Tough Questions and Challenging Answers

I think everyone here has been struggling with the begging and how to respond; do you ignore the beggar and carry on your way; do you give to the beggar and risk being plagued by beggars the next time you walk by the same area. This is particularly prevalent for those of us staying at the Hotel Heaven as several times daily we walk to the BMS compound and back. Outside the BMS compound live two families – both of which have small children of about 3 or 4 years of age – and when I say live I mean live. They sleep, eat, wash and play on the pavement in the filth of Kolkata.

I have been troubled with this despite of having encountered this before elsewhere in the world, and because of those experiences I mostly ignored the approaches of those outside the BMS compound But the passages that kept coming back to me were Jesus’ words in Matthew 25:40 “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me” and James’ advice in chapter 2 about the poor. On Wednesday evening we were all reflecting on this during our prayer time and none of us seem to know what to do. During prayer I asked God to guide me in this, to tell me what I should do, particularly with the families outside the gate. The response I got was to go and talk to them, to try and understand why they were there and how they got there. I had a vision of sitting on the floor talking to them. I was a little uncomfortable with this so decided to sleep on it, but the sleep was troubled, God’s response kept coming back to me.

The next evening I took Sian (our team leader) to one side to share this with her and ask her advice. If I was really going to do this then I should get an interpreter. As usual her advice was solid; talk to the BMS staff to check if they were already doing outreach with the families outside the compound and, if not, ask them how I might make an approach to them without creating a difficult legacy for them and future visitors. After all if what I did made the begging and harassment of visitors even worse then that would be a bad thing.

So what next, well I have prayed about this and this evening during prayer with my good friend and brother Paul I felt that God was making appointments for all of us during our time in Kolkata, Paul has his and this, I believe, is my appointment. I will, of course, keep you posted.

Christ and Curry in Kolkata

It is Good Friday today and I woke up with breath smelling like last nights curry, nothing good about that.
Its been a tough journey so far and we've only been here for 4 days [two weeks to go] but its been hard on the sense's, mentally, physically and spiritually. There is a lot to take in and I am in the process of contemplating..... WHERE IS GOD IN THE CITY? Of course I know the pet answer,'God is omnipresent', but my heart tells me differently. The city is full of homeless people living on the pavements and living in slums, make shift houses made from things that people have thrown away, bits of wood, metal, scrap, plastic, anything really. 18 million people living in Kolkata and these are the registered ones. It is estimated that millions more who are unregistered are living on the streets. The traffic in the city is dense where anything goes. yellow taxi's, tuk tuks and rickshaws both the hand and peddaled variety. There are no laws on the roads with no health and safety practices in place, so risks are constantly taken. Travelling on the roads is very entertaining for the team and scary. There is constant beeping all day and throughout the night. The beeping is a way of life and expresses many meanings.........

1. Get out the way I'm cutting you up.
2. Let me through or I'll go into the back of you
3. I almost went into you *#~? fool
4. Don't argue, you're are a Tut Tut and I am a truck.
5. No you can't get through

I joke. But living here is no joke and its been a real shock to me as I have never been anywhere so poor as this. I can see how it touched the heart of Mother Theresa.
Up until today I have been feeling a sense of hoplessness and questioning where God is? Today I have walked through the city and have experienced how resourseful the people are and this has given me hope. God spoke to me saying 'Just because you cannot see hope it doesn't mean its not there', I found that encouraging. Of course I still have many questions but I am begining to hear the still small voice of God. But I waiting in anticipation that His voice will get louder as i unravel the reason I have come here in the first place

Mare

Grabbed by the scruff of the neck

I am continually amazed at the power of the Bible to leap off the page and grab me by the scruff of the neck. Never more so than when I read it in a different setting than usual. Never more so than yesterday.

In our devotions as a team, we are using the lectionary readings for Holy Week. One of the readings yesterday was Psalm 116, where the song-writer thanks God for delivering him: “I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy... The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came over me; I was overcome by distress and sorrow… For you, Lord, have delivered me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.”

Yesterday we spent the day visiting two hostels opened for children who live on the streets. We’ve seen many such children; they wash in drains, they are dirty, ragged, often sick, and I presume malnourished. They have no healthcare, no education, no hope. In contrast the children in the hostels were bright-eyed, energetic, smartly-dressed, clean, and confident. It was particularly brought home to me when a group of older girls, perhaps about 12 years old, performed a dance for us. These were children with self-respect, with confidence and with good reason to have hope. “You have delivered me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.” What a picture of salvation!

Of course yesterday was Maundy Thursday, the day of Jesus’ last supper, betrayal and trial. It was also the day when he washed his disciples’ feet and told them to do the same. For many of us, this trip to India is the first time that we have really understood what it is to have dusty, sweaty dirty feet, all the time. It makes me read the account of the foot-washing with more attention.

In the morning, we watched little street children (babies, really) being brought to a pre-school, showered and given clean clothes to wear while their own clothes were washed. “‘Do you understand what I have done for you?’ Jesus asked them. ‘You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.’”

