Over the years, I haven’t written much about my work with Langham on this blog.
There are a couple of reasons. One is that for the best part of a decade our lives were focused in South Asia and so issues like security and visas were on our minds. The other is that since COVID began, my Langham life has been lived in a little office in front of a screen!
However all that changed earlier this month. After ‘three years and three months’ the team for which I am responsible was able to meet in-person once again. We gathered in a large house in Keswick (Lake District, UK) called Hazelwood. It is such a beautiful part of the world and I enjoyed, as I tend to do, the ‘panorama’ setting on my phone…
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| Ullswater |
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| Rydal Water |
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| Derwentwater and Keswick, with the sun setting over Bassenthwaite |
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| Buttermere (well, a slither of it on the left) — taken by Mark |
Having not been together for such a long time, we decided to ‘double the time and halve the business’ in order to create space for just being together and re-filling our relational tanks. People were invited to linger for up to 12 days and our ‘business’ was comprised of 10 open-ended, two hour conversations around matters of ‘innovation and/or complication’ on five of those days. We also opened and closed each day with a time of prayer and meditation.
We found ourselves taking lots of photos of ourselves 😂. I think people were just so happy to be together once again. In this first photo, from left to right, we have Igor (Bolivia), Slavko (Bosnia & Herzegovina), Paul (New Zealand), Jennifer (Canada), Mark (UK), Dwi (Indonesia), Ruth (UK) and Femi (Ghana).
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| Friars Crag, Derwentwater |
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| On the circumnavigation of Buttermere |
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| Carlisle |
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| Stopping atop a hill above Rydal Water to share and pray through needs in our families. |
With Ruth based in Carlisle, she was our host — just as she was back in 2014 when the first version of this team gathered in nearby Skelton. Since then we have met in Lima, Peru (2015); Antalya, Turkey (2016); Bogor, Indonesia (2017); Barcelona, Spain (2018); and Nyanga, Zimbabwe (2019). On this occasion it was good to go back to the place where we stayed in Skelton and give thanks to God (and take another photo of ourselves!) —
He has brought us this far by his grace; He has led us by fire and by cloud…
He has sheltered us under his wings; He has planned every path that we’ve trod…
Blessed, O Blessed be God.
Next year? Vancouver…
nice chatting
Paul
About Me
the art of unpacking
After a childhood in India, a theological training in the USA and a pastoral ministry in Southland (New Zealand), I spent twenty years in theological education in New Zealand — first at Laidlaw College and then at Carey Baptist College, where I served as principal. In 2009 I began working with Langham Partnership and since 2013 I have been the Programme Director (Langham Preaching). Through it all I've cherished the experience of the 'gracious hand of God upon me' and I've relished the opportunity to 'unpack', or exegete, all that I encounter in my walk through life with Jesus.
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What a joy for you all! So pleased to see the photos 🙂
Yes, Heather — it was a special time … with many, many more photos (217 in my folder!).
kind regards to you both
Paul