benedson

Hookers for Jesus

Porn-again ex-sex workers save souls...

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Dirt and footy fans

I got the train back from London today and, although I had a stand class ticket, I was ushered into first class - result! The train started off and then we got the message over the tanoy that at Watford Junction a group of football fans were getting on the train and that for our benefit they thought that it'd be wise to segregate us from the football fans. The 'dirt' was being separated from the 'clean' and i was with the clean people.

I started to think about the dirt; this is explored in great depth in 'Dirt, Greed and Sex' and then of course by Kester, and an experience came to mind when i was visiting Forest Bank Prison in Salford. Whilst there I noticed that all the prison staff, both guards and chaplains, had a small plastic bottle with a pump action disposer on their belt. Every so often they would press the top of the pump down and a liquid would be dispatched onto their hands, they’d then rub their hands together. When I asked what the liquid was they replied it was an antibacterial hand wash that the staff used after they had contact with the prisoners.

I was quite surprised and whilst, I recognise that occasionally from a hygiene point of view it may at times be necessary, I felt that it had become an institutional way of dehumanizing the prisons. It defined all the prisoners as dirt. The staff were clean and therefore needed to cleanse themselves after touching the dirt. The prisoner is perceived and treated as dirt, the staff are clean and to keep our cleanliness we need to establish distance between ourselves and the person who is dirty. This happens on a societal level through our prisons and the disinfecting of hands enhances and focuses this sense of those who are clean and those who are dirty. The prison guards and chaplains are clean, the prisoner is dirty.

There is something deeply disturbing about this status quo...

There is also something deeply disturbing about Status Quo but that's another post!

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Virginity the last taboo | flirty fishing

On Sunday I got a copy of The Observer. There was an article in called 'Is Virginity the last taboo?' Fascinating piece about Christianity, virginity and 'beautiful people'. The article contained a number of images of attractive Christian women who had chosen not to sleep with their partner, or potential partner until marriage. I read the article, recognised a few names and then a church was mentioned - St. Mary's, in London.

St Mary's is a very media-savvy church and I started to think about how the article came about, did a reporter see all these beautiful people and want to write a piece about them? Did a freelancer submit the article? Did the church think that this would be a good way to promote itself? I wonder...

One of my favourite Louis Theroux episodes involved a time when he went Flirty Fishing with a Christian cult in the US. Flirty fishing involves taking your most beautiful women onto the streets and using them as 'bait' for the gospel. Is the article a a media-savvy version of flirty fishing? I wonder...anyway watch the clip below, it's rather amusing!

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Goodbye 07, hello 08

2007 was a good year. The highlight was, of course, welcoming Lily, our daughter, into the world. But there were many other great moments, leading the Greenbelt communion was fantastic, findhorn was mind blowing and scotland was a well needed rest. We had a loft conversion, finished decorating the house, laid a patio and a lawn in the garden, celebrated being 35, 34, and 3. I was appointed to MTAG, the mission theological advisory group, led worship at Lambeth Palace and tried to cut down on speaking engagements.

Sanctus has evolved this year and I'm quite excited about the next few months, there have been a few new people recently who have brought with them a level of energy and excitement. Over the next few months the leadership team will be expanding, Nexus is opening as a cafe, we're working on an exhibition with Christian Aid about climate change and Dave Tomlinson is speaking at our weekend away.

2008 will be the year of my ordination and also the year that I'm asked to leave Church Army. It's the year that I'll start my curacy, the year that i will start to coordinate worship for Greenbelt, the year that I'm published again and the year of my brothers wedding.

There have also been some tough moments over the last year...Lily was born by emergency cesarean - meaning that the lives of both Ruth and Lily were in danger. To be left standing alone in a hospital room not knowing about the health of your wife and unborn daughter was traumatic. There have been moments where i have questioned whether i am in the right place, moments of uncertainty and moments where i have cause hurt.

But the word that sums up 2007 and the start of 2008, is Hope. I've led about 5 services around the theme of hope over this year and now a card sits above my desk that reads 'hope is a place somewhere between take off and landing'. I enter 2008 with hope.

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