Here is a site to help people prepare for Not for Sale Sunday on 17th May 2009. It has ideas for prayers, displays, liturgies, litanies, and more.
The aim of Not For Sale Sunday is to raise awareness among the churches of the modern slavery of trafficking for sexual exploitation also known as sex trafficking.
It is organised by CHASTE a charity with the following aims:
firstly, awarenessraising about human trafficking for sexual exploitation including education projects;
secondly, caring for survivors and encouraging the provision of safe housing;
thirdly, addressing the demand for commercial sex that drives sex trafficking; and
fourthly, encouraging legislative change to prevent trafficking and protect victims and survivors.
Churches and Christians can make a difference by praying, giving, and becoming active in lobbying, and petitioning. Sites of exploitation are present across Britian, Europe and the world.
Keep a watch on your locality and if you see strange patterns of movements into a house or place of business make it known to the police by calling a station - do not phone the emergnecy services unless you are reporting a crime that you can see occuring.
What to watch out for: Let me give an example of how one brothel was raided into which women had been trafficked.
A woman in Lichfield was watching a house in her street because of unusual late night movements - lots of different cars calling at all times of the day including very late at night.
She saw a woman being dragged out of the house by some men who were acting violently. She looked up at a man who was looking down at her frm a first floor window and spat on the pavement. She was bundled into the car and driven off.
She reported this incident to the police and the brothel was raided.
In a case like this it would be good to get the registration number of the car and call 999 as there was concern for the immediate safety of the young woman. I hope you find the site useful. There is more about CHASTE at www.chaste.org.uk
Responding to a comment left ages oago on this underused blog I found and enjoyed this:
A Student asked Baba Farid if singing was lawful and proper. He replied that, according to Islam, it was certainly unlawful, but its propriety was still a matter of discussion. Nizam-ud-Dauliya told Nasir-ud-din, a disciple of his, that one day when he went to visit Baba Farid he stood at his door, and saw him dancing as he sang the following :
I wish ever to live in Thy love, O God If I become the dust under Thy feet, I shall live I thy slave desire none but Thee in both worlds; For Thee I will live and for Thee I will die.
at http://dhakkisahib.com/pages.cfm?p_id=28
It reminds me of something Colin Chapman taught me. He said that we need to appreciate the best of another religion and not look to compare the best of our own faith with the worst of another. (or vice versa)
Visiting India I found in a number of places poems, ideas and personal testmonies that were almost word for word echoes of my own poems of my experienc of Christ and of God in worship.
I guess if I explored all the ideas of Baba Farid I would find plenty of points on which we did not concur, but the above passage in traditional religious language expresses something I can affirm with joy.
Current events in the world - Gaza, credit crunch etc - make it seem ever clearer that we face a challenge to re-create our global-social world in a way that differs from the one crerated by nationalism, unhealthy competition, greed, fear and violence.
The challenge is there to us all but inparticular to those who are active in living out their religious beliefs to create a sustainable and just world. An age old challenge but the consequences of failing to attempt it let alone failing to achieve it grow greater with every passing year.
The old ways of competition have succeeded in giving us so much but now we are so many the cost of that success is too high.
How can the a simple Christian faith lived out at a level of ordinary citizenship be a contribution to such a new world. What are the consequences for Christian belief? How might the Church be called to the Cross is such an era?
Anne and I have been speaking recently about the New Testament passage about knowng God and living in God and living in love for others.
It adds a new dimension to the Baba Farid song.
I wish ever to live in your love, O God If I become the dust under Your feet, I shall love I your slave desire none but You in both worlds; For You I will live and love those around me as you live and love in me and in and for this and in and for You and with you in and for us I will die and live.
Our Sunday morning service at PnB was . . . . . . a great success! A great idea from Clive to do a giant advent calendar with the readings and symbols of the Christmas story emerging little by little. Three shepherds wearing sunglasses to ward off the dazzling light of the angelic host was a highlight for me . . . as Anne was one of the people who went up to open a giant cardborad box with a number 18 on it and in it was a groovy ( not!) pair of sunglasses to wear.
The whole service was great fun with several 'stomping' carols led by the music group. The wooden floor of the Scout Hut in which we meet is great for such stomping hymns, songs and carols.
I have a copy of Joseph bin David's tax notice - as produced by Clive. Will hopefully be able to scan it in later.
I was sorry I did not get new batteries for Anne's camera so as to be able to show you an image of the whole thing.
