Today’s budget ended with the Chancellor announcing a “National Living Wage”. The name was right, the marketing was cunning but sadly the policy bears no resemblance to a Living Wage. The Living Wage is an ethical principle converted into a wage rate; today’s “National Living Wage” is a welcome …
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#rethinksanctions:Responding to your MP
Hundreds of people have contacted their MP about Benefit Sanctions. Some of the replies have been positive. The replies which have been less positive have used a shared set of arguments. Below are the arguments used in support of the sanctions regime and our response to them. We hope this may help …
Think Pray Vote… What’s next?
The dust has settled and we now have a new Parliament with many new faces. Your Member of Parliament (MP) has the opportunity to influence decisions at the heart of government and she or he is your link to engaging Parliament in the issues that you care about. We’d like to encourage you to take …
Praying after the Election
‘Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. The words above come from Psalm 46. They are a response to several realities that the Psalmist outlines in earlier verses; not least that “nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall”. We might not …
JPIT Prayer Update – For those in peril on the sea
The statement made this week by the Moderator of the Church of Scotland, Rt Rev John Chalmers reflects the sentiments of many, and expresses eloquently our Christian response to the devastating news of the hundreds of deaths of refugees seeking to cross from Africa into Europe. We are dismayed that …
“If we claim to love our neighbour” – a new hymn inspired by our election 2015 resources
Andrew Pratt of the Manchester & Stockport Methodist District has written a powerful new hymn called “if we claim to love our neighbour”. He was inspired to do this by a presentation that our Team gave at March’s Synod meeting, based on our Love your neighbour: think, pray, vote resources, which …
For Wednesday 1st April – Pray and Fast for the Climate
Pray and Fast for the Climate Earth Hour was celebrated on 28 March. It is described as the world’s largest environmental event. At 8:30 to 9:30 pm local time in 172 participating countries lights are switched off on monuments, public and office buildings. With over 1,400 landmarks and close …
The challenge of Palm Sunday
There are many ways in which God’s people are called to worship; sometimes through the great words of a Psalm, maybe a choral anthem, a shared recited response, or perhaps a simple invitation through silence and stillness to “tune in” to his presence. However we are summoned – worship is an …
#rethinksanctions: How I lost my income for a month
Below is a blog post by a colleague who has been sanctioned. It is not the most egregious story nor is it particularly unusual but it is by a person who had good jobs and after a short spell being unemployed went on to get a good job. He contributes taxes, worked hard at finding a new job and is …
Je suis – Prayer Update January 2015
“Je suis Charlie” – until a few weeks ago, it was a phrase that people would have struggled to understand, yet the recent attacks in Paris and the world’s response to them have turned it into a global expression of solidarity. For people of faith, it is a phrase we may well have mixed feelings …