5 ex rough sleepers walking a marathon

FUNDRAISING FOR THE FEAST  -  The £1 challenge

The Feast is our weekly outreach meeting for homeless and vulnerable people. 
Every £1 given provides a 3 course meal for a homeless person on a Wednesday night.

5 men who are ex-rough sleepers are going to walk a marathon distance (over 26 miles) on the North Downs Way from Rochester to Botley Hill near Woldingham – 11^th August 2011.

Here are the famous five ... and we asked them 2 questions.

 Malcolm  How long were you rough sleeping?  5 1/2 years
 Why support the feast?  “It’s a great place that helps people”

 Dave How long were you rough sleeping?  1 year
 Why support the feast?  “helps people get off the street”

Terry How long were you rough sleeping?  On and off for 7 years

Why support the feast?  “the people at the Feast have shown me concern and compassion. It’s time for me to give something back”

 

Peter How long were you rough sleeping?  On and off for 10 years

Why support the feast?  “we act as a family”

Jamie How long were you rough sleeping?  12 weeks
Why support the feast?  “How happy having a meal makes you feel. It’s the greatest thing in the world when you are on the street.”

Please help by signing up to the £1challenge - each person can give maximum £1, but if you are creative you can find a way to give more.  Perhaps pay for all those in your family, last year someone paid for their pets. Email jrp@kingscentre.org.uk to sign up!

Thanks

Encounter Camp feedback night

Encounter Camp 2011 was held between 20th-24th June and was a brilliant week.  There is so much to talk about that we are holding a feedback night this evening - 7.45pm at King's Church Catford.  There will be cakes to start followed by some film footage of the Encounter fun including Darren and Malcolm dancing, not together though.  We also want to live out what we learnt at Encounter, which means that we want to give away what we have.  Therefore there will be a time of worship, prayer and prophecy. 

Everyone is welcome to attend this evening's meeting and if you like to forward plan here are the dates for 2012 - 11th -15th June. This year 17 came with us and I am hoping that 40 people from King's will come next year.

Crazy Comical Cycling

On Tuesday I cycled to Brighton and on Friday I cycled back,  It is the furthest I have ever cycled and it is something that I knew I was capable of but it was reassuring to actually achieve this.  It took me 3hours 59mins to cycle 66 miles to Brighton and 3hours 17mins to cycle back because I only needed to cycle 56 miles!  I then imagine how much faster the Tour riders are going.  Well I averaged 17.3 mph (almost 28kph on the return journey.  The tour riders average 43-45kph on flattish stages.  Remarkable speeds!

I learnt some things along the way.  I learnt that I couldn't attack the hills as I do on 20/30 mile rides.  I found out I had no power left so needed to go through the gears and keep the tempo high (aerobic rather than power).  Thank you to my friend Matt Cooke for his advice.  This really helped on Ditchling Beacon and on the return through Westerham which is surprisingly hilly.  It meant that I mentally was happy just to get up rather than have time targets or trying to catch up with another cyclist and then the great thing was that I was able to cycle strongly away from the top.  I also learnt that you have to stay mentally strong, even when someone shouts from their car and makes me jump or when I fell over at traffic lights in Bromley.  It was the first time I had fallen due to using cleats. (which means that my feet are attached to the pedal)  Another comical moment was when I fell over my bike in the hotel and jammed the sprocket into my ankle leaving me with some fine looking wounds.

Which obviously brings me to the joy of watching the Tour de France.  Quite simply stunning!  This event operates on so many levels and I seem to learn more about it each year.  The team dynamics are very complex but they are remarkable teams.  This article from the Toronto Star described the beauty of the
team and significant the domestiques are.  The riders are absolutely superb athletes and often appear machine-like. I like the itv4 coverage, there is great commentary and wise use of the advert breaks - Thanks!. 

