Kez posts helpfully on the possible Baptist Apology for our part in the slave trade - intuitively a 'no brainer' she realsies it is never that simple. 

In a totally different direction, on Friday I was helping out at the kids' club.  Without going into whys and wherefores (I have clear views on these!) the behaviour of the children was so bad that one of the regular leaders walked out - as well I was there really.  The children were asked to consider their actions and to apologise.  The words tripped easily from their tongues but never contacted their hearts or minds; within minutes they were as rude and disobedient as before.

Saying sorry is easy.  Being sorry is not.

Being sorry means being different.  It means endeavouring to put right what can be put right, to learn what needs to be learned and to change what needs to be changed.

It is looking feasible - though it's a threat I've heard so often I no longer take that much notice - that the kids' club will close and re-open with a new group of children.  If that's so, I hope that the regular leaders will take time to evalaute what they need to do differently so that this situation doens't simply recur in a year or so.  I also hope that, if it happens, the children will begin to realise that 'sorry' is as 'sorry' does and that actions do have consequences.

On slavery, past and present, it isn't so easy to comment, since I don't know all the arguments being considered.  Intuitively it is a no brainer - but the outworking of repentance is far from trivial.  It will be interesting to see what actually happnes when the calendar rolls on into 2008 and a new topic fills our headlines...