Dear Franciscans,

Please may I ask for your prayers for Saturday – I am being professed on that day as part of my Area Meeting.

Bless you all,

Goodgoat

The riots in the UK in the last week have put Goodgoat in mind of A Christmas Carol and the conversation with Scrooge:

“Are there no prisons?” asked Scrooge.

“Plenty of prisons,” said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.

“And the Union workhouses?” demanded Scrooge. “Are they still in operation?”

“They are. Still,” returned the gentleman, “I wish I could say they were not.”

“The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?” said Scrooge.

“Both very busy, sir.”

“Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,” said Scrooge. “I’m very glad to hear it.”

“Under the impression that they scarcely furnish Christian cheer of mind or body to the multitude,” returned the gentleman, “a few of us are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the Poor some meat and drink, and means of warmth. We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices. What shall I put you down for?”

“Nothing!” Scrooge replied.

“You wish to be anonymous?”

“I wish to be left alone,” said Scrooge. “Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. I don’t make merry myself at Christmas and I can’t afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned: they cost enough: and those who are badly off must go there.”

“Many can’t go there; and many would rather die.”

“If they would rather die,” said Scrooge, “they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”

I am very worried by the retributive justice being recommended by politicians and also by some who see the young people involved in the riots as “beyond redemption” – can they not see that there is only a small step from this to the “Final Solution” offered by the Nazi Party in WWII? What do they think people who are denied “Benefit” (and this is really “very basic income”) will do when they have no income and nowhere to live – say “thank you for teaching me a lesson, I’m of no use to society, I’ll just go over here into a corner and never bother you again”? I doubt it somehow.

I don’t know what the answer is but this needs careful thought, not instantaneous vote-winning retribution.

Well, Christmas has come and gone again (well, actually we’re in the 12 days of celebration of the arrival of Jesus) – something has depressed Goodgoat over the last 24 hours. The opening up of the online environment to shopping (and the start of sales) on Christmas Day itself – is there no part of life that can now be set aside as Holy? In addition to this I have come across Ad Mortem Festinamus – have a listen to the sample here - sounds bright and breezy, doesn’t it?

Well, now think about the lyrics…”Ad mortem festinamus” means “We hurry unto death” – not exactly brimming with joy, is it? I think there’s a huge parallel with the lack of ability of the World to stop and listen for the Angels at Christmas “Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Glory to the New Born King, Peace on Earth and Mercy Mild…” don’t they all sound like things we need?

Well, if you’re finding yourself stuck in the rat race and buying more and more stuff, then why not just try a very simple alternative – how about testing something that many millions have found to be true, that we are more than the stuff we own, that God cares about us enough to come to us in the form of another human being, and that if we might only take the time out to talk to Him, we might find we have the biggest, best equipped friend ever – and that might just be the key to a more fulfilled life! Go, on try listening to something like Pray as you Go for a week – only takes about 12 mins a day – what do you have to lose, and what might you gain – and the gift is free! Merry Christmas and I pray for new life in the new year!

Can anyone out there of a charismatic persuasion tell me how they discovered and developed their gifts?

Thank you!

International Youth For Fair Trade Conference 2010.

16-30? Love Fashion, Technology, Food & Drink? Have fun discovering how you can help improve the lives of the people that make the stuff you love…Join in at the Youth for Fair Trade 2010 Y4FT2010, 29th-31st October 2010 at Coventry University.

Goodgoat knows the people who are organising this conference. If you’re aged between 16 and 30 (it says 25 but I think it’s flexible) and are interested in Fair Trade then they’ve got an amazing range of activities. 18-30s can attend the full weekend and there’s a cut down version just on the Saturday to give those of 16 and 17 a taste of what Fairtrade is all about!

It’s amazing value – they’re providing lunch on the Saturday for all participants and for the 18s and over there’s a party on the Saturday night and also lunch on the Sunday.

If you can promote this more widely then please help them out. You can contact the conference office on +44 (0)24 7652 1260. Tickets are limited and you need to book before 15th October to get the very generous early bird discount. Click here and book now!

