" I knew that pilgrimages to the Holy Land and Rome and Canterbury had long been a part of our Christian tradition. And I knew that visiting holy sites by airplane, train and bus were still a popular tourist activity. But walking 500 miles?
I had no idea until I read Arthur Boers that millions of men and women all over the world are still doing it, deliberately paying attention to what takes place in and around them as they walk to their chosen destinations.
~ Eugene Peterson
"In a postmodern world in which time and space seem compressed and lives of leisure are driven by frenetic consumption, we should not be surprised that many have turned to the medieval practice of pilgrimage as a vital spiritual antidote."
Richard Gaillardetz
" We never have the Holy Spirit in our pockets, completely domesticated and supporting everything we are doing. Any such sanctifying of present imperfections is an obstacle to further growth. Instead of clutching fiercely to my foibles and fallacies, I had better cultivate the ability to change my mind........
~ Lois Seifert. Libération of Life
"They discover that it's difficult, they hey don't know how to relate. They don't know how to listen. They know how to tell people what to do. They are trained in "telling" people. But they've not got the idea of listening, and bringing people to birth." Jean Vanier
"In the days of the Celts, Druids came all the way from Ireland and Charlemagne’s court in Aachen to be baptized at sunset at Finisterre. There they died with the sun, like Jesus, sinking into the waters of death, only to be born again when they emerged. They took on new robes, new names. That is why pilgrims burn their clothes at Finisterre. Their old self must die before the new can rise from the ashes . . .”
(Robert Ward. All The Good Pilgrims)
"When, through my tears, I began to tell him something of the years during which I betrayed him, he lovingly placed his hand over my mouth in order to silence me. His one concern was that I should muster courage enough to pick myself up again...."
Carlo Careetto
"There are many statues of pilgrims along the Camino, realistic and abstract, humorous and heroic, moving and maudlin. A few depict pilgrims of today, with nylon packs and running shoes, but most are like this one, a figure of long ago decked out in the classic pilgrim ensemble. León’s pilgrim is a weary figure. He has taken off his sandals and leans back against the cross as if to sleep. Before him is the Parador of San Marcos, a luxury hotel where he could never dream of staying. I sit down to keep him company for a while. It’s funny that in the old days, when pilgrims actually looked like this, there weren’t any statues of pilgrims. The statues then were of Jesus Christ, Mary, James and the other saints. They were the heroes of the Camino. But the old heroes have retreated to the churches and the heavens. The hero of the Camino today—or so these statues suggest—is the pilgrim himself, the pilgrim of old, pictured always as humble, stoic, pure of heart, trusting, possessed of an unclouded faith that today’s pilgrim can never hope to equal."
( Robert Ward. All The Good Pilgrims)
"She spoke at a Little Pilgrims meeting one Saturday about a discovery she had made on the Camino. Each day, as a kind of walking prayer, she would pick up a stone and fill it with her sorrow. At the end of the day, she would leave the stone by the wayside and walk away a little lighter."
(Robert Ward. All The Good Pilgrims)
Serve the Lord ...... Kiss his son, or he will be angry......
“That Jesus had voluntarily lost himself in an obscure Middle Eastern village; annihilated himself in the daily monotony of thirty years’ rough, miserable work; separated himself form society that :counts”; and died in total anonymity.” Carlo Carretto
"Why do I keep relaying to you as one of my many relationships, instead of my only relationship, in which all other ones are grounded? Why do I keep looking for popularity, respect from others, success, acclaim, and sensual pleasure?Why, Lord, is it so hard for me to make you the only one?"
"Long before this winter snow
I ran from pain, looking high and low
For some fast way to get around
Its hurt and cold. I'd have found,
If I had looked at what was there,
That things don't follow fast or fair.
That life goes on, and times do change, And grass does grow despite life's pains."
~ Mary and Bernard. Selection taken from. "Resurrection"
"To walk in the presence of the Lord means to move forward in life in such a way that all our desires, thoughts, and actions are constantly guided by him. When we walk in the Lord's presence, everything we see, here, touch, or taste reminds us of him. This is what is meant by a prayerful life. It is not a life in which we say many prayers, but a life in which nothing, absolutely nothing, is done, said, or understand independently of him who is the origin and purpose of our existence."
(Henri Nouwen. The Living Reminder)
"Today, many persons who seek or study God do just that. They study him in books, make him an object of speculation, approach him from intellectual curiosity. With what result? The more we study, the more our ideas become confused; the more we get caught up in discussions, the further we go from him...
Study is no longer the light of spirituality, and curiosity has taken the place of humility."
(Carlo Careetto. The God Who Comes)
“This must be a very spiritual experience for you.” My response came so fast, it surprised even me. “No,” I said, “it’s a very physical experience.” She looked disappointed, but what could I say? It wasn’t my spirit that was doing the walking, it was my feet. And my feet hurt.
Not to say that the Camino was all pain, but it was all, or mostly, sensation. Heat, weariness, pain, thirst—not to extremes, but well beyond what my body was used to. And then relief. The rest in the shade, the cold drink, the breeze that sprang up from nowhere, the sting in the mouth of sheep cheese, the gasp as I plunged my face into a cold fountain. If there had been anything spiritual about my Camino to that point, it had come through the senses: the cessation of discomfort, and with it the unfocused reflex of gratefulness, that impulse to give thanks even when it was not clear to whom. Maybe that’s where spirituality begins."
~Robert Ward. All The Good Pilgrims
"The afflictions pilgrims bring with them to the Camino today are mostly of the spirit: doubt, alienation, boredom, stress, estrangement from family, disenchantment with work, lack of faith, and that all-pervading sense of something missing. In contrast to their ailing spirits, their bodies are usually well nourished and fit. This is a far cry from the old days, when the Camino was a walking infirmary, an endless procession of pilgrims seeking cures at the shrines of healing saints."
~ Robert Ward. All Good Pilgrims.
"I had always seen myself as a walker, so I was not prepared for pain. If I had expected the Camino to be a test in any way, it was emotionally: would I be able to stick with it? As things turned out, that was the least of my problems. From my first step, my commitment to finishing was never in doubt. Instead, it was my body that threatened to “betray” me."
