Movement Magazine Issue 167

THE MAGAZINE FOR CHRISTIAN STUDENTS
ISSUE 167
SPRING 2023
INTERVIEW:
MUNA NASSAR
In conversation with
Victoria Turner
PAGE 12
OPPOSING
ISRAELI PINKWASHING
& HOMONATIONALISM
By an SCM member
PAGE 23
A REFLECTION ON
THE THEME OF
CONSCIENTISATION
Maginalisation & power
PAGE 34
A MIDDLE EASTERN
CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE
ON PEACE
Mira G. Neaimeh
PAGE 38

CONTENTS
EDITORIAL 4
COMING UP 5
NEWS 6-8
COMMUNITIES 9-11
INTERVIEW:
MUNA
NASSAR
12-16
Bethlehem-born Muna talks about
growing up in Apartheid, her work
with Kairos and her innate drive
towards advocacy.
FAITH IN
ACTION
17-22
Meet Grace and Naomi, this year’s
Faith in Action project workers, and
hear from them about ‘Finding the
Divine’ and ‘Reflections on Trans Day
of Rememberance’.
WHY CHRISTIANS
MUST OPPOSE
ISRAELI
PINKWASHING AND
HOMONATIONALISM
Israel and its allies proclaim 23-25
the state as a tolerant and
welcoming place for LGBTQ+
people, but to what extent is this
true? An SCM member looks into
the matter.
RECIPE 26-27
Shepherdless Pie - a great evening
meal to use up cheap veg, and also
works very well for larger gatherings.
2 MOVEMENT Issue 167

REVIEWS 41-43
THE LONG READ
REFLECTIONS FROM
BERLIN 28-33
Three participants on the Bonhoeffer
in Berlin trip reflect on their
experiences.
THE LONG READ:
A REFLECTION ON
THE THEME OF
CONSCIENTISATION
In the space where
34-36
awareness, consciousness
and conscience meet, how do we
share the ‘Good News’? Victoria
Turner reflects.
AN EXTRACT FROM
THE LITTLE BOOK
OF PEACE 37
A sneak peek into our newest
resource, which puts peace front
and centre.
A MIDDLE 38-40
EASTERN
CHRISTIAN
PERSPECTIVE ON
PEACE
Mira G. Neaimeh looks at how
ideas of peace vary across the
Middle East and posits a Christian
understanding of peace as a
collective responsibility.
If you find it hard to read the printed version of Movement, we can send it to you
in digital form. Contact editor@movement.org.uk.
MOVEMENT Issue 167
3

Welcome to Issue 167
of Movement magazine!
Welcome to issue 167 of Movement magazine!
One of the themes we’re exploring in this
issue is Conscientisation, a word in Portuguese
that combines our words of newly-formed
consciousness about one’s situation and our
conscience that compels us to act to make a
difference. It’s something I’ve been reflecting on recently after reading
Ian W. Fraser’s book, The Fire Runs: God’s People Participating in
Change, and you can read more about it in the article on page 34.
Our interview in this issue is with the lovely Muna Nassar, a young
activist, theologian and translator from Bethlehem. Muna shares
about her theological studies on Palestinian liberation, feminism,
her favourite foods and what we should be reading to understand
apartheid and occupation in the Holy Land. The Israeli Committee
Against House Demolitions has just released a campaign (January
3rd) detailing Israel’s planned forced removal of Palestinians from their
homes in Masafer Yatta, to gain space for a firing range, which will be
enacted in a matter of days. Israel-Palestine is such a contested area,
yet Palestinians are so in need of our listening, seeing, hearing, crying,
passion and solidarity.
Mira Neaimeh, the World Student Christian Federation Middle East
Regional Executive, also allowed us to share her powerful devotional
meditation on solidarity as peace, which she wrote for the International
Day of Peace. Josh Mock also writes a really powerful piece about
‘pinkwashing’ in Israeli society. Josh argues that Israel is not a safe
state for all LGBTQ+ people, and our ideas of justice must be pushed
as we seek safety for all.
As well as the usual news and updates from the movement, we
have reflections from the Bonhoeffer in Berlin trip by Tom, Jess and
Katri in our long read this issue. The messages of determination,
resistance and resilience are encouragement for us all.
VICTORIA TURNER
MOVEMENT EDITOR AND PHD CANDIDATE,
WORLD CHRISTIANITY, UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
Student Christian Movement
Grays Court, 3 Nursery Road,
Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 3JX
t: 0121 426 4918
e: scm@movement.org.uk
w: www.movement.org.uk
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4 MOVEMENT Issue 167

COMING UP
SCM SUPPORTERS’ MEET UP
18 FEBRUARY 2023, BIRMINGHAM
This is a wonderful opportunity for SCM Friends and supporters to spend time together and hear
about SCM’s current work.
STUDENT SUNDAY
19 FEBRUARY 2023, 6PM VIA ZOOM
Join us as we celebrate the Universal Day of Prayer for Students, giving thanks for the students
in our communities and the wider world.
SCM ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
24 APRIL 2023, ONLINE
Come along to the AGM and hear reports from General Council and the staff team about what’s
been happening behind the scenes at SCM over the past year. There will also be an opportunity
to vote for new representatives to General Council as trustees of SCM and to shape SCM’s
strategy for the future.
WALK HUMBLY
7-9 JULY 2023, DINAS POWYS
Join us in beautiful Wales as we explore Micah’s exhortation to walk humbly. As well as the usual
fun and camaraderie you’ve come to know and love at SCM events, we’ll hear from speakers
who will help us to keep listening and learning as we put one foot in front of another as disciples.
BONHOEFFER IN BERLIN
25-28 JULY 2023
This trip will enable SCM members to immerse themselves in the theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer
by seeing the places and people who influenced him and who went on to live out his kind of
courageous discipleship in the city where he lived. Stay tuned for more details including how to
apply, cost of travel, and a full itinerary!
TO FIND OUT MORE AND TO BOOK,
VISIT WWW.MOVEMENT.ORG.UK/EVENTS
MOVEMENT Issue 167
5

NEWS
BONHOEFFER
IN BERLIN
At the start of August, an intrepid
group travelled to Berlin to explore
the city and to engage with moving
stories and theological perspectives
of several generations of work
towards peace and reconciliation.
As part of the Faith in Action
project, supported by Project
Bonhoeffer, staff and students
visited key sites of the city that
have seen so much division and
conflict, including the homes
of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and
Martin Niemoller, the Chapel of
Reconciliation, and the Kaiser
Wilhelm Memorial Church.
Reflecting on the trip, Katri said,
“Berlin reminded me that including
is more important than excluding,
that loving can achieve more than
hating, and that doing small actions
together is more powerful than
waiting for some cartoon-style
superhero to come along.”
You can read more reflections
from the trip on page 28. If
you’d like to participate in the
2023 Bonhoffer in Berlin trip,
you can reserve a space now at
www.movement.org.uk/events
HONEST CHURCH
At the Greenbelt festival this
summer SCM launched the Honest
Church campaign, calling on all
churches to be transparent about
the welcome that LGBTQ+ people
receive in their church.
Through this campaign, SCM wants
to encourage greater honesty about
the true welcome that LGBTQ+
people receive in a church. The aim
is to go beyond the church’s official
stance on LGBTQ+ issues and to
consider how it feels for people to
be part of that church community.
A campaign toolkit has been
published, which churches can
use to examine themselves and
their attitudes to LGBTQ+ people. It
also provides suggestions for how
to communicate their welcome
through their publicity and how to
have a conversation when students,
graduates and allies ask questions
about the inclusiveness of their
welcome. Students, graduates
and anyone looking for a new
church can use the Honest Church
questions from the toolkit to get to
the heart of what kind of church it is
for LGBTQ+ people and their allies.
Tom Packer-Stucki, chair of
Trustees at SCM, said: “Churches
often say that they are open and
welcoming to everyone but then
it turns out that the welcome is
conditional. If that’s the case, then
they need to say so. Otherwise, it
can lead to hurt and rejection, and
that’s how people end up walking
away from church.”
To find out more and to
download the toolkit, visit
honestchurch.org.uk
6 MOVEMENT Issue 167

