Reflecting on my time in Indonesia

Yes, I know I still owe you an update on the stewards post, coming right up… but first, I was writing a blogpost in my personal blog and thought that parts of it deserves to be reposted here, so here I go…

From the 4th to the 8th of May, I attended the National Consultation on Mission held jointly by the WCRC, the CCA (Christian Council of Asia) and the CCI (Church Council of Indonesia) in Jakarta. On the 9th, I flew to Medan to take part in the Executive Committee meeting of the WCRC held in Berastagi, North Sumatera, between the 10th and today.

Despite missing Geneva like crazy, I have to say the experience has been a great one for me. First of all it was an opportunity to engage with so many people who are leaders (or future leaders) of their churches. To listen to the discussions, to be an “insider” to some issues that people on this level are talking about, that too is a privilege not many receive.

It has been a time of new acquaintances (I would say friends but as I spent more time engaging with my computer than with people, at least I have come to know them better than before), of discovering new talents (like interpreting!), of pushing my limits, of trying something new.

It was also great to finally be on Sumatra! And I’m looking forward to visit some places I now have friends in. It has also been a time where I reflect and reconsider my calling, and while I still am unsure, at least I have more things I can consider, and a bunch of people I know I can talk to.

All that being said, I must say I am looking forward to being back in Geneva, and in a way also looking forward to being back in Indonesia in June for the GIT.

As I always have said at one point or another in one way or another, I shall go where the Lord leads me to, and do what the Lord wants me to do there, and rejoice in the Lord always.

Meet the Stewards — Part 1

Unlike the previous ExCom meeting in Geneva where Penny and Daphne had to work on all the administrative needs, here we have a whole team of stewards to help out. Ten people as per the WCRC’s request, and four more that help the local committee, plus one coordinator, plus me! That’s a whole lot of people, and that’s just great!

The stewards have apparently been selected through a long process, based on their involvement in church among other criterias. So here they are, a bunch of young people actively involved in their congregations. How cool is that? Two of our 10 stewards are pastors, several others are vicars, and some are youth leaders. The age range is between 21 to 30 years old.

Badia

Badia Tarigan, whose name you might have read in some posts, just turned 21 this April. He is a student and in highly involved with the youth group at his congregation. He likes to travel, watch movies, sing and eat. He is very happy to be a steward as it gives him the opportunity to practice his English. As he’s practicing to write in English as well, we do apologize for the mistakes he might have made. “Badia” means “holy” in Karonese.

Nelly

The other steward who is also 21 years old is Martinelly Sembiring, or Nelly. Other than studying, Nelly teaches Sunday School and plays music in the church. She loves to travel and would love to be able to continue her studies in the future. Her Karonese word for you is “melihe” which means hunger.

Dikky

Dikky Kristian Sitepu is a vicar of GBKP. He graduated from Duta Wacana Christian University last year. As part of his pastoral training he currently works at the Alpha Omega, a GBKP foundation for people with disabilities. Dikky likes to sing and enjoyed his time as a steward very much although interacting with foreigners bring some special challenges for him. Dikky would like to be an honorable person, someone who is “terpandang” in Karonese.

Ruth

Yusni Ruth Mentina Br Pandia (Ruth) is also a vicar of GBKP. She likes to read and do sports. Ruth had some previous experience in dealing with an international group of people in Taizé. Her dream is to be able to continue her theological education somewhere in Europe. We believe this will come true and that she will “erlajar” (study) dilligently (“tutus”).

Yuni

Wahyuni Hana Purba or Yuni is a teacher by profession and is also a coordinator for the youth group at her congregation. She likes to listen to music and would like to always learn new things. This is exactly what she enjoys from the experience as a steward, being able to learn from the other stewards as well as from all the participants. During the last few days here, Yuni opened a souvenir stand for the participants, and it really helped our shopping needs, so we say, “bujur” (thank you).

We have five more stewards in part two and four more “local” stewards to feature… well, provided I get enough information about them by tomorrow morning (which I will definitely try to)!

Updating from Indonesia

First and foremost, mejuah-juah!

Mejuah-juah is a Karonese greeting used as a welcome as well as a goodbye, a lot like Aloha in Hawaii, I guess. According to Yuni, one of our stewards, it is a saying to wish someone well.

