Day 32 Knowle West

I had a great weekend with Alister and Sally, who showed me such hospitality. Way back in 1986 they invited Jennifer and me to lunch and in those days of exploring and discovering, my own journey of faith began.

We talked into the late evening about all sorts - catching up on family news, shared friends and the challenges of being missional churches. Alister is a radical and conversation with him is always inspiring and stretching. He approaches issues from outside the perspective of institutions and_ seeks to stand in solidarity with the poorest and excluded. In Knowle West he's shaped creative relational ministries, enabling the whole church community in its engagement.

We talked a lot about sustainability, both in the context of changing patterns of stipendiary ministry and low-energy futures.

On Sunday I joined them for worship at St Barnabas Church and I really appreciated hearing him preach for the first time in fifteen years.

After lunch we headed off in the car to join hundreds in the sunshine at Blaise Castle. We climbed to the top of the folly and picked out the city's landmarks again.

We drove down into the harbour area and I was struck by the transformation. There are scores of apartment blocks, fashionable a year ago but in a post-credit-crunch era unaffordable and largely empty. I thought that the architecture and planning worked very well, creating a very desirable area to live in. The tragedy though is that unless some affordable property is created there is little chance that it could become a true neighbourhood. On this walk I'm seeing more places in which there is little or no diversity.

A recurring theme in my reflection on my pilgrimage is the extent to which my journey contrasts with the massive displacements of the world's poorest people. Like millions, I am on the move. But money means that I've never had to worry about finding enough to eat or somewhere to stay.

The context of the Book of Lamentations is a quite specific bereavement. Here is a lament of a nation under attack and under judgement. My walking verse was Lamentations 4.18: "They dogged our steps so that we could not walk in our streets; our end drew near; our days were numbered; for our end had come."

The brief jottings in this blog and my other hastily recorded notes aren't the best place to wrestle with such big issues. But I hope when I return I'll get chance to make some deeper connections between all this raw data.