GREENBELT
After a break due to Covid, 2022
saw the return of the Greenbelt
festival with the theme ‘Wake up’.
As well as meet ups for students
and supporters, SCM hosted a
‘Leaving Home; Keeping Faith’
panel discussion where students
and recent graduates shared their
experiences of finding a Christian
community at university. During the
panel, participants talked about the
differences between moving away
to a new city versus staying at
home, as well as how the panellists
found their churches and what their
churches did to help the whole
experience. The panel was well
attended by both students and
chaplains and lots of people stayed
around after to chat more.
At the SCM stall, staff and
volunteers talked with festival
goers about the Honest Church
campaign, inviting passers-by to
take a selfie on the Honest Church
deckchair to share, and to take
away the toolkit to reflect on how
their church might be more open
about their welcome of LGBTQ+
people. Hundreds of goody bags
were also given out to students
and soon-to-be students, and new
members were signed up too.
A huge thanks to all our volunteers!
IONA STUDENT
WEEK
SCM’s CEO, Naomi, reflects on
her experience of visiting Iona for
Student Week:
‘The getting there is part of the
experience’, so say members of
the Iona Community about visiting
the island. Everyone comes with
a story of their journey there.
Even for people living in Glasgow,
there is an overland trip of several
hours and two ferries to get them
there. It was no different for us as
we gathered on Iona for the first
collaboration between SCM and
the Iona Community on a week
for Students. Glasgow University
were the third partner, and it was
folks from there who I travelled
with for the final part of my trip. On
that bus journey I met some of the
students who I’d be spending the
week with, and Ashwin, the black,
gay, South African theologian who
would be leading us through the
week. Outside the bus were the
mountains and lochs of Scotland,
inside was challenging argument
about race, reparations, the right
way to protest, and the different
ways we look at history. We arrived
on the island as a group of friends
and were met by members of the
community as if our coming was
the best thing that ever happened.
MOVEMENT Issue 167
7

NEWS
Neither island nor community
living are easy, but the incredible
thing about the week was that
those contexts pushed us to grow
together really quickly. Through
the months since, I’ve frequently
missed those I spent the week
with. I have a few little stones from
the beaches there in front of my
computer. One I found myself, one
was in my room when I arrived,
and one was a gift from one of the
students there. The sight of them
tethers me back to the experience
and to the very fabric of the island.
The altar of the Abbey and the
huge font are made of the same
green veined marble as the little
stone that was a gift. I look at it
and feel myself back there, in the
Abbey where ferns grow up the
wall inside, and you can hear the
wind and the sea. Because in Iona
everything is entangled, nothing
and no one is isolated, and most
of all the Holy Spirit permeates
everything.
IN MEMORIAM
Earlier this year, SCM very gratefully
received a donation from the estate
of two former SCM members. Their
son, Quentin, shared the following
with us:
Mum (then Joanna Cullen) and Dad
(Bernard Brown) met and fell in love
in Cambridge in about 1950, and
we believe their first meeting took
place at an SCM party (although
they recognised each other from
the Bach Choir in Oxford). Dad
was then training for ordination at
Westcott House, while Mum was
doing Teacher Training at Hughes
Hall. Dad, as you will have gathered
was an Anglican, and the son of
an Anglican priest, but Mum was
the daughter of Congregational
Missionaries and very committed
to her tradition. However, along
with a common love of music, they
shared a belief in Ecumenism and
a theology rooted in the Kingdom
of God on Earth. Dad’s makeup
contained a strong tinge of nonconformism,
something he needed
as the relationship developed.
It was a relationship that truly
put Ecumenism into practice and
required enormous commitment,
courage and compromise on both
sides throughout their lives, but
not least when it came to actually
getting married. Dad’s boss insisted
that the wedding had to take place
in an Anglican church to be valid (!),
while Mum naturally felt a profound
loyalty to the Congregational
church and congregation she knew
so well and felt this was where
she would wish to be married.
After an appeal over the head
of his diocesan bishop to the
ecumenically-minded Archbishop
Fisher of Canterbury, it was agreed
they would be married by Mum’s
dad in the local Congregational
church, and then move up the town
for a Communion service in the
Anglican church. I’m not sure you’d
get your wedding guests to do that
these days… Anyway, the marriage
was happy and lasted over 64 years
until Dad passed away in 2018.
They always spoke in glowing
terms of SCM, not just because
of the memories of their first love,
but because of the progressive
Christian vision it encapsulated,
and so it is with the very warmest
wishes that we donate this money
in their memory.
8
MOVEMENT Issue 167

SCM
COMMUNITIES NEWS
Here’s a round up of what our network of communities have been doing this academic year.
EDINBURGH SCM
Edinburgh SCM met for the first time in September
for a pizza social and held a potluck dinner with the
chaplaincy to celebrate Christmas too.
SCM LONDON
We held our first ever in-person event in November
in collaboration with Students @ St Mary’s
Marylebone, and over 20 people attended! We’re
really excited about the year ahead and are looking
forward to holding our next event on Wednesday
18th January 7-9pm at St Hugh’s Bermondsey, to
whom we are extremely grateful for offering us a
space to meet. For more information you can find
us on Twitter @London_SCM or Instagram
@LondonSCM
STUDENT CHAPEL
FELLOWSHIP, KEELE
We had a good start to the year and have a
great set of students coming together as a little
community to discuss and explore Christian faith.
Sessions last term included: approaching the
Bible, doubt, the Beatitudes, what ‘faith’ means, a
prayer workshop to explore different ways to pray
and discussing what we find useful, Psalm 23, and
hearing experiences and insights from our chaplains
from their respective Christian traditions. To round
off the first term we held a Christingle service we
organised as a group for the final week before
Christmas break.
It has been really good to explore together in a safe
place where there is space to be yourself, share,
have differences, engage honestly in a place that
welcomes different perspectives, and feel free to
not have all the answers.
It’s great to see this little group thriving and with
a committed set of students who are engaged
with the group week after week and growing in
confidence to share with each other and engage
difficult issues. We’re looking forward to exploring
what the new year brings for our community! To see
what we’re up to find us on Twitter @KeeleChapel
or Instagram @KeeleUniChapel
Over...
MOVEMENT Issue 167
9

SCM SOUTHAMPTON
Last term was a really exciting one at Southampton
SCM. We have seen our group grow and elected a
social secretary so we can plan even more events.
Freshers’ week started off with ice cream socials,
get-to-know you Jenga, and four sessions looking at
each of the core values of SCM. We have also helped
at outreach events including organising our annual
interfaith social and assisting a local church in a
Halloween ‘pit stop’ and hot dogs evening.
During the last few weeks of term, we held a crafty
Christmas Bible study as well as a trip ice skating and
secret santa. This semester has also been a great
opportunity to hear about the theological interests of
some of our newer members with presentations on
‘The Bible and Gender’ and ‘An Introduction to my
favourite saints and their stories’. It has been lovely
continuing to build community together and we often
spend lots of time sharing our experiences as well as
eating lots of cake!
To keep up to date with our latest news you can find
us on Twitter and Instagram @SCMSouthampton
INCLUSIVE CHRISTIAN
MOVEMENT LEEDS
As well as focusing on social justice issues and
inclusivity within the church, Inclusive Christian
Movement has been giving more time to connect
as a community. We understand that fighting for
social justice issues on top of a busy schedule of
university work can take its toll, and that community
is an important source of hope and encouragement
in campaigning through difficult times. We have also
been trying to get some new members so that ICM
can continue into the next academic year, so far, we
have had varying levels of success. Although the
disappearance and reappearance of SCM groups
happens all over the country, this has helped us to
appreciate the community we already have and its
values, even more.
With that in mind, we started the academic year
with a Crazy Golf social, we also discussed what it
means to be a Christian today in our give-it-a-go
session and spent some time in the students’ union
building after sessions to catch-up and support
one another. We continue to run our monthly Taizé
worship sessions which has given us a space to find
peace and encouragement in the presence of God.
Whilst also running sessions on social justice issues,
10 MOVEMENT Issue 167

