Make a meal of it

Last week I preached the last in the series of Meals With Jesus and a few days beforehand a survey came out that reveals some alarming things about how today's families eat. The research, commissioned by Bisto, says:

* More than half of families no longer eat their dinner together in one room, instead eating in up to four different rooms in the house.

* One in five children eat dinner alone in their bedroom.

* 61% of families are too busy to sit down and eat a meal together.

* If they do eat together, 59% admitted they prefer to send text messages, watch television or go on the internet than talk with the rest of the family.

I find this so scary! Anecdotal evidence says that lots of teens feel that they can't talk to their parents, some self-harm and many say that they have considered suicide (how seriously, who knows?) It seems that our eating habits are only adding to the problem.

We get plenty wrong as parents but I am glad that we always eat together at least daily. It's a time to talk and catch up and sometimes to laugh, cry or argue. But we do it together.

Cast Away Playlist

This week's Reel Issues was Cast Away, the Tom Hanks film about a driven career man who has an enforced halt placed on his life when he finds himself on a desert island. As well as issues around time and loneliness and relationships, there is an angel theme that is very strong in the film too, providing a nice link with another recent Reel Issues film, It's a Wonderful Life.

As usual, for fun, I put together a playlist for the music beforehand...

Blondie - Island of Lost Souls

The Primitives - Crash

Joe Jackson - Got the Time

David Bowie - Time Will Crawl

M People - Fantasy Island

Sheryl Crow - Maybe Angels

Next month we show Signs, the Mel Gibson film about faith.

Fat Tuesday

Pancake Day or Shrove Tuesday today, known as Fat Tuesday in some parts of the world. (My favourite parishioner tells me that Mardis Gras literally means 'Greasy Tuesday'.) So I celebrated in style with doughnuts, cakes, and a roast dinner today. I met up with some ministry mates for the day and the agenda was have coffee and eat, read and pray, eat, walk in the New Forest, drink tea, pray, eat. And then leave with more food. It was the first time we had met up and I hope it becomes regular - lonely old business sometimes.

After all that excess, what to give up for Lent? Alcohol? Unlikely.

I don't usually do anything extra for Lent but this year I have decided to listen to a sermon every day. Might seem like a penance to you, what could be duller? But there are some great bible teachers out there on the interweb and I am a better person when I am taking in God's word. I very much enjoy listening to things done well. So watch this space. Day 1 tomorrow.

Graham Swift - The Light of Day

A good few days away in cloudy Brixham, a chance to read as well as mess around as a family. Got back on track from my slightly wobbly reading choices with Graham Swift's novel. Having enjoyed Last Orders previously, this was a fairly safe choice. Lots of short chapters in this one, an intriguing novel about a private detective with a dubious past who falls for a client. The investigation takes an unusual turn and I probably can't say much more without giving things away, though it's not too tough to see what is going to happen as you go along. 8/10 from me.

The smell of grace

We have been doing a short series on "Meals with Jesus" and today did the third of them, the breakfast that Jesus shared with his disciples in John 21. This has to be one of my favourite chapters in the Bible. After John 18 Peter has crashed and burnt and we were speculating this morning where Peter, or any of the rest of us, would be if John finished his gospel at verse 14.

But Peter, who denied Jesus three times, is forgiven as the breakfast makes clear. Jesus invites him for a meal of fish and bread and the end result is that Peter is not only forgiven but given gospel work to do. Astonishing! There is hope for all of us.

To underline the lesson I cooked fish during the sermon. Some hate the smell, some love it. But it's the smell of grace. Delicious!

Books of 2011, so far

I'm away for a few days with the family to wander around Brixham and read some more. I love to read on holiday. I've done okay on the book front so far this year though and neglected to blog accordingly.

So far it's been:

One Day - David Nicholls 9/10
Winner of the Galaxy chocolate book of 2010 or something but don't be put off by it's popularity to a mass market, it's great. Two students get together on the night of their graduation and the book devotes a chapter to each subsequent anniversary of that date. An easy read but Jonathan Coe likes it too, so it must be intelligent as well.

Last Night In Twisted River - John Irving 9/10
I'm a sucker for Irving, Owen Meaney being an all-time fave. This is him doing what he does so well, again. Echoes of Owen Meaney too in the bizarre death of a mother-figure. The rest of the novel deals with the consequences of a father and son as they go into hiding over it. And, of course, there are bears and wrestlers and writers in this book too.

The Fry Chronicles - Stephen Fry 5/10
Bit disappointed in this. After a while his constant apologising for his background and being miserable about himself get a bit wearing. And I suspect that the interesting stuff about his manic depression is missing - unless it started after this period in his life. Went to two lectures at Cambridge all the time he was there apparently. No wonder he missed out on his first. Ending rather infuriating, mentions a cocaine habit and then tells us we have to wait until the next book for that story.

Preachers, Keep Yourself From Idols - Derek Tidball 6/10
And now for something completely different. This is a month old, from IVP. Thought it would be good to read about the traps preachers can fall into and one or two of the chapters were rather fine. Overall not so great though.

It's Only A Movie - Mark Kermode 4/10
Another autobiography - of sorts. I guess it was a bit specialised for my tastes in terms of some of the films he obsesses over. Some unpleasant stuff on censorship and what is okay to watch - we'd disagree on some of those things but I've never been into horror at all. Don't really get on with his writing style either, all a bit too overblown for me.

As these have been read in the order they appear here, you can see that I need to up my game!

PS - John Irving's book had a fascinating note at the end on how he writes his books. He cannot start to write, he says, until he knows the last sentence. And that last sentence doesn't change in the rest of the process.

From the last sentence he works out a plan to find out how the story comes to that end point. He maps it out to work out a beginning and the characters and where everthing fits. This takes him 12-18 months. Only then does he sit down and write the thing. It took him three years to write "Last Night on Twisted River" once he had his road map in place - which he says is fast for him. Having the germ of the story in his head for twenty years helped him write 'so fast'.

For this reason and for so many others, I will never write a novel!

Suffering for my art

Well, it sounds better than simply saying that I slipped on some rocks while out trying to take some photos yesterday. Bit bruised and wet but nothing serious - the camera was fine. I was on Kilve Beach in Somerset, a remarkable place and experimenting with some welding glass and the tripod. You then convert to black and white and hope that you have something useful to show for it. (The welding glass is too dark to see through and so there is a lot of guesswork involved).

