The truth will set you free

St Pauls

2012-01-25T22:53:00.000Z

The last time I was inside St Paul's cathedral I was less than 11 years old. I don't remember much of it, most of my memories are 'filled in' from TV programs. So when we were offered the chance to go to the ordination and consecration of our new bishop the Venerable John Wraw, it seemed like an excellent idea. It so happens that the service was also on St Paul's patronal festival. Even with the Occupy London tents the area around St Paul's is impressive from the outside.

(Picture from http://static-imgs-acf.hereisthecity.com/20110721//56/occupy_london_tents_by_st_pauls_8747.jpg)
Even more so from inside. I tried to compare it to Canterbury - much more ornate and larger I think, but my memory could be playing tricks.

We entered by the west door, - a side one, not the huge centre one - that was opened for the bishops to leave by and let all the heat out of the cathedral in an instant. Chelmsford on the left, Winchester on the right - we took our seats about 10:20, with plenty of time to spare. We had collected a service book from a wand bearer and I do mean book - it has 38 pages.
The service started roughly on time. The sound of the clock chimes reminding us that it was 11:00 am, just as they would later in the service (for noon, not 11am again!). The sung Eucharist is an amazing service mainly because of the sound of 1000+ people singing. The service book has helpful extracts of the music to help us all sing along. Well those who can sing. Stephen Cottrell preach a very entertaining sermon, like a wedding sermon, it was mainly addressed to the new bishops. From where we were sitting he appeared about 0.5 inches high, and his voice came somewhere from the left. Quite disconcerting for a while.
Then came the Eucharist. Chaos very nearly reigned. Are people distracted, unthinking, or simply uncaring? Why can they not simply follow the person in front who has been directed back to their seat the correct way. Then St Paul's would not have a traffic problem!
After the service some of us met in a Pizza Express for lunch. Rather expensive, but very nice.
Then it was back on the train home. A very enjoyable day.

Christmas 2011

2012-01-01T17:41:00.000Z

Christmas 2011

The Christmas break for me ran from 21 December to 3 January. It's been a good relaxing time for the most part, but there has been some work involved and an unpleasant visit to the dentist.The only downside has been a robbery that meant that some of the family did not receive the Christmas presents they would have.Well, that and the dentist. The dentist is always an experience I hate. I have been 3 times in the last few weeks and have to have an extraction on 3 Jan. It could be worse of course, I could be in pain with no access to a dentist!

This year I was not involved in leading or preaching at Christmas, which meant that I could choose the services I attended. My only duty was to lead intercessions at the mid-night service. So I was at the last Christingle service on Christmas eve, the midnight communion service and the Christmas Day service. Christingle was still well supported even though Christmas eve fell on a Saturday. I had expected the numbers to be down but that was not the case. Indeed the attendances have been good through the whole period.

Karen and Robert were waiting for us in the church car park on Christmas Day and we spent the rest of the day with them. Present opening was super fast this year as Andy took change and 'speed delivered' the presents from the tree to the recipient. I'll let you imagine what speed delivered means. The there was a family dog walk in the increasing gloom in the later afternoon.

On Boxing Day (St Stephens Day) we went to visit my nephew for the evening meal. His wife had cooked for all of us and his family. Once my children and my sisters children get together you can be sure of a loud evening with plenty of banter and probably quite a bit of "Sing Star" - competitive karaoke. We were not disappointed.

The next three days operated on the more classic 'Pete Time', getting up late and going to bed late. The routine became sleep, eat, walk the dog, repeat. Except for building the new computers at church. These must be usable by 3 Jan when the office opens for business. For the first time ever we have purchased new equipment - two identical machines and a more sophisticated storage and backup system. The basics are ready but there is much more to do before our vision is complete.

Today I led a spoken only service which I was expecting would not be well attended - I was wrong again. While not at the levels of a normal Sunday there was a respectable number in the congregation. There were also some old friends, who we increasingly only see once a year. refreshments were no available but I invited the congregation to stay and chat. The 45 minute service was followed by about 45 minutes of chat. Really good to see that we don't need refreshments for this to happen.

P.S. How do I get my google+ photo's on my blog? With picasa it's easy, a link is provided, but with google+ I haven't a clue!