including on the topic of Black History Month, and
we recently had a guest speaker from Christian
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Find us on
Instagram @LeedsInclusiveChristians
In November we went on a mini-retreat with the
theme “Safe Space” which involved a sleepover in
a local church. We also held a vigil in observance of
Trans Day of Remembrance, which was attended by
members of the group and the wider community.
We are proud that JAM is a Christian group which is
open to and affirming of everyone. In the new year
we look forward to welcoming a series of speakers
who will be leading various sessions.
DURHAM JAM
Our weekly meetings continue to be really varied
and are led by members of JAM or an external
speaker such as local clergy, campaign groups, or
university chaplains. In 2022 we’ve done discussions,
bible studies, crafts, games, and lots more! For one
particularly thought-provoking session in February,
we were thrilled to be joined by a speaker from
Christian CND. In April we made our jam-making
video for the SCM ethical cookbook and if you
haven’t seen this it’s worth a watch! Find the link in
our Instagram bio @JAMSocietyDurham.
If you’d like help starting an SCM
community at your church or
university, or would like to book a
workshop, the SCM staff are very
happy to help! Get in touch with our
Movement Administrator, John, by
emailing john@movement.org.uk for
more information.
We ended the academic year with a post-exams day
trip to Lindisfarne, where we spent a peaceful day on
the island surrounded by the high tide. It was there
that we met our group’s Peace Envoy, Pilgrim Peter
the Puffin (Instagram @pilgrim_peter_the_puffin).
Peter joined us at the Freshers’ fair where we were
pleased to meet some new members!
MOVEMENT Issue 167
11

12 MOVEMENT Issue 167

INTERVIEW
MUNA NASSAR
Muna Nassar is a Christian Palestinian from Bethlehem, and has recently been
appointed as Executive Secretary for Mission and Advocacy for the World Communion
of Reformed Churches (WCRC). She holds an MPhil from Trinity College Dublin
and has worked in Advocacy and Translation. She sat down with our editor Victoria
to share her experience of growing up in Bethlehem and her work in peace building.
Can you give us a little snippet of what it was like
growing up in Bethlehem? What is it like for young
people?
Growing up in Bethlehem is something very special and
very unique. It is special as one is able to walk through
history every day, to be born where Jesus was born, is
something not so many people are able to say. It is a
unique experience that really challenges one’s faith and
pushes you to ask so many questions.
I grew up during the Second Intifada and, as a 10-yearold,
I instantly knew that what we Palestinians were facing
wasn’t normal, wasn’t humane and wasn’t fair. I knew that
this was not the reality of other 10-year-olds in other parts
of the world, and I started to have questions like why is
this “Holy Land” so brutal and inhumane? How can that be
Holy? How can we still be living under occupation in the
21st century, and how is the world okay with this?
Growing up with one’s own basic human rights being
taken away from you demotivates people in general, but it
demotivates younger people in specific ways. However, it
is a constant reminder that we have major work ahead of
us, and if we ever want to see a free Palestine it is our own
responsibility to work for it. Despite hopelessness, we keep
moving forward trying to build a better future.
What should we, as SCM, or as young individuals, be
doing to help Palestinians?
I think pushing the narrative, posing questions, challenging
the status quo and, more importantly, being our own agents
of thinking, of doing and of making the change happen
according to our own accords as young people. A change
will happen if we work towards changing the reality.
MOVEMENT Issue 167
13

I know you’ve done a lot of advocacy work but also
you have an MPhil in Intercultural Theology from
Trinity College Dublin. What did you look at with your
studies?
In my MPhil, I looked at The Othering of Palestinians using
Orientalism and Christian Zionism: Hegemonic Identities
vs. Liberating Identities.
And before your studies you were the programme coordinator
for Kairos Palestine – what kind of initiatives
did this involve?
Kairos has reflected the theology of the Palestinian
Christian, described a difficult reality, and offered clear
actions of what can be done to be an active part of the
struggle. It gave an analysis of the context we Palestinians
face on so many levels and in so many aspects. Kairos
addressed the injustice, the problems and asked ‘how shall
we react as faithful, hopeful Christians?’ Therefore, it gave
me personally a chance to practise what I learned while
growing up as a Palestinian during the Second Intifada,
it gave me perspective on how we can, as Palestinians,
be actively engaged in delivering our own narrative and
breaking the silence imposed on us.
Through its theology, Kairos Palestine has compiled
the knowledge, experience, and ideology of a group
of theologians and lay people and presented both the
document and the growing movement as a means of
creative resistance and a proof of our rootedness in
this land. The Kairos document has also brought the
rich Palestinian theology to a global level, to present the
Palestinian context through Christian eyes. The Kairos
document was written by Palestinian Christians, however
Kairos addresses all.
It has become an advocacy tool that many refer to for
guidance, and for critical thinking, and for costly solidarity.
Many churches around the world have responded directly to
Kairos and adopted it. Kairos has adopted and worked with
numerous campaigns, such as Come and See, to change
the common narrative about pilgrimage tours to the Holy
Land and listening to the people of the land and their cries.
The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions campaign is another
example of campaigns that Kairos Palestine has adopted
that paved the way of the nonviolent creative resistance.
Growing up with one’s
own basic human rights
being taken away from you
demotivates people in general,
but it... is a constant reminder
that we have major work ahead
of us, and if we ever want to see
a free Palestine, it is our own
responsibility to work
for it
So, you’re about to start a new job at the World
Communion of Reformed Churches! Tell us about your
new role and what made you apply.
I am happy to be able to put the advocacy I have learnt into
work in different contexts and with different people around
the world. As a new Executive Secretary for Mission and
Advocacy, I will be undertaking the responsibilities of
14
MOVEMENT Issue 167

implementing advocacy and understanding advocacy in
the context of the poor, the exploited and the wronged.
As a Palestinian myself, I have an innate drive towards
advocacy and working to end injustices everywhere, thus
I was really drawn into the WCRC commitment to listening
to the voices of the people on the ground and challenging
the power dynamic that supports the powerful and keeps
the powerless in the peripheries. I am happy to take on
this new role to be able to use effective advocacy methods
toward justice and liberation.
I know that you love reading. Could you give us
your top recommendations for learning about the
Occupation of Palestine?
Blood brothers, by Elias Chacour
The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, by Ilan Pappé
Returning to Haifa, by Ghassan Kanafan
I Was Born There, I Was Born Here, by Mourid Barghouti
In Search of Fatima: A Palestinian Story, by Ghada Karmi
I Saw Ramallah, by Mourid Barghouti ·
The Question of Palestine, by Edward W. Said
You also read beyond Palestine too, exploring themes
of anti-racism, feminism, and peacebuilding for
example. How do you think we should be connecting
all these calls for liberation and justice?
As a Palestinian woman, trying to envisage a postcolonised
world using theology and advocacy to work
towards liberation, I think we should all aim at laying the
ground for a reimagined reality that reflects and talks to all
individuals of a society, a reality where texts reflect voices
rather than a single voice and where equality, justice and
liberation are delivered to all. It might seem paradoxical
or even hypocritical to talk about liberation and liberating
identities without bringing to the table – both literally
Muna with Movement editor Victoria
MOVEMENT Issue 167 15

As a Palestinian
woman, trying to
envisage a post-colonised world
using theology and advocacy to
work towards liberation, I think
we should all aim at laying the
ground for a reimagined reality
that reflects and talks to all
individuals of a society, a reality
where texts reflect voices rather
than a single voice and where
equality, justice and liberation
are delivered to all
and metaphorically – the voices of women in the usual
predominantly male club. As a woman delving into this
field, it feels as if it is an exclusive boy’s club, and one is in
a constant state of attempting to break into this centuryold
club. Hence it is another layer of dominance, and would
it be too far-fetched if one was to say it is another layer
of male hegemony over setting the tone, producing the
work, and representing the reality? Rather than having a
solo performance in the struggle for liberation, the reality
requires an orchestral work in order to achieve liberation
on all fronts and from all tunes that does not accord with
their players.
Finally, what Palestinian food should we try?
Maqluba (Makloubeh) – it’s Arabic for upside-down.
(Victoria confirms that it is very yummy!).
16 MOVEMENT Issue 167

IN
MOVEMENT Issue 167FAITH
ACTION
After saying goodbye to
Lizzy and Alana at the end of
the summer, in September we
welcomed two new graduate
Faith in Action Project Workers to
the staff team, Grace Stewart and
Naomi Orrell. In their first blogs
for SCM we asked them what Faith
in Action meant to them. Here is a
snippet of what they said.
17