The effect is to slow everything right down and so the misty effect is in fact where the tide washes in and gives it this dreamy quality. It's not quite there but it's the best of my first attempts.

100 not out

After I had been here a while I got a call from the then Church Secretary, who told me that one of the church members was going to be 100 in the next few days. He then went on to say that the church's policy on such occasions was for the Pastor to take some flowers round. I had just arrived from a young church with hardly anyone over pensionable age and it amused me to think taht I had joined a church which had any kind of policy on what to do in the event of a member celebrating their 100th birthday.

On reflection I think he rather overstated it in terms of it being a policy as such, no-one else around here seems to know about it. Still, it is a nice thing to do and so I repeated the experience again today, with another lady from the church reaching her century. The flowers from the church joined the other buckets full - but what else do you buy someone in this situation? She was in good spirits and enjoyed showing off her cards. Wonder when I'll next be called upon to exercise the policy?

When I consider your heavens...

We're in the middle of nowhere (well, Hothorpe Hall to be exact) and part of what makes this Living Leadership conference great is the location. The people, food, focus of the studies and facilities are great too. Woke up to a beautiful sunrise this morning and was treated to some wonderful starscapes (is there such a word?) this evening.

Not done any post production on these as the software is on the other computer but I hope they give a sense of the surroundings. The one with the stars is a 76 second exposure which explains why the stars have left little trails - the earth's turning cause it, not camera shake! Even though the night was very black, the bottom half shows the light polution form a nearby town, though I don't mind the orange effect it gives this. Freezing cold but a lovely night to be out.

"When I consider your heavens,

the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars,

which you have set in place,

what are mere mortals that you are mindful of them,

human beings that you care for them?"

Psalm 8:3-4

God TV

Off today to a three day pastoral Refreshment Conference which, if it is as good as last year's, will be very good indeed. The focus is more on you and God, less on you and the job. Ministers need to hear this from time to time.

Thought I'd post this in the meantime. One of the drawbacks of getting Sky to watch the sport is that you get a lot of rubbish thrown in for free, including the religious programming. There is some good stuff. There is a terrible amount of dross and I shudder for how many will be put off or led astray by the theological pornography that some peddle. Strong words perhaps but I get very angry at some of the rubbish (being polite again) that is peddled by charlatans. And reading my Bible I think Paul had something to say about some of them too.

Anyhow, (keep it light, keep it light)I like the cartoon and the link is below in case you want to see more of the man's work.

http://asbojesus.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/godtv.jpg?w=600&h=240

I will come back more mellow...

Chocolat Soundtrack

Tomorrow evening we have the next Reel Issues. This is where the church rents the local cinema to watch a film and discuss it's themes afterwards. Chocolat is the choice to kick off 2011, with Cast Away, Signs, and Africa United completing the spring line up. I can't make this one (nothing to do with Exeter City being on Sky, I'm away at a conference) but I put together the soundtrack anyway. Here it is, Scritti Politti's 'The Sweetest Girl' only losing out due to length...

The Drifters - Sweets For My Sweet
Shanks and Bigfoot - Sweet Like Chocolate
Sammy Davis Jnr - The Candy Man
Heaven 17 - Temptation
The Archies - Sugar, Sugar
Deacon Blue - The Chocolate Girl

The King's Speech

Contains spoiler - if you have been living down a well for the last month.

Finally caught the film that everyone is raving about last night. It has done terrific business around here and I've heard nothing but rave reviews but I didn't think it was all that, to be honest. Well acted and a great cast and everything but the story itself just seemed a bit lame to me. Man has stammer, meets another man who helps him, end of. (Sorry if I've just spoilt the film for you.)

Perhaps I lack sympathy. I mean, speaking in public - how hard can it be?

I say this very tongue in cheek, I have vivid memories of drying when called upon to say a few words. The first one was as a kid when asked to say thank you to the person who presented the prizes at school one year. They chose me as someone who hadn't won a prize - a feat I managed to replicate every single year of my school career.

Actually, speaking in public is really daunting for a lot of people, something I can forget these days as I do it every week. Proof? The cinema owner rang me to record the film information for the cinema line for him this week. His usual person is away and neither he nor any of his staff would do it.

A tramp in the forest

Was in the Forest of Dean for a meeting today and so thought I would make the most of it and take a walk in the woods while I was at it. There is a Sculpture Trail there near Coleford and inspired by the brilliant talk given at Camera Club this week by the exceptionally talented and humble Tony Howell, I thought I'd get out and do some landscape photography. Sadly the weather was very dull and grey, so don't think I came back with any great pictures but it was good to get out and walk, think and pray. Mistakenly read that the Trail was 2-3 miles when it said 2-3 hours. It was 7 miles and took me 3 hours as I was stopping to take pictures at decreasingly regular intervals. Saw perhaps a dozen people in all that time and two of those were from the Guardian asking the occasional visitors what they thought of the government's plans to sell off large swathes of forest. Gave them nothing coherent.

The sculptures were not that great, though there were a couple I liked. My favourite was Cathedral a large stained glass window hung high in the trees at the end of a pathway. It was the one I was most keen to photograph and (sadly) the one at the furthest point from the car park.

To see a really talented landscape photographer, check out Tony's site. He's a world class pro, living just down the road here in Burnham.

http://www.tonyhowell.co.uk/

Modern Love

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSkT5XykJzo


Here I tend to do a lot more funerals than weddings, so it's always a pleasure to do the latter. However I am very glad that no-one has thought to do this at one that I've taken yet. From the look on the Minister's face, I think that this is for real rather than a set up job. Hope this doesn't become a trend!

(I am partly posting this in order to remember where it is when I talk about a person's new status in Christ when they become a Christian). Don't be put off by that though, it's pretty funny of itself. Check out the link.

Swindon Town 0 Exeter City 0

What is it about football that drives otherwise reasonably sane men (in the main) to drive for over three hours to watch a game of football in sub-zero temperatures? And for no reward goal-wise either.

Been a long time since I was at the County Ground, which must still be my second most visited ground. It was the nearest place to watch proper football as a kid yet it's still twenty years since I went to see West Ham in an FA Cup match. That was a 0-0 draw too.

The closest that the game got to a goal was this disallowed effort from Swindon, for whom man of the match O'Brien was devastating on the left wing. Both sides hit the bar and in truth it was my team, the visitors, who will be happiest with the point.

Good to meet up with my good friend Andy who sportingly pretended to be a Grecian for the afternoon. Actually they could sponsor his hair products these days! It was he who pointed out that the Family Stand and it's sponsors don't seem like an obvious partnership (look again at the picture at the top).