Carol Service and other Christmas preparations

2011-12-21T18:07:00.000Z

On Tuesday 13th December I led and preached at the Carol Service, but that was NOT the high light of the service. That honour falls to the Wickford Salvation Army Band. They were our guests and did a superb job of leading the music - and following the words that appeared on the screen. The subject was "Christmas starts with Christ", to pick up the theme of the National Advertising campaign. Here's my sermon. Following the service an old memory returned - the song "Banner Man", which as I r4membered it was about a Salvation Army marching band. Who was it by? There was much discussion but it took a long time to come to me. While I was walking the dog it came to me "Blue Mink". So Christmas has started, and the preparations are now at an advanced stage. My shopping is done - most of it anyway and work is finished. It is odd being ready for Christmas before 6pm on Christmas Eve - I must have forgotten something - lots of things.

This will be the last Christmas we have together as a family, if everyone's plans work out, so it's more important than usual to enjoy it.

Kingfisher

2011-10-13T20:48:00.000+01:00

Tuesday we went to Aberystwyth. The beach has dark grey sand and varying size stones. We were kicking the ball for Brody. He chased it everywhere and enjoyed the water, but eventually lost it in the spray of the tide. We watched it being taken away by the rip of the tide, until finally we lost sight of it altogether. Then on to Llanrhystud for ice cream and a walk along the path back to Aberystwyth. The path is far from dog friendly and we had to help Brody over a stile. He completely ignored the sheep in the field.

Wednesday morning was awful weatherwise. It was also the first attempt at getting Brody to run along by my bicycle. He likes to hold the lead as he runs, but that makes the direction he runs in inconsistent - and therefore potentially dangerous. Riding down the hill I was caught in a gust of wind in the rain - just like having a bucket of cold water thrown at you. When he came back he was very tired, so was I. In the afternoon we left Brody in the cottage and headed for RSPB Ynys-hyr. There was a noticeable lack of birds. Nothing at all - not one from the first hide. In the second hide there was very little. Just a flash of blue across the eye line. It landed on a spindly tree and turned around, showing a bright flash of orange. A Kingfisher! I had to check the board in the hide, just to be sure I wasn't imagining it. There it was on the board, and also still on the tree - right at the limit of the binoculars, I watched go from tree to water. in and out, three times. It was too far away to see if it had caught something. What a treat - I've waited fifty odd years to see one. RSPB Ynys-hyr is a disappointment from a sign posting point of view. We could not find the short path back, and had to go back past the hides we'd already visited. In the evening we went into Caersws for Fish and Chips - very nice. We ate it sitting on the seat across the road from the shop and opposite the pub - which just proves the weather isn't that bad really.

Thursday started with another dog cycle, then we went into Newtown for food and petrol. The consumption is high here because you are always slowing down for a lower speed limit or a tight bend - I rarely use the brakes as often or for as long. After shopping we walked along the Severn to the Pwll Penarth Nature reserve, past the disused canal. It's a pleasant walk. Almost level, mostly between fences, quiet and peaceful. It's supposed to be a cycle path but we only saw one cyclist. The round trip distance was 5.34 miles. Then we drove to Llanfair Caereinion to see if the trains were running (they're not, weekends only) and exercise the dog. Then back to the cottage for our £10 meal deal from Tesco - delicious.

Blaenglanhanog

2011-10-12T22:29:00.000+01:00

So, the final holiday of 2011 is underway. We are staying in perhaps the most luxurious cottage of the year Blaenglanhanog.

From 2011_10 Blaenglanhanog

This cottage sleeps 6 easily. This is large in the way that Thatched Farm was small. Wales in October is wet. Wednesday is the wettest. We expected rain before we came and it is not a problem in itself, but being in the hills and well away from settlements - even the village is over a mile away - I was hoping to get to see the Milky Way. No chance so far. Tomorrow might be a good chance - we'll see. What is really good about holidaying this time of year is that dawn occurs at the right time to wake up. We do not set an alarm clock and when we wake up in the night it is dark - properly dark - can't see your hands dark. So when there is light it is obviously time to get up.

