St. Pancras News
May
Being Still in Ireland
Earlier this month I was able to take a week of retreat time and head to Sligo Ireland! Because of a mix up in communication with the priests at my parish (due to us being without a head priest), I only heard that I actually had this time a couple weeks before hand. I was very lucky to find the place that I did.
Holy Hill Hermitage is located on the northwest coast of Ireland near Sligo. The monks (both men and women) are associated with the Carmelite order and have two hermitages- one in Ireland and one in Colorado. Since the group originally started in Colorado, all of them are American (including the five "apostolic hermits" in Ireland). The hermitage was a grand old manor house which was owned by a wealthy Irish businessman in the early 19th century. The man eventually died and the family finally gave it to the Catholic diocese. The church in turn handed it over to this order of monks who took it upon themselves to rebuild the entire property. When it was the acquired, the house was in terrible condition and the stables were just walls with trees growing inside. 15 years later, this is a very different story. The stable area was turned into apartments, a kitchen, and a library that contained 6,000 volumes. The house has been totally redone and now incorporates many offices, sitting rooms, and a chapel. There are now about 10 cabins on the entire estate (5 of which the hermits use) and are rented out to retreatants. Perhaps the most amazing thing about this site is that these Carmelite monks did most of the construction and restoration themselves.
I flew out of London at 8am and got into Dublin at around 9am. After finding the main train station, I boarded a train and headed across Ireland (from the East Coast to the West Coast) and got into Sligo at around 2pm. What I did not think out clearly was the fact that it was a Bank Holiday that day (the UK and Ireland have Bank Holidays on specific dates- they are glorious things). My next step from Sligo was to take a short bus ride to the little village of Skreen where the monks were supposed to pick me up (though I had not made recent contact). Stumbling up to the bus station with all my things, I realized that no buses were going to Skreen that day because of the Bank Holiday. Wondering what my next step was, I called the hermitage and finally got through. One of the sisters answered and seemed surprised to hear from me. Apparently, one of the other monks had misread my email and the dates that I gave for staying there. They actually expected me a day later instead of the Bank Holiday. On top of that, she said that they usually don't take retreatants on Mondays because it is there "Desert Day", or the day where they have complete solitude and are out of the office. "You are one lucky young man!", she said. The only reason why she was in the office was to grab some keys for the hermitage vehicle to take another retreatant back to the train station in Sligo (because the busses were not running). Luckily, my phone call intercepted her while she was there and she randomly decided to pick up the phone. It was a day that I had the Lord on my side!
After arriving and unpacking in my wonderfully furnished cabin which lay about 20 ft. away from a mountain stream, I went for a walk around the property. It was an incredible evening (the weather followed the same theme every day of the week- warm and sunny), and I found wonderful places of peace among the flowers, trees, and vegetables that lay all around. The hermitage lay at the foot of a large mountain which rose impressively above our cabins. From the manor house, one could stretch out and read in front of a breathtaking view of the Atlantic Ocean and other mountains across the bay.
In my week with the monks, I participated in many community activities of gardening, mowing, and hiking. One of the monks, Brother Thomas, really connected with me as we both have a deep interest in hiking. Thomas was the first insulin dependent diabetic to hike the 2,000 mile Appalachian Trail straight through. He hiked it in 121 days!! "That is how I decided to become a monk", he said. "I needed to be with nature." Thomas used to be a public accountant before turning to the monastic life. He summed up his incredible story by saying: "You just need to be still sometimes." Being still was a very important part of my time in Ireland. For the first time, I could listen to the birds, water, leaves, and wind and really take something deeper in.
This fact proved incredibly true on my last day in Ireland when I decided to bike down to the beach (or "Strand" as the Irish call it). It was a cooler day and overcast which contrasted with the beautiful week of weather that we had previously. When I arrived at the beach I found that I was the only person there. This beach stretched about 8 miles down the coast and presented you with the most incredible Irish countryside views. Being surprised at the fact of me being the only one there, I first became sheepish and just sat near the car park and watched the waves come in. However, seeing this as an opportunity to be with God, I later got up and started to walk and then playfully run across the vast stretches of beach! As my footprints dotted the shoreline, I stopped again and listened.... The waves crashed along the shore and my heavy breathing were the only sounds that anyone could hear for miles around. Time seemed to stand still.
Sometimes it is the moments that we have alone with God that refreshes us the most. For me, Ireland filled me with the most incredible joy and hope. We all need retreats I think. We all need to be with God in a new way.
London: Experiencing it with a Friend
The month of May has been very busy on multiple levels. Parish work continues to rumble along at a good pace and the realization of a time when I will be leaving this place keeps poking at me in stronger ways. This month has also been a time where more than ever, my two worlds (the world of Minnesota and the world of London) keep crashing into one another.
No more is this apparent then when I am hosting friends here. EVERYONE it seems wants to come to London. I sometimes think I should quit my work in the church and just open "Eric's Hotel" at the Vicarage. Along with many of my fellow traveling volunteers now realizing that they only have a couple months left here, there have also been a couple friends from the United States that have made the adventure to this wonderful country known as England.
One such friend who just spent 10 days here is called Nicholas. Nicholas and I met two years ago in Glacier National Park when we were both on an ACMNP (A Christian Ministry in the National Parks) worship team. Having both discovered our passion for Lutheran theology and music, we hit it off and have become very good friends ever since. Nicholas just completed his second year of seminary at Luther Seminary and is about to head off to his internship.
When you are volunteering abroad for a year, you have to be very careful in how you see your past friendships fitting in with your current life. It can be very hard at times as these two different worlds don't overlap much at all. What is incredibly beneficial about it if you do get it to work, however, is that it becomes an opportunity where you can show them a glimpse of the struggles, joys, and environment that you unknowingly have grown to love (at least for me).
Because of Nicholas being so involved in the United States with the church, I decided I wanted to show him as much as I could on how this parish in London works. One such event that I brought him to was an outing with 40 Year 6 (Grade 5) school children to Hampstead Heath from Brecknock Primary School. This opportunity was perhaps the greatest window into the deep, varied, and rich culture of London. Nicholas later commented how incredible it was to be around so many kids of different faiths and cultures. Nicholas saw first hand how to interact and relate to others. "Do you pray??", asked one of the Bengali Muslim girls to Nicholas. "Yes", he replied. "We pray too! Why do you pray?", she asked. "Well", he said, "It's a good chance to give thanks for the things that we eat and thank God for life." "Yeah, but sometimes I forget to pray.... do you forget to pray?", she asked again. "Of course, we are human", he said, "We forget sometimes." Immediately, a big smile appeared girl's face. For these kids, ministry is being there and relating to them, not lecturing them. It is a chance to show both them and us that we have more in common than what we think. Nicholas and I both came away from this experience with a new sense of life in our hearts.
Nicholas also joined me for an event in the parish called "Parish Club". This group is basically made up of older church woman that get together every other week for tea and talk about various subjects. Realizing that a lot of people here know that I am Lutheran but are unaware of what exactly that means I decided that it would be a lot of fun to tell these Church of England women about the Lutheran Church. After explaining a little about Luther's life and theology, we wrapped up with a triumphant hymn of "A Mighty Fortress". The women absolutely loved it! A couple days later, one of the ladies came up to me and said "You know what? After your presentation I went out and acquired a book about Martin Luther. I already have a que up of people who are going to get it next after I read it!" It was quite an honor indeed.
This morning Nicholas left for home to start his new summer job. We both walked down to Kings Cross Station having a wonderful discussion on the future and what lies ahead for us. After embracing, I watched my friend get on the train bound for Heathrow Airport and kept thinking to myself: Nicholas is no longer a friend who will be hearing stories of London from me, but a friend who has experienced London with me. In a future that lends itself to being uncertain, that is a foundation I can count on.
Showing posts with label United Kingdom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label United Kingdom. Show all posts
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Friday, May 16, 2008
Acting 4 England Spring Newsletter - Kristin in the UK
A Glimpse of Community in Potters Bar
After a busy, and somewhat stressful, week at Act 4 I started flipping through some of the information I received in Chicago at orientation. I came across a sheet of paper titled "Thoughts to consider throughout the year." One of the points that really struck me was this:
"Invest your energies in people. Don't try to perfect 'the machine.'"
My week is filled with school assemblies, designing the new website, working on the newsletter and the 2008 Holiday Club application and so many other technical things.
Those of you who know me, know that I LOVE routines, schedules and lists. Sometimes I love these planning tools so much that it captivates my life. I become trapped in them. I think we, as humans, all get trapped into our schedules and routines.
When I read this point, I started to worry a little that I wasn't focusing my energies on people but on my lists, agendas and the Act 4 "Machine."
On Fridays, I help out at a youth club which is run at St. John's Methodists Church in Potters Bar. This club is for secondary age kids, mainly middle school and high school.
I started working at this club in September and only worked it every other week. The first four months I sat behind the tuck table (candy table). I didn't communicate that much with the kids. I would walk around for a bit but then always returned to the tuck table. I don't know what stopped me from talking with the kids at the club but I just didn't seem to find my niche.
In February I said to myself "Right, Kristin you are not going to sit at the tuck table and instead you are going to hang out with some of the girls."
And that week I sat and talked to some of the girls. And after that week and the week after that I talked to more kids. Now, I hang out with the same group of kids every week at the club. I stopped going every other week and started going every week because I wanted to go and I needed to go.
I went from sitting at the tuck table and not conversing to giving out my mobile number and telling them to call me with questions throughout the week, getting hugs from them as they leave the club and more importantly, listening to them.
I do get caught in my agenda throughout the week as I spend time taking pictures of puppets, dressing up as a mermaid in front of 200 primary school kids, working on a media list and preparing Holiday Club.
But on Friday nights I'm at St. John's Youth Club listening to Joe's music on his i-Pod, hearing about Olivia's new boyfriend, talking to Emma about stupid teachers and just laughing with a great group of kids!
Adventures in March & April
I got to see one of my sorority sisters, Kate Labriola in London with two of her friends. I hadn't seen Kate for about three years and it was wonderful to reunite with her and hear her crazy laugh! We had dinner and a great evening walking around London!
I saw Les Miserables with my friend Kelly, another YAGM volunteer. We met in London and had a picnic near the London Eye before seeing the show. Les Mis was amazing and I had the music in my head for like a week after seeing it. After the show we met up with our friend Amanda (YAGM volunteer) for Mexican food… something I've missed a lot while in England!
I went over to my supervisor's house for dinner one night. His son Ruari, who is 2 years old, finally said my name and was obsessed with me the entire evening. He even wanted me to put him to bed so I had to sit with him for 30 minutes until he went to sleep. My supervisor said it was good training for any future little Kristins– that's not going to happen anytime soon though!
I hung out with my friend Anthony (YAGM volunteer) one Saturday in London. We went to Canary Warf and did some other sightseeing. On Sunday we attended St. Anne's Lutheran Church in London with our friends Kelly and Amanda (YAGMs). Having not gone to a Lutheran service for eight months I was so excited to sing the liturgy, "Crown Him with Many Crowns," and "Take O Take Me As I Am." I really felt that the Lutheran part of my soul was filled by attending the service!
My Sense of Salzburg, Austria
In March I traveled to Salzburg, Austria for a holiday with my friend Maren, another YAGM volunteer. We had a great time and here are some memories from our trip!
I saw breathtaking views from the top of the Untersberg Mountain. Maren and I took the cable car ride up to the top. I was a little nervous about this but Maren said I had to do it– and I'm so glad I did! There was so much snow up at the top and Maren and I had a fabulous time taking in the mountains!
I smelled pretzels and sausages every day as we walked through the market during lunch time! Not only did I smell them but I tasted them too!
I tasted the Salzburger Nockerl! This dessert was mentioned in my Salzburg book and I was so excited to try one. Little did I know that you could seriously spilt this sweet soufflé with about 10 people! When it came to our table Maren and I lost it because it was so big! We could barely finish half of it. The soufflé is whipped into three large peaks, signifying the three Salzburg mountains.
I touched hand painted eggs. One of the stores in Salzburg had at least 2,000 different kinds of hand painted eggs. They were all beautiful and I wanted to buy them all while Maren felt tempted to smash them!
I heard the Sound of Music being played as we drove through the hills on our Sound of Music tour! We did the tour on our first day in Salzburg and I'm so glad we did. It was absolutely amazing and we got to see a lot of the sites from the movie. My favorite part was seeing the gazebo where Leisel sings "I Am Sixteen Going on Seventeen." We returned to this site during our trip and even got to go inside it (it's normally kept locked)- Maren and I were thrilled!
-- ~Kristin
After a busy, and somewhat stressful, week at Act 4 I started flipping through some of the information I received in Chicago at orientation. I came across a sheet of paper titled "Thoughts to consider throughout the year." One of the points that really struck me was this:
"Invest your energies in people. Don't try to perfect 'the machine.'"
My week is filled with school assemblies, designing the new website, working on the newsletter and the 2008 Holiday Club application and so many other technical things.
Those of you who know me, know that I LOVE routines, schedules and lists. Sometimes I love these planning tools so much that it captivates my life. I become trapped in them. I think we, as humans, all get trapped into our schedules and routines.
When I read this point, I started to worry a little that I wasn't focusing my energies on people but on my lists, agendas and the Act 4 "Machine."
On Fridays, I help out at a youth club which is run at St. John's Methodists Church in Potters Bar. This club is for secondary age kids, mainly middle school and high school.
I started working at this club in September and only worked it every other week. The first four months I sat behind the tuck table (candy table). I didn't communicate that much with the kids. I would walk around for a bit but then always returned to the tuck table. I don't know what stopped me from talking with the kids at the club but I just didn't seem to find my niche.
In February I said to myself "Right, Kristin you are not going to sit at the tuck table and instead you are going to hang out with some of the girls."
And that week I sat and talked to some of the girls. And after that week and the week after that I talked to more kids. Now, I hang out with the same group of kids every week at the club. I stopped going every other week and started going every week because I wanted to go and I needed to go.
I went from sitting at the tuck table and not conversing to giving out my mobile number and telling them to call me with questions throughout the week, getting hugs from them as they leave the club and more importantly, listening to them.
I do get caught in my agenda throughout the week as I spend time taking pictures of puppets, dressing up as a mermaid in front of 200 primary school kids, working on a media list and preparing Holiday Club.
But on Friday nights I'm at St. John's Youth Club listening to Joe's music on his i-Pod, hearing about Olivia's new boyfriend, talking to Emma about stupid teachers and just laughing with a great group of kids!
Adventures in March & April
I got to see one of my sorority sisters, Kate Labriola in London with two of her friends. I hadn't seen Kate for about three years and it was wonderful to reunite with her and hear her crazy laugh! We had dinner and a great evening walking around London!
I saw Les Miserables with my friend Kelly, another YAGM volunteer. We met in London and had a picnic near the London Eye before seeing the show. Les Mis was amazing and I had the music in my head for like a week after seeing it. After the show we met up with our friend Amanda (YAGM volunteer) for Mexican food… something I've missed a lot while in England!
I went over to my supervisor's house for dinner one night. His son Ruari, who is 2 years old, finally said my name and was obsessed with me the entire evening. He even wanted me to put him to bed so I had to sit with him for 30 minutes until he went to sleep. My supervisor said it was good training for any future little Kristins– that's not going to happen anytime soon though!
I hung out with my friend Anthony (YAGM volunteer) one Saturday in London. We went to Canary Warf and did some other sightseeing. On Sunday we attended St. Anne's Lutheran Church in London with our friends Kelly and Amanda (YAGMs). Having not gone to a Lutheran service for eight months I was so excited to sing the liturgy, "Crown Him with Many Crowns," and "Take O Take Me As I Am." I really felt that the Lutheran part of my soul was filled by attending the service!
My Sense of Salzburg, Austria
In March I traveled to Salzburg, Austria for a holiday with my friend Maren, another YAGM volunteer. We had a great time and here are some memories from our trip!
I saw breathtaking views from the top of the Untersberg Mountain. Maren and I took the cable car ride up to the top. I was a little nervous about this but Maren said I had to do it– and I'm so glad I did! There was so much snow up at the top and Maren and I had a fabulous time taking in the mountains!
I smelled pretzels and sausages every day as we walked through the market during lunch time! Not only did I smell them but I tasted them too!
I tasted the Salzburger Nockerl! This dessert was mentioned in my Salzburg book and I was so excited to try one. Little did I know that you could seriously spilt this sweet soufflé with about 10 people! When it came to our table Maren and I lost it because it was so big! We could barely finish half of it. The soufflé is whipped into three large peaks, signifying the three Salzburg mountains.
I touched hand painted eggs. One of the stores in Salzburg had at least 2,000 different kinds of hand painted eggs. They were all beautiful and I wanted to buy them all while Maren felt tempted to smash them!
I heard the Sound of Music being played as we drove through the hills on our Sound of Music tour! We did the tour on our first day in Salzburg and I'm so glad we did. It was absolutely amazing and we got to see a lot of the sites from the movie. My favorite part was seeing the gazebo where Leisel sings "I Am Sixteen Going on Seventeen." We returned to this site during our trip and even got to go inside it (it's normally kept locked)- Maren and I were thrilled!
-- ~Kristin
Saturday, May 3, 2008
April Newsletter! - Eric in the UK
St. Pancras News
April
Being Lost and the "Found"
After some long and extensive weeks, I decided to take a free day and go to the beautiful village of St. Albans (about 30 miles outside of London). It was so nice as the town contrasts London so greatly with the more peace and quiet. In my hurried preparation to go, I didn't really put in any details of the village in my bag so I didn't really have any idea where anything was. I decided that this was ok and just wandered around for a bit. I finally (after walking the wrong direction) found the high street and Central Square of the town. Then, walking further, I came upon the medieval Cathedral. I sat in the Cathedral for a while and then went walking around again before deciding to come back to the Cathedral. A wedding was just ending in the chapel, so I quietly stood around and admired the windows.