Junior School Assembly

Was in the Primary School of my favourite parishioner yesterday to take the assembly. This is something that I do every few weeks and I always enjoy, though trying to talk sensibly to infants and juniors together is quite a large age range. The Head is very supportive and encouraging and she even lets me just go in and tell stories from the Bible rather than have to follow the theme that is being used for the rest of the term, which is fine by me.

I used the wonderful Jesus Storybook Bible with them again, reading them the story of the calming of the storm and projecting some of the beautiful pictures on the screen too. (Example above from the story of Noah's Ark). Then started to teach them "What kind of man is this?" which is a kids song by Dave Godfrey, listing some of the things Jesus did. The first verse is on Christmas, second verse on some of the things Jesus did (included aforesaid storm calming) and then finishing with a verse on Easter. The theory is that kids will remember what they have heard as they sing the song over the next couple of assemblies.

I think it went okay, without being world beating. Did get some good feedback from one of the older boys at the end - a big thumbs up and smile and the words, "Cool trainers, sir!"

Makes it all so worthwhile....

Water drop

I joined a Camera Club a couple of months ago and was daunted by some of the work they are doing. I still am but they are an encouraging bunch and they are happy to advise and help someone like me. Last night was a practical night and using their know-how and with some luck I captured this. I joined to get better and I could never have done this before, so somethings happening!

Respectable Sins - 1) Ungodliness

Don't tend to think of myself as ungodly, so it was a bit of a shock to read the chapter in Jerry Bridges' book on ungodliness. I approached it thinking that it might be interesting and put it down thinking God had done a number on me.

Bridges defines ungodliness in this way. It's a long quote but worth reading:

“Ungodliness may be defined as living one’s everyday life with little or no thought of God, or of God’s will, or of God’s glory, or of one’s dependence on God. You can readily see, then, that someone can lead a respectable life and still be ungodly in the sense that God is essentially irrelevant in his or her life. We rub shoulders with such people every day in the course of our ordinary activities. They may be friendly, courteous, and helpful to other people, but God is not at all in their thoughts. They may even attend church for an hour or so each week but then live the remainder of life as if God doesn’t exist. They are not wicked people, but they are ungodly.

Now, the sad fact is that many of us who are believers tend to live our daily lives with little or no thought of God. We may even read our Bibles and pray for a few minutes at the beginning of each day, but then we go out into the day’s activities and basically live as if God doesn’t exist. We seldom think of our dependence on God or our responsibility to him. We might go for hours with no thought of God at all. In that sense, we are hardly different from our nice, decent, but unbelieving neighbour. God is not at all in his thoughts and is seldom in ours.” Respectable Sins, p54.

Ouch! This is too much like me. How self-sufficient do I kid myself I can be? How much of my prayer life is based on "Help!" or "Please bless my 'To-do' list"?

The passage that we looked at in church about this on Sunday was James 4.13-16 which warns us:

13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil.

Verse 13 sounds like the sort of thing candidates on the Apprentice say in the boardroom to try to impress Lord Sugar with.

Verse 14 reminds us we don't know what tomorrow will bring (and how true that turned out to be on Monday!) and that life is brief. So we mustn't be too quick or too certain in making our plans.

Start of the year we are all filling in diaries and calendars. Whose plans are they? Whose agenda? Have we even asked the boss? Or do we still figure we are in charge?

(The photo is of Siena in Tuscany. We were going there for our tenth anniversary. Then tomorrow happened - in the form of a car clutch needing replacing - and we went for a picnic instead).

Little things mean a lot

Lovely gesture on Saturday from a friend in the church who brought a meal round for us on the basis that my favourite parishoner had been off work ill and, to quote them, "I looked really tired last night".

A very simple and thoughtful gesture which was really appreciated and I was touched that they hadn't asked (which I would have inevitably politely declined) but had simply gone ahead and brought round the meal.

I did however feel a little guilty because a great deal of my tiredness was self-inflicted, what I like to refer to as "Ashes fatigue". A great 3-1 series win but I'm very glad that I can get back into some healthier sleep patterns now that the urn is coming home.

Changing Rooms

To see in the New Year, last week in church we looked at the new wardrobe that Christians are given to wear. It's out with the old and the way we used to live and in with the new, the way that we are supposed to live. In Paul's letter to the Colossian church (chapter 3) he describes it in clothing terms.

This is what we used to wear...

5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.[b] 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

This is the new outfit...

12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Hardly rocket science, is it? To put it another way, we can't sing 'Jesus is Lord', or 'Jesus is King' and just live however we feel like living, can we?

The trick is to remember the new outfit - the uniform that we are expected to be wearing, if you like. And not to go rooting through the bin-bags for the old stuff again.

This is the introduction to the series we are starting on "Respectable Sins" based on / nicked from Jerry Bridges' excellent book of the same name. Looking forward to getting into it again tomorrow.

Today I am 62

Thanks to the Wii Fit Plus I took a test to find my fitness age this afternoon. First time I did this (before Christmas) I was 36. This afternoon I was 62. This puts me at the same age as Elton John (pictured above when he was a mere 61). Actually, that jaw line....

Happy New Year

Back from an all too brief break between Christmas and New Year, think I took the bank holidays and one day's leave this time. Must remember this when I feel tired early in the New Year. Lovely to see friends and family we then came home to (more) Christmas cards, a credit card bill and a funeral request. Back in the saddle for tomorrow's service, the first of 2011 as we start thinking about "Respectable Sins", inspired by Jerry Bridges' excellent book of the same name.

New Year's resolutions? I am old enough to know better.

However...

I could do with eating and drinking less, exercising, praying and sleeping more. I'd like to improve as a photgrapher, do some more writing (an ambition so vague that I fear it will never happen) and .... oh, you know, the usual. Who knows what the year holds? I guess I want to be faithful in good times and bad - perhaps the best resolution I can make this year.

All the best everyone.

Wish I could be like Isaac Watts

Had a great Christmas with family and some good services over the holiday. Boxing Day was very low attendance wise, just 35 of us due to Christmas services and the lethal ice that was covering town, but still a lovely feeling of being family together.

Well, after a day off yesterday I am briefly back in the saddle today for a (quite a) few hours in order to be able to take the rest of the week off. But I had to do this today or a) take it with me when I visit friends, or b) have nothing to preach when I get back on Sunday.

