e-holiness

time is moving on..

it's funny how our lives are governed by time, and what with our imminent move to south africa this is more real for me than maybe at any other time (!) of my life, the things that have happened to us over the last year are amazing and last weekend saw one of the final pieces of the jigsaw being put in place, no it wasn't the three year volunteer visa that we picked up from the south african embassy in trafalgar square, but the moving of our middle son to his university place in bath.....how time flies, it seems like yesterday when we were hearing his first sounds, or footsteps, or first day at school, or football match, but time moves on and our lives do too.....we can't wait to get out to south africa to work with the poor and needy but it is with a little tinge of sadness that we do so as another stage of our lives comes to an end here in england, for him it is the start of a new life without mum and dad around, for us we are having to let go of one of the most precious people in our lives and trust God to keep him safe as we all set out on our new adventures!

body armor

as you will be more than aware i am off to south africa today with a team of builders from our church in aylesbury, i have been so looking forward to this 18 day trip which will enable us to not only convert some of the buildings on the farm in grabouw into accommodation areas for volunteers and the children we wish to provide homes to, but will also be a chance for us to see God at move in the communities where thembalitsha are already working.

the town of grabouw has one of the highest rates of AIDS and new TB infections in the world and we are really expectant for God to show his mighty hand as we seek to love, serve and pray for those not only affected by these diseases but also hit by the high rates of poverty and housing need.

i was struck by a news report on the bbc web site, which tells of a range of fashion items that have been designed for the south african market, what's different about these clothes you may ask, well these are bullet proof versions to protect people from gun shots and stabbings..see story here.

south africa has one of the highest rates of crime in the world and the areas where we are working will be full of desperate people who will literally kill for food and drugs, however, and i don't say this flippantly, we go with God's full protection, our armour, as seen in ephesians 6 10-18, is not designed to protect us against the gun or flesh but will protect us from the unseen evil powers that all Christians are fighting against...for some of you this will see pie in the sky stuff, but as we go to south africa today we are all putting on God's armour which will not only protect us from but wage war against the schemes which are set to destroy this world (such as the gun crime caused by injustice and man's lack of love for his fellow man as seen in south africa) and claim the spiritual lives of our young people and vulnerable families.

i will try to keep e-holiness updated whilst i am away but if you hear no news then don't worry, it's only because we are so busy with the work that God has set before us, to care for the widows and orphans, seeking justice and showing compassion to all men.

rhythm and rule

over the last few years i have been looking into the 'monastic' way of life, not shut away in a monastery with a load of other blokes but as a way of life that fits in/around/compliments my life in 'the world'...this has taken me to look at the books of david adam and the northumberland community, also other expressions of simplistic living within a wider community, but as we set out on our journey in south africa we have a real chance of creating a community, a rule, of believers that are looking to God and to each other at certain times of the day, knowing that others are doing the same.

this community or rule will be flexible and look to embrace everyone who lives, whether full time, like myself and maz, the careworkers and the children we are caring for, or part time, other workers who come up to work day by day or volunteers who will make themselves available for a period of time whether part or full time....i would love for the prayers, scriptures and times to fit with the community that we are serving:  prayers for those with AIDS and people who live in dire poverty, scriptures that speak of hope and God's love for all men especially the widows and orphans and times that suit our lives, maybe not to get the children up for 6am prayers, but then again maybe they will be the only ones awake then!

this rhythm and rule doesn't need to be too ridged and will take sometime to develop, but i would love for us to work as a community that are focused on God and each other without the need to become to religious about the whole thing.

i have found a great web site, called the order of mission, or TOM for short, this site also embraces some of the mike breen teachings that we loved at new wine all those years ago....this is something that we could join, but if anyone else has any ideas or sites/communities that could share ideas then i would love to hear from you.

east african food crisis....our response?

i have placed this post in my 'e-life category but from what i am reading and hearing about the ongoing crisis in places like kenya, somalia and ethiopia to name a few, it's more a story of 'e-death'.

today the news is full of the work and calls to alms by oxfam, an amazing organisation who i am sure we will all have heard of, but the plight of millions of dying people is still a million miles away from our lives in the affluent west.....and i mean affluent in ways that those starving people can only imagine, the little we have is a mountain to them.

after reading brian mclarens book, see yesterdays post, which is calling us Christians to usher in God's kingdom, right here right now, and having my mind bombarded by monitory figures that make one cry, i would bring some of those figures to your attention and then urge you to think about how you can change to make a difference, not only to those in east afrcia who are starving as i write this post, but also to rise up and take a stance against the machine which drives us forward into that materialist mind set.

here are some figures to shock you:

the richest 1% of the worlds population owns almost 40% of total wealth.

in 2000 the world's developed nations contributed aid and foreign investments to the developing nations that amounted to 3% of their GDP, but in the same year, the developing nations paid the developed nations 6.3% of their GDP in debt repayment, more than twice what they received!.....can you see where the problems might be starting from?

if we look at the figures that the united states spend on 'defence' every year we would be here till kingdom come but at one point the US had enough nuclear weapons not just to destroy the whole earth but 9 others like it and in 2003 they spent $2 billion per day on the military...

