Israël - Palestine : Gros coup de gueule de Daniel Cohn-Bendit

I was googling 'speechs'/discours and found this one from Daniel Cohn-Bendit - A German jewish politician with the European Ecologists. He defends the right of 2 states - Israel and Palestine - and speaks against European hypocrisy and Israeli thieving of Palestinian land and resources.

Here's the link - enjoy it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9jyHeVfmV4

Alpha Blondy - Wattrelos

I spent 2 years in West Africa, mainly in Burkina Faso but also a few months in Côte d'Ivoire - another french speaking country which neighbours Burkina. While in Africa I was infected by their blend of afro-cuban-caribbean rhythmic music. I remember taking a 5 hour (if my memory's correct) bus journey from Ferkéssédougou to Abidjan where I  was treated to non-stop african music - to be honest enough was enough!
At the time I was learning Dioula, a language spoken throughout West Africa, including Burkina, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali and Ghana. Much of the music which wafted through the warm african air was sung in this language. It was in Africa that I came to appreciate the talent of the spiritual, peace loving ivoirian Alpha Blondy.
More than 20 years later I saw a picture of the artist on the cover of a local newspaper. The paper announced that he would be playing in Wattrelos - a town only 25 kms from my home.

So to cut a long story short...
I saw Alpha (now 60) in concert. It was a spectacular show. He sung some old favorites and some new ones fresh off his 16th album - Mystic Power. I was amazed by his stage presence, his social and spiritual engagement - the tight band and terrific lighting.

A great moment!

Seclin canal

Taken on a spring Sunday walk near Seclin.

In Or Out ?

Reading Carl Medearis' 'Speaking of Jesus.
He's got lovely little chapter called In or Out in which he explores the notion of who's 'in' and who's 'out'. Personally I've been repelled by this type of thinking within the church. The insiders (those who adhere to a set of doctrines) and the 'outsiders' (those who don't).

Carl gives a couple of illustrations (they go a bit like this:

1. Draw a circle on the floor. You're in the circle and you're trying to persuade those outside to come in. Of course it's easy to step into the circle (really?) - well no, in fact it's quite complicated - you have to believe in the correct things and do the right things - otherwise you can't come in the circle.

2. Put a dot in the middle of a sheet of paper. Put other dots around it. The central dot represents Jesus. The dots around represent us. Then put arrows from the (us) dots towards Jesus. The arrow could be in a straight line or it may go off in tangents, some arrows may not even be pointing at Jesus.

The 1st illustration typically represents view of how christians see things.
The second illustration, I believe, is more of an accurate representation. Jesus asks us to simply follow Him. The arrows towards Jesus show a action of moving to Jesus - following Him.
It may be a messy picture, but it's better and more realistic.

So forget the concept of 'In or Out' - it just doesn't work, it can easily exclude people who are seeking to follow Jesus - maybe not the way we would consider - but they are endeavoring to follow Him and that's what we are simply called to do.