Why Jesus fed the five thousand- LRC meeting

Finally I feel we are breaking through.  Maybe it was having Bob and Nancy Hitching from Croatia with me... the sheer encouragement of meeting with others who are working with the Roma. Two days ago I was helped by one Roma lady to translate another bible story ready for tonight's service.  For the first time, it felt the Roma ladies present in the service were really following. Both with their ears and their hearts.  If Jesus really is the one through whom all things were created, then he must be Lord of creation.  If so, then he can feed 5,000 with 5 loves and 2 fish.  But why did he do this?  To show off?  No, because he was full of compassion for the hungry.  All his miracles emerge out of his compassion.  All his actions show him to be "the good shepherd".  Reading Psalm 23 had set the stage.  Does Jesus also have compassion on the Luton Roma, for they equally were "like sheep without a shepherd".  Yes! For now God has given them two shepherds: little Martin, and big Stevo!

However hard I may work on the language, everything hinges on the work of the Holy Spirit.  I felt tonight that ears and hearts had been opened tonight.  Any maybe a few mouths kept silent too!  But key to the message is this: yes, Jesus can perform any miracle he chooses, and he invites us to ask for whatever is on our hearts, believing he will provide.  But we pray as he prayed to the Father:  "your will be done, not my will!"   In that spirit all the Roma ladies came forward for Bob and Nancy to pray for them.  Later some of the children came too.

On a practical front we are beginning to get our act together.  A man at the door is preventing the kids running out of the building.  A children's programme is now up and running, helping us get the message over in peace to the adults.  The evening has become much easier now we are only providing tea and cake on arrival.  Getting the minibus outside ready to go when we are finished has greatly helped too.

But we cry out to you Lord: "Bring in the Roma guys!  This must surely be the will of the Father!"

Luton Roma Church relaunch!

After a two month summer break we are up and running again!  Stevo preached a message of invitation: our sins are all washed clean by the blood of Christ shed for all on the cross. The gulf between us and God cannot be bridged any other way.  All the Roma women came forward to be prayed for.  They think and act as a group rather than individualistically.  I just pray that the blessing will extend to their absent partners, who all say they are coming and then stay away.

The summer holiday break has helped us to see the challenges before us more clearly.  Key to future success is getting a programme up and running for the children.  The Roma parents don't take responsibility for their own yet.  Oakdale Methodist are rightly anxious that the children are safe and that they respect the building. We've decided to stop hot food and just serve tea and cake.  It took time to realise that the Roma all eat before they come out.  It's perhaps a matter of pride to be able to always have food on your own table.  The idea of "table fellowship" at church seems strange to them.  However, the church meeting place is the only place they can meet as a community together.  They always ask me "who is coming" before deciding whether to come themselves.  We have formed a small leadership team including two Roma women.  We key challenge remains "how can we empower to the Roma so that one day they won't need us to run the church for them.

With all the terrible media reporting of English Travellers at the moment, Luton Roma Church is a positive story of local churches partnering with local gyspies to advance God's kingdom.  We are exploring when and how to get the story out there.  All the distortions have to be challenged by a wholesome message of who the Roma people really are.

"The leaves are for the healing of the nations."

I'm still reflecting on the experience I had at Luton Roma Church two weeks ago.  I saw myself ankle deep in water.  Then waist deep. Then up to my neck and then floating in the presence of the Holy Spirit.  I went away thinking how pleasant it had been but keen to have a closer look at Ezekiel 47 whence comes this prophetic vision.  The river of water leads out to sea and gives rise to all kinds of fruit trees that grow on the banks of the river.   "There fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing." [Ez 47:12].  The theme is carried over to its ultimate fulfilment in Revelation 22:1-5 where the river is running through the city itself and now the "the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations (ethnic groups)".  God is poised ready to heal all ethnic groups of earth.  The river carries us forward towards both fruitfulness and healing.  The end goal is not a nice charismatic experience for its own sake, but healing for those people groups on earth that so desparately need God's healing touch.  Participation in what God is doing has the effect of drawing God's future closer to the present.  "Here I am.  Send me."

