Thaitanic

We pass this Asian street food cafe on our way from the train station up to the Meeting Point in the lower Lisburn Road. I like the name they’ve adopted, though I haven’t tried the food yet. It kind of captures a snapshot of where Belfast is at just now, its history of the shipyards and other stuff, now conflated with the present reality of a vibrant city welcoming tastes and cultures from many other parts of the world. 

The International Meeting Point is situated just a few doors up. We go there every Thursday now to help out with an Alpha course that is being run there. Many of the more recent arrivals to Northern Ireland show up there, from Africa, Middle East, Asia, and elsewhere in Europe. There’s always a welcome, a warm cup of tea, and all sorts of help being offered, with learning English, filling out forms, clothing and food. Hats off to Henry, Keith and Janette, and Sharon for the amazing work they have been doing, walking alongside newcomers in those early days of getting used to a new place and integrating into a different society and a new way of life. 

The Alpha Course is much more than just listening to a talk. It’s centred around a video presentation of what the Christian faith is about. But it’s also about meeting together, conversations and connections, and in my case, trying out the few words of Farsi that I have learned (this course is being offered in the Farsi language). Also listening to stories of hard journeys, and arrivals, of loved ones left behind, and of hopes and dreams for the future. Some of those hopes and aspirations have also been left behind in the harsh reality of trying to make a fresh start in Europe. In the words of author Elif Shafak ‘left behind, like wisps of wool caught on barbed wire during their fence crossings’. 

This session, the topic was prayer. What prayer is, how and when to pray, and especially that praying to God is centred around the reality of a personal relationship with God. For many, for whom prayer was mostly a religious ritual conducted in a language not their own, the idea that you could simply talk to God in your words and at any time, and that He would hear, was refreshing and new. There were lots of very stimulating conversations. 

As we considered together dark times too, when God does not seem to answer our prayers, the quote that resonated most with me, and my own situation was from something Corrie ten Boom wrote :

         "When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, 

             you don't throw away the ticket and jump off. 

                  You sit still and trust the engineer.”

You trust the one who knows more about the path you are taking and who is able to bring you to the destination.