a quick update

I posted a rather important letter this morning, I even got butterflies in my tummy… but it’s gone, my application for a visa to South Africa is out of my hands!  Please pray though team, once this is approved, thunderbirds are go!

As mentioned in the last post, on Saturday 22nd January, I’ll be hosting a coffee and  eats morning at my house from 10 – 1.  I have a few short films to give you an idea of where I’m headed and to give you an update on Fusion and what they’re doing…if you can’t make this, don’t worry, I will pop the films up here at some point.

You are all most welcome, if you need an address, get in touch

clarem_me@hotmail.com

 

 

cape town.

Friends…hi!

 

The last few months have been pretty hectic, what with Christmas, playing coffee shop and talking (a lot) about South Africa!  I know a few of you are probably sick of hearing me go on and on and on about how great The Warehouse is, and how beautiful Cape Town is, and how much I want to be there but for those online who don’t have the pleasure of hearing such chat, now’s your chance.

Today in church we sang that song “Everyone needs compassion, the kindness of a Saviour..” da da daa daaa da da…but there’s a line in the chorus that says “Saviour, He can move the mountains, my God is mighty to save” and it took me back to a week of prayer in our (me and my ol’ pal Rebekah) house in Cape Town.  It became a bit of a theme of the week but I remember singing it on our closing night with a bunch of young teenaged guys and girls fully giving it stacks to God because He had shown up and they had met with Him…it was a pretty special moment, but the more I think about it, the more that line takes on significance for this last year in my life.

Honestly, the first 6 months of 2010 felt like a process of God lifting me out a wee (ish) hole, saving me from questions I couldn’t answer, saving me from myself even…but I come out of that hole with greater certainty that He is good and with a higher expectation for this mountain moving business!  When I left Cape Town last June though, I really thought that it might be time to let go of those dreams I’d been dreaming since 2007 (of community, hospitality, of learning to love our neighbours and making disciples…in Cape Town) but since being home, I think God has gently been urging me to keep dreaming, keep believing that as His disciple, fullness of life is a reality and that for me, for now, this means Cape Town.  I’m excited because not only do I return to a place with great people, great beauty and great weather, but I am continuing in this adventure – my life is not made up of random bits that don’t connect but a serious of essential chapters in a messy book…it’s a beautiful thing.

So right now… I’m in the middle of sending off my visa application and raising some support – I am SO eager to get back out now, I’m in contact with the Fusion team and there is stuff happening and I want to join them but until I am ready, it’s a waiting game and I’m ok with that.  For a bit more information on Fusion, The Warehouse and what I’ll be doing, there is a tab at the top of my blog “the cape town bit”… it’s the bit about Cape Town.. http://itisnolongeri.wordpress.com/the-cape-town-bit/ – check it out.  Also, watch this space for some Fusion media delights and for those of you who find yourselves in Belfast, I will be holding some sort of coffee morning with some edible goodness, no doubt – more info to follow!

Finally finally..maybe this is inappropriate for a blog, I’m not too sure of the etiquette, but I am truly overwhelmed by the number of people who have taken the time to listen and take interest in me – it never ceases to surprise me…so thank you.

 

http://itisnolongeri.wordpress.com/the-cape-town-bit/

more on the cappuccino..

I’ve tried to write a post on this thing all week and for some reason I keep getting stuck.  That feels like the theme in my life right now, trying to make a decision and getting stuck.  It’s not a massively deep thing necessarily, although maybe it is.  And perhaps this follows on from the last post where I advocated for finding the good… but it’s not that simple is it?  Because what I think is good is not what you think is good, for starters…and then there’s the stuff that is not so obviously black or white – which is EVERYTHING…example – I enjoy one of my beautiful cappuccinos, great…or is it?  Because it opens up about 20 new questions:

1. Where did my coffee and milk come from?

2. Is it local?

3. Is it fair trade?

4. Is it organic?

5. Is it fat-free? (jokes – anyone who knows me knows that question probably wouldn’t feature!)

6. Were the cows given a big open meadow with lush green grass?

7. Should I really be enjoying a cappuccino when 1 in 8 people in our world don’t even have access to a cup of clean water?