"I have two new brothers!"

Yesterday at my regular Sunday gadjio church we had three gadjio baptisms.  Two were of guys who are taking an active role in our Wednesday Luton Roma Church.  I invited folk to share during the service.  One Roma woman who comes both Sunday and Wednesday came forward and said "Now I have two new brothers!  They are closer to me than my own brother."  This was an extraordinary thing to say.  Clearly she understands at a deep level that the fellowship of the baptised transcends mere blood relationships.  Furthermore, she was challenging us all to see that fellowship in Christ transcends racial differences too.  She has very close relations with her own kith and kin.  But she has already begun to experience a new kind of sister/brother love that goes beyond what she had known in life thus far.  This is in no way a repudiation of her Roma ethnicity of which she should be proud.  Neither is a rejection of her own people.  Rather she is glimpsing a new kind of humanity in which all are invited to discover their identity in Christ.  All other ties, whilst significant here on earth, fall away when viewed against the backdrop of eternity - foretaste of which we experience in the here and now.  Her simple statement is thus prophetic, pointing to the future God has prepared for us all.  "Chi amperetsia t'avel, chi voia te kerdiol per phuv sar ando rhaio!  Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven!"

Playing, preaching, sharing...

This week we brought in Jenga.   It kept the children going for ages.  We need two more games at least.  Plus more workers!

The women folk enjoy the chance to sit and catch up week by week.

"Who are these?"  "My mum and my dad?"
"What is the little person on mum?"
"It's Jesus living in her heart!"

 "From the mouths of babes you have declared your praise!"

Stevo preaches...
...the curse in the garden of Eden is finally overcome by the One who was able to open the seal on the scroll, Jesus, the Lamb of God, willing to take the curse on himself that we all might be saved!  ...in Christ there is neither Rom nor Gadjo

Martin shares......the water level of the Spirit of God is rising week by week and now up to the neck (Ezekiel 47). Today we became a church.

Help needed with kids!

The loan of a minibus from another church made it possible this week to pick up lots of Roma and ferry them to church.  For them it was a whole lot of fun.  Somewhat scary for me driving a 15 seater for the first time.  This week no dads rolled up and the kids were wild to the point that my attempts to tell the story of Abraham were lost.  I don't think it would have been much easier even in English.  We urgently need a team of skilled people with a heart for bright, sparky Roma kids.  Anyone out there reading this... please let me have your ideas.   When the London team come [next week] the problem of discipline is overcome by the sheer power, volume and passion of the presentation. Something a single gadjio man of 59 can't really match.  Praying this morning, I laid it before God: "tell me if I should back off and recognise that humanly speaking this ministry is impossible for me to fulfill.  The answer came back instantly and unequivocally:  "Who will go, if you don't go?"  "Noone it seems".  "Who will go for me then?"  "Lord, send me!"  

It never ceases to strike me that what I perceive to be massive problems, the Roma seem to regard as minor issues, or even just life as normal.  I continue to import my alien values, and continue to be shocked into wiping my slate clean.  The Roma women spot it when I start falling apart; they gather round me and lift me up... sometimes in prayer.  The kids welcome me like the pied piper without me doing anything other than pitching up.  This is at once the easiest and the toughest ministry on the planet.  Success and failure constantly kiss, leaving me both wrung out and energised.  

Roma guys drawn in...

Week by week we ferry in Roma families from their homes to the service.  Although the Roma guys have cars in some cases, they never seem available.  This week as we were being led in worship by Stevo and his London team, a whole group of Roma guys suddenly came in and sat down.  It seemed they had come along to make fun of the whole thing.  After a few minutes they left.  One Roma guy who was there for the right reason followed them out. I joined him and together we managed to persuade the guys to come back in.  They listened very seriously now.  A powerful message was coming from the front.  We become acceptable to God not through what we do or what we abstain from, but alone by the blood of Jesus. Some time later the altar call brought forward several guys as well as all the women and children.  About 55 showed up this week - many drifting in and out.  This week we had Rennie and John from York with us. They have been praying fervently for LRC since we started.  Their presence was a huge encouragement as they got stuck in helping in ways practical and spiritual.

