Bethlehem Unwrapped

Another short blog about Bethlehem, and no apologies given. This is a city that we all sing about and think of at this time, and yet it is a city that in reality is so different from the images that the carols portray.

There is a festival going on in London at St James church, Piccadilly from 29th Dec - 5th Jan, and it is called Bethlehem Unwrapped. The first thing that you see at it is a short replica section of the separation wall that has been erected in Israel to separate the 'Israeli' land from the 'Palestinian' land. Like all man-made boundaries, it isn't accurate, and it results in families being split up, or farmers not being able to reach their farmlands etc. And of course as it was erected by the Israeli's, they get the better deal.

When I was out in Israel several years ago, I walked along the side of the wall in Jerusalem for a short distance - it is so so oppressive and intimidating; and trying to cross at a border crossing was a very tense affair. I can't imagine what it is like for those that have to cross it every day, just to get to work, or to college, or to school, or to see family - it is so so wrong.

If you are in London in the next week and have the opportunity to get along to the Bethlehem Unwrapped festival then I'd recommend it - even if just to experience standing by the wall. Here is a link to a you-tube video about the festival, either if you want to know more before going there, or to make up for not being able to go!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke7QVF0paqc&feature=youtu.be

and here is another one of interest - it shows the reality of getting to work each day for people from Bethlehem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkWryR1PkTg

Happy Christmas!

Christmas in a foreign land

Call me a cheat if you want, but my daughter Natalie has just posted such a lovely blog about her Christmas in Thailand, and reflections on the 'reasons for the season', that I'm going to save my creative juices until another time and let Natalie do the talking!

So, all the way from Thailand, and via her blog (http://www.faithandactions.blogspot.co.uk), with a bit of editing to make it a tad shorter, here she is:

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from Thailand! I hope you all had a really blessed day, whatever you were doing, whoever you were with and wherever you were. Do you know, I hadn't clicked that its only Brits who have Boxing Day? Everyone here had no clue what I was on about when I mentioned it (along with mince pies, Christmas cake, Christmas pudding and crackers - I never knew quite how unique our Christmas is in England).

I was so blessed this Christmas! It was my first one away from home and so I wasn't always as positive about it as I should have been in the lead up because I'd be away from my wonderful family and friends, and it wouldn't be the same. But God gave us an extra Christmas miracle (besides the pretty important one of sending His son): understanding. Of course none of our Christmas's would be as we are used to, but that's ok because Christmas is all about Jesus and He is everywhere. Germany and Sweden celebrate Christmas on the 24th, so we had two Christmas days (because we have a German and a Swede in our team, if you didn't know). The five of us went out for brunch on the 24th and had an unusual breakfast - I had carrot cake, passion fruit sorbet, red berry sorbet and a frozen mint chocolate drink. I figured as it was a hot Christmas, so for the summery foods.

So we started well, with a lot of delicious food and a relaxed time of fellowship with these four wonderful sisters of mine. 

We'd prepared small care packages the day before, and so spent our afternoon walking the streets finding people the hand them out to as we felt led by God. It was a really humbling and encouraging time, and very hot! There's one lady I want to tell you about quickly, as she was the face of Christmas for me this year. We had one package left and I felt that I should give it to an old lady selling street food. She looked very confused to start with and didn't take the gift, but when she began to understand it was free and an expression of God's love and our love for her, the biggest and brightest smile spread across her wrinkled face, bringing it to life. It's the same with God - He gave us Jesus as the greatest expression of His love for each one of us and when we accept Him, our life is brightened forever. This is why I love Christmas!

Before heading home to refresh before church, three of us were introduced to a wonderful delicacy of Thailand - the banana roti. It was amazing! They mix egg and mushed up banana together, fry it in a thin dough circle and fold it into a square, then drizzle with condensed milk and chocolate sauce. Yum!

We went to the church we have been working with during our stay here in the evening and had pizza, popcorn, fruit  and s'mores for dinner, again in very large portions. We sang carols, and it vaguely reminded me of the Christmas Eve service at my church (but it wasn't near as good, but I am quite biased). 

Christmas morning number two started with a Skype call to the family at 7am my time which is 12am midnight, so just Christmas for them. It was a really special start to the day, and I even got to watch some of Love Actually with them! They started my christmas off in the best way possible, thank you so much for staying up guys.