(Robert Ward. All Good Pilgrims)
"Francisco told us the other night in Tosantos that by this point of the Camino we were past our initial aches and pains. Looking around here, I see little to support that view. Nowhere have I observed so many pilgrims looking quite so medieval, hobbling about on chafed and bleeding feet, their blisters pierced and threaded, their knees and ankles trussed. Walking is a mystery. There’s no predicting who will have problems. We have all met, on the one hand, that perky seventy-year-old who covers thirty kilometres a day with ease and, on the other, that strapping young athlete whose feet were a disaster from day one. Some pilgrims, when they run into troubles, rest or adjust. Others drive themselves, determined to overcome the pain, or convinced that pain is an integral part of pilgrimage, or trying to keep up with their walking companions or their itinerary."
(Robert Ward. All The Good Pilgrims)
"...Francisco speaks. He has much to say and often the Spanish eludes me, but the kernel is this: “On the first part of the Camino, the landscape is always changing. There are forests, mountains, rivers. There are beautiful towns and bridges. There is always something to catch your eye and take you out of yourself. The novelty of the experience distracts you, as do all the new people you are meeting, the human relations you are forging. Pain distracts you too. The pain of your feet, your legs, your shoulders. At the end of every day your body is tired from this unaccustomed effort. Your mind is tired too, from trying to process so many new things. With all these distractions and weariness, it is hard to focus on the things of the spirit. “But now, most of you have been walking for a couple of weeks. Your body has made adjustments. It no longer requires all your attention. Your mind too has passed through the initial stages of wonder and commotion and settled into the rhythm of the pilgrimage. This means it is free to think other thoughts. “In a few days you will come to the meseta, a broad, flat land that stretches to the distance in every direction. A place where there are no longer visual distractions, where there is nothing to look at but the sky above and the far horizon. There, you will begin to look into yourself. That is where the first part of the Camino—the physical part—ends, and where the spiritual Camino begins.”
~Robert Ward. All The Good Pilgrims
"...after supper, he saw me looking at a book about the Camino. He got really indignant. ‘Don’t read about the Camino,’ he said. ‘Live it!’ ”
~ Robert Ward. All The Good Pilgrims
"For ages, we humans have done everything in our power to go faster, striving to be where we want to be without all the time and bother of getting there. And there I was, the thankless inheritor, gazing out the windows of speeding vehicles and dreaming of walking."
(Robert Ward. All The Good Pilgrims)
“A todos los buenos peregrinos. Y a los malos también.”
"To all the good pilgrims – and the bad ones as well."
– A PILGRIM’S INSCRIPTION IN THE GUEST BOOK OF ESTELLA
(Robert Ward. All The Good Pilgrims)
"We sometimes forget that we are heralds of a new and very shocking idea. The gospel is not just personal, spiritual good news which can be received by individuals, change their private lives, save them from destruction, but leave the society untouched. Our hearers will understand better than we do that our tidy sermons of God’s love are more dynamite than sugar; that our “good news” will have far ranging effects on their culture and lifestyle."
- Larry Vanderaa
"We sometimes forget that we are heralds of a new and very shocking idea. The gospel is not just personal, spiritual good news which can be received by individuals, change their private lives, save them from destruction, but leave the society untouched. Our hearers will understand better than we do that our tidy sermons of God’s love are more dynamite than sugar; that our “good news” will have far ranging effects on their culture and lifestyle."
- Larry Vanderaa
"We sometimes forget that we are heralds of a new and very shocking idea. The gospel is not just personal, spiritual good news which can be received by individuals, change their private lives, save them from destruction, but leave the society untouched. Our hearers will understand better than we do that our tidy sermons of God’s love are more dynamite than sugar; that our “good news” will have far ranging effects on their culture and lifestyle."
- Larry Vanderaa
"Let me give you an example of how the above paradigm influenced us. When we moved into our
village, Aamadu Suleyman was the imam of the village mosque. He was an old man, about twice
my age at that time. He was a godly man, wanting nothing more than to do the will of Allah. We
became good friends. I used to visit him two or three times a week in the afternoons. We had
discussions on religion and he taught me about the inner dimensions of Islam. Eventually, we
read Genesis and the whole of Matthew together in Fulfulde. We talked about Islam and
Christianity, Christians, churches, being Christian, etc. and etc. This went on for a long time, but
finally one day he said to me, “Laare, let’s not talk about this anymore, please stop trying to make
me become a Christian.” I was deeply disappointed. And then three months later he died,
suddenly, unexpectedly. I bitterly mourned his death.
But it wasn’t until many years later that I finally really “heard” what he had said. He had not said,
“Please stop telling me about Jesus”, but rather “Please stop trying to make me become a
Christian.” Evidently I had talked too much about religion, about Christianity, Christians and
churches to the point where Christ had been overshadowed, overshadowed by Christian religious
identity."
Larry Vanderaa
Once the (true) Gospel is preached, I doubt if the churches would be filled. Rather, we might be out on the streets living the message. The discernment and the call to a life of service, to a life that gives itself away instead of simply protecting and procuring for itself in the name of Jesus, is what church should be about. Right now, so much church is the clergy teaching the people how to be co-dependent with them. It becomes job security instead of true spiritual empowerment.
-Richard Rohr
"In the early years one of our huts became the men’s gathering hut. When men came to
visit, we would drink tea there, talk about the news of the day, sometimes discuss religion
and even read the New Testament, all with no problem. Sometimes the village would hold
village meetings in the hut because it was neutral territory. After some years, the hut
seemed a bit small and so I decided to make it bigger. I basically had the hut stretched out
into a rectangle with rounded ends. But when the work was completed, none of the men
would go into the hut. They sat outside leaning against its wall, or under our nearby lean-
to. Finally I asked them what was the problem. They said, “Isn’t this a church?” I had to
calm their concerns and finally they agreed to go inside. But they still would tease each
other about who was the pastor and assistant pastor.
It was like they had a kind of allergy to anything that smacked obviously of Christian
religion."
