11 June 2020 | St Albans, UK [Victor Hulbert]
When historians look back and study 2020 what lessons will they learn? Will the communal experience of the COVID-19 pandemic combined with the horror of the George Floyd killing be seen as drawing us closer together – or pushing us apart? Will the world, or will we as individuals be more caring as a result?
In this special edition of TED Words of Hope we talk with two experienced communicators, looking for lessons on the way ahead.
Ken Burton
Ken Burton is perhaps best known as conductor of both the London Adventist Chorale and the Croydon SDA Gospel Choir. He is also often seen on programmes such as the BBC’s Songs of Praise – but his TV career, alongside composing, judging, training and singing goes far beyond that. He is possibly the most recognised Seventh-day Adventist in the UK.
As a committed Christian, Burton sees both his public life and his personal social media as a positive place to demonstrate that Christians are ‘real people’, that they even have a sense of humour, and that they have positive ways to cope in times of crisis.
In a Zoom interview Burton described how humour helped him and others cope at the beginning of lockdown, how the creativity of an active mind led from humour into devotion, and how in the midst of the current #blacklivesmatter focus, we need to distinguish between diatribe and dialogue, noting that if we don’t get it right, we end up instead with ‘die-alouge’. He emphasises, “be mindful” and work towards positive solutions with “tempered honesty”.
Patrick Johnson
Patrick Johnson is a pastor with broad international experience. Initially qualified as a nurse, he worked in both England and Norway. He then moved on to serve as a pastor, again serving first in Norway and then as senior pastor of the highly diverse Newbold church in Binfield England. For the past four years, he has served as Ministerial Association secretary for the Trans-European Division (TED), where his sensitivity and understanding have helped in the discipleship and development of ministry across the 22 countries of the TED.
As a deep student of Scripture, he has been aiming to learn personal lessons from all the Bible authors. In today’s presentation he tackles racism and its surrounding issues with insights from the book of Amos and the four things that God hates.
As Christians, from whatever background, Johnson emphasises that our God-given challenge is to develop our skills of compassion, to fight injustice, to avoid complacency and despise pretentious piety.
https://youtu.be/k-Ydf-CavIs
This edition is intended to be thought-provoking – with the hope that we all learn together with mindful, tempered honesty, enjoying positive dialogue as we journey together.
SEE ALSO
- Trans-European Division reacts to current tensions surrounding the death of George Floyd
- British Union Conference responds to the recent racial tensions across the UK and America
- Leslie Ackie, British Union Conference Family Ministries director, reflects on the killing of George Floyd. Facebook video.
tedNEWS Staff: Victor Hulbert, editor; Deana Stojković, associate editor
119 St Peter’s Street, St Albans, Herts, AL1 3EY, England
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.ted.adventist.org
tedNEWS is an information bulletin issued by the communication department of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Trans-European Division. Readers are free to republish or share this article with appropriate credit including an active hyperlink to the original article.
