Thursday, February 19, 2009
Progress Report
Hello, this is the sick Mr. Wilson. I got some antibiotics from the doctor and they seem to be taking effect... the eczema has also retreated, the blisters drying up into hard yellow patches (yes, it’s lovely).
I don’t deserve any sympathy though – while Emma was away in Lodon, I worked too much. Going flat out from 9am to 11:30pm, then working again early the next morning wasn’t the best idea. I already knew this, but the point was driven home: this is not a one person job! Hopefully I’ve learned my lesson.
*****
I was given a brilliant book for my Brithday: Extending the Table. It’s a Mennonite cookbook that’s essentially a continuation of their equally brilliant More-with-Less. One of the things I really appreciate about these books is not only that they give good and cost-effective recipes, but also explore the theological and spiritual implications of how we use food. Sharing meals, giving and receiving hospitality, are major aspects of our ministry in Glasgow, so these books are full of apt advice and suggestions.
There was a touching story in the forward of Extending the Table that I’d like to share:
It’s humbling and encouraging to learn that much of what we’re doing is not new, but part of a tradition of hospitality as a missional activity.
I don’t deserve any sympathy though – while Emma was away in Lodon, I worked too much. Going flat out from 9am to 11:30pm, then working again early the next morning wasn’t the best idea. I already knew this, but the point was driven home: this is not a one person job! Hopefully I’ve learned my lesson.
*****
I was given a brilliant book for my Brithday: Extending the Table. It’s a Mennonite cookbook that’s essentially a continuation of their equally brilliant More-with-Less. One of the things I really appreciate about these books is not only that they give good and cost-effective recipes, but also explore the theological and spiritual implications of how we use food. Sharing meals, giving and receiving hospitality, are major aspects of our ministry in Glasgow, so these books are full of apt advice and suggestions.
There was a touching story in the forward of Extending the Table that I’d like to share:
...our interest was to seek his counsel on how... mission and service organisations should work in the years ahead. We asked how, in Argentina or the neighbouring counties, he would begin to share the gospel with other indigenous people who do not have churches among them. He paused for a moment, and then responded, "I would go and eat their food." He began to weep, and the missionary couple who were our translators wept with him... we knew that these forty-year missionaries and their colleagues had acknowledged the dignity of the indigenous people of the Chaco by eating their food, sleeping in their houses, and learning and recording their languages.
- Paul Longcre, 1990
It’s humbling and encouraging to learn that much of what we’re doing is not new, but part of a tradition of hospitality as a missional activity.
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