I grew up in the Lutheran church in Pennsylvania, which
probably accounts for a good 40% of my personality. The
church of my childhood was, and is, one that gets things
done. No one was all that concerned about what you
believed, so long as it was adjacent to the Nicene Creed. But
if you weren’t stepping up to teach Sunday School or make
quilts for Lutheran World Relief or help out at the food bank,
that bothered people. For me, this was a world of family and
community, and more than anything, work.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America, the denomination I’m part of, has
a sort of slogan of ‘God’s work, our hands.’
It’s a reminder that the kingdom of God
is something we build together. Our job is
doing the work, God’s work, with our hands
and hearts and minds and voices – we do
the work of building the kingdom of God.
Much like my faith, the concept of faith in action being the
one true way to do Christianity is something that’s just always
been there. God will love you and lead you and work through
you whether you like it or not!. As Lutheran theologian Nadia
Bolz-Weber explains it in her biography Pastrix, “God indeed
enters into our messy lives and loves us through them,
whether we want God’s help or not.”
18 MOVEMENT Issue 167

Growing up I was a chorister at the Catholic Cathedral in
Liverpool, and I loved helping to shape the worship. By the
time I was at uni my faith had lapsed quite a bit. I still called
myself a Catholic, but I didn’t really want to engage with
the church. I was starting a very confusing journey trying
to articulate how I understood my own gender and my
own queerness and, ultimately, they felt
incompatible with what I understood the
Church was asking of me.
Towards the end of my degree, I spoke to a
priest about how much I was struggling with
this and she suggested reading The Cost of
Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. There is
one line near the end of the book that I keep
coming back to:
“To be conformed to the image of Christ is not an
ideal to be striven after… we cannot transform
ourselves into his image; it is rather the form of
Christ which seeks to be formed in us… and to
be manifested in us”
This is where the phrase “Faith in Action” comes alive for
me. If being a Christian means to manifest the Christ that
is already formed within us, how do we manifest it? What
work needs to be done? Who needs our help? And how can
I manifest Christ within me?
You can find out more about Grace and
Naomi and their work this year on the SCM
website at www.movement.org.uk/blog
MOVEMENT Issue 167
19

Faith in Action
FINDING THE DIVINE IN NATURE
As part of the Faith in Action project this year,
Naomi and I will be looking at three broad themes
in our work and one of these is ‘Finding the Divine’.
For me, finding the divine is about seeing God in all
their many forms and faces, and in spaces and at
times that aren’t ‘religious’. It’s about realising how
small you are, and how beautiful the world is, and
restoring some of the wonder of childhood.
The role of wonder in Christian faith is one that often
feels overlooked. Wonder is associated with children,
with innocence and with ignorance. Children wonder
at soap bubbles, but adults know about surface
tension. And when children grow up, their wonder –
like those bubbles – slowly dissolves away, replaced
by knowledge of the world.
As an adult, to wonder is on some level to admit to
ignorance or doubt. To acknowledge that you don’t
have everything figured out. Especially now, when
we have answers to almost all our questions at our
fingertips, admitting that there is something you don’t
know can be very difficult, particularly when you are
young and trying to prove yourself in the adult world.
And in faith, having unanswered questions can be
difficult to make your peace with. It feels like doubt,
or weakness. I sometimes think that if I just believed
harder or was better, I wouldn’t have these questions,
and my mind skitters away from them.
But in running away from wonder and all the
questions that come with it, I think we also leave
behind the chance to experience God through awe
and mystery and uncertainty.
My favourite poet is the American writer Mary
Oliver. Her poetry is dreamy, naturalistic free verse
exploring life, death, love, and the divine through the
landscapes of North America. In her poem ‘Some
Questions You Might Ask’, Oliver begins with a
question about the soul.
“Is the soul solid, like iron?
Or is it tender and breakable, like
The wings of a moth in the beak of the owl?”
This is followed with further questions, all of them
childlike in their simplicity. “Who has it and who
doesn’t?” “Does it have a shape? Like an iceberg?”
“Does it have one lung, like the snake and the

scallop?” By invoking comparisons to the natural
world in her questions, Oliver encourages the reader
to think of the soul as something other than uniquely
human. After all, as she points out, “the face of the
moose is as sad/as the face of Jesus.” And then
she asks her central question: “Why should I have
it, and not the anteater/who loves her children?”
Why should only a human being have a soul when
Oliver can see evidence all around her of animals
and plants, even icebergs and stones, being equally
created in the image of the divine?
In this poem, Oliver challenges the reader to consider
the entire world as created in God’s image, and thus
to expand our conceptions of what the divine looks
like. God is not only found in traditional religious
spaces, in purpose-built buildings or the company of
other believers. God is found in the peace of rustling
leaves and the intelligence of crows and the satisfying
perfection of smooth beach pebbles. In some ways,
this poem is reminiscent of Psalm 104, with its lists of
animals, plants, and geographical features that reflect
God’s care for each tiny aspect of creation. While the
Bible does not comment directly on whether animals
have souls, this psalm does say “when you send
forth your breath, they are created,” (Psalms 104:30,
NRSV), in language that is very similar to that found in
Genesis’s account of the creation of human beings.
And whatever your opinion on whether animals have
souls, this is definitely a reminder that if divinity can
be found in an anteater, it can definitely be found in
every human being you encounter, even the ones you
ignore, or avoid, or argue with. Wherever life takes
you, consider taking some time to find divinity in your
surroundings, whether it’s in moths or autumn leaves
or people you’re arguing with on Twitter, and try to
capture some of the wonder of childhood, that the
God who made you could make all of this too.
Grace Stewart

A reflection after Trans Day of Remembrance
Every time the Trans Day of Remembrance comes around
on the 20th of November, I always feel a great sense of
trepidation. It comes as a time of year where church services
are focused on death, firstly with All Souls and then with
Remembrance Sunday. So, by the time this comes around,
it can feel quite depressing to take stock and acknowledge
of the violence inflicted on my community.
Even so, the importance of the day cannot be diminished.
At the time of writing, news of the Club Q shooting in
Colorado Springs is filling my social media feeds and out of
the five people confirmed to have been killed, two of whom
are trans. Stories of their lives, how funny they were, how
much they will be missed, paint a picture of lives full of joy
that have been cut short. Consider that we are hearing of
this violence against the backdrop of a national press using
trans people as agents of moral panic, the government
using our community as a pawn in a game of political
chess, waiting lists for trans healthcare getting even longer,
sometimes the reality of being trans in the UK is too much
to bear. I have lost count of the amount of trans friends who
are discussing contingency plans to leave the country, or
worse, considering taking their own lives.
With all of this in mind, it is easy to become lost in despair.
The American gay poet Paul Monette once wrote that “grief
is a sword, or it is nothing.” Despair, much like grief, can
become a quagmire of which we cannot get out. Monette
lived through the AIDS crisis, which influenced almost all of
his work until his death from the disease in 1995. Here, he is
showing us that the grief that he experienced living through
this crisis had to be an instrument of transformative justice
and fuel a fire for change. Otherwise, it leads to nothing.
As Christians, we know something about being transformed
from despair to hope. Black liberation theologian James H.
Cone writes of the cross ‘a symbol of death and defeat,
God turned it into a sign of liberation and new life.’ It is
this transformative power of our faith that we believe that,
despite how dark things can get, we can always find the
light.
To go beyond our grief is the difficult part. Even so, as we
move forward from Trans Day of Remembrance once again,
I call to all trans people to find joy. In this society, it is so
easy to get lost in the quagmire of our despair. Society
regularly sends us the message that our existence is at
odds with others, so much so that we should be perceived
as a threat. But despite all of this, I have hope for a better
society because I know the joy and liberation our existence
brings to society as a whole. One piece of scripture I come
to when I need to be reminded of this is Paul’s letter to the
Galatians 3:28-29:
“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor
free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one
in Christ Jesus.”
Some read this passage and understand Christ’s message
of unity, and that any labels attributed to us in this life
will mean nothing in the next. For me, however, I feel
emboldened by a call to question all of the labels society
poses on us and, ultimately, to believe that in the Kingdom
of Heaven the shackles of these words will be broken.
What if we lived in a world where there is no male and
female? What if we learn to look past these words that are
at the root of so much sexism, misogyny, homophobia and
transphobia and just learn to be? By our very existence,
trans people bring into question what it means to be “male”
of “female”. If trans people can help society as a whole, we
are a gift. I choose to find joy in that.
Naomi Orrell
22 MOVEMENT Issue 167