As I was looking for the words of a different hymn, I found this classic first verse of an Isaac Watts hymn. It's a pretty good argument for the updating of the language in hymns and translation of the Bible.


Blest is the man whose bowels move
And melt with pity to the poor;
Whose soul, by sympathizing love,
Feels what his fellow saints endure.

Yawn, yawn Pope - been there done that

I see that the Pope did the Radio 4 Thought For The Day today. This is clearly a big news story but I have to say that I beat him to it by at least 13 years (the memory is a little hazy).

Mine was at Word Alive, a conference for students (in those days) and I was nominated by the people I worked for (UCCF) because I had played around at student radio at one time. Looking back it was a tremendous risk on their part, not sure how playing the Milltown Brothers on university radio was any help for the task in hand.

So it came to pass that I had a carefully scripted and timed Thought for the Day recorded live in front of several thousand people at The Gaiety Theatre, Skegness as part of the student celebration. A nerve wracking experience that took way longer than it should. I remember the director telling us we weren't saying 'Amen' correctly at the end of the prayer so he recorded doing it lots of different ways. We also had to record a period of silence in case the Queen Mother or someone similar died overnight, before the broadcast went out.

UCCF representing students from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, we had representatives from each nation doing the prayers and the splendid Geoff Baker led the worship. The theatre has since been demolished and Butlins (did I mention this was where we were?) have redeveloped the site.

We still go to the conference, now New Word Alive, located in North Wales, and now open to all. It's a positive oasis in the calender and an annual event that we prioritise in the calender every year. Does the whole family the world of good.

Actually, as I write this I realise that I didn't really do Thought for the Day at all, it was Morning Service. The Pope wins after all. But has he ever done Morning Service in Skegness?

Billy Graham on Christmas

"But when I looked into the crib or the manger and saw that little baby who was going to rise to become the greatest teacher that ever lived, to die on the cross for my sins, to know that I'll be forgiven because of what He was doing, it absolutely transformed Christmas for me."

Billy Graham on Christmas from an interview with Fox News, 20/12/10.

Fuller interview at http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=34303

Animated Jesus Storybook Bible

Another resource that would be useful for a Christmas service. Too late for me to use this year but could be useful to someone out there?

The Jesus Storybook Bible is a fabulous piece of work. It tells in about 40 stories the story of the Bible and is a particular favourite because of the beautiful illustrations and the fact that it shows how the whole of the Bible (Old Testament and New Testament) fit together and point to Jesus. It is so good that about three years ago we read the stories one a week in church to give young and old a simple Bible overview. Probably about time we did it again, actually.

Well, now it comes with moving parts. This is a clip I found telling some of the Christmas story. I do hope this means that they are animating the whole thing. Click the top right hand link under Our Friends Eclectic to see it for yourself.

BBC's Nativity

Watched the first of the BBC's The Nativity this evening, it looks promising. Written by Tony Jordan, better known for his work on Eastenders, Life on Mars and others, it seems that researching and writing the nativity story changed him - even though there's no chance of him attending a church this Christmas. There's an interesting interview with him in the Telegraph on the subject:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/8210800/Tony-Jordan-interview-The-Nativity-has-changed-me-and-thats-the-gospel-truth.html

The Tardis and the Stable

A friend has posted the following quote on his Facebook page and it's very useful for a service this Christmas.

'There is your hope lying in a manger. He is much bigger than he looks.'
J Wilson (no idea who he/she is I'm afraid).

I think it ties in nicely (or could be made to!) with this quotation from C.S.Lewis' The Last Battle.

"It seems, then," said Tirian, smiling himself, "that the stable seen from within and the stable seen from without are two different places."

"Yes," said the Lord Digory. "Its inside is bigger than its outside."

"Yes," said Queen Lucy. "In our world too, a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world." It was the first time she had spoken, and from the thrill in her voice, Tirian now knew why. She was drinking everything in even more deeply than the others. She had been too happy to speak.

It was this quote that has got me thinking and so I have called the Christmas Day sermon, "The Tardis and the Stable". I remember another friend using line about the Timelord and the Lord of Time; will be nicking that too!

Carol Service resources

This is a bit late but a couple of pieces that I am using in church over the next few days.

The New Zealand kids nativity is a great piece of video for a Carol Service. I am using it in the Crib Service on Christmas Eve and it even comes in HD.

The quality of the Lego Nativity is not so high but it's engaging and I plan to use it this afternoon in what is usually one of our biggest services of the year (only our Kids Holiday Club Service is bigger). With all the ice on the ground it will be interesting to see if that is the case this year.

You can see both videos by clicking the link under "Our Friends Eclectic" in the top right hand bit of the page.

Snow!

Today we woke to the biggest snowfall the town has seen for many years. Only about five inches but I've heard people say it was the most for a good 25 years. It's a wonderful novelty but will really knock a hole in our congregations for the main Carol Services tomorrow.

Good to get out in it with my camera.

Odd to see snow on the beach.

The morning service is going to be led by two of these yobs. What is the world coming to?

Digital Nativity

Here's another great resource for a Carol Service, courtesy of the interweb thing. What would the nativity look like if played out through social media? Thanks to the Baptist Union for highlighting this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkHNNPM7pJA&feature=watch_response

How To Find Jesus!

Made me laugh - could well be finding it's way into a sermon this season.

Churches fit GPS to Baby Jesus to stop nativity thefts
Updated: Sunday, 05 Dec 2010, 8:46 AM EST
Published : Sunday, 05 Dec 2010, 8:46 AM EST

(FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com) - Churches in the US are fitting their baby Jesus statues with GPS trackers to stop them being stolen from their Christmas nativity scenes, myFOXny.com reported Friday.

Company BrickHouse Security is providing free GPS trackers to churches and communities across the country.

Religious institutions and nonprofit organizations can enroll in a program to get a free GPS tracker to install inside a baby Jesus statue. Jewish organizations can also fit them to their Menorah candle holders for Hanukkah.

The company said the tracker means that if a thief makes off with the cherished item the church, synagogue, or other group can log on via computer or mobile phone to track the missing items.

St. Ambrose Roman Catholic Church in Old Bridge, New Jersey -- about 40 miles (64km) southwest of New York City -- installed the device after suffering from thefts and vandals in the past.

"There's been no attempt of theft since we announced that we're tracking our Jesus," said Alan Czyewski of St. Ambrose Church. "This is our third year, and we love this. People are now well aware of our GPS Jesus, so they leave it alone."

