Chance the Rapper on Ellen talks about his beliefs

It was just a few days ago that Chance the Rapper announced he was delaying his tour from September 2019 until January 2020, taking to Instagram to explain why:

“This year has been one of the greatest of my life; Marriage, new baby, first album etc. But with it being so eventful it has also been very strenuous having to divide my time and energy between family and work,” he wrote, posting a photo with his two children. “When Kensli was born, I went on tour 2 weeks later and missed some of the most important milestones in her life, but more importantly I was absent when her mother needed me the most. At this point as a husband and father of two I realize that I can’t make that mistake again.”

He also went onto Ellen (a big talk show in the US) to talk about his family life right now and why he gives so much money and time to charity work. He says, “My understanding of a lot of stuff is based on Jesus.” He goes on to say about caring for others and your neighbour even if they aren’t your blood, and that his parents taught him not walk by people who need help.

I’m pretty sure Chance the Rapper has been reading Luke 10: 25-37 from the Bible and the Parable of the Good Samaritan. You’ll know that in the Good Samaritan story Jesus is asked who exactly is my ‘neighbour’ in the command ‘love your neighbour as yourself’. Where do you draw the line? Who am I meant to love? Jesus tells a story about a guy who is helped, not by ‘good people’ or ‘religious people’ but by a man nobody in the audience likes – a man who is meant to be the enemy. He asks, ‘Which one of these three acted like a neighbour towards the man attacked by the robbers?’

Terrorist attacks against hotels and Christian churches in Sri Lanka

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres said, “I condemn the heinous terrorist attacks on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, a sacred day for Christians. The UN stands in solidarity with Sri Lanka as the global community fights hatred and violent extremism together. Holy sites must be respected.”

On Easter Sunday more than 200 people were killed and 500 injured in Sri Lanka when there were terrorist attacks on churches and hotels. Below is a photograph of the aftermath at St Sebastian’s Church:

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but Sri Lanka has experienced rising sectarian tension in recent years. Sectarianism is when people have very strong support for the religious or political group that you are a member of, in a way that can cause problems with other groups.

About 1.2 million of Sri Lanka’s 21 million inhabitants are Catholics, and these include members of both major ethnicities, the Sinhalese majority and the Tamil minority. In recent years, there have been clashes between the majority Buddhist community and minority Muslims (10% of Sri Lanka’s population), and in March last year the government imposed a 12-day state of emergency to quell anti-Muslim riots. Christian groups have also reported increased harassment from hardline Buddhist groups.

In response to the terrorist attacks today the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka said it mourns the loss of innocent people in the blasts by extremists who seek to divide religious and ethnic groups. The All Ceylon Jammiyyathul Ulama, a body of Muslim clerics, said the targeting Christian places of worship cannot be accepted.

The organisation Open Doors ranks Sri Lanka as No. 46 on its World Watch List of the 50 countries where it’s hardest to be a Christian. It explains:

Sri Lanka is a majority Buddhist nation, and so while Christians from more historical churches enjoy a little more freedom in expressing their faith, believers from Buddhist backgrounds are treated as second-class citizens and can face slander and attacks.
Believers from Buddhist or Hindu backgrounds face harassment and discrimination from their families and communities. They are pressured to recant their new faith, as conversion is regarded as a betrayal of their ethnicity. The majority of state schools do not teach Christianity as a subject, so Christian schoolchildren are forced to study Buddhism or Hinduism. Churches in rural areas have been attacked or closed, and Christians have been assaulted.

The media outlet Christianity Today reports that worldwide churches tighten their security over the Easter festival after 2017 attacks against Coptic Christians in Egypt on Palm Sunday.

Charity Christmas Number 1 puts Foodbanks in the spotlight

We probably won’t be listening to this song next Christmas and it’ll never win a Grammy, Brit or MTV Music Award, yet the song ‘We Built this City on Sausage Rolls‘ did get to Number 1 for Christmas and raised money for the Trussell Trust. Interviewed by the BBC the YouTube star Ladbaby, real name Mark Hoyle, said that it was all a bit of fun which at least did some good.