WHY
CHRISTIANS
MUST OPPOSE
ISRAELI PINKWASHING
AND HOMONATIONALISM
MOVEMENT Issue 167
23

“Israel is without a doubt the best country in the Middle
East for gay and lesbian individuals to live,”1 the website
Tourist Israel proudly boasts. It’s a view shared by numerous
westerners and Israelis: Out Magazine branded Tel Aviv
“the gay capital of the Middle East,”2 while the website of
the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles extols that “Israel is one
of the most inclusive societies in the world” for the LGBTQ+
community.3 Perhaps there’s some truth to these claims.
After all, LGBTQ+ people living in the State of Israel enjoy
legal, mostly equal, protection under the law, at least on
paper. But as SCM’s Honest Church campaign teaches us,
we shouldn’t take claims of LGBTQ+ liberation and inclusion
within institutions at face value.
When we scratch below the surface of Israel’s image as a
so-called haven for LGBTQ+ people, we find that appeals
to LGBTQ+ rights are used to deflect attention from the
occupation’s brutality and justify its occupation of Palestine
– a phenomenon known as pinkwashing. PR campaigns
such as Brand Israel and Stand With Us have used arresting
slogans, among them “Hamas, ISIS and Iran kill gays like me,”4
to present Israel as a beacon of moral light in comparison to
Palestine and to suggest that violence and hatred towards
LGBTQ+ people is the default position of Arabs. Professor
Jasbir Puar calls such moral positioning “homonationalism”
and notes how western states use LGBTQ+ rights as a
benchmark of (often Muslim) countries’ level of modernity.5
Steven Salaita notes that by presenting itself as morally
superior on LGBTQ+ rights in comparison to Palestine,
Israel “is absolved of its colonial and military policies, which
entail an unmistakable disrespect for Palestinian lives”6 –
as such treatment against a “homogeneous anti-modern
homophobic “them”” is thus justified.7
The irony in such posturing is that Israel is not really the
queer haven it wants you to believe it is. According to Sarah
Schulman, “the dominance of religious fundamentalists,
the sexism and the proximity to family and family
oppression makes like very difficult for most people on
the LGBT spectrum in Israel.”8 Such homophobia has
materialised into stabbings at pride parades in 2005 and
2015, as well as many other thwarted attacks, as well
as mainstream politicians speaking out against public
celebrations of LGBTQ+ identities; one minster wrote “even
in a constitutional democracy sensitive to the freedom
of expression, there is no right to allow the consumption
of abominations.”9 Acceptance in Israeli society is linked
to how much your LGBTQ+ expression conforms to
heteronormative ideals; Samira Saraya, cofounder of the
LGBTQ+ Palestinian women’s organisation Aswat writes: “If
you are an Israeli gay man who served in the army, looks
masculine, acts ‘normal’, and has a secure job, then you
are treated well. For the rest of us, things are much less
rosy.”10 Arguably the icing on the cake is that even if queer
Palestinians wanted to emigrate to Israel, there is no legal
way for them to do so. All in all, the notion that Israel can
be considered a sanctuary for queer people is one that we
must reject.
As Christians, we’re not immune to pinkwashing and
homonationalism.
Many western Anglican LGBTQ+ activists are quick to decry
the stances of African Bishops regarding LGBTQ+ rights,
through discourses that often lack nuance around the
relationships between sexuality, culture, colonialism, and
history. Such moral posturing of the sexually enlightened
western Anglican against the “backwards” homophobic
African Anglican fails to acknowledge the historic and
24 MOVEMENT Issue 167

continuing abuses of LGBTQ+ people perpetrated by
western churches, and the colonial and hegemonic nature
of the Anglican Communion. Such language is racist and
as Salaita notes, “resistance to repressive state policies
can easily lead to support of a different set of repressive
state policies” and that imagining our affinity with LGBTQ+
people in other countries is translatable without nuance or
listening to local activists “can expose implicit prejudices
and power disparities.”11 Just as it is right for us to call
out such unnuanced debates in western churches, so too
must we be critical of Israeli narratives that position it as a
champion of LGBTQ+ rights.
Salaita has sage words for Christian activists who seek justice.
“It is important for us to think about the ways that activist
engagement can be co-opted, misplaced, or manipulated.
… Activism needs to be outfitted with a thoughtful ethical
context that looks beyond its immediate goals and pursues
integrative models of justice. An integrative model of justice
is first and foremost a commitment to ending one type of
oppression without supplementing or actively fostering
other types of oppression.”12 We must be vigilant as
Christians that we support LGBTQ+ liberation in ways that
do not open the door to the oppression of others or the
masking of such oppression. In the words of the Magnificat,
we are to cast down the mighty from their thrones and lift
up the lowly. Allowing queerness to collude with militarism
and colonialism betrays this Gospel imperative; may we
combat pinkwashing and homonationalism with truth,
justice, and solidarity.
References
1 www.touristisrael.com/gay-tel-aviv-for-beginners/5686/
2 www.out.com/entertainment/2007/07/29/was-arafat-gay
3 embassies.gov.il/la/AboutIsrael/IsraelExperience/Pages/Gay-Israel.aspx
4 www.haaretz.com/jewish/2014-12-25/ty-article/ad-in-new-york-times-sparks-debate-over-israeli-pinkwashing/0000017f-e762-dea7-adfff7fb33cc0000
5 Puar, J. K., & Ochieng’ Nyongó, T. A., 2017. Terrorist assemblages: Homonationalism in queer times (Tenth Anniversary Expanded Edition.).
Durham: Duke University Press.
6 Salaita, S., 2011. Israel’s dead soul. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
7 oxfordre.com/communication/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228613-e-1163
8 mondoweiss.net/2011/11/a-documentary-guide-to-brand-israel-and-the-art-of-pinkwashing/
9 Eli Yishai quoted in Salaita 2011
10 decolonizepalestine.com/rainbow-washing/pinkwashing/
11 Salaita 2011
12 Salaita 2011
MOVEMENT Issue 167
25

RECIPE
Shepherdless Pie
SERVES: 8 – 12
PREP TIME: 45 MINUTES
COOK TIME: 45 MINUTES
RECIPE BY RICHARD BICKLE
This pie makes a good evening meal when you have plenty of time available to prepare it, and it is a
good way to use up random vegetables at the back of the fridge or things you’ve picked up cheaply.
The basic ingredients can be swapped around and substituted fairly freely, and it’s also easy to scale
up if you’re cooking for a larger group. If you’re feeding someone who is tomato intolerant, the
tomatoes are optional, but be sure to add the soy sauce for flavour in that instance!
INGREDIENTS
METHOD
2.5Kg potatoes, cubed
1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 6.
250g dry mung beans or green
2. Put the mung beans into a saucepan with three times their volume in water,
lentils, or 2 x 400g tins
bring to the boil and simmer until soft. If using tinned pulses, skip this step.
3 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes 3. Place the potatoes in large saucepan, cover with boiling water and leave
(optional)
on a gentle boil for 20 minutes or until they are breaking up when you test
2 tbsp tomato puree (optional)
them with a fork. You can peel the potatoes first, but I like to leave the skins
2 medium onions, diced
on for ‘rustic’ mash which is tasty and saves time!
2 tbsp vegetable oil
4. Put two tablespoons of oil into a large saucepan and put onto a medium
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and
heat.
crushed
5. Add the diced onion to the pan and fry until soft, then add the garlic.
4 carrots, finely chopped
6. Add the carrots and put a lid on the pan, and sweat for five minutes.
200g mushrooms, chopped
7. Finely chop the mushrooms and any other veg you fancy or needs using up
250g green beans / runner beans / and sweat for a further five minutes.
broad beans (optional)
8. Drain the beans and pulses and add to the pan.
2 leeks (optional)
9. Add the vegetable stock powder and chopped tomatoes, swill the tins out
1 tbsp dairy-free margarine (e.g.
with a little water and add that too. If you’re not using tomatoes make up
Pure or Stork for Baking)
the stock powder with water.
2 tbsp non-dairy milk
10. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes or until the veg is softening.
Ground black pepper
11. Drain the potatoes, add the margarine, milk and black pepper and mash
3 tsp or 2 cubes of vegetable stock thoroughly.
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
12. Pour the filling into the pie dish or roasting tin.
Vegetable gravy granules (optional) 13. Using a serving spoon and a dessert spoon, place spoonfuls of mashed
potato gently across the whole of the pie filling and then use the back of a
fork to spread them together into an even covering right up to the edges
FOR RED DRAGON PIE
of the dish.
Replace mung beans with 2 or 3
14. Put pie in the oven and cook for 45 minutes or until the top is golden
x 400g tins of red kidney or aduki
brown.
beans
1 tsp paprika
Serve with salad or steamed vegetables and gravy. If serving gravy, allow 100-
150ml per person.
26 MOVEMENT Issue 167