Larry Vanderaa
"There have been a number of attempts to fine-tune church planting strategies for Muslim contexts,
but it’s time missionaries develop radical, retooled-from-the-bottom-up strategies. We need to
begin by re-inverting our priorities. Instead of strategies that organize the few into churches, we
need strategies that prepare the masses for a movement towards Christ. This requires missionaries
with an intense focus on faithful witness. We need missionaries for whom the institutions of
Christianity do not loom large in the background and foreground of all that they do, introducing
Muslims to a Jesus with 2000 years of Christian history stuck to his back. We need missionaries
who resolve “…to know nothing while with [Muslims] except Jesus Christ and him crucified”;15 who
introduce Muslims to the Jesus of the Gospels and to the Kingdom of God; who let them take Jesus
home into their culture and trust Jesus to take care of the rest."
Larry Vanderaa
“What’s your plan B?”
What are we going to turn back to? Hasn’t the church tried every iteration of the business-as-usual model? Church growth theory. The contemporary worship scene. The charismatic movement. Neo-Calvinism. Better worship, better preaching, better small groups, more spirit-led ministry, more Bible teaching, more this, more that."
Michael Frost
“What’s your plan B?”
What are we going to turn back to? Hasn’t the church tried every iteration of the business-as-usual model? Church growth theory. The contemporary worship scene. The charismatic movement. Neo-Calvinism. Better worship, better preaching, better small groups, more spirit-led ministry, more Bible teaching, more this, more that."
Michael Frost
A missionary friend once told me he believed that if you worship in spirit and in truth, then this supersedes all musical, cultural and ethnomusicological boundaries.
Sounds like a nice idea, but it could scarcely be further from the truth. Let me explain why. Take, for example, a sitar player from India, a kora player from Senegal, an urhu player from China, a balalaika player from Russia and finally a charango player from Peru. Put them all in a room together and say: “Make music!” What will happen? There will be something close to chaos, much misunderstanding and they will be unlikely to find anything which they can all play and make musical ‘sense’ of together. And these are all stringed instruments with many structural and technical similarities. If we were to add wind or percussion to the mix, the complications would only escalate!
So, why is this? It’s because, just as each culture speaks a different language, so their ‘musical language’ differs. The choice of scale, the rhythmic patterns used, the shape of the melody, the way a piece starts and ends, dynamics, tempo and articulation all differ hugely from culture to culture."
(Rob Baker. Adventures in Music and Culture: Travels of an Ethnomusicologist in West Africa)
"As we continue chatting and sipping tea, I discover that the word for ‘God’ in Moba is ‘Yendu’. A nice sounding word, I think to myself. Remembering the much uglier Nawdm equivalent, I say to Thelma: “In Nawdm, the word for God is ‘Sangband.’” “Yes, I know,” she replies with a smile, “and the funny thing is that ‘sangband’ means ‘dog’ in Moba.” “Really? How curious!” “Aye, it does! And so the Moba often mock the Nawdm saying ‘Your God is a dog!’” Uncanny indeed! Fancy that! Who would have imagined such a coincidence could exist anywhere in the world?!"
(Rob Baker. Adventures in Music and Culture: Travels of an Ethnomusicologist in West Africa)
"'Churchy' thinking is one of the great heresies of the modern church - the notion that unless one appears regularly in a certain kind of building labeled a Christian church, God has no relationship with them whatsoever. This is a manifestation of the current 'preacher-cult' in which the clergy emphasize church attendance as the heart of the religious life, and thereby maintain a Sunday morning fan club."
- Clyde Reid (1966)
"So why am I spending three months in silence walking The Camino then staying in a Spanish monastery on an island off the coast of the Sahara Desert?
I TALK TOO MUCH
Growing up, people in authority always told me that I talked too much. These days, I get paid for talking. (Nah Nah Nah Boo Boo!) But, somewhere deep inside I still believe that I talk too much. Actually, I think most people talk too much. Maybe that’s why I’m drawn to the quiet ones. There’s something about the quiet ones that I envy. Maybe being silent for three months is something I hope will edge me towards whatever it is the quiet ones possess.
My “gift of the gab” has helped to endear me to many throughout my life. It’s also been the fuel for others to dislike me intensely. I’ve gotten out of stuff because of talking. I’ve gotten into stuff because of talking. At this point in my life, I’m just exhausted of convincing anyone of anything. I’m tired of talking. But I still love asking.:
~ Drew Marshall
I was part of a missionary team in Morocco some years ago. I asked the village leader why he had never given our team leader one of their names, a name that can only be bestowed on an outsider by the village leader. He thought for a moment, leaned his head back and said that this man helped them, but that he didn't love them.
Taught me that if I wasn't there and truly loved people, that my "help" was not of much lasting importance to them as well.
I thought that the advice of Rik was also invaluable.
Clif Heeney
"Passion is the capacity and readiness to care, to suffer, to die, and to feel is the enemy of Imperial reality. Imperial economics is designed to keep people satiated it so that they do not notice. Its politics is intended to block out the cries of the denied ones. Its religion is to be an opiate so that no one discerns misery..."
Walter Brueggemann
"The God of many Christians is too small for me. The God who loves me when I'm good and hates me when I'm bad...
God loves you as you are, not as you should be. Because none of us are as we should be."
~Brennan- The Movie
"Certain volunteers seem to go to extreme lengths to prove Conrad's thesis that a white man's soul is corrupted by the tropics. They arrive in an exotic culture having read Magnum and Conrad and act as though they had been programmed to disintegrate. I have seen a few volunteers shortly before they resign from the organisation with the same muddy complexion as the fellow who sits at the next table, those same dazed, sunken, and inward-looking eyes, that same careless and rather disgraceful way of dressing...
... that type who has been tossed and twisted in another culture that he can't make sense of, a man at that certain point in his cultural confrontation just before he throws up his hands in surrender and flees."
(Moritz Thomsen. The Saddest Pleasure: A Journey On Two Rivers)
"She was not really beautiful, but there was a tremendous calm power that radiated from behind her pleasant but ordinary features. It was an absence of hang-ups, a sense of joyful acceptance, a glow of pleasure at the miracle of being alive. In one second she communicated to me that rare and beautiful sense of being completely human."
(Moritz Thomsen. The Saddest Pleasure: A Journey On Two Rivers)
You have to be labeled as Bitter.
