on the margins.
  
Whenever we meet prejudice and ignorance, we need to challenge it. This might be by specific actions, such as signing the petition against the proposed anti LGBT legislation in Uganda (click here to sign). It may  be by how we promote other ways of doing and being. I wear a red ribbon every  day, as a gentle reminder to anyone who notices it that AIDS has not gone away.  
  
World AIDS Day is on Saturday 1st December. More than 90,000 people are currently living with HIV in the UK and globally an estimated 33.3 million people have HIV. More than 25 million people between 1981 and 2007 have died from the virus,  making it one of the most destructive pandemics in history.
  
At MCC  Newcastle, we join in the WAD events each year and also have our own WAD service. Having a vibrant Christian presence at these events reminds people that  God does not punish people through illness, any more than God saves by sexuality  or calls by gender.

 Wear your red ribbon this week – it makes a difference.

 God bless,
  
Cecilia

Here I am, back at my desk, my tan fading by the minute. My trip to Australia was filled with laughter, good food, the occasional cold beer and lots of storytelling.  Happy and sad family memories, funny childhood stories, tales of wilful teenage behaviour and romantic reminiscences were all covered over the three weeks.

Storytelling stimulates the brain in a very particular way. We can feel the emotions of the moment, recapture the sensations – taste, smell, touch. Scientists can track this brain activity as people are reading a book with a gripping
plot.

Stories stay with us. That is why Jesus used so many in his teachings. He used fictitious situations to help people to memorise important truths. He chose themes that were familiar to his audience. As he was talking, they could imagine what he was describing.

One famous example is the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10: 25 – 37). Take time to read it if you can. The people listening to Jesus would have known how dangerous that
journey to Jericho was, and some would have known people who had been robbed and left to die, just as the man in the story had been. As Jesus started to mention the Samaritan, many in the crowd would initially be feeling hostile and would be ready to see him as the villain of the piece.

Jesus’ story had a surprise ending. It was the Samaritan, the outcast, who helped the injured man. This would have been so confusing to the listening crowd, and I expect some
of them reacted quite angrily to this turn of events.How many of those listening though would have remembered that story and kept mulling it over in their minds or discussed it with friends?

Our challenge, as a faith community today, is to find ways of telling the same truths that Jesus gave us in ways that stimulate and engage people today. If we were to write the Good Samaritan story today, who would be the outsider that
would challenge our prejudices?

God bless,

Cecilia