Meanwhile, we've decided to take the English teaching back into homes and to start the Wednesday evening later.  Many Roma families are glued to an Indian soup up till 6.30pm.  I was so slow to spot this!   Another thing we leant this week was that Indian food is simply too spicy for the Roma.  The local Pakistani man who did the cooking was briefed this time, but it was still too hot!  Only the English guests couldn't get it hot enough!

Last Saturday I was involved at the launch in Luton of "Healing on the Streets" - over 60 of us had been trained to carry out this ministry.  I met and prayed for two Roma guys who had been busking on violins in the street.  One came along to my Sunday church.  Sadly many Roma seem more suspicious of other Roma than they do of the gadgios.  It will take a move at the level of the Spirit to break down these walls of isolation and fear. But the first fruits are just visible of the Roma telling each other that they have their own church here in Luton now.

Noah's ark becomes church

We broke into the third story today at LRC - "The Flood".  I made an ark of chairs and told the story of Noah standing within the ark.   The ark then became "church" - the place of holiness, separate from a world of sin and rebellion.  I wondered what would then happen when I invited them to enter the ark if they wanted to.  All but two came in and we prayed for each person in turn anointing them with oil.  There could be no doubt of the spiritual hunger, especially the desire for spiritual healing for all the pain of the years - years of wandering across Europe in the hope of finding a life worth living.  A lad of 9 had helped me do the translation work for the story sitting in the garden of our local pub as his parents washed cars. He posed the fascinating question: "did the snake enter the ark?" The Roma have a fearful fascination with snakes.   He learnt his excellent English in Ireland and now we're seeking schools for him and his siblings.  The service was followed tonight by wonderful Roma food - "galushti" or "salmale" - we had spent 30 minutes searching for the right kind of cabbage finally to find it in Lydl.  All the food went fast and we are going to have to increase the quantities.

Meanwhile, God helped one family find just enough work to pay the £700 monthly rent and avoid eviction.  "Seek first the Kingdom of God..." - they're just beginning to get the link between faith and provision - "ask and you will receive".  But I always feel I'm walking a theological tight-rope with these verses.  The dangers of preaching a prosperity Gospel are never far away:  "just believe and come to church and your material needs will all fall away!"  This is just a whiff away from heresy, and risks setting up people for later disappointment and subsequent loss of faith.  However, to fail to speak of a God who is poised ready to bless those who turn to him in their deepest need, would be equally irresponsible.  

The invitation to come to worship has to be unconditional.  This isn't easy to achieve, especially when you find a TV and a whole audio system for a guy who rolls up at church to pick it up, and then disappears happily in his car.  But Jesus never put any kind of pressure on folk to follow him.  The worst possible mistake would be to offer people material rewards for attending.  We have to leave God room to reveal himself.   This happened in a special way tonight.  The black sheep of the community came sheepishly along.  He was welcomed by all present.  It must have cost him everything to walk in the door.  May God give him the courage to enter the ark of faith.

Word spreading

We've just had our fourth meeting and the word seems to be spreading through the Roma community that there's a Roma church here in Luton for them. However, they seem often embarased to invite others, leaving it to me to do. Growth can come quickly if one new family comes along with several kids. Since they have nowhere else in town they can meet, LRC is helping them form community and potentially lifting them out of isolation.  We're not managing to get over the imperative of English skills and so very few arrive in time for the English lessons.   But by the time the worship began we had c.35 there. I repeated the first of the 33 stories: "Beginning" and then moved onto "Curse".   Pulling out folk to be Adam and Eve gets the message over.  But so far, the idea of reflecting on the deeper meaning of the stories seems a long way off.  I think it'll come along the road of daily life.   People often say to me: "Martin!  Tu san dosh!"  "Martin it's all your fault!"  I respond drawing on the meaning of Genesis 3:  "Na! O sap, wo si dosh!"  "No, it's the snake's fault!" The story highlights how a blame culture can develop.  The work of translation is very fruitful as we have to excavate meaning and try to communicate it.  It would be great to have a set up visuals to back up each story.  