You can find this recipe and many more in the newlypublished
SCM Cookbook! As well as tasty treats to try, inside
you’ll also find a kit list for setting up your first kitchen, advice
on catering for groups, and lots of tips to help you make
more ethical choices when it comes to food.
GET YOUR COPY AT WWW.MOVEMENT.ORG.UK/MERCH
MOVEMENT Issue 167
27

THE LONG READ
REFLECTIONS
FROM BERLIN
Three participants
on the Bonhoeffer in
Berlin trip reflect on
their experiences.
28 Inside the Kaiser Wilhelm MOVEMENT Memorial Issue Church 167

TOM PACKER-STUCKI
Trying to condense such an incredible trip down into an easily digestible report
will be a difficult task, but I’m excited to give it a try! The opportunity to go to
Berlin and learn about its history and its present through the lenses of resistance
and reconciliation was certainly one I will never forget. There are three things
from the trip which I am sure will remain with me forever:
NIEMÖLLER -
REMEMBERING THE GOOD AND THE BAD
The visit to Niemöller’s Church in Dahlem told
the story of a Lutheran Pastor who was one
of the founders of the Confessing Church. We
learnt about the Pastor’s open and flagrant
defiance of Nazism, which he would preach to
his congregation even whilst knowing there were
National Socialist
spies sitting in the
pews. His bravery
was astounding,
but like many great
church leaders,
clearly inspired by
his congregation.
We learnt of
how parishioners
would participate
themselves
in resistance,
depositing
A cross at the Berlin Wall Memorial Site passports into the
collection bag,
and using their
illustration skills to reappropriate these into
forged passports to enable victims of the Nazi
regime to escape to safer countries.
I was also struck by the bravery of those tasked
with preserving the memory of Martin Niemöller,
who did not shy away from his darker past, both
as National Conservative, supporter of Adolf
Hitler and an antisemite. They considered the
problematic past of Niemöller as important a
part of the story as the incredible journey to
resistance that followed. They could easily
have focused only on the good, shied away
from difficult questions and painted a wholly
positive picture. Instead, what we heard was
an incredible story of the redemption of which
people are capable in the power of the Spirit.
I think that the moral panic around ‘cancel
culture’ in today’s society is largely misplaced,
but the visit was a reminder that whatever
someone’s past, anyone is capable of incredible
good. We shouldn’t seek to sanitise history, or
sort people into good and bad; the real story is
often so much more powerful than that.
MOVEMENT Issue 167
29

KAISER WILHELM
MEMORIAL CHURCH
JESUS’ BLESSING
Another Church we visited on the trip was the
building, or buildings, of the Kaiser Wilhelm
Memorial Church, which blend old and new in
a striking juxtaposition. The ‘old’ part of the
Church was destroyed by the Allied forces upon
the liberation of Berlin, a poignant reminder that
we did not always cover ourselves in glory. The
‘new’ part of the Church was built after the
Second World War, and its main building is a
brutalist concrete octagon from the outside, but
a stunning place of stillness and peace on the
inside. The blue stained glass and double layered
windows make the building seem unassuming
from the surrounding streets, but on the inside
provide an oasis of calm in what is a busy Berlin
neighbourhood.
In the centre of the building is Karl Hemmeter’s
sculpture of Jesus, whose arms are spread
wide as in the Lutheran blessing. The face of
this Jesus, however, shows disappointment and
sorrow. It is an incredible admission of the awful
wrong which was committed by Germany under
the National Socialist regime, but also a promise
of the hope offered by Jesus on the Cross – the
forgiveness of all sins, no matter how great. It
was so powerful
to be reminded
that Jesus can
meet anyone and
any situation,
and that there
is nowhere we
can stray from
his love. There
is always hope
and always
forgiveness, as
with Niemöller,
there can always
be a better
ending to God’s
story.
The broken spire of the
Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
Bullet marks on the walls of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
30 MOVEMENT Issue 167

BERLIN
THE HAPPY ENDING CITY
This brings me onto my final unforgettable
experience from our trip to Berlin. Rather than a
building or a visit, this point refers to the whole of
Berlin. The city is a living and breathing reminder
of the hope we find in God’s plan for humanity. It
is a city which was once the seat of power in a
brutal genocidal regime, then a city divided and
split in two. But it is also a city that tore down
the wall that divided it, that reconciled its people
to each other, and that is now a shining light of
openness, tolerance, and joy. The redemption
of Berlin, its citizens, and its story, are what God
has in store for the world. Like Martin Niemöller,
the parishioners of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial
Church and Berlin itself, in Jesus there is always
hope for things to be better tomorrow than they
were today. And however far we stray, God will
find us and reconcile us.
JESS HERRING
Before attending the trip in August, my only exposure to Bonhoeffer and his
colleagues had been in the context of a history classroom. This was the first
time I was able to look at Bonhoeffer as an individual in his own context as
opposed to a case study on resistance.
What I found most impactful about the trip
was the reminder that Bonhoeffer did not act
unilaterally. Visiting Bonhoeffer’s house and
being able to discuss the community effort that
supported him brought into sharp focus that
people such as Bonhoeffer were not a single
exception. It was inspiring to hear how without
the people behind him, through doing his
laundry even, enabled him to take the platform
that he did.
I think that is what I will take away the most
from this trip, that theology and pacifism are
community values. While Bonhoeffer had
always been placed on a pedestal in my mind,
this trip inspires me to recategorise him as a
representative of a community and wider school
of thought.
This was supported by the trip to the church
where Niemöller was. Here we were told about
how the collection became a way to smuggle
passports and other resources to help the
vulnerable escape. This particularly highlighted
the fact to me that the church is not a result of
its leaders, the church is a sum of parts where
MOVEMENT Issue 167
31

tiny acts and common attitudes can have a
radical impact on people’s lives.
To put this into practice, having recently moved I
have become a member of a church community
committed to supporting the homeless. And
with a further reach, supporting the church
building to open during the winter months as
a place with heating and hot drinks for those
struggling. I believe that the Berlin trip will be
the root of many personal challenges to step up.
My actions may not be in the public arena but if
I want change, I need to get involved.
In addition, I found it striking to be reminded that
Bonhoeffer and his colleagues were exceptions
to the actions of the church as a whole. In this
spirit the trip has challenged me to critically
evaluate my opinions on what can be considered
to be ‘obvious’ Christian views. Am I thinking
this because it’s what I have been conditioned
to think or can I defend and reason through
my opinions? This is a change that is internally
focused, but I believe that it will be a challenge
that God will continue to use not just in my faith
but also politically, economically, and socially.
It has inevitably impacted my interactions with
other Christians proving to be particularly fruitful
in my Church’s 20&30s Bible study group, and is
already something that has been discussed at
SCM Cambridge of which I’m part.
I am incredibly grateful for the experience of
going to Berlin, and in honesty it may be years
before I realise the depth of its impact on me.
KATRI AMPER
With its history and efforts of reconciliation and remembrance, visiting Berlin
is a humbling experience. It forces us to face our own smallness in the face
of indescribable horror. The systematic structure of atrocities the city has
witnessed left me overwhelmed and questioning how it could be possible to
even begin to oppose something so powerful and cruel. And yet we got to
hear incredible stories of bravery, resistance, and survival in our two days
there this August with SCM.
In many instances, even a small act of
resistance only needed someone to take the
first step – and that one first step would be
followed by several more, all small on their
own but working together to build something
better. The conscious and mindful efforts of
reconciliation continue this work even today.
Reading out loud the story of someone who
suffered and died at the Berlin wall is not a
large act on its own, but it becomes more
impactful as it is shared. Most great things are
really collections of many small efforts.
This trip made me realise not only the
smallness of humans, but also the smallness
of God among us. We are created in His image,
32 MOVEMENT Issue 167

