Worship Weekend

How was your weekend? Mine was pretty good. Friday first - our weekend here in Cairo is Friday and Saturday - and we have church on Friday :-)

Church was great. Larry was on great form, preaching on "Thou Shalt Not Steal" and the band were great, both singers and musicians. We had a couple of world firsts for MCC. One of these was the use of moving video backgrounds on a couple of the songs. I downloaded this video and used it as the background to "God of Wonders" and "Indescribable". It looked fantastic, and people really seemed to appreciate the extra dimension that it brought to their understanding of God the Creator. The other world first was getting the congregation to sing in 7/8 rhythm - this was in the bridge of "Breathing the Breath" by Matt Redman. First of all I was amazed that the band pulled it off (did I mention that they are a great band?) and then I was amazed that I pulled it off, leading, singing and playing bass, and then I was amazed that the congregation picked it up and went with it. A bit of a 1980's prog rock moment :-) it's good to try out new stuff and push the boundaries musically.

Felicity's parents are with us this week so after church we went and sat by the Nile in Grand Cafe with our friends Toby, Helen and Grace and had a fantastic Egyptian meal (Kofta, Tahina, Taboulleh, Humus, Baba Ganough, Ta'amaiah, Fuul and pizza!) and relaxed for a while. Then we walked along the river to the church of the Virgin Mary, where Mary Joseph and Jesus crossed the Nile.

When we got back to the house the phone was ringing. It was the lady from the shop where Felicity's parents had bought some stuff and left it to pick it up later. Did we realise that she was closed Saturday and Sunday? No. Ooops - it's 4:30 and she closes at 5:00 and this is our only chance to get the stuff before they return to the UK on Sunday morning. So a mad dash in the car through Old Cairo to this fantastic craft shop next to Ibn Tuluun mosque and the Geyer-Anderson Museum. We got there just in time to rescue the stuff and then fought our way through the traffic home again.

Then it was straight out to our friend Skip's 60th birthday. Seriously, he doesn't look 60! He's must be like the Cliff Richard of MCC or something!!! Great party, and then home to try to find the part on the internet that I broke on my bike Wednesday morning out in the desert cycling with Felicity's Dad.

At least Saturday was a bit more relaxed!