Belfast Baps & development in Egypt

What has the Belly Buster Belfast Bap got to do with Egypt? Well… not a lot, but read on

Having celebrated my birthday with the family on the Friday before Christmas, we headed downtown on the Saturday morning to St George’s Market for breakfast and a browse…

The bacon, egg, sausage and black pudding extravaganza that is the Belfast Bap

You can see why it’s advertised as the Belly Buster! We shared two between five of us.

The stall in St George’s Market that advertises their delicacy as the Belly Buster

On Sunday morning, Alf and I (from our church Mission Coordination Group – somebody please suggest a better name for our group!) presented the Presbyterian Church in Ireland World Development Appeal Let Justice Flow.

Which brought some perspective to our lifestyle in Belfast as we compared the situation faced by Christian brothers and sisters in Egypt!

Why not take a look via the link above and find out how Tear Fund and Christian Aid projects are helping promote a better lifestyle through the funds donated by Presbyterian churches in Ireland – and there’s still time to contribute.

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Merry Christmas from Wycliffe Bible Translators

Just a little late, here is a Christmas greeting from Wycliffe Bible Translators

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Nativity

I have been following SU WordLive’s animated video during Advent…

Today, on Boxing Day it comes to an end… not with praise and worship and “Glory to God in the highest” – but with an asylum seeking family; with infanticide; the anguished uncomprehension of parents: the horror of King Herod’s self-centred, self-serving, senseless and futile massacre of innocent children.

Have you watched to the end?

Did you notice what it said at the end of the animation?  “The End?”

This event too had been foretold. See Matthew 2:13-18

God was and is still working out his purposes despite the evil of powerful men and the willingness of soldiers to obey evil orders.

Access SU WordLive’s Advent animation series with various options here

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Bethlehem Hospitality…

Pottery nativity

Mary and Joseph and the birth of Jesus in a stable is the stuff of nativity scenes: carved figures, paintings, pottery versions. But what was it really like?

SU WordLive’s Advent animated video reached the stage yesterday when Mary and Joseph faced the problems of a lack of suitable accommodation in census crowded Bethlehem…

Take a look and empathise with the stresses on Joseph finding a place for his pregnant wife.

My recent “No room at the inn” focussed on hospitality African style. Which hospitality do you prefer – Bethlehem or Nairobi? Which style do we live out where we are?

Access SU WordLive’s Advent animation series with various options here

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No Room at the Inn

“No room at the inn” is inevitably associated with Christmas when we get self-righteously stroppy with the inn-keeper who couldn’t find space for Mary and Joseph. However, how good are we at hospitality at Christmas or throughout the rest of the year?

However in many African cultures hospitality is a given – whatever your circumstances – as we see in this story from Wycliffe colleague Jill Brace about some colleagues from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

When a Congolese Bible translator hears the phrase, “No room at the inn,” he has a hard time translating it. The response of that Bethlehem innkeeper is very much at odds with that of the Congolese—where hospitality is a must!

To continue translation studies, Congolese Mayogo translator, Pastor Mapuma, and wife Faustine, had moved to Kenya with their five young children—one a newborn. They were able to find a two-bedroom apartment in a quiet neighborhood of Nairobi.

Another Congolese translator, Pastor Choro, from the Lendu-speaking people, also arrived in Nairobi with his wife and three younger children in order to follow a study program. On arrival, they were temporarily accommodated in a guesthouse located in an isolated area. Just a few days later thieves attacked the night watchman and broke into the guesthouse. While not harmed, Choro’s wife was badly shaken by the incident. Being reminded of a violent incident from her past, she refused to stay at the guesthouse. But where could they go?

Hearing of their plight, Mapuma and Faustine invited the Choros into their apartment—even though the couples are from different Congolese ethnic groups. Mapuma cheerfully quoted the Mayogo proverb: Kpála bedhe etï de. [People - fill - house - not], “A house is never full.”

To literally “top it off,” Pastor Choro’s three grown children were evacuated to Nairobi from another African nation where ethnic fighting had grown from bad to terrible. Although now safe in Nairobi, they too were without a place to stay.

