As you will hopefully know/have guessed, Aardvark has officially finished for the summer.  Whilst we won’t have any ‘meetings’ as such, we did want to have a few ‘gathering points’ - times when people can come together to hang out, connect etc.  The dates of these are on the Upcoming Events page.

One important thing that is happening on the 23rd of July (a Weds) at 7:30pm is a meeting at The Ark involving people from BCF and St Matthews to hear about and discuss some of the possibilities for the future of the Ark.  Following on from the success of the Festival Week, we are looking at what potential further collaboration and creativity might bring.  It would be great to have some input from Aardvarkers, so if you can make it, please do.

From the 5th - 13th of July, BCF and St Matthews (the church down the road from the Ark) are putting on a festival called ‘Creating Hope’, aimed at engaging the local community.  It contains all sorts of exciting events - from a poetry and jazz evening, to an art exhibition to looking at environmental issues.

Click on the flyer below for the full details of what is happening and when…

People are needed to help staff the Art Exhibition during the day, each day of the festival week; and also to help with events (welcoming, ushering etc) taking place in the evening.  If you are able to help with anything, contact the BCF Office with your details and what you’d like to help with.

Over the next few weeks, partly because of the festival, Aardvark won’t be meeting at it’s normal time.  Check out the Upcoming Events page for the details.

Following the festival, on the 23rd of July, there will be a joint meeting with St Matts to explore and pray about the future together; in particular what a partnership might mean for the Ark.  This has a lot of potential, and implications for Aardvark, so it would be great if as many Aardvarkers who are able to, could come along.  The meeting is happening at The Ark, 7:30pm for coffee; 8pm start.

Dear all,

You can now keep up to date with the walk on our new blog.

Please feel free to leave us comments and we will try to keep it up-to-date and vaguely interesting.

There are also details on there for anyone joining us around Bristol.

Thank you all so much for your support!

Update: Due to pretty dismal weather there’s a change of plan.  Instead of going to the Downs, we will be meeting at the Edbrookes, from 7pm.  If you want to bring some nibbles, please do - but we won’t be having a meal. We’ll be playing some games, and seeing what happens!

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This Sunday (25th May), it’s a Bank Holiday weekend, so Aardvark will be taking a break from its normal Sunday evening meetings at The Ark, and heading up to the Downs for some fun and food!

We’ll be somewhere near the Water Tower (map here) from around 6pm onwards. Bring a picnic with you if you want to eat; the rest of the time we’ll be playing some games and enjoying the always sunny Bank Holiday weather!

If anyone is interested in watching the rest of the Shane Claiborne video we (sort of) watched last night, here it is…

As you will all know by now Banks and I are walking all Summer for Christian Aid. On Saturday 28th June we are doing the walk from Midsomer Norton to Bristol and it would be great if other people could join us for the day. Simon and Jen are already going to be there but it would be fun to have loads of people. The distance is 20 miles which I guess most people would be capable of (it’s not easy though so be prepared) but we could also arrange to meet with people in Keynsham later in the day if you want a shorter bit or you could walk to Keynsham and stop there. Anyway, please let me know if you’re interested, try to get a team!

I guess this means that we may also need some volunteers who don’t want to walk to drop people off in Midsomer Norton and pick people up from the Grange at the end of the day (the route just happens to go through Warmley) if anyone would be kind enough….

There is a videographer making a video documentary of the walk and he has decided that it would be good to film that day’s walk so you’ll get to be on a documentary (don’t let that out you off though!). He is also filming at the Grange on 8th June. He says there’s no need to do any acting up for the camera but feel free!

Let me know a.s.a.p. Thanks.

Who wants a free t-shirt?!

Christian Aid is involved in an event taking place in Castle Park, Bristol (by the Galleries) this friday and saturday called ethical expo.  Its basically a show case of how you can buy all your everyday stuff with an ethical twist.  Loads of the companies that are listed in our ‘Prophetic Shopping’ list will be there.  See here for more info.

Of course you might want to come just for the fun of it, which would be great.

But we could really do with a few more stewards, which would involved standing around for a couple of hours in the sunshine whilst wearing a fetching fluorescent vest.  And for doing that you would walk away with a wonderful ethical expo t-shirt!  If you can spare a couple of hours (or more) please do let me know.  And even if you can’t spare the time, why not come along…you know you want to!

At Aardvark this past Sunday, a couple of people from BCF came to talk about some practical help that is needed for a group of women they are working with.  Things like painting & decorating, gardening etc.

We have created a list of people who are willing to help, and when a need arises we will ask around to see who is available.  If you haven’t already signed up and would like to, please let me know.

Think of it as a great opportunity to put the hope that we have been talking about into practice…

Pete Osborne

A Victim Treats His Mugger Right

Julio Diaz has a daily routine. Every night, the 31-year-old social worker ends his hour-long subway commute to the Bronx one stop early, just so he can eat at his favorite diner.

But one night last month, as Diaz stepped off the No. 6 train and onto a nearly empty platform, his evening took an unexpected turn.

He was walking toward the stairs when a teenage boy approached and pulled out a knife.

“He wants my money, so I just gave him my wallet and told him, ‘Here you go,’” Diaz says.

As the teen began to walk away, Diaz told him, “Hey, wait a minute. You forgot something. If you’re going to be robbing people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep you warm.”

The would-be robber looked at his would-be victim, “like what’s going on here?” Diaz says. “He asked me, ‘Why are you doing this?’”

Diaz replied: “If you’re willing to risk your freedom for a few dollars, then I guess you must really need the money. I mean, all I wanted to do was get dinner and if you really want to join me … hey, you’re more than welcome.

“You know, I just felt maybe he really needs help,” Diaz says.

Diaz says he and the teen went into the diner and sat in a booth.

“The manager comes by, the dishwashers come by, the waiters come by to say hi,” Diaz says. “The kid was like, ‘You know everybody here. Do you own this place?’”

“No, I just eat here a lot,” Diaz says he told the teen. “He says, ‘But you’re even nice to the dishwasher.’”

Diaz replied, “Well, haven’t you been taught you should be nice to everybody?”

“Yea, but I didn’t think people actually behaved that way,” the teen said.

Diaz asked him what he wanted out of life. “He just had almost a sad face,” Diaz says.

The teen couldn’t answer Diaz — or he didn’t want to.

When the bill arrived, Diaz told the teen, “Look, I guess you’re going to have to pay for this bill ’cause you have my money and I can’t pay for this. So if you give me my wallet back, I’ll gladly treat you.”

The teen “didn’t even think about it” and returned the wallet, Diaz says. “I gave him $20 … I figure maybe it’ll help him. I don’t know.”

Diaz says he asked for something in return — the teen’s knife — “and he gave it to me.”

Afterward, when Diaz told his mother what happened, she said, “You’re the type of kid that if someone asked you for the time, you gave them your watch.”

“I figure, you know, if you treat people right, you can only hope that they treat you right. It’s as simple as it gets in this complicated world.”

from… http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89164759

(apparently NPR… is the public radio network… it looks a bit like a radio only BBC in america)