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The Vicar of Baghdad , ITV1 Sunday 25th May 2008 at 11 05pm

Last Saturday I received an email from a friend informing me that Cannon Andrew White was speaking at two church gatherings in St. Albans. Email certainly has a purpose and on this occasion, I was very grateful for the communication giving me notice at almost the last minute.

I had heard that Andrew White although a Canon of Coventry cathedral, which is famed for its work on reconciliation, he was very comfortable with Pentecostal, Charmastic and Evangelical Christians (I later learnt that he has been brought up in the Assembly of God denomination as a child). I had heard more importantly of his work in Iraq.

I could not fail to respond to this information given that he was right on my doorstep.

St. Albans works Christian unity, it seems, without trying. The meeting was hosted by an Italian based though with an international outlook Pentecostal church meeting in a Methodist church and the speaker was an Anglican.

Canon White impressed me as a man with a huge heart for his congregation. He is looking after St George’s church an Anglican church built in Baghdad in 1936. It was only reopened in the early nineties after Saddam gave his permission.

He says his congregation comes from every background except Anglican, Chaldeans, Assyrians, Presbyterian, Muslims, and Ancient Church of the East.

It has grown from its beginning in the nineties to a church of over 1200.

When he speaks of the church it is reminiscence of the early church; at times meeting in secret at others under protection and certainly under persecution, 89 of it members have been killed in the last 6 months. He reports that some time ago his whole leadership team was taken hostage and are now presumed dead.

The congregation meets weekly to worship God though also to support each other in the daily struggle of life in Iraq. The church also provides healthcare, food and other resources to its members.

Canon White urges us to take risks not care, this no doubt borne out of his experience as an Englishman with his wife and two sons still in England whilst he works in Iraq not only in his dog collar but also a bullet proof jacket.

Coincidentally ITV is broadcasting a documentary on his work tonight Sunday 25.5.08 at 23 05 hours. I encourage you to watch, I think you will find amongst the emotions you may experience that it is overall inspiring story.
link text brings you to FRRME website



gordonjackson70@hotmail.com Sun 25th May 2008

Hope 2008 in London Colney

The Five people you meet in heaven by Mitch Albom

Wednesday 20th August 2008

Hi there,

I recently read The Five people you meet in heaven by Mitch Albom published by Time Warner Paperbacks in 2005. Last month I visited a fairground with my ‘bops’ and it reminded me of the story in which a fairground is central. It also reminded me that I had written down a few extracts from the book that ‘spoke’ to me. They are as below. I will leave it there and let the words speak. Obviously, they reflect as a mirror something of my own soul. gdn

Death


This is a story about a man named Eddie and it begins at the end, with Eddie dying in the sun. It might seem strange to start a story with an ending. But all endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time.

Eddie saw nothing of his final moment on earth nothing of the pier or the crowd or the shattered fibreglass cart.

In the stories about life after death, the soul often floats above the good bye moment, hovering over police cars at highways accidents, or clinging like a spider to hospital room ceilings. The people who receive a second chance, who somehow, for some reason resume a second chance who somehow, for some reason resume their place in the world.

Eddie it appeared was not getting a second chance. Where?

Heaven


The sky was misty pumpkin shade, then a deep turquoise, then a bright lime. Eddie was floating and his arms were still extended.

He could not feel any emotion that went with it. He could only feel calm, like a child in the cradle of its mother arms.

The sky around him changed again, to grapefruit yellow then a forest green, then a picture that Eddie momentarily associated with all thing cotton candy.
Every hurt he'd ever suffered every ache he'd ever endured, it was all gone as an expired breath. He could not feel agony. He could not feel sadness. His consciousness felt smoky, wisplike, incapable of anything but calm. Below him now, the colours changed. Something was swirling. Water an ocean. He was floating over a vast yellow sea. Now it turned melon. Now it was sapphire. Now he began to drop, hurtling towards the surface. It was faster than anything he'd ever imagined, yet there wasn't as much as a breeze on his face and he felt no fear. He saw the sands of a golden shore.

Then he was under water, then everything was silent

Where is my worry? Where is pain?

Relationships


Love like rain can nourish from above, drenching couples with a soaking love but sometimes under the angry heat of life, love dries on the surface and must nourish from below, tending to its roots, keeping itself alive.

Parents


All parents damage their children. It cannot be helped. Youth like pristine glass, absorbs the prints of its handlers. Some parents smudge, others crack, a few shatter childhoods completely into little pieces beyond repair.

Sons and fathers


Through it all, despite it all, Eddie privately adored his old man, because sons will adore their fathers even through the worst behaviour. It is how they learn devotion. Before he can devote himself to God or woman, a boy will devote himself to his father, even foolishly even beyond explanation.

gordonjackson70@hotmail.com