Today I had my first 'skinny fairtrade latte' since before Lent began, balanced by the first 'heart attack on a plate' in the same duration.  Hurrah for supermarket cafes!  I was working, honestly, trying (and succeeding eventually) in finding a Christian bookshop that would provide roughly what I want for our Pentecost Party.

What I had in mind was a stall selling 'Christian Tat' so that any children who come along with their pocket money to spend can buy, say, a pencil with a cute lamb on it or a 'Jesus loves me' eraser; some birthday cards, the odd (well not too odd really) item of God-jewellery... the kind of thing people will buy at a 'fete', non-threatening, useable trivia.  So why do the shops try to flog me loads of SCARY tracts?!  The nice lady in the independent shop eventually agreed to no books and 'just a few trackts' (sic), having shown me some that were seriously scary.  Imagine the scene, nice family day out at local place of interest, Bappy minister has painted little Johnny's face as a tiger, you have purchased a Fairtrade wooden box for granny, you've been given a 10p off voucher for the cafe at the churches together stand, made a brass rubbing, had a picnic and then you pause at the Christian bits and bobs stall attracted by a bright display of 'free leaflets'...  You casually open a leaflet that tells you that you are evil and bound for eternal fire.  Do you (a) get on your knees and repent (b) put it down and leave thinking these Christians are not such nice people after all?  Dim question.  Let's face it, if we went to a community event organised by another faith group we'd be miffed if we were told we were going down unless we believed what they believe, so why do our oh so earnest shops think we must?

Are there any organisations who produce decent giveaway leaflets?  Not that I think we have to have them, Jesus seemed to do fine without, it would just be helpful to have a positive alternative 'up my sleeve' so to speak.  I'm planning to 'forget' the tracts when I take the stuff to our Pentecost Party (and be praying like mad that no one else decides to take theirs along!) because what we actually want to say is 'hey, we can have fun too.'  People will be invited to our open air service the next day, surely that is 'tract' enough?

There seems to be a gulf between the worldview of those involved in any contemporary forms of mission/evangelism and the resources that are available in our shops.  Maybe you think I've just sold out somewhere down the line, but I know I cringe when someone hands me a turn-or-burn tract, so I'm not about to give them to anyone else.