...will things change, can things change, or will they continue on a downward spiral forever, well i don't think so and my prayer is that we make a stand and start getting involved with projects like oxfam, where we can make a difference and call on our governments to commit to their promises via campaigns like 'one'.....come on we can change the world, little by little step by step, with our minds fixed on God and His kingdom...we are all part of His plan, we just need to start acting on those things we believe.

their view on life..

found this link from the bbc web site, which looks at a some photos and stories of people who live in the dire conditions of our world, i have focused on the project in mozambique and cape town where both children and women infected by HIV AIDS were give a camera to shot photos telling the stories of their lives to raise the profile of their situations. the shots taken by the children which are set to music here and are wonderful but harrowing (just imagine your child growing up in those conditions) and the project working in the townships around cape town certainly bring home the living conditions of millions of south africans and show the types of people and places we work in with thembalitsha.

our comfy little lives

sitting at the computer working away and have just received a text (sms) message from one of our friends in south africa who has just been carjacked in a township outside cape town, he works for thembalitsha and is doing some amazing work with those affected by the recent xenophobic attacks and also trying to set up a church plant in this poor and needy neighbourhood, we live such sheltered lives, i pray not only for him but also us that we would work for peace in a needy world......

think upon these words of Jesus and reflect in how you might help/react in a world of need and desperation.

blessed are the poor - poor in spirit - who do not trust in status and riches

blessed are those who mourn - who grieve over the injustice in the world

blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness - who seek justice

blessed are the merciful - who are compassionate to all in need

blessed are the pure in heart - who are whole-hearted in desire to do right

blessed are the peacemakers - who work for peace in a world at war

blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness - who suffer for just causes.

please pray for my friend and all those who seek to bring light into a dark world, pray that they will have strength to carry on even when a gun is held to their heads for the sake of a car......

pursue a life of holiness....

tonight the hoodies meet again, it's been a while and since the last 'meeting' we should have been reading through the book of hebrews, to be honest i have been so busy that i haven't had time to really get into this challenging book however one verse that jumps out at me is the call to be holy.

hebrews 12:14 reads, 'make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy, without holiness no one will see the Lord'.....wow a heavy verse hey?.....this says nothing about salvation, perhaps as the book of hebrews was written to people who were already Christians then that expectation was a given. however this is a big warning for all of us, are we Christians who can accept forgiveness all too easily without wanting to change our lives to become holy....holiness will cost us...are we prepared to become holy because only through holiness we will see God!

what does holiness look like to you?

you can make a difference

i have just been sent this link from my good friend simon guillebaud, the video, part of a series that simon has just shot, calls for us to pick up that famous starfish and start to make a difference.

whilst simon is speaking about little babies in central africa and i will harp on about similar little black babies with HIV AIDS in south africa, what we can't ignore is God calls each and everyone of us to step out, pick up a starfish, whoever that might be and start to show His love for this dying world....

yes it might cost you your secure western life, coming home after a hard days work to sit in watch your favourite tv show or spend time with your family, all of which is very important and yes what if you do step out you might end up in burundi, or south africa, or china or peru, or even london, oxford or glasgow but God died to save you, and me and your next-door neighbour but if he gave up everything to give you life doesn't he call you to give up yours to save others?......

urgent prayer for south africa..

following our post on the 22nd we have just received an urgent email from our friend in south africa, adrian who works for thembalitsha, and have spoken with vicky who runs thembacare in grabouw, please read email below from adi but as some further background we are in urgent need of prayer for the xenophobic attacks that are happening in south africa which are now effecting the people and township/settlements we are working in.

the ‘village of hope' is already fulfilling it’s calling as we are providing accommodation for 2 families, from zimbabwe, who have been driven from their homes in philippi township, these are guys who have been on the micro business training course, run by thembalitsha, our wonderful and recently employed farm manager and his wife who works as a staff nurse at the AIDS clinic in grabouw, have welcomed these families in to 'the village of hope' to protect them from further attacks.

