Features (February 2010)
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Will these poor be blessed?
by John Appleby
Most people are overwhelmed by India the first time they visit. Many love it, some hate it. I loved it (mostly). But what took me there was not tourism, nor a spiritual pilgrimage, but a recruiting trip for Newcastle University.
Although there mostly for work, I wanted to visit some development projects. This led to an amazing two day experience, organised by the Social Services Board of the Church of North India, who are supported by Christian Aid.
Their main focus is on building up community leadership, credit unions, and gaining or asserting legal rights for the Dalit communities (Dalit equals 'broken', formerly 'untouchable'). In the Diocese of Marathwada they work with 96 villages of 19,000 people.
My trip away from the cities started with a night train to Aurangabad, 300km east of Mumbai. I'd had just two days to recover from the flight, adjust to the 35ºC heat, take in the extraordinary culture (near my expensive hotel, I found a cow tethered to a tree!), and do some work.
The next two days were action-packed and exhausting – I visited two churches, five towns and villages, two homes and an office, and was welcomed as a honoured guest in all of them.
India is quite well-organised in some ways, and has a good legal system with provisions for the poor, but much of it doesn't work properly, so the projects I visited aimed to assert rights to land, burial grounds, work, water, etc. for these very poor communities. In two villages I saw the land they had managed to obtain, but they still needed a well. In another, Nanegaon, I visited a house (about 3m x 6m, where six people and four goats have to live) and where rich neighbours had sold the village burial grounds. In this very poor place, I was asked to bless a blind girl – what future has she, I wondered?
The burial grounds will probably be saved, but what this Christian Dalit group wanted most of all was to have their church rebuilt. Without a church and house, there's rarely a visit by a priest, and there seems to be little concern for the villages in the urban church. However, this may now change in that diocese, as they propose to build a new church centre, meeting rooms and house. As well as serving the village, this will also bring trainee clergy from the city to placements amongst the rural poor, and help to bridge the 'rich-poor' divide that afflicts the church within India too. This seems an exciting project.
The most strange experiences for me were riding in a bullock cart, having a turban tied at a meeting under a neem tree in the middle of a field, and being asked to take off all my clothes to be dressed in Indian garb, before a procession through a town with bells and drums.
My guides were wonderful, but with most people speaking only Marathi, I had to look interested whilst understanding little, and my own 'speeches' were simple. I told them, “My country is rich in money, yours is spiritually rich.” and “Before I came here, I knew about India in my head, now I know about it in my heart.” That was the best way I could express what I felt, and what I thought we might do for each other.
The Bishop has asked me to consider how our own diocese might best contribute to World Development. My trip was a good start to understanding some of the issues, but discussions continue about what the diocese might do next.
I told my own church about the project in Nanegaon, and they are trying to raise some of the £9,000 needed, but I wonder if you would contribute too? I hope to find a donor to match what we raise, so please do consider this.
Cheques should be payable to: 'Church of the Good Shepherd', sent to Battle Hill Vicarage, Berwick Drive, Wallsend, NE28 9ED.
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Feeding the five thousand?
by Mark Crane
As I watched the queue growing ever longer, I was sure they were going to run out of bread and milk. I was in Cotacachi in northern Ecuador, a village known locally for its leather.
The last time I wrote for The Link I was in Germany during the first part of my year abroad, improving my German. After having spent eight months there, I ventured off to South America to improve my Spanish and experience some Latin culture!
Reflecting on the experience I am constantly drawn back to Cotacachi. It was a Saturday afternoon and we had spent the day at a nearby market town – Otavalo - which is very wealthy in Ecuadorian terms and is in fact world famous; on the way back we made a quick stop in Cotacachi to buy some souvenirs and nip to the toilet.
Having 10 minutes to spare, I headed to the village church (always a commendable idea in South America) for a quick look and was rather astonished by the queues outside the rectory. I stood back and observed as, one by one, people young and old, in a typical mix of indigenous and western clothing filed up the rectory door and then walked away with something in their hand. I moved closer to get a better view. I expected them to be statues or devotional items of some kind having spent most of my time in the cities where that’s exactly the sort of thing one would see. But they weren’t holding statues. The diminutive old priest at the door of the rectory was giving out bread and a cup of warm chocolate milk to all who approached the door.