so in a way we are all fragments or reflections of
divine. Doris Pollatschek’s Triptych for Auschwitz
displayed in St Anne’s Church in Dahlem vividly
reminded me of Night by Elie Wiesel. In Night,
the horrified Auschwitz prisoners are forced to
watch a young boy hanged and ask, ‘Where
is God?’, only for the narrator to respond, ‘He
is there, at the gallows.’ One interpretation
has been that God was hanged alongside the
victims. Visiting the Confessing Church and the
Chapel of Reconciliation made me feel strongly
that it is our shared Christian duty to take care
of one another, to value and cherish these
reflections of divine all around us. This further
Pieces of the Berlin Wall near the Chapel of Reconciliation
made me see that as Christ said to us in Matt.
25:40 ‘just as you did it to one of the least of
these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to
me’ should be a very central guiding principle in
my everyday life.
I am often tempted to answer the question
‘Where is God?’ by saying He is at the margins.
Christ was among the lepers, the sinners, the
sex workers, and the tax collectors. In Berlin I
could see how God was among those who were
hiding, those who were helping people escape,
those who suffered. The ‘God with us’ written on
the wall of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
might be correct, but not in the way we humans
have intended it. God is powerful, but maybe His
power is not measured by any of the metrics we
are accustomed to using. Maybe God’s power is
seen in healing, loving, reconciling, and helping
others. Dietrich Bonhoeffer may have been onto
something when he said it is time for Christians
to live as if there were no God. Maybe it’s time
we focus more on each other.
Serving each other and acting against injustice
might be quite a Christ-like way to live as we
hear from Matt. 25:45: ‘just as you did not do it
to one of the least of these, you did not do it to
me.’ Berlin reminded me that including is more
important than excluding, that loving can achieve
more than hating, and that doing small actions
together is more powerful than waiting for some
cartoon-style superhero to come along.
MOVEMENT Issue 167
33

A REFLECTION
ON THE THEME OF
CONSCIENTISATION
HOW CAN WE
SPEAK WITH POWER
WHILST BEING
COMMITTED TO THE
MARGINALISED?
VICTORIA
TURNER
34 MOVEMENT Issue 167

I’ve recently been reading a lot of Ian W.
Fraser. He started his ministry in the Church of
Scotland as a factory chaplain after being one
of the first members of the Iona Community in
1938. His other roles included being the General
Secretary of the Student Christian Movement,
and the Secretary of Education and Renewal
for the World Council of Churches. In his
1975 publication The Fire Runs: God’s People
Participating in Change (SCM Press, 1975),
he quoted Paulo Freire, Frantz Fanon, Kosuke
Koyama and an incredible amount of Marxist
literature analysis. The last section in this book
titled ‘The Role of Conscientisation and Dialogue
in Mission and Evangelism’ really stood out to
me, and despite the non-up-to-date language
around disabilities I think it’s still worth sharing.
In the book, Fraser outlines a story of a healer
who came to a poor village and healed a blind,
deaf man, whom before the healing relied on
his fellow villagers to tell him of the world. He
learnt about injustice but was assured that it
would be redeemed in the afterlife, for God
was just. Once his sight was restored however,
and he could witness the extreme inequality of
the world despite the likeness of us all, he lost
his happiness. When the healer returned, the
village asked him not to bring hearing to the
“I AM NO LONGER
HAPPY AS I WAS.
I AM NO LONGER
SECURE AS I WAS.
ONLY NOW I AM
ALIVE.”
man, for they found his sadness difficult. The
healer brought hearing to the man, and he lost
his faith. He delved into listening to and trying to
understand all of the world’s faith. The healer,
on meeting the man some time afterwards,
apologised, saying “They tell me I have robbed
you of happiness and security by restoring your
sight and healing.” The man replied, “I am no
longer happy as I was. I am no longer secure as
I was. Only now I am alive.”
MOVEMENT Issue 167
35

The rest of the chapter outlines how
‘conscientisation’- a word in Portuguese that
combines our words of newly-formed awareness,
consciousness [wokeness] about the situation
one is in, and conscience – the deep-down
feeling of needing to absolutely change the
situation – needs to be applied to the methods of
evangelisation. To share the “good news” means
endeavoring to find the good news alongside new
neighbours, and to be prepared to be surprised
when that “good news” does not simply fit the
framework with which you have always known
it. Fraser asks, “What is new life for men [sic]
which gives them dignity and hope and a place
of worth if it is not the first taste of that abundant
life which Christ promised? (p.146)”
Finding conscientisation in the UK now seems
impossible. Do we feel alive? I feel crushed.
Only recently I’ve read about the NHS literally
crumbling and our Prime Minister Rishi Sunak
talking about studying maths until the age of 18.
I’ve read about the new protest laws that are
trying to find ways to criminalise trade unions
and workers taking strike action. The Prime
Minister has also released a statement saying
that “sending back the boats” of refugees trying
to find safety is what ‘the people’ want. There’s
so much distance, and willed blindness and
deafness (to use Fraser’s metaphors) to the class
struggle, apathy towards the sick, blame towards
migrants. Conscientisation, rather than feeling
liberating, feels lonely.
If you feel this too then there are lots of resources
from the Faith in Action project on the SCM
website that can help you to reflect further and
discern where God is calling you to take action.
There are blog posts from people sharing their
experiences of taking action in a variety of
ways, and where they find the hope that keeps
them going. For my part, I’ve recently started a
part-time role with Sabeel-Kairos, working with
Christians under 35 to build up awareness and
create a network of young advocates. I’ll be
planning a peace pilgrimage in the summer, and
we’ll be at Greenbelt too, so please feel invited to
be involved.
Victoria Turner is the editor of Movement magazine, and of Young,
Woke and Christian, Words from a Missing Generation (SCM Press,
2022).
36 MOVEMENT Issue 167

An extract from
The Little Book of Peace
Finding Peace in Ourselves
Our quest for peace in our world must start with finding peace within
ourselves. In a world where we are told that our worth is measured by
what we have and not by who we are, that our diversity is something to
be feared and not celebrated, and that our struggles are our own and
not to be shared, finding inner peace and calmness can be difficult to
achieve. Spend a few moments meditating on the passage from John’s
Gospel below. You may want to imagine yourself in the crowd hearing
the message directly from Jesus. How does this make you feel?
Peace I leave with you;
my peace I give you.
I do not give to you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled,
and do not let them be afraid.”
John 14:27
Peace in Ourselves:
A prayer of confession
Gracious God, source of all life,
Lord of mercy and grace,
hear our prayer.
We come before you in need of healing:
The healing of our bodies and souls,
The healing of our relationships,
The healing of our pride and fear and apathy.
We know that with you, nothing is impossible,
not even our healing,
Not even the restoration of the whole world.
This resource is an
extract from the
Little Book of Peace
due to be published
in Spring 2023.
Follow SCM on social
media to find out
how to get your copy!
We pray that you will heal us, that you will heal our world,
So that we will be freed to serve and love and dream and be,
As Christ calls us.
Amen

a MIDDLE EASTERN
CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE
on
PEACE

