Sabbatical - Day 25 Thursday

Yesterday a visit to the Kalyani Hospital, one of the hospitals run by the Church of South India..

... to visit a close relative of our hosts.

Then to the Trade Fair...

... which runs from January to April each year, with massive stalls where you can buy all sorts of things at good prices, plus some funfair rides etc for children. Families can make a day out of it.

Next to the superb Bombay Circus, an annual favourite here in Chennai.

The day concludes with a visit to a local restaurant known for its mutton biryani. No need to mention what I have.

In the morning I had an interesting conversation with a volunteer at the YWCA, where I am staying (I recommend it highly). The hostel helps fund the ministry for women or site here. She spoke of the support of those who have been badly treated and those with mental illness. There are around 40 volunteers for these ministries, drawing on a larger group of around 250 whose availability changes depending on family circumstances etc.

Part of the YWCA in Chennai...

Some of today's reflections I have included in some updates of Day 22.

As I have got to know people in Chennai, I have met a fabulous group of Christians going though all the ups and downs of life that will be familiar to I guess anyone involved in Christian pastoral work, with a great gift of hospitality. They take their guests to their hearts; that is certainly my experience.

Their faith is alive because it has to be, in the daily difficulties of life, and as a minority faith in a mainly Hindu environment. There are good practices to learn from, but given the cultural differences many similarities. Church life buzzes in part because of clear strategies of
- soup and soap
- salvation (mission to villages)
which are effective.

We hear many calls in the English church for more of this or that, as if there are magic bullets, which would solve the church's problems. I am seeing no magic bullets. But I do see something of the blindness that materialism causes in the west, and I see the fog of secularism in the UK, which traps the individual Christian. We need to be able to stand back from our culture and see the grip of secularism, which is as powerful as the more obvious 'gods' I see on along the streets.