They have no choice, you see.
You can love and serve Jesus, and people, all you want. You can study and gather with other Jesus people often enough, but the Sunday morning building crew will never, ever, no not ever be able to bless you if you are not at their thing. They think their form of church OWNS the definition of church. Their thing, is the only thing.
Because that whole system rises and falls on everyone being there. The definition of success is when more and more of us are there, and only there. When you stop being their volunteer, their financial support, the whole manly system falls.
Therefore, if you are not there to help them succeed, they see us as setting them up to fail.
So you are the enemy. Bitter...
They will write articles and post FB memes that carpet criticize anyone doing anything other than their thing on Sunday.
So, if you wonder why church people are so angry at people who don't go to their kind of church: They cannot entertain the idea that believers can actually meet, grow, and be healthy outside their structures. They have to deny any possibility of the like, to save themselves
That freedom and partnership can not be extended, that release of people to be free to follow Christ and gather in various ways can not be tolerated, because that packages success is based on the view of gathering you, your time, your money, your activity.
It does not matter how silent you are, or non critical you are of what others choose to do. To them you are critical, negative, or bitter, simply because you will not submit to their game play.
We can say this... but they cant believe it
We don't hate your church.
We are happy you have a place that works for you.
We are happy you serve there.
We are not saying you have to do it our way.
We are not saying we are right, you are wrong.
We are not following nor promoting a new church model or cool trend.
We are not trying to build anything.
We are not asking you to change anything.
Often, we have never asked a church to change anything they do.
We don't want to fight about it.
Has nothing to do with, "not getting our way"
And above all, your guilt trips, labeling and criticism does nothing to woo us back.
We get it, you posture at us, to warn the remaining sheep .... see, see those bitter people. You have to paint what we do as so bad, as so dark, so people will not even look or ask questions.
I loose nothing if you will not gather with me. You loose everything if too many people choose not to gather with you. You have more at stake.
I love you. I come to your box church from time to time. But i am tired of how you treat me, accuse me, and talk about me. I was not bitter when i chose a simpler path. But looking at you from over here has me blinking my eyes, real hard, as i see and hear your reactions.
You actually don't have a clue about what i do, or believe, how i study, or gather with others, because we have never even had one conversation about it. You don't want a conversation, or a blessed coexistence. Because you have to be against it no matter what, right? Can't entertain the idea, as give an inch the members might take a mile. That hurts the success thing.
So, i don't take it personal.
No, I'm not bitter. But i am unimpressed by your behavior towards me, your brother, who studies serves, and is part of the church.
But it no longer hurts me. Your church, is not my church. My church, my Jesus, my God help shield me from you, the nasty side of you I've come to see after the fact.
I love your fight for survival, never give it up. But I'm not your enemy, I'm the church too.
So I'm happy....
I'll be back from time to time.
I bless you.
Don't change a thing for me.
But I'm not bitter.....
Are you?
"As in Sassanou, I have another long-winded interpreter, who definitely seems to be adding his own commentary to what I say. At one point, I merely say the word ‘patience’ and he speaks for almost a minute (leaving me to put the word to immediate use!)"
(Rob Baker. Adventures in Music and Culture: Travels of An Ethnomusicologist in West Africa)
"Totally exhausted, sweating onto my notebook so much that my pen won’t work, and longing for a nice cool shower, we round up the afternoon by all meeting together in the main room again. It’s all I can do to muster up the energy to thank them. They are thankful too and – all things considered – the final recordings are pretty decent, with a good variety of styles and instrumentation. Then it happens: one of them pipes up with, “It was good, but we wish the workshop had been better organized!”
I’m defensive: “Better organized? What do you mean?”
“Well, so that we would receive some money from you.” Money?
They want money from me! This is a never-ending issue for the expatriate working in Africa: all too often, the issue of money rears its ugly head! To be fair, it does vary depending on location; the Bogo over in Sassanou never asked me for a penny and – in fact – gave me several gifts as a token of their appreciation! My theory is that the closer to the coast and/or to a big city you get, the worse it becomes.
“Money! What for?”
“For participating in the workshop!”
I pause for a moment, then continue:
“Let me ask you some questions.
Firstly, Ifè participants, did you pay for your transport here?”
“No, it was free,” they reply.
“And, everybody, how much have you had to pay for your accommodation during this workshop?”
“Nothing.”
“Right. And your meals?”
“They were provided free of charge.”
“And what about the hours of technical work I’ve put in to record your songs? Do I get paid for that? And my travel from Cotonou – it cost me 40,000 CFA. Nobody is paying me for that! Furthermore, I will go home from here and spend several days editing all your songs and making the cassettes so that you can benefit from them. You will then each receive a cassette of your songs, also free of charge. And still you ask me for money?”
The issue of per diems as they are called is still a contentious one. You see, I just spoke as a Westerner, from a Western viewpoint (and a particularly worn-out, fed up Westerner at that!) Now, the African viewpoint is very different: they’ve given up time to come and take part in this workshop, so should be ‘rewarded’ for this. They’ll also have lost several days’ income, which is not going to appear out of thin air, and they need to feed their families somehow. Finally, in Africa, if you have a friend who is richer than you, then it would be completely normal for the rich friend to give some money to the poorer friend. In the West, we try not to mix friendship with money, in case it spoils it; in Africa, friendship and exchange of cash often go hand in hand, almost as a way of cementing a friendship.
“That’s all I have to say on the matter.” I add. And we end the workshop. Just like that. I’m way too exhausted to continue debating this with them.........
Culture is a massive thing, and cultural differences – or misunderstandings – are at the heart of most friction and stress for an expatriate overseas. I’ve seen perfectly lovely people (Germans, Americans, French and – I have to add – Brits) losing their rag with Africans, because things didn’t happen ‘just so’. We are conditioned to seeking perfection, creating a world where everything is clear cut and runs according to certain rules (and woe betide you, should you veer from those!) Africa is not like that. Sure, there are rules, but things are often more fluid, negotiable, adaptable; and this is not a bad thing, it’s just how things are done here."
