Journey From Old to New

I'm enjoying the last few weeks of working part time before I get back to college by trying to make sure I get some time off more than the one day I normally have off. I've lost the guilt complex I had at the beginning of the summer about working too little and have begun to relax and have more time to just enjoy what is going on around me. I love lazy days when I can sit and watch and just simply be. 

I've been thinking a lot about the journey from old into new. On Sunday we had 'Pie and Praise' - partly inspired by somebody in the congregation who told me how much she valued the old hymns as they helped shape her faith when she was younger, and partly inspired by the people who are so passionate about the history of the Baptists and Methodists in Ramsbottom. We looked at some things that had been stored by people in the church including many many old photos. As a family history geek I love knowing where things came from - where I and the people around me originated from and what made things happen to become what or who they are today. 

Today I went to Hardcastle Crags. There is an old mill that sits above Hebden Bridge. It is the only National Trust property that is self sufficient in terms of creating its own energy and dealing with its own waste. It is a beautiful place. What fascinated me most was the journey that had happened to get that place to where it is today. Once a mill, and when there was no need for it to be a mill it became a tourist destination with tea dances and shops and camping in the area. It then became derelict before it was made into a museum and beauty spot for people to enjoy today. The museum takes you through the history of the building, but also takes you into the future as you see how it has been made self sufficient. The historical use of water to generate power is combined with solar power to make electricity to serve the mill as it is today. 

History doesn't stop at a point where we think that it has stopped being beautiful. We don't stop at the point when the hymn writers died because we like their music, or at the point when the mill stopped producing cotton because we liked to use it...... history continues and we begin to make new history for the future. If our ancestors could see us now, worrying that in thinking forward we are moving too far away from the history that took us to this place, they would tell us just to get on with it and not worry about taking risks and doing things differently, because they did, and although they did not necessarily like it at the time, they see that now it was a good thing as history evolved and we became who we are today.

God has the power to turn where we are upside down and to make beautiful what was once ugly. We've got to let go, stop clinging onto the pew in front for dear life and let him do it - the time is now, not tomorrow. That's why we are where we are today - because throughout history, pioneers of faith have let go and let God.

I want my journey to be a journey. I don't want to be in a stagnant pool where the surroundings might be familiar, but the future is the same. I want my journey to be to places where the future is uncertain, yet is filled with the blessings of God. I want to be able to look back and learn, but I don't want that to stop me from looking forward and seeing God do new things. If I ever stop and look too comfortable I would hope that someone would kick me and remind me that the time for change never goes away..... keep journeying. 

"So we are not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever."                  2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (MSG)

Overwhelmed by Lists?

I've become I writer of what some people call 'To-do' lists. I don't call them to-do lists. They are just lists.

Todays list includes:

Unhappy face
'Found'
Fence
Coffee Morning
Toddlers
Doers of the Word
What is the Godly Response to situations?
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The problem with my lists is that I cannot always pin down what I mean (you might look at the list and think, well, yep!). My list is not something I can always tick off, but is a guide for my thoughts. Perhaps that's why I don't call it a to-do list. 

It would be so much easier if life was a clear cut list of easy solutions that could be ticked off..... but it's not. New things bring new decisions to make, new directions to go in. We cannot package life into programmes and moments that have clear boundaries because other people work outside of the boundaries we imagine and when we look to God he is so much bigger, wider and greater than any boundaries we put up.

When you are working within non-existent boundaries the challenge is not to become overwhelmed. The easy response would be to walk away because the task is too big..... and sometimes that it is really tempting. Another response is to set boundaries that you wouldn't step over, but then we forget to take risks. The best (and sometimes most dangerous for our own limited vision) response is to dream dreams, take risks, don't be afraid to add more to the list or to not tick things off, trusting that God will walk with us....

When I was in Kolkata, I looked around and saw the city around me, and the task of transformation for those on the edges of society seemed almost impossible. The solution is hidden, the ideas unthought of........ yet when I looked harder I saw people taking risks, dreaming dreams, moving forward with boldness, relying on God to enable them to make a difference, to change lives. We too often limit ourselves by our own capabilities... but anything is possible. 

'The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd. By faith, we see the world called into existence by God's word, what we see created by what we don't see.'                         
                                   Hebrews 11:1-3 (The Message)

Another Year

I just finished watching 'Another Year'. I don't why but I thought it might be a comedy. It wasn't, and if I had thought about it I would have known that it wasn't.... the end of the film came at a point I wasn't expecting but contained a glimmer of hope in the unhappiness of one of the characters lives.