Read more: http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/offbeat/church-protects-manger-with-gps-jesus-20101203-akd

It's A Wonderful Life

Last night was the final Reel Issues of the year and I was delighted to have 83 come along to watch It's a Wonderful Life, easily a record attendance. What a delight it was to see the film in it's original black and white on the big screen in such great quality - digitally remastered and sent to the cinema on a hard disk - it looked stunning.

Watching it in a cinema was a great atmosphere and I had forgotten how funny it was, as well as (obviously) it being so moving. My friend Andy lead the discussion afterwards and pointed out that many of the themes were similar to Up (our first film in the series) and also, at the end of the discussion, drew out how it is a truly Christmas film, featuring a lead character who repeatedly sacrifices himself and empties himself of everything for the benefit of all those around him. He put it better than that though.

We intend to continue Reel Issues in February and asked for feedback last night on ideas for films that we could show. Given that the idea is to discuss the big ideas and moral and spiritual themes in a film it was amusing to get one suggestion that we should show "musicals - i.e. Sound of Music" or "comedy - i.e. Dad's Army". Clearly need to work on communicating what we are trying to do!

It has been freezing cold here with such heavy frosts that the the grass and trees have been covered and not thawed out during the day. It looks like it has snowed and so it felt a bit like Christmas before we watched the film. Afterwards, so much more so...

And the winner is...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/treetops_photos/4706913127/in/pool-boscc/


Last time I posted I mentioned that the standard of the pictures at the camera club is dauntingly good. Here is a link to the picture that won the competition on Monday, a truly stunning image.

On a freezing beach this afternoon

Bitterly cold on the beach this afternoon, I managed to be gloves off for a few pictures for just six minutes. After that, very numb indeed. I've just joined a camera club and am in turn inspired and despairing when I see some of the work of the other guys - some seriously talented people there. But I think I am learning a little from them and one of those is the effect of a simple filter (an ND grad apparently) on this scene. As you see from the before and after, it makes a huge difference to the sky in this one and black and white suits it better too.

I've a long way to go but after this afternoon no-one can ever accuse me of just being a fair-weather photographer.

Christmas Flash Mob

I do love this. It's almost a radical act - a guerilla raid on consumerism in the Christmas season. It made me cry, though that might be partly explained by a lack of sleep after staying up too late watching cricket.


Take a look at the link at the top right hand side of the page to see for yourself.

Funny fishermen

I have been reading The Message as a way of keeping my own bible reading fresh recently and came across these words from Mark 1, when Jesus called his first followers:


"A dozen yards or so down the beach, he (Jesus) saw the brothers James and John, Zebedee's sons. They were in the same boat, mending their fishnets."
Either a wonderful Christian innocence in Eugene Peterson (the translator) or it doesn't have the same connetations in America.

Far too shirty!

True story. A week ago I was in the study finishing some work while my wife was in the next room, putting away clean washing. She calls through to say that there is no more drawer and wardrobe space for her to put my shirts away. I shout back not to disturb me as I am writing a sermon on greed.

On reflection I realised I had a choice. Tear down my wardrobe and build bigger ones (or at least put together bigger ones) or do the right thing and redistribute the wealth.

So I had a sort through this morning and am as embarrassed as I was surprised to find that I was able to lose 23 shirts and still have plenty left to wear. Felt pleased with myself until I counted what was left. I still had too many, so a second cull was called for.

This time I got expert assistance; my wife helped. Another dozen were added to the pile. I am rather ashamed that I was able to be rid of 35 shirts. I still have plenty.

The result? I find out some things about myself. Last week I had over 60 shirts. I am surprised because I think you'd be fairly hard pressed to find anyone who would describe me as fashion conscious. I guess I have aquired shirts here and there and not thrown out or donated at anything like the same rate. I am embarrassed because I realise that this is an example of greed, something I don't like to associate with myself. Sometimes the evidence is a lot less attractive than what we like to picture in our heads.

I dare you to count your shirts. You may be almost as bad as me.

The picture is of a man who came up with a different solution and decided to wear all 120 shirts at the same time.

Japan, Heaven 17 and Joy

There is plenty wrong with the internet. Only yesterday a woman called Phyllis wanted to be my friend on Facebook and sent me a naked profile picture to encourage me. I declined but did report it. Possibly more destructive for me is the opportunity to waste time on it - browsing, shopping, blogging...

But one of the ways the internet is fantastic is in finding stuff that someone has an interest in that few others have. Thanks to the www. I was able to trace and purchase an album that very few people bought at all, let alone on CD. Neither is it available as an MP3 download - at least not legally. And now I have replaced my cassette copy of the final Heaven 17 album (until they reformed) with the CD.

All this is thanks to a fellow with an unpronouncable name in some corner of Japan who cleared out some of his CDs one day - quite possibly at his wife's insistance. (Some things are pretty universal). About a tenner and just 7 days later it lands on my doorstep. The result is a singular joy - in that no-one else in my family shares it - and a slight feeling of guilt that I still know most of the words a mere 22 years on.

Coming soon - I hope - Pleasure One, the CD before, which lost the race to arrive first, coming from Washington DC. Can't wait.

The top right hand column has one of the tracks linked to it. Nothing to see but it'll give you something to listen to.

Mad old woman and the men's books

No the heading has nothing to do with my wife's birthday this week.

With a little time to kill today I found myself in Bridgwater Indoor Market, possibly the most depressing place in Somerset. Even then, it's hard to pass by a pile of books that need to be browed through and I was leafing through when the volunteer (I was in a charity shop) informed me that the men's books were on the shelves 'over there'.

Slightly wary of what I might find, I saw that she was directing me to pile of thrillers and war books. Some odd choices in amongst them - Harry Potter a men's book? - but they were all of a genre.

In the end I made my choice, a Will Self novel that was in the other section. Tongue in cheek, I asked if it would be okay to buy it, even though it was in the women's section. "Whatever, I don't care if you're AC/DC", came the reply.

Good old Bridgwater.

Mosiac

Went to play golf today on my day off but the rain beat us and so I've been mooching around the house instead. Thanks to my good friend Catherine I found out how to make one of these, all taken last month in sunny Brixham. Makes me want to revisit soon.

All the stuff to play with photos was in the bighugelabs website. A fun thing for a rainy day.

Alice Cooper - Odd but heartening

Stuck in traffic yesterday on the way back from hospital visiting, Alice Cooper was talking on the Richard Bacon show. One of the questions was asking him about his religious faith and it was odd but very heartening to hear him describe himself as the Prodigal Son, how he reads the Bible every day, believes it is the word of God and how he would make a lousy god.

