In Lima
Last night we took a city bus tour trip. I was a bit bored with it. Sitting on top of an open bus breathing in the fumes of Lima is not all that wonderful an experience. Anyway it lasted for over three hours. Part of the trip was to stop at a park where there was numerous water fountains all back lit with coloured lights. It made you think about this contrast between a section of society nearly four million who don't have running water and a small part of society that...
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Today was an early start. We were on the road at 8.00pm. The purpose of the early start was that we were going to drop into the night shelter at Remac before the boys who use it had left. This is a very dangerous part of Lima and the shelter is situated in this area in order to make contact with some of the most estranged within Peruvian society. The centre acts as a halfway house - a kind of bridge from the street to the beginning of rehabilitation. The shelter is run...
Yesterday was the first full day of travel. We took some time and visited Chosica. This is a retreat centre that SU use to do local training for those who live in the Lima Area. I was especially pleased to attend what was the first of what we hope will be many training opportunities for the directors of the various Children's homes. As you can see from the pictures the centre is placed in wonderful surroundings.
From here we ventured on to the SU Deaf Centre where we...
I was given the opportunity to lead the Scottish Parliament in a time of reflection his afternoon.
Presiding Officer,
Thank you for the privilege given to me today to lead the Parliament in a time of reflection.
Perhaps I'm here because at one level I'm simply a parish minister, or perhaps because I head up the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland's Committee on Church Without Walls, or maybe it is because of my work with the Vine Trust among Street...
Here I am again trying to get into the swing of making regular posts. Today was an interesting day. I was at an Emerging Church Conference at the ICC in Glasgow. I found it interesting and frustrating. The term "Emerging Church" is being used today in the Christian Community to describe worshipping communities that are seeking to engage with people who lost interest in what we might call traditional understandings of church. Or who may never have been there in the...