The Quotable Dr. Watson

Here are some snippets, collected from my dear community members, that you just might enjoy:

"I don't know, now and then I like some gore." - Chris Barry, Office Manager

"You made my life easier by not being there." - Lizete, Receptionist

"I turned the radio on this morning, heard the national anthem and wondered who died. Then I realized it was just the Queen's birthday." - Dr. Watson, Snack Machine Controller.

"If you're going to fall asleep on the Tube, fall asleep on the circle line." - Edmund, Resident Spy

"The movie was somewhere between horror and religion."

"I go to the movies because I don't have a girlfriend, but then I don't have a girlfriend because I go to the movies."
- Tim, Cinema Connoisseur

"You don't even need to go to a bar to get a girlfriend . . . I got mine at the bus station." - Gedeon, who really needs a haircut


Headlines for 27 April:

34 COUNTRIES AND 12 LANGUAGES
The first english conversation class of the term was a smashing success with 10 people attending - some residents, some community. The hot topic was travel; the group of ten people found that altogether they had visited at least 34 countries and between them could speak 12 languages.

11th WORSHIPNIGHT ANTICIPATION BUILDS
The last worship night of the academic year will be held on 9 May and practices are heavily under way. Singing, playing, planning, praying and (of course) worshipping can be seen at least four times a week in the old chapel by very dedicated community members. More prayer is needed to make this event one that touches the ears and hearts of all who will attend!

LEAVING ON A JET PLANE
Office Team is preparing to say goodbye to veterans Antra and Lizete. Antra is engaged and going to be married in Latvia to her childhood friend Dzintars. Lizete is venturing off into the "real" London work-world. Leaving speeches will be made on 9 May; at Leandro's advice we will start lunch an hour earlier to accommodate them.

NEW EQUIPMENT FINALLY ARRIVES
The new snack machine arrived, prices raised, and a rebellion/picket line plotted by Dr. Watson to protest the higher prices. The students (and Chris Barry) who had suffered caffeine deprivation from the lack of a convenient source of Diet Coke and Red Bull don't seem to care and are now willing to pay anything for their study juice. [Side note: the new software promised over a month ago has yet to be installed in Reception.]

Tune in later for more headlines.

The Bremen Town Musicians

My week in Germany was wonderful!!!

First of all, kudos to God for making such a beautiful country. In fact, the evergreen forests, mild weather, small cities, quiet neighborhoods . . . all made me feel like I was back in Idaho. Except I never heard anyone in Idaho speak German. But still, it didn't really feel like being in a foreign country, it felt like being home.

My faithful travel angels helped me catch a bus to the Luton airport, a plane to Bremen, a tram to Hauptbahnhof (central station in Deutsch), and a train to Hude. And of course I had to do all that to go back too . . . and in response to my brother's question, no I did not meet John Candy on the way.

Things I learned in Germany:

1. If you are walking on a sidewalk and you hear a bell behind you, dive into the nearest bushes so that you don't get run over by a bicycle.

2. When in doubt, just say "Moi" - it means hello in Hude.

3. Don't blast your radio between 12 and 3pm, its "quiet hour"

4. If the TV guide says your program will start at 7:45, and you wait until 8:00 but it still hasn't come on - be patient. German trains may be on time, but the tv shows are not.

5. Germans are wonderfully sweet, kind, and considerate.

6. Ich liebe dich!

I putting a link on the photo albums section to the side so that you can see some pictures from Germany - I'm warning you, though, there aren't many. Mostly because I didn't do an extensive amount of traveling. Samu and I used the week to crash and catch up on much needed sleep and much missed hang-out time. We did visit Oldenburg one day and went to Samu's church another.


My favorite afternoon, however, was spent at Susan and Wolli's house. Samu was living with Iris and Sergio, and Susan and Wolli are Iris's parents. They are perhaps the very sweetest and kindest couple I have ever met. We got to hear Wolli's personal music collection played on his computer including a ragtime piece of his own composition, we had tea and cake together with Iris's grandmother, we went for a long walk around the neighborhood, and finished the afternoon with a rousing discussion of the American primaries. If I ever have to run for president of the US, I have two German friends who would vote for me if they could!

