are we all singing from the same hymn sheet?

Don't you love people? They constantly surprise me. When you come across someone, there are a few initial questions that you tend to ask them. The first is their name (one of my big problems is that i am thinking of the next question, when they are telling me their name). The next is what do you do? When i tell people what i do, especially Christians, their assumption is that it is really hard for a Christian organisation to get into schools. I then tell them that it is part of response to our faith to serve our local schools as well as build young people up, not only spiritually but emotionally as the whole person they were created to be. The response we get from schools, and their view of Nottingham YfC is that we do a great work with the young people that really need support. If you follower our twitter account you will know that we also do lessons in RE not only on the life of Jesus but on subjects like identity and justice. The schools loved these lessons, being showed in boxes of chocolates (who says our rewards are in Heaven lol) and requests for more lessons. It was quite a surprise then, when after sharing in a church about what we do, you get someone coming up to you saying how it is out of order what we do, and we shouldn't be allowed to do what we do. Where does the opposition come from? from within. Isn't it interesting that as an organisation you can set out with a particular mandate and then over the years life becomes more about staying alive rather than doing what you were created to be. As a Church we were created to make an impact on our communities, Jesus talked about coming to help the sick...the well don't need a doctor. My hope for NYfC, for the Church and for me is that we don't get distracted from the plan, and we certainly don't critisize those who are working with the sick.

does it ever live up to expectations?

Confession time. I have an addictive personality. I always have it seems. I remember collecting 'Danger mouse' stickers for my sticker album when i was 10, despite the fact i wasn't allowed to. I used to leave the house and hide the album under next doors hedge while i was at school and then pick it up on the way home. Which was fine until it rained one day. Four stickers away from completing the whole thing. Not happy. But, you know, i have now matured, no longer am i that person. No, I am older and wiser, although no less drawn into collecting things. I am in the middle of my 'now that's what i call music' vinyl collection, but the one that has me hooked is Dr who. Oh yes collecting the whole back catalogue of Dr who DVDs is proving a long term thing. Will it fulfil me? i doubt it, just like i was slightly disappointed with the latest installment last week. To be honest i had built it up a little in my head, and it would have struggled to fulfil my hopes. It was a bit of an 'Empire strikes back' in the sense it was there to build up for the last 2 of the 10th doctors story. But although it didn't live up to it, we all like to build things up, it gives us a hope, something to look forward to. The anticipation really drives us. One thing i have found is though, it is the opposite with my faith. I perhaps don't get that excited sometimes, but God does really deliver and always creates more than i expect. It would be great if my addictive personality would work on praying and reading the Bible, I am working on that, but what i do know is i will never be let down by Jesus, and i will never be disappointed.

life is harder than we know

We have just finished a week of lessons in a couple of schools that we work in. On one of the last lessons we took, there was a bit of an issue betweeen 2 girls, it all got sorted out and we moved them apart, and they both got on with their work. After the lesson we were chatting to the teacher about the 2 girls and she was telling us how one of them had been to 18 different schools, her mum was an alcoholic, and had been verbally abused all her life. Her dad, who she lives with now, was worried because over the summer no one called for her, invited her out, or asked to do something with her. Through all this, she is a really nice kid, someone who just wants to be loved and who gives respect to pretty much anyone that comes into contact with her. I was really broken when i was hearing this story, and just felt so gutted for her. Thing is she doesn't want my pity, she doesn't want people feeling sorry for her, she just wants to enjoy life. How would Jesus react in that situation? What would he give to her? A sense of belonging. Somewhere she feels safe, and somewhere she can be herself. Thats what we will try and do, not because of pity, but because she is awesome, and she deserves to know that she is loved and she is special. I love being a Christian.

Intimacy

Last night i went to see a guy speak called Kevin Peat. He was talking about living your destiny amd what gets in the way. One of the things he talked about was the word intimacy. We live in a world where relationships seem to move really quick, and the quicker you get to sex the better. We see young people looking for instant gratification, and so the word relationship doesn't have the same meaning as for previous generations. It is about what we get out of it, rather than working through something, giving as much, if not more than what you are recieving. Kevin mentioned that he had heard once that intimacy warrants the phrase..into me see. How many people do we let see the real us. He was talking about intimacy with God, letting him see all of you. It is amazing that despite all our faults God still loves us when we let Him in, and our fear is that when we let people in they will reject us because they don't like what they see so we don't let them in and see what we can get out of others. I think i was very challenged.

Why is it that we have a default mechanism of what we think is fair or not?
We are about to start a week of lessons in a couple of schools titled ' It's not fair!'. Even my 6 year old girl and 3 year old boy seem to have the saying on a loop when it comes to what they can or can't have. Now i know for them it is not necessarily about justice, for them it is more about what they want, but in all of us we seem to have a deep rooted feeling of what is wrong and right. Listening, as i do, to radio 5 in the mornings and their discussions, it is plain to see that what one persons justice, is not neccesarily anothers, as we all put our own slant on it, like my kids. One of the things in the Bible that i really love is the fact that when Jesus rose from the dead, he didn't appear to the most obvious of people, he didn't appear to those whom he thought would be the ones he should appear to. In a culture where men were seen as the trusted ones, the important ones, and women the lesser of the sexes, he appeared to Mary and Joanna. How awesome was that, it would have been easier to appear to his disciples first (as they didn't seem to believe the girls), and to most of us, we woudl probably take the easiest option. Thank God that Jesus didn't. In that little bit of the ressurection story, Jesus showed that justice and fairness ooze out of his father in heaven. I might just see how i do today. Richard

Welcome

Hi guys and welcome to my blog. This is a place where you will get a bit of an insight into the world of Nottingham YfC. Hear about some of the struggles and the joys. There are a lot of big issues that maybe brought up along the way to do with youth work and faith, so it would be great if you fancy journeying with me. I will also use this space to push events that we are doing, and other random things. I plan to blog each week, so keep an eye out. Let's just see what happens.
Rich