Upon my viewing of the various things in the Cathedral, I had a surprising tap on my shoulder and a rather tatty looking elderly man smiling at me. "I've seen you twice now walking up and down the high street and around the Cathedral", he said. "Now this is the third time I have seen you and with due respect sir, you look lost." Being surprised at this comment, I chuckled a little bit and said that I was just here from London and making it a day out. We talked for a little while about the wedding that was just ending as he knew the groom involved. "Would you like to walk up to the pub with me to get a drink- or don't you drink?", the man asked. Not being really sure (because of the man's outward appearance) if I would be the one paying for the drinks I hesitated for a split second. However, something about the man really struck me as being very genuine and real so I took him up on his offer.
He was, in fact, true to his word and bought me a pint of Guinness. As we sat down he said, "Now back at the Cathedral, I only meant partly that you look lost geographically.....I'm just going to be honest with you sir, you also look weighed down by something." Again, I was surprised at his very honest and upfront nature and replied that I did indeed feel weighed down by things. I suddenly realized that this day was probably the first day in a many weeks that I could actually allow myself to feel lost in a way. The stresses of work in London and my future obligations in life continue to put a lot of weight upon my shoulders, but don't allow much opportunity to outwardly show the stresses. "You can't let yourself be sucked in by things all the time.", the man said. "I'll be honest with you, I've been in that place too." He went on to explain how his job in aerospace engineering consumed both himself and his marriage. "I'll just be honest with you, you need to let yourself have times to express your insecurities but then also have people there for you who can walk with you in those insecurities. I've hadn't had that a lot in my life.", he finally said.
I was greatly inspired by what he had to say and his really honest spirit. We both sat and shared a lot about ourselves and what makes us feel "lost". After about a two hour discussion in the pub, it was time to go. "I'll be honest with you, you're a fantastic kid with lots of spirit and I respect you a lot.", he said as he shook my hand. As I was walking out of the pub, I turned around quickly forgetting to ask his name! "My name is Eric!", I said. "What's your's?" "Michael", he replied as he toasted his beer glass to me.
What I finally realized as I was walking back to the train station was the whole beauty of presence. Here was a man who thoughtfully acknowledged my being "lost" and who gracefully wanted to help. In many ways, Michael too was "lost" and gratefully thanked me for being there to help as well. BOTH of us needed each other in a way. We all get "lost" in our lives sometimes and burdened down with the stresses and responsibilities. In that struggle, there can sometimes be no more powerful thing than the presence and attention of another human being. Michael didn't give me any quick answers to solve any of the stresses or fears that I have, nor did I really give him any either. But what did lift both of us in the pub that day was the fact that there are human beings in this world that can give respect and share in struggles and stresses. Michael reminded me of that in a very real way. May we all have the courage to do to the same.
Tis' the Season of Taxes and Annual Church Meetings
There comes a point in every year where you take the time to pour over all of the numbers and issues of the past and try to focus on a new set of statistics. For many of us good citizens of the world, this comes in April where we pay our tribute to the spirits of tax and rebate. In the UK, there is no difference in this annual ritual and the church also participates. As part of a governmental order by the Church of England, all parishes need to have their Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) in the month of April. Thus, I had the privilege to continue my observation in the way a church is run.
After mass at St. Michael's, all of the parishioners, priest, and church council (observed by some homeless people in the back of course) gathered in the sanctuary for the meeting. Father Bruce started off with his priest report which gave a very positive message on how St. Michael's has done without their parish priest of 12 years (Fr. Nicholas) so far. "We must continue our positive energy and show this community that we are not just a building, but a family ", he said.
Then it was Will's, the treasurer of St. Michael's, turn to share his report. Unfortunately, this report wasn't as rosy. Because of the dramatic rise in living costs within London, gifts to the church just haven't been able to keep up with the need. Therefore, St. Michael's Church has had to do some dramatic moves to keep it's costs down. One of these measures was not turning on the heat for the building this winter. The debate among the parishioners then began to commence. It was the question on everyone's mind: What can we do to keep costs down?
Now, it is a challenging job to keep any meeting on track sometimes. However, for some weird reason, church meetings are always the worst at getting off track. Being that St. Michael's is made up of such a varied population, it undoubtly is the king of "getting-off-the-beaten-path" meetings. "Why can't we just close the door when we are having mass?", asks one person. "I think we should invest in environmentally sustainable ways of heating our building", another person immediately responds. "Now going back to that first question", replies a third person, "We can't shut the door because it won't give as welcoming of a message." "And it lets the pigeons in!", came a response from the back. "Yeah! Pigeons are a huge problem right now, we just can't have them inside flying around." "I think we should shoot 'em", said a younger boy in the front row. "Yes! I motion that we get a guy in to shoot the pigeons in our church!", yelled an older lady. "I refuse to come to this church if we shoot pigeons...that is ethically wrong. We should have a picture of a hawk in front of the door.", yelled a younger parishioner. "Well, that will just look frick'n ugly!", said a person who I swore walked in just a minute ago. Father Bruce and Emily (the church warden) finally mentioned that we were on the topic of managing our costs, not of hiring someone to come in and shoot pigeons. Needless to say, it was one of the most amazing "meeting adventures" I have ever had! Amazingly, we actually were able to get some things done in the end. The parishioners voted in a new church council in, decided on some logical ways to cut costs, and even took some steps to start doing something with the pigeons. It's amazing on what can be accomplished, even when everyone seems to want something different.
I acknowledge Fr. Bruce and Emily for leading such a good meeting. One never really thinks about the usefulness of having skills to lead a good meeting, but they are very good indeed! In many ways, it must be the grace of God that some decisions are made in parishes. Father Bruce said it best as we were leaving the church. He turned to me, smiled, and said "See, there is a God."
A Lesson of Love
This past month I had the opportunity to spend some time with my girlfriend Abby. She arrived in the middle of Holy Week, the busiest week of the year for me in the parish. My schedule was very intense as I had to: prepare for mass every day on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, help create a Garden of Repose (very important in the Anglican tradition) and be at the four-hour long Vigil on Thursday, prepping two 3 hour long masses back to back on Friday, and finally helping with both the Easter Vigil on Saturday and Easter Masses on Sunday. Needless to say, the week was jam packed. Incredibly, we were able to find things to do alone together as in going out for dinner and even going to a West End production of Les Miserables.
It still amazes me as to how a relationship grows and matures in a long distance environment. The state of being in a long distance relationship continues to pose new challenges and questions that I never expect. Ironically, I found that this was never truer than when my significant other was physically two feet away from me! Funny how that is....
I think one of the joys and challenges that face any relationship which spreads a distance is that of images. These images of your partner build themselves within our minds, even when we perhaps don't intend them to. When you are living in a world that is independent from the world of your partner, I think it is quite easy for these images to flourish. And for the most part they should! Knowing that your girlfriend or boyfriend is there with you in spirit is a powerful thing that has helped me a lot through tough and stressful times in London. In this sense, there is something comforting within this deeply personal and almost spiritual presence of your significant other. I find this to be an amazing and incredible gift when you find it. It emphasizes another dimension to your relationship that is quite special and reminds you that you are never alone.
In another way I think that images from long distance can be challenging. I have found out that you must not let your images of the person turn into expectations. This is very hard, if not impossible to not let happen at least a little bit. When not reminded of the true physical person, your imagination starts to build upon their unique qualities and attributes- especially within stressful situations that you really want them there for. Without being acknowledged, these feelings can command your perspective of the relationship. In some ways, I think this happened to me.
Instead of walking off the plane as the "sexual goddess who always says the right things and does no wrong", Abby walked off the plane as .....Abby. So thus, the challenge came to start things over in some ways. Of course I did know who Abby was on one level throughout the 7 months of phone calls and emails. But what surprised me more than anything was how much I did not know her on other levels. One forgets when they are in a long distance relationship about all of the levels in a relationship. I found that I had forgotten about her physical energy and her amazing facial expressions, how she walks and carries herself, and her general physical zest for life. All these things create the balanced whole. Getting to know each other again can be quite stressful and hard. Especially in a foreign environment when you don't truly know which way is up or down.
What I learned more than anything about having Abby here was the many qualities of love and what it takes to enter fully into a relationship with one another. Love is romantic and should be full of "highs" as having a romantic dinner or walking along the beach. College relationships are perhaps more abundant with these "highs" and you get used to the constant buzz of romance. But love also has a tough side, a side that needs commitment and patience. This side of love can hit you like a ton of bricks and leave you feeling unprepared. It is something that couples usually have to struggle through- especially when dealing with long distance. However, when you come out on the other side of this love, which will happen, I find that you will be all the stronger and grounded.
And you know what? It's worth it. Perhaps it is God talking within me that is giving me the strength to carry on, or perhaps it is craziness. It is probably both. Whatever it is, I know how blessed I am to have this girl in my life and for us to share a love that spans 4,000 miles. It was an incredible faith and emotional journey to have her here in the UK with me. What will I remember most from the whole thing? Falling in love with the "real" Abby all over again.
April
Being Lost and the "Found"
After some long and extensive weeks, I decided to take a free day and go to the beautiful village of St. Albans (about 30 miles outside of London). It was so nice as the town contrasts London so greatly with the more peace and quiet. In my hurried preparation to go, I didn't really put in any details of the village in my bag so I didn't really have any idea where anything was. I decided that this was ok and just wandered around for a bit. I finally (after walking the wrong direction) found the high street and Central Square of the town. Then, walking further, I came upon the medieval Cathedral. I sat in the Cathedral for a while and then went walking around again before deciding to come back to the Cathedral. A wedding was just ending in the chapel, so I quietly stood around and admired the windows.
Upon my viewing of the various things in the Cathedral, I had a surprising tap on my shoulder and a rather tatty looking elderly man smiling at me. "I've seen you twice now walking up and down the high street and around the Cathedral", he said. "Now this is the third time I have seen you and with due respect sir, you look lost." Being surprised at this comment, I chuckled a little bit and said that I was just here from London and making it a day out. We talked for a little while about the wedding that was just ending as he knew the groom involved. "Would you like to walk up to the pub with me to get a drink- or don't you drink?", the man asked. Not being really sure (because of the man's outward appearance) if I would be the one paying for the drinks I hesitated for a split second. However, something about the man really struck me as being very genuine and real so I took him up on his offer.
He was, in fact, true to his word and bought me a pint of Guinness. As we sat down he said, "Now back at the Cathedral, I only meant partly that you look lost geographically.....I'm just going to be honest with you sir, you also look weighed down by something." Again, I was surprised at his very honest and upfront nature and replied that I did indeed feel weighed down by things. I suddenly realized that this day was probably the first day in a many weeks that I could actually allow myself to feel lost in a way. The stresses of work in London and my future obligations in life continue to put a lot of weight upon my shoulders, but don't allow much opportunity to outwardly show the stresses. "You can't let yourself be sucked in by things all the time.", the man said. "I'll be honest with you, I've been in that place too." He went on to explain how his job in aerospace engineering consumed both himself and his marriage. "I'll just be honest with you, you need to let yourself have times to express your insecurities but then also have people there for you who can walk with you in those insecurities. I've hadn't had that a lot in my life.", he finally said.
I was greatly inspired by what he had to say and his really honest spirit. We both sat and shared a lot about ourselves and what makes us feel "lost". After about a two hour discussion in the pub, it was time to go. "I'll be honest with you, you're a fantastic kid with lots of spirit and I respect you a lot.", he said as he shook my hand. As I was walking out of the pub, I turned around quickly forgetting to ask his name! "My name is Eric!", I said. "What's your's?" "Michael", he replied as he toasted his beer glass to me.
What I finally realized as I was walking back to the train station was the whole beauty of presence. Here was a man who thoughtfully acknowledged my being "lost" and who gracefully wanted to help. In many ways, Michael too was "lost" and gratefully thanked me for being there to help as well. BOTH of us needed each other in a way. We all get "lost" in our lives sometimes and burdened down with the stresses and responsibilities. In that struggle, there can sometimes be no more powerful thing than the presence and attention of another human being. Michael didn't give me any quick answers to solve any of the stresses or fears that I have, nor did I really give him any either. But what did lift both of us in the pub that day was the fact that there are human beings in this world that can give respect and share in struggles and stresses. Michael reminded me of that in a very real way. May we all have the courage to do to the same.
Tis' the Season of Taxes and Annual Church Meetings
There comes a point in every year where you take the time to pour over all of the numbers and issues of the past and try to focus on a new set of statistics. For many of us good citizens of the world, this comes in April where we pay our tribute to the spirits of tax and rebate. In the UK, there is no difference in this annual ritual and the church also participates. As part of a governmental order by the Church of England, all parishes need to have their Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) in the month of April. Thus, I had the privilege to continue my observation in the way a church is run.
After mass at St. Michael's, all of the parishioners, priest, and church council (observed by some homeless people in the back of course) gathered in the sanctuary for the meeting. Father Bruce started off with his priest report which gave a very positive message on how St. Michael's has done without their parish priest of 12 years (Fr. Nicholas) so far. "We must continue our positive energy and show this community that we are not just a building, but a family ", he said.
Then it was Will's, the treasurer of St. Michael's, turn to share his report. Unfortunately, this report wasn't as rosy. Because of the dramatic rise in living costs within London, gifts to the church just haven't been able to keep up with the need. Therefore, St. Michael's Church has had to do some dramatic moves to keep it's costs down. One of these measures was not turning on the heat for the building this winter. The debate among the parishioners then began to commence. It was the question on everyone's mind: What can we do to keep costs down?
Now, it is a challenging job to keep any meeting on track sometimes. However, for some weird reason, church meetings are always the worst at getting off track. Being that St. Michael's is made up of such a varied population, it undoubtly is the king of "getting-off-the-beaten-path" meetings. "Why can't we just close the door when we are having mass?", asks one person. "I think we should invest in environmentally sustainable ways of heating our building", another person immediately responds. "Now going back to that first question", replies a third person, "We can't shut the door because it won't give as welcoming of a message." "And it lets the pigeons in!", came a response from the back. "Yeah! Pigeons are a huge problem right now, we just can't have them inside flying around." "I think we should shoot 'em", said a younger boy in the front row. "Yes! I motion that we get a guy in to shoot the pigeons in our church!", yelled an older lady. "I refuse to come to this church if we shoot pigeons...that is ethically wrong. We should have a picture of a hawk in front of the door.", yelled a younger parishioner. "Well, that will just look frick'n ugly!", said a person who I swore walked in just a minute ago. Father Bruce and Emily (the church warden) finally mentioned that we were on the topic of managing our costs, not of hiring someone to come in and shoot pigeons. Needless to say, it was one of the most amazing "meeting adventures" I have ever had! Amazingly, we actually were able to get some things done in the end. The parishioners voted in a new church council in, decided on some logical ways to cut costs, and even took some steps to start doing something with the pigeons. It's amazing on what can be accomplished, even when everyone seems to want something different.
I acknowledge Fr. Bruce and Emily for leading such a good meeting. One never really thinks about the usefulness of having skills to lead a good meeting, but they are very good indeed! In many ways, it must be the grace of God that some decisions are made in parishes. Father Bruce said it best as we were leaving the church. He turned to me, smiled, and said "See, there is a God."
A Lesson of Love
This past month I had the opportunity to spend some time with my girlfriend Abby. She arrived in the middle of Holy Week, the busiest week of the year for me in the parish. My schedule was very intense as I had to: prepare for mass every day on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, help create a Garden of Repose (very important in the Anglican tradition) and be at the four-hour long Vigil on Thursday, prepping two 3 hour long masses back to back on Friday, and finally helping with both the Easter Vigil on Saturday and Easter Masses on Sunday. Needless to say, the week was jam packed. Incredibly, we were able to find things to do alone together as in going out for dinner and even going to a West End production of Les Miserables.
It still amazes me as to how a relationship grows and matures in a long distance environment. The state of being in a long distance relationship continues to pose new challenges and questions that I never expect. Ironically, I found that this was never truer than when my significant other was physically two feet away from me! Funny how that is....
I think one of the joys and challenges that face any relationship which spreads a distance is that of images. These images of your partner build themselves within our minds, even when we perhaps don't intend them to. When you are living in a world that is independent from the world of your partner, I think it is quite easy for these images to flourish. And for the most part they should! Knowing that your girlfriend or boyfriend is there with you in spirit is a powerful thing that has helped me a lot through tough and stressful times in London. In this sense, there is something comforting within this deeply personal and almost spiritual presence of your significant other. I find this to be an amazing and incredible gift when you find it. It emphasizes another dimension to your relationship that is quite special and reminds you that you are never alone.
In another way I think that images from long distance can be challenging. I have found out that you must not let your images of the person turn into expectations. This is very hard, if not impossible to not let happen at least a little bit. When not reminded of the true physical person, your imagination starts to build upon their unique qualities and attributes- especially within stressful situations that you really want them there for. Without being acknowledged, these feelings can command your perspective of the relationship. In some ways, I think this happened to me.
Instead of walking off the plane as the "sexual goddess who always says the right things and does no wrong", Abby walked off the plane as .....Abby. So thus, the challenge came to start things over in some ways. Of course I did know who Abby was on one level throughout the 7 months of phone calls and emails. But what surprised me more than anything was how much I did not know her on other levels. One forgets when they are in a long distance relationship about all of the levels in a relationship. I found that I had forgotten about her physical energy and her amazing facial expressions, how she walks and carries herself, and her general physical zest for life. All these things create the balanced whole. Getting to know each other again can be quite stressful and hard. Especially in a foreign environment when you don't truly know which way is up or down.
What I learned more than anything about having Abby here was the many qualities of love and what it takes to enter fully into a relationship with one another. Love is romantic and should be full of "highs" as having a romantic dinner or walking along the beach. College relationships are perhaps more abundant with these "highs" and you get used to the constant buzz of romance. But love also has a tough side, a side that needs commitment and patience. This side of love can hit you like a ton of bricks and leave you feeling unprepared. It is something that couples usually have to struggle through- especially when dealing with long distance. However, when you come out on the other side of this love, which will happen, I find that you will be all the stronger and grounded.