Altogether, I was incredibly blessed to have a week of rest and relaxation, to get to cook in a kitchen (lasagna and fajitas!), to watch movies and sing with Samu, to see Germany and meet many wonderful people. Thank you Lord for holidays!

Catching up

Do you like my new hat??

That was one of my spectacular finds in Camden Town. I took Luke to see the Saturday Portabello Road market and he showed me Camden Town where we ate some much craved Mexican food (held on display here for you to see).

Probably a good time to mention that I'm starting to get slightly homesick. Not really in the sense of wanting to be away from Lee Abbey, but I am more consistently reminded of food or songs or other parts of life from back home and thinking that it will be nice to get back to them in September. Pretty good timing, I'm down to only four and half months left here.

People ask me if time has gone by quickly or slowly. I don't think I have a very satisfactory answer for them; my life at Lee Abbey is so full and I have met so many people, done so many new things that I feel like I've already lived a full lifetime here. And yet, I don't feel like time has gone by slowly, or that life in the US is so distant. Its like life anywhere - some weeks are harder than others, and that makes time seem to go more slowly, some weeks are wonderful and seem to go by more quickly.

The best thing about these last seven months has, of course, been the people I've met. It has been a huge challenge for me to learn just how to be a real and vulnerable friend to someone who I may only know for a few months. How do you give of yourself without giving yourself away? I'm still not great at it, but I've made some baby steps, lessons that I hope will help me with whatever comes next.

Yes, I'm writing this from Germany, but you'll have to wait until I get back next week for the Deutschland post, pictures and all :)

P.S. Congratulations Laura!!! Out of all the amazing universities who were fighting each other for the privelege of having you study with them, I think you made a great choice and I'll start planning my trip to the hinterlands of Minnesota for you're graduation . . .

Christ is Risen!!!

These are the reasons (both silly and serious) why I'm so blessed today:

*I have three chocolate easter eggs of various sizes - there is nothing like getting chocolate to feel loved :)

*I ate lunch in the garden among the beautiful colors and smells of Spring.

*Google is amazing and I just figured out how to use Google Reader to keep up with all my cool friends who blog.

*I get to worship with my family twice today - once at HTB and once in the chapel.

*I'll be in Germany tomorrow night!

*I serve a God who is not only all-powerful (even over death) and all-loving (even towards me) but who is alive and here with me!!!

He is risen indeed.

Justice and Mercy

I had the absolute pleasure of leading our community worship this morning; Would you like to join me?


Make sure you get the chapel at 7:25 - it will probably take you five minutes to wake up because you most likely stayed up too late watching a movie or talking in the lounge.

I'll welcome you to morning prayers and then you'll listen to Alice help us set the mood of Holy Week by reading pieces of Isaiah 53 -

"How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news . . . See, my servant will prosper . . . He was despised and rejected - a man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief . . . he was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped, and we were healed! My righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins."

You'll join
lustily in singing:

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of Glory died
My richest gain, I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride


See from his head, his hands, his feet
Sorrow and love flow mingled down
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet
Or thorns compose so rich a crown

Oh the wonderful cross, oh the wonderful cross
Bids me come and die and find that I may truly live
Oh the wonderful cross, oh the wonderful cross
All who gather here, by grace draw near, and bless your name.

Were the whole realm of nature mine
That were an offering far too small
Love so amazing, so divine
Demands my soul, my life, my all

As I read Mark 15:1-20 about Jesus's trial before Pilate, you would see different pictures flash on an overhead screen - many varied interpretations of Christ before an angry mob and a frustrated Roman governor. You would see him crowned with thorns, robed in purple, and beaten.

