Tikhtak

Encounter India at the Connect service

Last night Irfana and I talked at Holy Trinity church Clapham common at the once a month Connect service about our trip to India with CMS in June. We shared about people who had inspired us in India, namely Lalita Edwards (CMS mission partner) and Kerygma coffee bar ministry. Both reach out to specific cultures within India - Youth and the red light district of Pune. It was great to use the Christ we share pack, which is a challenge to see Jesus through the eyes of other cultures. If Jesus is multicultural then as we get to know his church in other cultures we see more of him. The greatest challenge perhaps is to see Jesus in the different cultures on our own door step.

Youth e-short revamp

This is the new logo for my CMS eshorts for the time being. Eshorts are stories, which I research and write from around the world church largely aimed at a younger audience. The long term plan is to revamp not just the design further but the name aswell (any ideas appreciated) and this will be properly launched with the redesign of the CMS website sometime in the new year. Have a look at the new look Youth eshort blog and tell me what you think.

Debriefing Encounter trippers

It was good to join the encounter debfriefing  weekend on Saturday to challenge everybody to apply their global encounter to life back here in the UK. Check out pictures from the weekend on blahonline. One metaphor we used to describe our mission encounter was breaking through a wall. Even though we may get grazed our perspective on what we see around changes, whether we look back, around or forward. The picture shows a "bethel" of globe balls that the group built as a marker to God of their summer encounter.

work, work, work

I am off to a mission movement retreat until Friday and then on Saturday I will be debriefing an Encounter participant who went to Pakistan back in the spring. Will also be making another appearance next week on Premier radio's thought of the day every morning at 7 30am and 3 30pm.

Irfana's birthday

      Yesterday we celebrated Irfana's birthday and had a great time. During the day we went to London zoo, but unforunately I forgot to charge the batteries so have no photos. Nevertheless it was a good day and almost without any rain. In the evening we had a bbq with an asian theme. Again the rain held off till about half way through and then we had to make a run for it back inside. It was great to see Laekha and Simon our friends from Amersham and  Lucy Stewart Lee who went to Pakistan with CMS. Also Abigail an old friend from Irfana's Oxford days came along looking very asian. And of course all our friends from church. Today we crowned off the birthday weekend by visiting the brick lane festival. It was thumping with asian food, music and heaps of people. To crown the weekend off England have roasted Australia in the ashes today and are hopefully on the way to England. Check out some of the highlights of the weekend in Irfana's photo gallery.

3 D art in London

We went to see this vault last week outside the bank of England. It was painted by artist  Julian Beever  and from the steps of the bank really looked like it was raised off the ground. It was actually some street art but it was great just to sit and watch how many people stopped and came over to have a closer look.

I also took a picture of tower bridge on the way back as it was such a clear and sunny day. This is real 3 d of course, or is it?

Images from New Orleans

Here is a link to some images on The old bills site of people caught up in the recent events of Hurricane Katrina. They perhaps reflect not only the pain caused by the hurrican but also the disbelief of an indifferent government.

Pictures on the Greenbelt site

I have uploaded pictures onto the Greenbelt site where comments can be left and photo's can be voted for. Check it out on Greenbelt pictures 05 and leave a comment

Big Intent at Greenbelt

     I am beginning to settle back into some normality after a very satisfying and enjoyable Greenbelt. Big Intent theatre performed the story of Rama and Sita, culminating in Divali as a way to highlight the trafficking of young girls from Bangladesh to India supporting the CMS Setting the captives free campaign. The use of the Ravana costume worked a treat, even if it didn't have 10 heads and Mike North and I gained muscles we didn't know we had controlling it. All went very well and each day we got somewhere between 45 to 60 young people. To get some of the theatrical highlights click on Big Intent at GB. Other than the theatre part it was great to be able to see some quality performers, namely Sonia Sabri an Indian Kathak dancer who mesmorised us for and hour with her agility and story telling. It was also good to see The Proclaimers who brought back lots of childhood  memories for me. Another thing worth seeing was the Holy Ground installation, where shoes and their stories of faith were on display. CMS has developed a youth resource to go with it which can be purchased on line at CMS bookshop. To see other pictures from Greenbelt check out Greenbelt highlights