Once again Mapuma and Faustine agreed and invited the refugees to share their two bedroom home—bringing the total to seven adults and eight children! Pastor Choro responded, “Mapuma and his wife are examples of the Lendu saying: Dzae ndrú pü nzÿ. [The house doesn’t turn you away], “You are always welcome.”

Thankfully, the Choro family found an apartment, and the Mapuma family is once again alone in their tiny flat. But never was a word of complaint ever heard from either family, only gratitude on the one hand for having such good friends—and on the other hand, happiness for the opportunity to have been able to express hospitality to brothers and sisters in the Lord. There will always be room in Mapuma and Faustine’s inn.

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Looking the wrong way at Christmas

I remember the time when, as a family with two young children, we saw our first ever kingfisher on the River Lagan – and I missed it!

I was looking the wrong way.

And then a pair of kingfishers flew back past us! Wow!

 

Richard Littledale at The Preacher’s Blog made a similar point this morning about people who missed it by looking the wrong way at the first Christmas…

It has always struck me that one of the saddest moments in the whole Christmas story is to be found in Matthew’s Gospel.  When the Magi arrive in Herod’s palace and ask where the king of the Jews is to be born, the answer is rapidly found. Without skipping a beat, Herod’s religious advisers tell him ‘In Bethlehem in Judea’.

The question is this: if they knew that to be so – why were they looking the wrong way when the moment came? This is a warning for all of us to search both scripture and circumstance to see what God is doing.

The picture below says it all. Enjoy…

The photo reminds me somewhat of a boat trip in Skye last August…

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Merry Christmas from Wycliffe Bible Translators

I was unsuccessfully searching for stories about people groups getting the Christmas story in their language for the first time… looking for stories I had never read before, and then I found this video from Wycliffe USA…

So as we get into Advent this weekend and read the Biblical record of how God predicted that one day he would translate himself from divine into human – and then did just that – please spare a thought for the millions who cannot do the same in the language of their hearts.

God’s Word became a human being and sat down among us.  John 1:14 in Kouya, Ivory Coast

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Biblefresh @ Bethlehem

Roman census officials

You never know who you are going to meet on a cold Thursday night in December in Belfast.

We went to the Bethlehem Village Experience organised by Christ Church, Belfast on Thursday evening. It’s described on the church website…

The village of Bethlehem was a not a particularly pleasant place. Already under Roman occupation, the streets are thronged with more visitors than the small village can handle. The puppet ruler has flooded the streets with spies seeking out a threat to his authority. And in the midst of the chaos, rumour has it that a radical king has been born and is lying in an animal stable.

Walk the streets of Bethlehem village, meet the villagers, hear the sounds and savour the smells of those remarkable times at The Bethlehem Village Experience at Balmoral Showgrounds, King’s Hall Complex.

So posing as people coming to Bethlehem to be counted in the Roman census, we met:

• Roman soldiers – including at least one wearing glasses – and census officials
• some shepherds
• someone who worked in the stables of an inn
• a Rabbi
• a star gazing woman who had met the Magi
• a smarmy and somewhat anxious King Herod and his spies

… oh yes… and two pupils that I taught in Annadale Grammar School in the 1970s – Wilbert and Stephen! But they were also there to register for the census

Christ Church has three members serving with Wycliffe overseas: Jennifer Davey in Nigeria and Derek & Heather Johnston in Francophone Africa. However for three days coming up to Christmas, Christ Church members focussed their energies  on providing the Bethlehem Village Experience in a massive and cold and drafty building in the King’s Hall complex that at other times of the year hosts agricultural shows.

One of this Biblefresh year’s challenges is to experience the Bible in new ways – we certainly did that at the Bethlehem Village Experience.

According to one of the organisers, Stephen Gilmore, this morning on Facebook:

Around 1650 have visited Bethlehem on Thursday and Friday

You can view more photos of the event here

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Christmas Greetings 2011

Kouya women and girls at a Kouya church conference back in 1989

We’re so pleased to tell you about progress in the things we asked you to
pray about last time. On 1 December Marlene Beattie started working in
the office. She is relating to enquirers and developing links with students and young adults. Volunteers Bill Bailie and Lynda Ranson have taken on new roles within the team. We are very grateful to them—and for your prayers!

