One of the true joys of what we do is to be at the coal face of blessing people, and seeing the delight and gratitude of recipients never grows old.
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The Finnie family in Blighty, December 2021
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Dean and Paula pastor The Gathering together -
The Gathering -
Baptisms at The Gathering -
Preparing to serve at The Gathering's Soup Kitchen -
Soup Kitchen Welcome To 2022 lunch
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Serving hands - the heart of The Gatheirng -
Thankful Thursdays -
HOPE Home Based Care Team -
Gathering Ground -
Staying fit as a family -
The Helderberg - The prettiest of the mountains we face
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Eli was off with a friend for his birthday, celebrating in Montagu, and Joel had his long time buddy Sean over for a couple of nights so we were able to decamp to Kalk Bay to enjoy some down time.
We have to thank The Gathering for allowing us the time off and for stepping up and leading in our absence, you guys rock!
Thankfully the storm held off until a while after our Soup Kitchen so everyone would have got back to wherever they stay safely.
The other great piece of news is that SA entered Level 2 Lockdown.
Rev Mandy from St. George's did a great job in leading the service at the crematorium and spoke so well about him and his life with genuine grace & wisdom. Thank you Mandy!
We had to decamp over to The Gathering's home in order to live stream the service given that loadshedding was due to begin at 12pm at home and it was lovely to be joined by our dear friend Annatjie.
We did have the privilege of recording a video tribute by Paula and a Bible reading by Dean, so though we were over 6000 miles away we were there in spirit as well as the live stream.
What I love in seeing Joel box is his desire and passion for the sport, but also the changes it has brought to his life, physically and emotionally, it's really boosted his confidence and outlook.
There is so much truth contained in there and when one considers how the Word teaches us that we should instruct a child in the ways of the Lord it makes infinite sense.
Today has been a true showers of blessing kind of day as I went with Joel to Simon's Town to meet up with Shaddie at My Father's House kitchen where they are doing a stunning job of feeding the neediest and most vulnerable in the Simon's Town area and beyond.
One of the clearest reasons is that a number of our regulars have been staying at the local night shelter for the duration of the lockdown and as such simply can't make it to Firgrove and back in time and as such we won't see these guys until this is all over, whenever that is.
We also know that a large group of regulars spread across two makeshift squatter camps are too scared to leave their lodgings after dark for fear of losing everything, so we only see some of these guys at the start of service before it's dark. Sometimes one or two will venture out later but they've had to make a plan to keep things safe whilst they're away.
It's been a little while since my previous post Lockdown Reading Part 1, but in that time I've red some great books. I picked up Austerlitz in the second hand bookshop in Kalk Bay (sadly it closed down) and I wasn't disappointed. The subject matter is something I've read lots of; a man impacted by the Holocaust seeks to find the truth. The storytelling however, that's a whole different thing. No paraphrasing, no chapters, long sentences; one running to seven pages and all narrated by the author. A bit weird but an eminently good read!
I had never heard of Sebald before but I'll definitely read some more of his stuff based on this, though it's sad to learn that he died in a car crash in 2001.
Here's an older post from 2018 about books: Ten books
If you only listen to or watch one thing on Black Lives Matter, listen to our good friend Dave speaking about his own experiences in the UK.
As white people we will never need our lives to be verified in the way that Dave and so many other black people have experienced at some point. That is why we are privileged and black lives matter.
#BlackLivesMatter
On Saturday I had the privilege of taking Joel through to Stellenbosch to my boxing buddy Conrad's studio where they were hosting a live concert to stream on Facebook.Conrad is a well known and very gifted sound engineer as well as a performer and all round great bloke and he's helping Joel get a taste for sound engineering which is Joel's preference for next year.
Last night was a slower kitchen due the the social grants (disability, child support & pensions) being paid over the last couple of days, so it made sense to use our smaller 50lt pot which was a good call.We served a delicious Cream of Chicken and it went down a storm with our regulars that were able to come.
Having written about ten fiction books I have loved and ten non-fiction books I have loved, I thought I would finish the series with ten Christian books I have loved. I thought about splitting this in to two parts between academic and non-academic but realised that one of those posts would just be way too boring. LOL!So here are ten Christian books I have loved all for very different reasons and at different stages of life.
Jim & Casper Go To Church was an eye opener and really helped to shape my idea of what church should or shouldn't be. Jim is a pastor who pays Casper, an atheist, to go to church with him. The point is not to get Casper saved, but to get an outsider's perspective on what we as Christians often think is OK for church. The most sobering moment in the book comes when Casper asks "Is this what Jesus told you to do?". For me, as a pastor I knew that I never wanted to be asked that question by anyone. If you're in church leadership, you really should read this gem.
In 10 Books I Have Loved Pt 1 I talked about ten works of fiction that I have really enjoyed. Today I'm going to talk about ten of my favourite non-fiction reads and there are some belters in here.I tend to read more non-fiction than fiction these days and particularly enjoy autobiographies, though I've not included any here. I'm also a fan of World War 2 literature and have fallen in love with Anthony Beevor's writing.
But I'll start with a book I think everyone should read. Paul Foot explores the franchise thoroughly from beginning to now, and leaves no stone unturned exposing some of the lies and myths surround the democratic vote (in the UK), as well as chronicling how we got the franchise which was finally made universal in the UK after WWII, yes, it really is that recent.
Having posted about 10 things I love about my home..., I'm going to do a couple of posts about 10 Books I Have Loved. This first one will be about 10 works of fiction that I have really enjoyed. They're not necessarily my all time favourites, just books that were a thoroughly good read and worthy of their spot on our bookshelves.I'll start with my first ever Ben Okri... I tried reading this on holiday in Turkey in 1992 and really couldn't be doing with it. Then after we'd been to Tanzania in 1998 I picked it up again and suddenly it made a lot of sense and a whole new world opened before me as one of the best storytellers ever told an amazing tale.
I think having lived in an under developed part of Africa it helped put the themes of the book in to context and it really brought a level of understanding I was incapable of back in '91.
Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful moms out there, you make the world a better place!It was a joy to honour and celebrate our Gathering moms this morning, especially as Paula shared a word about Jochabed, Moses' mother, and the selfless sacrifice she made to save his life.
Jochabed's sacrifice is a stunning reminder of the sacrifice God made for us when he sent Jesus to die on the cross for us.
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