Russell Grant On Acid?

As expected it's been a busy few weeks both on the road and at Zac's Place. The combination of heartaches and celebrations of the previous week went well and further emphasize the the diversity of ministry to the margins.

The recent series at Zac's on tues nights looking at the 'main players' in the Christmas narrative have endorsed this emphasis too. Particularly with reference to the Shepherds and the Magi. The Shepherds genericly were wholly untrustworthy - you will have bought your sacrificial lamb from them but nothing else. Their evidence wasn't even admissable in court. The Magi, (and it doesn't say how many there were), were a mixture of Russell Grant and Patrick Moore possibly on camels, (maybe acid?) - but more importantly they were foreigners - they were gentiles. So there we have it. All encompassing from day one. Closely followed by a massacre and then seeking asylum in Egypt as a refugee.

What does this mean for us today? Well it should mean Good News to ALL - regardless of status, colour, postion, orientation or religion. We'll keep doing our bit for the revolution - in the meantime we'll be serving up dinner Christmas Day and Boxing Day at Zac's for the local rough sleepers, ..... untrustworthies, ...... mystics

Nadolig Llawen

Loving Connections

Although I'm based at Zac's HQ for many activities and duties during a typical week, it's always good to be away on the road. Yesterday saw a 350 mile round trip to continue involvement in a huge charity motorcycle ride that I helped found 21 years ago in Reading with one of my closest mates, Ben. Despite the absolute deluge of a ride back down the M4 last night, it was good to see well in excess of 1000 bikes take part in the run and around 1500 people bringing gifts to a Barnardo's centre for distribution throughout the south of England. It also brings opportunity to catch up with many mates from back home and also to bring a short Christmas message to the assembled crowd. http://www.readingtoyrun.org will explain more

This coming week will be as diverse as ever with the addition of a wedding in Reading on Sat, a funeral of a 21 year old lad in Swansea who died six weeks ago next Tues followed by the Christmas Tribal Gathering at Zac's in the evening. Many people, different circumstances - I pray for wisdom and the ability with God's help to always make a sincere and loving connection.

ZAC'S PLACE ON MY SPACE...

You can now find us on myspace....
Check out http://www.myspace.com/zacsplacemusic
Expect to see a few music clips in the near future from live performers at Zac's and maybe some radio exerpts from myself and John Smith, plus all the usual video clips and expanding list of my space friends.

Don't forget the stuff on YouTube as well - see the menu bar to the right..

BIG ISSUE HEALTH DAY AT ZAC'S

It was great last Friday to host a 'Health Day' at Zac's HQ. An initiative of The Big Issue, it attracted about a dozen agencies working among the homeless and associated groups and many of the client s themselves. Clients were able to get advice from medical professionals and staff from the different agencies were able to interact. A Welsh Assembly member was in attendance to meet us and staff from the Big Issue, Swansea Drugs Project, WGCADA, CDAT, Community Mental Health Team and many others. At a time when the homeless and addicted in Swansea City Centre are receiving unhelpful and in some cases unreasonable press, this was a genuine and real example of what can be done and indeed what is being done. As a footnote, it great to be able to see several of the breakfast regulars making a big effort in clearing up many of their accumalated empty cans from the neighbourhood on the same day.

There should be some coverage of the day in a future Big Issue and also expect to see a full interview with myself at some point too.