Nigel Wright

thinking about the good samaritan for 21st century teenagers..

thinking about the good samaritan for 21st century teenagers at reality tonight and what I am going to say to them...

"A lawyer stood up. He wanted to test Jesus.

He said to Jesus, “Teacher, what are the things that I must do so that I can have eternal life.”

Jesus asked him, “What are the greatest commandments in Moses’ Law?”

The lawyer answered, “Love your God with all your heart and soul and love your neighbor as you love yourselves.”

Jesus said, “You are correct. Do these and you shall inherit eternal life.”

The lawyer then asked Jesus, “Who are my neighbors?”

Jesus then told him a parable, “Once, there was a Hebrew man from Jericho that travel down to Jerusalem.

On the way, the robbers attack the Hebrew man. They beat him and took away all his clothing leaving him naked in the street. He was very badly wounded.

A priest came down the street, and saw the badly wounded man too but he doesn’t care about him and took the other side of the street and continue his journey.

Then, a Levite happened to pass by the street. He saw the injured Hebrew man lying on the ground. He went to take a look but he did not want to help him. The Levite ignored him and went on his way.

Finally a Samaritan happened to pass by the street. The Samaritan saw the injured man lying there on the ground and he decided to help him. He poured oil on his wounds. Then he put the man on his donkey and takes him to an inn.

He said to the inn keeper,’ Here are two denarii. Please help me to care for this man. If you spend more than that, I will pay you back when I come back.’

So, which of these three men do you think is the neighbor of the man?”

The lawyer replied, “The Samaritan.”

And Jesus said, “Now, go and do the same thing.”"

Simple!

the Church of England invented what is called the Big Society

From the Press office: 

Bishop's Encouragement and Challenge at Diocesan Synod

In his first presidential address to Bradford Diocesan Synod yesterday, Bishop Nick said that the church needs to see its mission and ministry in the wider context and that he wanted to bring together the local with the regional, the national and the international "in order that we get our perspective right."

He emphasised the church's commitment to working for the sake of the common good. He said, "the Church of England invented what is called the Big Society, but should be called, in my view, the Good Society. We founded hospitals and schools, cared for the poor, led communities, supported people through their living and dying."

  

He encouraged greater confidence in the unique vocation of the Church of England with its presence in every community.  "If we have no confidence in God, the Gospel, the church or our changing world, why should anyone else? We must build our confidence to an extent where the rumour about the church is a strong and positive one. And we need to adopt a language of 'thrival', not merely survival."

  

Bishop Nick praised the work of the Cathedral under the leadership of Dean David Ison and underlined the high regard with which it is now held in both the city and the diocese. He also commended the "excellent administration of this diocese's support work under the guidance of Debbie Child".

 

In the national context he robustly defended Rowan Williams' New Statesman editorial, saying: "The Archbishop of Canterbury has not only the right, but the obligation to speak into the public discourse on matters that concern the common good". He said the subsequent media furore was "excrutiatingly misplaced" because it followed a report of what the Archbishop had written rather than the original article. But, he said, "we need to engage with the media confidently and find creative ways to shape our stories rather than simply complaining when things don't go our way."

In the international context he said that he was impressed by the diocese's strong support for the link dioceses in Northern Sudan and the swift response to the current crisis there. He said our own concerns should be set against the backdrop of Sudan: "let us see how our own preoccupations look in the shape of such life and death events".

 

Last night Bishop Nick blogged on Sudan, Positive Bradford and Diocesan Synod - http://nickbaines.wordpress.com/

This message has been scanned by MailController.

 

One tribe - liking - a lot (Black Eyed Peas)

One Tribe Lyrics

Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh!
Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh!
Woah-oh-oh-oh-ooooh!
Oh-woah-oh!