But having cycled over 100 miles in 2 rides this week I have one slightly different view of the riders.
They get paid to have that much fun!  Yes they are in pain but simply cycling for a living and being part of such a brilliant event easily makes up for that. 

"It's better to squat in England than live in Romania"

I don't like hearing the statement above when it's a single person saying it but I am especially concerned when it's said by parents, in this case there are 2 children involved (6 months and 5 years old).  The reason given is that there are no jobs in Romania; we will have to wait and see if there are jobs for him in SE London!  Having not been to Romania it is hard to make comment on why it is so tough in Romania (or Latvia, Czech Rep, Poland etc) that makes travelling to a new country and then living a dangerous life of finding squats.  Are other countries experiencing this in reverse? 

I know there are reasons why England/Britain is a good choice.  Comparatively we have it very good and our health system is still a most remarkable thing.  A different parent from Eastern Europe explained that simply having a free health care system for giving birth meant that it was better to live in England.  But these cases do leave me confused.  There are so many questions that this presents;what really goes on for a family to chose this, where are their families?, is it right to have children living in a squat knowing that any day the police might stop you from living in that property, what about health and education, food and shelter - ultimately the most basic human needs are in question.

What was remarkable about the couple last night is that they and her especially were the most upbeat and resourceful people.  She smiled and explained that because they have no electricity she persuades the owner of a fast food stall to heat up her babies bottle.  She did not complain and talked of her faith that God would provide for them.

They had a huge impact on me last night.  Just to finish, a few years ago I read a book called the The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity by Philip Jenkins which described how people groups are displaced on a global scale for many reasons and how the church becomes the light on the hill that people go to because it is visible.  Jenkins described how big churches in global cities would gather people from all over the world.  

So let the light shine!!   

A Feast of Delight

Lucreta has been a volunteer at the Feast for a number of years and is also an accomplished poet.  Not surprisingly she has combined the two!  She has just had her poem about the Feast published in a book called 'Here and Now'. It goes like this -

The Feast

Volunteers mingle at four pm
Preparing dishes as they come
With the background sound of laughter
In readiness for the banquet at eight pm

Plaid tablecloths; seventy place settings
Brightens up the environment
For the needy to be served with a three course meal

They listen to a fifteen minute talk and
Applause approvingly; enjoying tea and coffee; plus
A take away and extra clothing before they depart

A hope for change;one hear their cry; one see their sigh
They destitute embrace the gospel and then they comply

The Feast changes lives; the destitute enfold hope
Visible in their eyes and in their lives

A Feast of delight, to be polite on Wednesday nights
At Kings Church, SE6

I have heard Lucreta read this poem a few times and it is definitely best read in her fabulous Caribbean accent.  In fact I hope she performs a few poems when she is launching her new book Meh Landing Frock on Thursday 7th July at Catford Library. 

Lucreta’s first anthology is a poetic journey from memories of his grandmother shelling gunga peas by the side of the road, to her first impressions of the UK in the 1950s, to the emergence of multicultural London and a return visit to St Vincent, the land of her birth. Creole patois features in both Lucreta’s writing and performance.
The event is free to attend with the opportunity to buy a signed copy from Lucreta. Lucreta is Vice-Chair of the Inspired Word writing group and would be pleased to speak to anyone interested in joining in with their activities.
Thursday 7 July 2011, 5.45pm for 6-7pmCatford Library

Life in Catford - on the buses 3

Living life on the Jericho Road (representing the dangerous and difficult places in our society) rather than hiding away in our houses or our car with the music turned up loud is still on my mind.  If social justice means anything it has to mean engagement and with parts of society that are not like me.