When the others were up we began Christmas with our focus on the 'reason for the season' by reading the Bible story and praying together. It's so special to be with people who really share your faith and understand how important it is to you. The five of us have been through a lot together over the last three months, so it was lovely to spend such a significant day with them! We then did stocking and present opening. The giving of gifts brings such joy, doesn't it?! 

We'd decorated the small communal area we have upstairs and this was our Christmas tree, Thai style.

Breakfast consisted of banana muffins, croissants, fruit, chocolate and other sweets. We all mooched for a while before I carried on the tradition (now two years old) which I am determined to continue of playing jungle speed.

A group of us went out for a late Christmas lunch to a restaurant near by. Oh my word! This was my Christmas dinner.

Yes, it did indeed consist of fish and chips! Well, I wanted something British and this is the closest I could come, and it was so good. There was also an unlimited salad bar, so I had carrot sticks, celery sticks, lettuce, pepper, spinach, mange-tout and other veg for the first time in months. Now, I would have felt extremely blessed if we had had rice and dhal because that's yummy too and Christmas isn't about food, but boy God is so good and loves to give His children joy in many ways. I was very joyful! 

The evening was full of more joy brought through the wonders of technology. I spoke to some of my family, which was so wonderful as they're all at my home for Christmas so it's ever more bizarre not being there. The rest of my new family from India were also online so we could talk to them for the first time since we left - I miss them a lot, going from shari everything to not having much contact is challenging, so it was great to briefly hear their voices again. Then the icing on the Christmas cake was being able to wish one of my best friends, Ruth, a Merry Christmas too. All in all, it was a truly great Christmas, full of God, friends and fun.

O Little Town of Bethlehem

Just back from the Christmas Eve carol service at church - a key part of my Christmas, and apart from the fact that I was one daughter missing, it was as special a time as ever.

But the carol 'O Little Town of Bethlehem' is always a hard one to sing. When you consider what life is like now for the people of Bethlehem, what has happened to that town as a result of fear and hatred replacing love and light in that region - it's hardly a town where people have dreamless sleeps, or a peace-filled town.

Martin John Nicholls is a talented singer / song-writer who works for Christian Aid and went to visit the Holy Land and Christian Aid partners there back in 2003. The conditions that he found then, and the fate of the people, is as true today as it was 10 years ago, and Martin wrote the following version of 'O Little Town'.

Oh broken town of Bethlehem

Oh broken town of Bethlehem

Your people long for peace,

But curfews, raids and closure barricades

Have brought them to their knees

Yet still they strive for justice

And still they make their stand

Their hopes and fears still echo down the years

Come, heal this holy land.

Oh holy child of Bethlehem,

A royal refugee,

Your place of birth is now a hell on earth

Through our complicity.

The innocents still suffer,

Their backs against the wall.

We see the curse, the violence and worse

And choose to ignore it all.

Oh holy streets of Bethlehem

Deserted and destroyed

The frightened faces fill the sacred places

Pilgrims once enjoyed.

Yet in the midst of darkness

A hopeful beacon shines:

The future lies in humble sacrifice

And not in guns and mines.

Oh holy star of Bethlehem

Help us to watch and pray.

With love and light illuminate the night

Reveal the Kingdom’s day.

Lord, dare us to be angels

Your awesome truth to tell.

It must be heard:

You are the final word,

Our Lord, Emmanuel.

© 2003 Martin John Nicholls

Dedicated to Nader Abu Amsha and the staff of East Jerusalem YMCA, Beit Sahour (Shepherd's Field) near Bethlehem.

www.martinjohnnicholls.co.uk

The words are very powerful, and if you then watch this clip about the Christmas story as told by people living in the Bethlehem area, it really underlines a deeper sense of the real meaning of Christmas http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjQDl95tOcU 

May you have a peace-filled Christmas, may the fullness of God Incarnate be alive in you this day, and may 2014 be a year when we get fresh revelations on God working His Kingdom out here on earth, through us, through those around us, and through God's people around the world.

First world problems

When we were in Rwanda in the summer with the  CRED team, one of the phrases that started to get used quite a bit was 'hash-tag first world problems'.

For the non-twitterers amongst you, the hashtag bit is reference to something you can do on twitter if you want to link phrases (I think - I don't really understand it myself!), but the essence was that it was used to highlight moans and gripes that people were having, and put them in perspective as 'first world problems' ie not really problems at all, just inconveniences that were being 'endured'.