I thought he came over really well, you can check it out for yourself on http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/dailybacon.

It's under "Alice Cooper and Bill Bailey", starts at 12 minutes 55 seconds and lasts four minutes.

Playlist for Changing Lanes

More fun preparing for the Reel Issues evening this month. I am slightly apprehensive that we are showing the 15 rated Changing Lanes this time but it's a great film that brings out some interesting moral / spiritual / ethical questions.

As usual I have prepared a playlist for pre-film. A pointless exercise, I suspect, as I am probably the only one who recognises the songs or realises that they are themed. But it's light relief on a Monday morning and I enjoy it. Note the intrusion of Belle and Sebastian, a relatively modern beat combo.

Always Crashing In The Same Car - David Bowie
Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word - Elton John

Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car - U2

Crash - The Primitives

I Love My Car - Belle and Sebastian

Another lovely day on Burnham beach

After church this morning I tried to photograph the speedboats racing in the bay but they were way out of range. Quite like this though, after some Photoshop fiddling.

Exeter City 2 Brentford 4

A crazy game, people. It's the often disbelieved claim of the fan that we was robbed but man, this one took the biscuit. Awful goalkeeping cost us this one and yet it would have been six had he not saved two penalties. The stats show that we were all over them, more shots on target, more off target, more corners, blah, blah, blah. But what matters is scoring goals and we conceded three very soft ones.

An extract written by a Brentford fan confirms:

"well what can i say.

two pints of guiness and time to reflect with a pub full of exeter city fans.

Basically outplayed and outpassed for 80 mins. won 4 : 2 had one disallowed and missed two penalties. Who said this is a strange game.

Came away thinking we had got away with it and really deserved nothing from the game.

Three points is three points and on we go. Unfortunately it was exeters fpptball i would rather watch each week.

Not being negative but very honest after a very strange game.

I would suggest Andy Scott does the lottery tonight though."

Never mind, hey? Onwards and upwards. Let's see, who's next? Ah, top of the table Brighton away on Tuesday. Hmmm...

I consoled myself with taking a few pictures. In order, Ryan Harley - playmaker signed from Weston Super Mare; Liam Sercombe; Jamie Cureton and his second (consolation) goal.

Church Weekend Away

Had a great weekend away last week as half of the church decamped to Paignton. We had a great time together, my friend Chris Spinks doing an excellent job of teaching some of what the Bible tells us about prayer. In the week that followed I am encouraged that I have had several conversations with people who are trying to get into new habits - indeed I am one of those people. Not that I had a conversation with myself but you get what I am trying to say.


We were also blessed with a musician who led us in some new songs - so nice to sing live songs rather than CDs as we usually do in church services. And to top it off we all went along to a terrific service at Brixham Baptist Church on the Sunday morning. It was a combined family service for harvest and the festival of the sea and was SO creative that you really did not know what was going to be happening next - a rare thing indeed in a church service.



Followed the weekend away with a few days in Brixham, a truly beautiful place to relax in. And play with a camera at.

Replanting a church

Despite being au fait with the concept of church planting - indeed having been involved with helping plant one - I had never heard of replanting a church until recently. Most of the church leadership were on a day conference on Reading and reaching your community when Martin Robinson used this term. As it became clearer in the course of things, this is when the church undergoes changes to get back on course in terms of it's mission to the community it is in.

One of the churches present shared a story of how they made some structural changes to the fabric of the building which marked a new beginning to who they were and what they were doing as a church and it struck us very clearly that this is what we had done as well.

We were left a legacy as a church just after I got here which meant we could update our building. We took out the pews, installed chairs, rid ourselves of some 'sacred furniture', removed the pulpit. All the kind of thing that religious people hate you for doing but nearly all the negative comments we had were from people who don't come to our church and like to look in on dark wooden pews and panelling when they visit every umpteen years.

Without intending or realising it, it seems we put a new stamp on the place and it has signalled a new start for us, or a replanting if you like. I am quite excited to find that we have been doing this without knowing and it helps us to make sense of what we are doing. We have a long way to go but without having done all this we would still be fighting tradition at every corner. Instead we can move on and fight battles that are worth fighting.

Made in Dagenham

Terrific film. Really enjoyed it. If you like Calendar Girls then you'll like this. A good British cast, funny, moving, thought-provoking. To think that the battle for equal pay was still raging when I was a toddler. What did people think that they were doing, paying women less for doing the same? Seems like a weird thing from this distance.

The Hurt Locker

Anyone know how this finished? We started it last night and then got scared and couldn't finish it.

We own our football club

Living with a Liverpool fan, it's hard not to have some sympathy for the farce that teh club have been through over the last few weeks. Seems all is done and dusted now - at least for a while.

Down a couple of divisions I support a team that is owned by their own supporters - the only trust owned team in the football league. It came out of similar mismanagement some years ago and now, safely promoted from non-league football, Exeter City seem to be punching above their weight as we rise to 7th this evening in League 1. It's a family orientated club with a genuis manager and a great crop of players. The side has been built steadily over the past five years or so and there seems to be an eye on the long term stability of the club. Being owned by the fans works well and it is a joy to support.

It seems to work well for Barcelona too.

Any excuse for cake

On Sunday we celebrated 167 years of being on the premises, though the church is at least 12 years older, having met in a house at least as early as 1831. So we had cake and are in the happy position of needing two cakes to make sure everyone got some. Interestingly we have at least two people who have been at the church for more than half of those 167 years!

Southampton 2 Tranmere 0

On Saturday I defied the camera ban at St Marys (without realising it) and took a few pictures of the game I was at. Only took my wee compact but I hadn't remembered that the club had controversially banned press photographers from the ground in order to do all photography in house. So I got a few snaps before a steward came over and had a word. Laughable really considering that we were shoved up in the gods. This picture is taken from my allocated seat even though eagle-eyed viewers will see that there were a few spare seats closer to the action. Of course, by shoving the away fans up and out of the way, you minimise any potential problems and make it harder for people to get behind their team.

I was in the away end to support a Tranmere supporting friend, I was his chaplain really. His team were woeful, Soton were excellent. Don't be fooled by their start to the season, I'd be very surprised if they aren't promoted this year. Tranmere, I fear, won't escape the drop for a second successive year.

Anyhow, bids for an exclusive action shot from the game will be considered - this is Soton's number 19, ex-Exeter City man Danny Seabourne in action. Not that he had a lot to do on the day. Taken on maximum zoom from up there, you can see why they were worried!