If you’ve been following our blog, facebook site, twitter and website, you will know that the Executive Committee members along with advisors, regional representatives and most of the staff members are currently in Berastagi, North Sumatera for the annual meeting. The meetings have been going on since last Thursday and today is the last day.

While I know that the meetings have been intense, I have not actually been in any of the meetings. Instead I have been mostly sitting in the office, working on translations, uploading things to facebook and our website, and coordinating things with the wonderful stewards. I did however make sure that I was with the group for morning worships and all the fun activities like the cultural evening and the tour we had yesterday

Working with the stewards was my main job description here, so I decided to let you know a little bit more about them, coming up in the next post!

Celebrating Ten Women of the Bible

Today is International Women’s Day, “a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future”, and I thought I would take the opportunity to celebrate the women of the Bible. As much as I would like to celebrate ALL the women in the Bible (there’s not that many of them and yet still quite a good number), that might take a whole book to do. So here’s my selection of 10 women to celebrate today.

1. Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene, Pietro Perugino (c. 1490s)

Possibly the most controversial woman in Christian history, Mary Magdalene (or Mary of Magdala). The most common misconception about her is that she was a prostitute (an idea brought forth by Pope Gregory I). In the gnostic writing The Gospel of Mary, Andrew and Peter seemed to completely dismiss her… and yet most gnostic writing hail her as a true disciple, one who Jesus favored much (some opinions in fact think that Jesus was in love with her — and Dan Brown in his Da Vinci Code developed this idea). While discussions about Mary Magdalene could be very intense, let us celebrate her for what the gospel of John says about her… that she was a close follower of Jesus who became “the apostle to the apostles” as she brought the news of Jesus’ ressurection to the disciples with her famous line “I have seen the Lord” (read John 20:1-18 and listen to the song “I have seen the Lord“).

2. Deborah

In the days after Joshua died and before Saul became king there were judges who lead Israel, and Deborah was one of them. Yes, that’s right, a woman was giving the people of Israel instructions on how to lead their lives. In fact, the commander of Israel’s army came to her for advice… and he did not want to go to war without her by his side. How’s that for some female power?? While we’re at it, there’s another female in this particular story, Jael… who is actually sort of cooler cause it was her who effectively won the war when she killed the enemy’s king! (read Judges 4 and 5)

3. The Proverbs 31 woman

Proverbs 31 verses 10-30 talks about The Wife of Noble Character and has always been a passage that just annoys me to the max. This woman does EVERYTHING. She keeps her household in good order, she takes care of the business, and she even finds time to look after the poor and needy… and where’s her husband? Oh, he’s just sitting there at the gates talking to the other men, bragging about his wife. Huh, WHAT? Well, despite the fact that I personally think that no woman should be doing all the work while her husband just sits back and relaxes, kudos to this woman who is able to do it all, way before the days of emancipation and feminist movements (speaking of that, how did society go from letting the women do everything to letting the women do nothing but have kids and clean the house??)

4. The Canaanite woman

In the International Women’s Day worship at the Ecumenical Centre this morning, we read and reflected on the passage about the Canaanite woman (Matthew 15:21-28), possibly the most disturbing passage in the gospels when you’re a woman because here’s Jesus… and he is comparing this woman with a dog! Well, yes, there are good explanations to it, but still… WHAT?!! And yet, this particular woman is so awesome… she replied instantly to Jesus with such a witty comment that Jesus healed her daughter after all. That, my dear readers, is what I call female power.

5. Mary, mother of Jesus

Okay, she probably deserved to be mentioned earlier than this, but anyway… this Mary was a young woman who was obviously very devoted to her faith, and without her there would be no Jesus (well, okay, I suppose if she had said no, God could’ve found another woman too, but still…). Imagine what a shocking moment it must’ve been for her, and how difficult it was. Not only does she have to deal with her husband-to-be (luckily God took care of that) but also with society and with the pregnancy itself! Not to mention the tough deal of the journey and giving birth and what about seeing your precious son dying on a cross? For being such a strong and courageous woman, Mary, we celebrate you.

6. Abigail

I think many women could relate to Abigail… were there days when your husbands (or boyfriends) act like complete idiots? Yes? Welcome to Abigail’s life. Reading 1 Samuel 25, one could imagine that Nabal was possibly a complete d-bag. And yet, Abigail doesn’t give in to despair. Instead, she takes charge… and she saves her household with a highly courageous act. Bravo, Abigail!