On Sunday we visited Grandma's Garden. It's in the grounds of a hotel. I walked into reception to get the tickets.
"Hello" said a guy dressed like a head Chef, minus the hat.
"Hello, we've come to visit the garden"
"Brave!" he replied, followed by a long warning about how slippery it is - which we soon found was true. Slipping and sliding around the grounds with an inquisitive dog was not to be recommended. The Jo slipped over and dropped her camera through a nettle patch. I managed to retrieve it, but it had hit the decking on the way down. The lens was pointing the wrong way. Despite this it has to be said that the garden was probably not worth the visit. Its a nice idea, but it is falling apart. m Perhaps Grandma is getting too old to maintain it properly.
Later we visited Borth to allow Brody to run on the beach. There is a lot of work going on, but not on a Sunday evening. It had a run-down feel. Brody enjoyed the beach and we enjoyed the walk.

On Monday we visited Llanbrynmair and walked up to the mobile phone mast on the Glyndwrs way. I went on a little further, on the way back we watched the sheep being moved to a new field. It took about 2 hours. After lunch we went into Machynlleth to buy a ball thrower for Brody. The we played in the grounds of the Plas – he broke the first ball immediately. We had a spare in the car. Jo bought some more.
We moved on to Dolgoch falls and finally on to Tywyn beach

Public Worship with Communion by Extension

2011-09-25T21:11:00.000+01:00

It's been a long time since I've led communion by extension. Since the last time the service has been revised and the Readers, including me, trained. So it was out with the robes (a pleasant surprise for some) and the new service sheet to see how things would work out.
I had spent a considerable amount of time during the week working on getting the liturgy onto the PC only to discover that the powerpoint approach does not work on the church Laptop - slightly annoying, but we had the service sheets so it wasn't a disaster. PWCE is supposed to NOT look and feel like a Holy Communion service. Some of the changes that have been made to achieve that made the transition into the communion liturgy seem clunky and I will have to take another long careful look at what we do and how we do it, if I have the opportunity to lead this service again. I explained at the start that it was a new service, so hopefully I didn't put people off too much.
The service was 1 hour and 45 minutes. This is long by our standards, we are normally finished in 1.5 hours.
Most of the feedback I received at the end related to the robes, and some to the length of the service. What I really wanted to hear about was the service - what worked well, what didn't, what people found difficult. So if you were at Christ Church this morning please comment.

DXA Scan #2

2011-09-24T17:16:00.000+01:00

Thursday I went for the first follow-up DXA scan. It was supposed to be in February, but getting things done in the NHS is not all it could be. The the appointment only came through a week ago and included a blood test, which I had to take the following day to get it completed in time.
So the scan itself was the same as last time. Some buzzing and whirring and some pictures of my bones at the end.
The good news is that my densities have increased in all three locations, hips and spine. I was told though that the spinal increase is probably due to arthritis. I'm sure I remember being told that improvement was impossible - but there it is and no-one was trying to deny it. This is apparently down to exercise, so the dog is therefore responsible. Without him I would not get out as much and certainly would never be running - not that I do much of that anyway.
The even better news is that I do not have to go on any more medication. Officially I have Osteopenia, and am not a great risk of further fractures. After my last experience with Alendronic Acid (called Alendronate now?) I was not looking forward to having to try any new medication along those lines.

The problem of the pears

2011-08-27T15:24:00.000+01:00

There's an old lady (I hope she won't mind being called that) who has a lovely big garden with two enormous trees - one has apples and the other pears.The crop of apples has been poor this year, so I will concentrate on the pear tree which has produced a good crop. It is a big tree and there is no way that she can reach most of the pears, so she has to let them fall and collect them from the ground. The impact from even a reasonable height is enough to damage the fruit. Only a few people are able to visit her and collect some of the pears, which she is very happy to give away.
In the distant past the crop would have had some value to the local community, some people, perhaps youngsters, would have picked the pears. Someone may even have collected them and sold them. In our time they have no value. You cannot pay someone to pick them, perhaps you never could, but now most will go to waste. I don't have a problem with the concept of leaving some for the wildlife - that is entirely a good idea. What I object to is pears being flown across the world and sold to us, when we can't even be organised enough to take the crops we have. That is not taking good care of our world.
God provides everything for our sustenance. We just let the good things rot because we can't be bothered.
Everyone has a role to play and our personal choices make things happen on a grander scale (or not).

Worse, as pears go, they are very nice pears.