And you know what? It's worth it. Perhaps it is God talking within me that is giving me the strength to carry on, or perhaps it is craziness. It is probably both. Whatever it is, I know how blessed I am to have this girl in my life and for us to share a love that spans 4,000 miles. It was an incredible faith and emotional journey to have her here in the UK with me. What will I remember most from the whole thing? Falling in love with the "real" Abby all over again.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
April Newsletter - Amanda in the UK
Dear family and friends,
It seems like it was just Easter with snow on the ground, but April has rushed past and it’s already May! Spring is quite rainy in London, but I can’t possibly complain, especially when I hear of the droughts and fires back home. The rain has caused our garden to explode with life. My housemates and I spent last Saturday spread out under the lilac tree, drinking tea and playing guitar. All of the gloomy, rainy days are worth the effort.
And while springtime and Easter bring about new birth and resurrection, our church is suddenly facing difficult transitions. Our vicar, Father Robert, announced just after Easter that he is leaving his position at St. Mary’s to become a bishop in Stockport (northern England). Due to the tight constraints put on by the diocese, he was unable to announce his move until the last minute. No more than four weeks separate his announcement and his final Sunday at St. Mary the Virgin, Primrose Hill.
Robert has been at St. Mary’s for nine years, and so many in the congregation have found it quite difficult to cope with the news. I’ve faced stunned parishioners who are very anxious about the future of St. Mary’s. Yet I’ve seen pastors move about in my own church experience, and have come to regard it as part of the business. No one is going to “replace” Robert; whoever shall take the post will bring his or her own ideas and energy. Robert is ready to move on, and I am excited for this new challenge in his life.
However, two weeks after Robert’s announcement, the youth team received a bombshell of their own: Paul, our supervisor and head youthworker, is moving on at the end of the summer. Suddenly I find myself asking the same questions as the grieving congregation: What will happen to youthwork once Paul leaves? Is it sustainable? Who can possibly “replace” Paul?
I’ve been coping by reminding myself that Paul’s departure corresponds with my own, so I don’t have to deal with as much of the transition as my colleagues. Yet I can’t help but think about how invaluable Paul’s contribution has been to youthwork at St. Mary’s, and more so, in fostering community in our area. Paul started St. Mary’s youthwork from scratch three and a half years ago. He established our “church-based” side through an alternative worship for teenagers as well as opportunities for confirmation and cell groups. But Paul’s philosophy is that Christian youthwork is not just about evangelizing or supporting kids who belong to your church. It also involves reaching out to the greater community in a spirit of love and inclusiveness. We preach the gospel to all young people, not through words of evangelism but through our hospitality and desire to include and love all kids.
Thus the bulk of St. Mary’s work has spread beyond worship and bible studies and other typical forms of Christian youth work. This choice has more to do with the lack of young people in our congregation than any conscious decision on Paul’s part. I am reminded of the parable of the banquet, in the gospel of Matthew, where the master invites his friends to a dinner and no one shows up. So he goes out into the streets and invites the marginalized people and they graciously come and enjoy his hospitality. Similarly, the privileged youth at our church don’t have time outside of Sundays, but the young people from the council housing are quite eager to get involved with what St. Mary’s Centre has to offer.
And in the mere three-and-a-half years that St. Mary’s has done youthwork, the amount of projects and funding has exploded. Our staff consists of Paul, myself (the current Time for God volunteer), as well as Anna and Clare, who study Youth and Community Work in Cambridge and dol their work experience with us. St. Mary’s also supports Jason Allen and his Eirini Project, an inner-city program to work with at-risk youth and young offenders. So in a typical week all sorts of young people come through St. Mary’s doors, from Christian elementary students to thirteen-year-old drug dealers.
I am in awe of how much work has come out of a program that is only three-and-a-half years old; and furthermore, how it is all due to the dedication, vision, and hard work of Paul. So I, with everyone else, am left asking: What next? Will the “new person” be as hard working as Paul? Will they get along with the staff? I can’t imagine working with a better supervisor, as Paul is fun and energetic, as well as being sensitive and a superb person to talk to.
So inevitably, thoughts of leaving and of new beginnings are on all of our minds. It reminds me that I, too, will be leaving St. Mary’s at the end of the summer. I can’t help but feel a bit guilty to leave in a midst of so much transition, even though my contract has always been for one year. Yet my concern is not so much about finding someone to “replace” me, but whether or not I’ve really made a valuable contribution to St. Mary’s. I’ve spent so much of the past eight months adjusting to a new city and lifestyle that only now do I feel as though I am making a tiny contribution.
What will I say to people when they ask about my year of mission? What can I show those of you back home, who have supported me through money, prayers, and words of encouragement? I will return to the States, leaving St. Mary’s much as I found it. I didn’t initiate tons of new programs. I didn’t bring more kids into our sessions. And St. Mary the Virgin hasn’t improved much in the way of community, still feeling like another big church in the middle of London.
I don’t want to let all of you down. I don’t want to let myself down, either. Can one put a price tag on missionary work? Is it about numbers and visible work? Is it about coming into a new environment and completely changing it? Not necessarily. Only now do the words from my orientation so long ago finally make sense to me: we are sent out to partake in a ministry of presence. This means that, above all, our goal should be to accompany the people we encounter and meet them where they are, just as Jesus meets us wherever we are at right now.
I still struggle to understand and apply this philosophy, especially when I try to see if I’ve “accomplished” anything in the past eight months. A ministry of presence is countercultural in that it does not value success by visible signs. No, I’ll probably return without making much of a dent. The young people I’ve encountered will continue to grow up and meet new youthworkers and soon forget about the American girl who was with them so briefly. And when people ask, I’ll smile politely and tell people that my year of mission was amazing, although part of me will always feel that I should have done more.
Maybe, if anything, it was me who was impacted, me who was changed. Youthwork has a completely different set of rules in central London than it does in rural North Dakota; and so rather than utilizing my years of experience with young people I had to start over. It has not been easy, and it’s often not fun; and consequently much of my year has been adjusting to a foreign model of youthwork. Yet at the same time I am thankful that I was not put into an easy placement at a small and friendly church. The extreme challenges of this year have opened my mind up to many new worlds. I can confidently answer that the biggest change that I made was not in London’s youth, but in myself.
With all of my love,
Amanda
It seems like it was just Easter with snow on the ground, but April has rushed past and it’s already May! Spring is quite rainy in London, but I can’t possibly complain, especially when I hear of the droughts and fires back home. The rain has caused our garden to explode with life. My housemates and I spent last Saturday spread out under the lilac tree, drinking tea and playing guitar. All of the gloomy, rainy days are worth the effort.
And while springtime and Easter bring about new birth and resurrection, our church is suddenly facing difficult transitions. Our vicar, Father Robert, announced just after Easter that he is leaving his position at St. Mary’s to become a bishop in Stockport (northern England). Due to the tight constraints put on by the diocese, he was unable to announce his move until the last minute. No more than four weeks separate his announcement and his final Sunday at St. Mary the Virgin, Primrose Hill.
Robert has been at St. Mary’s for nine years, and so many in the congregation have found it quite difficult to cope with the news. I’ve faced stunned parishioners who are very anxious about the future of St. Mary’s. Yet I’ve seen pastors move about in my own church experience, and have come to regard it as part of the business. No one is going to “replace” Robert; whoever shall take the post will bring his or her own ideas and energy. Robert is ready to move on, and I am excited for this new challenge in his life.
However, two weeks after Robert’s announcement, the youth team received a bombshell of their own: Paul, our supervisor and head youthworker, is moving on at the end of the summer. Suddenly I find myself asking the same questions as the grieving congregation: What will happen to youthwork once Paul leaves? Is it sustainable? Who can possibly “replace” Paul?
I’ve been coping by reminding myself that Paul’s departure corresponds with my own, so I don’t have to deal with as much of the transition as my colleagues. Yet I can’t help but think about how invaluable Paul’s contribution has been to youthwork at St. Mary’s, and more so, in fostering community in our area. Paul started St. Mary’s youthwork from scratch three and a half years ago. He established our “church-based” side through an alternative worship for teenagers as well as opportunities for confirmation and cell groups. But Paul’s philosophy is that Christian youthwork is not just about evangelizing or supporting kids who belong to your church. It also involves reaching out to the greater community in a spirit of love and inclusiveness. We preach the gospel to all young people, not through words of evangelism but through our hospitality and desire to include and love all kids.
Thus the bulk of St. Mary’s work has spread beyond worship and bible studies and other typical forms of Christian youth work. This choice has more to do with the lack of young people in our congregation than any conscious decision on Paul’s part. I am reminded of the parable of the banquet, in the gospel of Matthew, where the master invites his friends to a dinner and no one shows up. So he goes out into the streets and invites the marginalized people and they graciously come and enjoy his hospitality. Similarly, the privileged youth at our church don’t have time outside of Sundays, but the young people from the council housing are quite eager to get involved with what St. Mary’s Centre has to offer.
And in the mere three-and-a-half years that St. Mary’s has done youthwork, the amount of projects and funding has exploded. Our staff consists of Paul, myself (the current Time for God volunteer), as well as Anna and Clare, who study Youth and Community Work in Cambridge and dol their work experience with us. St. Mary’s also supports Jason Allen and his Eirini Project, an inner-city program to work with at-risk youth and young offenders. So in a typical week all sorts of young people come through St. Mary’s doors, from Christian elementary students to thirteen-year-old drug dealers.
I am in awe of how much work has come out of a program that is only three-and-a-half years old; and furthermore, how it is all due to the dedication, vision, and hard work of Paul. So I, with everyone else, am left asking: What next? Will the “new person” be as hard working as Paul? Will they get along with the staff? I can’t imagine working with a better supervisor, as Paul is fun and energetic, as well as being sensitive and a superb person to talk to.
So inevitably, thoughts of leaving and of new beginnings are on all of our minds. It reminds me that I, too, will be leaving St. Mary’s at the end of the summer. I can’t help but feel a bit guilty to leave in a midst of so much transition, even though my contract has always been for one year. Yet my concern is not so much about finding someone to “replace” me, but whether or not I’ve really made a valuable contribution to St. Mary’s. I’ve spent so much of the past eight months adjusting to a new city and lifestyle that only now do I feel as though I am making a tiny contribution.
What will I say to people when they ask about my year of mission? What can I show those of you back home, who have supported me through money, prayers, and words of encouragement? I will return to the States, leaving St. Mary’s much as I found it. I didn’t initiate tons of new programs. I didn’t bring more kids into our sessions. And St. Mary the Virgin hasn’t improved much in the way of community, still feeling like another big church in the middle of London.
I don’t want to let all of you down. I don’t want to let myself down, either. Can one put a price tag on missionary work? Is it about numbers and visible work? Is it about coming into a new environment and completely changing it? Not necessarily. Only now do the words from my orientation so long ago finally make sense to me: we are sent out to partake in a ministry of presence. This means that, above all, our goal should be to accompany the people we encounter and meet them where they are, just as Jesus meets us wherever we are at right now.
I still struggle to understand and apply this philosophy, especially when I try to see if I’ve “accomplished” anything in the past eight months. A ministry of presence is countercultural in that it does not value success by visible signs. No, I’ll probably return without making much of a dent. The young people I’ve encountered will continue to grow up and meet new youthworkers and soon forget about the American girl who was with them so briefly. And when people ask, I’ll smile politely and tell people that my year of mission was amazing, although part of me will always feel that I should have done more.
Maybe, if anything, it was me who was impacted, me who was changed. Youthwork has a completely different set of rules in central London than it does in rural North Dakota; and so rather than utilizing my years of experience with young people I had to start over. It has not been easy, and it’s often not fun; and consequently much of my year has been adjusting to a foreign model of youthwork. Yet at the same time I am thankful that I was not put into an easy placement at a small and friendly church. The extreme challenges of this year have opened my mind up to many new worlds. I can confidently answer that the biggest change that I made was not in London’s youth, but in myself.
With all of my love,
Amanda
March Newsletter - Amanda in the UK
Dear friends and family,
I hope you all had a blessed Easter. I have to admit that I got a bit homesick during the Eater holidays. All of my roommates suddenly got time off and decided to go to home. I woke up Easter morning, a bit sad and lonely…and found it to be snowing outside! “It’s a Christmas miracle!” I thought, before remembering which holiday it was. The snow was a nice treat, and a start to a good Easter. My supervisor and his wife had me over for dinner, along with their flatmates and guests. It sort of resembled the last supper, as all twelve of us crowded around a low table on the floor to share an Easter meal together.
Lent itself was a beautiful experience in our High Anglican Church. Things are taken quite seriously; we covered up the cross and altar as well as the icons for the entire season of Lent. We also held Lent groups in people’s homes, focusing on the gospel of Mark and its Easter account. And it seems like everyone in the congregation had a list of “fasts” for Lent, giving up things such as chocolate, alcohol, and meat. My supervisor even spent two days a week as a vegan.
As a good Lutheran, I considered fasting during Lent but didn’t actually follow through with anything. As it is famously said, “You know you’re a Lutheran when you feel guilty about not feeling guilty.” I admire my friends for giving things up, but I have never felt called to sacrifice something as mundane as candy. Last year I tried to give up chocolate; but rather than experiencing spiritual growth I went a bit neurotic. So this Lent season I decided not to occupy myself with worrying about chocolate or TV.
Yet it impressed me how much preparation, fasting, and waiting there is before the Easter celebration. Things were especially intense during Holy Week. The church seemed to be shrouded in a perpetual cloud of incense due to the additional services. I attended the Maundy Thursday service, which lasted an hour and a half, followed with a two and a half hour prayer vigil.
Just before the vigil started, we sang the words Jesus said to his disciples in the garden of Gethsemane: “Stay with me, pray with me….” I intended on staying the entire vigil—‘Yeah, Jesus, I won’t fall asleep;’ but after only an hour I was Jesus’ disciples, unable to keep my eyes open. It also left me too “church-outed” the next day to go to our Good Friday vigil, a three-hour service in the middle of the day.
So High Church Lent is beautiful, but also a bit too rigorous for me. Yet I found it quite inspirational to be surrounded by so much ceremony and discipline. More than anything, it made me think about the merits of giving up innocent indulgences and holding services that last more than an hour. I realize these little sacrifices are not necessarily superficial; they potentionally bring the bigger picture into our daily lives. They are a daily reminder of what the Easter season is all about.
This struck me as I was contemplating what to include in this month’s newsletter. Aside from Lent, March has been a rather uneventful month. It’s been wonderful. My life here in London feels settled and familiar. Aside from Easter, I haven’t felt homesick, and actually have begun to see London as my home. I thankfully still have opportunities to be challenged and to grow, but things have pretty much settled down to a comfortable pace.
The danger of being comfortable is losing innovation. Our routines focus us on the necessary tasks of each day. It is healthy to take life one day at a time; but now that I’m stepping back to write my newsletter, I realize that I have taken little time to reflect on the bigger picture of my ministry. I haven’t been grappling with redefining the term “missionary” for my post in Primrose Hill, London. I haven’t reflected on the mission statement of St. Mary’s Centre and whether our work is engaging in it. And I’ve pushed the thought of leaving in this fall to the back of my mind, carrying on as though I’ll be here quite a while.
Maybe it’s a defence mechanism; I spent my first three months stressing over the fact that I was not a “traditional” missionary and didn’t make any clear differences. Focusing on today and the people I encounter helps me to make a small but real difference—but I must not stop dreaming big. I came with a vision of real community for this spiritually impoverished area. I had dreams of uniting people together, starting as small as potlucks or family gatherings. I’ve put many of these dreams aside, because I didn’t find support or simply got too busy with daily tasks.
So now that I am comfortable where I’m at, I can use this time to make my dreams a reality. Moments such as these, when I prepare my newsletter and reflect on my work as a missionary, remind me of the “bigger picture.” It’s like the Lent sacrifices that remind us, in the busyness of our daily lives, that there is more to life than what we see immediately before us.
Thank you again for the letters and emails of support that I’ve received from many of you. These are truly humbling and remind me to make the most of my time at St. Mary’s. They also challenge me to do my best and not just remain “comfortable,” as I am not working alone but carry the encouragement and support from so many back home.
I pray that you have a nice spring and enjoy some much-needed sunshine. Until next time, God bless!
Much love,
Amanda
I hope you all had a blessed Easter. I have to admit that I got a bit homesick during the Eater holidays. All of my roommates suddenly got time off and decided to go to home. I woke up Easter morning, a bit sad and lonely…and found it to be snowing outside! “It’s a Christmas miracle!” I thought, before remembering which holiday it was. The snow was a nice treat, and a start to a good Easter. My supervisor and his wife had me over for dinner, along with their flatmates and guests. It sort of resembled the last supper, as all twelve of us crowded around a low table on the floor to share an Easter meal together.
Lent itself was a beautiful experience in our High Anglican Church. Things are taken quite seriously; we covered up the cross and altar as well as the icons for the entire season of Lent. We also held Lent groups in people’s homes, focusing on the gospel of Mark and its Easter account. And it seems like everyone in the congregation had a list of “fasts” for Lent, giving up things such as chocolate, alcohol, and meat. My supervisor even spent two days a week as a vegan.
As a good Lutheran, I considered fasting during Lent but didn’t actually follow through with anything. As it is famously said, “You know you’re a Lutheran when you feel guilty about not feeling guilty.” I admire my friends for giving things up, but I have never felt called to sacrifice something as mundane as candy. Last year I tried to give up chocolate; but rather than experiencing spiritual growth I went a bit neurotic. So this Lent season I decided not to occupy myself with worrying about chocolate or TV.