It tells the story of a happily married couple and their relationship with family and friends. The couple are very much a unit who love one another and who are the sort of people who you want to spend time with because they radiate that love and make you feel good about yourself just by being with them. They attract and look after people who need to be loved and who need to be wanted and treat them with great gentleness and care.

It was one of those films that felt like it could be real life, because I have met people who are both like the couple and their unhappy friends, with similar problems and difficulties in life. I've met people who care for people so much they deal with any intrusion on privacy, rarely showing their irritation. It was like real life because you ended up not knowing what happened to some of the characters the couple met, but you knew that by knowing the couple that they had had some sort of light brought into their lives. It was like real life because you knew the story hadn't ended - that there was still stuff to work through, but there was something to look forward to, even for the most unhappy of characters. 

The title, 'Another Year', implies normality - this year isn't unusual for the couple, different things happen, but it feels very normal. Sometimes life can feel a bit like that - another year, another day the same, same old same old. 

Life can sometimes make us tired, yet this couple showed that despite tiredness and same old same old, the impact that loving the lost can make is longer lasting and penetrates deeper than we can ever imagine, and in ways we often don't notice. 

When Jesus calls us to love our neighbours as ourselves, it's this kind of unconditional love he calls us to. Love that makes a difference, love that crosses all irritation, love that provides a glimmer of hope in the darkest of situations. 

"If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love. Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't strut, doesn't have a swelled head, doesn't force itself on others, isn't always "me first", doesn't fly off the handle, doesn't keep score of the sins of others, doesn't revel when others grovel, takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, puts up with anything, trusts God always, always looks for the best, never looks back, but keeps going to the end. Love never dies.'
                                                                                          1 Corinthians 13:3-7 (The Message)

The same but different

I've probably read somewhere that your 20's and early 30's are the time of the biggest change in your life. You leave school, go to university perhaps, get frustrated about not knowing what you are going to do next when everybody is asking you what next... The expectation, particularly in Christian circles of finding a husband or wife and beginning a family is huge and totally over-emphasised in too many places and if you are not one of the ones who gets married off quickly you become unusual and people feel sorry for you (when there is nothing to feel sorry about). 

Ten years ago I was finishing my time working with UCCF (Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship) as a relay worker with the CU at York St John's College. It was a strange year, a year when lots of stuff happened, but a year that I really valued and came out a stronger and more determined follower of Jesus. 

Life has changed abundantly since then. I've grown up, a lot. I've become more confident. I am more outspoken (in a quiet, Claire like way) and I'm totally sure of my identity in Christ. 

Last week I went to Keswick Convention for the first time, just for a couple of nights... don't want to push it! We went to a question and answer session, I didn't really want to go. I was reminded of a question and answer session in a Biblical Evangelism Conference before I went on to be a relay worker where we were told that of course, male headship was a given even if we do let women speak..... 

I was expecting it to be like that. But it wasn't. Although the views of the panel on the issues they were asked about were generally clear, and I didn't necessarily agree with them all the time, there was a huge amount of grace and understanding that real people were involved and that people need to discover the way forward for themselves and we need to support them as part of Christ's family. 

When we are listening and answering one another we should never make assumptions about where anyone is coming from, perhaps we should always expect to be surprised. 

Would I go to Keswick again? Probably. I was disappointed that it was very male dominated, but I was only there for two days. I disagreed with almost everything one of the speakers said, but that's OK. I loved the commitment to Young Adults and being part of something bigger, the commitment to Scripture and the focus on the cross. In some ways it was like going back to the stuff I used to do ten years ago, but I've gone back with a different attitude and a more thoughtful mind..... so that makes it very different to what I was doing ten years ago. 

So yes, I've changed a lot. I'm doing my second degree, embarking on a totally different way of working, living in the smallest place I've ever lived in on the rainy side of the Pennines where life is very different. God is changing me, transforming me, but he stays the same - unchanging, awesome, loving, gracious, creator God.

Looking beyond the obvious

I've always been quiet, but I'm not shy. I don't say much sometimes, but that's not because I lack confidence. So many times throughout my life, however, my natural tendency not to talk in people's faces or to push myself to fit in with the 'in-crowd' has left me on the side lines. I had a conversation with someone when I was a teenager about celebrity Christianity. Some people go out of their way to mix in the 'right' circles to make sure that they are first on anyone's list for anything - to comment, to speak, to be known.... 


