Out of Africa

As some of you know I had hoped to blog while in Africa... this was not possible.For a good chunk of our time we had neither electricity nor running water let alone internet coverage! And yet what a banquet of experiences we have shared....from utter terror and real fear for our own safety right through to raucous laughter, uncomplicated joy and sheer wonder at the whole beauty of it all. Uganda is rightly known as the "Pearl of Africa" and so it proved. It is a truly stunning place, I will post photos once I've begun to get my head and home sorted... but expect lions and mountains and more teeth in smiles than you would ever think possible from fellow human beings..to say nothing of majestic fish eagles and utter ramshackle dwellings and "butchers" with the highest standards of cleanliness!
 In short we have had an incredible journey. Upon arrival in Uganda..(I won't tire you with the boredom of travel itinerary) we were met with the reality of the fact that our "guide" was recently imprisoned. We discovered, gradually, that the offence was speeding and evading capture thus hitting a motorcycle and seriously injuring the riders. Although we were met with a more than ample replacement, Samuel, we were left without a vehicle capable of transporting the 5 of us to our destination near Kasese in SW Uganda. So the bargaining and bartering that I have come to understand "is" Africa begun. Sitting in a "cathedral" cafe looking out over the vibrant and yet apparently chaotic life of Kampala we watched and listened and wondered as our "fate" passed between pastors and family men and dare I say shady men, who we knew only by the increasingly bizarre and inflationary demands they seemed to be making as we sought simply a vehicle that could transport us through this teeming jungle of impossibilities. Night drew in and our fate seemed with each passing hour less and less clear, just where was Avis car rental when you needed it? Eventually a vehicle did arrive, there were complications, of course, there was literally no way our luggage could fit (a backup vehicle for the evening was provided until we could lash the luggage on the roof!).And then 50 yards up the teeming Kampalan unlit street we ground to a halt. There are no pictures of this terrifying event, for as we sat in our newly acquired steel coffin the world screamed past us on every side blazing out the internationally recognizable language of abuse that is the screech of a car horn. A fellow pastor eventually returned with a Jerry can of hope and we slumped and bumped our way to the only thing we now craved, a bed for the night. When we awoke at 5am it was time to strap suitcases to the roof and venture again onto the streets of Kampala. Long before I realised we actually were, I commented that we seemed to be travelling a similar route to fellow explorers, May, Hammond and Clarkson of top gear. Africa gradually awoke with children streaming along roadsides, motorcyclists carrying removal trucks and the sights sounds and smells that later became commonplace awakening our senses. And so there had been night and there was morning...the first day....confusion!
More reflections will follow, but note out of confusion comes hope, and we were not disappointed!

Out of Africa... an adventure

This year has definitely been my year of adventures: a pilgrimage on a bike to Holy Island a building project (involving for me a pilgrimage from office to office!) and now a trip of a lifetime with my family to Uganda.  We often hear life described as an adventure, but not so often the lives of those who call themselves Christians. It was not always this way. Although Jesus’ own life could be described as almost domesticated: he didn't seem to travel much beyond his own borders. The life of the early church was anything but. Paul is of course famous, and many of us learnt all about his travels when we were at Sunday school. But Peter also traveled to Rome, Thomas perhaps as far as India and there are even the stories of Joseph of Arimethea, the supplier of Jesus’ tomb, travelling to Glastonbury. History has seen many like them, St Patrick, Gladys Aylward in China, David Livingstone to Africa and countless unnamed ones. They seem to have taken Jesus’ command to preach/ live out the good news in “Jerusalem, Samaria and to the ends of the earth” very seriously. Let’s be honest about this, it wasn't always the spirit of adventure that moved them. Sometimes it was persecution and the need to flee, that led to the opportunity to spread the good news. However they certainly did take some risks, and one could well say that they learnt to live their lives to the full, just as Jesus promised they should.

Of course not all of us are called to adventures in travel, or to cross cultural encounters, but the idea of our Christian life as an adventure is a rich idea. This is something of what pilgrimage or even discipleship means. I wonder though are you comfortable describing your life or your faith with this language? Sometimes I think we have made the fundamental mistake of mixing up faith with certainty and we thus become encamped around certain ideas; static and immovable. This is my one fear with the beacon project; that we will see this as an opportunity to settle down again in our new, now comfortable, surroundings. A beacon is a flame that lights up a pathway; an adventure is a journey without certainty where there may be struggles. Faith is the same. None of us can understand or comprehend completely where our life will lead, there are always surprises. Faith helps us to face these challenges and keep moving forward. Faith is the hope that at each crossroad there is still a pathway that leads to peace, and also the re-assurance that we are not called to travel that pathway alone. By faith we take hold of Jesus’ words that: “he will never leave us nor forsake us,” that he is with us, “to the end of the ages.” For the man or woman of faith these words give us strength for each day and the adventures that they may bring.  