So some of the 'moans' that got the response of 'hashtag first world problem' included:
- trying to decide what T-shirt to wear
- the white trainers getting dirty
- how to fit all the resources into one bag
- having to have porridge rather than toast for breakfast

and several others that, when looked at through the lens of the street-kids that we were visiting, made you squirm with embarrassment at the 'spoilt rich kid' mentality of them

It really was very effective at making you stop and think about what really matters, and how so much of what we get het up about is actually very trivial and not worth the wasted energy.

There is a short film that Huffington Post have put together that is very powerful about this, and you can see it by clicking here (so long as you are on-line when you are reading this!). It shows people from the less developed countries reading out some 'first world problems', but due to the context of where they are reading them, it gives a very strong message that we all could do with being reminded about.

Happy 50th Birthday Kenya

On 12th December 1964, Kenya was granted independence from Great Britain, and the following year became a Republic.

50 years on, the verdict seems to be out on how well the country is doing. In some ways it is developing well, with child mortality falling, increased numbers enrolling in schools and increased access to clean water for rural communities giving some indications of the progress that is being made.

It also has a very impressive aim that comes under the title 'Vision 2030' which aspires to raise education standards in Kenya to such a level by 2030 that the country will be in a position to move from being a low-income country to a middle-income country.

All very good, and I wish the country and its people the very best in it, but it does seem strange that amidst the focus on increasing educational attainment, schools such as Spurgeons Academy in Kibera slum are having to look outside their country to get the money to rebuild the school and ensure that it can continue to provide the top quality education that is currently available to the students.

Spurgeons Academy reaches out into the largest slum in east Africa, and offers a high-quality education to some of the poorest and most vulnerable children. About 80% of the students are partial or total orphans, and of those who have both parents, many work away from home if they work at all.

These children can't afford to buy school uniform, or books, or writing implements, or pay for the exam fees - all of which are necessary payments for the 'free' primary education that Kenya offers. Thanks to Spurgeons Academy, which subsidises these costs through child sponsorship and other funding streams, the children can still go to school, and as a result have a chance of learning their way out of poverty.

If the school wasn't there, what other chance would they have to get an education? And without an education what is the chance of getting a decent, paid job? Thus the continuing of the school is so needed, and yet finding the funds to keep it going is an ongoing battle.

Maybe it's because it is early days in the Vision 2030 process that funding for achieving this high level of education isn't more available, but I hope before long that things change for the better on that front. With approximately 42% of the population age 15 or under, there are a lot of children wanting to go to school. To allow them all a place will require that every school functions to its greatest capacity - Spurgeons want to do that, but some funds to help them wouldn't go amiss!

So, happy 50th birthday Kenya! May the next 50 years be good ones to you, and may you in turn be good to all those in your care - especially the young and old who are less able to take care of themselves.

RIP Mr Mandela

The youngest son of the third of four wives to a father who lost his chiefdom because of a dispute about an ox.
The first person in his family to ever go to school
Was 21 before he used a toothbrush
Ran away from home to avoid an arranged marriage

A very inauspicious start to a truly great life:

Nelson Mandela - loved by so many around the world for his pursuit of peace and unity; for his exemplary demonstration of forgiveness; for his totally unprejudiced love of mankind.

Yes I'm sure he had his faults - lets face it, he was human, but the world is certainly a better place for the role Nelson Mandela played in recent history, and I pray that his legacy will live on for many years to come. If only more countries would follow his lead on how to pursue peace and reconciliation..... we can but pray.

But in the meantime - rest in peace Nelson Mandela

Rwanda video

In the summer we took a team of young people to Rwanda for the first ever CRED Team trip there. It was an incredible week, and for the team they came face to face with the reality of issues such as poverty, living on the streets, being part of a marginalised community, scarcity of water, lack of access to education, as well as hearing testimonies of living through the genocide and recovering afterwards.

Nobody came back unaffected by the trip, and the impact lives on, as I wrote about a couple of weeks back.

Today I am delighted to say that the video about the trip is now on you-tube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkBKQMrUwEY and so if you'd like a visual of what we got up to, rather than just my words (which definitely don't do it justice), can I suggest making a cup of tea, clicking on the link, and then sitting back and rejoicing at what was achieved by our team.

Happy viewing!