Caffiene Christianity pt 2

2011-08-16T20:44:00.000+01:00

The remainder of the week was amazing. The small party from Christ Church enjoyed a barbeque together one evening, sometimes we all went to the same evening worship, other time we didn't. Then there were the seminars. There are three a day, if you can handle them. I didn't manage 3 every day. There was too much to take in even with the ones I did manage.

Here are some high lights.
From "A God shaped hole in politics" discussed how we should be involved in political action and how each or the parties has at least one prayer organization. While it becomes more difficult to 'do God' (as Tony Blair said he didn't), it begins to become easier to be 'on God's side' and allow you experiences with Him to shape you policies. The 20th Century is called the Secular Century.

Caroline Cox spoke to us about HART. If you think we should be cutting the aid budget what she said and showed might change your mind. Britain is not a third world country. HART's slogan is "We can't do everything, but we mustn't do nothing"

Bishop Zac from Kampala said he didn't think he had a message from God for us. Thankfully he was wrong and preached one of the best sermons I have heard. He identified 3 things that are wrong with Western Society, I can't remember the first. The second was 'Health & Safety'. "People die all the time" "Why are you afraid of dieing when you know where you're going?" The third was the 'ME' culture. At the end there should have been a massive call to repentance - there wasn't, it was the weeks biggest disappointment. I've been told I should have gone to the front and told them - but I didn't.

"How to make your church sing louder in 108 difficult steps"
The title alone was intriguing, and I would love our church to sing louder. It was all about finding your 'song'. Or put more conventionally, it was about understanding what God is saying about himself to the world through you. When we sing songs that our lives are in tune with the result is louder singing.

The Leadership Crisis
Among the 20-30 year olds the church is seen as failing. We need Lions - from that age group, or perhaps the 30+ age to bring them back to God. This seminar also contained one of the saddest thoughts for me - a leader can only communicate effectively with those who are between 10 years younger and 10 years older.

Towards Maturity
Mary Pytches gave a talk on her course and I bought the DVD and the workbook to see if it will work in our Church.

Theology Training
The course (to degree level) is taken over six years and covers theology and a lot of practical teaching about mission. It looks really good, I could easily dedicate myself to it. However, there's always a 'but'. I have other things that I'm called to do.

The Market Place
Holds a bookstall and loads of shops and stands. The Oscar stand was offering 'employment' (in quotes because employment usually implies salary, but not in this case). There was even a job I could do - which set me thinking and praying.

There was much more, it was a week of great blessing. This is enough for now.

Caffiene Christianity

2011-08-03T19:59:00.001+01:00

First impressions are generally reckoned to be a bad thing, but sometimes they give an insight that is worth thinking about. My first impression of New Wine is coffee. There are coffee bars everywhere, even the two huge temporary buildings - tent just doesn't describe it adequately - have coffee bars. Looking just a little closer you will notice that they are all selling coffee AND there is a queue. Its not decaffeinated, I know this because that's what I must drink now and when I ask for it they make it specially. It seems the current generation of Christians is addicted to caffeine.
Now, to more important impressions. I have attended Christian Events, festivals, and teaching weeks before Spring Harvest many times between 1980 and 1996, and Greenbelt many times. Both have the the same feeling of safety. A sure and certain hope that if you loose you wallet, you will find it in lost property with all the cash still inside, I am very pleased to report that New Wine has the same feeling.

After a difficult drive on Saturday we had a quiet day on Sunday, the first official day. We arrived at the site after a short walk from the Prestleigh Inn, shortly after 9am. We were amazed at the ease of entry to the site – the tickets were checked and that was it. After investigating the site for a couple of hours we returned to the pub and watched the German GP. Then went down stairs into the restaurant for our second meal of the day. The food at the Inn is basic good pub food served piping hot and in generous portions.

Mark Bailey, the leader of the week welcomed those attending the imaginatively named Venue 1. He also led the worship. I didn't even realize his talk had started, so missed the first few minutes. He spoke on the cleansing of the temple in John2:13-17. The theme for the week is Passion. Here are some of the things he said (or I heard), with some comments from me where they are appropriate. It was a long, but helpful start to the week. Here are a few comments I recorded and my comments on them. I have tried NOT to get out of context, but I'm definitely fallible, so if it isn't what you heard ...

