Farewell and Thank You

I would like to express sincere thanks to John Yap who has been part of the Uof G Chaplaincy Team for the past five years.  
John, it was great to see you at the World Cafe today and to have the opportunity to say a proper thank you and farewell.  

Thank you for all your service and commitment to the Chaplaincy Team.  Most especially for your commitment to the World Cafe and to our increasing population of Chinese students.
May you be blessed in a new season in life as you and Christine return to Malaysia. We especially pray for continued healing for your back.

Bring & Share

Always fun to have a house full  ...  for food and games. Lovely to have some of the Chinese students join us, especially as many of them will be leaving soon.





A scrumptious feast as always!




The brave ones stayed on for a belated Eurovision Song Contest and we rounded our day off with the final of 2015 Britain's Got Talent  ...  that didn't end on the best note as only the British, when faced with some genuine talent, can vote for a dog!!!  

I sincerely apologise on behalf on my nation!!

Storytelling

We had a fun evening at TABLEtalk this week looking at the power of storytelling.  Storytelling is truly an art form (one I wish I possessed). 
In many cultures and for many centuries storytelling has been used to entertain, to teach, to convey history, to preserve cultural traditions and to inspire.  The Bible is full of stories (parables) which Jesus used to convey truth.  
Whilst stories are used to convey truth, they are also filled with legends and super-heroes.
I don't have space here to reproduce our five stories in full, but here is a precis ...

Once upon a time there was a rich man called Must Have who was very greedy, ruthless and cruel. All he wanted was more and more! When Must Have saw a picture of a planet made of gold he dedicated his life to reaching that place. He stopped caring for his wife and children and began building his spaceship. He invested all his money into this project but when he decided to test the ship  ...  it exploded!!! His project failed, his wife kicked him out of the house and he ended up on the streets looking for help. After some useless days of wandering around Must Have realised it was himself that needed fixing not the spaceship. What he really needed was his family, not money or treasures :-)

The name's McBond, Jimmy McBond! Jimmy's aim was to find and capture Mr Baked Bean, a drug dealer who has escaped to Scotland and can be found outside a local hotel each morning at 1am.  Jimmy McBond's disguise was a unique one consisting of a bullet-proof helmet, a camera hidden in his bagpipes, a cape that enabled him to fly; and don't be fooled by his uni-cycle which infact is equipped with a sportscar engine.  The day finally came when Jimmy went after Mr Baked Bean and despite shots being fired Baked Bean was brought to justice and jailed for all his crimes.

Rocky was a gangster who killed people and stole sweets from little children - he was not a nice man. He also had a passion for boxing and one day decided to steal the Championship boxing trophy. However he was caught by other boxers who started to beat him and break his bones. When Rocky told the other boxers about his passion for the sport they felt sorry for him. A few months later he was training to be a professional boxer and soon found himself back in the stadium, this time competing in the Championship.  He won the trophy and no more lived the life of a thug.

This is the story of a big fat naked guy who was often drunk and always fighting with his neighbours. When they saw him in the street his neighbours would run back to their houses in fear. One day a small guy was walking through town and couldn't understand why no-one else was around; then he saw the big fat naked guy coming towards him. The giant hulk grabbed him, striped off his clothes and beat him till he blacked out. But whilst he was unconscious the little guy saw a beautiful woman, the girl of his dreams, being chased by the big fat naked guy. When he woke he was suddenly charged with super-powers, he beat the big fat naked guy and all the neighbours lived happily ever after.

This is Melon-Man, the Healthy Super-Hero, whose single goal in life was to save people from the curse of junk food.  He decided to use his favourite food (melons, just incase you hadn't guessed) to battle against the evils of junk food.
His mantra was, "Eat melon or be meloned!!"  One day at the Dickens' Festival he saw some men eating donuts and fries.  He challenged them but they would not listen. Melon-Man was so outraged he loaded up his melon bazooka and let them have it!  Down they all went; Melon-Man had fulfilled his duty.

June calender

On a personal note ...

Enjoyed a wonderful evening out in Canterbury last Thursday.  Went to see the play of 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time'  ...  it was soooooooooooo good and I'd highly recommend it. Prior to the play though we also enjoyed a scrumptious Turkish meal in a restaurant called 'Istanbul'. Thanks Aiste for your lovely company.

Dragon's Den

It never ceases to amaze me how eloquent many of our international students are. Though most do not have English as their primary language they still communicate unbelievably well when thrown in to the variety of activities we inflict on them at TABLEtalk each week.  I could never imagine being so proficient in another language that I would be able to stand up and sell an idea.
That's exactly what our students did last night in our very own version of 'Dragon's Den'.  Each group presented their invention, including their target audience, business plan, estimated profits and, of course, the amount of financial support they wanted the Dragons (Jeri & myself) to offer them.

Unfortunately, the Wake-o-Early-rise-matic, didn't receive any financial support as the Dragon's were rather concerned about health & safety issues. It also appeared this unique bed was only available as a single, which we felt would not lend itself to the pursuit of wedded bliss!!






The Lexicon English Facilitator-ator, whilst having a name which itself displayed poor English, seemed a promising enough invention as it apparently stimulates brainwaves and enables the user to become proficient in another language in the space of a mere 40 hours.  After some bartering money eventually changed hands.


Finally, the Dilemmagon Problem Solver (DPS), looked like a promising way to improve my quality of life by helping me make key decisions when I don't know what to do. However I was also sold on the idea by their catchy little jingle  ...  
      "If you can't decide 
       on a no or a yes, 
       simply consult your DPS" 

Sisters of St Andrew

Even though I was feeling lousy with a cold I recently enjoyed a pleasant few hours in Lewisham at the home of the Sisters of St Andrew.

We were made very welcome, fed and watered and given the opportunity to explore their facilities.

It was good to take a moment to pray around the labyrinth whilst the sun was shining; and meeting at the centre was simply an opportunity for a group hug and a selfie :-)