7. Esther

I think I’ve made it clear by now that I’m aiming to get a whole variety of women and to celebrate them for many different reasons. We’ve had courage, wit, faith, bravery, well… here’s THE woman to be celebrated for beauty. Esther won a very important beauty pageant… instead of just receiving a crown and being treated like a princess for a day, she actually became the queen. Yet, she was not just beautiful on the outside, but she was beautiful in the inside too. Read her story in the book of Esther (one of only TWO books in the Bible to be named after a woman). The whole story is actually told to tell the origins of the feast of Purim, which coincidentally is celebrated today as well! How’s that for a celebration!

8. Vashti

It wouldn’t be fair to celebrate International Women’s Day and to include Esther in the list but not Vashti. If we’re going to be true to the roots of International Women’s Day marking the day women took a stand against the mistreatment they have been subjected to, here’s the woman did exactly that: speaking out against mistreatment. Read Esther 1… there he was, the king having a party, he got really drunk, and he summoned her queen to be DISPLAYED in front of everyone. And, while I’m sure she knows what the rules are, Vashti refused to come. Ha! Way to go, Vashti, woman of integrity!

9. Ruth

The other book of the bible named after a woman is the book of Ruth. And interesting enough, she wasn’t even an Israelite. The story of Ruth is a very touching story. Instead of going home to her family after the death of her husband, she decided to stay with her mother-in-law. Highly unusual, no? I often wonder what it is that made Ruth take this bold decision of going to a foreign country with no clear future… but perhaps it was an overflow of love to someone who needed it. Imagine Naomi, who had lost everything in her life. She was bitter, she was sick of it, she probably wanted to go home to Israel to die. She sent away her daughters-in-law so she would be all alone, no more burden, and she could be done with life. But no, Ruth saw the sadness, Ruth saw the bitterness, and even though she realizes it’s going to be tough for her, she decided to stay with Naomi. And they lived happily ever after. That, is genuine sisterhood.

10. Leah

Limiting myself to only 10 women makes it a bit difficult to choose who to feature as the count is almost up… but Leah has always had a special place in my heart ever since I read this novel that retold the story of Jacob’s clan from Leah’s point of view. Leah has always been misunderstood, overshadowed by her pretty little sister, and imagine having a husband who never wanted to marry you in the first place! And yet instead of Rachel, Leah was the one buried with Jacob in the cave of Machpelah, the same place where Abraham and Sarah, as well as Isaac and Rebekah are buried (see Genesis 49:29-31). Now what does that tell you? Well, it tells me that Leah was special. And perhaps, like in the novel (whose author’s name I can’t remember), Leah was the woman Jacob went to for counsel. The one he regarded as his “suitable helper”.

So there you have it, my selection of 10 women in the Bible who are to be celebrated for various reasons. Who would you celebrate and why?

IEF Trier, Weaving Ecumenism

Back at Robert-Schuman-Haus, the International Ecumenical Forum is opened with a series of welcome messages, a dinner, and then we were gathered outside the main hall, facing a weaving loom that had been displayed there.

The loom

The weaving loom had been specially made for this event. It is a traditional loom. White yarn has been set up as the warp (that is the lengthwise yarn), held in tension by wooden weights. Yarn in different colours are provided, some have been woven into the loom. The idea was that during the length of the forum, everyone is invited to weave in a coloured band to the cloth, either using the yarn provided, or adding their own.

A speaker came to tell a story about ancient customs in the middle east, where a mother would weave a robe for her child from the beginning of her pregnancy until the child is considered an adult. This robe would therefore hold every tear and joy of the mother, her hopes and dreams for the child. It is said that the reason why the Roman soldiers did not want to tear Jesus’ robe was because they were thinking of his mother, and their mothers.

In the same way the cloth produced during the International Ecumenical Forum is to be a diary of our journey together, the different colours representing each of our traditions, histories, backgrounds, experiences, woven together.