(Rob Baker. Adventures in Music and Culture : Travels of an Ethnomusicologist in West Africa)
"I don't want to eliminate the clergy. I'm trying to eliminate the laity. I'm trying to ordain everyone to the work to which God calls them"
Michael Frost
"The desire to be a great leader is dreadfully dangerous. . . A soul really called to a great mission, one that keeps in union with God, will go slow, pray much, make little noise over the call, and seek to keep self in the background."
George D. Watson
"Have you given him any medicine?" I asked.
"Yes, yes," he said. "We gave him aspirin and vitamins every day."
I shook my head.
“You know that's not enough. You've got to get him to a doctor. You've got to go to the mission hospital."
A look of shame and embarrassment crept onto Kanyenda's face. "Teta katuena ne falanga to," he said. "We don't have any money."
There they were. Those five words: "We don't have any money." They were permanently stitched to the sleeve of serious illness in Kalambayi, speaking like an epitaph for 90 percent of the chiefdom's dead and dying."
(Mike Tidwell. 'The Ponds is Kalambayi. pig 130)
"I grew up in Libya in abundance and I believed my people lived in similar conditions. My father never told me.
This is pure hunger. Life in the Sahara is hard. It's tough even for the young people so how can the elderly take it?
I can't stand the way my people are living here. People here can't even bathe. There is no light or electricity. No phone network to stay in contact with the world.
At night it is really cold here. People living in this desert are constantly getting sick.
A lot of illness. They don't have hospitals, they don't have medical tests.
People get used to it but my God this Sahara is tough. This Sahara is tough.
(Mahamad Hassan Tuareg in Sahara Desert)
"One guy comes up to me, buzzing with enthusiasm: “You know, when they play those big drums for village ceremonies, it usually makes people go into a trance. But today there was no trance when we played them!” Wow! I might have thought twice had I known this was a risk. However, I’ve studied trance quite a bit and – as a general rule – when the object of worship and the heart of the worshipper change, then trance will not occur. It’s a big issue in redeeming ‘pagan’ music for church worship and one which has caused some churches to fear even trying to play local drums. With time, though, all of these can be redeemed for God’s glory alone."
(Rob Baker. Adventures in Music and Culture: Travels of an Ethnomusicologist in West Africa)
"As I edge my way around one of the more acute bends, Mrs Kwadi lets me into a secret: “Rob, the road back down on the other side is even worse than this.” Great! That’s something to look forward to then.
We reach the top and the road flattens out. We’re on the Danyi Plain, one of the prettiest parts of Togo. Even the villages you pass through seem well-ordered, pleasant places: square buildings made of earth, but with tin roofs and tidy wooden shutters, blossoming red flame trees, friendly stalls selling fruit and vegetables, pretty yellow hedgerows and majestic palm trees – it all seems very civilised."
(Rob Baker. Adventures in Music and Culture: Travels of an Ethnomusicologist in West Africa)
"While sitting on the bank of a river one day, I picked up a solid round stone from the water and broke it open. It was perfectly dry in spite of the fact that it had been immersed in water for centuries. The same is true of many people in the Western world. For centuries they have been surrounded by Christianity; they live immersed in the waters of its benefits. And yet it has not penetrated their hearts; they do not love it. The fault is not in Christianity, but in men's hearts, which have been hardened by materialism and intellectualism."
... Sadhu Sundar Singh (1889-1929)
"Story is the palm oil with which wisdom is swallowed. "
(Yousufu, Guinea , West africa. Heard on BBC Podcast about Eola and how story was used to spread messages.)
“You don't have to play by their rules if you don't require their rewards.”
~ William P. Young
"There are still a good fifteen minutes until the scheduled start time, so it is impressive to see around half of the participants here already. But these are educated folk who can read, write and tell the time; three skills which cannot be taken for granted here. Of course, I wouldn’t even be here today if everyone in Sokodé were already literate."
(Rob Baker. Adventures in Music and Culture: Travels of an Ethnomusicologist in West Africa)
"Further on, three ladies carrying large bowls on their heads are walking by the roadside. “Labaalé!” These three know a place where there is a market and where we can most certainly try out some chouk. After a lengthy conversation, of which I understand precisely three words, Evan gets out and opens the back of his car. The ladies put their bowls in the boot and, somewhat uneasily, get into the back seat (as Ken squeezes into the front with Evan and me). I wonder if this is the first time they’ve ever ridden in a car. Quite possibly. We turn off the main road and along another bumpy track, parking almost immediately. Evan asks the ladies whether they need a lift back to where he picked them up. “No, we can walk back from here,” they say. Helping a foreigner is almost a duty of honour in this part of the world, and these three women – in spite of all the day’s hard work – were still happy to put themselves out to help three strangers. Amazing."
( Rob Baker. Adventures in Music and Culture; Travels of an Ethnomusicologist in West Africa)
This makes me sad..... and angry...
"Every once in awhile I’ll read something that forces me to read faster and faster and faster and… SQUIRREL!… and faster and faster and faster and…. SQUIRREL! When I was young I’m not sure they had a label for my reading comprehension disability. I was just called “stupid” or “lazy” or “an attention seeker”. I would get so distracted so easily during reading time, but because my brain was going a million miles an hour, noticing everything there was to notice in a room full of humans, I ended up acting up and getting kicked out. Eventually, it was suggested that I leave the only school I’d known – the only friends I’d known. I was sent to a different school for my last year of public/primary education and put into a “special” class of 6 kids who were all special/slow. The excruciating social stigma of being a “special” kid in a new school was the start of my downhill slide that lasted 30 years. I soon figured out that if I could make ‘em laugh they would forget that I was “special.” Thus, the Village Idiot was born! Only as I approach my 50th birthday have I begun to allow myself to accept the fact that I AM “special”. Not stupid – lazy – attention seeker special, but special .....
(Drew Marshall. Www.Caminoconfessions.com #6)
"I’ve been the proverbial black sheep of my family for as long as I can remember. I can vividly recall the first time my father said he was proud of me. Probably because it wasn’t that long ago. I put my parents through hell for so many years. Mom died before I had the chance to show her I could be good at something. Dad is 83 now and the reality is, he won’t be part of my life for much longer. I’m terrified of screwing up and putting on that black sheepskin one more time before he’s gone."