PS - Nigel Adkins new positive thinking regime has yet to reach the man who operates the tannoy. First song played on entering the ground - miserable and (sometimes) magnificent Morrisey.

The Truman Show

Had a great night last night, watching this film in a proper cinema. The print quality wasn't great but then it is 12 years old. I was surprised at how few people had seen it before, which might tell you something of the kind of place we are in. Some struggled with what the film was about, some loved it but UP was definately more popular last month.

In the end, is it a film that is sympathetic to the Christian faith or is it antagonistic? I think it can be argued either way. It probably comes down to whether you believe Christof to be representative of God or not - and again there is ambiguity there. He claims to be the creator but only of a show - not Truman himself. Perhaps the 139 on the sail of Truman's boat is deeply significant - refering to the Psalm. It certainly fits with the conversation between Christof and Truman that follows. Truman 'dies' in a crucified pose but is resurrected and ascends the steps to... where or what? Is the parallel with CS Lewis' The Voyage of the Dawn Treader deliberate? Or does the film argue that a True Man only finds how to truly live on turning his back on God? Or is it post-modern and just playing with images?

A number said that they felt they needed to watch it again. I have already promised to lend the DVD. We had a good conversation on the night and 54 came to watch, which was pleasing. Wondering what they will make of Changing Lanes next month. Expecting a smaller crowd for that, less well-known and a 15 for strong language.

Finally, great topical joke in Truman - newspaper headline that reads, "Who Needs Europe!" on the day we beat the US in the Ryder Cup. Good film.

Playlist for The Truman Show

We have the second of our Reel Issues films at the cinema tonight and this is what I have chosen for the playlist beforehand.

Real, Real, Real - Jesus Jones
Absolute Reality - The Alarm
Somebody Up There Likes Me - David Bowie
Watching - The Thompson Twins
Even Better Than The Real Thing - U2
Once In A Lifetime - Talking Heads (You may tell yourself, this is not your beautiful house, with your beautiful wife...)

Looking forward to it!

Highs and Lows

Bit of a roller-coaster weekend. Saturday started at 5am to finish some stuff for a wedding and Sunday's service. The wedding was fantastic. A couple who have been with us about a year and such a joyful occasion. This is the second wedding I have taken at this church, I hate to think how many funerals - not a good ratio. Really thrilled for them. Some of the church take a special pride in seeing their minister in a suit for once.


The afternoon was very sunny and warm and the family sit outside to watch the boy at a tennis tournament. There is a McEnroe moment or two and he's now saving for a new racquet. He is back on an even keel soon enough though and we get back for a good Indian meal with old friends to round off a really good day.


Sunday is mixed. I have to confess to some disappointment at Back to Church Sunday. We have ninety attend the service, which is better than average for us, but none of the ten people / families I have invited come along. In the end I think we have five extras attend due to being invited for BTCS. It doesn't seem many but without knowing how many were asked it's hard to know if this is a sign that people didn't feel able or inclined to invite friends or whether their friends (like mine) didn't fancy it. From what many think of as "church", I don't blame them and maybe it's a sign of the size of the task that we face.


Evening service is okay, we are boosted by four holiday makers but some noticeable absentees due to it being the informal prayer and praise. Our youth discussion group afterwards is loud and seems to make little progress. I come back with a headache and feel low. This is not my greatest strength and I need to work harder and prepare better for it.


Monday brings some refreshment - meet and pray with an old chum who offers some perspective, which in my tiredness I have lost. Listen to some good sermons read some helpful things and then Tuesday brings fine weather and a game of golf on my day off.

Glad to be refreshed and thinking straighter. Need to be - six talks and two groups to lead in the following five days.

Back to Church Sunday

This Sunday we taking part in the national Back to Church Sunday campaign. We have never done this before but thought it was worth a go. The idea is very simple, we invite friends, neighbours, and family to our church service and make them welcome. Hardly rocket science.

In our context we are aware that the church some people left, or have never been to, is not the church they will find if they come on Sunday. For some that will be a bad thing, others will love it. It will not look like Mr Bean Goes To Church, which I intend to show during the service.

Some research by Tearfund estimated that 3,000,000 people in the UK would come to church if invited by a friend. So let's see. Exciting!

Long Away

It's a plot to make parents feel older. My son's homework in music this week was to answer questions on Queen. At last, homework I can help him with! Offered to play him some songs but he seemed pretty underwhelmed.

Exeter City 2 Peterboro United 2

What a game! Peterboro arrived top of the table and with a fearsome scoring record. So best not gift them one, hey lads? Ahhh. Lots of early pressure from the away team as they pressed and a mix up between centre back Troy Archibald-Henville (imagine the cost of that on the back of a shirt!) and keeper Paul Jones sees an own goal give the Posh the lead. One nil is the score at half-time but Exeter are easing back into the game and finish the half strongly.

Second half and Exeter have the upper hand. Goals from new boy Nardiello and very old boy Jamie Cureton see Exeter take a deserved lead before an equaliser from Peterboro with about ten minutes to go. From then on it's described as "playground football" as the teams take it in turns to attack, looking for that illusive winner. The very last action has Archibald-Henville's headers hacked off the line and at the final whistle the opposing benches are all smiles and handshakes - you just know that they have enjoyed a thrilling game of football. My man of the match was Richard Duffy at centre half, a terrific performance with some very timely tackles when we were under the cosh in teh first half. A Wales recall cannot be far off.

Slightly worrying is that the attendance was a little down on normal. The Exeter Chiefs are at home and now that they are a Premiership rugby team, has this made a difference? Away support was lower than usual too but then it's some trip down. More games like this and attandance should hold up though, terrific entertainment.

It's been a good start to the season and my prediction at the beginning of the season (which raised some scorn in the family) that we'd be somewhere between half-way and just missing out on the play-offs this season, may not be so far out. We'll see. Early days. Happy days.

Terry Jones and Intolerant Christians

It was planned months ago but last Sunday I found myself preaching on Intolerant Christians in the week that a pastor in the States was planning to burn the Koran.

The series is on objections that people have to the Christian faith and week two was called, "I'd like to believe but religious people are too intolerant". Good old Tel provided me with a perfect illustration, though I wish he hadn't.

By way of contrast I spoke on John 8.1-11 and the woman caught in adultery. Can't help but marvel again how Jesus said to her, "I don't condemn you". How different we often are. Grace is so outrageous. Caught in bed with a guy and Jesus tells her this!