Yet it impressed me how much preparation, fasting, and waiting there is before the Easter celebration. Things were especially intense during Holy Week. The church seemed to be shrouded in a perpetual cloud of incense due to the additional services. I attended the Maundy Thursday service, which lasted an hour and a half, followed with a two and a half hour prayer vigil.
Just before the vigil started, we sang the words Jesus said to his disciples in the garden of Gethsemane: “Stay with me, pray with me….” I intended on staying the entire vigil—‘Yeah, Jesus, I won’t fall asleep;’ but after only an hour I was Jesus’ disciples, unable to keep my eyes open. It also left me too “church-outed” the next day to go to our Good Friday vigil, a three-hour service in the middle of the day.
So High Church Lent is beautiful, but also a bit too rigorous for me. Yet I found it quite inspirational to be surrounded by so much ceremony and discipline. More than anything, it made me think about the merits of giving up innocent indulgences and holding services that last more than an hour. I realize these little sacrifices are not necessarily superficial; they potentionally bring the bigger picture into our daily lives. They are a daily reminder of what the Easter season is all about.
This struck me as I was contemplating what to include in this month’s newsletter. Aside from Lent, March has been a rather uneventful month. It’s been wonderful. My life here in London feels settled and familiar. Aside from Easter, I haven’t felt homesick, and actually have begun to see London as my home. I thankfully still have opportunities to be challenged and to grow, but things have pretty much settled down to a comfortable pace.
The danger of being comfortable is losing innovation. Our routines focus us on the necessary tasks of each day. It is healthy to take life one day at a time; but now that I’m stepping back to write my newsletter, I realize that I have taken little time to reflect on the bigger picture of my ministry. I haven’t been grappling with redefining the term “missionary” for my post in Primrose Hill, London. I haven’t reflected on the mission statement of St. Mary’s Centre and whether our work is engaging in it. And I’ve pushed the thought of leaving in this fall to the back of my mind, carrying on as though I’ll be here quite a while.
Maybe it’s a defence mechanism; I spent my first three months stressing over the fact that I was not a “traditional” missionary and didn’t make any clear differences. Focusing on today and the people I encounter helps me to make a small but real difference—but I must not stop dreaming big. I came with a vision of real community for this spiritually impoverished area. I had dreams of uniting people together, starting as small as potlucks or family gatherings. I’ve put many of these dreams aside, because I didn’t find support or simply got too busy with daily tasks.
So now that I am comfortable where I’m at, I can use this time to make my dreams a reality. Moments such as these, when I prepare my newsletter and reflect on my work as a missionary, remind me of the “bigger picture.” It’s like the Lent sacrifices that remind us, in the busyness of our daily lives, that there is more to life than what we see immediately before us.
Thank you again for the letters and emails of support that I’ve received from many of you. These are truly humbling and remind me to make the most of my time at St. Mary’s. They also challenge me to do my best and not just remain “comfortable,” as I am not working alone but carry the encouragement and support from so many back home.
I pray that you have a nice spring and enjoy some much-needed sunshine. Until next time, God bless!
Much love,
Amanda
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Lutheran World Travels - Anthony in the UK
Anthony Presents
Lutheran World Travels
First Quarter Report
Greetings,
So it has been awhile and I have fallen behind with my monthly installments of what I have been up to. I figure why not just give you the first quarter report for 2008.
A lot has happenedover the course of the past few months.
In February my parents came to visit and spent a week with me. They got to see where it isthat I spend my days living and working. We also spent time running around Oxford and London. My mother was convinced that after I had successfully led her around London without getting to lost that I would be alright to make it on my own. My favourite part of their visit was sitting in the little pub not to far from our hotel in London andsharing a laugh and spending time with one another. The thing that I learnedfrom their visit is that we can often take certain relationships for grantedand it is only when we aren’t able to be with those people that we realise howmuch they really mean to us and how much we love them.
In March, myattentions had turned to running. I had the opportunity to take part in theReading Half-Marathon. It was a fantastic day and there were nearly seventeenthousand people that gathered at the Madejski Football Stadium to take part in the race.I was running the race as a sponsored run to raise money for Door of Hope, theplace where I work. In the end, I finished the race in 1 hour 45 minutes andraised £300 for the house.
As Easter rolled around I decided since I had a four-day holiday, I wanted totravel to see a little bit more of the country. I made my way up to visit a fellow volunteer in Saltburn, England. I had a fantastic time in the littlenorthern seaside town. I had proper fish & chips, great walks and conversationwith my friend, and it snowed for the first time that winter/spring.
We are now into April and I am beginning to think about my next big adventure here. A co-worker and I are getting ready for our cycle ride from the frontdoor of Hope House to Paris, France. We are undertaking this journey to raisemoney for Door of Hope and I couldn’t think of any better way of taking in thesights and smells of the French countryside. We will leave Hope House in Reading on May the 13th andride 65 miles to Portsmouth on the south coast of England. There we will board the overnight ferry toLe Harve, France. Upon our arrival there they will begin our 130-mile tripthrough the French countryside before we arrive in Paris, where we spend 2 daysresting and sightseeing and then begin our trip back towards England.
We have a set up a website that explains more about our trip and why we are going, http://www.justgiving.com/hopehouse2paris.I am truly looking forward to opportunity and sure that by the end of our tripI will have taken way to many pictures. I am also looking forward to sharing mystory from this experience as well.
Lots of Love from your Lutheran traveller,
Anthony
Soli Deo Gloria
Lutheran World Travels
First Quarter Report
Greetings,
So it has been awhile and I have fallen behind with my monthly installments of what I have been up to. I figure why not just give you the first quarter report for 2008.
A lot has happenedover the course of the past few months.
In February my parents came to visit and spent a week with me. They got to see where it isthat I spend my days living and working. We also spent time running around Oxford and London. My mother was convinced that after I had successfully led her around London without getting to lost that I would be alright to make it on my own. My favourite part of their visit was sitting in the little pub not to far from our hotel in London andsharing a laugh and spending time with one another. The thing that I learnedfrom their visit is that we can often take certain relationships for grantedand it is only when we aren’t able to be with those people that we realise howmuch they really mean to us and how much we love them.
In March, myattentions had turned to running. I had the opportunity to take part in theReading Half-Marathon. It was a fantastic day and there were nearly seventeenthousand people that gathered at the Madejski Football Stadium to take part in the race.I was running the race as a sponsored run to raise money for Door of Hope, theplace where I work. In the end, I finished the race in 1 hour 45 minutes andraised £300 for the house.
As Easter rolled around I decided since I had a four-day holiday, I wanted totravel to see a little bit more of the country. I made my way up to visit a fellow volunteer in Saltburn, England. I had a fantastic time in the littlenorthern seaside town. I had proper fish & chips, great walks and conversationwith my friend, and it snowed for the first time that winter/spring.
We are now into April and I am beginning to think about my next big adventure here. A co-worker and I are getting ready for our cycle ride from the frontdoor of Hope House to Paris, France. We are undertaking this journey to raisemoney for Door of Hope and I couldn’t think of any better way of taking in thesights and smells of the French countryside. We will leave Hope House in Reading on May the 13th andride 65 miles to Portsmouth on the south coast of England. There we will board the overnight ferry toLe Harve, France. Upon our arrival there they will begin our 130-mile tripthrough the French countryside before we arrive in Paris, where we spend 2 daysresting and sightseeing and then begin our trip back towards England.
We have a set up a website that explains more about our trip and why we are going, http://www.justgiving.com/hopehouse2paris.I am truly looking forward to opportunity and sure that by the end of our tripI will have taken way to many pictures. I am also looking forward to sharing mystory from this experience as well.
Lots of Love from your Lutheran traveller,
Anthony
Soli Deo Gloria
Monday, April 7, 2008
March Newsletter - Eric in the UK
St. Pancras News
March
A Celebration of Father Nicholas’s Ministry in Paris
Father Nicholas has worked for 12 hard years to promote the church within the new billion pound St. Pancras International Station and high-speed rail service. With his and other people's hard work, there now is a dedicated chaplaincy within the rail station and a name of St. Pancras that is retained- both of which Eurostar officials were originally opposed to. Our parish has now "twined" with a church on the other side of the channel called St. Vincent de Paul in Paris. With all of this work now seeming to pay off, it was only fitting that on the last official day where Father Nicholas was Team Rector of the Parish of St. Pancras that the staff and church council ride the Eurostar line to meet our new friends in France.
Without much sleep at all, we arrived at St. Pancras International at 6am to check in for our train that departed right on time at 6.55am. The ride of the train was incredible as it felt like we were literally floating. However with a top speed of 184 mph, a person sitting in a seat facing backwards (like the seat I was sitting in) can still be prone to motion sickness. When we got to Paris 2 hours later, I still tried to hold my head up high... but I sure didn't feel very well.
Our friends from St. Vincent de Paul were at the Gard du Nord Station with smiling faces and open arms. They immediately took us to their grand church which is only about 5 blocks away from the train station. After drinking wonderful French coffee and eating some tasty pastries, we went on a tour of the church. St. Vincent de Paul has had a similar history to that of St. Michael's Church (one of our four churches). It is a wonderful, grand, old building that is becoming tired and worn out. We were told the very familiar story of how the parish is struggling to raise enough money in order to keep the building together. Currently it is the roof that is the problem being over 100 years old. There are large buckets stacked along the walls ready to catch dripping water during a rain storm. "We hope we can replace the roof before the wood floor is completely gone", said Father Bruno as he was taking us around the chapel. In the fact that we would not be able to go on top of the Eiffel Tower because of the tremendous crowds on a Saturday, Father Bruno and the parishioners took us on a private tour up of the roof of the church. "We think this is an even better view!", said one of the parishioners. "The best part about it too is that it is free!" And what a magnificent view it was indeed! All of Paris seemed to be stretched out in front of us. It was a sight I will not forget for a long time!
After a wonderful reception at St. Vincent de Paul, the 18 of us from St. Pancras boarded a city bus and headed to the Eiffel Tower. I know from past conversations that you shouldn't expect to be "wowed" by the height of the Eiffel. What is incredible to see, however, is the size of the base. It's HUGE! What an incredible achievement the structure of the Eiffel Tower is! For lunch, we boarded a boat and cruised down the Seine River admiring the French architecture as we went. At the end of our boat ride, we came right into the presence of Notre Dame Cathedral. Now I have seen a lot of churches in my day, but I think I can honestly say that Notre Dame is one of the most beautiful churches I have ever been in. There is something about the gothic design that absolutely captivated me. It was lovely! At the end of our time, we all decided to sit down in a wonderful French cafe by the Cathedral and indulge ourselves in some French cuisine. Indeed, I was not disappointed as my Crepe' was wonderfully tasty!
My time in Paris, though short, was very meaningful. Though the views, buildings, and food were all beautiful, perhaps the most beautiful thing was to be with this parish family as it came to the end of a chapter in it's life. Fr. Nicholas could not stop smiling the entire day and was grateful to all of us for helping make this trip a reality. Everyone knows that after all the celebrations and parties are over, things will be different. This family will never be the same again. Though in many ways, that is what this trip in my mind tried to emphasize. A church family is always changing as it is continually saying heartfelt goodbyes to the "old faces" and warm welcomes to the "new faces". What links this group together is a belief that there is something more to the equation than just pure chance. We all have our lives to go live and sometimes that means physically leaving people who you really love. However, ties are not just physical at all and remain within us just as the hope and faith in God remains in us. It is important to take time and celebrate the current family ties that you have, but also to take time in knowing that the love of one another will go forth with you always for the rest of our lives.
Royal Albert Hall and a New Sense of Life
This last week, Mrs. Trigg- the headmistress at St. Michael's Primary School, asked me to accompany the Year 5 class on a field trip to the Royal Albert Hall. St. Michael's was part of a huge group of schools invited to the hall to participate in the Camden Music Festival. Over 2,000 kids from around the Borough of Camden participated in this event. What an event it was indeed! Knowing that this would be an incredible experience, I didn't hesitate to say yes to this invitation.
At the end of the school day, the 20 kids from Year 5 and four adults boarded a coach and braved London traffic to get to the Royal Albert Hall. The ring leader of all of us was an energetic and goofy Year 5 teacher named Mr. Russel. While on the coach, Mr. Russel did not hesitate to join in with the kids as they were singing some of the songs for the evening concert. He joked around and seemed in his prime with the kids. His inspiring energy made the long trip through the heavy traffic go quickly.
Royal Albert Hall is one of the largest performance halls in the world as it houses around 4,500 people. Thus, the 2,000 kids who were participating in the evening concert barley filled up half of it. It was an incredible sight to see all of the various school uniforms color the already beautiful hall. St. Michael's school was instructed to take a place right up on stage. I've never been so thrilled! There we were, with the pipes of the GIGANTIC Royal Albert Hall pipe organ rising in our background, sitting on stage at one of the most famous concert halls in the world! Then all the kids started to sing....and what a sound it was! There were so many kids (three sections of the hall were filled) singing during the mass choir pieces that it took four conductors to keep everything together. I still can't believe how the three choir conductors and an orchestra conductor kept everything in line. They even managed to pull off a rather descent sounding Gloria by Vivaldi. The British do not shy away from challenge in the arts! Perhaps Americans could learn a thing or two about the English passion for challenging music.
The period in-between the rehearsal and the concert got challenging as the energy from the kids got higher and higher. So what do you do with 2,000 10-12 year olds who become restless? Good question... I dont' really know. The organizers didn't really know either so consequently we had piles of kids running around and playing tag in the fancy corridors. To my amazement, some of the kids actually got THE WAVE started before the concert began. Yes ladies and gentlemen.... I have seen the wave go around the entire Royal Albert Hall like it was a football stadium. A site to see!
Because of the kids starting to go bonkers, Mr. Russel decided to take the St. Michael's kids out and have them run around in a nearby park. As the kids were playing a British version of Red Rover, I got the chance to look up and see the moon rise right above the Royal Albert Hall. It was a very clear and brilliant night as one could see even the London eye peaking through the trees. It was one of those moments for me when time decided to stop for an instant and I reflected on how blessed I was to be in that very spot. I was incredibly thankful for that moment as it created a space where I could back up for one instant and actually see where I was at and what I was doing. We all get so focused and buried within all the activity that goes on in our lives that it sometimes becomes quite difficult to see the "big picture".
Spring has started to come in London and things are beginning to change. Not only can I see the new buds start to form on the trees and the flowers start to bloom, but a new look on people's faces. It is a fantastic time of new life and hope. I saw the first glimmer of this outside Royal Albert Hall this week. I pray that we all might have the chance to stop where we are and acquire a new sense of life this spring.
March
A Celebration of Father Nicholas’s Ministry in Paris
Father Nicholas has worked for 12 hard years to promote the church within the new billion pound St. Pancras International Station and high-speed rail service. With his and other people's hard work, there now is a dedicated chaplaincy within the rail station and a name of St. Pancras that is retained- both of which Eurostar officials were originally opposed to. Our parish has now "twined" with a church on the other side of the channel called St. Vincent de Paul in Paris. With all of this work now seeming to pay off, it was only fitting that on the last official day where Father Nicholas was Team Rector of the Parish of St. Pancras that the staff and church council ride the Eurostar line to meet our new friends in France.
Without much sleep at all, we arrived at St. Pancras International at 6am to check in for our train that departed right on time at 6.55am. The ride of the train was incredible as it felt like we were literally floating. However with a top speed of 184 mph, a person sitting in a seat facing backwards (like the seat I was sitting in) can still be prone to motion sickness. When we got to Paris 2 hours later, I still tried to hold my head up high... but I sure didn't feel very well.
Our friends from St. Vincent de Paul were at the Gard du Nord Station with smiling faces and open arms. They immediately took us to their grand church which is only about 5 blocks away from the train station. After drinking wonderful French coffee and eating some tasty pastries, we went on a tour of the church. St. Vincent de Paul has had a similar history to that of St. Michael's Church (one of our four churches). It is a wonderful, grand, old building that is becoming tired and worn out. We were told the very familiar story of how the parish is struggling to raise enough money in order to keep the building together. Currently it is the roof that is the problem being over 100 years old. There are large buckets stacked along the walls ready to catch dripping water during a rain storm. "We hope we can replace the roof before the wood floor is completely gone", said Father Bruno as he was taking us around the chapel. In the fact that we would not be able to go on top of the Eiffel Tower because of the tremendous crowds on a Saturday, Father Bruno and the parishioners took us on a private tour up of the roof of the church. "We think this is an even better view!", said one of the parishioners. "The best part about it too is that it is free!" And what a magnificent view it was indeed! All of Paris seemed to be stretched out in front of us. It was a sight I will not forget for a long time!
After a wonderful reception at St. Vincent de Paul, the 18 of us from St. Pancras boarded a city bus and headed to the Eiffel Tower. I know from past conversations that you shouldn't expect to be "wowed" by the height of the Eiffel. What is incredible to see, however, is the size of the base. It's HUGE! What an incredible achievement the structure of the Eiffel Tower is! For lunch, we boarded a boat and cruised down the Seine River admiring the French architecture as we went. At the end of our boat ride, we came right into the presence of Notre Dame Cathedral. Now I have seen a lot of churches in my day, but I think I can honestly say that Notre Dame is one of the most beautiful churches I have ever been in. There is something about the gothic design that absolutely captivated me. It was lovely! At the end of our time, we all decided to sit down in a wonderful French cafe by the Cathedral and indulge ourselves in some French cuisine. Indeed, I was not disappointed as my Crepe' was wonderfully tasty!