What does the Trussell Trust do and why? Fourteen million people live below the poverty line in the UK, with individuals going hungry every day for a range of reasons, from benefit delays to receiving an unexpected bill on a low income. The Trussell Trust’s network of over 420 foodbanks operate out of more than 1,200 centres across the UK and provide a minimum of three days’ emergency food and support to people experiencing crisis. In 2017/18, they gave 1,332,952 three day emergency food supplies to people in crisis.

We study the Trussell Trust in Religious Studies lessons because it is a charity founded on Christian principles. They work with people of all faiths and none, but are inspired to do what they do by the words of Jesus in Matthew 25: 35 – 36.

Mission verse

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”
– Matthew 25:35-36

Trussell Trust vision: To end hunger and poverty in the UK.

Trussell Trust mission: Bringing communities together to end hunger and poverty in the UK by providing compassionate, practical help with dignity whilst challenging injustice.

Eat less meat to cut carbon emissions

Scientists have said eat less meat to cut carbon emissions but the UK’s climate minister Claire Perry has told BBC News that it is not the government’s job to advise people on a climate-friendly diet. Friends of the Earth are not impressed at all. They think it is a dereliction of duty and that government ministers should show leadership on this difficult issue. Would you stop eating meat in an effort to help slow down climate change?

It is a shocking facts that raising animals for food produces more greenhouse gas emissions than all the cars, planes, and other forms of transportation combined. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, carbon dioxide emissions from raising farmed animals make up about 15 percent of global human-induced emissions, with beef and milk production as the leading culprits.

Experts say that our battle over climate change is going to have to get more personal.  This might involve:

• driving smaller cars
• walking and cycling more
• flying less
• buying less fast fashion
• wearing a sweater in winter
• eating less meat

There will need to be a cultural shift and they want governments support those messages to it will be an impossible task keeping the global temperature rise at 1.5C. Religious groups are already preaching to their supporters about how to act now on climate change. Operation Noah was set up in 2004 to provide a Christian response to the climate crisis. They work with all Christian denominations and support interfaith work on climate change. Their catch phrase is faith motivated, science informed and hope inspired.

 

Obituary for David Shepherd

Told by Slade School of Art in London that he had no artistic talent didn’t stop David Shepherd from being able to raise more than £8m for wildlife conservation by donating the proceeds from the sales of his painting to charities such as the World Wildlife Fund. Later in his life, in 1984, he set up the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation which campaigned to protect endangered species, and combat poaching and its trade.

His paintings, whether they be of large animals or huge locomotives, showed the subject facing down the audience, bold and large. In 1970 the BBC made a documentary about him called The Man who Loved Giants.

In 2011 he launched a social media campaign to save the tiger in the wild, TigerTime.

“Man is the most stupid, arrogant and dangerous animal on Earth,” he said. “Every hour we destroy a species to extinction, and unless we start doing something about that very quickly, we are going to self-destruct.”

The Grenfell Tower – Bridge Over Troubled Water charity single

At least 79 people are now missing, presumed dead, following the fire in west London at the Grenfell Tower. A charity single organised by Simon Cowell was released on Wednesday with all the money raised going to those affected by the fire. The music video is very emotional and gives you a glimpse of the suffering endured.

