Quakers consider economic justice and sustainable living
More than 1,500 Quakers will gather in Canterbury next week for their annual meeting to discern the way ahead for Quakers in Britain. The eight-day programme for all ages will be a mix of worship, learning, teaching,celebration, business, spiritual growth and fun - including a ceilidh and the making of patchwork quilts. The theme for the Yearly Meeting Gathering at the University of Kent, from Saturday 30 July to Saturday 6 August, is ‘Growing in the Spirit: changing the way we live to sustain the world we live in’. More than 270 under 19 year olds will take part in a parallel programme, exploring the same theme, with 107 taking part in Junior Yearly Meeting for 15 – 18 year olds and 165 in the children and young people’s programme.' Yearly Meeting Gathering is a high point of the Quaker year and we have a chance to discern together what God requires of us in the world'.
Pray: that the Holy Spirit would give his wisdom and insight to envision this gathering. (Ac.2:17)
Mock execution of wheelchair user
On Wednesday 27th July disability rights campaigners staged a mock execution of a wheelchair user outside Parliament. The group, Distant Voices, is trying to publicise and reverse what it sees as the drift towards involuntary euthanasia. The event was led by Nikki Kenward, a woman who experienced being ‘locked in’ after contracting Guillian Barre Syndrome, which left her totally paralysed for five months except for the ability to wink an eye. Mrs Kenward is among those who fear that pressure is mounting on Parliament and in the Courts to allow the killings of seriously sick, disabled or minimally conscious patients, particularly the 6,000 mentally-incapacitated patients in the British health care system. She said: ‘Everybody is going to get old, everybody is going to be disabled. If we don’t want to value difference what differences will be acceptable in the end? Very few.’
Pray: that this protest will raise awareness of this drift to involuntary euthanasia and lead to a reversal. (Ps.119:154)
More: http://www.christianconcern.com/our-concerns/end-of-life/mock-execution-of-wheelchair-user
Survey reveals more medical students against abortions
A recent survey has revealed that growing numbers of medical students are opposed to carrying out abortions. The study, published in the Journal of Medical Ethics, found that almost a third of students would not perform an abortion for a ‘congenitally malformed’ baby after 24 weeks and a quarter would not perform an abortion for failed contraception before 24 weeks. Abortion is currently allowed after 24 weeks if there is a ‘substantial risk’ of the baby having a ‘serious handicap’, but this requirement has been interpreted to include even treatable conditions such as a cleft palate or a club foot. There have been almost 18,000 such abortions since 2002. Of these 1,189 were aborted after 24 weeks. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has voiced concern about the ‘slow but growing problem of trainees opting out of training in the termination of pregnancy and is therefore concerned about the abortion service of the future’.
Pray: for our young doctors as they make choices that effect the lives of God’s creation. (Gen.9:5)
Norway: Pain
It’s impossible to grasp the pain Norway is feeling today. A tiny country with less than five million people lost 87 precious children on an island purchased to enrich the lives of Norway's poor. In todays ultra-rich Norway we forget that for most of its history Norwegians were mired in subsistence-level poverty. There has been so much poverty in Norway’s history that poverty has been the norm and the rich are looked upon with great suspicion. The Labour Party organized these facilities to enable poor children to have a summer-camp experience and THIS is where the massacre took place. In the days ahead
we will probably read about a lone misfit with a bunch of psychological problems became a mass murderer. What we probably won't read is how neoliberalism creates so many ‘losers’ that in the most prosperous country on earth a serious young man cannot find a way to have a normal life and explodes in madness.
Pray:for all the hearts that ache and minds that cannot believe it has happened to them (Ps.23)
More: http://real-economics.blogspot.com/2011/07/norways-pain.html
Norway: Pain
It’s impossible to grasp the pain Norway is feeling today. A tiny country with less than five million people lost 87 precious children on an island purchased to enrich the lives of Norway's poor. In todays ultra-rich Norway we forget that for most of its history Norwegians were mired in subsistence-level poverty. There has been so much poverty in Norway’s history that poverty has been the norm and the rich are looked upon with great suspicion. The Labour Party organized these facilities to enable poor children to have a summer-camp experience and THIS is where the massacre took place. In the days ahead
we will probably read about a lone misfit with a bunch of psychological problems became a mass murderer. What we probably won't read is how neoliberalism creates so many ‘losers’ that in the most prosperous country on earth a serious young man cannot find a way to have a normal life and explodes in madness.