8. What about all the energy I’ve used just to get this cup of coffee: is it from a renewable source?

Ok, 8 questions, but that was just off the top of my head and for something as “simple” as a cup of coffee.  The thing is, I believe that I, a disciple trying to be more like Jesus/a human/a peacemaker/an advocate for justice/the church, NEED to be asking these questions and desperately trying to find answers…not for the sake of having answers but because the consequences of everything that I do, say and think might just affect someone else and I want that affect to be for the good (whatever that is?!!).

So what’s the answer?  Do I even have a question yet?  It seems that my values (or something) in life are almost paradoxical – I want to live a life that is sacrificial, simple, celebratory, real, full of joy, full of brokenness and sometimes my head gets lost in trying to make sense of it.  But maybe thinking is enough, it’s a start and sometimes ‘thinks’ lead to ‘dos’ or even change.  This post doesn’t have a nice conclusion, I’ve barely scratched the surface actually but in my own mind what I have concluded is that a cappuccino might be good…I can enjoy it, but I  don’t deserve it, I’m not entitled to it and I maybe shouldn’t even expect it.  It’s put really well in the 24-7 prayer vision:

“You see bones? I see an army. And they are FREE from materialism.

They laugh at 9-5 little prisons. They could eat caviar on Monday and crusts on Tuesday. They wouldn’t even notice.  They know the meaning of the Matrix, the way the west was won. They are mobile like the wind, they belong to the nations. They need no passport.. People write their addresses in pencil and wonder at their strange existence. They are free yet they are slaves of the hurting and dirty and dying. What is the vision ? The vision is holiness that hurts the eyes. It makes children laugh and adults angry. It gave up the game of minimum integrity long ago to reach for the stars. It scorns the good and strains for the best. It is dangerously pure.

Light flickers from every secret motive, every private conversation. It loves people away from their suicide leaps, their Satan games. This is an army that will lay down its life for the cause.”

…for the full version see https://www.24-7prayer.com/about/thevision-en

This is about more than finding the good in a cappuccino, I think this might just be about finding Jesus.

What’s good for you?

 

 

the good.

This movie is about a place I love.  Watching it breaks my heart over and over again; I wish that the statistics were an exaggeration, that the claims about education weren’t true but I know that if anything, they are an understatement.  Yet, watching it also makes me smile.  There are stories of hope, of people breaking cycles and defeating their circumstances and so I celebrate with them.

In my 25ish good years, one of the most important things I have learnt is that there is goodness and beauty to be found if only we will open our eyes.  Don’t get me wrong, the mess still makes me cry sometimes but we have to see the good and if we can’t see it then we  find it, we pursue it, we work for it and we celebrate it!

I work in a wee coffee shop in Belfast at the moment and what I love about it is how normal and easy it is to celebrate good things there.  Our baker/chef extraordinaire  makes great stuff but particularly enjoys the smell of her soups, and says so…or if someone makes an especially pretty cappuccino then we all oooh and aaah at it because, you know what, a great cappuccino is a good thing (in my opinion anyway..).  I know this may seem a little trivial when I started talking about poverty and brokenness but I think if we can’t learn to find good in the trivial then how do we find it amidst seemingly hopeless situations?

As you watch this clip, open your eyes to the good stuff…then we can talk about the rest.  And we will.

ps. how lucky am I to be moving to such a beautiful place!

the obligatory starter post.

I’m not totally sure where to begin with one of these things but if I don’t just start, I never will.  I’m pretty new to the world of blogging; I never really considered that anyone might want to read what I’m thinking, doing or learning…but alas, I’ve changed my mind.

What I would love is if this wasn’t just some sort of self-indulgent space where I share my thoughts, or rant or whatever but a place where we chat.  I love talking, listening, thinking, ranting, debating,  learning etc etc but all of these experiences are so much more enriching when done with other people and not just in the confines of my own head.  So, how about it?  Obviously this will be slightly embarrassing if noone does join in, but it’s a risk I’m taking.

Also, please bear with me as I find my blogging voice, it’s going to take me a wee while…