Above are only a few of the group: Dan, Karen, Anita Matthews from CMS and Colin
A number of us a PaulandBarny's Church were shocked by the imprisonment of young girls from eastern Europe in a local 'massage parlour' brothel where they were forced into the sex trade. The gang running the operation are now serving long gaol terms. Ways to stop this abuse is to create awareness of the problem and begin to break the trafficking of people.
The youth group at P&B wanted to do something to raise awareness and they are creating three events. Free For All on 6th January 2007 with CMS and BigInTent drama, music and story Performance art in March Visual art exhibition later int he year in Birmingham city centre
There is to be a concert in Durham this Thursday evening 30th November, 2006 in aid of CMS co-missioner work in Russia. Part of this work is a feeding and support programme for children. I hope this photo piques your interest. If you would like to know more and/or can attend then do give me a call on 0785 907 4343.
I am beginning to think about Advent. As will be clear from the other posts hereabouts.
God desires the spirit he has put within us . . . that could be hard to hear . . . but he offers us love and in gentleness he desires our time, our very selves, our love. But like the coming of the Christ his advent is gentle.
Serenity does not beckon it is its own invitation its own party it provides the food and drink it is not worried about entertainment it is content however many come or none it requires no rooms no notice and there is no chucking out time the neighbours may be disturbed but not in the usual way and the refuse disposal folk need not fret or labour to carry the detritus away Serenity, its own joke, its own laughter, does not beckon it remains its own invitation
I see in darkness All that I am and not sometimes the candle, sometimes the pot blackened by soot and shadows cast an oil-full lamp lights long, ends black
Or do you suppose it is for nothing that the scripture says; "God yearns jealously for the spirit he has made to dwell in us?"
well this was a verse that was in a set reading just before the Advent retreat. Blew me over. Not just God loves us (tolerates us and just about manages to accept us in spite of everything).
But yearns jealously for the spirit he has made live within us.
It is important that we have some prayer time which is not dutifully or however enthusiastically remembering needful things and people. It is esential that we allow God to love us in our spirit and to respond to him with our love. Maybe this starts with just allowing a silence in which we are not using God for anything. In this space adoration can begin. This love thrives both ways. (it amazes me that i can write stuff like this - the nerve of the man!. . . . Lord Jesus Christ, precious Son of God, beautiful Saviour, have mercy on me a sinner!)
Anne and I went to the excellent Offa House, at Offchurch, near Leamington Spa for an Advent retreat. Nicola Slee led it. Nicola is a poet and theologian and author of "Praying Like a Woman" (2004) ISBN: 0281055998
The title of the retreat came from a poem by another woman. Basically the themes were like my meditation last week. How can we find the darkness of God in which his gentle light shines. This may mean moving quietly away from a focus on our own strength, our own theology, our own prayers, our own activity and into the kind of unknowing that is meantioned in the authors of the classic Christian texts on cotemplative prayer. John of the Cross, the author of "The Cloud of Unkowing", Therese, Teresa, Mother Julian, and so on.
Anne created a wreath of seasons, and I made a dark sun in gouache. We also took the risk of writing a poem where each of us wrote a line. It may well not be a classic but we enjoyed doing it.
The weekend was liberating for us both. I did not have to achieve anything or learn anything and Anne was able to do a different thing and just enjoy it, to stand out from the crowd and feel OK.
Two Sundays ago I went to Gosforth to preach. I left early in the morning to be there comfortably for 09.00h. This meant I was on the road soon after 05.00h and saw a massive, tumbling column of flame high in the sky above Nottingham. It was not like a shooting star more like a fireball of flame travelling northwards high in the sky.
There is a good graphic of this at http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/blobrana/news/leonids.html
I later heard an astronomer on BBC Radio 5 talking about this. He pointed out that when you get away into areas with little artifical light you can see hundreds of these trails as the comet dust trail hits our atmosphere and the whole effect can be quite beautiful and moving, apparently.
There was a connection with what I was going to say at All Saints, Gosforth. It is sometimes only in the darkness of our weakness or when we are able to remove away from the bright lights of westernism that we are in a place where the subtle beauties of God can be seen. The kingdom of God may be easier for a little person to see that a giant intellect. I little child may see it when the wise and degree laden struggle.
People complain that they cannot see God. Perhaps a little more silence might help us to see. Some of us affirm that in gentleness, simplicity, darkness, weakness and in the little faith of mustard-seed nature there is a different kind of sight, and God is there.