Meanwhile, there are always unexpected blessings.  The church windows and doors have been vandalised.  The Roma guys offered to repair them free of charge as a way of thanking the owners of the church for allowing us to use it.  Our food this week had been prepared with great pride by a Muslim couple who live a few yards from the church and who have a deep relationship with the Roma family next door.  In this way bridges are being built with those of other faiths in the area.   One major issue I'm having to face daily is that the Roma believe that I can snap my fingers and a NINO will appear in their hands, followed closely by benefits.  We have only achieved this so far for one person, and that had been a long and hard journey.  It is hard to avoid folk concluding that coming to church is what you have to do to get these blessings.  

Desparate Measures

"Whatever you do, do it with all your heart,
as unto the Lord and not to people"

 "We'll do anything to pay the rent!  Even move the vicar's grand-piano! And sort his garden!"

"Sar sogodi tume keren,
keren les lachi ilesa,
sar le Jesusoske
na sar le manushenge!"
Col 3:23

Pressure is building to pay the rent.  The guys will turn their hands to anything.  We set up a car wash near the pub near my church you can see above.  The only people that came were from the church.  It's so hard to find work when half of Luton is doing the same.

"You came seeking prosperity and are finding God!"

In the space of one week so much has happened, it's hard to keep up with what God is doing.  Last night at our third meeting Stevo challenged the Roma: "you may have come all the way from Romania to seek economic prosperity, but I believe you have been brought here to find God."   Towards the end of the service, he asked us all, "how do you know when the Holy Spirit has come? When the children start to weep."   That is just what had happened.  The day before some of us were praying together for one Roma lad's knee that he injured six months ago and has caused him constant pain and taken him off school.  At the service I asked him how the knee was now.  All the pain and swelling had gone.  Earlier in the week we were praying at another home.  One Roma woman who had recently been through a traumatic personal experience was visibly filled with the Spirit before our eyes.  She had been unable to speak and had frozen over emotionally.  She began to smile, and to speak again.  I was amazed at how instantly the change had come over her.  On the same occasion another Roma woman I had not met before shared the dream she had had the night before.  "I saw fire coming down from heaven to earth, and then a white horse appear."  When I told her this image was in the Bible she was amazed.  Revelation 19:11-18 makes clear that the white horse represents the judgment that Jesus brings to earth.  Nothing could have spoken more clearly into the situation going on in the community at this time.  There is a sense of awe in some of the Roma at what they are seeing God do in their midst.  They are beginning to see the extreme financial problems they face against the backdrop of a God who wants to touch first and foremost their hearts with his love.  But there has been a breakthrough on the material front too.  We have been battling away for over a year to get benefits for one widow.  She has just received her first payment. Without that she and her four children would have been evicted.  God has been at work on another front too.  At our meeting last night the local health councellor came along.  The guys gathered around him as he took a lung pollution reading on the Roma lady who is on the stop smoking programme.  "Your lungs had been full of pollution.  Look now, they are completely clear!"  The councellor advised others: "you need God's help to do this, not just the patches!"  This was interesting.  He is a Hindu. There is common ground we can share.  To grow our Roma church further one thing we need is more cars to bring the families in.  Or a bus!

What is success?

English Lessons - to get work in England! 

What is the measure of success in Christian mission?  The temptation is to do what the world does.  Count numbers.  Count smiley faces. Have an impressive story to pass on to others.   What impresses me most about Jesus' mission isn't about outward signs of success.  What is most attractive and compelling is the fact that he hung in with people however dysfunctional they were. "He loved them to the end." As I reflect on our fledgling Roma Church here in Luton, I realise that the greatest triumph is always to stay on course, even when the whole world seems to be falling apart around you.  Yesterday's second gathering was like this.  But amidst the chaos some beautiful things were germinating.  It would be easy to miss them. 

English Lessons - for fun! 

