Pastoral Letter: “Is there a spare Christian around?”

"Is there a spare Christian around?” asked Rabbi David Hulbert at the latest Three Faiths Forum event, held at an Orthodox Synagogue in Ilford.

It was one of their 'Scriptural Reasoning' evenings which they do every now and then, where the attendees are asked to gather in groups of 7-10 to talk about three texts from the three gathered faiths (Judaism, Islam and
Christianity), and in my group we needed one more Christian to
come over and join us.

It was a great evening, with deep, curious, respectful, challenging conversations around Who is God and How our faith must show in our ethics, our behaviour towards others.

We also got a tour of the beautiful, very recently built synagogue, with
more conversation about prayer spaces and times.

The equally long-and-grey-bearded orthodox Rabbi and the Imam who works for Scotland Yard in counter-terrorism exchanged thoughts about facing east for prayer, about what else we can do for peaceful community living, and then invitations.

In case you’re intrigued, these meetings are open to anybody! Do come and join next time!

“Is there a spare Christian around?” – It’s such a great question!

In our secular society where not many people care about God and discovering His great works in this world; where God is put on the back burner (if at all), or kept imprisoned in family history (“my grandfather was a chorister…”); where people sometimes don’t know who to talk to when they’d actually like someone to pray for them or to tell them about the Christian faith.

Let’s make sure we are noticeable Christians, and that there will always be “spare” ones around when needed!

Come and join us for training to become better capable of using our skills where we are, on our 'frontline'.

So this year, we take this challenge ON, in Lent, learning about whole-life discipleship, instead of giving something UP.

Anyone want a spare copy of the booklet?

Ulrike