Today after church, I got the bus home with my 4 children.  My eldest who uses the bus every day sits on his own, happy to disown the presence of his family, whereas my 3 girls sit with me where there were empty seat at the back of the bus!  Upon sitting down, the guy next to me, on the phone, tells his listener that I have got on the bus.  He uses a term to describe me that I have never heard before and I won't put on this blog in case I find it to be deeply offensive slang.  His conversation which he is broadcasting to the whole bus then proceeds to be filled with plenty of foul language.  I can deal with that fine, I asked him to watch his language and he agrees and then tells his phone listener (and the bus) that it makes sense because the kids don't need to hear that language.  What I was unable to find a solution to, was the constant valuing of women as objects that he has authority over, anyone (thing in his vocabulary) who was female that came into view out of the window got a sexualised comment.  This guy had no shame! He might think that children shouldn't hear swearing but he was very happy to let them hear sexualised vocabulary.  When he got off the bus my eldest daughter and I started a discussion about his views on women.  She told me up to the point he got off, she was desperate to get off the bus and walk!  She really hoped that it had gone over the heads of the younger two. 

Yesterday I saw a man wearing a T-shirt that read 'made to be laid' - now I find the term 'laid' fairly offensive especially on public display but it was the word 'made' that got me thinking.  God made us and one of our key purposes is to procreate. Did this man even know that he was 'made'?  The impression was that he was the author and maker of his life and the obvious statement he was saying by wearing this T-shirt was that he had a right to use another person for his own selfish gain.  How did we end up here when God made sex for our good?

The sexualisation of young people through clothing and music videos etc has made the headlines recently and I am relieved that there is voice of reason in the midst of this onslaught.  Yes the casual acceptance that is given to talking about and display your intentions regarding sex is deeply disturbing. 

My task as a Father of a son and three girls who live on the Jericho Road requires my full engagement and now is not the time to hide my head in the sand.  Happy Father's Day!!

Where have all the blogs gone?

I have no simple answer to why I have not blogged for a month but it gives me an opportunity to catch up on all that is going on. (The one blog I did write, froze on me so never was published!)

Events that have happened in the last month. As a family we enjoyed some cold wet Derbyshire weather and then some hot dry Norfolk weather at half time. As I reflected on the weather differences in our relatively small country, I realised what a fascinating climate we have. My wife called it something else when we were stuck in a tent for a second wet day. Also in the last month Aston Villa Football Club have turned down or have been turned down by every unemployed manager. (Blues fans would probably argue that some who are employed as well).

Steve Tibbert has launched his book 'Good to Grow' which tells the story of King's Church over the last 15 years. It is almost 10 years since I joined the team and it is a story that I am delighted to have been part of. It also provides a resource when people ask how has King's continued to grow. The weeks since the launch of our 3 sites have seen a remarkable increase in people attending the church.

I have reached the 6 months since my knee op and last night I ran for the first time in about 10 months. I have been cycling and swimming but I was told it would take 6 months to run and the consultant was right. Even running last night I could feel it on my recovering knee although I felt it equally on my other knee so perhaps it is just par for the course when I haven't run for that long. Anyway it felt a significant step towards the goal of completing an Olympic length triathlon in the Olympic year/my 40th year. Which obviously leads to a classic blog topic 'Olympic tickets', I tried to get about £600 worth of tickets including the 100m final and I got £46 which means 2 adult tickets to an Olympic event. Still no email to inform me which one. Despite the huge criticism I was generally happy with the whole process with one major concern. The system favoured people who had more money or were willing to gamble more. The more bids you entered the more chance you had of getting tickets. Putting that aside, as a family we will thoroughly enjoy the Olympic games being on our doorstep. The free events will be great and also the big screens in the Parks should be excellent places to hang out.

Life has been very busy and I have had to remember to slow down a little and try to pace myself. Next week I am away with about 15 others from the Jericho Road Project at the Encounter Camp in rural Worcestershire. This is an event started by my friend Jim Harper who runs the event to allow people who have suffered from life controlling issues to have a place where they can meet with God and find healing. It will provide for me a different week from the usual hustle and bustle of the office/home. It will give me time to catch up with people who I might see regularly but don't have much time to catch up with.

So the blog is back, hopefully!