(Drew Marshall. Www.Caminoconfessions.com #8)
“You’re going to the armpit of Africa,” the prim doctor said, as I rolled up my sleeve for the first injection. “We can only do so much for you.” She was as thorough as she was adamant."
(To Timbuktu For a Haircut. Rick Antonson)
"I absolutely love being by myself! Others tell me the same thing. They really like it when I’m by myself as well."
(Drew Marshall. Www.Caminoconfessions.com #7)
This makes me sad..... and angry...
"Every once in awhile I’ll read something that forces me to read faster and faster and faster and… SQUIRREL!… and faster and faster and faster and…. SQUIRREL! When I was young I’m not sure they had a label for my reading comprehension disability. I was just called “stupid” or “lazy” or “an attention seeker”. I would get so distracted so easily during reading time, but because my brain was going a million miles an hour, noticing everything there was to notice in a room full of humans, I ended up acting up and getting kicked out. Eventually, it was suggested that I leave the only school I’d known – the only friends I’d known. I was sent to a different school for my last year of public/primary education and put into a “special” class of 6 kids who were all special/slow. The excruciating social stigma of being a “special” kid in a new school was the start of my downhill slide that lasted 30 years. I soon figured out that if I could make ‘em laugh they would forget that I was “special.” Thus, the Village Idiot was born! Only as I approach my 50th birthday have I begun to allow myself to accept the fact that I AM “special”. Not stupid – lazy – attention seeker special, but special .....
(Drew Marshall. Www.Caminoconfessions.com #6)
"I’m just loving shutting up. It’s honestly been simmering inside of me for quite a while. My entire life has been filled with too much talk. From myself as well as those around me. I’ve been noticing that most of us, when we talk, fill the air with… more air. "
The Nawdm People of Northern Togo
For you musicians...
"Most of the genres are also accompanied by clapping, sometimes just a straight beat, other times very syncopated. As they sing through more songs, I notice that many of them are hexatonic. This means there are six different tones in the scale, rather than the Western seven, or the more common African five. Upon further analysis, it would seem that the seventh degree of the Western major scale is missing, so theirs goes: do-re-mi-fa-so-la-do."
Best line I've read in weeks... "Don't waste much time defending your ego"
"Whenever you are offended, it's usually because your self-image has not been worshiped or it has been momentarily exposed. The false self will quickly react with a vengeance to any offenses against it because all it has is its own fragile assumptions about itself.
Narcissists have a lot of asserting and defending to do, moment by moment. Don't waste much time defending your ego. The True Self is untouchable, or as Paul puts it "it takes no offense" (1 Corinthians 13:5)."
~Richard Rohr
"Every one of us is shadowed by an illusory person: a false self. This is the man that I want myself to be but who cannot exist, because God does not know anything about him."
(Thomas Merton)
Yep. $19.50 a minute when i was first in Ivory Coast.
"I think back to the early 90s when I was first in West Africa, teaching missionaries’ kids. There were no mobiles and even phoning home conventionally cost a small fortune and often had a delay of up to seven seconds. Now, I can text the UK for around ten British pence and the message arrives almost instantaneously. Amazing, really."
(Rob Baker. Adventures in Music and Culture: Travels of an Ethnomusicologist in West Africa)
At 4:29 in the morning, i laughed out loud in recognition. Sorry Lynn Rayner
"The number one rule to remember on the roads here is as follows: there are no rules. Who has right of way? Answer: whoever has the courage to forge on and fill the gap before the other person gets a chance. Crazy, but kind of fun once you get used to it!"
(Rob Baker. Adventures in Music and Culture: Travels of an Ethnomusicologist in West Africa)
"The ego doesn't want to surrender to its inherent brokenness and poverty. Yet the truth is, realizing your imperfection is the beginning of freedom and grace. There is such freedom in no longer pretending to be something we're not."
~ Richard Rohr
"People often say to me: “Rob, it’s such a sacrifice, what you do,” and in many ways it is. But that’s not to say that missions work isn’t also fascinating, enriching and – on many occasions – just great fun! What you give up back home before coming on the field, God gives back to you in so many different ways – and more."
(Rob Baker. Adventures in Music and Culture : Travels of an Ethnomusicologist in West Africa)
"When an atheist asked the civil rights activist and Baptist minister Will Campbell to define Christianity in ten words or less, he replied, “We’re all bastards, but God loves us anyway.”"
(Michael Frost)
"A few years back I was the featured speaker at the Indiana Governor’s Prayer Breakfast. I found myself sitting with the then youngest (thirty-six years old) governor in the country, Evan Bayh. He’s also a very devout Christian. He turned to me and said, “Brennan, you’re in just about every nook and cranny of the United States. You’re in every college and university, from Campus Crusade to Young Life, and in an incredible number of churches as well. What do you hear the Spirit of God saying to the American church?”I said, “Well, Governor Bayh, if there’s one thing I hear with growing clarity, it’s that God is calling each and every Christian to personally participate in the healing ministry of Jesus Christ.”
Healing is a response to a crisis in the life of another person. It’s enough of a response, a satisfactory response to a crisis in the life of another."
( Brennan Manning. The Furious Longing Of God)
You know its taken me 48 years to realize some people, so many, have had horror stories in their lives.
""You will come for lunch," my aunt said, saving me from having to admit that I had jo place I wished to be taken and that this visit to seattle, the last I would ever make in my life, made me feel like that moment when the last leaf falls from a naked tree. Now in every sense I was disconnected from a horrid oast and hoped only to be blown to far places where even the memories of this town would fade."
(Moritz Thomsen. The Saddest Pleasure: A Journey On Two Rivers)
"Until the love of God that knows no boundary, limit, or breaking point is internalized through personal decision; until the furious longing of God seizes the imagination; until the heart is conjoined to the mind through sheer grace, nothing happens. The idolatry of ideas has left me puffed up, narrow-minded, and intolerant of any idea that does not coincide with mine. The wild, unrestricted love of God is not simply an inspiring idea. When it imposes itself on mind and heart with the stark reality of ontological truth, it determines why and at what time you get up in the morning, how you pass your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, and who you hang with; it affects what breaks your heart, what amazes you, and what makes your heart happy. The revolutionary thinking that God loves me as I am and not as I should be requires radical rethinking and profound emotional readjustment. Small wonder that the late spiritual giant Basil Hume of London, England, claimed that Christians find it easier to believe that God exists than that God loves them."