I reflected further on this and couldn’t help but thinking that the white yarn, the warp, is the perfect symbol for God… it is God who holds each of our differences together, who makes it possible for us to come together, who joins us together (the theme of the forum, by the way, is a prayer: “and join together what is separated”, although the German sentence has a bit more significance in my opinion). Oh, and if you paid attention during Science class, you would know that white is not a colour, but rather what you see when all the colours of the rainbow are blended together. Now… how’s that for a reflection?

the bishop of Trier weaving in his yarn

IEF Trier, prelude

It was about midday when my train arrived in Trier from Luxembourg. It was snowing. I read the instructions on the e-mail I printed out once again to check the bus number I’m supposed to take. Saw the bus stop for it, but it seems to be going the other direction. Gulp. Time to put my German at work. Asked a bus driver, who told me to get on the bus stop two blocks down the road. Oh-oh-kay.

After fifteen minutes of waiting, the bus arrived, I jumped in and decided to get off at the alternative bus stop mentioned in the list. I would never know whether the first bus stop would’ve been a better option, but there I was at the bus stop when I realized that the German word “aufwärts” actually meant having to go uphill.

So, picture this: snow. wind. 10kg backpack + 2kg handbag. going uphill to find the seminary where the event is located. I felt like I could make a good photo of myself for the competition held by the diocese of Trier as part of their upcoming pilgrimage event. The competition calls for, you’ve probably guessed it, photos of pilgrims.

What’s this whole business of pilgrimage, you ask? Well, apparently, the holy robe (aka the seamless robe or the holy tunic — as in the one that was lotteried between the Roman soldiers at the crucifixion of Jesus) is kept at the Trier Cathedral. The robe was first displayed for public in 1512, and last in 1996, where thousands of people came to do a pilgrimage to see it. Now, this year, the robe will be displayed for public again in the event of the 500th anniversary of it’s first appearance, and the diocese is preparing a whole set of events for this holy robe pilgrimage. This includes inviting the Protestant churches to attend as well.

I’m going to assume that you know your church history well enough to know that relics are one of Protestantism’s pet peeves, to put it VERY mildly.

However, the leader of the EKD (Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland aka German Evangelical Church, which speaks for 22 Lutheran, Reformed, and United Land Churches) has accepted this invitation with great pleasure, noting however that the pilgrimage should not be seen as a visit to see the robe but rather a Christ pilgrimage, a moment to come together in remembrance of the sacrifice of Christ.

It is therefore in the spirit of this Christ Pilgrimage that the Ecumenical Forum is held. Furthermore, the robe itself, as described in John 19:23, “was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.” thus making it a great image for ecumenism, but I’ll get back to that later.

After climbing the hill and making a round trip around the building (due to not knowing where the front entrance was — thereby completing my pilgrimage route), I was at the Robert-Schuman House, where the Ecumenical Forum will take place. Since it is located on a hill, I have a wonderful view of the city from my room.

The event, however, opened with an ecumenical service at the Trier Cathedral. I couldn’t quite follow the service because I haven’t received the order of service booklet yet and I was still trying to get used to listening to all that German, but being in a massive cathedral, surrounded by hundreds of people and seeing leaders of different denominations standing in front evokes all sorts of wonderful feelings of God’s presence.

photo credit: IEF website

After the service, we were to take the bus back to Robert-Schuman-Haus, but we had to walk through the snow in order to get to the bus. I was angry at myself for leaving my umbrella behind when an older guy offered to share his umbrella with me. He was in fact a retired (Catholic) priest who was heavily involved in the ecumenical movement during his office. It was interesting how he told me how much the ecumenical movement has actually progressed in the last 40 years or so — and I thought we were pretty stagnant!

Coming up next… welcome messages and weaving ecumenism, literally!

Report Time — Warning: a series of post will be coming up!

So, I got back to Geneva yesterday after having spent 11 days (that felt like 11 months) travelling in 3 countries. Happy to be back despite the weather forecast saying things like “Partly cloudy. High of -7°C with a windchill of -21°C. UNSEASONABLY COLD. Winds from the NNE at 25-30 km/h.”

The main reason for my trip was to attend the “International Ecumenical Forum” held in Trier from January 30th to February 3rd, which was a wonderful, inspiring and enriching event. Other than that, I also went to Brussels (Belgium, country #1), Luxembourg (country #2) and several cities in Germany (country #3), including the city I was born in.

I will be writing about the experiences I had, especially in Trier, possibly broken up to a few posts in order to avoid writing one super long post nobody would have time to read.

