WHY DO THE PEOPLE IMAGINE A VAIN THING ? - Psalm 2v1

THIS IS THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL
opened on behalf of Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, by her son, Edward, Prince of Wales in 1867.
On the Opening Day, Her Majesty was too emotionally overcome
to attend the Opening, remarking that it was not only a Memorial
to her husband, Prince Albert, but to the Constitution.
It has become a special British Landmark.
embracing not only British Ideals and Culture, but also
standing for all that is BRITISH, past, present, and future.

I HAVE NEVER BEEN INSIDE OF IT, nor have I even SEEN it with my eyes, in the flesh.  BUT I know it well, and the Promenade Concerts have been a constant happiness to me.    AND ESPECIALLY The Last NIGHT of the Proms, each year of my adult life.      On that Night I have ever been stirred with emotion.   I hope it was not the emotion of Pride, or Arrogance, but rather that of Affection, and Thanksgiving for all I have been given, and blessed with from growing up in such an ancient and historic nation that has, through the ages, stood for God and Freedom.  As a Nation we have fought many Battles to remain Free, and to help others to be free.    As a Nation we have endevoured to share our allegiance to Jesus Christ, and to present Him in the way we live and conduct our lives.       YES, OF COURSE, we have made mistakes, but we have never given up learning from those mistakes, without throwing away all record of our history, and social achievements.      As a British Citizen I do not approve of everything that has been done, or even taught at times, but Nations are not born perfect, and need room and space to GROW, especially in their humanity and love toward one another.      BUT I do not want NOT to see how we have progressed, and how we have pressed on toward the mark of our High Calling as Children of God.

I REJOICE in my earthly nationality, the Country of my Birth.     I rejoice in its fields, and forests, it mountains and hills.     And I rejoice in all the marks and memorials of its past, good and bad, and all that teaches about God's patience with us all; His long-suffering toward us as we so often seem never to to understand, ever blundering about in childish ignorance, and spiteful anger, as we still see through a glass darkly, not yet mature enough to SEE the truth.

AND NOW THE BBC WANTS US TO BACK DOWN from proudly extolling  the United Kingdom for fear of upsetting those who hang on to old wrongs and grudges, without understanding and without forgiveness.     Regretfully, even for fear of those born British, (and even  more those who have been welcomed in, and given all the rights of  those they now dare to vilify, without having contributed, in any way, to the Making and Mending, of  the NATION they now live in.     Fear of upsetting them, who have had no hand in building what they now abhor and condemn.         As a WHITE British Citizen married to a BROWN Kenyan Citizen I wonder what kind of mind, and heart we now should have, in order to acknowledge ourselves as being human!    Esther and I have spent 50 years teaching the children of Kenya to love and respect their Nation, to honour the Government, and to accept and learn from their History.   Kenya is a Nation of more than sixty ethnic nations all with their individual heritage, now living as one Nation - and STILL learning HOW to do it peacefully, lovingly, with a purpose of seeing UNITY bring nationhood, and so wipe away hate, jealousy, and every self righteous root of bitterness from the whole. 

IN 1969 there was an attempt to tone down the excitable national spirit scheduled for the Last Night of the Proms.  The BBC Proms Controller for that year, William Glock decided to remove Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance No.1 from the program.   It was felt it might no longer be politically correct!    Public opinion in those days, as I believe it still will be, was so outraged, that Glock had to change his mind.     But to day we have more to contend with.    

Land of Hope and Glory, Mother of the Free,
How shall we extol thee, who are born of thee?
Wider still and wider shall thy bounds be set;
God, who made thee mighty, make thee mightier yet,
God who  made thee mighty, make thee mightier yet.

What IS so wrong in wanting to appreciate one's Country and History?    If you, from another land and culture are offended, then surely the choice is yours, as to whether you embrace it or not, but you have little right to insist on imposing your opinion of it by force, causing civil strife and even damage, to emphasis your point of view.    WELL, but  surely, if we flout the idea, if we in our Glorying uphold appreciation of SLAVERY and SLAVERS, we must be wrong, and DO something about it?

NO, I DO NOT AGREE.     Every Nation has a right to its past, and the right to GROW through that past to greater heights of honour and Glory.   The right to LOOK BACK and to see how far they have come out of darkness, AND TO REJOICE IN WHAT THEY SEE, AND HOW IT CAME TO BE.

I REJOICE in England, the Land of  Alfred the Great,  Francis Drake, Florence Nightingale,

William Wilberforce, Winston Churchill, a host of endless personal hero's and heroins  YOU may not approve for some reasons - because you see only their mistakes and not their good.    NONE are perfect,  but we need to see, if we can, the good that men and women do.

IF I WERE IN ENGLAND, and in the Albert Hall, this year on the Last Night of the Proms, I would SING for all I am worth the words written in  memory of Alfred the Great, and WAVE the Union Flag of my Country .....

'Rule Britannia!  Rule the waves.

Britons never (never, never,) will be slaves.!

I hear the ROAR of the people, there with me......and I am swept up in the outrageous moment... and I will not be ashamed, or embarrassed about it, and there will be ENCORE upon ENCORE!

