Category Archives: Faith

A long day in Tbilisi and beyond

Packing done, van loaded and we were off to visit places in Tbilisi that Tako thought I should see before leaving. I had been sorry, for example, to miss the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity: it’s so dominant in the city skyline that it seemed a shame not to have been inside. But our firstContinue reading “A long day in Tbilisi and beyond”

Honouring the dead on Easter Monday

As I understand it, Easter is the time when most families in Georgia gather for celebration and part of that celebration is to visit the graves of those who have died. Families take a whole feast to the graveside and share the time with their deceased family members. Not at all the ‘ It’s SundayContinue reading “Honouring the dead on Easter Monday”

Good Friday in Tbilisi

How to celebrate one of the most important days in your faith in a foreign country whose ‘form’ of Christianity is very different from your own? Today, I started to learn. Although the most important part of the day would be meeting Tako and her mum in the late afternoon, I was determined not toContinue reading “Good Friday in Tbilisi”

A final twenty-four hours in Venice

We DID get up early again for the last full day in Venice: and it was well worth it as there were very few other tripods in St. Mark’s Square. Indeed at 06.59 when this image was taken we had the place to ourselves apart from the workmen setting up for the day ahead. IContinue reading “A final twenty-four hours in Venice”

Could the answer to my ‘Why?’, at least in part, be here.

Lots to think about here, as in the statement from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York: ‘Our life is going to be less characterised by attendance at church on Sunday, and more characterised by the prayer and service we offer each day. “We may not be able to pray with people in the ways thatContinue reading “Could the answer to my ‘Why?’, at least in part, be here.”

Sukhothai: an overnight trip from Lampang

Lampang is a railway town in northern Thailand. It was where I first discovered Thai culture and was welcomed into a family home in 1997. Here I met the boy who was to make me understand Thai and who would become the bridegroom in that very modern Thai wedding I attended in Nakhon Si ThammaratContinue reading “Sukhothai: an overnight trip from Lampang”

A Southern interlude

Within 48 hrs of arriving in Chiangmai, I was at the airport again, this time flying. To Nakhon Si Thammarat for the wedding that brought about this whole visit. The bridegroom’s mother, her sister and niece met me at the airport and her brother and two nephews will meet us in the south having drivenContinue reading “A Southern interlude”

One final visit to the Wall

Not quite such an early morning – but a really interesting one which started even before I had really left the hotel. The Sephardic House is extremely well situated for a quick stroll down to the Wall. Strange how, biblically, all the Psalms talk of going UP to Jerusalem! I certainly felt the need toContinue reading “One final visit to the Wall”

Another day in the maze of Jerusalem’s Old City

I remember my mother, having read the diary I wrote during my first visit to Jerusalem in 1978, saying, ‘It feels as if you’ve been somewhere special’. She was a gifted singer one of whose favourite sacred songs was “Holy City” and this visit has reminded me of the scenarios it presents. You can findContinue reading “Another day in the maze of Jerusalem’s Old City”