Community

The frost was on the meadow this morning.  Winter has arrived.  But I realize that I have the warmth of community here in Oxford.  I have become a part of the lives of many people.

The IFES community

The IFES office buildings.  We work behind the windows on the third floor (or second floor in Britain.) The people have been very helpful in getting me settled in and in encouraging me as I adapt to a new culture.

We meet daily for prayers. Today we prayed for preparations for the next World Assembly in 2011.

During the summer we went on 

several picnics in a local church yard.

We had a farewell party for one of the people at the office.

SAGE

I have gotten involved with a Christian environmental concern group.  We have gone on a preaching weekend and will host a table at the local green fair in December.  This photo shows some of us on a short walk in Keynsham.

The Wovercote Community

Once a month the local pub hosts a music, poetry and storytelling evening. This past week the group included six guitars, a banjo, a mandolin, a couple of dulcimers, and a squeeze box.  I even told the story of the enchanted toll road

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At a barn dance in the Village Hall, the local Morris Dancers performed

and the rest of us joined in.

American Voters Abroad

I have taken advantage of this being an election year and joined a group of American Voters Abroad.  We meet periodically in local pubs to discuss politics and get to know one another.  I met someone who had been an Air Force wife in the Philippines and another young woman from Alaska who gave us real scoop on Palin.

Another, and possibly most significant, community that I have become a part of is my church, Woodstock Road Baptist.


On the bank Holiday in August, one of the church members organized a day to a local public farm.  The kids played on the swings and went through the petting zoo.  I went to the pick your own area and found a few strawberries even at that late date.  They were planted on shoulder-height platforms under awnings.  This made the picking somewhat easier, put I miss the rigor of having to stoop over for the sweetness of the fruit.

During the school year the church offers lunch after church on Sunday.  This is one of the cute kids in the congregation.

This summer, the church had a picnic on one of the rainiest days of the summer. The women did their thing in the kitchen,

 
and the men did their thing at the grill.

                                                      The children had their faces painted

and some of the adults got into the fun of the event, creating their own commentary on life.

Just this past week end I went to London with the church women for a regional women's conference.  Can you imagine me going to spend a day with 3500 other women?  Being in a different country brings out strange parts of a person.  Though I must admit being around all those people was a challenge, but I heard Helen Roseveare speak again and had a good dinner with some friends from church.

On the bus on the way back through London, some friends from church told me to look to the right.  I could see the famous Gherkin building through the side streets.  At the last possible moment I got this shot.  You can see the building at the mid right of this photo.

I look forward to enriching these relationships through the rest of the year.  I can imagine that these relationships will be the thing I will miss most when I leave.