I had one person walk out - to later return to tell me I was off-beam on this. Trouble is, he missed the second point - Jesus tells her to go home and stop living this way. There's a Charles Spurgeon quote (think it is him) that says that if a person is scandalised by grace to the extent that they think you are in danger of being too soft on sin, then you are probably preaching it well. So I hope it was that. But, of course, I may be kidding myself.

I suspect that people like Terry Jones would be picking up rocks. It isn't the way of Jesus.

Old Toys

Like lots of other people I have boxes that follow me from place to place which never get unpacked. Following the need to clear out a few things in order to make the house attractive to potential buyers I took the decision to get rid of my old Subbuteo bits and pieces. All that this required on my wife's part was about 15 years (reasonably) gentle encouragement.

So I photographed them (to general family amusement) and listed them on eBay. They aren't laughing anymore. Everything was sold. Some of it for silly money. Four Leeds players for £8.49 for example. The nine Feyenoord players that survived those heady European nights wing their way to Italy for £26. The rest was much more modest but I wish I hadn't repainted and ruined a few of them.

To mark this momentous time in my life I give you (in the top right hand corner) a link to The Undertones and My Perfect Cousin - the only song I know that mentions Subbuteo. The couplet, "His Ma bought a synthesizer, Got the Human League in to advise her" is sheer class.

New Toy

I was able to play with my new toy for the first time at the weekend. Still trying to work out lots of the buttons and settings but was pleased to get a few in focus. The potential picture quality is amazing, now I need to try and tame it. This is quite heavily cropped but still looks sharp and all I did afterwards is warm it up a bit. I'm quite pleased with it but at the end of the day it's a only a picture of a bird on a feeder. Beware - more dull photos can be expected in the coming months.

Reel Issues - Up

Last night we put on the first of our Reel Issues film nights at the local cinema. Got there 45 minutes early to be ready to greet people and check everything was alright for the projectionist (and get the CD played). Asked how many had pre-booked and was told "One". As the screen holds 110 this was a little disconcerting.

But book it and the people will come as another film famously (almost) puts it. And in the end we had 57 people come along to watch the film and of them 50 must have stayed for the discussion afterwards. Discussion was relaxed and insightful and quite quickly one lady raised the main theme (certainly according to the film makers) that adventure isn't just out there, it's happening everyday as we do stuff together with other people. I was really pleased with the event, it was a really good evening and I think most people will come back.

In focusing on the sadness of the film at the beginning I has forgotten how funny it was overall and being in a cinema with people who haven't watched it before was a great experience. If you've not seen the film you must, it's fabulous.

Next month we watch The Truman Show together.

Up - the playlist

Had fun choosing songs for the playlist for music before tonight's showing of Up. Settled for these in the end:

The Last Balloon - XTC
In The Air Tonight - Phil Collins
Up, Up and Away - The Beloved
Castles In The Air - The Colourfield
Tonight We Fly - The Divine Comedy
Up, Up and Away - Andy Williams (different song to The Beloved)
99 Red Balloons - Nena

Am very excited about tonight's film. The very first in our series Reel Issues, organised with the local churches. We have hired the cinema, rented a film and are offering the chance to discuss some of the issues it raises afterwards. Have done some homework so as to appear intelligent in discussion and just hope I am not there with only my family for company.

Yesterday

Was a full on day but was quite encouraging all the same. Whatever possessed me to think that speaking on The God Delusion, having people back for lunch, leading the communion service and preaching on Romans 8, and then hosting a barbeque for the Youth Group later that evening would be a good idea?

We had a number of new people around for the first 'proper' morning service after Holiday Club, some extra kids, some Mums (because everyone knows Dads are too hard to go to church) and the Dawkins thing turned out to be less scary than I feared. Was surprised by how feeble some of the professor's arguments are. He is (presumably - it's hard to tell with O level Physics) a brilliant scientist but his theology is very poor. Wasn't the greatest sermon ever but got a few thank yous from people who seem to have appreciated it.

Lunch was lovely, with a family 'home' from Ethiopia who popped across to speak in church about the work they are doing. Rather humbled by what they have chosen to do in order to do their work, in terms of such a different country and culture. As always, interesting to hear what they find odd about UK compared with five years ago when they left.

Grabbed a little sleep (a Pastor's secret weapon on a Sunday afternoon) before the evening service, where I think I completely woke up about 20 minutes into the service. Great to be able to preach about the complete freedom that there is for Christians, how the slate is well and truly wiped clean. "There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus". Reflected on the difference between feelings and fact. There are times when we don't feel this but it is still fact. Glorious.

Then one burger too many at the BBQ but great to see extra kids come along. Three were new because they have just become old enough to attend, two are on the fringes and have hardly been around at all. Hope this will encourage them to join with the other six and that we'd grow into something great for the kingdom.

A long day. A good day. The next few days are busy too but predictably I was get to sit and read and rest for the best part of the day this morning because the dentist was running late. Is it healthy when you look forward to a filling and the time you have to spend in a waiting room?

2020 Vision

A very encouraging day yesterday. Each year the leaders of the church go away for the day to think and pray and plan. This year we were helped by Nigel, who helps a bunch of churches in this area, as we thought about the future.

We started by looking at the last five years and were asked how things are, compared with then, in four areas - Numerically, Spiritually, Relationally, and Missionally. Some of those things are hard to gauge of course (we didn't even reach consensus on some of the numbers). But even though we know that we are far from the finished product it was encouraging to see how we have changed and, dare we say, progressed? There is much to be thankful for and sometimes you need to sit down and have these discussions in order to appreciate how far we have been brought on our journey.

It's impossible to know what the future holds, of course, but we then discussed what we might look like in 2020. Firstly, if current trends continue, and secondly, our best (realistic) hope. We have been blessed with growth this past five years. If it continues, or even increases, (and it's a big but possible "if") then what steps do we need to take to play our part in seeing it happen? And what will church need to look like in terms of support structures and the like if it does come to pass?

It confirmed a lot of my thinking and was very helpful in that Nigel drew these things out of us far better than I would have communicated them myself. Plus he had a good number of further insights which helped us all. As a result of the day we left as a group closer to sharing a vision rather than me just assuming everyone knew what we are doing - because, hey, it's obvious isn't it? We have some things to mull over and put into place after the day and that is going to be helpful to us as a group.

A good day, only enhanced by being able to eat outside in warm September sunshine.