Lisbon Doing What Lisbon Does Best

Sharon is with us for the week and, so, looking for something to do on a Saturday night in June, I trawled through the weekend papers and the internet listings (“Guia do Lazer” hosted by the newspaper “Publico” at www.lazer.publico.pt I found most helpful) and I was not disappointed. We had a wonderful evening.

We headed out at 8pm, skirted round the city centre to avoid the thousands who were down at Praça de Comercio for the Tony Carriera concert. This was the conclusion of “Party in the Park”, which had been going on all day in the central Avenida Liberdade. Anyway, our first stop was in a far more out of the way corner of the city. Jardim de Amoreiras - a

little haven of a park tucked away just round the back of Amoreiras Shopping Centre where the cars on the A5 stream into the City. That’s what I love about this city - these little patches of green, with refreshing fountains and so on, and no-one knows they’re there.

It was one of four Lisbon parks that was billed as hosting free music concerts throughout the evening.

We were delighted to find an open air fado performance on one side of the park, and an excellent delta blues combo at the other side. Take your pick. We started with the fado, which was delightful as the sun went down, and then moved on to the Catacumbas Blues Band for the next hour so. From there we made our way down to Rua das Janelas Verdes where a festival of Latin American Dance was in full swing. Swaying to the sounds of salsa and samba with

the happy crowd for a while, before we moved on to Alfama, where, quite by chance, we discovered a troop of lads and girls all elaborately dressed up and dancing the traditional street marches associated with St Anthony’s Day. And so the night ended with sardines and farturas, and home to bed

What a crazy colourful, mixed up patchwork of culture, Lisbon is, and during June, it’s at its best and at its boldest. I’m quite sure that if we had had the energy, and the curiosity we would have found African Music, Irish music, jazz, dance and any number of other music genres of music filling the city’s bars and streets. It’s what the city does best - especially in June. And, by the way, what the city doesn’t do so well is marketing itself, and letting the general public know about these wonderful free events. I had to really struggle hard to find information about any of these, but maybe thats all part of the charm and the fun.

The Tree of Life

I took this photo on the way back from the Algarve a few months ago (Monchique, to be exact, which, by the way, makes a wonderful detour through rolling hills and forests if you want to drive on something different than motorway). The photo is simple - it’s some kind of random wildflower on the side of the road where we stopped for coffee. But it’s more than that. It’s a sun. it’s a cosmos. It’s a magnificent creation of a wonderful God. And it positively glows with His glory. God of the micro as well as the God of the macro.

I think that’s what I liked about “Tree of Life”, the film by Terence Malick which we watched in the cinema last weekend. The juxtaposition of Malick’s grand eloquent vision of the creation of the universe set beside images of the first days of a new born child. The exploration. The wonder of it all. This new world he finds himself in. Some will find “Tree of Life” long, tedious, pretentious. I found it wondrous, exalting, life affirming. And what narrative there is, (and there isn’t much) sought to establish early on in the movie the antithesis between nature and grace, which was developed through characters of the mother and the father and their approaches and responses to life. versus nature early on in the narrative

“There are two ways: the way of nature and the way of grace.

We must choose which way we will follow,”

“Nature tries to please itself, be noticed, etc.,

while grace is humble, doesn’t need recognition….”

The Bible says something similar, but in a different way

“The flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit,

and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh.

They are in conflict with each other

.... But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law....

... So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”

(Galatians 5:17,18)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478304/

Peter Rabbit for Prime Minister

Well, it’s not exactly the English translation of the name Pedro Passos Coelho, who became prime Minister of Portugal overnight, but it’s close enough. Overturning the six years of the Socialist Party (PS) under José Sócrates (who, in spite of his name was not the greatest of thinkers that European has seen) Sr Coelho has a tough challenge ahead of him. Let’s hope his tenure as leader of the country will amount to more than a bedtime story.

Reading a little of his profile, he represents a significant part of Portuguese society that has a particular significance in recent history of the country. Growing up in Angola in the 70’s, he is one of the “Retornados” - European whites displaced through the colonial wars where were the backdrop to a Portugal’s Carnation Revolution of 1975. They came back to a Portugal that, to a large extent, they didn’t really own, and that didn’t really own them. There isn’t really an equivalent within the recent colonial history of other European countries. though perhaps the experience of white Zimababweans forced to find a different future outside of their adopted country, but then again perhaps not.

The “Retornados” have a unique story to tell and the stories vary from person to person. Some have found it easier than others, and have assimilated well into the fabric of Portuguese society, like our new Prime Minister. For others, it’s taken a huge toll and a generation on, families are still coming to terms with the trauma of being uprooted and landing in Lisbon with no possessions, no land, and no prospects. Well remember sitting in the modest home of one such family, radiant in their Christian faith, and sharing Sunday lunch with them, while listening to their story of leaving Mozambique, moving to South Africa, then to Portugal, losing a father and husband, and still struggling even now to makes end meet on a daily basis and make a life for themselves here.