Stephen Newell

I look forward to sharing my adventure stories from Uganda with you, and also listening to the stories of your own adventures and struggles and joys.

PS if I get the chance there may well be a blog to follow while we are travelling in Africa see: www.zuchurch.co.uk for details

Create Expectations!

(Radio Bristol Thought for the day)

                My thought today is about expectations. When it comes to the weather we brits tend to catastrophise, we expect the worst!  Summer comes; the cricket gets rained of, brollies at Wimbledon and a Glastonbury mudfest.  Of course not all our summers are quite such washouts but we think the worst so that we can make the best of whatever comes.  There are of course sometimes strawberries at Wimbledon and singing in the rain isn’t always number one at Glastonbury.

                Fearing the worst about the weather is one thing, it has no effect on the weather!  However, when we expect the worst of others we could be creating a culture of mistrust. Stories about child abducting teachers or failures in the NHS then become evidence that no one else can be trusted, and when people do let us down it becomes only what we expected.  

                                Of course nothing I say today can change the weather. But we can change our expectations of others, perhaps that begins when we acknowledge our own weaknesses. I read recently of an encounter between two early church fathers.  One commented that a certain brother was a really good man, because he “hated evil.” The older man, Abbot Poeman asked, “What do you mean, he hates evil?” The younger brother thought for a while and had no answer, so he asked, “Tell me Father what is it, to hate evil?” Abbot Poeman replied, “That man hates evil who hates his own sins and looks upon every other brother as a saint, and loves him as a saint.”  I’m not sure about “hating evil” but here’s my thought for today: treat all those around you today as though they were saints, you may well get a pleasant surprise!

Wrong Green Trousers Day

Thought for the day on Radio Bristol 20th June

                                Are you wearing the right trousers today? Apologies to listeners wearing skirts or dresses, but wearing the right trousers can be a pretty big deal. Personally I seem to dress for yesterday; so the day a heat wave ends, I’m in shorts, and after a storm, I’m all geared up for it! Perhaps Bristol’s most famous trousers are the red ones worn by Mayor George Ferguson, except that just at the moment he’s wearing green to celebrate Bristol becoming green capital in 2015. But are these the right trousers? If the recent decision to halt the roll out of parking zones and the battle crazy that will probably meet the suggestion of a central Bristol low emission zone are anything to go by, perhaps we should doubt it.

                                Tomorrow is actually quite specifically “wrong trousers day”.  A day when in celebration of Bristol’s other great innovators, Wallace and Gromit, people are invited to wear the wackiest trousers possible to raise money for sick children in hospitals and hospices around the country.  So by the sound of it, the right trousers today may well be the wrong ones tomorrow! You see just like the weather, things do change.  So George’s green trousers and Bristol’s status as Green Capital may act like a weather warning; change is coming and we need to get ready. I for one think green are the right trousers to wear. As a recent convert to cycling I ask myself why we all propel ourselves around using an engine when God in his goodness gave us legs. So there’s my thought, wear the right trousers and take them out for a walk or a run or a cycle sometime, and leave the wrong trousers of the combustion engine at home if you possibly can! 

Jesus and Culture

I’m not quite sure what to make of the depiction this week of a giant breakdancing Jesus opposite an iconic Banksy painting. At one level I’m thrilled, Jesus for once isn’t all gentle Jesus meek and mild; he’s standing upside down on one hand for goodness sake. In words my daughter might use he looks pretty hench!  On the other hand this is Jesus we’re talking about and I guess some people might be offended.  Or worse still this is Jesus opposite a Banksy, perhaps some Banksy fans might be offended!

                In the end though I’ve decided I like it, we all, including us religious need a bit of shaking up occasionally. Actually that is exactly what Jesus did, the main criticism he received was that he partied too much… hardly an accusation levelled regularly at his followers!  When people moaned at him he responded, we played the flute and you didn’t dance we sang a dirge and you didn’t mourn.  That’s the real trick we need to learn; when is it right to let your hair down and party and when are the times to go easy, to sit quietly, perhaps even to mourn and reflect on the people or things we’ve lost. Generally speaking we tend to do one or the other. Either partying all the time, not appreciating the struggles others go through, or down in the dumps, not really enjoying the beauty all around us. So there’s my thought if you’re a misery cheer up and if you’re a hedonist grow up. Or as Jesus put it weep with those who weep but really laugh with those who laugh.  I reckon if we try hard enough we can even do that standing upside down on one hand! 

