Our friends from the United Reformed Church will be at Greenbelt Festival again this year. Here’s a blog they’ve written about what they’ll be doing and how you can get involved. It’s written by Roo Stewart, Programme Manager for URC at Greenbelt.
Anyone who has been around churches a bit will know there are some revolting Christians around.
I can think of a few off the top of my head. There is a lady in my church who insisted on writing to every MP by hand to urge them to allow asylum seekers living in the UK to work for a living. There was a teenager in a neighbouring parish who walked to school barefoot to highlight the injustice faced by families in his area who couldn’t afford to buy both food and the school uniform.
In the last century, there was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, who had a dream, and was a key spokesperson and leader in the civil rights movement in the USA in the 1950s and 60s. Corrie Ten Boom stood up against the Nazis by hiding Jewish people in her home. Madge Saunders, the first female minister in the United Church of Jamaica, spoke out against Enoch Powell’s racist ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech. She said, “Sometimes you have to break certain traditions and laws to bring about positive change in life.”
Sometimes, these revolting Christians are part of a wave of outcry. At other times, they are a lone voice. Sometimes they raise awareness. Often, they don’t see major change in their lifetime. But what links them all is their resolve that things are not okay and must change.
Jesus revolted too. While we might wish that he eradicated injustice altogether, we can see in his life an example to follow: a cheek-turning, non-violent resistance (and then there was that time with the whip and the table-flipping).
At Greenbelt this year, the United Reformed Church is celebrating 50 years of being a dissenting voice. Come and join us on the Sunday of Greenbelt in the Shelter at 5pm to explore ‘Church: Pile of Poo or new Ecosystem?’ All generations are welcome, and we’ll livestream it via Zoom for folks who aren’t able to attend the festival.
We’ve got a brand new café venue at Greenbelt this year, too. It’s called ‘yoURCafe’ and, as well as drinks and delicious cakes, it will provide meals from £5 each from our partners REfUSE Durham and Grace Kitchen at Fountains Church Bradford, featuring tasty food made from ingredients that were destined for landfill.
The food’s not revolting, but it’s part of our revolt against wasting our world’s precious resources. And the low price helps out when the cost of living is so high right now.
How do you become a revolting Christian? Or become more revolting? Visit yoURCafe and our Sunday service during the weekend and find out. We’ve got hats and socks too!