When asked, I was told that this was the only meal many people ate all weekend. Although poverty is the norm to a great extent in many parts of South America, being so up-close and personal was quite a shock to me. I just stood and gazed in awe as people came to the church and the church provided for them.
It’s to this image that I constantly return – the church living out its mission to the poor and destitute in this world. Following the call of our Lord, not on big political stages, or in synods and councils, but in the villages and towns where people are hungry and thirsty and cry out ‘Son of David, have mercy on me’.
I think we are quick to forget, in the politics of church life and in the day-to-day grind that we so often get caught up in, what exactly the Church is called to do – to live out the gospel of our Lord. Whenever you get caught up in this meeting or that, this argument or the other, just stop and think about this image.
Mark is a third-year modern language student at Newcastle University.
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Spirituality for children – of all ages!
by Gill Henwood
The great Christmas cycle of storytelling is completed with the festival Candlemas on February 2 (or the nearest Sunday). As we end the season for another year, we reflect on how children (and adults) can explore and grow spiritually together. The following gives an idea of our journey in the parish of St James, Riding Mill and Broomhaugh CofE First School.
Telling the Story over a Season :
The gospel stories come alive when children – and adults - engage with their imagination and fresh insights. The early chapters of the Gospels of Luke and Matthew tell the story of the coming of the infant Jesus, from the angel’s visit to Mary through to the presentation of Jesus in the Temple. During Advent and Christmastide each year, we retell the story together in many ways; through preparation for school nativity plays, learning Christmas carols and anthems and in re-telling the story.
Crib Figures :
A very popular way of storytelling is to introduce the crib figures in school or class assemblies, starting in Advent. Each week the story of a group of characters is told: Mary and Joseph hearing messages through the angel and starting their journey to Bethlehem (with, of course, the donkey); the shepherds out in their fields (with sheep) and the Magi from afar observing the skies looking for meaning and guidance. The crib figures have carved oak heads with a very light tulip wood base, suitable for children to carry in procession on Christmas Eve and Epiphany. The clothing has been made by parishioners and can easily be changed to include the children dressing the figures themselves. The ass, ox and sheep are all very popular when passed round during assembly as well as realistic when contemplated in the crib whilst kneeling at the altar.
Community Storytelling in Liturgy:
On Christmas Eve, the story from Luke 2 forms the heart of the Crib Service, with the figures brought to the altar stable as each part is read by the whole congregation. Community storytelling is a profound, inclusive experience where everyone takes part. All the children present, however small, can take up straw for the stable. Older ones read with the adults, children bring the other figures. All the children are invited to come dressed as shepherds and angels, helping us all to travel together in our imagination, to Bethlehem.
Story with Adults in Costume :
In between, in the second week of Advent, the story of St Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, recovers the ancient traditions of our children all find most entrancing: stockings, gold coins, chimneys, secrecy and presents. It surprises adults to find that ‘Santa’ has an authentic Christian forbear and does not owe his celebrity to Coca-Cola. Dress up adults as a bishop and interviewing Santa while telling the story re-claims the Christian roots of one of the most popular, but secularised, aspects of contemporary Christmas.
Celebrating Together in the Eucharist:
On Christmas Day, everyone gathers together to share Holy Communion to celebrate the festival of Jesus’ birth. How can everyone be part of this great liturgy? There are different views on how to meet the needs of all who come, including visitors and extended families. One approach is to use seasonal material for the main Festival Eucharist, omitting some optional parts (so shortening it to ensure children are not restless), and to provide an interactive address involving the children. This is not ‘dumbing down’ at all, but including children and hearing the gospel story come through their guided input, exploring the story during the address. A more formal Eucharist of the Nativity may have been celebrated at midnight on Christmas Eve, with a traditional sermon from the pulpit, as well as a reflective early morning service from the Book of Common Prayer. Using the range of services so that children’s and families’ needs are included, without separating them from the extended congregation, takes planning and consideration by the whole church.
