Last November, I appealed for funds to take my friend Salvador Dos Santos back to his family in East Timor. Salvador had been living in my house for 10 months, learning English and looking for work. He had begun to be ill in May, but only in October was it identified as terminal cancer. He was 24 years old. Salvador’s wish, when his condition was known, was to return home.
Members of the circuit churches (and two URC churches where I preach) responded warmly and generously, providing over £4000, which enabled us to meet all the costs of air travel, insurance, hotel (in transit) and everything involved in Salvador’s care.
After radiotherapy at the Churchill Hospital, he was fit to travel (indeed, he appeared to be quite well) but the doctor told us to expect no more than three months. We flew to Bali, where we stayed for three days, making contact with relations who were also passing through. We then flew on to Dili, the capital of East Timor, where we stayed with Salvador’s sister for another three days.
The Church of the Holy Family was transformed during a few days in February this year, as they played host to a community production of Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
Central Oxford churches and college chapels joined forces in February to run a week of events reflecting on the links between Christianity and the arts. Shrove Tuesday fell during the week, so Wesley Memorial took the opportunity to bring pancakes and pictures together in creative collaboration. Peter Forsaith, curator of the Methodist Collection of Modern and Contemporary Christian Art, and Research Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Methodism and Church History, brought his culinary expertise into play, making pancakes for an appreciative audience of students and church members, before speaking about the lives and art of three Methodist artists: John Jackson, RA (1778-1831), the Pre-Raphaelite associate James Smetham (1821-89), and Agatha Gay Hellier (1897-1980). The presentation was illustrated with examples of the work of the three artists, drawn from the Westminster collections.