Pray:for all the hearts that ache and minds that cannot believe it has happened to them (Ps.23)
More: http://real-economics.blogspot.com/2011/07/norways-pain.html
FES World Assembly begins
Hundreds of delegates from 154 countries will meet in Krakow, Poland, not to discuss politics or finances, but to discuss Jesus. Three or four student and leader delegates from each of 150 student movements in the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) meet every four years as part of the week-long World Assembly. IFES was founded in 1947 as a way to gather student ministries together into one world mission. InterVarsity Christian Fellowship is just one of the dozens of student movements involved in IFES and represented at the World Assembly this week. ‘Everybody goes home with new ideas and strategies for ministry and evangelism on their campuses,’ explains Grahm Bob Grahmann, director of the IFES ‘So the end result of this World Assembly will be more, and better, and deeper, and more effective evangelism to students in universities around the world.’
Pray: that this conference would be led by God’s Spirit to be more effective in evangelising university students. (Jn.17:23)
FES World Assembly begins
Hundreds of delegates from 154 countries will meet in Krakow, Poland, not to discuss politics or finances, but to discuss Jesus. Three or four student and leader delegates from each of 150 student movements in the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) meet every four years as part of the week-long World Assembly. IFES was founded in 1947 as a way to gather student ministries together into one world mission. InterVarsity Christian Fellowship is just one of the dozens of student movements involved in IFES and represented at the World Assembly this week. ‘Everybody goes home with new ideas and strategies for ministry and evangelism on their campuses,’ explains Grahm Bob Grahmann, director of the IFES ‘So the end result of this World Assembly will be more, and better, and deeper, and more effective evangelism to students in universities around the world.’
Pray: that this conference would be led by God’s Spirit to be more effective in evangelising university students. (Jn.17:23)
‘UK clothes stores exploit women’ says charity
Thousands of women producing clothes for UK brands are working 14 hours a day for poverty pay in Bangladesh.This accusation comes from the charity War on Want in new research launched as the People newspaper publishes allegations that Bangladeshi workers earn under 6p an hour for night shifts. The charity’s researchers interviewed 1,000 female employees from 41 factories supplying western retailers, many of them British. Leading retailers – including Zara, Gap, Marks & Spencer, Monsoon Accessorize, New Look, Primark, River Island and Tesco - have pledged to observe a code of conduct with the Ethical Trading Initiative which says that suppliers’ workers earn a living wage, do not work over 48 hours a week or face abuse.The report, Stitched Up, is supported by the National Federation of Women’s Institutes. A new poll shows members of the WI, Britain’s largest voluntary women’s group; want retailers and the British government to ensure a fair wage for overseas garment workers.
Pray: for all retailers to follow the ethical code generously to ensure a fair wage for all workers. (Mal.3:5)
More: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/15139
Archbishop fears impact of welfare cuts on families
The head of the Roman Catholic Church in England has warned that vulnerable families may be hit worst by the Government’s welfare cuts. The Archbishop of Westminster, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols, outlined his concerns in a letter to the Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith that has been seen by The Times. According to the newspaper, the Catholic leader spoke of the risk to thousands of poor families, who face being forced out of their homes as a result of cuts being made to housing benefit. He said that the loss of £93 a week for 50,000 families was a ‘significant sum for those struggling financially’. He warned that if media reports of 40,000 families being made homeless were correct ‘it would surely be a perverse result of policies aimed at reducing dependency of the ‘benefits culture’, since emergency support would immediately need to be put in place’.
Pray: for Government and Local authorities to be sensitive to the needs of the most vulnerable as they plan financial cuts. (Lk.11:41)
More: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/archbishop.fears.impact.of.welfare.cuts.on.families/28317.htm
GMC and Medical Defence Union endorse 'tactful' offers of prayer by GPs
GMC and Medical Defence Union endorse 'tactful' offers of prayer by GPs
The GP magazine Pulse reports in an exclusive this week on new guidance from the Medical Defence Union saying that GPs can pray with their patients as long as they ensure patients are ‘receptive' to the offer. The guidance quotes a letter from Jane O'Brien, GMC Assistant Director for Standards and Fitness to Practise, published in the Daily Telegraph in 2009 suggesting that a ‘tactful' offer to pray could be appropriate. The development is highly significant in that it follows a statement by the GMC’s Chief Executive Niall Dickson who in a recent Radio Four interview confirmed the appropriateness of sensitive faith discussions with patients. Faith discussions are not normally part of the consultation, but there are occasions when they were appropriate. The World Health Organisation’s definition of health includes physical, mental, social and spiritual dimensions and part of practising whole-person medicine means addressing all issues that have a bearing on a person’s health.
Pray: that the GMC allows Christian doctors to practise medicine that addresses the needs of the whole person and to share their faith sensitively when it is appropriate to do so. (Ja.5:16)
More: http://pjsaunders.blogspot.com/2011/07/gmc-and-medical-defence-union-endorse.html