Skip to main content

A brief overview of the second week in South Africa


Church with the missionaries made very welcome then lunch out after church, recommended. Delivered our thoughts on the Prodigal Son at Mercy Air. Still doing day to day vicar things like talking God and pastoral care. Also talking to God. Learning that  short service in Africa means you do not leave your old skills behind you. So I have been servicing a tractor and ride on lawn mower, vital for a grass air strip. Erin has also been making things, more of that later. I had coffee with the local Pastor very interesting it was to get another view of God and church. Invited to a brai on the rooftop with another Mercy Air family, a bit different watching the monkeys  bedding down in the trees above you. It's also been a privilege to say Morning Prayer, Erin and I together. Once again meeting so many good people doing great things. 
A privilege. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Response To Bishop North

A while back Bishop Phillip North spoke to New Wine and caused a bit of a reaction one of it was a Tweet to my millions of followers. In response I had a phone call from The Church Times asking for a quote because I serve in a poor parish, I declined and said I would put a more considered response on my blog, so here it is with a link to The Bishops full talk. https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2017/4-august/news/uk/there-s-a-future-for-the-church-if-evangelicals-put-the-poor-first-bishop-north-tells-new-wine 1.      One of the issues the church does not recognise is the exportation of people , talents and money from parishes like mine to middle class parishes which is draining and demanding on leadership. For 10 years I thought I was building a community, then it dawned on me I was building people up to go to other places. 2.      Bishop Phillip talks of abandonment of the poor: I think it’s more complicated than that. When ...

Why did we come?

Why did we come? You know the old story for people of certain age you, get to the top of the stairs and could not remember why you went up the stairs. Well here is another observation i was walking through Heathrow Terminal 5 the other day passing the oh so many shops the only one being in my price range was WH Smith . it struck me do people really get the cheapest seats on a plan and then think oh I need a bag its only £500 or that shirt will be handy its only £200? I digress, as we made our way past the many shops Ruth observes that it does not seem obvious that we are waiting for a plane. Terminal 5 happens to be a shopping centre (precinct as we used to call them) were you just happen, if you remember, to leave in a plan. In visiting 5 churches before I left for the USA I came away from almost all of them thinking and feeling, why did I go? It was like being at the top of the stairs. I write this not as accusation but observation of the church’s I visit but as an observation of my...

Oh what a night SF1

Do you remember the song from I think it was The Four Seasons Oh what a night? Well for me it is the same expression for a different reason. Made it to San Francisco 10 0clock at night and chickened and got a cab to the hostel. I am in a four bed dorm with three other guy’s they also have mixed dorms but Erin said No No No. Who do you think uses the prayer Please God don’t let me fall? Mountaineers, wire walkers scaffolders, no me lying on the top bunk I am last in the room so I get a top bunk. The last time I slept on the top bunk I was 8 years old now I am like granddad in the room they are so young I am not sure whether to go to sleep or read them a story. At some point in the long night alongside the fear of falling out of bed I loos my pillow, it has fallen to its death thousands of feet below it is my only comfort apart from second hand sleeping bag. I think I am the only one in the hostel in a black two piece pair of striped pyjamas. Not sure if I will have to go and get a pair ...