Here’s the flyer for 18-25s 18-25s Flyer
and here’s the flyer for 16s&17s 16s&17s Flyer

One concept in selling is to introduce fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) into the mind of the person who is enquiring about the product. Well…I’ve been seeing the recent adverts for an automatic hand gel dispenser that doesn’t have a pump handle – and the FUD factor that’s introduced to sell it is that dirty hands touch pump handles therefore it’s better not to have a pump handle?!

Well, I’d like to point out that at the time you touch the pump handle, you’re about to wash your hands and also that you’ve probably already turned the water on at the tap and so left germs on there which you’re going to touch again to turn it off when you’ve finished washing your hands – yet is the company offering elbow operated taps like you get in hospitals? No. Is this product being sold on irrational fear?

Goodgoat has been searching high and low for a good deal on his car insurance this week. In the book of Acts [of the Apostles] in the Bible those who had become Christians sold all they had and put it into a communal pot so that no-one was left in need. We are way off this in present-day Christian communities (though some of the responsibility for allocating funding to those in need is now taken by the government and funded by our taxes). So…when did you last look at how you spent money, or shopped around for a better deal? Goodgoat has found that he can save c.£60 by taking his legal and breakdown covers from someone other than his car insurer, and has also moved his phone and broadband to a lower cost provider. Simple searches on sites such as uswitch can throw up all sorts of savings. We can get very lazy just going with the “easiest” lowest effort provision of our services – perhaps a more responsible approach is to shop around and contribute any savings to charity?

I blogged on this some time ago http://goodgoat.wordpress.com/2007/06/23/foot-washing/ but my thoughts have moved on a little since then.

One of the best pieces of advice that I have been given was by my mother just before I went to university.  She said “never refuse a cup of coffee, you never know where it may lead.”  You know, taking her advice has enriched my life.

In our culture in the Western “developed” world we tend to share how we feel with people over the ritual of tea or coffee. I think that in our cultural context this is where “foot washing” takes place. We help others with the burden they are carrying, removing the muck on their feet, by listening to them over a cup of something.

So…you might like to consider what cups of coffee you might accept or ask others to share with you!

The Gospel of John shows that darkness has not ovecome light (the Word or Jesus) and holds out a promise to us that no matter what may happen to us there is always an opportunity for a new start – but that can be hidden from view and make us think that it’s not there…

Goodgoat noticed that there are signs of new life after Winter around now – crocusses are showing their bright flowers heralding Spring – but where did they appear from? Goodgoat hadn’t noticed the buds before the flowers appeared, and yet it has happened.

When we are in dark places trust God that there is something new starting to happen that we haven’t noticed yet – then when least expected, will notice something that breaks us out of our darkness if only for an instant – keep trusting – there is more to come – there is light that can overcome the darkness.

Goodgoat has had a day where God seems to be breaking through to speak to him…doesn’t happen very often but when it does Goodgoat feels very blessed.

As you may have seen, I am struggling with the story of Jacob wrestling the Angel (well, I think he’s wrestling Jesus, actually, i.e. a being that is both human and divine). 

Tonight at church the “words” that the prayer team had received included a reference to ‘when you walk through the waters I’ll be with you’…which goodgoat feels is where he’s at at the moment. Now, I went forward for prayer ministry and one of the prayers asked God to speak to me, at depth, to let me know what he thinks.

Well, I went for coffee and someone came up to me and said “so the Isaiah 43 was for you then?” – I said I didn’t know my Bible all that well, what is Isaiah 43? He pulled his little Bible out of his pocket and said “But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.”

Well, I knew it was God speaking to me from the moment he read out “Jacob” and “Israel” – just the concepts I am wrestling with – being fallen and yet struggling through that to get to where God wants me to be. We have a wonderful God!

If you have a prayer ministry team at your church and you’ve never been forward to be prayed for, can I recommend that you give it a try?

May God bless you.