My time in Paris, though short, was very meaningful. Though the views, buildings, and food were all beautiful, perhaps the most beautiful thing was to be with this parish family as it came to the end of a chapter in it's life. Fr. Nicholas could not stop smiling the entire day and was grateful to all of us for helping make this trip a reality. Everyone knows that after all the celebrations and parties are over, things will be different. This family will never be the same again. Though in many ways, that is what this trip in my mind tried to emphasize. A church family is always changing as it is continually saying heartfelt goodbyes to the "old faces" and warm welcomes to the "new faces". What links this group together is a belief that there is something more to the equation than just pure chance. We all have our lives to go live and sometimes that means physically leaving people who you really love. However, ties are not just physical at all and remain within us just as the hope and faith in God remains in us. It is important to take time and celebrate the current family ties that you have, but also to take time in knowing that the love of one another will go forth with you always for the rest of our lives.
Royal Albert Hall and a New Sense of Life
This last week, Mrs. Trigg- the headmistress at St. Michael's Primary School, asked me to accompany the Year 5 class on a field trip to the Royal Albert Hall. St. Michael's was part of a huge group of schools invited to the hall to participate in the Camden Music Festival. Over 2,000 kids from around the Borough of Camden participated in this event. What an event it was indeed! Knowing that this would be an incredible experience, I didn't hesitate to say yes to this invitation.
At the end of the school day, the 20 kids from Year 5 and four adults boarded a coach and braved London traffic to get to the Royal Albert Hall. The ring leader of all of us was an energetic and goofy Year 5 teacher named Mr. Russel. While on the coach, Mr. Russel did not hesitate to join in with the kids as they were singing some of the songs for the evening concert. He joked around and seemed in his prime with the kids. His inspiring energy made the long trip through the heavy traffic go quickly.
Royal Albert Hall is one of the largest performance halls in the world as it houses around 4,500 people. Thus, the 2,000 kids who were participating in the evening concert barley filled up half of it. It was an incredible sight to see all of the various school uniforms color the already beautiful hall. St. Michael's school was instructed to take a place right up on stage. I've never been so thrilled! There we were, with the pipes of the GIGANTIC Royal Albert Hall pipe organ rising in our background, sitting on stage at one of the most famous concert halls in the world! Then all the kids started to sing....and what a sound it was! There were so many kids (three sections of the hall were filled) singing during the mass choir pieces that it took four conductors to keep everything together. I still can't believe how the three choir conductors and an orchestra conductor kept everything in line. They even managed to pull off a rather descent sounding Gloria by Vivaldi. The British do not shy away from challenge in the arts! Perhaps Americans could learn a thing or two about the English passion for challenging music.
The period in-between the rehearsal and the concert got challenging as the energy from the kids got higher and higher. So what do you do with 2,000 10-12 year olds who become restless? Good question... I dont' really know. The organizers didn't really know either so consequently we had piles of kids running around and playing tag in the fancy corridors. To my amazement, some of the kids actually got THE WAVE started before the concert began. Yes ladies and gentlemen.... I have seen the wave go around the entire Royal Albert Hall like it was a football stadium. A site to see!
Because of the kids starting to go bonkers, Mr. Russel decided to take the St. Michael's kids out and have them run around in a nearby park. As the kids were playing a British version of Red Rover, I got the chance to look up and see the moon rise right above the Royal Albert Hall. It was a very clear and brilliant night as one could see even the London eye peaking through the trees. It was one of those moments for me when time decided to stop for an instant and I reflected on how blessed I was to be in that very spot. I was incredibly thankful for that moment as it created a space where I could back up for one instant and actually see where I was at and what I was doing. We all get so focused and buried within all the activity that goes on in our lives that it sometimes becomes quite difficult to see the "big picture".
Spring has started to come in London and things are beginning to change. Not only can I see the new buds start to form on the trees and the flowers start to bloom, but a new look on people's faces. It is a fantastic time of new life and hope. I saw the first glimmer of this outside Royal Albert Hall this week. I pray that we all might have the chance to stop where we are and acquire a new sense of life this spring.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Acting 4 England Midwinter Newsletter - Kristin in the UK
Breaking Down the Barriers
"Well, I don't think he's a converted Christian," she said as she poured me a cup of tea.
The statement took me by surprise, especially since it was made by someone who considers herself a Christian leader in our community. It was also hurtful because the person she was talking about is someone who is very dear to me, and has shown me great kindness and hospitality. I really couldn't think of anything to say but "Oh-right," and simply nod my head.
I walked away from that evening puzzled and very upset. How can we really say who is and who is not a Christian? Is it because one has not given a particular kind of public testimony? Is it because one has not claimed to have 'accepted Jesus as one's personal Lord and Savior,' as others have?
The 'unconverted Christian' is one of the kindest people I have met in England. He may not be particularly vocal about his faith but he attends worship every Sunday and is a strong financial contributor to the church.
The word 'Christian' is a very popular word for those who associate with the church and declare themselves Christians in the UK. I have heard numerous people use this word in their vocabulary, "He's not a Christian," "When I became a Christian…," "I don't think we should go because it's not Christian" Every time I hear these comments, I want to say "SO? Why does it matter if they are Christian or not?"
When I first arrived in England, many people asked me "When did you become a Christian?" and my common response has always been "22 years ago when I was baptized as a Child of God."
After living here for six months, I have realized that the use of the word "Christian" is sometimes used as much to divide and condemn, as it is to proclaim good news and bring healing. While much of England's history is associated with the Church, it is not surprising, given this judgmental version of Christianity, that a great majority of people in the UK have no connection with any religion or the Church.
This term, Act 4 is going into schools teaching children the importance of breaking down barriers and communicating with those who are different than you. Working with an organization called Through the Roof, which works with disabled people; we tell the story of the two friends who take the paralyzed man to see Jesus. Our message during the assembly is to make sure that we do not build walls to condemn others or divide ourselves from them, and if those barriers arise that we do all we can to knock them down.
As I read the Gospel, Jesus often had words of judgment for people who were pious and ready to condemn others, and, more often than not, He built bridges of love and acceptance to people perceived as sinners and the unconverted.
I have a diverse group of friends whom I love and absolutely adore. Some of them are affiliated with a church or religion and many of them do not associate themselves with any sort of religion.
It seems that some Christians who talk the talk, don't always walk the walk, even as those who are not particularly vocal about their faith or claim any faith sometimes act more Godly and Christ-like. Maybe St. Francis said it best, "Preach Good News all the time. When you need to, use words.
Love, Peace & Cheers!
Kristin
Meet Luisa Gorry: Act 4 Administrator
How did you get involved with Act 4?
I knew Sam from my last job with Hertsmere CVS which Act 4 is a member of and was interested when I heard they were looking to grow their team.
What do you do for the charity?
I am responsible for the day to day running of the office. From booking all the assemblies and keeping track of events in the diary, to getting in touch with church representatives and other supporters of Act 4. I also help the Act 4 team and Sam with any projects or upcoming events. Basically, I am the first point of contact for any general questions regarding Act 4.
What do you enjoy best about working with Act 4?
Act 4 is doing something that I feel really strongly about and it seems to fit in well with my lifestyle. I love the role I play in the charity and the people I come in contact with each day.
My Sense of England
I saw the green countryside of Wales in January. During the cold and wet weather, 150 Time for God volunteers gathered for a mid winter conference to reflect on our journey here in the UK. This event was a great opportunity to catch up with other YAGM volunteers and meet other international volunteers who are also serving in the UK.
I heard the screams and fireworks on New Years Eve in downtown London. I have never had a New Years quite like this one! After a fun dinner party, five YAGM volunteers and I traveled downtown to be with a crowd of 400,000 people to welcome in the New Year. It was a very memorable New Years celebration!
I smelled the farm when my friend Anna and I went to visit fellow YAGM volunteer Kelly in Weald, Kent. She lives on a dairy farm in a beautiful house that is 400 years old! We went on lots of country walks and even visited the milking parlor. It was wonderful to see a different part of England and to see a good friend!
I tasted hot cross buns, my new favorite pastry. I love hot cross buns and every time I eat them I always sing the nursery rhyme. Trisha, my host mum, has been buying lots of them recently and they are very tasty.
I touched daffodils in February! I went into London one Sunday to hang out with Maren, Anthony, Amy and her family and there were beautiful daffodils in St. James Park. The weather was gorgeous and it really felt like spring!
~Kristin
"Well, I don't think he's a converted Christian," she said as she poured me a cup of tea.
The statement took me by surprise, especially since it was made by someone who considers herself a Christian leader in our community. It was also hurtful because the person she was talking about is someone who is very dear to me, and has shown me great kindness and hospitality. I really couldn't think of anything to say but "Oh-right," and simply nod my head.
I walked away from that evening puzzled and very upset. How can we really say who is and who is not a Christian? Is it because one has not given a particular kind of public testimony? Is it because one has not claimed to have 'accepted Jesus as one's personal Lord and Savior,' as others have?
The 'unconverted Christian' is one of the kindest people I have met in England. He may not be particularly vocal about his faith but he attends worship every Sunday and is a strong financial contributor to the church.
The word 'Christian' is a very popular word for those who associate with the church and declare themselves Christians in the UK. I have heard numerous people use this word in their vocabulary, "He's not a Christian," "When I became a Christian…," "I don't think we should go because it's not Christian" Every time I hear these comments, I want to say "SO? Why does it matter if they are Christian or not?"
When I first arrived in England, many people asked me "When did you become a Christian?" and my common response has always been "22 years ago when I was baptized as a Child of God."
After living here for six months, I have realized that the use of the word "Christian" is sometimes used as much to divide and condemn, as it is to proclaim good news and bring healing. While much of England's history is associated with the Church, it is not surprising, given this judgmental version of Christianity, that a great majority of people in the UK have no connection with any religion or the Church.
This term, Act 4 is going into schools teaching children the importance of breaking down barriers and communicating with those who are different than you. Working with an organization called Through the Roof, which works with disabled people; we tell the story of the two friends who take the paralyzed man to see Jesus. Our message during the assembly is to make sure that we do not build walls to condemn others or divide ourselves from them, and if those barriers arise that we do all we can to knock them down.
As I read the Gospel, Jesus often had words of judgment for people who were pious and ready to condemn others, and, more often than not, He built bridges of love and acceptance to people perceived as sinners and the unconverted.
I have a diverse group of friends whom I love and absolutely adore. Some of them are affiliated with a church or religion and many of them do not associate themselves with any sort of religion.
It seems that some Christians who talk the talk, don't always walk the walk, even as those who are not particularly vocal about their faith or claim any faith sometimes act more Godly and Christ-like. Maybe St. Francis said it best, "Preach Good News all the time. When you need to, use words.
Love, Peace & Cheers!
Kristin
Meet Luisa Gorry: Act 4 Administrator
How did you get involved with Act 4?
I knew Sam from my last job with Hertsmere CVS which Act 4 is a member of and was interested when I heard they were looking to grow their team.
What do you do for the charity?
I am responsible for the day to day running of the office. From booking all the assemblies and keeping track of events in the diary, to getting in touch with church representatives and other supporters of Act 4. I also help the Act 4 team and Sam with any projects or upcoming events. Basically, I am the first point of contact for any general questions regarding Act 4.
What do you enjoy best about working with Act 4?
Act 4 is doing something that I feel really strongly about and it seems to fit in well with my lifestyle. I love the role I play in the charity and the people I come in contact with each day.
My Sense of England
I saw the green countryside of Wales in January. During the cold and wet weather, 150 Time for God volunteers gathered for a mid winter conference to reflect on our journey here in the UK. This event was a great opportunity to catch up with other YAGM volunteers and meet other international volunteers who are also serving in the UK.
I heard the screams and fireworks on New Years Eve in downtown London. I have never had a New Years quite like this one! After a fun dinner party, five YAGM volunteers and I traveled downtown to be with a crowd of 400,000 people to welcome in the New Year. It was a very memorable New Years celebration!
I smelled the farm when my friend Anna and I went to visit fellow YAGM volunteer Kelly in Weald, Kent. She lives on a dairy farm in a beautiful house that is 400 years old! We went on lots of country walks and even visited the milking parlor. It was wonderful to see a different part of England and to see a good friend!
I tasted hot cross buns, my new favorite pastry. I love hot cross buns and every time I eat them I always sing the nursery rhyme. Trisha, my host mum, has been buying lots of them recently and they are very tasty.
I touched daffodils in February! I went into London one Sunday to hang out with Maren, Anthony, Amy and her family and there were beautiful daffodils in St. James Park. The weather was gorgeous and it really felt like spring!
~Kristin
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Amanda in the UK
Dear friends and family,
February was quite an eventful month. I’ve been busy at work trying to fill David’s role, the other gap year volunteer who finished his service in January. I now find myself leading the sessions and realizing how lucky we were to have David around. Furthermore, the schools broke up for half-term in February, and I ended up chaperoning a junior high retreat. And in the midst of all of this, I took a week off to travel to the Holy Land. I am therefore finding it rather difficult to squeeze so much experience into one newsletter! Please forgive me if I get a bit carried away.
The opportunity to visit Jerusalem came up in November, but I actually didn’t purchase my tickets until January. I hesitated, not because I was apprehensive about going, but because my mother was quite worried. It seems as though all we Westerners ever hear about Israel is suicide bombers and terrorist attacks. Even the U.S. State Department highly cautions everyone who is thinking of travelling to Israel. So my mom had reasons to be worried. But being young and reckless, I was still eager to go; and so, after much thought and prayer, I bought my tickets. My friends encouraged me not to pass up such an amazing opportunity.
My friend Eric, another ELCA Young Adults in Global Mission volunteer, has a college friend who is living and working in Jerusalem. Eric had been planning on visiting him and invited me along. We would stay with this friend, Paul, at the Lutheran World Federation headquarters on the Mount of Olives. It was an ideal situation. I had recently been more interested in Israel and Palestine and quite eager to travel there; and now it seemed like my chance had come.
I tried to prepare for my trip by reading memoirs on pilgrimages, as well as familiarizing myself on the history. Nonetheless, I was still unsure what to expect. If I anticipate a spiritual experience, will I be disappointed? Do I instead focus on the historical sites? Is Jerusalem still a “Holy City,” or is it completely corrupted by warfare? My head spinning with such questions, I decided to leave my expectations behind and let God show me what He will.
My first impression, after landing in Tel Aviv, was that this is not a land of fear-stricken people. Israel may suffer from violence, but people also call it home. This is the Israel we don’t see on the media: the ordinary lives of individuals. I guess it’s sort of like when my young people ask me if everyone in America carries a gun. They are always surprised to hear that I don’t know anyone who’s ever been shot. America has a gun problem, but we don’t walk around in constant fear; so why should we expect Israelis to?
The other “Israel” that we don’t often see is that of the ordinary Palestinians, who live under the rule of the Israeli government. The history of the State of Israel is a complicated subject that I don’t think I’ll ever understand. Very simply, the British took control of Palestine from the Ottomans after World War I, and soon opened up the borders for immigration by Jewish people. Jews from all over Europe and beyond relocated in Israel to escape anti-Semitism, as did many Holocaust survivors after World War II. However, native Palestinians had been occupying the land for nearly 2,000 years. The British displaced many of them from their farms and homes to make room for the Jewish settlers. In 1958, the Jewish people declared their independence from British rule and the State of Israel was born.
So right from the start, Israel was an unstable country with conflicts stemming from displacement and religion. Fast forward to the present, and you have a strong Israeli government that not only controls Israel but also occupies the Palestinian territories of the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Israeli citizens live in a Western society of shopping malls and night clubs. Palestinians, however, have limited rights to own land and to move around in their own country. And the ugly truth is that the Israeli government is trying to force even more Palestinians from their homes in the West Bank.
Paul drove us through an Israeli settlement just outside of East Jerusalem. It was a gorgeous oasis in the desert with large homes and palm trees, reminiscent of southern California. Yet its construction meant that many Palestinians lost their homes, as well as access to the precious water supply on which the settlement was built. Driving past the security guards at the gate takes you to a completely different world, with Bedouin shepherds living in shacks.
It is not my intention to turn this newsletter into a soap box and preach to you about politics. But I can’t help but share the stories of the ordinary Palestinians I met. One of Paul’s co-workers has a permit to work in Jerusalem, but he has to cross several checkpoints just to reach Jerusalem from his home in the north. His 60-mile trip turns into a four-hour ordeal. As a result, he must live in Jerusalem during the week and risks the journey back on the weekends to see his family.
Other Palestinians living in East Jerusalem must only cross the security wall to get to work. Nonetheless, these permit-holding Palestinians line up as early as 4:30 a.m. to cross the wall and be to work by 8 a.m. The security wall, built in 2004, attempts to stop illegal movement in the border and thus keep out prospective terrorists. But it also functions to humiliate and further complicate those Palestinians who have genuine passes. We went through such a security point after accompanying Paul on a work trip to the West Bank. Only two or three people were let through the gate at a time. They showed their IDs and answered quite a few questions before being allowed to pass through. And they must do this each day, just to get to and from work.
Not all Palestinians are even this lucky, though. The ones who are unable to get work permits are not allowed any movement between Israel and the West Bank. We met Palestinian Christians in Bethlehem who cannot travel to Jerusalem for the Easter Festivals. Paul also told us of a Palestinian man whose father was dying of cancer. They live on opposite sides of the wall. Paul’s hospital applies for a medical pass to visit their hospital, just so that the father can come through for a day and see his son.
The persecution of the Palestinian people has led some to extreme action, who revolt against the Israelis through terrorism. You probably heard about the shooting at a Jerusalem rabbinical school last week that left eight people dead. The Israelis are justifiably concerned about preventing such attacks, and the security wall is an attempt to keep out potential terrorists. And so terrorist attacks such as these only causes the Israelis to take more precautions and to further restrict the movement of the Palestinian people.
So, as you can see, the situation in the Holy Land is anything but peaceful and, furthermore, represents a long and complicated struggle to which there is no clear solution. My visit opened me up to the Palestinian perspective, which the media scarcely highlights; yet it is clear that both sides contribute to conflict and violence. I just wanted to share what I learned and to give voice to those whom I met. Hopefully, my narrative will help you see more of Israel than is shown on the news.
