Five weeks!  Not long to go now until the egg-fest for those who eat chocolate.

Adults

Since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, HIV has orphaned more than 14 million children in sub‑Saharan Africa.

Pray for children growing up without parents because of HIV/AIDS.

Children

Climate change is causing the weather around the world to change.  Some places are getting hotter, others are getting more rain and some places are getting very dry.  This is affecting people in poor countries more than us, as they often rely on the weather to grow enough food.  Climate change is caused by greenhouse gases, which we add to in lots of ways, including using electricity.  Switch off any lights in your house that have been left on by mistake.  Give 5p for every item in your bedroom that uses electricity.

Well I find that a tad confusing - adults and shildren being focused in totally different directions.  Is it too distressing for children to know about HIV/AIDS?  Especially when many will have watched children and babies near death last Friday as part of Comic Relief broadcasts?  Or is it just a focus deferred from last week.

A Baptist minister friend of mine, who began his ministry with BMS in Africa, left his role as a Regional Minister to become part of an organisation in Africa that support children called the SHINE Foundation this is not a charity focused on HIV/AIDS but arising from a commitment to safeguard children, especially those who are the most poor and disadvantaged. 

I can pray, in abstract terms for children affected by HIV/AIDS; I can pray with a little more understanding, for the work of SHINE, and I can pray for families I know/know of where one parent has died for any number of reasons.

Parent God,

I cannot imagine what it feels like to be a child whose parent has died,

I know what it is like to be a young adult, but not a child.

I cannot imagine how it feels to face the stigma of the cause of that death

I know what it feels like to have a life-threatening, potentially limiting condition that makes others cringe or use euphemisms, but not to be stigmatised because of it

I can imagine how it feels to live with the possibility that you will inherit a parent's condition

But not what it means for that to inform the opportunities I am permitted here and now

I do not know what or how to pray

But I commend to your perfect care all whose lives are affected by HIV/AIDS

And addiction

And mental health issues

And cancer

And life-limiting conditions

I trust that you are trustworthy, will hear and answer the prayers I cannot formulate

God who is more than mother and father to me

Amen

My pledge

Today - one prayer

Total - £30.05, seven prayers, some thoughts and one e-petition signed

Adults

2.5 billion people in the world do not have somewhere safe, private or hygienic to go to the toilet.

Give 40p for every toilet you have in your house.

This one is nice and simple!  No semantic games to play, no deep thinking needed, just straight forward.  Two toilets, 80p.  Simples.  Of course one person does not need two toilets, but it does come in handy when I have visitors.  I'm certainly not going to waste energy feeling guilty about it!

My Pledge

Today - 80p

Total - £30.05, half a dozen prayers, some self-indulgent scribble and one e-petition signed

After the 'interesting' results I got from using Google to find out how to say 'goodbye' in other langauges, I am fearful of finding something dodgy if I search for Irish Gaelic!

On reflection it was quite appropriate to use Rubik Snakes in church on St Patrick's Day... and this little cartoon it quite fitting...

Today we concluded our short series looking at mission, with a reflection on / summary of David Bosch's 'mission in many modes' paradigm.  For the all age bit I used one of these:

I forgot to take a photo of the one I used, and gave away all of those I had bought to the children, so I nicked this image from the web.  Rubik 'snakes' can be twisted and turned into all sorts of interesting shapes, but the essence remains the same.  Not every conceivable shape can be made without breaking the snake, but the diversity of what is achievable is incredible, especially if you have the imagination of a child.

So I offer it as a metaphor, play with it and see what you make of it!

Friday was Red Nose Day, something of a British insitution these days, and a charity that has a its time raised a seemingly colossal amount of money for the causes it supports, both at home and overseas.  This years "Red Noses Night" was the first since I succumbed to the vice that is social media, and it was interesting (and enlightening) to see the comments being posted by friends of all sorts of religious and political persuasions.  Many commented that it just wasn't funny.  A lot (a count myself among them) were uncomfortable with the extensive use of sexualised language long before the watershed.  God may not be offended by the use of the word "shag" (duck? carpet pile?) but it was hardly appropriate for the under 12s watch the programme as early evening family entertainment.

I was uncomfortable with the portrayal of Peter Kaye's "wife" in purda, not entirely sure about the Simon Cowell marriage sketch, and thought that the Archbish sketch fell short of what the trailers had promised. As for Ricky Gervais... just plain disappointing.

I have yet to work out why someone shaving their hair off is "funny", and in common with many of my friends (though not all) who have been through chemotherapy could not have watched that bit had it actually been shown live (as advertised)... I physically cringed when Lenny Henry cut the first lock of hair.  That doesn't mean it should not have happened, but I do think there is something ghoulish about televising women having their heads shaved (or men having their legs waxed for that matter).  Funny it is not.

For me there were a few funny sketches... the Dibley explanation of the failure of the vote to allow women bishops (predictable as soon as you knew who was going to do the voting, but even so) and the horse-meat ready meals.  I also like the One Born Every Minute/Call the Midwife sketch, though the best bits had already been seen in the trailers.

I think that some interesting and useful conversations have been started among those prepared to move beyond either knee-jerk reactions either to bad language or to other people's reactions to bad language.  Tony Campolo has been quoted a few times (if you're more worried about the language than the issue something is wrong) but actually this isn't a binary thing, but very complex, and no easy answers or quick fixes.

There are lots of more entertaining, more thoughtful and more erudite responses floating about the ether, via blogs and other media such as...

Archdruid Eileen here

Tea & Cake here

Psephizo here