(The Furious Longing Of God. Brennan Manning)
"“Willie, he was there! Oh, was he there! Wait till I tell you. You’ll never believe it. Man, I’m not sure I do either.” Mack stopped, lost in his memories for a moment. “Oh, yeah,” he said at last. “He told me to tell you something.”“What? Me?” Mack watched as concern and doubt traded places on Willie’s face. “So, what did he say?” Again he leaned forward. Mack paused, grasping for the words. “He said, ‘Tell Willie that I’m especially fond of him.’“ Mack stopped and watched his friend’s face and jaw tighten and puddles of tears fill his eyes. His lips and chin quivered and Mack knew his friend was fighting hard for control. “I gotta go,” he whispered hoarsely. “You’ll have to tell me all about it later.” And with that Willie simply turned and left the room, leaving Mack to wonder, and remember."
(The Shack. William P. Young)
"In the secular sphere, it has manufactured artificial ledgers of perfection that have clearly changed from age to age, class to class, and culture to culture. Perfectionism discourages honest self-knowledge and basic humility, which are foundational to spiritual and psychological growth. It has made basic social tranquility a largely unachievable goal. Grandiose people cannot create peace."Richard Rohr
"For me, everything is about Jesus and Father and the Holy Spirit, and relationships, and life is an adventure of faith lived one day at a time. Any aspirations, visions and dreams died a long time ago and I have absolutely no interest in resurrecting them (they would stink by now anyway). I have finally figured out that I have nothing to lose by living a life of faith."
(Paul Young)
"Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God, But only he who sees takes off his shoes; The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries."
~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning
"I have to tell you that I’ve never been around another adult who lives life with such simplicity and joy. Somehow he has become a child again. Or maybe more accurately, he’s become the child he never was allowed to be ........"
( The Shack. William P. Young)
"Well he’s a human being that continues through a process of change, like the rest of us. Only he welcomes it while I tend to resist it. I have noticed that he loves larger than most, is quick to forgive, and even quicker to ask for forgiveness."
( The Shack. William P. Young)
“Actually, I don’t think I’m going to need this anymore,” he said. “Can you keep it for me? All my best treasures are now hidden in you anyway. I want you to be my life.” ~ Mackenzie
(The Shack. William P. Young)
“A man who has been in another world does not come back unchanged.”
~ C.S. Lewis
"When we decide to act, it is natural that unexpected conflict should arise. It is natural that we will be wounded as a result of such conflict. Wounds heal: they stay on as scars, and that is blessing. Such scars stay with us for the rest of our lives, and are of great help to us. If at some point -for whatever reason -our desire to return to the past is strong, we have only to look at our scars. Scars are the marks of handcuffs, and remind us of the horrors of prison -and with that reminder we move forward again.”
(Paulo Coelho, Maktub)
"Many people begin coming to God once they stop being religious, because there is only one master of the human heart – Jesus Christ, not religion."
~ Oswald Chambers
Saint Francis of Assisi was a very popular young man when he decided to leave it all behind and do his life's work. Saint Clare was a beautiful young woman when she took her vow of chastity. Saint Raimundo Lull knew the great intellectuals of his time when he went off into the desert.
The spiritual quest is, above all, a challenge. Whoever uses it to flee from his problems will not go very far.
It does no good for someone who cannot make friends to retire from the world. It accomplishes nothing to take a vow of poverty if you are already unable to earn a living. And it makes no sense to become humble if one is already a coward. It is one thing to have something and give it up. It is another not to have something and to condemn those who have."
( Paulo Coelho: Maktub)
"In a bar in a remote village in Spain , close to the city of Olite , there is a sign placed there by the owner. “Just as I succeeded in finding all the answers, all the questions changed.”
The master says: “We are always concerned with finding answers. We feel that answers are important to understand what life means. “It is more important to live fully, and allow time to reveal to us the secrets of our existence. If we are too concerned with making sense of life, we prevent nature from acting, and we become unable to read God's signs.”
( Paulo Coelho : Maktub)
"If you are alive, you have to shake your arms, jump around, make noise, laugh and talk to people. Because life is exactly the opposite of death. To die is to remain forever in the same position. If you are too quiet, you are not living.”
(Paulo Coelho: Maktub)
"Let me ask you something. Is what I do back home important?
Does it matter?
I really don’t do much other than working and caring for my family and friends . . . “
Sarayu interrupted him. “Mack, if anything matters then everything matters.
Because you are important, everything you do is important. Every time you forgive, the universe changes; every time you reach out and touch a heart or a life, the world changes; with every kindness and service, seen or unseen,
(The Shack. William P. Young)
"The spirituality of imperfection is, quite simply, the Gospel. However, in the fourth century, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. From that time on, the spirituality of imperfection--Jesus' liberating message--became a subtext, a minority position. Once you align with imperial thinking, spirituality quickly transmutes in many forms into a spirituality of supposed perfection--achievement, accomplishment, performance, attainment, and willpower--because that is how empires are built and maintained.
As the Church became aligned with power, many went off to the deserts in Syria and Egypt, seeking a lifestyle congruent with Jesus' teachings. But mainline Christianity has by and large continued the pattern of protecting and preserving itself through power. Without even realizing it, we have foundationally compromised the core good news. It has, in fact, become bad news because no one can honestly succeed all the time."
(Richard Rohr)
“You taught me to be nice, so nice that now I am so full of niceness, I have no sense of right and wrong, no outrage, no passion.”
~ Garrison Keillor
"Let me ask you something. Is what I do back home important? Does it matter? I really don’t do much other than working and caring for my family and friends . . . “ Sarayu interrupted him. “Mack, if anything matters then everything matters."
(The Shack. William P. Young)
"Let me ask you something. Is what I do back home important? Does it matter? I really don’t do much other than working and caring for my family and friends . . . “ Sarayu interrupted him. “Mack, if anything matters then everything matters."