I don't want to be one of those people (otherwise I would just become one of those people I get frustrated with) but I also don't want to be overlooked. Why do we so often take the easy route and go with what is jumping up and down in our face rather than look beyond the obvious to see what is happening behind, and at the sides, and below, and above? God's love and empowerment stretches much wider, much higher, much deeper than what we can see straight ahead, yet too often we look at who or what is straight there instead of turning our heads. 


In Kolkata a lot of the work was about empowering those people on the margins - those people who are overlooked by society as society progresses without them. The New Hope School's vision was not to bus in the best teachers from outside but to enable those with skills within the community who would be overlooked by society generally to teach. These teachers from the community were helping to enable the children to go to high school at a higher grade than they were expected to. The leadership are not looking for elitism or for those who shout the loudest or for those who are part of the 'in crowd' but are looking to empower those who are so often overlooked - the children and the women who live on the edge of a symbol of the 'progression' of India (the IT district - celebrated, desired, wanted). A tiny school, easily missed, in a small community, easily missed, but living out the Kingdom of God in more ways than we can possibly imagine. Real progression?

Never be without love

The last day of 'work' in Kolkata. Tomorrow we rest, Sunday we go to a Bengali speaking church and then Monday is home. Second weeks are always the fastest..... Good news today - I had FRESH toast WITH butter for breakfast (instead of cold toast without yesterday) and our air conditioning was mended so I might sleep tonight....! The small things make a huge difference. 


We spent another day with freeset today - this time we were putting waterproof covers at the windows so that the screen printers stay dry in the crazy rain (the area around the freeset factory flooded knee deep earlier in the week - there was a picture in the newspaper of a boy swimming in the water). We heard more of the vision for the future (which was very exciting - they are praying that if it is God's will he will create a way for it to happen) ..... and learned of the UK distributor of their bags - checkout http://www.freesetbags.co.uk/ 


As our time in India comes to a close we've been thinking about how we might have changed, what has inspired us and what it might prompt us to do or change when we get back home. We've seen a lot, much of it still needs time to sink in and be processed. As we were praying tonight I was very aware of how God created each one of the group beautifully different and brought us all to India for different reasons. My brain still needs more time to work through all of this, but these verses from Colossians sum up what we have seen and experienced in action through the projects we have visited in the past couple of weeks and through our time together as a team.


'So - chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive and offence. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It's your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without love.'
                                                                                          Colossians 3:12-14

Living Hope

Driving through Kolkata we enter Salt Lake - the up and coming IT district of Kolkata. All around us are shiny office blocks and new build flats in different colours. Hundreds and hundreds of young adults head for work. We drive on, through more building work, glimpsing lives that feel the closest to the UK cities that we have been since we've been here... Between the office blocks and high rise we have a glimpse of another world - old Kolkata - where people live in traditional small houses made of brick, mud and corrugated iron. Living in the shadows of the commercial future.....

We cross a bridge over a small stretch of water and we enter that world that lives in the shadows of the shiny new. As we walk down the mud path we pass through a settlement of small houses. These are brick maker's houses and the houses of people who collect useful rubbish to make stuff from or sell on - their poverty is clearly evident. We attract the normal stares that a group of white westerners attracts and the silence contrasts with the busyness of the Kolkata traffic jams we have just left. 

At the end of the track is a small building, built by the villagers themselves - the New Hope School - a school for local children. Set up by a visionary couple who are hands on in running the school alongside two young men from the local community it gives the children opportunity to learn where they might not have before. It is a place where they can hear about the Gospel and see people actually act out the Kingdom of God Jesus talks about. Some children are encouraged by the school to go to high school so that they can take their education further and their lives can be transformed from the poverty they now live in. It focuses on the development of the community.

There were four sewing machines in the room - strange for a school of young children. it was explained that they were trying to reach out further into the community - giving women the opportunity to stand on their own feet by teaching them a skill. Again the women are taught about the love of God and that love is demonstrated through the actions of the people who are teaching it. 

Of all the schools this one spoke to me most - working in the community, for the community and with the community, embodying that community with the love of Christ. Sometimes it is easier to take people out of where they are familiar with to change lives. This was about changing from within - transformational love. 

After visiting the school we made a surprise visit to William Carey's church. It was established in 1809. We got a chance to stand in the pulpit where William Carey had preached from. It was exciting to see some of our Baptist history right in front of our eyes. William Carey has inspired me from when I first heard about him as a teenager and when you see the impact he had in Kolkata and around it inspires even further. 

Inspired, humbled and probably slightly overwhelmed we were taken out for dinner to a Chinese restaurant. We couldn't help but see it as a sign of the contrast of our abundant wealth compared to what we had seen earlier in the day.