Just wanted to give you a heads up on that

Intern Workshop: Visit to Aspasie

As part of our ecumenical engagement, interns who work at the Ecumenical Centre come together every now and then to do interesting things together, such as our outing to the UN a few months back. Our latest event was a visit to Aspasie, an organisation that “defends the rights of sex workers, offering hospitality, information, prevention and support.”

Before I continue, I must state that prostitution is indeed legal in Geneva, and it is regulated — that is to say that one would have to register with a special department to be eligible for sex work. This includes working on the streets, in cabarets, bars, salons, etc. The so-called “Red Light District” of Geneva is the area of Paquis, where Aspasie’s offices are located.

The organisation was founded in 1982 by Grisélidis Réal, herself a sex worker (and much more, but that’s a different story), and several concerned friends. Thirty years later, it is mainly funded by the city of Geneva, with special projects being funded by donors.

The name Aspasie comes from Aspasie de Milet, known in English as Aspasia, a courtesan famous for her relationship with Pericles, the stateman and general of Athens circa 495 – 429 BC.

Aspasie has 8 full-time staff members in charge of different programs and is directed by a board of volunteers with many different backgrounds. Aspasie provides psychosocial support via their center, where staff members are available to give counselling and other help (including help with their tax calculation). Aspasie also does outreach work to help reduce STD and drug use risks. They have special programs for male sex workers and also programs targeting the clients of sexworkers (interestingly enough called “Don Juan”).

Aspasie also has a study center (where we met, actually) equipped with literature and historical documents related to this line of work.

I personally think that the work that Aspasie is doing is indeed important work, but I’m having trouble understanding their “non-abolishionist” position, as it seems to me that one would have to be pretty desperate to even consider doing sex work (or otherwise coerced/threatened/etc. into it, which is acknowledged but not the main area of work for Aspasie especially because this is hardly the case here in Geneva). But then again, I guess there could indeed be different reasons for choosing to do this, and I am totally for the abolishing of the stigmatization that comes with this profession.

Thinking about this brings also to mind a little list of sex workers that I have actually come to admire. The first person is a fictional character in a novel by an Indonesian author. This character, Diva, is a high-class prostitute. In one of the scenes in the novel, one of her clients asks her: “why does a bright, beautiful young woman like yourself, who could easily get any corporate job she wants, choose to do this instead?” and she answers: “I would much rather prostitute my body than prostitute my mind to these corporate people”. Now that’s a thought to ponder.

The other people in this list of mine would include Mata Hari, the spy, and of course Grisélidis Réal, who was very much a human rights activist and who was so highly regarded that she deserved a spot (despite controversies) to be buried at the “Cemetery of the Kings”, not so far in fact from the place where John Calvin himself is supposedly buried (there’s a whole lot more controversies to that).

Post Tenebras Lux

I promised in my short introductory piece in the latest edition of the Reformed Communiqué (read it online) that I will write more on the blog, so here I go.

It was March, and I was juggling a number of responsibilities: I was doing a pastoral internship at my congregation, I was the coordinator of events in our Church’s Easter celebration committee, I was preaching/teaching in several other congregations in many different occasions, I was writing my thesis… not to mention some family and relationship issues.

The truth is, one of the main reasons why I chose to write about pastoral burnout was because I wanted to know more about it as I sense myself being on the verge of a burnout. The thought that my only option after graduation would be to follow through with the series of steps required to become ordained was NOT helping.

It was in the middle of all this that Douwe’s e-mail reached me. I told him I would be highly interested in applying for the internship, but that I would have to check with my church about their plans. Everything was very uncertain except for the little voice in me saying that this internship might be exactly what I needed. And yet there are so many questions surrounding this opportunity that I really needed a sign. Any sign.

I always do my devotional reading before going to bed, and so it happens that after replying Douwe’s e-mail I got ready for bed.

I do not remember which devotional book it was, who wrote it or what the title of the devotional was, but I remember this verse:

Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. (Deuteronomy 8:2, NIV)

and I remember what the devotional was about. It was about how at certain times in our lives, we also are led through the wilderness, it might be in the form of a life experience, or maybe a trip, a place to go… this was when I realized that this could be Geneva for me. The wilderness where God is leading me to.

As it turns out, indeed God led the way for me to arrive in and going through the wilderness of Geneva.

