Movement 123

platform
tent people
a personal viewpoint
from an SCM member
.---
SCM has a presence at Creenbelt each
year, and alwaYs needs volunteers
to staff the stall. Contact the office
(scm@movement.org.uk) if youd like to
come this yeat, or see www.greenbelt.
org,.uk to find out more.
Got a response? Got
some thougffi of Your
own, or a rant? Platfiorm
is open to all SCM
membeFi - contact
ed itor@movement.ortl uk
John Probhudan is SCM's Office
Administrator. He's previously worked
for Bangladesh SCM and
been a member of the Asia-Pacific
'Regional Committee of the World
Student Christian Federation'
Enlarge the site of Your tent,
and let the curtains of Your
habitations be stretched out;
do not hold back; lengthen your cords
and strengthen your stakes.
(lsaiah 54:2' NRSV)
Just weeks after I had arrived in the UK, I had the opportunity to go to.the Creenbelt
festival. From the very first moment I heard about the festival I was excited - not because
it was just another festival, but because I was advised by a friend th.at it was a festival for
people who found church was 'not their cup of tea!' I found the idea very intriguing.
Having grown up as a Bengali in Bangladesh, lam used to festivals. Bengalis would
make i iestival on any
"*..it".
So growing up in a Hindu quarter of a predominantly
Muslim country in a Christian family meant I had festivals all round the year' Two big
Puja festivals, two big Eid fests, a Bengali New Year's festival, and then there is Mother
tongue Day. That's tii Uig festivals
"^ilrding
the minor ones, in just a yearl Creenbelt
*uidiff"runt to them all, not only in terms of the festival being thousands of miles away
from home, in a different country or culture, but because it is a Christian festival!
So what did I find? Like all other festivals, there were people!Yes, they were young, old,
male, female, singles, couples, babies and elderly all. They came.from everywhere from-
Leeds to Southarn'pton, Cardiff to Cambridge. I also saw tents! There were hundreds of
tents of different sizes, shapes, colours and even traditions. As those of you who have
been there might have seen, there were a few teepees standing around. I assume that's
not unusual for festivals, whatt unusual was that they had people living in them! They
worshipped in them and shared food! Both bread and thoughts! We too shared breakfast
in the morning around the tents. Having never camped in my whole life before, I had to
set up a tent t;o. I managed, with help. lt was not so easy, even-with the help of modern
camping tools. God knJws how hard it was for the people of lsrael when they set up
theii tents in the wilderness when they Were on the move from Egypt!
Anyway, for the days I was there, the more I saw the tents the more amazed I was' As I
stood afar and looked at it, with the hills and blue sky on the horizon, it became more
and more like an image from the Old Testament. It resembled an image of lsraelites living
in the wilderness moving towards the Promised Land.
ln the story of Exodus, when the lsraelites were led out of Egypt to freedom from the evi I
slavery of Pharaoh, they were living in tents. Despite the daily hurdles of living in tents
there was a great sense of .ottrnity, excitement, despair, even maybe tears, but above
all there *ui hop" and aspirations for freedom!The lsraelites were marching as a community,
and as tirey marched and moved they lived in tents. Even many years later after
they hid found the Promised Land, after the fall of Jerusalem when they were being led
into captivity, they were living in tents.
So the image of the tent has a very strong and significant place in the Bible, particularly
in the Old lurtarunt. The powerful image of the tent implies people who are in temporary
shelter or inhabiting a place temporarily, people who are on a journey, who are on
the move; on the movelowards achieving freedom and a promised land. An ordinary
collection of tents would mean nothing! But at Creenbelt it becomes special with the
combination of the tents and people. lt is this unique combination and the collective
picture which makes a striking impression. As the core idea of Creenbelt is to seek
alternative ways to today's world of unfair trade, injustice, and market-driven lifestyles.
People at Creenbelt attempt to seek justice and freedom. lt could be freedom from
the slavery of consumerism of unethital products, or from mindsets or conventional
rituals or, say, traditional ways of worship or even preconceptions. That's why I think
Creenbelt becomes more than another festival. lt reflects its core theme symbolically'
Maybe somewhat abstract but not obscure!
This year I can't wait till I become one of the tent people again! I
movement