The audience

Channel Four is a mixture of the good and the bad: their programmes can be at both extremes. 

I saw the programme "The Audience" for the first time last night and unfortunately it was the last in the series. I usually find reality TV crass and shallow but this was worth watching.
The basic format is a central character has a dilemma in his/her life and a group of 50 strangers listen to the person and question him closely in order to understand his dilemma. They then offer insights from their experience and help him resolve the quandary. This is crowd sourcing at its most raw!
Actually this is no different to the listening and reflecting back techniques used by counsellors of all hues, religious or secular, to help people understand their own situation. A counsellor's aim is often to get a person to realise that they know much more about their lives than they think that they do.
It could have been crass, exploitative and superficial but I was surprised by the sensitivity and warmth of the crowd. Though there were fifty people in the crowd, only about a dozen asked questions and spoke to the camera.
Anthony, the guy with the dilemma, was obviously chosen because the producers realised that there were a whole load of unresolved baggage in his life. This came from the traumatic and tragic loss of both his parents and grandparents in childhood. In the presence of this large group of strangers he opened up about the past in ways that he had probably not done before. During the course of these conversations he became emotional and tearful several times. This was clearly cathartic for him. By the end of the programme his increased self understanding gave him the confidence to admit the dilemma was an excuse to run away from facing up to the tragic and traumatic events from many years before. He was now more accepting of the reality of his family history. He could now make decisions himself and plan his own future.
The transformation of a person from someone moulded by their circumstances to someone who is taking responsibility for their life is at the heart of the Christian gospel. It is the sort of transformation that I look for as a sign in the lives of mature Christians. It is good to see that in the strange secular world of reality television this truth is also recognised.
There is also something in this crowd sourcing model that can help better decision making in churches and other organisations. Often when an organisation is facing a dilemma they will bring in a consultant. The consultant will, in the same way as "The Audience", reflect back to them what they already know deep down but perhaps have never articulated. A skilled facilitator can frequently help groups increase their self understanding and from this informed position, dilemmas can be seen in a clearer light. 

 Image courtesy of FloatingLemons / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Living in uncertain times...

Was there ever a time that was not full of uncertainty and change? Life changes; people grow older; politicians come and go and the world develops. Nothing stays the same. “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes”. (James 4:14.)

To live confidently as Christians in uncertain times we need to pay attention and to engage with the present moment. So much of our discomfort is related to what might happen later today, tomorrow or next year. All the "what if's." If we can step back and be curious rather than always imaging the worst, we give ourselves breathing space. We can also look back at the other challenging and uncertain times we have lived through and we can have confidence in our ability to survive this new crisis or possible crisis when and if it comes to pass. “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine”(Isaiah 43:1)

If we can be present to the joyful liberating limitless potential of every moment then we can live each moment. We can meet every moment with all of our senses and with the freshness and the newness of each second. If we can be present with every person we are with. If we can be aware in every place we stand of the wonder about us in our surroundings and in other people. If we do not blot out life by listening to our own music on earphones, cocooning ourselves in our own little shell. If we do not ignore all the people around us as we communicate with our friend by smart phone. We are living life to the full when we recognise Christ with us in every minute. If we can live life so fully, and experience the presence of God with us in every moment then we will have no fear of an uncertain future. We will be building a strong and resilient future in every minute of our present lives.

If we really trust God we realise that we are in this together. God cares for all people. God wants all to claim their identity and destiny as children of God. This involves trust as God does not force it on anyone. When we take hold of God by faith and begin to seek God’s way we see that we are in this together. So we become free to live in the present, to enjoy it and live one day at a time. We can neither predict nor control the future. But we can work with God who is beyond past, present, and future; therefore, we can focus on today – its problems and its blessings. We are able to be alive to what is now, trusting that the God who is with us in all of life holds us in an eternal embrace of presence and purpose. So we pray Reinhold Niebuhr's prayer written in 1943:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next. Amen.

(I wrote this article for a church magazine when the future pattern of ministry was unclear and this issue was causing some anxiety)

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Moral dilemma of the day....

Image courtesy ofTom Curtis/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net 

On the eight eleven train into Glasgow this morning a young woman came and sat next to me. The carriage was full. She was wearing headphones connected to her iphone to insulate her from possible interaction with other passengers.
When the ticket collector arrived she bought a return to the next stop. She then stayed on the train all the way into Glasgow. She had committed a crime - fare dodging - and I was probably the only one who was aware of it. Should I have done anything?
She had paid a fare but not the full amount required at that peak hour service. The train was packed with standing room only on the last stops into the city so the train company would have made plenty of money from the trip. 
The guard/ticket collector was nowhere in sight. There was probably nothing that I could have done. I didn't feel that it was my duty as a good citizen to confront her.(Or was that cowardice on my part?) 
Perhaps the young woman was an impoverished student who had spent the last of her student loan on her iphone and had to economise whenever she saw a chance? 
She did contribute something to the railway. This contrasts with my recent experience on buses when I have been one of the few passengers who have actually paid anything at all! Should I just mind my own business? Should I try not to be so aware of what other people are doing around me? There are of course far more serious crimes committed every day and some would argue that this was a victimless crime. But if the ethics of right and wrong were a simple binary question expecting a simple yes/no answer then there would be no work for lawyers!
Ethics always seem simple until you get into the real world!