Three Wise Men

One day some wise men, who were going about the country trying to find answers to some of the great questions of their time, came to Mulla Nasruddin’s district and asked to see the wisest man in the place. Mulla Nasruddin was brought forward, and a big crowd gathered to listen.

The first wise man began by asking, “Where is the exact center of the world?”

“It is under my right heel,” answered Mulla Nasruddin.

“How can you prove that?” asked the first wise man.

“If you don’t believe me,” answered Mulla Nasruddin, “measure and see.”

The first wise man had nothing to answer to that, so the second wise man asked his question. “How many stars are there in the sky?” he said. “As many as there are hairs on my donkey,” answered Mulla Nasruddin.

“What proof have you got of that?” asked the second wise man.

“If you don’t believe me,” answered Mulla Nasruddin, “count the hairs on my donkey and you will see.”

“That’s foolish talk,” said the other. “How can one count the hairs on a donkey?”

“Well,” answered Mulla Nasruddin, “How can one count the stars in the sky? If one is foolish talk, so is the other.” The second wise man was silent.

The third wise man was becoming annoyed with Mulla Nasruddin and his answers, so he said, “You seem to know a lot about your donkey, so can you tell me how many hairs there are in its tail?”

“Yes,” answered Mulla Nasruddin. “There are exactly as many hairs in its tail as there are in your beard.”

“How can you prove that?” said the other.

“I can prove it very easily,” answered Mulla Nasruddin. “You can pull one hair out of my donkey’s tail for every one I pull out of your beard. If the hairs on my donkey’s tail do not come to an end at exactly the same time as the hairs in your beard, I will admit that I was wrong.”

Of course, the third wise man was not willing to do this, so the crowd declared Mulla Nasruddin the winner of the day’s arguments.

The Mullah and the Veil

This was sent to me by an Afghan friend living inn Kabul ………. :-)

One day Mulla Nasruddin was preaching about hijab (veil) saying,

"those who wear hijab will for sure go to paradise.

A woman stood and said I wear it both at home and outside.

Mulla  Nasruddin said, “Give her the key of paradise.”

Another woman said,

“I wear hijab when am out of home but I wear underwear at home.”

Mulla Nasruddin smiled and said, “Give her the key of my home !”

hhhhhaahhhahah

The illustration, by the way, I got from a blog:  ‘Fulla girl in a  Mulla World’

presumably sung to the tune: ’I’m a Barbie girl in a  Barbie world’ ….

http://tallouza.blogspot.co.uk/2007/03/fulla-girl-in-mulla-world.html

Checkpoint - a modern Nasruddin

I came across a modern version of an ancient Nasruddin story .......

Checkpoint - A tale of Nasruddin. plus advertisement from Ross Al - Khirsan on Vimeo.

George ka Pakistan

A Pakistani friend living in the States recommended a reality TV show about a Gora/foreigner ‘becoming Pakistani’ in 3 months 

Watch this on Youtube George ka pakistan 1/60 this guy is from Uk and wants to become Pakistani in three months with the help of Geo channel. Very interesting. Hope you will like it.  Arif

I actually have the DVD but have not watched it all    Here is the first part. It is in Urdu and English. It’s a good example of cross cultural engagement ….. 

The Journey

I loved this when I saw it -  Mary Oliver-The Journey (illustated film by Connor Weekes)

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice --
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do --
determined to save
the only life you could save.

~ Mary Oliver ~

(Dream Work

Friendship First visit Shah Jehan Mosque

Here are a couple of pictures I took from my Instagram Photos of the Across group of  'Friendship First' course students visiting the Shah Jehan mosque in Woking (Oriental Road)  on Saturday 23rd November.    I am always appreciative of their hospitality and welcome...... 

1 Visit of #Across #frienshipfirst course to Shah Jehan Mosque #Woking

  

2 With the Imam @ Shah Jehan Mosque #Across #frienshipfirst visit

holy::ground

holy::ground is now up and running. It is a merger between sacred:space (Christchurch Woking) and Holy Ground (Trinity Methodist)

holy::ground is a fresh expression (FX) of church, that meets twice a month at st michael’s sheerwater.  'we are creative,  experimental and believe in having fun as well as exploring what it means to live well and build community together.'

The website is coming on   worth having a look at....  and if you are interested in participating or finding out more there is a facebook group you can join

And here is the programme for autumn to give you an idea of what we have been doing (ground we have passed)  and what is still to come (the journey ahead) ....


WHAT WE'VE BEEN DOING (ground we have passed)


 





the naming game
choose a name for the newly formed group, followed by night prayer
sun 8^th sept @ 7pm  st michael’sheerwater








reduced greenbelt 
share some of the experiences of greenbelt ‘40’ without the camping or the mud! 
sun 22^nd sept @ 7pm st michael’s sheerwater








little holy communion  share bread and wine together –but first help create our communion table. 
 sun 13^th oct @ 7pm st michael’s sheerwater










death matters  time to talk about death and funerals (and hopefully to stay fairly cheerful!) 
 sun 27^th oct @ 7pm st michael’s sheerwater








starry starry night
exploring the spirituality of vincent van gogh though his life and paintings. including some actual sunflower painting    sun 10^th nov @ 7pm st michael’s sheerwater

 




stir up sunday!
community bake-in to make christmas cakes & puddings to take home and to give away. finishing with night prayer.  sun 24^th nov @4pm st michael’s sheerwater

  
 STILL TO COME (the journey ahead) ......

a global christmas 
international carol service:  a multi-cultural service of songs and readings from around the world celebrating the birth of jesus      sat 7th dec at christchurch woking









welcoming advent
advent meditations ‘from darkness to light’, ending with holy communion
 sun 8^th dec @ 6:30pm  st michael’s sheerwater










christmas leftovers

share christmas leftover food, poems, stories and songs and to swap unwanted gifts – ending with night prayer  sun 29^th dec @ 7pm at venue to be confirmed



 





 orthodox christmas vigil  a holy;;ground trip to brookwood monastry
 to join in the orthodox christmas eve vigil.  ‘come when you can; go when you must’
 7^th jan @ 7pm   meet at trinity carpark to travel together or meet at brookwood

you can find details of this last event on the eventbrite site 
we hope to advertise all future events in this way .......

come and join us