One Tri...
One Tri...
One Tribe, one time, one planet, one race
Its all one blood, don't care about your face
The color of your eye or the tone of your skin
Don't care where ya are
Don't care where ya been
Cause where we gonna go
Is where we wanna be
The place where the little language is unity
And the continent is called Pangaea
And the main ideas are connected like a spear
No propaganda, They tried to upper hand us
Cause man I'm loving this peace
Man, man, I'm loving this peace
Man, man, I'm loving this peace
I don't need no leader
That's gonna force feed a
Concept that make me think I need to
Fear my brother and fear my sister
And shoot my neighbor or my big missile
If I had an enemy to [enemy]
If I had an enemy to [enemy]
If I had an enemy, then my enemy is gonna try to come and kill me
Cause I'm his enemy
There's one tribe ya'll

One tribe ya'll
One tribe ya'll
One tribe ya'll
We are one people
Let's cast amnesia, forget about all that evil
Forget about all that evil, that evil that they feed ya
Let's cast amnesia, forget about all that evil
That evil that they feed ya
Remember that we're one people
We are one people
One people, one people [One People]
One people, one people [One People]
One people, one people [One People]

One tribe, one tribe
One tribe, one time, one planet, one [race]
Race, one love, one people, one [and]
Too many things that's causing one [to]
To forget about the main cause
Connecting, uniting
But the evil is seen and alive in us
So our hopes are colliding
And our peace is sinking like Poseidon
But, we know that the one [one]
The evil one is threatened by the sum [sum]
So he'll come and try and separate the sum
But he dumb, he didn't know we had a way to overcome
Rejuvenated by the beating of the drum
Come together by the cycle of the hum
Freedom when all become one [one]
Forever

One tribe ya'll
One tribe ya'll
One tribe ya'll
We are one people
Let's cast amnesia
Forget about all that evil [evil]
Forget about all that evil [evil]
That evil that they feed ya
Let's cast amnesia
Forget about all that evil [evil]
That evil, that they feed ya [feed ya]
Remember that we're one people
We are one people
One people, one people [One People]
One people, one people [One People]
One people, one people [One People]

One love, one blood, one people
One heart, one beat, we equal
Connected like the internet
United that's how we do
Lets break walls, so we see through
Let love and peace lead you
We could overcome the complication cause we need to
Help each other, make these changes
Brother, sister, rearrange this
The way I'm thinking that we can change this bad condition
Wait, use you mind and not your greed
Let's connect and then proceed
This is something I believe
We are one, we're all just people

One tribe ya'll
One tribe ya'll
One tribe ya'll
We are one people
Let's cast amnesia
Forget about all that evil
Forget about all that evil, that evil that they feed ya
Let's cast amnesia
Let's cast amnesia, forget about all that evil
That evil, that they feed ya
We're one tribe ya'll
We people, we people
One tribe ya'll
One people, one people [One People]
One people, one people [One People]
One people, one people [One People]
One people, one people [One People]
One people, one people [One People]
One people, one people [One People]

Lets, lets cast amnesia
Lord help me out
Trying to figure out what its all about [what its all about]
Cause we're one in the same [one in the same]
Same joy, same pain
And I hope that you're there when I need ya
Cause maybe we need amnesia
And I don't wanna sound like a preacher
But we need to be one

One world, one love, one passion
One tribe, one understanding
Cause you and me can become one.

Disciples in the workplace - really?

Currently giving thought to the Diocesan day in October and my seminar on discipleship in the workplace. What's strange about it is not the subject matter - how we live out our faith in our daily lives is my passion - but the fact that I haven't as yet met the new Bishop and realising how comfortable I was with our former Bishop and his approach to things.

 Still it's great to be asked and I'm looking forward to it.

Food for thought:

Does God direct to us a stream of communicating energy that can be tuned into by human beings, at any level that is relevant to their own circumstances and experiences. "For instance the Son, the Divine word, speaks to his earthly contemporaries in parables, earthed in the everyday life of Galilee. The Spirit then takes this enfleshed narrative, and interprets it and makes it accessible to those of us at later times and places, overcoming misunderstandings and miscommunications in this continuing work...?" *

In other words, how does God communicate with us and how does that effect our daily lives?

 Through the Holy Spirit (Pentecost is coming)?

 Through the bible's stories and instructions?

How do we then communicate all that for the good of all humankind?

How does that play out for the good of all creation?

 * (Hugh Bowron, Eastern Promises: Remedying the Pneumatological Deficits of Western Theology, Pickwick 2010)