I just realized that I’ve filled two pages without talking about the holy places. This was also a pilgrimage, after all! I’ll end with a few reflections about what I saw.
Israel is teeming with holy sites. It seems as though you can’t walk a block without stumbling into some important site, such as the birthplace of Mary or the site of the Last Supper. Some sites are quite questionable, such as the stone from which Jesus blessed the loaves and fish. Other events are commemorated in more than one place; there are, for instance, two churches of the ascension that both claim to be the authentic place where Jesus ascended into Heaven. One quickly learns that the event itself, not the precise location, is what is important.
Other sites seem to have more credibility. The Garden of Gethsemane, for instance, has been replanted; yet it still contains two olive trees that are more than 2,000 years old. And the Garden Tomb, discovered in the late 19th century and preserved by British volunteers, has very convincing evidence that this empty tomb could have been where Jesus was laid to rest.
On my last day in Jerusalem, I wandered around the Garden Tomb for a second time, to contemplate Jesus’ death and resurrection. I sat silently in the tomb, looking at the empty room and trying to let it all sink in. I imaged that, just perhaps, this site was authentic; that the glorious resurrection of Jesus occurred in that very room. Yet my mind kept wandering back to the events of the past week and all that I had been exposed to. Suddenly, it felt as though God was speaking to me, whispering the words engraved on the tomb’s door: “He is not here; He has risen.” It was then that I finally realized it did not matter whether or not this was Jesus’ tomb, or whether he blessed the loaves and fishes on that particular stone or gave the Sermon on the Mount on that particular hill. For our Lord Jesus rose from the grave; why do we look for him among the dead? Jesus is everywhere and with everyone, and he is especially with those who suffer.
I left Jerusalem with my head still swimming and with quite a heavy heart; but I no longer felt the burden of having special encounters with Jesus in the Holy Land. Instead, I was reminded in the Garden Tomb that we are to look for Jesus in our neighbors, and to proclaim him through promoting love and reconciliation. My heart still aches for the endless conflict in Israel and Palestine. But I have faith that Jesus will not abandon it forever, that peace can still be found among such violence and hatred from both sides.
Please forgive me for such a long newsletter, and for not speaking of my work here at St. Mary’s. I commend you for getting this far! Please continue to keep our ministry in your prayers, as I also pray for you back home.
Also, please note that we youth workers must submit a blog each month for St. Mary’s. If you haven’t had enough of my ramblings, feel free to check it out. Go to www.stmaryscentre.org.uk, and click on “What we’re thinking” at the top. Then look for the picture of me as a pirate.
That’s all for now! Take care, and I hope you have a blessed Easter,
Amanda
February was quite an eventful month. I’ve been busy at work trying to fill David’s role, the other gap year volunteer who finished his service in January. I now find myself leading the sessions and realizing how lucky we were to have David around. Furthermore, the schools broke up for half-term in February, and I ended up chaperoning a junior high retreat. And in the midst of all of this, I took a week off to travel to the Holy Land. I am therefore finding it rather difficult to squeeze so much experience into one newsletter! Please forgive me if I get a bit carried away.
The opportunity to visit Jerusalem came up in November, but I actually didn’t purchase my tickets until January. I hesitated, not because I was apprehensive about going, but because my mother was quite worried. It seems as though all we Westerners ever hear about Israel is suicide bombers and terrorist attacks. Even the U.S. State Department highly cautions everyone who is thinking of travelling to Israel. So my mom had reasons to be worried. But being young and reckless, I was still eager to go; and so, after much thought and prayer, I bought my tickets. My friends encouraged me not to pass up such an amazing opportunity.
My friend Eric, another ELCA Young Adults in Global Mission volunteer, has a college friend who is living and working in Jerusalem. Eric had been planning on visiting him and invited me along. We would stay with this friend, Paul, at the Lutheran World Federation headquarters on the Mount of Olives. It was an ideal situation. I had recently been more interested in Israel and Palestine and quite eager to travel there; and now it seemed like my chance had come.
I tried to prepare for my trip by reading memoirs on pilgrimages, as well as familiarizing myself on the history. Nonetheless, I was still unsure what to expect. If I anticipate a spiritual experience, will I be disappointed? Do I instead focus on the historical sites? Is Jerusalem still a “Holy City,” or is it completely corrupted by warfare? My head spinning with such questions, I decided to leave my expectations behind and let God show me what He will.
My first impression, after landing in Tel Aviv, was that this is not a land of fear-stricken people. Israel may suffer from violence, but people also call it home. This is the Israel we don’t see on the media: the ordinary lives of individuals. I guess it’s sort of like when my young people ask me if everyone in America carries a gun. They are always surprised to hear that I don’t know anyone who’s ever been shot. America has a gun problem, but we don’t walk around in constant fear; so why should we expect Israelis to?
The other “Israel” that we don’t often see is that of the ordinary Palestinians, who live under the rule of the Israeli government. The history of the State of Israel is a complicated subject that I don’t think I’ll ever understand. Very simply, the British took control of Palestine from the Ottomans after World War I, and soon opened up the borders for immigration by Jewish people. Jews from all over Europe and beyond relocated in Israel to escape anti-Semitism, as did many Holocaust survivors after World War II. However, native Palestinians had been occupying the land for nearly 2,000 years. The British displaced many of them from their farms and homes to make room for the Jewish settlers. In 1958, the Jewish people declared their independence from British rule and the State of Israel was born.
So right from the start, Israel was an unstable country with conflicts stemming from displacement and religion. Fast forward to the present, and you have a strong Israeli government that not only controls Israel but also occupies the Palestinian territories of the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Israeli citizens live in a Western society of shopping malls and night clubs. Palestinians, however, have limited rights to own land and to move around in their own country. And the ugly truth is that the Israeli government is trying to force even more Palestinians from their homes in the West Bank.
Paul drove us through an Israeli settlement just outside of East Jerusalem. It was a gorgeous oasis in the desert with large homes and palm trees, reminiscent of southern California. Yet its construction meant that many Palestinians lost their homes, as well as access to the precious water supply on which the settlement was built. Driving past the security guards at the gate takes you to a completely different world, with Bedouin shepherds living in shacks.
It is not my intention to turn this newsletter into a soap box and preach to you about politics. But I can’t help but share the stories of the ordinary Palestinians I met. One of Paul’s co-workers has a permit to work in Jerusalem, but he has to cross several checkpoints just to reach Jerusalem from his home in the north. His 60-mile trip turns into a four-hour ordeal. As a result, he must live in Jerusalem during the week and risks the journey back on the weekends to see his family.
Other Palestinians living in East Jerusalem must only cross the security wall to get to work. Nonetheless, these permit-holding Palestinians line up as early as 4:30 a.m. to cross the wall and be to work by 8 a.m. The security wall, built in 2004, attempts to stop illegal movement in the border and thus keep out prospective terrorists. But it also functions to humiliate and further complicate those Palestinians who have genuine passes. We went through such a security point after accompanying Paul on a work trip to the West Bank. Only two or three people were let through the gate at a time. They showed their IDs and answered quite a few questions before being allowed to pass through. And they must do this each day, just to get to and from work.
Not all Palestinians are even this lucky, though. The ones who are unable to get work permits are not allowed any movement between Israel and the West Bank. We met Palestinian Christians in Bethlehem who cannot travel to Jerusalem for the Easter Festivals. Paul also told us of a Palestinian man whose father was dying of cancer. They live on opposite sides of the wall. Paul’s hospital applies for a medical pass to visit their hospital, just so that the father can come through for a day and see his son.
The persecution of the Palestinian people has led some to extreme action, who revolt against the Israelis through terrorism. You probably heard about the shooting at a Jerusalem rabbinical school last week that left eight people dead. The Israelis are justifiably concerned about preventing such attacks, and the security wall is an attempt to keep out potential terrorists. And so terrorist attacks such as these only causes the Israelis to take more precautions and to further restrict the movement of the Palestinian people.
So, as you can see, the situation in the Holy Land is anything but peaceful and, furthermore, represents a long and complicated struggle to which there is no clear solution. My visit opened me up to the Palestinian perspective, which the media scarcely highlights; yet it is clear that both sides contribute to conflict and violence. I just wanted to share what I learned and to give voice to those whom I met. Hopefully, my narrative will help you see more of Israel than is shown on the news.
I just realized that I’ve filled two pages without talking about the holy places. This was also a pilgrimage, after all! I’ll end with a few reflections about what I saw.
Israel is teeming with holy sites. It seems as though you can’t walk a block without stumbling into some important site, such as the birthplace of Mary or the site of the Last Supper. Some sites are quite questionable, such as the stone from which Jesus blessed the loaves and fish. Other events are commemorated in more than one place; there are, for instance, two churches of the ascension that both claim to be the authentic place where Jesus ascended into Heaven. One quickly learns that the event itself, not the precise location, is what is important.
Other sites seem to have more credibility. The Garden of Gethsemane, for instance, has been replanted; yet it still contains two olive trees that are more than 2,000 years old. And the Garden Tomb, discovered in the late 19th century and preserved by British volunteers, has very convincing evidence that this empty tomb could have been where Jesus was laid to rest.
On my last day in Jerusalem, I wandered around the Garden Tomb for a second time, to contemplate Jesus’ death and resurrection. I sat silently in the tomb, looking at the empty room and trying to let it all sink in. I imaged that, just perhaps, this site was authentic; that the glorious resurrection of Jesus occurred in that very room. Yet my mind kept wandering back to the events of the past week and all that I had been exposed to. Suddenly, it felt as though God was speaking to me, whispering the words engraved on the tomb’s door: “He is not here; He has risen.” It was then that I finally realized it did not matter whether or not this was Jesus’ tomb, or whether he blessed the loaves and fishes on that particular stone or gave the Sermon on the Mount on that particular hill. For our Lord Jesus rose from the grave; why do we look for him among the dead? Jesus is everywhere and with everyone, and he is especially with those who suffer.
I left Jerusalem with my head still swimming and with quite a heavy heart; but I no longer felt the burden of having special encounters with Jesus in the Holy Land. Instead, I was reminded in the Garden Tomb that we are to look for Jesus in our neighbors, and to proclaim him through promoting love and reconciliation. My heart still aches for the endless conflict in Israel and Palestine. But I have faith that Jesus will not abandon it forever, that peace can still be found among such violence and hatred from both sides.
Please forgive me for such a long newsletter, and for not speaking of my work here at St. Mary’s. I commend you for getting this far! Please continue to keep our ministry in your prayers, as I also pray for you back home.
Also, please note that we youth workers must submit a blog each month for St. Mary’s. If you haven’t had enough of my ramblings, feel free to check it out. Go to www.stmaryscentre.org.uk, and click on “What we’re thinking” at the top. Then look for the picture of me as a pirate.
That’s all for now! Take care, and I hope you have a blessed Easter,
Amanda
Friday, February 29, 2008
February Newsletter! - Eric in the UK
St. Pancras News
February
A Meeting with the Archbishop of York
Last week I recieved an email stating that I was nominated by the staff at Time for God to accompany them at a meeting with the John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York. After making sure the meeting would work into my own schedule, I gladly accepted the invitation. I didn't really know what to expect. The purpose of our meeting with the Archbishop was that of beginning a relationship. Jon Sentamu recently agreed to be a patron of the organization Time for God (the organization that I am a part of while volunteering here) and we were there to describe what the organization was all about and how he could help us. Archbishop Sentamu is an inspirational character who originally comes from Uganda. His passion for political stability on the African continent rings throughout his whole being and is best exampled by his refusal to wear a preist collar until there is peace within the currently politcal unstable country of Zimbabwe. He was extremely down to earth and welcomed us all with a wonderful spirit to the Archbishop's Palace in York. What was most intriguing about his character and presence was his "no fluff" tone of speech. Every word he said meant something and it turned out that he spoke relatively little throughout the entire meeting. It inspired me to see how such a well known leader could talk so little. After the meeting, Claire (the other volunteer who was invited to come and who ironically was also from Uganda) and I braved the conditions and made it to York Minster before our trains departed. After the noise and cold weather outside, it was nice again to come into a space of such peace and tranquility. I now am back in London again inspired by the Archbishop to be ever more of a listener. I think it is something all of us could learn.
Seeing the Conflict of Israel with New Eyes
The event that continues to be processed in the back of my mind is my journey to Israel (February 7-14) and the experiences of culture conflict. Words seem to fail in my effort to describe this experience. "Life changing" just doesn't seem to have the appropriate ring to it. However, that is probably the best term that I can use to describe what the whole geography, traditions, and culture of the Holy Land have done to my thinking. It was the three of us volunteers who decided to take this journey together. The other two were named Matt (who is up in Scotland) and Amanda (who is in a close by parish in London). Our first exposure to the "tense" atmosphere of Israel was experienced on the plane when flight attendants had to quell a fist fight between Orthodox Jews. Apparently one had been given a kosher meal and the other not. Quite scary indeed. Late that evening, we made it to the apartment of my friend Paul. Paul is a friend from college who works for the Lutheran World Federation; an organization that is really involved in education and healthcare for Palestinians. His home and work are located right on top of the Mount of Olives and overlooks the Old City of Jerusalem. Throughout the week, we became educated on the conflict between the Israeli's and the Palestinians. Israel as a country is very young- gaining it's independence in 1948. Because of the historical treatment of the Jews, it was agreed (by the UN) that this new nation would be Jewish in origin. This was not a large change as Jews have inhabited the land for centuries. With the fall of the Roman Empire, people of Arab and Islamic descent also settled in Jerusalem and in the areas of Palestine causing fuel for the crusades in the 13th and 14th centuries. This element also became the major problem of the present day Israel: How do you settle a land that has two peoples "claiming" it? Immediately, the new Israeli government started to push it's "pro Jewish" policies upon the area which resulted in more conflicts. Today, having control of the entire city of Jerusalem and most of the Palestinian territory, it still seeks to put pressure on the Palestinian people. Jerusalem is a city with two parts: the Palestinian side and the Israeli side. It is more like two cities, or perhaps a city that is trying to dominate it's other part. There are two taxi systems, two bus systems, two electric grids, and two peoples. For us living on the Palestinians side, it became very frustrating for transportation as a bus or taxi wouldn't take you somewhere, even though it was a mile away. Palestinian cars are not allowed in any part of Jerusalem. Period. In order to live in Jerusalem as a Palestinian, you have to have a special "city permit" issued by the Israeli government. Without it, you are banned from entering the city. Period. I saw this separation first hand as I talked with a Palestinian Christian taxi driver in Bethlehem. Even though Bethlehem is only 8 miles away from the Jerusalem city boundary, he has not been to Jerusalem in over 9 years. " I would really love to celebrate Easter at my church in Jerusalem", he said. "Without a city permit, that is impossible." The separation continues as Israel continues to build illegal (according to international law) settlements on Palestinian lands, claiming them as bargaining tools for international treaties to acquire more land for Israel. It becomes quite simple: if you already have citizens living in the area, you are more likely to acquire that area for your country in future delegations. Thus, "Israeli Citizen Only" roads connect the Jerusalem city proper to these various settlements in the West Bank. These roads bypass the check-points that Palestinians are required to go through. Finally, there is the Israeli "Security Wall", a wall that stretches hundreds of miles supposedly separating Israel from the "Palestinians Terrorists". Even with a city permit, Palestinian people stand in line for hours to get to work everyday because of the Israeli policy of letting only 2 people per minute walk through that gates. Thus, one Palestinian employee who lives in Ramallah told me he has to leave his house by 3.30am to get to work by 8am everyday. I can't imagine living a life like that. For many of us, it is hard to not get angry at a particular people. We either "hate" the Palestinians for sending suicide bombers to blow up things, or we "hate" the Jewish population for illegally settling in Palestinian lands. What I have come away with as the biggest culprit to the Israeli/Palestinian problem is not the deep rooted land conflict, but the ease of which our societies generalize a people. Through this, we find ourselves attacking and seeing the "people" as the problem, not the greed and politics. In our last day of the trip, Paul invited us to join him in an interview process where we drove up into Palestinian villages and talked with graduates of the Lutheran World Federation Vocational Training Center. These were people who had persevered and had graduated to start a vocation in auto mechanics, carpentry, or design. One of the young mechanics, who works on Israeli vehicles constantly and is used to seeing Israelis coming to his village, summed it all up by saying, "We live along side each other in peace every day. Why do we need to let our greedy leaders tell us otherwise?" That is the question I now continue to ask.
Gracious Lord, Grant me Serenity
The experiences of this month seem to have pounded into me the whole unpredictable qualities of life in a real way. I begin to wonder and ask, "Why God? Why are things seeming so much out of my control?" It feel like I can't do anything anymore without an unforeseeable consequence. This makes it hard when I am also trying to plan for my future. I then paid a visit to an 86 year old woman of St. Paul's Church named Chris. Chris has fallen into old age quite quickly this past year as her osteoporosis and arthritis have recently dictated that she no longer walk. Though stuck with a tired body, Chris's mind and spirit continue to be as sharp as a tack. As we talked in her flat by her chair that she sits in almost all day, she asked me "Young man, What is going on your life?" I immediately replied that things were going well and that I was having a good time being in London. A look of disapproval came over her face like I had told a big, fat, lie. Thus, I began to tell her how I have been struggling with the feeling of not having any control in my life and the unfairness of it all. She looked at me keenly for a minute. "You want to know something?", she said. "The last time I was in hospital they told me that I had cancer. And so I told all of my friends and family that this horrible disease was infecting my body. Three days later, I was told that my file had gotten switched with another person's file and that I actually had a bad case of arthritis which I knew all along! Is that unpredictability or what?!" "Let me show you something!", she exclaimed. She then began to dig around in her pile of books next to the chair and pulled out an old, tatty, black book. She opened it to reveal pictures, letters, and old newspaper clippings. "This is my scrap book", she explained. She furiously flipped through the pages until her face gleamed with a smile. "Ah! Here it is!" she said pointing to a ripped up piece of paper. I took the book and looked at the faded words. It said:Gracious Lord, Grant me serenity to accept the things I cannot change,courage to change the things that I can change,and wisdom to know the difference.Amen"You gotta cling on to that faith", she said. I stared at the prayer for the longest time. It seemed to knock me over! Chris was right, life is incredibly unpredictable and can be very challenging at times. We can get so frustrated by this fear that we try to shut things out and just grunt through the time that we have left. Ironically, this is the time where it seems that we must be the most open and patient. We must be continuing to understand the things we can change, but "clinging to the faith and hope" with those things we can't change. May God grant us that courage and wisdom in this world of uncertainty and continue to love us through our struggles.
