In praise of the BBC

The BBC has recently come in for much deserved criticism,because of the abuse perpetrated by Jimmy Saville over decades
This criticism is largely justified and polling shows  what happened, and the corporations sluggish response to what  happened, has caused many people to lose trust in the BBC as an institution.(Incidentally the Saville affair also shows why every church should take child protection seriously)

There is however much that is good about the BBC and especially about its current affairs flagship programme Panorama.

They did an amazing job of revealing the abuse happening at Winterbourne View residential home and without them this abuse may never have been revealed and the abusers punished for their crimes
see here

Those abused  were some of the most vulnerable members of society and in my view the crimes against them were as serious (,if not even more so) than the ones committed by Jimmy Saville,
I say this because the victims for the most part were so vulnerable they lacked the means to complain and when they attempted to do so they were not believed.

I heard one woman say that one of the reasons Winterbourne View happened was that," very few people visited the home who were not paid to be there" This was a reference to the fact that these young adults are often placed in home hundreds of miles from their families who thus managed to visit them rarely, if ever.
This meant that these vulnerable people could  be abused unseen behind locked doors,unseesn by the world

Panorama returned to this subject last night The hospital that stopped caring  and again showed that abuse is still going on , and people are still being placed in care hundreds of miles from friends and families so really it is down to the legislators, and indeed all of us to get this sorted so that vulnerable people made in Gods image  don't have to suffer  any more and are supported to live in communitites where they know and are known- but thank you Panorama for highlighting the issue and well done the BBC!





* I do understand that not all homes are like this, that there are many brilliant caring professionals working in this sphere,and that carers should be trained and paid properly, but having said all that there is no excuse for what happened at Winterbourne and may still be happening in other places

Momentum!

Not the best quality video but Neil Coles says some important things in an amusing  way

Our destination!

We continued our series on 1 Peter yesterday morning looking at the start of Chapter 2 and thinking about the fact the church and it's future.The above video reminded us of our destination and therefore how we ought to live now " punching holes in the darkness"

Scottish Christians divided

Many years ago when a student I used to worship at St Georges Tron.
Indeed the minister at the time Eric Alexander was not only a wonderful preacher, but also a truly great and very humble person,whose advice I sought at a very important time in my life.
I was therefore deeply saddened to read about the current events at the Tron a town centre church with a significant ministry of service to it's local area as well as to many students studying in the city
This link (press here ) obviously describes only one side of the story and there is another view here and the BBC report here
Whatever the whole truth it is a tragedy when Christians target each other and even threaten to go to law to resolve disputes. 

Resources

      

Discipleship Day tomorrow .Some resources to look at at your leisure

(New Testament) Prayer for Everyone – Tom Wright
Revolution of Character – Dallas Willard 
Hearing God – Dallas Willard
The Divine Conspiracy – Dallas WillardIn Search of Guidance – Dallas WillardS
Virtue Reborn – Tom Wright
The Radical Disciple – John Stott
Re-Jesus – Michael Frost & Alan Hirsch
Too Busy Not to Pray – Bill Hybels
Celebration of Discipline – Richard Foster(New Testament)
 Prayer for Everyone – Tom Wright
Revolution of Character – Dallas Willard &; Don Simpson



 BELLS  Bless x 3 – Everyone in the community has to do three acts of blessing a week, how and why they do it is entirely up to them.
One to a person inside the community of faithOne to a person outside of the community of faithOne to either sideEat x 3 – You’re going to eat with people at least three times.
One to a person inside the community of faithOne to a person outside of the community of faithOne to either sideListen 1 hour/week – One hour a week of contemplative prayer, just listening to God.
Learning reading each week:
1 Gospel1 Other Book of the Bible1 Other Book – Doesn’t matter what kind of book, but it has to be a good book, the best you can find in any given category.Sent – Everyone in the community spends at least 10 minutes reflecting on their day, answering 2 questions:
Where did I work with Jesus today?Where did I resist Jesus today