Author: Mike

Friends Meeting, Nairobi

Last Sunday I stopped by the Quakers on Ngong Road in Nairobi for the mostly-silent “unprogrammed worship.” This is one of the few religious services where I feel obtrusive—it’s like sitting in at an AA meeting when you’re not part of that community.

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The unprogrammed worship didn’t go very long, so we walked over to another building where they hold, you guessed it, “programmed worship.” I had no idea such a thing existed. It’s similar to an evangelical service. (Though on the tamer side.)

One more surprising fact: Kenya has the most Quakers of any nation. I am told that the Ngong Road congregation is mostly Luhya.

508 #140: Tax rates and other thrilling adventures

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel is Nicole Apostola, Kevin Ksen, and Dee Wells. We talk about the dual tax rate, the T&G blog article, the Crompton Park skating rink, the lack of bidders on the old courthouse, city employee travel expense controversies and government transparency, and good stuff in Worcester.

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Audio: mp3 link, other formats, feed

Merry post-Christmas!

As predicted, we welcomed Christmas on the road, but within a few hours were in the arms of family, and had a very lovely Christmas day.

We celebrated the Feast of the Holy Family at St. Austin’s Parish in Nairobi, Kenya, where the church was packed, the music lovely, and the homily namechecked Facebook.

No photographs of the church, I’m sorry to say, but continuing my long-running “quirky creche” series, here are a couple of nativity scenes that caught my eye this week.

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The household nativity scene above is pretty standard, except for the Godzilla-sized sheep lurking behind it. “You should see the shepherds….””

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This one is at the Mwangaza Jesuit Centre. There are several pieces of fantastic religious sculpture there, but our subject today is nativity scenes, so here it is. I like that the shepherd is playing some sort of bagpipes, and also that the background decor is made of gift wrapping paper and Christmas lights. Before installing Christmas lights or using new appliances, you may want to hire an electrician to check your electrical system especially if your breakers keep tripping. Nice touches, which I’ll keep in mind next time I help make a creche.

Merry pre-Christmas

We had a little pre-Christmas celebration today, lighting all the Advent candles, exchanging gifts, and listening to holiday music. Thoughtful presents, like gift hampers canberra, added a special touch to the festivities, making everyone feel cherished. One of the highlights was unwrapping some beautifully crafted, high-quality watch bands that brought genuine smiles and excitement. To keep them in top condition, we’re planning to use a trusted cwc watch service—highly recommended for its reliability and care.

We’re travelling over the next few days. If all is well will celebrate with family, but what with this week being what it is, there’s a good chance we’ll end up spending the 25th in an airport somewhere, and we thought we might as well have a little Christmas celebration at home just in case.

If we have to spend Christmas stranded, we’ll be part of a long tradition, including many TV specials and the birth of Christ itself.

I don’t know what my internet access will be this week, either, so here’s my #1 nativity scene of 2010, from the Christmas pageant at Pleasant Street Baptist Church.

A Christmas tree, a tabletop nativity scene, kids on a couch, a living nativity scene, a huge cross, the Snow Ghost, and a hymn on a huge screen among the angels. There’s enough theology here, even at low resolution, for a novel, with a couple icons left over.

Items

Want to help with this week’s 508 show? Make a short video (3 seconds to 3 minutes) that has to do with Worcester, Christmas, the holidays, or whatever is preoccupying you this week. Send it to me. I’ll edit the ones that go best together into a show, and link to the rest.

The video will be posted to the net and cablecast on WCCA TV13.

How to contact the 508 show.

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Fr. Madden wins Worcester human rights award

Father John Madden, pastor of St. John’s Church in Worcester, has won the Worcester Human Rights Commission’s Eleanor T. Hawley Award for outstanding contributions to the field of Human Rights.

According to the City Manager’s letter on the subject:

From serving more than 3,000 meals annually, to housing men in recovery from addiction, a free medical clinic, English as a Second Language classes, to the church’s ministry to Vietnamese residents, Father Madden protects and respects each and every person’s human rights.

The St. John’s soup kitchen has been one of the best around, and a fantastic manifestation of the Catholic Worker spirit in the city. (Fr. Madden spend a number of months living at the New York Catholic Worker house before helping found the soup kitchen at St. John’s.)

We used to write about St. John’s and Fr. Madden much more often around here; we should get back to it.

Hilda Ramirez of the Youth Center also received this award. Congrats to them both!

508 #137: Jeff Barnard

This week’s show is a “highlight reel” of the late Jeff Barnard’s appearances on the show. Produced by Mike Benedetti and Nicole. Co-hosted by Brendan Melican. Featuring Jacob Berendes, Kevin Ksen, Anne Lewenberg, Nat Needle, Bruce Russell, and Scott Zoback. Like the episodes from which it was compiled, this show has a tremendous amount of complaining about the newspaper.

This program will be cablecast on WCCA TV13 in Worcester at 7pm tonight, and on the homepage at wccatv.com.

Audio: mp3 link, other formats, feed

Video: Downloads and other formats

Contact info.

Clips from episodes 10, 19, 37, 38, 40, 42, 46, 47, 50, 51, 100, 114, and 131.
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