Faith and new birth

"Christian faith isn't just a conviction, a feeling and a decision. It invades life so deeply that we have to talk about dying and being born again, which is what corresponds to the death and resurrection of Christ"

Jürgen Moltmann, The Source of Life, p26

Posted from James's Posterous

Abi makes it onto BBC's Same Smile

My niece, Abi, has now made the big time, appearing on CBeebies Same Smile

Posted via web from James's Posterous

CMS in Africa

 We had a chat with Steve Burgess of CMS recently.  Steve helps place people in Africa and this was an opportunity for him to find out about us, what our background and experience was, and what we see ourselves wanting to do. 

He also gave us some information on what he would be thinking in terms of placements and some ideas that were currently being considered within CMS.  He has been speaking recently about a Diocese in Kenya about opportunities, so East Africa may be possible.

It helped that his background is in engineering, so I think that could be useful in understanding what the limitations and issues are when we are planning to go out for a longer period.

He was fairly open to our thoughts on working "regionally" and our concerns with going to the many countries where there is a large christian/ mission presence, and gave us some helpful suggestions and points for thought.  But there are still many questions as we proceed.

Posted via email from James's Posterous

Paying Attention

Helen tells me that I need to engage more in active listening, then I won’t come away from conversations having missed crucial bits.

At least I think that’s what she said.

The point being that, while we have been invited to the next stage, I got the details of what happens at this stage wrong.

The second stage is, apparently, another formal interview. This time there will be: a formal interview together; separate interviews; a chat with Regional Managers to talk through the opportunities; a chat with the Church Relations Team to talk through finance side of things; and a chat with the Learning Advisor who will give us an idea of what learning preparation (e.g. language training) will be needed.

If we make it through that, then we will go on the weekend, where we will get to know others who have been selected and also to understand and meet the CMS teams.

I have no idea how I missed all that, but there you go.

CMS (Part 2)

Bex, from CMS, phoned us back on Friday night to give us the update on our meeting with her last Tuesday.

She was very positive about this first step and is keen to take us on to the next stage.  So we are now aiming towards the CMS selection weekend in November, which will be much more focussed, will give us the chance to speak to some of the Regional Directors and, from there, get a feel for how we could be involved in the work of CMS.

There’s a few things we need to complete before then so we are quite happy with  aiming for this date.  It also allows us some time to re-focus on our return to Africa (or thereabouts).

Updates and updating

Just a quick update.  We had a meeting last night with CMS which was part of a process for getting to know them, and them us.

Very interesting and challenging conversation, with a number of thoughts that were raised.  Some questions triggered the need for some more careful thought and action, on our part, and one of the things that was mentioned was how we bring people on the journey of mission with us.

Anyway, we started using this blog when we were in Namibia (successfully or unsuccessfully; that remains to be seen) and it is an interesting and useful way of letting people know what we were doing (and even see some of the things we up to) and keeping people informed.

Now that we are trying again to make sense of the journey we are on and thinking about what we will be doing next (and where), I thought it might be time to resurrect the old blog and try to start the broader update process.

I make no guarantees. The posting here was sporadic and fairly random, but I will try and use it as a means of sharing some thoughts and updates in our ongoing process.

More thoughts anon.

May Day

It’s amazing what you come across when you happen to be in the right place at the right time!  Apologies for the quality – they were taken from my phone …

Apparently they start in Clerkenwell Green (which explains all the noise we heard at the office this morning) and then wander across to Trafalgar Square. 

I was only able to join them for a little bit of a walk to make my stand for to trade union rights, human rights, and international solidarity.

For more info, go here

St Patrick’s Night

We celebrated St Patricks Day by going to St Paul's Cathedral for a recording of extracts from the Messiah.  It was for a Radio 2 programme, called “At the Foot of the Cross”, which is due for broadcast on Good Friday and is essentially a service of songs and readings.

We sat just at the front row of the aisle, just under the dome, so we were facing into the orchestra and the choir, and could see all the mosaics and the paintings of the dome, choir and into the transepts.  The lights were dimmed which made it all the more spectacular; an immense, quiet meditative space.

Add to that the songs from the Messiah played by the BBC Concert Orchestra, with a number of choirs (including St Paul’s own) and some soloists, and it was a magical night.  One of those events that really does lift you up spiritually.

Big Weekend – Part 1

We were at BBC Television Centre on Friday night to be part of the audience for Top of the Pops Comic Relief Special.

They had a few big bands lined up – Gavin & Stacey (accompanied by Tom Jones – see below with me in background), Franz Ferdinand, Oasis, Take That, James Morrison … although U2 did a recorded segment (it would have been great if they had been there but ah well – I’m not complaining - I shook hands with Gary Barlow from Take That!)

 

Since it was the Comic Relief Special, there were also loads of celebrity types walking around … Fearne and Reggie (obviously), Dawn French , Jennifer Saunders, Jonathan Ross, David Tennant, Patrick Kielty, Davina, Claudia Winkleman to name a few … but since I had been already told off I couldn’t take any photos of them.

So here is a photo of the wife by the stage that I did manage to take.

A good night although I did get a wee bit star struck!

Lunatic Ninja?!

His first thought was “It’s a lunatic ninja coming through the window”!?

There obviously more of them there than there is here – it certainly wouldn't rank as one of my first thoughts…!