I am writing this piece on the International Day of Peace,
which falls on the 21st of September of each year. It is a
day that ought to remind us of the King of Peace, and His
journey towards a world of reconciliation and peace. Our
quest as Christians, as true believers, is to walk His path.
Our understanding of peace may vary as per our
contexts, geopolitical situation, religious background,
and other variables. One thing is constant in our Christian
understanding of peace, which is that it is tightly linked
to Christ’s love, and love cannot flourish and replenish if
it fails to be a pure embodiment of equality, justice, and
fairness.
Love in the context of my region, the fertile crescent, this
troubled East, is in a great struggle with the hateful and
tragic darkness that descends upon the people, chief
among them our youth.
In Sudan, peace is rendered a national aspiration, as revolt
takes hold in the name of human rights.
Iraq, meanwhile, is in a constant race for its future, as the
people try to move away from a painful past towards the
promise of a better life.
Heading north to Syria, peace lies in wait under the
rubble of demolished homes. The impoverished
people still carry love in their hearts, but it is
threatened by war and the daily struggle for survival.
In Palestine, there is resilience despite Israeli apartheid,
a dignified stance against a crushing injustice. In the air,
the smell of olive oil blends with that of blood and tears.
Love in the context of
my region, the fertile
crescent, this troubled
East, is in a great struggle
with the hateful and tragic
darkness that descends
upon the people, chief
among them our youth.
As for my Lebanon, its growth is hindered by one of the
worst socio-economic crises the world has ever seen.
Still, you can’t tell this nation that a better future is out of
reach, for they wouldn’t believe it.
We, as Christians, tend to examine earthly matters
with meekness, bearing inequalities, discrimination,
and biases under the pretext of being a good
Christian. But isn’t it He who
overturned the tables
MOVEMENT Issue 167
39

in the temple (Mark 11: 15-18)? Isn’t
it He who healed the crippled woman on
the Sabbath (Luke 13: 10-17) and tipped the scales
of Sabbath, acknowledging that “The Sabbath was made
for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2: 27)?
Who is the good Christian? The good Christian is one who
moves the world with Christ’s love, who stands against
injustices, fights for the rights of the oppressed, who aids
those in need, the hungry and thirsty, the strangers and
imprisoned. It is the one who keeps in their prayers their
fellow citizens, who is never afraid of speaking up the truth,
as “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you
free” (John 8: 32). A good Christian is one who realises
that peace is not passive and that it requires action.
in a harmonious manner. Our youth are
looking towards meeting together
and stay enrooted in the land God has
entrusted them with.
Peace is a collective responsibility. Each one of us is asked
to carry the flag of social justice, become the voice of the
voiceless, and never turn a blind eye to the wrongs of the
world. We cannot skirt our responsibility, as this is our
Christian duty following His saying in Revelations 3: 16:
“So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold –
I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”
Let there be peace, as peace is the undeniable
manifestation of love in this world.
In my disrupted East, Christ’s love is found in the eye of
the youth, who are longing for stability and serenity so
that they can reconnect with the Creator and His creation
Mira G. Neaimeh is a member of the World Student
Christian Federation Regional Executive Committee for
the Middle East. For more news and views from WSCF
ME, visit wscfme.org
40 MOVEMENT Issue 167

REVIEWS
EMBODIED: TRANSGENDER IDENTITIES, THE CHURCH, AND
WHAT THE BIBLE HAS TO SAY
Embodied is a book written by an
Evangelical for Evangelicals. The
opening chapter offers hope: Sprinkle
emphasises that one can be trans
and Christian, describing the trans
community as “infinitely valuable
in God’s eyes.” His attempt to define
terms often misunderstood in the
Evangelical world also seems genuine.
intentions by Sprinkle get drowned
out by damaging rhetoric that fails
to recognise the beauty of transness.
If you are questioning your gender
identity and are seeking a book that
offers faith-based answers, Embodied
is one to miss.
JOSHUA TINKER-REID
Unfortunately, it is downhill from
the third chapter. Sprinkle focuses
on minority trans experiences, such
as those that detransition. And, if
you ever make it to the beginning of
Sprinkle’s biblical examination of sex
and gender, you will probably wish you
hadn’t. Sprinkle’s biblical examinations
are incredibly selective – focusing
on oppressive rules in Deuteronomy
whilst ignoring the liberating
statements that counter them in Isaiah.
For Sprinkle, the Bible is to be used
to assert that committed modern
homosexual relationships are ‘wrong’
but is too ‘outdated’ to be used to speak
affirmingly of the trans community.
All in all, Embodied is not a book
for the faint-hearted. Hints of good
Embodied: Transgender Identities, the
Church, and What the Bible Has to Say.
Preston Sprinkle. Paperback.
Isbn: 0830781226
MOVEMENT Issue 167
41

BROS
Proudly declaring itself the first openly
LGBT+ ‘major studio’ romantic
comedy with a predominantly ‘out’
cast, Bros was released to good critical
reviews but lukewarm audiences in
September 2022. The film revolves
around Bobby (Billy Eichner, who also
wrote the screenplay with Stoller),
a commitment-phobic 40-year old
radio host and podcaster, and winner
of the fictitious ‘Best White Cis Gay
Man’ award, who is fed up of a life
of unfulfilling Grindr hookups and
standing on the sidelines in clubs.
Then he locks eyes with ‘Bro’ Aaron
(Luke Macfarlane, very familiar to
fans of Hallmark Christmas movies)
and sparks fly. The problem is that
Aaron doesn’t date, so even though
they definitely get along, there’s
seemingly nowhere to go. So far, so
rom-com. Through the formula of the
American romantic comedy, Bobby
and Aaron come together, float apart
and approach an understanding neatly
all in under two hours.
While it sticks to a very well-worn
pattern and involves a couple of very
silly subplots, the film is a warm and
funny homage to the golden age of
the rom-com. There are a few laughout-loud
jokes, many Meg Ryan
references, some serious moments
and more cameos than you can count.
That it was review bombed prior to
its release and barely made back half
of its budget is very sad indeed, and
an indictment of how far LGBT+
representation has to go in popular
culture. It’s very much worth watching
if rom-coms are your thing.
JENNA NICHOLAS
Bros. Directed by Nicholas Stoller
Starring Billy Eichner, Luke Macfarlane
2022
Edgewise: Experiences of some Anglican
lay women. Edited by Hannah Ward and
Jennifer Wild. Paperback. Isbn: 1913657264
EDGEWISE:
EXPERIENCES OF
SOME ANGLICAN
LAY WOMEN
Edgewise is a series of essays written
by women holding lay positions in the
Anglican Church. The church often
prioritises ordained ministry and the
role of men, and as such it is important
to hear the experiences of women,
particularly as the changing nature of
congregations will likely place a higher
burden on those in lay ministry.
One of the chapters I read was In
Darkness and Obscurity by Helen
Stanton. I found her reflections to be
interesting and thought provoking.
She touched on a lot of important
subjects: the lack of inclusion and
representation among ordained
ministers; the relationship between
ordained and lay ministry; the
importance of working at the margins;
the centrality of the Eucharist; and
social justice work as Gospel work.
I would have preferred more depth
on fewer issues, but her chapter has
left me pondering a lot of interesting
questions.
Edgewise isn’t the kind of book I
normally read. I don’t read many
Christian books; I wouldn’t call myself
an Anglican and I’m not certain what
‘lay’ means. I had no real expectations
but have found the book engaging and
enjoyable.
JOHN WALLACE-HOWELL
42 MOVEMENT Issue 167

ADVENT
FOR EVERYONE:
A JOURNEY WITH
THE APOSTLES
Advent for Everyone:
A Journey with the Apostles.
Tom Wright
Paperback
ISBN: 9780281078387
Tom Wright has been writing about
the New Testament for decades and his
‘For Everyone’ series is an accessible,
popular set of texts that offer wisdom
and a thoughtful explanation of
differences of thinking between the
ancients and those reading scripture
from a modern perspective.
This collection of daily readings and
commentaries is grouped around
four themes: thanksgiving, patience,
humility and joy, and each day has a
prompt for reflection. The passages are
mostly from the Epistles (with a brief
foray into John and Revelations) and
aren’t really all that to do with Advent
in terms of waiting and preparing,
which is only a mild criticism.
The reflection points are a little
church-based, which isn’t too helpful
if, like me, you don’t feel at home in a
traditional church congregation and
instead are embarking on solo study.
Don’t expect to be blown away but,
as a gentle introduction to Wright’s
writing and the Epistles, it is worth
reading.
JENNA NICHOLAS
MOVEMENT Issue 167
43

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student christian movement
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