Please check out my BLOG if you haven't already at: http://godandqueen.blogspot.com/
February
A Meeting with the Archbishop of York
Last week I recieved an email stating that I was nominated by the staff at Time for God to accompany them at a meeting with the John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York. After making sure the meeting would work into my own schedule, I gladly accepted the invitation. I didn't really know what to expect. The purpose of our meeting with the Archbishop was that of beginning a relationship. Jon Sentamu recently agreed to be a patron of the organization Time for God (the organization that I am a part of while volunteering here) and we were there to describe what the organization was all about and how he could help us. Archbishop Sentamu is an inspirational character who originally comes from Uganda. His passion for political stability on the African continent rings throughout his whole being and is best exampled by his refusal to wear a preist collar until there is peace within the currently politcal unstable country of Zimbabwe. He was extremely down to earth and welcomed us all with a wonderful spirit to the Archbishop's Palace in York. What was most intriguing about his character and presence was his "no fluff" tone of speech. Every word he said meant something and it turned out that he spoke relatively little throughout the entire meeting. It inspired me to see how such a well known leader could talk so little. After the meeting, Claire (the other volunteer who was invited to come and who ironically was also from Uganda) and I braved the conditions and made it to York Minster before our trains departed. After the noise and cold weather outside, it was nice again to come into a space of such peace and tranquility. I now am back in London again inspired by the Archbishop to be ever more of a listener. I think it is something all of us could learn.
Seeing the Conflict of Israel with New Eyes
The event that continues to be processed in the back of my mind is my journey to Israel (February 7-14) and the experiences of culture conflict. Words seem to fail in my effort to describe this experience. "Life changing" just doesn't seem to have the appropriate ring to it. However, that is probably the best term that I can use to describe what the whole geography, traditions, and culture of the Holy Land have done to my thinking. It was the three of us volunteers who decided to take this journey together. The other two were named Matt (who is up in Scotland) and Amanda (who is in a close by parish in London). Our first exposure to the "tense" atmosphere of Israel was experienced on the plane when flight attendants had to quell a fist fight between Orthodox Jews. Apparently one had been given a kosher meal and the other not. Quite scary indeed. Late that evening, we made it to the apartment of my friend Paul. Paul is a friend from college who works for the Lutheran World Federation; an organization that is really involved in education and healthcare for Palestinians. His home and work are located right on top of the Mount of Olives and overlooks the Old City of Jerusalem. Throughout the week, we became educated on the conflict between the Israeli's and the Palestinians. Israel as a country is very young- gaining it's independence in 1948. Because of the historical treatment of the Jews, it was agreed (by the UN) that this new nation would be Jewish in origin. This was not a large change as Jews have inhabited the land for centuries. With the fall of the Roman Empire, people of Arab and Islamic descent also settled in Jerusalem and in the areas of Palestine causing fuel for the crusades in the 13th and 14th centuries. This element also became the major problem of the present day Israel: How do you settle a land that has two peoples "claiming" it? Immediately, the new Israeli government started to push it's "pro Jewish" policies upon the area which resulted in more conflicts. Today, having control of the entire city of Jerusalem and most of the Palestinian territory, it still seeks to put pressure on the Palestinian people. Jerusalem is a city with two parts: the Palestinian side and the Israeli side. It is more like two cities, or perhaps a city that is trying to dominate it's other part. There are two taxi systems, two bus systems, two electric grids, and two peoples. For us living on the Palestinians side, it became very frustrating for transportation as a bus or taxi wouldn't take you somewhere, even though it was a mile away. Palestinian cars are not allowed in any part of Jerusalem. Period. In order to live in Jerusalem as a Palestinian, you have to have a special "city permit" issued by the Israeli government. Without it, you are banned from entering the city. Period. I saw this separation first hand as I talked with a Palestinian Christian taxi driver in Bethlehem. Even though Bethlehem is only 8 miles away from the Jerusalem city boundary, he has not been to Jerusalem in over 9 years. " I would really love to celebrate Easter at my church in Jerusalem", he said. "Without a city permit, that is impossible." The separation continues as Israel continues to build illegal (according to international law) settlements on Palestinian lands, claiming them as bargaining tools for international treaties to acquire more land for Israel. It becomes quite simple: if you already have citizens living in the area, you are more likely to acquire that area for your country in future delegations. Thus, "Israeli Citizen Only" roads connect the Jerusalem city proper to these various settlements in the West Bank. These roads bypass the check-points that Palestinians are required to go through. Finally, there is the Israeli "Security Wall", a wall that stretches hundreds of miles supposedly separating Israel from the "Palestinians Terrorists". Even with a city permit, Palestinian people stand in line for hours to get to work everyday because of the Israeli policy of letting only 2 people per minute walk through that gates. Thus, one Palestinian employee who lives in Ramallah told me he has to leave his house by 3.30am to get to work by 8am everyday. I can't imagine living a life like that. For many of us, it is hard to not get angry at a particular people. We either "hate" the Palestinians for sending suicide bombers to blow up things, or we "hate" the Jewish population for illegally settling in Palestinian lands. What I have come away with as the biggest culprit to the Israeli/Palestinian problem is not the deep rooted land conflict, but the ease of which our societies generalize a people. Through this, we find ourselves attacking and seeing the "people" as the problem, not the greed and politics. In our last day of the trip, Paul invited us to join him in an interview process where we drove up into Palestinian villages and talked with graduates of the Lutheran World Federation Vocational Training Center. These were people who had persevered and had graduated to start a vocation in auto mechanics, carpentry, or design. One of the young mechanics, who works on Israeli vehicles constantly and is used to seeing Israelis coming to his village, summed it all up by saying, "We live along side each other in peace every day. Why do we need to let our greedy leaders tell us otherwise?" That is the question I now continue to ask.
Gracious Lord, Grant me Serenity
The experiences of this month seem to have pounded into me the whole unpredictable qualities of life in a real way. I begin to wonder and ask, "Why God? Why are things seeming so much out of my control?" It feel like I can't do anything anymore without an unforeseeable consequence. This makes it hard when I am also trying to plan for my future. I then paid a visit to an 86 year old woman of St. Paul's Church named Chris. Chris has fallen into old age quite quickly this past year as her osteoporosis and arthritis have recently dictated that she no longer walk. Though stuck with a tired body, Chris's mind and spirit continue to be as sharp as a tack. As we talked in her flat by her chair that she sits in almost all day, she asked me "Young man, What is going on your life?" I immediately replied that things were going well and that I was having a good time being in London. A look of disapproval came over her face like I had told a big, fat, lie. Thus, I began to tell her how I have been struggling with the feeling of not having any control in my life and the unfairness of it all. She looked at me keenly for a minute. "You want to know something?", she said. "The last time I was in hospital they told me that I had cancer. And so I told all of my friends and family that this horrible disease was infecting my body. Three days later, I was told that my file had gotten switched with another person's file and that I actually had a bad case of arthritis which I knew all along! Is that unpredictability or what?!" "Let me show you something!", she exclaimed. She then began to dig around in her pile of books next to the chair and pulled out an old, tatty, black book. She opened it to reveal pictures, letters, and old newspaper clippings. "This is my scrap book", she explained. She furiously flipped through the pages until her face gleamed with a smile. "Ah! Here it is!" she said pointing to a ripped up piece of paper. I took the book and looked at the faded words. It said:Gracious Lord, Grant me serenity to accept the things I cannot change,courage to change the things that I can change,and wisdom to know the difference.Amen"You gotta cling on to that faith", she said. I stared at the prayer for the longest time. It seemed to knock me over! Chris was right, life is incredibly unpredictable and can be very challenging at times. We can get so frustrated by this fear that we try to shut things out and just grunt through the time that we have left. Ironically, this is the time where it seems that we must be the most open and patient. We must be continuing to understand the things we can change, but "clinging to the faith and hope" with those things we can't change. May God grant us that courage and wisdom in this world of uncertainty and continue to love us through our struggles.
Please check out my BLOG if you haven't already at: http://godandqueen.blogspot.com/
Sunday, February 3, 2008
January Newsletter! - Eric in the UK
St. Pancras News
January
Dashing Through the Snow
For the whole five months that I have worked in London, I have not had yet a serious amout of time off. This all changed when my friend Maren (another ELCA volunteer) and me went to Austria for a skiing holiday. Our first three nights were spent in the town of Feldkirch, just a little ways from the German-Austrian border. We stayed in a hostel that was originally built in the 1200's and was used as the primary hostel for people with disease and the Black Plague (in the 14th century). Although the history of the building is not one of roses and rainbows, it was a wonderful place to stay with a lot of character that one should expect from a building of such age. It was also filled with some very interesting people whom Maren and I both had the chance to meet.
One person in particular whom we met the first night we were in Feldkirch was named Mike. Mike was about our age and was originally from Vienna, Austria. He described himself as originally an atheist, but had an "enlightenment" (as he said) a couple years ago with faith. He was in the midst of a pilgrimage from Vienna to Portugal and was very interested in both Maren and my work in England. Due to his relatively broken English, it was hard to communicate fully with him and I wasn't able to ask him more questions on his own faith journey. However, we still were able to exchange a wonderful assortment of laughs and stories of our experiences thus far. Mike remained with us for much of the next day as we explored together the sites and sounds of Feldkirch. After our wonderful day exploring, Mike wished us well and hopped on a train heading west not knowing exactly where he was going to end up that night. I admired his "off-the-cuff" spirit and openness to new things. His friendly smile and choice of living his faith through travel and adventure really struck me and warmed my heart. I wish Mike well and God's love in the rest of his travels.
After our few days in Feldkirch, we headed up into the mountains by train to the ski village of St. Anton. The village was something from a movie with spectacular Austrian architecture, incredible mountains, and 4ft of snow! We met James, the cousin to Maren's Host Father, who showed us around and made sure that we were settled in with everything. James is a chef who works at one of the restaurants at the top of Galzig Peak (one of the many in the resort). He is originally from Belfast, Northern Ireland and came to St. Anton four years ago knowing almost no German. In that time, he not only has made a home here with his girlfriend, but has really become accepted by the local people.
Like a true Irishman, James started a tradition of having drinks with anyone who wanted to join after his long day of work. Thus, almost every day after the restaurant closes up, all the employees ride the cable car down to the village. They then all gather together at one local bar (or "lokal" as the Austrians call it) for a time of drinks and laughs. I was invited to a couple of these events and was amazed at the spirit of the place. I met many new people who all greeted me whether they spoke English or not. It was truly a community that was proud of their surroundings and welcomed anyone to participate in this sense of spirit.
Death of a True and Faithful Servant
A little while ago, I was doing some work in my room when an emotional Owen (the other pastoral assistant) knocked on the door. He told me that Francis, an 84 year old man who had dedicated his life to various functions in our church died at his home. Owen, in fact, was the first one to hear the news as the police who discovered the body finally came to the church because they could find no reference to any other family member. "That just explains how much the church was actually the only family left for him", Owen explained. Owen and I both remember fondly the first time we met Francis- an old, bent over man with a cane, a thick Cockney accent, and an incredible spirit. He came up to both of us new pastoral assistants, gave us both a huge hug and kiss on the top of our heads and exclaimed, " The Fathers told me that you were coming and to take care of you! So that is what I am going to do!" Throughout this time, Francis has taken care of both of us in many ways. The loss of Francis will reverberate throughout all of our four churches this week. We all will miss him greatly.
Conference in Wales
I went to a Time For God Conference (the organization that the Lutheran Church in the United States works with to place us in the UK) in Wales two weeks ago with 120 other volunteers placed all over the British Isles. It was a wonderful experience to feel the diversity of culture and expression within the group of people. We had a lot of time to sit and talk with one another and about our placements. We shared stories of struggle and stories of hope. Perhaps the highlight of the conferences was the talent show where it became quickly apparent on how many cultures and traditions were represented. We saw American Swing Dancing, Swedish Folktales, Hungarian and German traditional dances, Korean worship practices, and a Scottish diction lesson. I felt extremely blessed to be a part of this amazing group of people from all over the world.
In all the unpredictability that is happening in this world right now, this group reinforced for me the hope that cultures can come together and associate with one another. Not only can this be seen as a hope for the future, but also as a passion of mine. We all need more experiences like this to break out of our cultural boxes and realize that there is a larger world out there. By the grace of God, I truly hope and pray that our generation can see one another not as people of different cultures and race, but as human beings- all created by our Lord and maker.
Please check out my BLOG if you haven't already at: http://godandqueen.blogspot.com/
January
Dashing Through the Snow
For the whole five months that I have worked in London, I have not had yet a serious amout of time off. This all changed when my friend Maren (another ELCA volunteer) and me went to Austria for a skiing holiday. Our first three nights were spent in the town of Feldkirch, just a little ways from the German-Austrian border. We stayed in a hostel that was originally built in the 1200's and was used as the primary hostel for people with disease and the Black Plague (in the 14th century). Although the history of the building is not one of roses and rainbows, it was a wonderful place to stay with a lot of character that one should expect from a building of such age. It was also filled with some very interesting people whom Maren and I both had the chance to meet.
One person in particular whom we met the first night we were in Feldkirch was named Mike. Mike was about our age and was originally from Vienna, Austria. He described himself as originally an atheist, but had an "enlightenment" (as he said) a couple years ago with faith. He was in the midst of a pilgrimage from Vienna to Portugal and was very interested in both Maren and my work in England. Due to his relatively broken English, it was hard to communicate fully with him and I wasn't able to ask him more questions on his own faith journey. However, we still were able to exchange a wonderful assortment of laughs and stories of our experiences thus far. Mike remained with us for much of the next day as we explored together the sites and sounds of Feldkirch. After our wonderful day exploring, Mike wished us well and hopped on a train heading west not knowing exactly where he was going to end up that night. I admired his "off-the-cuff" spirit and openness to new things. His friendly smile and choice of living his faith through travel and adventure really struck me and warmed my heart. I wish Mike well and God's love in the rest of his travels.
After our few days in Feldkirch, we headed up into the mountains by train to the ski village of St. Anton. The village was something from a movie with spectacular Austrian architecture, incredible mountains, and 4ft of snow! We met James, the cousin to Maren's Host Father, who showed us around and made sure that we were settled in with everything. James is a chef who works at one of the restaurants at the top of Galzig Peak (one of the many in the resort). He is originally from Belfast, Northern Ireland and came to St. Anton four years ago knowing almost no German. In that time, he not only has made a home here with his girlfriend, but has really become accepted by the local people.
Like a true Irishman, James started a tradition of having drinks with anyone who wanted to join after his long day of work. Thus, almost every day after the restaurant closes up, all the employees ride the cable car down to the village. They then all gather together at one local bar (or "lokal" as the Austrians call it) for a time of drinks and laughs. I was invited to a couple of these events and was amazed at the spirit of the place. I met many new people who all greeted me whether they spoke English or not. It was truly a community that was proud of their surroundings and welcomed anyone to participate in this sense of spirit.
Death of a True and Faithful Servant
A little while ago, I was doing some work in my room when an emotional Owen (the other pastoral assistant) knocked on the door. He told me that Francis, an 84 year old man who had dedicated his life to various functions in our church died at his home. Owen, in fact, was the first one to hear the news as the police who discovered the body finally came to the church because they could find no reference to any other family member. "That just explains how much the church was actually the only family left for him", Owen explained. Owen and I both remember fondly the first time we met Francis- an old, bent over man with a cane, a thick Cockney accent, and an incredible spirit. He came up to both of us new pastoral assistants, gave us both a huge hug and kiss on the top of our heads and exclaimed, " The Fathers told me that you were coming and to take care of you! So that is what I am going to do!" Throughout this time, Francis has taken care of both of us in many ways. The loss of Francis will reverberate throughout all of our four churches this week. We all will miss him greatly.
Conference in Wales
I went to a Time For God Conference (the organization that the Lutheran Church in the United States works with to place us in the UK) in Wales two weeks ago with 120 other volunteers placed all over the British Isles. It was a wonderful experience to feel the diversity of culture and expression within the group of people. We had a lot of time to sit and talk with one another and about our placements. We shared stories of struggle and stories of hope. Perhaps the highlight of the conferences was the talent show where it became quickly apparent on how many cultures and traditions were represented. We saw American Swing Dancing, Swedish Folktales, Hungarian and German traditional dances, Korean worship practices, and a Scottish diction lesson. I felt extremely blessed to be a part of this amazing group of people from all over the world.
In all the unpredictability that is happening in this world right now, this group reinforced for me the hope that cultures can come together and associate with one another. Not only can this be seen as a hope for the future, but also as a passion of mine. We all need more experiences like this to break out of our cultural boxes and realize that there is a larger world out there. By the grace of God, I truly hope and pray that our generation can see one another not as people of different cultures and race, but as human beings- all created by our Lord and maker.
Please check out my BLOG if you haven't already at: http://godandqueen.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
January Newsletter - Laura in India
"Colors of the Wind"
We recently attended a seminar: 'Globalization: Life and Livelihood
Issues.' Indian social activists, community leaders, pastors, and
many others attended the three-day event. My processing of this
seminar will continue far after my time here is completed, for the
other volunteers and myself were the manifestation of western culture;
a culture that is breeding multi-national corporations to strip the
marginalized of what little they still hold. Listening to the stories
of our seminar colleagues, those combating these companies, was one of
the most inspiring and empowering experiences. But, even more, I left
deeply humbled.