Now, I mentioned in my Communiqué piece that everything has been a blessing after another. I was happier than ever. I was pretty sure I had gone through the darkness I was going through back in the beginning of the year. I look at the motto of the canton of Geneva, taken from the Reformation: Post Tenebras Lux (After darkness, light) and thought “how appropriate!”

Yet, a set of unfortunate events happened to me during the holiday period.

First, I got pickpocketed at the train station and lost my iPod. Then, the flat next to mine got on fire — while my place is now safe except for the smoky smell on some of my clothes and random patches of ash, it was quite a horrible ordeal to go through: running out of the apartment with thick black smoke chasing you and waiting outside in the freezing cold while you see smoke filling your apartment and six firetrucks arriving and firemen rescuing people, and so on. Soon after, an ordeal with the health insurance company left me with 13franks in my bank account (and 20 in my wallet), and I was pretty much devastated. This was this Tuesday.

All I really wanted to do was to breakdown and cry, preferably curling up under the duvet in my bed, but of course I was at work. Later on, on my way home, I still felt like breaking down, but the cold wind seemed to dry my tears away. Then I started thinking about Geneva being my wilderness.

It should’ve been obvious that going through the wilderness couldn’t be like a summer afternoon walk in the park, and while we often talk about the Israelites being grumpy, ungrateful people, I imagine none of us would do better if we had to go through what they were going through. The wilderness would’ve been uncomfortable, the view was probably not the best ever, the walk tiring, the sun scorching, the wind blowing sand into your eyes… and seriously, the exact same food EVERY DAY?

And then I thought, well, this series of unfortunate events, these problems that come up in life, these things that make you feel uncomfortable, tired, exhausted and sad, they’re sort of necessary. They keep your life balanced, you know, if you’re happy all the time you will not know that you’re happy, but if something sad happens somewhere in between, you will know how it feels like to be happy. And it’s also a test. Whoops, problem. How are you going to handle it this time?

The beauty of it all is that God is walking with you, he is leading you through the wilderness. Which means that these things will pass. You’ll make it through. And once you’ve made it through, you’re changed, you’re stronger, you have a story to tell, you can help others in their walk too. Post tenebras, lux… You see the light again.

 

Travel Reports: Edinburgh, 15-19 December 2011 (part 2)

As mentioned in the previous post (see part 1), I am writing reports on my travels… and though my trip to Edinburgh was mostly personal, most of the things I did could easily fall within the boundaries of a proper “study day”.

Let me start now with the little “gems” scattered on and off The Royal Mile, and by that I mean things like the little pub called “The World’s End”, statues and site markings. I found it fascinating, really, these tiny bits of history inconspicuously woven into the city. The World’s End, for example, is a pub located at the site where the old city walls used to come to an end, and that is why it is called “The World’s End”, because for the residents of the city at that time (before 1764, when the wall was demolished), this is the spot where their world came to an end.

We also found a pub named after the person who became the inspiration for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and several markings of crosses, monuments, spots where people were martyred or an important event in history happened. The highlight of it all, however, was our search for John Knox’s grave… ironically placed in a parking lot, and for some reason was the only occupied lot when we went to find it. So here, the best picture I can get of the little sign that marks the spot where John Knox was buried, underneath a car in parking lot 23:

Saturday we went to visit the Royal Botanic Garden, which was beautiful despite the fact that it was winter and most of the trees no longer had their leaves. I personally enjoyed the tranquility of being in the garden, with only the occasional sound of squirells or birds to be heard.

After a walk in the garden followed by a lunch and several pit stops at second hand bookshops, we made our way to Calton Hill, which is one of the seven hills on which Edinburgh is supposedly built on. Again, I was lucky to have a clear day which lends to a magnificent view of of the city. The so called “National Monument” built up there was however highly questionable.

We then continued to visit Scottish National Gallery, where we made it a point to see the painting of Reverend Robert Walker (1755 – 1808) skating on Duddingston Loch (aka The Skating Minister) by Sir Henry Raeburn, one of the most famous Scottish paintings, along with other fascinating work of arts, including an exhibition of Celtic art by George Bain which basically made me fall in love with Celtic art all over again (I already had some sort of crush on Celtic art).

Coming up next… Greyfriars Kirk and the Céilidh.