Update
Am off work sick today. Came down with some bug on Saturday which has wiped me out. Feel like I've turned the corner with it today but still feeling a bit rough and generally sorry for myself!!
I helped to arganise a work carol service at the Cathedral which took place about a week ago. Asked people around to pray and God really blessed it. The numbers weren't quite as large as we'd hoped, there were about 100 - 150 people. However, God worked in different ways to those I had expected. God sorted it so the heads of both the US and UK operations "just happened" to be in Sheffield and able to attend the carol service.
Last week I went to a school that I read with children at during a lunch break once a fortnight. It was their nativity play. This school is easily 97% ethnic minorities and from my experiences with these children, over 50% of thse first generation immigrants. So there's a lot of different faiths represented in this school. Anyway, the head teacher did a little welcoming speech at the start explaining that they mark all celebrations and that this play was to show what Christians celebrated.
Anyway, I was reflecting on this all later and I realised that in that school I actually saw a lot more respect for Christianity than I've seen elsewhere. Despite, and perhaps because of, having to deal with a number of faiths, the school really showed that faith was important and should affect how you lived. They taught that festivals were important and religion was relevant.
It made me realise that pluralism, teaching that everything, every faith is equally accepted, has been used as a mask to hide a sneaking view that because everything should be accepted as valid, nothing should actually be given value. Society doesn't actually hold out that all religions or "world views" are equally valid, it teaches than none are, that your beliefs shouldn't affect how you live and festivals are more habits and tradition than a celebration of current live beliefs.
I thought that I would go to the school and feel that my views weren't respected. But actually they were a lot more valued than in most places.
Anyway, that's all my energy gone. Time for a nap!
I helped to arganise a work carol service at the Cathedral which took place about a week ago. Asked people around to pray and God really blessed it. The numbers weren't quite as large as we'd hoped, there were about 100 - 150 people. However, God worked in different ways to those I had expected. God sorted it so the heads of both the US and UK operations "just happened" to be in Sheffield and able to attend the carol service.
Last week I went to a school that I read with children at during a lunch break once a fortnight. It was their nativity play. This school is easily 97% ethnic minorities and from my experiences with these children, over 50% of thse first generation immigrants. So there's a lot of different faiths represented in this school. Anyway, the head teacher did a little welcoming speech at the start explaining that they mark all celebrations and that this play was to show what Christians celebrated.
Anyway, I was reflecting on this all later and I realised that in that school I actually saw a lot more respect for Christianity than I've seen elsewhere. Despite, and perhaps because of, having to deal with a number of faiths, the school really showed that faith was important and should affect how you lived. They taught that festivals were important and religion was relevant.
It made me realise that pluralism, teaching that everything, every faith is equally accepted, has been used as a mask to hide a sneaking view that because everything should be accepted as valid, nothing should actually be given value. Society doesn't actually hold out that all religions or "world views" are equally valid, it teaches than none are, that your beliefs shouldn't affect how you live and festivals are more habits and tradition than a celebration of current live beliefs.
I thought that I would go to the school and feel that my views weren't respected. But actually they were a lot more valued than in most places.
Anyway, that's all my energy gone. Time for a nap!