These were days of understanding how the decisions in America directly
affect the lives of those literally on the other side of the world;
these were days of facing my economic ignorance for in order to
survive, many have been forced to understand American politics,
history and foreign affairs; these were days of listening, absorbing,
and supporting. The following is a few highlights from one of the
speakers.
"You think you own whatever land you land on,
The Earth is just a dead place you can claim..."
Mr. C.R. Neelakantan, a well-respected social activist, spoke of his
experience fighting an established Coca-Cola plant in a small village
in Kerala. Among many things, the company was stripping the villagers
of their water. The water they used for generations was taken by the
factory at the rate of 1,500,000 liters a day to make 500,000 liters
of Coke. Besides this, the factory was leaving the surrounding water
heavily polluted. What was once seen as a simple human right, access
to healthy drinking water, was now a commodity. Their water was being
put in bottles for their purchase. With angry villagers at hand, the
company agreed to have water delivered to each family. The Coca-Cola
plant would provide a ration of water each day, free of charge.
Convinced that this was a reasonable option, Mr. Neelakantan consulted
his partner, an elderly woman of the village who was leading the
protest against the company. He soon saw why she was not satisfied
with the bargain. It was a matter of thinking organically versus
inorganically.
"If we depend on Coca-Cola to provide our water," she told him, "what
will happen when our wells are dry? They will leave. They will leave
an empty factory and empty wells. They will shut down the plant and
establish in another village. And we will be left. With nothing."
As a city-dweller, Mr. Neelakantan's notion of water was its existence
in pipes and tubes. Water came from turning a knob, a nozzle, or
spout; his image of water was one of inorganic thinking, believing
life's necessities are provided by paying monthly bills. The
villagers understood water came from the land. If the land is
exhausted, polluted and destroyed, how would water be found and
harvested? This is a mindset of organic thinking, understanding the
land provides for every need, not businesses, not corporations, and
not name brands. Organic thinking sees that we are only nurtured when
we nurture nature.
What if our world began thinking organically? What if we each
realized electricity does not come from a switch, clothes do not come
from the bargain rack, and salad does not come from bags? What if?
"But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger,
You'll learn things you never knew, you never knew..."
Our world is redefined. What was once third-world, is now developing;
what was first-world, is developed. India has been labeled developing
and America, developed. In fact, America is the standard for
development, the model for the world's developing nations. Mr.
Neelakantan, then raised a question: if a country's model for
development is America, then to be considered developed, will a
country be forced to more American? Does the American lifestyle
become the lifestyle of other countries in their progress towards
development? If so, can you imagine the consequences?
India has three times the population of America, with a third of the
land. The Indian masses currently use buses, trains and other public
transportation, for owning private wheels is a luxury of the few. In
its journey to development, India recently developed the Nano: a
100,000 Rupee car, the first of its kind that's decently affordable.
The issue arising, though, is the quantity of cars to be sold. What
if the majority of India's population bought a Nano, living to the
developed, American standard?
The cost of such development would be unbelievable. For one, freeway
systems would have to be established, leaving the rural roads, the
land of bullock carts, eliminated; what used to be a simple crossing
of the road for the farmer to his land would become a day's journey to
the nearest highway junction. Time spent in the field would mean time
spent traveling. All in the name of development; this is progress.
Really? Is it?
Mr. Neelakantan forced me to evaluate the life I have lived: leaving
lights on, fans on, driving 30 minutes to and from work, using plastic
bag after plastic bag, etc. In my mind, I knew there were more
resourceful ways of living, but the excuse of "it's just me" always
quieted my resurrecting guilt. But, the truth is, it's not just me.
And it's not just you. The way we live life is defining how others
should live theirs. By establishing our standards of living, we are
setting the standards for global development. What if everyone lived
the way we do? What if?
"And we are all connected to each other,
In a circle, in a hoop that never ends..."
We recently attended a seminar: 'Globalization: Life and Livelihood
Issues.' Indian social activists, community leaders, pastors, and
many others attended the three-day event. My processing of this
seminar will continue far after my time here is completed, for the
other volunteers and myself were the manifestation of western culture;
a culture that is breeding multi-national corporations to strip the
marginalized of what little they still hold. Listening to the stories
of our seminar colleagues, those combating these companies, was one of
the most inspiring and empowering experiences. But, even more, I left
deeply humbled.
These were days of understanding how the decisions in America directly
affect the lives of those literally on the other side of the world;
these were days of facing my economic ignorance for in order to
survive, many have been forced to understand American politics,
history and foreign affairs; these were days of listening, absorbing,
and supporting. The following is a few highlights from one of the
speakers.
"You think you own whatever land you land on,
The Earth is just a dead place you can claim..."
Mr. C.R. Neelakantan, a well-respected social activist, spoke of his
experience fighting an established Coca-Cola plant in a small village
in Kerala. Among many things, the company was stripping the villagers
of their water. The water they used for generations was taken by the
factory at the rate of 1,500,000 liters a day to make 500,000 liters
of Coke. Besides this, the factory was leaving the surrounding water
heavily polluted. What was once seen as a simple human right, access
to healthy drinking water, was now a commodity. Their water was being
put in bottles for their purchase. With angry villagers at hand, the
company agreed to have water delivered to each family. The Coca-Cola
plant would provide a ration of water each day, free of charge.
Convinced that this was a reasonable option, Mr. Neelakantan consulted
his partner, an elderly woman of the village who was leading the
protest against the company. He soon saw why she was not satisfied
with the bargain. It was a matter of thinking organically versus
inorganically.
"If we depend on Coca-Cola to provide our water," she told him, "what
will happen when our wells are dry? They will leave. They will leave
an empty factory and empty wells. They will shut down the plant and
establish in another village. And we will be left. With nothing."
As a city-dweller, Mr. Neelakantan's notion of water was its existence
in pipes and tubes. Water came from turning a knob, a nozzle, or
spout; his image of water was one of inorganic thinking, believing
life's necessities are provided by paying monthly bills. The
villagers understood water came from the land. If the land is
exhausted, polluted and destroyed, how would water be found and
harvested? This is a mindset of organic thinking, understanding the
land provides for every need, not businesses, not corporations, and
not name brands. Organic thinking sees that we are only nurtured when
we nurture nature.
What if our world began thinking organically? What if we each
realized electricity does not come from a switch, clothes do not come
from the bargain rack, and salad does not come from bags? What if?
"But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger,
You'll learn things you never knew, you never knew..."
Our world is redefined. What was once third-world, is now developing;
what was first-world, is developed. India has been labeled developing
and America, developed. In fact, America is the standard for
development, the model for the world's developing nations. Mr.
Neelakantan, then raised a question: if a country's model for
development is America, then to be considered developed, will a
country be forced to more American? Does the American lifestyle
become the lifestyle of other countries in their progress towards
development? If so, can you imagine the consequences?
India has three times the population of America, with a third of the
land. The Indian masses currently use buses, trains and other public
transportation, for owning private wheels is a luxury of the few. In
its journey to development, India recently developed the Nano: a
100,000 Rupee car, the first of its kind that's decently affordable.
The issue arising, though, is the quantity of cars to be sold. What
if the majority of India's population bought a Nano, living to the
developed, American standard?
The cost of such development would be unbelievable. For one, freeway
systems would have to be established, leaving the rural roads, the
land of bullock carts, eliminated; what used to be a simple crossing
of the road for the farmer to his land would become a day's journey to
the nearest highway junction. Time spent in the field would mean time
spent traveling. All in the name of development; this is progress.
Really? Is it?
Mr. Neelakantan forced me to evaluate the life I have lived: leaving
lights on, fans on, driving 30 minutes to and from work, using plastic
bag after plastic bag, etc. In my mind, I knew there were more
resourceful ways of living, but the excuse of "it's just me" always
quieted my resurrecting guilt. But, the truth is, it's not just me.
And it's not just you. The way we live life is defining how others
should live theirs. By establishing our standards of living, we are
setting the standards for global development. What if everyone lived
the way we do? What if?
"And we are all connected to each other,
In a circle, in a hoop that never ends..."
Monday, January 28, 2008
January Newsletter - Amy in the UK
New Beginnings
Volume 1, Issue 5
January 2008
Do We Matter?
Then Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air perched on its branches.”
Again he asked, “What shall I compare the Kingdom of God to? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.” (Luke 13:18-21)
Do we matter? What would a life that matters look like? This is a question we were asked to think about this month. It is also a question I have been asking myself my entire life, especially this year.
Each and every person God created matters. Every man, woman, and child is important and significant. Nowhere is this stated more clearly than in the Parables of the Mustard See and the Yeast.
The mustard seed is the smallest of all seeds, yet when planted and nurtured, it becomes a tree where birds can perch on the branches. Like the mustard seed, yeast is tiny, but when it is used to make bread, it is dispersed throughout all the dough so it rises and makes large loaves of bread.
To describe the Kingdom of God, Jesus used the smallest of things – a mustard seed and yeast. This parable can show us that we are never too small to be important in God’s eyes. If God can use a mustard seed to grow a marvelous tress, then He can use us to grow His kingdom. In the grand scheme of things, we may all be small like the mustard seed and yeast but God uses us for such great and wondrous things.
I do not believe there is a template that shows what a life that matters looks like. Each and everyone of us lives a life that matters. No life is more significant than the next. In God’s eyes, we are all magnificent, splendid, and important.
This past month has brought on many new struggles and I have particularly been struggling with this question. I feel the pressure to decide what to do with my life. Who do I want to be? How can I best serve God? Am I listening to God or just living in fast forward?
I struggle with who I am and who I am becoming. More than anything, I want to help others. I want to show others that they do matter and that they are important in God’s eyes. But if I do not believe in myself and think that I do not matter, then how can I teach this to others?
I feel as if I am continually being bruised and battered by no other than myself. I am so hard on myself and I am fighting a battle between disliking myself and feeling bad that I dislike myself because I have been made in God’s image. It is a vicious circle that seems to have no end.
But above all, deep down, I do know that I matter. I know I am a child of God and I don’t need anything else except God. God is sufficient and I know He will get my through the hard and trying times.
I am aware now more than ever of how important each human life is. Everyone has something extraordinary to offer and use. God has made each and everyone of us special in our own ways. In a world of 6 billion, like the mustard seed, we are tiny. But in God’s eyes, we are significant and we matter more than we can ever know. We are God’s instruments and tools and we can offer what we have to make better the Kingdom of God.
Prayer Requests:
- For the women at Charis House – that they may seek and find where God is guiding them.
- For the unrest in Kenya and all who are caught in the middle.
- For peace and guidance in the new year.
- For old and new family and friends.
“The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you.” – John E. Southard
I want to thank each and every one of you for your continued support and prayers. You will never know how much it means to me. I am so blessed to have each of you in my life. May God bless you and enrich you as He has enriched my life because of you.
Christmas in Sweden
As many of you know, I had the wonderful opportunity to spend Christmas in Sweden. My grandmas’s cousin, Barbro and her husband, Arne, invited me to spend Christmas with their family and I gladly accepted their offer.
I was in Sweden for five days and I had the best Christmas I could have had without being home. Barbr and Arne, Goran and Yolanda, Anki and Henrik, were also so hospitable and welcomed me into their homes as if I was one of their own.
I had the opportunity to sight-see in the Old Town. Stockholm is an absolutely beautiful city. It was such a warm, cozy, and welcoming country and I cannot wait to one day return to Sweden.
On Christmas eve day, we put up lights in the yard and decorated the tree. Goran and Yolanda then had everyone over for supper and it definitely was a “high class” dinner. I had never seen so many glasses or silverware at one setting before. We had wonderful fish and salads and although we had no food like we do back home, it was all very good and a wonderful experience!
It was such a blessing to be able to spend Christmas with family and to meet new family. I had never met Henrik or Yolanda before and I feel so privileged to have them as family and friends. God definitely blessed me this Christmas season.
Something to be Proud of…
I am happy to say that work has been going quite well as of late. I am enjoying my administration work and have had enough to do thus far in the new year.
I am especially enjoying all of the women who are in the house right now. They all really seem to be trying to get their lives back together and it is such an inspiration to see how hard they are working.
There is one lady in particular that I am especially proud of. She came into the house about two months ago. She was extremely shy and had a tendency to self-harm. She also is on a variety of different medications.
I have been working a lot of weekends lately and on one particular weekend, we became very close. She has opened up so well to staff and the other residents. And I am so happy to say that she has quite taking some of her medication, and hasn’t self-harmed in a month.
I am so proud of her and I look forward to what the future has for her. I ask that you keep her and the other women at Charis House in your prayers.
Halfway Done
On January 28th, all ELCA volunteers had officially been at their placements for 5 months. It is incredible to think how fast the time here has gone. It is also quite exhausting to look back and see what has happened in the past five months.
To mark this halfway point, TFG sponsored a conference in Wales this past month for all TFG volunteers serving in the UK.
There were approximately 150 volunteers gathered
Volume 1, Issue 5
January 2008
Do We Matter?
Then Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air perched on its branches.”
Again he asked, “What shall I compare the Kingdom of God to? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.” (Luke 13:18-21)
Do we matter? What would a life that matters look like? This is a question we were asked to think about this month. It is also a question I have been asking myself my entire life, especially this year.
Each and every person God created matters. Every man, woman, and child is important and significant. Nowhere is this stated more clearly than in the Parables of the Mustard See and the Yeast.
The mustard seed is the smallest of all seeds, yet when planted and nurtured, it becomes a tree where birds can perch on the branches. Like the mustard seed, yeast is tiny, but when it is used to make bread, it is dispersed throughout all the dough so it rises and makes large loaves of bread.
To describe the Kingdom of God, Jesus used the smallest of things – a mustard seed and yeast. This parable can show us that we are never too small to be important in God’s eyes. If God can use a mustard seed to grow a marvelous tress, then He can use us to grow His kingdom. In the grand scheme of things, we may all be small like the mustard seed and yeast but God uses us for such great and wondrous things.
I do not believe there is a template that shows what a life that matters looks like. Each and everyone of us lives a life that matters. No life is more significant than the next. In God’s eyes, we are all magnificent, splendid, and important.
This past month has brought on many new struggles and I have particularly been struggling with this question. I feel the pressure to decide what to do with my life. Who do I want to be? How can I best serve God? Am I listening to God or just living in fast forward?
I struggle with who I am and who I am becoming. More than anything, I want to help others. I want to show others that they do matter and that they are important in God’s eyes. But if I do not believe in myself and think that I do not matter, then how can I teach this to others?
I feel as if I am continually being bruised and battered by no other than myself. I am so hard on myself and I am fighting a battle between disliking myself and feeling bad that I dislike myself because I have been made in God’s image. It is a vicious circle that seems to have no end.
But above all, deep down, I do know that I matter. I know I am a child of God and I don’t need anything else except God. God is sufficient and I know He will get my through the hard and trying times.
I am aware now more than ever of how important each human life is. Everyone has something extraordinary to offer and use. God has made each and everyone of us special in our own ways. In a world of 6 billion, like the mustard seed, we are tiny. But in God’s eyes, we are significant and we matter more than we can ever know. We are God’s instruments and tools and we can offer what we have to make better the Kingdom of God.
Prayer Requests:
- For the women at Charis House – that they may seek and find where God is guiding them.
- For the unrest in Kenya and all who are caught in the middle.
- For peace and guidance in the new year.
- For old and new family and friends.
“The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you.” – John E. Southard
I want to thank each and every one of you for your continued support and prayers. You will never know how much it means to me. I am so blessed to have each of you in my life. May God bless you and enrich you as He has enriched my life because of you.
Christmas in Sweden
As many of you know, I had the wonderful opportunity to spend Christmas in Sweden. My grandmas’s cousin, Barbro and her husband, Arne, invited me to spend Christmas with their family and I gladly accepted their offer.
I was in Sweden for five days and I had the best Christmas I could have had without being home. Barbr and Arne, Goran and Yolanda, Anki and Henrik, were also so hospitable and welcomed me into their homes as if I was one of their own.
I had the opportunity to sight-see in the Old Town. Stockholm is an absolutely beautiful city. It was such a warm, cozy, and welcoming country and I cannot wait to one day return to Sweden.
On Christmas eve day, we put up lights in the yard and decorated the tree. Goran and Yolanda then had everyone over for supper and it definitely was a “high class” dinner. I had never seen so many glasses or silverware at one setting before. We had wonderful fish and salads and although we had no food like we do back home, it was all very good and a wonderful experience!
It was such a blessing to be able to spend Christmas with family and to meet new family. I had never met Henrik or Yolanda before and I feel so privileged to have them as family and friends. God definitely blessed me this Christmas season.
Something to be Proud of…
I am happy to say that work has been going quite well as of late. I am enjoying my administration work and have had enough to do thus far in the new year.
I am especially enjoying all of the women who are in the house right now. They all really seem to be trying to get their lives back together and it is such an inspiration to see how hard they are working.
There is one lady in particular that I am especially proud of. She came into the house about two months ago. She was extremely shy and had a tendency to self-harm. She also is on a variety of different medications.
I have been working a lot of weekends lately and on one particular weekend, we became very close. She has opened up so well to staff and the other residents. And I am so happy to say that she has quite taking some of her medication, and hasn’t self-harmed in a month.
I am so proud of her and I look forward to what the future has for her. I ask that you keep her and the other women at Charis House in your prayers.
Halfway Done
On January 28th, all ELCA volunteers had officially been at their placements for 5 months. It is incredible to think how fast the time here has gone. It is also quite exhausting to look back and see what has happened in the past five months.
To mark this halfway point, TFG sponsored a conference in Wales this past month for all TFG volunteers serving in the UK.
There were approximately 150 volunteers gathered
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