WSP - March Calendar

Wisnoe Lee is a Jakarta-based artist whose cartoon characters and illustrations appear in a gamut of advertisements from sleek cars to mobile phone service providers. While Wisnoe has created a number of different comic strips, his pet project is an online series, Glbug, which features a corrupt official who has lost everything and is given a second chance -living a simple life as a whimsical bajaj (tricycle) driver roaming around the notorious streets of Jakarta with his cat, Oncom.

Bench

A flying visit to Edinburgh at the weekend for the wife’s sister’s wedding.

Will put some photos of the big day shortly, but wanted to put up this photo first.

Before the event, we met up with the wife’s other two sisters and went for a walk in the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens.

I liked the bench so I took a photo.

Cirque du Soleil at the Royal Albert Hall

Partly for a Valentines night out and also because it was an Oxfam Benefit Performance we recently headed out to see Quidam at the Royal Albert Hall.

As you would expect from anything that Cirque du Soleil produce, it was an absolutely amazing night and nearly the best show I have ever seen (De La Guarda still ranks as the best – although it was a serendipitous event!).

What was quite interesting afterwards was walking back to the Tube and overhearing all the conversations, particularly those who were singularly unimpressed, who were commenting that “they could do that with a bit of practice”

Yes it was skipping, juggling, trapezes, etc and if you watch TV I’m sure you would have seen similar (but not quite as good performances along the same lines) but it would certainly take a long, long time before I was anywhere near half as good as those guys.

The theme of the show, Quidam, means “somebody; one unknown”

The show expands this to "a nameless passer-by, a solitary figure lingering on a street corner, a person rushing past. One who cries out, sings and dreams within us all."

An interesting theme that I would explore in more detail if I had the time.

How to pray

We have just started up a Prayer Ministry at the church, which we are both involved in, and it has made me think a bit more about prayer and what it is all about.

I’ve also revisited Philip Yancey’s book and am slowly reading my way through this on the Tube (when I have the space!).

In the review of this, in Christianity Today, another book was mentioned which has also captured my attention a little bit and I would like to read in the future; “Knocking on Heaven's Door” by David Crump.

The reviewer says:

“Crump offers a radical affirmation of the centrality of the Cross to Christian prayer. Powerful prayer, he says, is not prayer that leads to bodily healing and riches. Rather, the Bible's model of powerful prayer is Paul's petition, in prison, that we "may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ."

[…]

Perhaps the implications for us are this: without dissenting from the notion that prayer can make a difference in human events, we can, as Crump suggests, affirm that the essential shape of our prayer is cruciform. When we suffer, a miraculous answer to prayer is not out of the question, but our hopes for a miracle ought to be secondary. The primary hope with which we pray, in our sufferings and our darkness, is the hope of the Resurrection.”

Newsletter

We may be back from Africa, but we still want to keep you informed about what we are doing!

Here’s our latest newsletter with an update from London.

WSP - February Calendar

Mario Molina is a Peruvian cartoonist and illustrator, and has studied Journalism and Communications at the Lima University (1976-1982). Since 1977, he is cartoonist and illustrator of Caretas magazine, where he illustrates, among other articles, Mario Vargas Llosa’s and China Tudela’s columns. Since October 2001 , he has published his political cartoons in the editorial page of El Comercio. His work has also been published in Expreso, Liberacion, Ojo, Foreign Policy, La Cronica, El Idiota, El/diota Ilustrado and Monos y Monadas. His publications include Anita, selection of the best comic strips published in Ojo newspaper (1 992) ; Genio y Figura de los Arequipeno, portfolio of cartoons of historical characters from Arequipa; and El Secreto de las Pampas de Nazca, comic strip about the life of Maria Rieche based on a script by Luis Freire.

Still snowing in London!

London today

We still have snow although not quite as bad as yesterday,  At least the tubes and buses are running (well most of them)

 

 

On another note, and I am probably quite slow in picking this one up, “a lorry was found hanging off the back” of the HSS.  Found!  It almost sounds as if they never noticed it until they were about to set off!

London in the snow

We have between 4” – 6” of snow, the buses aren’t running and pretty much every tube is either suspended or part suspended, but I managed to brave my way through the snow and reach the office.

Only three of us made it in – so it is a fairly relaxed day.

The above are snowmen outside the Crown Tavern, Clerkenwell Green.

“As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God”

We had the vicar and his wife, Will and Ellen for those in the know, around for dinner last Saturday night, and the topic drifted towards missionary work.

They mentioned an article, which they gave us a copy of at church next morning, written by Matthew Parris in the Times.

It is an article that has certainly been interesting to think about while the wife and I contemplate our role in mission, development and humanitarian works.

Anyway, without any further comment, here's a couple of quotes from the Times article:

"Now a confirmed atheist, I've become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people's hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good."

"The Christians were always different. Far from having cowed or confined its converts, their faith appeared to have liberated and relaxed them. There was a liveliness, a curiosity, an engagement with the world - a directness in their dealings with others - that seemed to be missing in traditional African life. They stood tall."

"It would suit me to believe that their honesty, diligence and optimism in their work was unconnected with personal faith. Their work was secular, but surely affected by what they were. What they were was, in turn, influenced by a conception of man's place in the Universe that Christianity had taught."