Chepstow Circles!

Last week 17 of us from the Jericho Road Project went to Chepstow for 4 days.  We stayed at Woodcroft Christian Centre, which is a great venue with plenty of space to relax.  We had lots of rooms, a kitchen, table tennis area, pool room, TV lounge, a sport hall and even our own Peacock strutting around the grounds.  We did a walk up a mountain, did some rock climbing, went to some waterfalls, played a pool tournament, worshipped God and read the bible.  We had a relaxed fun time. 

I have done days out and residential trips for all 10 years of the project.  One of the most memorable trips was to Knowle Park because we managed to leave someone behind and also spent ages finding someone else who had fallen asleep under a tree!  It was that trip which increased the crime rate at the National Trust gift shop but it was offset by Catford having less street drinkers for that day!  Sid the Punk came with us and on the journey there we had to stop for him to take a toilet break by the road side - I had no idea how many layers a Punk wears and therefore how long it takes to do a 'quick' wee!

Chepstow didn't have any Punks but I did have an emergency toilet stop with a difference.  On our return we going at a slow pace in London traffic and I really needed to go so the 'human Satnav' (In London Streets he is brilliant but needs lots of food to keep him going!) stopped us outside the bookies to use their toilet.  I can't remember ever going into a bookies before but I wasn't going to protest at that moment.  As you might expect the group thought this was really funny.   

So every Chepstow holiday (this was our 4th year) has it's particular memories.  It is the people that make the difference and this year's bunch were great.  On the Wednesday night people shared some very personal reflections from lives that had suffered much, often from a very young age.  It was not always comfortable listening but it was very real.  It was also in the context of God being the great rebuilder.  The previous night we had read "Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security" (Jeremiah 33:6).  We were a group of people whose lives had been changed, were being changed whilst we were together and will continue to be changed in the future. 

Two reflections at the end of the week summed it up: "this week has helped me understand what church is all about" and "this is what the church is talking about when it says move from rows to circles" [which is the current King's preaching series looking at how we build community together]

Chepstow is a long way to go to make a circle but the great thing is that we brought the circle back with us!