I just re read my last blog, written at the end of June. My final words "our young people need us" seem incredibly poignant now in the light of the events in England this week. How do I respond, as a youth worker, to the scenes from Manchester, Birmingham and London of teenagers smashing, burning, stealing and generally rioting? I think the only response, is to hold onto that statement, our young people do need us - and they are "our" responsibility - not just the teachers, or the youth clubs, or even just their parents, we all need to do what we can to care and encourage our young people in our communities.
What does that mean in reality? It means showing them kindness at any opportunity, just as we should to anyone of whatever age! Giles Fraser (Canon Chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral), on Radio 4 "thought for the day" this morning, spoke of the "copy cat" nature of the violence that has spread across English cities. His challenge was for us to create a "different kind of copying". The twitter feed "Riot clean up" had attracted 90,000 followers by this morning, these followers, and many others, are imitating simple acts of kindness and generous service.
This is what Jesus calls us to; to bring his grace, love and kindness into our communities. I had the privilege of being thanked at Scoughall this summer, by a 15 year old, for showing him kindness during his weeks holiday. What young person could we show kindness to this week? What act of kindness have we received that we could copy?
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