everynation church in somerset west are using a warehouse to house around 500 people, please pray as they seek to provide food, sanitation and medical care for these families, many of whom have fled the violence in zimbabwe only to find themselves at the forefront of attacks in south africa….we hope you realise the urgency of this prayer as cape town is as far away from zim as can be, so the continued violence has now spread through all of south africa. the center in somerset west is seeking to provide nappies and basic food stuffs for the babies, some of whom will be living with HIV/AIDS, if you can or know someone who might be able to help please comment below and we will put you in touch with the guys on the ground as we seek to help those to helpless to help themselves.

please read adi’s further email for more info…..in a way we are so happy that thembalitshauk have been able to provide this accommodation at the village of hope so quickly, but it saddens us as to the reason why we have had to do this, the country has enough problems without this happening…..we wish we were there to help but we know that there are good guys on the ground to provide the help and support the people so desperately need. please join us in praying for this nation and the attacks to stop.

URGENT URGENT URGENT

Dear friends and family near and far,

Our nation is in a major crises. Xenophobia attacks on poor immigrants based in the townships have spread like wildfire across the nation in the last week to 10 days.

A week ago reports of mobs driving out Mozambicans, Zimbabweans, Somalians etc being lynched, and killed by running gangs and mobs in Johannesburg hit the news.

By last night this had spread to most cities in South Africa, including Cape Town.

Quite a number of Thembalitsha staff were forced to flee their homes, and families we work with, were facing the prospect of being targeted and attacked as recently as last night. We did a mercy run into Crossroads at sunset last night, for a young family and moved them up to the Village of Hope farm in Grabouw. 2 other Zimbabwean families we know of are being harboured in people's homes, and more and more christians are opening their homes to harbour these people.

When we were in the township last night, the police stations, halls and churches were filling up with these hapless foreigners, who are honest hard working people, but are been given notice to leave their homes and their little shops or face the wrath of the community.

( 450 people where being kept in a warehouse in Somerset West, over 1000 people are being kept at a racetrack near Tableview and about 300 people had sought refuge in a police station in Crossroads ( for those of you not familiar with Cape Town, these are areas around Cape Town)

mobs, most of teenagers and young people patrol the streets, threatening anyone who does not speak the local language, even if they are South Africans, but just happen to speak a language from another part of the country.

Our Johannesburg church has set up a crises centre, our Cape Town church has set up 2 large tents to cope with the people, and today we will start sending buses into the poor communities most affected in CPT to pick up as many people as possible from police stations and other places of safety and move them out of the hotspots and to tented refugee centres.

We need your prayers at this time, as it comes just weeks after a time when revival and a return to prayer has been noticeable throughout the nation, and its almost like its the counter attack from Satan, and he is using people, teenagers, young people, in an organised effort to drive out people who have fled to our nation for safety, and now face persecution again at the hands of a nation that is supposed to be the hope of the African continent.

We are concerned it is being fueled politically, because it seemed to spring up out of nowhere, and perhaps its an attempt to make some inroads in the current leadership crises in our nation by one or other group of politicians. Newspapers are reporting that it seems to be organised, and that someone is behind this that is in a position of power, but nothing concrete has come out of these speculations as yet.

We round off this email by saying we need your help, practically, we are just getting our teeth into the problem this week, so for now, we cannot say what, but until we can send concrete requests, please pray, pray pray. The churches in our nation are rising up to meet the challenge and serve those in need, but we have no idea of how large this problem is on the ground.

What we are seeing is that hundreds of people are being displaced in Cape Town, and in Johannesburg, thousands.

 

Thank you taking the time to read this email, and please treat this with the utmost urgency.

hoodie nights..

last night we (the hoodies as trefor likes to call us) met again to encourage each other in our journeys with our amazing God, we were thankful to pete w who provided some thoughts, scripture, reflection and worship as we looked back over the book of jude that we had all been reading over the last month.

pete bought this franciscan blessing/benediction that i understand that brian mclaren had been using on his recent tour.

may God bless us with discomfort
at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships
so that we may live from deep within our hearts.

may God bless us with anger
at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of God's creations
so that we may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

may God bless us with tears
to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger, and war,
so that we may reach out our hands to comfort them and
to turn their pain into joy.

and may God bless us with just enough foolishness
to believe that we can make a difference in the world,
so that we can do what others claim cannot be done:
to bring justice and kindness to all our children and all our neighbours who are poor.
amen.

it bought tears to my eyes as i read through this with the other guys the precious people in grabouw, where we are going to be living and working with via thembalitsha, came to my mind and i pray that this may this be your prayer and way of life as you seek to bring His love and hope to the broken world he has called you to walk and minister to.