The man shook as he told us his story of persecution: we could see the scars on his head and his hands. Another man in the group flinched as someone he didn’t know came into the room. I promised him “You will always be safe here.”  A woman cried as she told me how, as an out and proud Christian lesbian, she had been told she could not become a member of the church that she had been attending for months. “I am so glad to be back here” she said. A charity that works with children hired a room in the building we use, to run an event for LGBT people interested in adoption – “Because we saw you at Pride and thought this would be a good space to hold our event.” These three things all happened in the past month at MCC Newcastle. They are part of what we do, week in, week out. We offer hope and light to our community and beyond. Often it is in small, unseen ways – small gestures of kindness and compassion, such as the regular donations of clothing that people give to the West End Refugee Service. Sometimes we are able to bring hope at big events like Pride and World AIDS Day. People who may never worship with us follow us online and through social media. We are observed at a distance by many individuals, who may turn to us when life changes for them and they need a safe place to be.

A good while ago Mikee preached on Micah 6:8: What does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. He suggested that at MCC Newcastle we are good at walking humbly with God – our worship is excellent and we offer many ways to go deeper in our spiritual life. He challenged us to really step up and step out in acting justly and loving mercy. This message has stayed with me and has continued to challenge me ever since. How do we move out beyond our church walls and how do we make it easier for groups to see us as a resource to support them in what they do?

This year’s Annual Congregational Meeting marks a key moment in our response to the challenge to love mercy and to act justly. The Board is proposing only two aims, which will help us to put our faith into action. Firstly, we are now ready to start looking for our own building, choosing a venue that is better suited to our needs and that will give us the flexibility to develop our ministries more fully. Secondly, we are going to focus on developing activities that intentionally reach out and serve those beyond our church walls.  We are called to bring hope and light. This is our time.

God bless

Cecilia    

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

Happy New Year! Here’s to a year of blessing and good things.

As we start this New year, my ears have been assaulted by all the debate about the Church of England now allowing gay men in Civil Partnerships to become bishops, as long as they remain celibate and renounce previous sexual activity. This has been the stance for allowing gay men to become ordained for some time and just extends the ruling to those called to be bishops.

At the same time as this was going on, there were the announcements about the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list. The Radio 4 programme iPM awards its own New Year’s Honour, to someone nominated by its listeners. This year the award went to Stu Thomson, a youth worker working on a deprived South London estate, to offer the young people there an alternative to drug and gang culture and lives
of extreme violence. You can listen to the interview by clicking here.

 Mr Thomson sounds like a very reluctant hero and clearly is very committed to this challenging work of turning around the lives of young people. What impressed me the most though was his motivation for doing this work. In the same understated manner he used to describe the day to day challenges of his role, he talked about how he believed God had called him to leave retail work in Cardiff and move to London to work with these young people.

At the beginning of the New Year, it was thought provoking and humbling to hear the story of a man so willing to listen to God’s call and to use that as a basis for trying to make a difference in the lives of others, no matter how difficult or
even futile it might seem to others.

For me, this is what being a Christian means. Hearing God’s call in our lives and working with others to make a difference. When so much of what we hear in the media just seems to be about who isn’t allowed to serve God, it is heartening to remember that millions of Christians all over the world are quietly working to bring a bit of heaven here on earth - today and every day.

May you hear God’s call in your life this year and may it be a rich blessing to you.

 God bless,

 Cecilia

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

This week is the start of Euro 2012 – a football tournament for those of you are not interested. There has been some
controversy over the choice of Ukraine as one of the host nations, and some politicians and fans have chosen to stay away in protest.

It is easy to think that such protests and boycotts do not have an impact. Or that it has to be someone important or powerful in order for anything to make a difference.

Recently, I have heard from two different people in the
congregation who are each making their own personal protests in different ways. One is refusing to take Communion in their home church, in protest at that denomination’s treatment of lesbians and gay men. Another person refuses to visit the USA or any country that still uses the death penalty for prisoners. These protests gain strength every time the person tells their story and make others think about the issue too.

You may think that one person cannot make a difference. Rosa Parks was an African American woman at a time when racial segregation was still legal and well embedded in USA. After a long hard day at work in 1955, she refused to give up her seat to a white man on the bus and was arrested. This small act of protest became the focal point for a massive bus boycott and was a key event in the civil rights movement. Now, just under 60 years later, the USA has a black President.

You are on the mailing list of MCC Newcastle today, because in 1968, one man called Troy Perry dared to
believe that it could be possible to have a Christian church that would proclaim God’s inclusive love for all people – including lesbians, gay men, bisexual folk and
transgendered women and men.

May you find one way of making your voice heard on an issue this week.

God bless,

Cecilia

At the Annual Congregational Meeting last Sunday, the Members of MCC Newcastle unanimously adopted our
Bedrock Belief statements. This really is quite an achievement – the pages of Church history are littered with examples of Christians falling out – even killing each other, over what they believe.

Of course, in MCC Newcastle, we encourage each person to work out their own beliefs and many of us will be able to agree with the Bedrock Beliefs statements – and add to
them.

This week in worship, we are reflecting on the Bible.

 At MCC Newcastle, we believe:
The Bible is there to inspire and guide. It is not a rule book and can be read with love, compassion and
questioning.

At different times, the Bible has been used as a weapon of oppression – against women, against Black people, against LBGT folk. We need to reclaim scripture. We need to learn to read it with our minds, our hearts and our spirits. Although some of it might seem irrelevant and outdated now, there are still profound truths about God and God’s relationship with us. It is also where we find out about the life of Jesus in a unique way - we can’t find that information anywhere else. 

As part of marking the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) on Saturday 19th May,  I will be leading a workshop on “What the Bible Really Says” about queer people. This will be after we have gathered at Grey’s Monument and made a big noise against homophobia – with the theme “Equal Before God”.

Much of the homophobia today stems from misinterpretation of the Bible. If we are going to be people of faith who make a difference, we need to be able to show others what the Bible really says about them, and above all, what scripture says about the unconditional love of God.

God bless,

Cecilia