The End (of the school year)

It's hard to talk about the end of our year at college without falling into clichés. So I will try to avoid them, but apologise in advance for any that crop up despite my efforts.

Spending a year living and studying with fellow students from countries all around the world leaves us with the inevitable feeling that things can never be the same again. We've got so used to being together, yet this particular group of people will never all be together again before we get to heaven. The moment that sticks with me is our Commissioning Service on Friday morning when we all stood and sang about the Gospel being proclaimed throughout the nations, and I suddenly realised that that is literally what we will all be doing in the months and years to come. It has been such a privilege to be here, to get to know these brothers and sisters, and to be trained side by side.

But for now, parting is such sweet sorrow, goodbye seems to be the hardest word (er?!) and so on and so forth.

We're sticking around on campus for another 10 days to get our stuff sorted and flat packed up. I can't decide whether that makes things better or worse!

And here's a photo from the masked ball on our final evening of term:

all gone!

The above is one of Simon's favourite expressions at the moment. Along with "more!" (meaning "I want ...."), "please!" (thanks to nursery!), "down", "up", "book" ... and names of various people, which he shouts out apparently randomly, though perhaps he suddenly thought of them for some reason.

Anyway, I originally started this post to say that I had my last Hebrew exam last Monday, and Marc and I managed to get all our assignments in by Friday's deadline ... so now we are free as birds! Or at least free to go to our last two weeks of lectures, feeling sorry for our poor lecturers who have to carry on lecturing while also trying to get all our assignments marked and second-marked by the end of term.

We even went out on Saturday afternoon, to a garden centre near here which has a mini-zoo (mainly farmyard animals) and a miniature railway. At the zoo Simon saw his first turkey - these being his favourite creatures in his farm book - and rode on his first steam engine. He is quite a fan of Thomas the Tank Engine, and it's nice to think that he now knows that steam engines do exist outside books! Here are a couple of photos:

fun run

Sorry about the gap, I haven't been feeling too well.

Here are a few photos of last weekend's Fun Run here at All Nations. It replaced the Open Day, and attracted a far wider attendance. A great day seemed to be had by all - and we were particularly blessed by the weather.

ticking over...

At the moment I'm working on:

• my practical ministry report on our church placement
• my research paper on Bible translation (translating Hebrew idioms)
• a sermon for 1st June
• my Prophetic Literature assignment (on Jonah)
• my African Studies assignment (on marriage/singleness)
• my Hebrew (exercises, translating Ruth, revising grammar)

I'm feeling a little stretched ... and thinking that I need to finish off the first two, which are closest to being complete, and get ahead on the third. At the moment I'm trying to work on them all at once, which means I don't feel I'm making much progress on any of them!

Not the most interesting blog post ever, but this is what's on my mind at the moment!

BBQ with tutor group

A Day in the Life of Simon

See photos and videos from a typical day for Simon by clicking here.

cogs turning

Just a few thoughts from the last week:

From my research paper on translating idioms – it makes me realise how difficult it is to translate anything, let alone the Word of God … yet how important and necessary it is to be able to read the Bible in your own language. I’ve been reading again about those who insisted on the importance of the Bible being translated into English for all to read, instead of only being available in Latin, which meant it could only be read and interpreted by the clergy.

But that said, on whose initiative should a translation be carried out? Should a mission decide for the local people group, or should they wait until there are believers who ask for the Bible to be translated? Some say that it is better for it to be a project motivated by the felt-need of the locals, others say that the Bible is important in evangelism and important to be able to give to the first believers as early as possible, so that they don’t have to rely on someone else telling them what the Bible says (and often what it means, too).

Another question – in an oral culture, how should we, and perhaps even should we, encourage people to learn to read? Is it enough that we know that education in general improves people’s lot in life? Can we impose our values on others? Or are they ultimate truths, not just our values??

If culture and religion are as interlinked as they are in Africa, how do Christians re-construct their culture in such a way that it remains African yet frees them to worship Jesus only and not be tied to their past rituals and fears? We already know that Western culture shouldn’t have to be adopted along with Christianity, but how do African Christians contextualise their faith to remain true to themselves?

(If you do have any thoughts on any of these question to enrich my thinking, feel free to leave a comment!)