More quit smoking!

The Roma mother's steely determination to quit smoking and be baptised has had just the effect I have prayed for.  Two others have now quit and another is lined up to follow.  This will mean three families will have become smoke free within a week or so.  This means 10 children will now be in a smoke free environment.  I got my calculator out.  The total saving for one year will be £4,810.  This blew them all away. But all that is nothing compared to the spiritual power that is being released as a result.   Smoking is understood as sin and a real blockage to knowing God.  Remove the blockage and faith is born.  With the birth of faith comes a growth in confidence and vitality.  Against all the odds, hope is being kindled that maybe things might just get better for a people who have known nothing but misery and marginalization.  At our weekly prayer meeting I told the story of Jesus' resurrection appearance at the lake side on the morning after the disciples had fished in vain all night.  The message: Jesus actively chooses to show up when the chips are down and all hope has been shattered.  The people can be so broken that they are blinded to recognising him when he appears.   Rather that dazzle them, he slips into their lives at first without them noticing.  He weaves his presence into the fabric of lives that have been torn apart.  A new garment of praise replaces a garment of mourning.  Luton Roma Church is coming to birth in the same way that a living organism takes shape - seemingly random events conspire to bring something out of nothing.  There's nothing to shout from the rooftops.  But there's a story emerging in the gutter.  My role?  To try to make connections and point to what might be missed.  "O Del si amensa. Tu dikes?"  "God is with us.  Do you see?"

"Daughters of Jerusalem! Do not weep for me. Weep for yourselves and for your children!"

As the cross was carried through Luton on Good Friday to a slow drum beat, two young Roma women spotted me.  They were in town begging.  They joined the procession.  Here you see them facing the cross. We weep for Jesus, remembering his passion, what he did for us all.  But when he processed through Jerusalem carrying that cross what did he say to the women weeping?  "Daughters of Jerusalem! Do not weep for me. Weep for yourselves and your children!"   The general view is that things will get worse for the Gyspy people.  Jesus is weeping for them.  These two mothers will be evicted from their home on Tuesday.  They could not pay the rent and it's all turned very nasty.  Two families will be searching in desperation for somewhere to lay their head.  We went in the church after the procession. They wanted to hear the passion narrative in their language.  I read from my Kalderash bible.  Then they went off begging.  And I in search of an empathic private landlord.  Amidst their desparate circumstances they are always able to laugh.  The mother on the right is the best cleaner in town.  Why do people stare in derision?

From the Kent Romanies to the Luton Roma...

Here's a video clip which will be shown at gatherings around the world of The Order of Mission [TOM] this summer.  Beginning with the Kent Romanies it flows on to the Luton Roma...

What does it take to quit?

One Roma mother is preparing for baptism on Easter Sunday.  This is a life and death matter for her, something she's been longing to do for years.  Inseparable from her decision to be baptised by full immersion is her determination to quit smoking.  I have never known anyone so desperate for deliverance from an addiction.  As her faith and confidence in God grows, so her hope that his "power will be made perfect in weakness".  Her first smoke-free day came when we went to the "stop smoking clinic" and got professional advice.  Now every day she is £2 richer.  Every year she will be over £700 richer.  That amounts to one month a year living rent free!  But the most powerful motivation comes from feeling the power of the Spirit redirecting her life in the narrow way that leads to life.  There is no room for any of my finely nuanced theological niceities.  It's black and white.

Other Roma have been deeply skeptical and resistant.  But this mother's steely determination to go against the flow has had just the effect I believed it would.  One Roma guy, penniless, hungry for God and desperate to eak out an existence in Luton with his family, has told me he's going to follow his cousins' decision and quit too.  On Monday we'll be at the clinic.

I'm praying that the story of these two Roma quitting smoking will open the eyes of others to the reality of a God who is poised ready to deliver.  "kon si amaro del?"  "Jesus - amaro skepitori!"  "Who is our God?" "Jesus - our rescuer!"  This we sang triumphantly as it blared our over my car speakers the other day.  God brings people out of slavery, EX - ODUS (out of - the place).  The Roma know all about longing for liberation from bad places.  My friends ancestors were slaves for centuries in Romania. And just last Saturday we attended International Roma Holocaust Day in London and remembered the 500,000 Roma who the Nazis exterminated.  But if God can do the impossible and rescue just one person from deep nicotine addiction - often the only solace in seemingly hopeless circumstances - then maybe he can rescue a whole people and bring them into a place flowing with milk and honey.  

English Romani Creed translated into Kalderash Romani

When I was living back in Kent the English Romanies composed their own creed and Pashey put it into song.  You can listen to her singing a little of it on the video link on the right.  Over here in Luton we have had huge fun translating this into Kalerash Romani.  With my elementary Romani and their remedial English this was hugely demanding.  But along the way we each got deeper into the meaning of the Gospel.  The 14 year Roma boy discovered a gift for language he did not know he has.   After two hours hard work, he and his mother were still wanting to crack on.  You can find the whole creed in my book.  Here's a sample of the translation we are working on.  Later that evening we tried it out in our weekly prayer meeting using two voices: English/Romani.  Rather than a set of theological statements, it's a free floating meditation on what it means to be a believer in everyday life.  Gyspy thought patterns are post-modern in feel;  metaphors are woven into a rich tapestry; there is no closure, only invitation to further exploration; punctuation would ruin the flow.   Our streams converge...

We believe

Ame pachas

Jesus love is like a running stream

O drago le jesusosko si sar mergertori paiesko

Flowing to all corners of the world

Kai jal ne se koltsuri

It flows high and it flows low

Jal opre hai jal tele

It reaches everywhere

Wo jal pe sakon than

Even to the desert

[chi kai] ande pusta

Roma witness to Luton Muslims

God is always poised to bring something good out of adversity.  Earlier this week I went with one Roma widow to her landlord to explain why there was a delay with the rent being paid.  The landlord was in considerable pain in his leg.  I did wonder about offering prayer, but it was his tenant that offered first.  He seemed please with the offer.  Moments later I opened my eyes and saw her on her knees praying fervently with arms raised over him.  It was very moving to see a Christian Roma widow praying for a muslim in his own home.  There is much fear here in Luton that we will be overwealmed by the growing Islamic presence.  But the risen Jesus can slip in anywhere he chooses.