View from a Pilgrim

                There are times when it is very hard to express with words all that we want to say.  The bible says of those times that sometimes we groan with the very weight of that burden. For me to express my sense of thankfulness is one of those moments. I have so much to say thank you for. I had a wonderful trip, a pilgrimage an adventure. I had three months when I didn’t have to do anything over much… a time to rest, to read, to reflect… and occasionally cook the dinner for Sarah and Debbie… (truth is they didn’t always appreciate my culinary efforts! But I was trying.) From my trip to Lindisfarne and beyond I have now raised £4,000 and the figure just seems to keep going up daily.  It was a real privilege to be given the time to do the trip, it was great fun and gave me an incredible sense of achievement… and somehow I feel I am being rewarded so generously for something that was good in and of itself, I say it again, thank you.

                There are many things I could write about what I’m learning about pilgrimage but I will confine myself to one: transformation.  A pilgrimage is a journey with a difference, the difference being that we are meant to be changed by the experience. For me it wasn’t about the arriving… although that was quite something.. {read my blog for more info on the arrival http://revgoonersteve.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/arriving.html } the real adventure was the taking part, to set of each day not quite knowing where I was going, not knowing who I would meet, how the roads or the weather would be. It was exciting to realise that each day I had to trust a mixture of God and myself. Whatever anyone may say God didn’t push the pedals.. he did occasionally send the wind, although if I’m honest there were several days when he blew in the wrong direction! (Quite hard!) On the other hand I almost never felt alone on the bike. For company I had the rolling hills and the sky and oftentimes the sea on my East, there were birds and hedgerows, and canals and cottages and somehow amongst them all the brooding powerful presence of God. God allows us to travel with him, to catch a glimpse of what he always sees and perhaps in that, to give us a glimpse of the fullness of his heart.  It is from that glimpse into the fullness of God that transformation occurs. It may have been me doing the pedalling but somehow the appetite, the appreciation, the eyes that wondered the ears that learnt to listen a little better to the strangers I met on the way, all these came from him.

                Many people have said to me, Oh you’ve lost weight, or you look well. Truth is I lost very little weight, even though I cycled well over a 1,000 miles climbing probably 100,000 feet in the process! I didn’t lose any weight, but I will concede that my weight changed. I am now better equipped for the adventure of pilgrimage.

I want to remain a pilgrim. Each day is new and uncertain, none of us knows what encounters and experiences await. We do have to take many of the steps through the day ourselves, but when we do, it is possible to become aware that even in our familiar circumstance we are never alone.  Pilgrimage, a life with a purpose, is so much more fun than just a journey. I am convinced that God is looking to travel with his pilgrims again. We are called to be a Pilgrim church, called out of our comfort zones to things that are new and exciting and which can also appear daunting.  Someone text me and said: “Stephen, we are proud of you, you did it for all of us.”  I still can’t believe I did do it, that I overcame the hills and the sheer mileage and minutiae that separated me at the outset, but I did. In the same way I want to text all of Zion and say: “Zion, I am proud of you, you did it for me.” You see as I was on my journey you were on yours, and God accomplished many things through you and in you whilst I was away.  Not least staying vaguely calm and united as a church without a building meeting in a temporary worship space which doesn’t quite fit!

My final thank you is to those who kept you all moving on pilgrimage while I was away. I have no sense that Zion has rolled backwards or backslidden, quite the reverse. Together I sense you have pressed on, sometimes a little excited and sometimes apprehensive.  You did exactly what I learnt to do on my pilgrimage… keep going! Paul expressed the same lesson in Phil3:12ff:

                Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. ¹³ Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

what's not to love

Great day today...... England won the cricket... Arsenal sneak Champo league

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27453474@N02/8753765705/in/photostream/

and my fundraising just hit £4,000 which is awesome. A massive thank you to everyone and here's to the two charities who will spend the money... with Mission Direct building a disabled block attached to a mainstream school in Uganda.. and Rom 1:11 supporting a school/ orphanage / church pastor training center.

From all those who will be helped, a big thank you. From me, just awe really that something which was such great fun, can raise that amount of money... I am blown away that so money people just keep giving money. Generosity is a truly beautiful thing. Thank you to all who have made that £4,000 possible.

Oh yes and its Pentecost today as well.... a great day.

Stephen