New enquirers have come to talk about being involved with Wycliffe and there are exciting possibilities. Please pray for these people.

This month I went to the Global Connections Conference in England. The interlinked themes were Mission in a Changing World and Mission with a Changing Church. I was challenged again about listening to God. As a colleague put it “Do we tell God what we want to do, or ask to be part of what he’s doing?” Not a bad New Year’s resolution…

We’re looking forward to the family being together for Christmas.
Stephen’s temporary teaching job in Edinburgh was made permanent this month. Cathy is studying for her final GP exams in London in February. Ruth hopes to join her for a relaxing weekend afterwards.

Kouya New Testament Dedication: The date is fixed for 21 March
2012! Ruth and I are now investigating flights, visas and vaccinations. This will be Ruth’s first trip to Côte d’Ivoire since our return home in July 1997.

We pray that John 1v14 will become ever more real for us and for the
Kouya people – ”God’s Word became a human being and sat down among us.”   [back translation from Kouya New Testament]

Wishing you God’s joy and peace this Christmas!

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An Advent Prayer

African Advent Scene... getting me in the mood

For the past four months, God seems to be saying,”Listen to me.”

It all started at Bangor Worldwide mission event with Trevor Morrow – see Reacting to the leading of the Holy Spirit in Ireland- and has continued through reading the Bible and talking to people – and sort of reached a climax at the Global Connections conference last week 2020Vision: Mission in times of Global Uncertainty

A few days ago a colleague tweeted: “Do we tell God what we want to do, or ask to be part of what he’s doing?”

This morning I found an Advent Prayer – it starts like this…

O Lord our God, we have heard once again the rumour of rumblings in Bethlehem, anticipating the arrival of our salvation. Hound of heaven, you keep hunting us. You will not leave us alone; you will not abandon us to our distorted desires. We confess that we often long for a saviour who will do our bidding and take up our own personal and public causes. But these ominous sounds of Advent warn us that you will save us on your own terms.

So now we earnestly pray that you will reconsider. Please do not take from us the customary sentimentalities of our Santa Claus Christmas. Yes, we know that we shop and spend too much, and lose our heads during December (even November, and possibly October). But at least this long, hectic season keeps the economy going. There is work for the unemployed, and – “ka-ching” – profit for businesses. And where else will the money come from for boardroom bonuses? Please, Lord, do not discombobulate us with news that the real reason for the season is not the Winter Carnival, the fake Christmas trees, the family fuzzies, the cosy carols, and the dreaded January bank statement.

… continues outrageously…

Yes, O God of kin and country, stop bothering us. The last thing we want to hear is that you are coming towards us out of stark poverty and imperial oppression as an uppity Jew who will challenge the powerful we obey and the opulent we envy. Do not tell us to repent of our illusions, deceits, and betrayals. Do not urge us to let go of a (homeland) security that depends on fear and violence. Do not warn us about our ecological hubris and irresponsibility. Do not call us to comfort the people cramming our jails, feed the homeless begging on our streets, tend the sick waiting for treatment, and welcome the immigrant looking for sanctuary.

… and ends with a touch more orthodoxy – having made its effectively non too subtle nudge at too many of us who call ourselves Christians!

O God of all truth, forgive what we have just been praying, even as we admit that these are the lusts of our hearts. Teach us how to speak of your coming kingdom, of your power disclosed in weakness, in such a way that we might become true and faithful disciples, followers, not fans, of Jesus, the Nonviolent One we crucified because we couldn’t bear his love.

Tell us what you want from us, make us want what you want from us. Do not leave us to ourselves. Do not leave us alone in the darkness of our own making. We are really quite lost. Shine your light in our night. Find us and take us home. Come, O come, Immanuel!

And so I take the hint: how will I spend Christmas? Will I reflect the One whose Incarnation we are celebrating? Will Christmas enrich me to serve my Saviour in 2012 so that many more people will have this story translated into the languages of their hearts?

Here’s the bit of the Advent Prayer that adds to God’s message, “Listen to me!”

Tell us what you want from us, make us want what you want from us. Do not leave us to ourselves. Do not leave us alone in the darkness of our own making. We are really quite lost. Shine your light in our night.

Read the whole Advent Prayer – thank you for this, Richard

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