Keeping the whole Christmas Season:
Christmas Day ends the season in our secular society and begins ‘the Sales’. But, in the church, we have a great opportunity to recall and pick up the threads at the beginning of the new term by celebrating The Epiphany as the children return to school. The wise men (kings) were delayed by the snow and ice this year (an ongoing comment on the snow and ice during the 12 days of Christmas) and arrived on 10th January, at last, the first Sunday of term. This festival combined adults in costume (the wise men/women and Herod) bringing gifts; the crib figures; and eight children who had been preparing all autumn term for admission to Holy Communion. The children narrated the story from Matthew’s Gospel, the adults provided a thought-provoking presence as they offered the gifts, a family offered the prayers of intercession and the whole congregation welcomed the children into Communion. It was a celebration full of significance in many different ways and was followed by an Epiphany party to keep the joy of Christmastide focused on the infant Christ, through whom we become united, with God and with one another. The final piece in the jigsaw of storytelling is the Candlemas Festival Eucharist (when three or four generations take part: baby, parents and Simeon/Anna). The children take part as usual, monthly, and we end the season 2009/10 together.
Exploring Spirituality with Children – and the whole Church :
If any of these ideas are of interest to you, please get in touch and I will be delighted to come and work with you preparing a service, an assembly or even a season. Some of these approaches may be used in Lent and Holy Week, which have been dramatized for centuries throughout the world. Exploring spirituality with children can unlock our imaginations as adults. Those preparing with children often find our own ideas and spirituality challenged, not only by those awkward questions children seem to ask, but also by the children’s insights and their sense of awe and mystery. As adults engage through drama, song and prayers, people of all ages are freed to envision the Gospel stories in new ways. We become somehow ‘within’ the story, as familiar faces from among us take up the roles of Mary and Joseph, Herod and the wise men (or women), the angel and the shepherds. The story lives afresh within our own parish community, whether rural or urban and it becomes rooted among us. The infant Christ is indeed ‘Emmanuel’, God with us.
Next Month:
News of Spiritual Direction (Faith Accompaniment) in the Diocese
Gill Henwood: Adviser for Spirituality & Spiritual Direction, Diocese of Newcastle, Priest in Charge, St James Riding Mill, Chaplain, Shepherds Dene Retreat House. 01434 682120 ne44vicarage@live.co.uk
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Volunteering in Botswana
A young member of Holy Saviour in Tynemouth recently spent a number of weeks volunteering in the Holy Cross Hospice in Gabarone.
Louisa Cantwell spent five weeks in Gabarone, helping hospice staff with social work, funding proposals and administration. "I helped the social work team to run a workshop for the caregivers of orphans and vulnerable children. I also attended home visits with a couple of the social workers - one to visit a 13 year old girl who had just had a baby. Both of them are HIV positive. I also worked on a funding proposal to USAID, aimed at bringing valuable funds to the hospice," she reveals.
Louisa also helped staff with the day to day running of the hospice: "I did a lot of general administration work - scanning all the computers for viruses, getting quotes for workshops, equipment, and a toilet block portacabin!"
The visit allowed Louisa some leisure time, however, which she used to explore Botswana and neighbouring countries with other students working on placements nearby.
She says: "I met two medical students from Exeter University who were working at the hospital and staying with another doctor. They were great people and we got on straight away - they had been out here for almost a month before I arrived, so I think they didn't mind a bit of new company! We managed to persuade someone to lend us a car, so we drove up to Serowe to the Khama Rhino National Park. We saw loads of different animals; rhinos, giraffes, zebras, impala, kudu, oryx, springboks, warthogs, vultures, wild dogs and ostriches. I never thought I would see so much wildlife - and so close up!"
Louisa, who is currently in her final year of a History degree at Oxford and will begin an MSc in Development Studies at LSE this autumn, was sad to see her time in Botswana come to an end: 'I got to know the people at the hospice very well and they were all really kind and welcoming. I wasn't looking forward to leaving - my time there had gone by so quickly and I'd made some amazing friends'.
The Rev. Geoff Lowson, chair of the Botswana Companion Link task group, says: "Louisa kept in touch by e-mail during her time in Botswana and it was great for the group here to have on-the-ground reports of life in the hospice. She enjoyed her time in our companion diocese, as well as providing a very useful service for hard pressed staff at the hospice."
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