(The Shack. William P. Young)
"I didn't want to go back to the United States where for most of my life, it now seemed apparent, I had been only half-alive."
(Moritz Thomsen. The Saddest Pleasure: A Journey On Two Rivers)
"Now, after three years in the Peace Corps, my father's letter had illuminated my real position and Ecuador; I was engaged in the ultimate bourgeois gesture. I had come to live for a time in a poor village....
When things got too rough: if I got sick or the food became unbearable or if the town for some reason or another should you erupt into drunken violence or if, even, the ambient of the town became too boring, I could simply jump in a canoe for Esmeraldas and catch a bus to Quito. I was the only one in town who could solve his problems by simply going to Quito."
(Moritz Thomsen. The Saddest Pleasure: A Journey On Two Rivers)
"... in some degree we are all actors and are playing the part that we feel best expresses our essence...."
(Moritz Thomsen. The Saddest Pleasure: A Journey On Two Rivers)
"I was eating pretty much like a poor man eats, or trying to - forced to - and it had begun to affect my emotional stability."
( Moritz Thomsen. The Saddest Pleasure: A Journey On Two Rivers)
"That is why Jesus criticizes hypocrisy more than anything else. Jesus is never upset with sinners, but only with people who pretend they are not sinners. Check this out for yourself. This is surprising and even shocking! Why is it that this clear pattern is seldom pointed out in sermons? It might have to do with the fact that low-level religion can't see its own shadow and projects it elsewhere. Thus the high degree of morally judgmental people among most religious groups, which allows them to remain untouched in their self-sufficiency, militarism, and materialism.
This is the classic example of dealing with the symptom instead of the cause. We cannot really get rid of the shadow; we can only expose its game--which is, in great part, to get rid of its effects."
Richard Rohr
"This is why Jesus says that prostitutes, drunkards, and tax collectors are getting into the kingdom of God before the chief priests and religious elders (see Matthew 21:31). This is supposed to blow your socks off.
Our success-driven culture scorns all failure, powerlessness, and any form of poverty. Yet Jesus begins his Sermon on the Mount by praising "the poor in spirit" (Matthew 5:3)! Just that should tell us how thoroughly we have missed the point of the Gospel."
( Richard Rohr )
Most religion is highly "legitimating religion." It is used for social control and public order both by the powers that be and by people who want to be in control. This limited use of religion has allowed much of Christian history to participate in a toxic and unjust environment--just as long as we have "a personal relationship with Jesus." .....
If Jesus is indeed "the Savior of the world" (John 4:42), we must not, we cannot, continue to think of salvation as merely a private matter. We are wasting our time trying to convert individuals without also challenging corporate sin and institutionalized evil.
Otherwise, we send momentarily changed people back into the world; now they think they are godly, but they are the opposite of godly, and the disguise is perfect....
Politicians normally prefer an unaware and superficial populace....
If we think we can say our private prayers and still genuflect before the self-perpetuating, unjust systems of this world, our conversion will not go very deep or last very long. There is no one more radical than a real person of prayer because they are not beholden to any ideology or economic system; their identity and motivation is found only in God, not in the pay-offs of "mammon." Both church and state are threatened by true mystics. Such enlightened people can't be bought off or manipulated, because their rewards are always elsewhere.
(Richard Rohr. Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer)
"The most striking thing about the New Testament stance on church authority and leadership is how little it says about such issues. This is the opposite of what one would expect from the Bible, given that issues of authority and leadership dominate so many churches."
- Christian Smith
“I have called you, not merely to prepare sermons, but to prepare people. There is a difference between preparing a message about God and preparing a people for God.” ~ Francis Frangipane
It is my opinion—I believe it is more than an opinion, it is insight—that evangelical Christianity as we know it is almost as far from God as liberalism. Its nominal creed is biblical, but its orientation is worldly. The modern evangelicals, the Holiness people, the Pentecostal people, the Bible loving people—we who claim to be evangelical and traditional in our Christian faith—have an orientation toward the big businessman. You know, Jesus never got along with any of the businessmen in His day. But we use them as our model.
— A. W. Tozer … "Reclaiming Christianity"
" I go to sleep in a desert and wake up a few seconds later just as it is getting dark in another country that looks as though I have died and gone to heaven. In the blink of an eye hell has been replaced with paradise."
(Moritz Thomsen. The Saddest Pleasure: A Journey On Two Rivers)
"At such moments, unexpected tears may appear -tears neither of happiness nor sadness. Do not be surprised at that. It is a gift. The tears are cleansing your soul. The master says: “If you must cry, cry like a child. You were once a child, and one of the first things you learned in life was to cry, because crying is a part of life. Never forget that you are free, and that to show your emotions is not shameful. Scream, sob loudly, make as much noise as you like. Because that is how children cry, and they know the fastest way to put their hearts at ease. “Have you ever noticed how children stop crying? They stop because something distracts them. Something calls them to the next adventure. Children stop crying very quickly. And that's how it will be for you. But only if you can cry as children do.”
( Paulo Coelho. Maktub)
“My Jesus, we no longer have need of thee. We are now capable of making the aggressor pay for his offenses. We are now able to take vengeance into our own hands, and to deal with Good and Evil. Therefore, You can leave us on our own, and their will be no problem.”
~ Brother Sisois
(Maktub. Paulo Coelho)
One afternoon at the monastery at Sceta, one of the monks offended another. The superior of the monastery, Brother Sisois, asked that the offended monk forgive his aggressor. “I cannot do that,” responded the monk. “It was he that did this, and it he who must pay.” At that very moment, Brother Sisois raised his arms to heaven and began to pray: “My Jesus, we no longer have need of thee. We are now capable of making the aggressor pay for his offenses. We are now able to take vengeance into our own hands, and to deal with Good and Evil. Therefore, You can leave us on our own, and their will be no problem.” Ashamed, the monk immediately pardoned his brother."
~ Brother Sisois
(Maktub. Paulo Coelho)
"The biggest challenge was reintroducing myself to my family and friends. I was not the same person as when I left, not by a long shot, but I was treated the same. "
(Returning Peace Corps Volunteer)