We read the gospel account alongside the hymn of Philippians 2: “Jesus, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a human being, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” The passage charts Jesus’ downward trajectory (which includes his self-abasement to wash the disciples’ feet) Son of God to human to death to crucifixion, the most shameful death of all.

Reading this passage in the context of the slums of Calcutta made me wonder: if Jesus were incarnated – made human – in this city today, who would he choose to be? How low would he go? Even to live and die as a street-dweller of Calcutta. I am sure of it.

As I say, sometimes the Bible grabs you by the scruff of the neck.















Spiritual Battles

Paul and I have just returned from a little bit of a tour of the posher bits of Kolkata in search of coffee, which I have not had since leaving home on Monday. For a self confessed coffee addict that’s a long time without a cup of Joe. After a quality Latte, Paul then put his hand in his pocket again and it was KFC for brunch, a welcome change from curry and that set us up for the long walk back. On the way there all five of the chaps jumped into a cycle rickshaw just to experience the terror of riding in such a flimsy vehicle in Kolkata’s nightmare traffic. Honestly it wasn’t too bad although at times it did feel a bit like a scary fairground ride.

It is Good Friday today so not only is it a holy day for us Christians, but it is also Friday so a day for Muslim prayers. Our hotel is next door to “Mother Theresa House” the place where she lived and prayed with the nun’s of her order. A few doors down is a small mosque so walking back to our hotel we had to pass dozens of Muslim’s kneeling in the street, an overspill from the mosque. As we made our way past the back of this crowd the spiritual tension was almost electric and when we entered Mother Theresa’s House and sat silent before her tomb you could sense the spiritual warfare that was going on. I could see “the faithful” out of the window but could sense the immense power of the one true God resting in this place of peace, hope and love. I think both Paul and I were overawed by this simple yet deeply spiritual place, and the opportunity we had to go into the chapel and join the novice nun’s in prayer just added to the spiritual beauty of the time we spent there. It is a tremendous privilege to be on this trip, visiting Mother Theresa House has been an unexpected bonus.

Yes it is!!!

Today we had quite a hectic programme: we visited the remaining projects of the Good News Christian Education Mission (http://www.quartersforcalcutta.com/gncem.php) and I have to say what I saw overwhelmed me. In yesterday’s blog I responded to the question ‘is it any different to what I have experienced in Senegal’ and responded ‘No!’ I have to change my opinion as what I saw today was THE model of mission for youth and children and something I believe anyone involved in mission - that is anyone involved in the work of Christ - could and should learn from.

What makes it so different is that the project has evolved to support the needs of the entire spectrum of street children. So you start with babies at the day care centre, to which street mothers send their babies and toddlers to be washed, fed their clothes laundered and played with. You then go on to the local day schools like the one we visited yesterday, where they will be washed, fed, their clothes laundered and educated both in school smarts but also in the gospel. Alternatively - for children with only one parent - the child will go to a boarding school on the outskirts of the city where they will receive the best of care, the best of education, and the gospel up to the age of 16 and by this they will be given an amazing chance in life.

 

 

Hi

Today we got up early, to go to a  slum school. As there wasn't enough room in the jeep for the whole team me and a couple of others travelled in the bus taking the children to the school. They were joyful and pleased to see us and wanted us to get our cameras out to take pictures of them - Im not sure they have mirrors and so they were desperate to see their photo on the camera screen. Slum school run by BMS was very humbling experience. BMS provide them with washing facilities, food, and a uniform. They sang lots of children's Christian songs and interesting to hear The wise man built his house upn the rock to be sung in Bengali! This afternoon we had a chance to see a richer side to Kolkata at a shopping mall. This evening we have had chancve to reflect on last 48 hours. All finding a mixture of emotions - difficult to witness people washing in streets, wild dogs and cats, children being laid on pavements as their place of rest, people living and working on streets.

It has been very hot and humid. This evening though there has been a monsoon type thunderstorm. Tomorrow we go to another school, and will be leadinga drama, Buble reading etc.

Better go now. Bye for now and take care,

Sam

Is it really any different?

Today we visited a project for street kids and on reflection, the sites I saw and things we experienced were not much different to what I have experienced at the Talibe project in Senegal. Yes the language was different, the children were generally much younger and there were girls as well as boys, but the work that is done – looking after their basic needs such as washing, feeding and healthcare – all really all the same, even how they are fed.

If I look at the photo’s, with all the children trying to get in the picture and then scrambling to see themselves on the screen afterwards, it’s the same. If I think about the kids sitting as close as possible to me, or fighting to sit on my lap, then that’s the same.

I also had a sense of deja vu at our briefing with the heads of all the different projects on Tuesday afternoon. Strangely it wasn’t with Africa but of what we were trying to achieve here in the UK: outreach amongst the poor and underprivileged by establishing a presence where they live, establishing churches in new developments, open air processions and concerts at Easter, outreach on the streets. The one major difference between the work done over here is that there is a lot of cooperation across the denominations. The individual churches seem to work in concert with one another and by doing so give the impression of a united church. We often think we have a lot to teach the developing world, but in most things we need to learn to learn from each other.