Mind Space

The Cloister, Charterhouse

I was at a meeting of university chaplains at Charterhouse in London on Monday. The site was built as a Carthusian Monastery and  developed as a school (now relocated to Godalming in Surrey) and as a hospital (in the sense of giving hospitality) for the elderly. The only part of the monastic cloister still standing is the wall at the left of the picture, the brickwork being a Tudor addition after the dissolution. 

Peaceful surroundings for a marvelous day on dealing with stress, led by Chris MacKenna of the Saint Marylebone Healing and Counselling Centre. As usual at these chaplaincy days, it was good to chat to some interesting people, including Kat from moot and Jonathan from The Sanctuary Westminster. There's a definite overlap between emerging church and chaplaincy.

Click on the photo to see a larger version over on Flickr.

Technorati tags: Charterhouse, London, cloister, stress, chaplaincy, emerging church

Johnston on Journalism

I have just read a piece that Alan Johnston wrote about journalism. He writes,

So much of the job is about trying to find the imagination within yourself to try to see, to really see, the world through the eyes of the people in the story.

Not just through the eyes of the Palestinian who has just had his home smashed. But also through the eyes of the three young Israelis in a tank who smashed it.

Why did they see that as a reasonable thing to do? What was going through their minds as their tank went through the house?

The full article is on the BBC News website here.

Technorati tags: Alan Johnston, journalism, empathy, reporting, radio, BBC, news, Gaza

Alan Johnston is Free!

I woke up an hour ago to the fantastic news that BBC reporter Alan Johnston has been freed after four months captivity in Gaza. He was held by a jihadi group called the Army of Islam. In an interview this morning he said that it was 'slightly surreal' not to be waking up in his cell room. He had access to a radio, and said that  the worldwide campaign for his release brought him hope and comfort.

Alan's composed, perceptive and incisive reporting has shed light on the worsening situation in Gaza over the three years of his tenure as the BBC's correspondent there. Characteristically, Johnston began his interview with Radio 4's Jim Naughtie this morning by saying that we need to get his experience in perspective; he had been in captivity for four months, but Terry Waite and John McCarthy endured four years. Later in the interview he noted that 50 journalists were killed in the Philippines last year. And he said this within a few short hours of being released.

Alan Johnston was the only western correspondent stationed in Gaza, and I fear that the lasting consequence of this kidnapping is that the people of Gaza will now be denied any significant, committed voice in the world media. The Army of Islam has shot itself in the foot, even if it has succeeded in drawing attention to itself. I'm going to leave the box on the top left corner of this page for a while yet (BBC permitting); Alan Johnson will need ongoing support and prayers as he comes to terms with the stress of his trauma, and Gaza is a place that urgently needs greater stability, and a new reporter of Alan's calibre.

Technorati tags: Alan Johnston, free, freedom, Gaza, BBC, news, Hamas