And I say to all the nationalities that might be with me - BE PROUD of the Country that bore you.  Pray for it, Believe for it, and be ready to help it ON, and to bring Honour, and Glory and HOPE to it,  and for it, in the Name of GOD ALMIGHTY.     

This is a photo of Dame Sara Connolly singing Rule Britannia, dressed as

Admiral Nelson at Trafalgar, on the Last Night of the Proms.

Roars of Approval from the Concert Goers!   Where they wrong?

Some will say Yes and some No.

But she had the right to be there and to be applauded,

as a nationalist, proud of her Country.

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YES THIS IS ME, JOHN GREEN

writing from Testimony Faith Homes in Kenya.

I love Kenya, but am also proud to be British without apology.

BUT EVEN MORE

I am Glad to be a Christian heading home!

HEAVEN is my Home, and CHRIST JESUS is my KING!

YET, even so, I am GLAD, I passed through England, and the values I learned there.

God makes no mistakes in placing us in a Nation.

Not that we should be racist, but that we should learn and profit from it.

We are all just 'passing by' on the way home.

We all need to be Thankful more than critical.

We all need to make room for each other

and to love one another, and to enjoy one another's Nation
instead of pulling it down, in spiteful self appraisal.

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I TRUST YOU WILL SUFFER this departure from my usual emphasis!

None of us chose where we were born,

and few of us know where we are going.

This is not the time to draw attention to our differences

but to admire our similarities.

Let us not view each other Racially, Politically, Religiously,

but with Equality, with long suffering, and God's Grace;

willing to repent of our self esteem that we may forgive 

each other their trespasses.

This is the Love of God

27th August 2020 A.D. 

   

                                                                              

STILL PART OF THE FIXTURES AND FITTINGS.

HERE WE ARE for our 49th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY today, the 14th August 2020   Pictured with our daughter Helen's baby girl, Abigail aged 6,   Three Happy Greens wearing very well, and still able to enjoy life here in Testimony Faith Homes.     Esther will be seventy six on Monday next week, just four years behind me, the Octogenarian!       We do Thank God, our Father in Heaven, and His Beloved Son, our Lord and Savior for having Kept us safe.    THREE shades of colour here, and all in love with each other, and glad to be ONE together.    A dear friend presented us with a beautiful Cake.    We did nothing special.    We were blessed to be able to speak with Steve, Michael, and Lizzy by video during the day,  and Manu also dropped in us during the morning.  It  was a good day, and we Rejoiced in it.

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Well, right now in Testimony Faith Homes it is mid winter, and we are seeing a fair amount of RAIN,  delivered via HEAVY and UPROARIOUS Thunder storms, some of which last four or five hours at a time.   YET the sun DOES shine a little here and there, and we have often been able to sit outside on the Veranda, enjoying it's warmth, brilliance.      BUT for the last week it has also been exceptionally SILENT during the morning hours -  ALL our children have returned to SCHOOL.
NO - Kenya's Schools, Colleges and Universities all remain CLOSED till January 2021, BUT we felt that it was not a good thing to leave all OUR children idle, and forgetful, so our senior young people who have been in College and University, came to ask if they could open School for three hours a day just to keep minds alert and motivated.     The photo below shows the group that offered themselves, and  who have not been teaching for the past week in all classes from Nursery to Secondary Form 1V.

These EIGHTEEN, of our senior children, all studying in College or University,  have all been affected by C.19's interruption of their Courses, but are all very determined not to let it get them down, and want to make sure those in the family following them are not allowed to drop behind, and get a chance to finally re-open REAL School well prepared and full of confidence.
AND the children have all, with Glad excitement, risen to the challenge, and given themselves to attending classes with  full support and good will.   More than a hundred of them, all from our four families -

As you can see they make for quite a motley crowd, but all very happy, and glad to be alive and loved.     We took both photos last Monday Morning during a break in classes.    It is not a school as it would be in the normal way of things - just three hours,  8.45 a.m. to 12 noon, Monday to Friday. 
But it will be enough to keep brains moving; a small stimulus that hopefully will save many from ending the year retarded.

I have just returned from what will be a Weekly Assessment  with all the 'teachers'.   They were all very happy with the past, initial, week, and full of determination to carry on until early December.  It was so good to see them all so encouraged and determined to carry on - even without any  reward!

Covid 19 AS ON 14TH AUGUST 2020 - including the day's count.
CONFIRMED CASES since March -   29,334
Recovered Cases...............................    15,298
DEATHS...........................................         465  

the days count as on the 14th August -      
New Cases Confirmed ..............................580
New Recovered Cases...............................198
New Deaths...............................................005

ONLY 4 new Cases in our County - possible a total of 12. altogether. and not in our immediate 
location.

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Officially we are still in Quarantine although there has not been one suspected case of C.19 found here since the onset.     Thus we are virtually Marooned here, but safe.      

God Bless you all.    I am sorry to have left being in touch over the last two weeks, but as I had warned everyone at the beginning of the year I cannot be sure of being as regular as before.  We appreciate all those who were aware, and who were keeping us all in prayer.   But we just found the days too full and my old head not so full of inspirational comment.    I like to share what might be relevant or at least interesting,       Our love in Jesus to you all, and our continued Thanksgiving for being Channels of His Blessing to us.      

John, Esther, and Daryl Green - and all the labourers and children with us in Testimony Faith Homes