The original song Bridge Over Troubled Water was performed by Simon and Garfunkel. Paul Simon wrote the song about providing comfort to a person in need. It started as a modest gospel hymn but became more dramatic as he put it together. Speaking in the documentary The Making of Bridge Over Troubled Water, Simon said, “I have no idea where it came from. It came all of the sudden. It was one of the most shocking moments in my songwriting career. I remember thinking, ‘This is considerably better than I usually write.” It is one of the most covered songs in history…

Stormzy : ‘Yeah, I don’t know where to begin so I’ll start by saying I refuse to forget you

I refuse to be silenced

I refuse to neglect you

That’s for every last soul up in Grenfell even though I’ve never even met you

That could have been my mum’s house, or that could have been my nephew

Now that could have been me up there

Waving my white plain T up there

All my friends on the ground trying a see up there

I just hope that you rest and you’re free up there

I can’t feel your pain but it’s still what it is

Went to the block just to chill with the kids

Troubled waters come running past

I’mma be right there just to build you a bridge yo”

When you’re weary (Robbie Williams)

Feeling small (James Blunt)

When tears are (Rita Ora) in your eyes (Craig David) I’ll dry them all (Bastille)

I’m on your side (Liam Payne)

Oh, when times get rough (Emeli Sande)

And friends just can’t be found (Kelly Jones)

Like a bridge over troubled water (Paloma Faith)

I will lay me down (Louis Tomlinson)

Like a bridge over troubled water (Labrinth)

I will lay me down (Jorja Smith)

When you’re down and out (Leona Lewis)

When you’re on the street (Jessie J)

When evening falls so hard (James Arthur)

I will comfort you (ooo) (Roger Daltrey)

I’ll take your part, oh (Ella Eyre)

when darkness comes ( Anne Marie and Ella Henderson)

And pain is all around (Louisa Johnson)

Like a bridge over troubled water (Robbie Williams, all voices)

I will lay me down (James Arthur)

Like a bridge over troubled water (Choir)

I will lay me down (Rita Ora)

Recycling – it’s a mess nationally

The charity Keep Britain Tidy has called for a more uniform method of recycling nationwide after exposing that there are almost 300 different schemes happening across Britain. The average waste that is recycled across England is 42% (EU targets by 2020 is 50%) but some authorities have as low as 15%. This is compared to somewhere like south Oxfordshire that has over 60%.

When Keep Britain Tidy started as a charity in 1954 its first focus was on reducing litter and trying to get people to put litter into bins. Since then it has transformed into an important pressure group which tries to influence government policy on local spaces and waste reduction.

A pressure group can be described as an organised group that does not put up candidates for election, but seeks to influence government policy or legislation. They can also be described as ‘interest groups‘, ‘lobby groups‘ or ‘protest groups‘.

David Beckham praised as the Good Samaritan

You  may have read in a couple of newspapers over the weekend about how David Beckham, ex-Manchester United, LA Galaxy and England footballer, wife of the fashion designer and ex-Spice Girl Victoria Beckham, had helped an elderly lady who fell over and banged her head at the side of the pavement. The Daily Mail headline said that when he offered the bottle of water he was being a good Samaritan. Photographs showed him pulling over to the side of the road when he saw the emergency:

Other news websites who reported the story repeatedly referred to David being a Good Samaritan… A five minute YouTube video from the Mormon channel tells you the Parable of the Good Samaritan which you can find in the Bible in Luke 10: 25-37.

The parable can teach Christians to care for others and show agape love (unconditional love to others simply because they are human). This means that in GCSE exam questions about  Christians opinions on medical ethics such as euthanasia, abortion, IVF, genetic engineering, transplant surgery; or how to use natural resources and the environment when it impacts future generations; or whether to go to war or not; or whether punishment should bring reform and reparation; you might refer to the Parable of the Good Samaritan as making a Christian act in a way to help others and show agape.

 

Danish Care Worker voted most Most Inspiring Person of 2016 by German magazine

Read about how Anja Ringgren Lovén rescued a Nigerian ‘witch child’ to be voted the Most Inspiring Person of 2016, ahead of President Obama, the Dalai Lama, Charlize Theron, Pope Francis and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Reading the article reminded me of assemblies this week about Giving and showing kindness to others, as well as a word we’ve referred to in Year 11 and Year 10 GCSE classes: agape. Unconditional love, or agape, is something to remember when you’re looking for gifts to bring in for the charity shoebox collections, or the Food Bank donations, that are big on the agenda this December.