Then you would hear what struck me most about this passage - that in this scene of a trial where we expect justice to be executed, the most innocent person is punished. And that person does not speak a word in his own defense. This trial is the culmination of a paradox, the fact that we serve a God of Justice and a God of Mercy - and they are one and the same God.

Maybe you would agree with me, that we all want to serve a God of Justice; I think you'd see that we don't want to serve a God that lets evil go unpunished. When someone hurts me, I don't want my God to brush it aside and say it doesn't matter. When I see injustice in the world I don't want to think that my God is ignoring it or shoving it under the carpet.



Yet you'd see from Romans 3:23 and 6:23 that serving a God of Justice means justice for everyone - including ourselves. Our justice means that we deserve death. No friendship, no sonship with the Father. Which is why we also serve a God of Mercy. A God who justly settled that the payment for our sins must be made - and then sent His own perfect Son to pay it for us. Perfect Justice, perfect Mercy.

The essence of this trial before Pilate, our understanding of Justice and Mercy is then wrapped up in one thing: forgiveness. Not excuses that try to explain why we aren't responsible for what we did or point the finger of blame elsewhere. Rather, full acknowledgment that payment is due, but that Christ paid that debt and now we can be free of the guilt and the shame.



I would leave you this challenge: to live out this day and this week reveling in the great love of God to pay this debt. Christ told us that he forgives us as we forgive others; we are his agents of Justice and Mercy to those we meet.

You would then join me in prayer: we would thank Christ for his willingness to pay our debt and take the beating and sentence of death that we justly should have received, we would pray for the people around the world who are working to help people reconcile to each other (in Northern Ireland, in Iraq, in South Africa . . .), and we would lift up several of the community members, past and present.

I would then ask you to join me in singing one last song -

I'm forgiven, because you were forsaken
I'm accepted, you were condemned
I'm alive and well, your spirit is within me
Because you died and rose again

Amazing love, how can it be
That you my king would die for me?
Amazing love, I know its true
And its my joy to honor you
In all I do, I honor you

I pray that you were just as blessed as I was this morning :)

The Sacrament and The Darkness

I want to share two pieces with you that have started my Holy Week meditation. I don't think I'll comment much on them - I'll let God speak to you Himself.

The first is a picture by Salvador Dali entitled "The Sacrament of the Last Supper." Dr. Watson shared this with us during our candlelight meditation.


The second is the following poem that my supervisor, Helen, shared with our team today (I'll have to go find out who the author is):

The Darkness

I think of myself as quite a decent person, good-hearted and respected, with minor sins and failings, until it dawns on me that the greatest sinners are the ones who sin in ignorance.

I see the well-intentioned damage "love" inflicts on helpless children.

I see the marks of cruelty in fervently religious people.

I see fair-minded Pharisees assess the evidence against Jesus, and consider it their duty to do away with him.

It frightens me
that I may be suffering from the sickness of the chief priests and the Pharisees.

They were so certain of themselves,
so convinced that they were right,
so closed to other viewpoints and to change.
I think of people whom I know to be like that.
And then I think of me.

The Pharisees were given to judging.
People to them were either good or bad.
There was never any good in someone
who their prejudice said was bad.

I think of other people who seem to be like that.
I think of me.
I make a list of "bad" people I know
and wonder if at heart they might not be
far better than I am.

The Pharisees were men of the establishment.
They feared to rock the boat.
I think of me.

The Pharisees loved power.
They would force you to be good for your own sake.
They could not leave you free.
Again I think of me.

Finally, the Pharisee conformed.
He might see the accused before him as not being guilty
but he lacked the holy daring
to stand up to his peers and speak his miind.
I think, regretfully, of my fear to give offense,
to disagree,
my need to please.

I am no great improvement
on the men who killed the Savior.
All I can say is, "Lord, I am a sinner.
Be merciful to me."

I hear him answer gently,
"You are precious to my heart, my child."
Whatever could he mean by that?

I use his eyes to find out what he sees in me
that, even while he knows my sinfulness,
he says, "You are precious to my heart."