See here our first English lessons in our Roma church.  Richard has them eating out of his hand.  See also Ramona above teaching the adults English.  "Do you have any work for me to do?"  They need to know how to say things like this if they are going to hack it in England.  Using "gadjikanes" (Romanian, the second language of the Romanian Roma)  she is able to quickly get them speaking grammatical English. 
Meanwhile, during our worship we introduced the first of what will be 33 bible stories.  These cover the whole story of salvation from Genesis to Revelation, are only 3- 4 minutes long.  Developed for use with unreached people groups, the idea is to communicate the biblical message in the simplest and most memorable form possible. A few days earlier I had worked on the first story with a Roma mother and her two sons.  It took about and hour to make a rough translation into the actual dialect of Romani they speak.  This is an important point, as both vocab and grammar vary quite a lot from both Kalderash translations I am using.  But God seems to delight in entering into human limitations and forging something new.  My Romani and their English are both rudimentary and we are stretched to the limits.   But having read the story at our second gathering yesterday (see below), I invited them first to have a go at telling the story themselves in their words.  There's a lot of work to be done here, but what they pick out is always illuminating.  The joy at the dawn of creation - beauty emerging out of nothing-  the sadness that some of the angels chose to fall from glory -the first signs of disfunction in an otherwise perfect creation order.   I try to glimpse where we might be when a body of Roma here can tell the story of salvation in their own words using these simple stories.  The vision is important.  But infinitely more important is the question "what is success?"  Jesus alone embodies the answer.  "Whilst we were still sinners he died for us".   

This story is true. It was in the beginning. 

kade istoria si cheches. Sas ando gor.

There was noone on earth, 

but we know the truth through God's prophet.

Nas les khonik pe puv, numa ame jenas o chachimos lesko profeto.

In the beginning when there was nothing

there was only God.

Ando gor kana nas kanch, sas numa o del.

At that time only God existed.

Ando kado timpo  existilas numa o del

He was with together with his angels

Wo sas peske injerensa

The angels gave glory to God

Le injeri del gloria le develes

and helped him in his work

Hai ajutil le ande leski buchi

the angels sang joyfully

Le injeri gilabenas bokorime

God made the world as he wished

O del kerke la lumia sar wo kamle

(let me know if you would like the whole story!)

Luton Roma Church is Born!

Pastor Stevo & I pray for the Luton Roma

This evening 25 Luton Roma were joined by 20 Roma from London Gypsy Church and 10 non-Roma from Luton in Oakdale Methodist Church.  Having shared a meal, Pastor Stevo's amazing team led us in worship.  It was wonderful to have them with us at the launch of Luton Roma Church.  "Seek first the Kingdom of God" and life in abundance will flow from that.  The powerful sounds of our worship flowed out the broken window of the church as the call from the local Minaret was declining.  A new church has sprung to live in the heart of Islamic Luton.  It's members?  The poorest of the poor of bottom of the heap Luton.  On the brink of eviction, a Roma widow received her pin number for a post office account.  Will the benefits come in time?  If they come at all it will be a miracle.  "Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven".  Indeed, as  pastor Stevo reminded us, wealth does not promise peace of heart or absence of cares.  This week we were all blessed by bi-lingual preaching.  Next week I'll have to keep the show on the road!  Stevo's London team will lead us every fortnight.  Every Wednesday there will be Food/English lessons/Worship.  Holistic mission proceeds from a desire to bless every area of life.  Heaven and earth kiss when we see the Kingdom advance....

Easter Sunday Baptism

"And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." (Acts 2:47)
 "There will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over the ninety-nine righteous people who do not need to repent!"  (Luke 15:7)

For one Roma mother  of six children, widowed five years ago, there was great rejoicing as a her dream of being baptised was finally realised on Easter Sunday.          

Days later our weekly fellowship grew as more began to turn their back on smoking and seek the power of God in their weakness.   18 of us gathered in a tiny room to pray, to laugh, to celebrate, to weep.  We went out into the back garden and tried to find some treasure hidden in the ground, "the Kingdom of Heaven" which when found is worth selling everything for.  We came back inside to pray in the Kingdom into each of our lives and recognise that even in poverty, love is more important than money, freedom more important than homes, and a community of love more important than nuclear families.  Even in the most desparate circumstances the risen Jesus makes himself present.

Next week we begin in Luton Roma Church on the corner...

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.