"The temple must have looked like a bar room brawl had just happened after Jesus had finished with it."
Jesus was angry, and no doubt did a LOT of damage.

"There is never a dull moment with Jesus"
True, but it isn't all exciting either, sometimes there is hard work and painful processes to go through, but dull - never.

"God is predictably unpredictable."
We can only predict what we can understand, somethings about God are clearly known (He cannot sin, He loves us and has saved us, for example). Most things are unknown. This doesn't imply that God is volatile.

"The Holy Spirit is known as The Wild Goose in one language" - as in Wild Goose Chase . This is a difficult concept for me as it implies that God's Spirit fails to achieve his aims, or if not that, keeps the members of the kingdom busy on fruitless work.

"Maturity = sensitivity to the Holy Spirit." While I agree that sensitivity to the Spirit is part of maturity, we must recognize that the spirit communicates with us differently than we do with others. Maturity is certainly not passing on word for word what the spirit says to you (unless that is what he says to you, of course). Maturity must include appropriate sensitivity to others as well.

"To be like Jesus is to be consumed with zeal."
... and love, compassion, ...

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.

"Sin is wasted energy – chasing desires that you cannot attain."
This is a new idea to me and seems helpful, it certainly illustrates an effect of sin. No-one wants to waste their energy. Most of us bemoan our lack of energy at times.

"Following God (Jesus) is not about knowledge but desire"
I've usually heard this expressed as relationship, but of course that must be desired too.

"It is a sin NOT to be angry about the things that God is angry about."
So never being angry is a Sin. What would Julian of Norwich - who says there is no anger in God, say. Personally, I'm more with Mark than Julian.

Pentecost

2011-06-15T20:23:00.000+01:00

It's always that much harder to talk about a service that I've lead. The inputs are so different from the front. If you were there and don't recognise this description, then you will see a little of what I saw. Last Sunday was Pentecost, the day that the Christian Church was born. The day that the Holy Spirit was given to all who are willing to accept Him. We know, from our own experience and because the Bible tells us that God will not force himself on anyone. For those who are willing it is a different story. I was expecting a mood of celebration but I saw a church at peace, resting perhaps. Warner used his umbrella to show us that we should allow ourselves to be soaked in the spirit - "It's pouring - put your umbrella down!" (4 times during the sermon), the weather duly obliged and allowed us to get soaked in water. Lots of poor jokes after the service about getting wet in the rain (some from me). He talked about the fruits and the indwelling, but he was upstaged by a demonstration. A lady, who I had not met before, had recently come to a much closer relationship with God and spoke for a minute or two about what had happened to her. She communicated more than a hundred sermons in that small interlude at the end of the sermon. The Spirit poured out, overflowed - whatever you would like to call it - but it was plain for all to see. God communicated His love for His children - us. In that one place I saw the excitement I had been looking forward to.

(One) Year of the Dog

2011-06-04T12:38:00.001+01:00

On May 31 Brody, the chocolate Labrador, had been with us for one year. He is now about two and a half. For the most part having a dog has been a good experience. He is friendly and enthusiastic for play and food. He is fairly well behaved and learns at a reasonable pace. Mostly he enjoys chasing other animals out of his garden - I'm trying to train him to include pigeons in this category but he has no interest in birds most of the time.

	Here he is in the garden not understanding why I'm hiding behind a small silver box.
From Brody

	One of his favourite activities is sleeping in the sun - where ever he can find it:
From Brody

The Gospel in Every Sermon?

2011-05-28T15:56:00.001+01:00

Warner asked for our comments on this video, so here goes. Before you read on, watch it, then next time you hear me preach come and tell me if I succeeded.

My first reaction was to the Title. Why the question mark? Shouldn't that always be the case. Quite early on one of the guys says something like "Put the gospel clearly enough in every sermon so that if anyone hears it for the first time it's enough for them to be saved". Yes, now I see what he's trying to say. Normally in my preaching there are the truths from the Gospel but not always the core message about the death of Jesus and His resurrection. But I am preaching to the converted. Or am I? How often do we hear of people in church for years who have just made their first commitment to Christ? Maybe they've heard the news that Jesus can save them from sin and death lots of times, but today was the first time they really listened. He also said "Tell them how to make the decision". That's something I rarely do, and rarely hear. That seems to be left to those who are ready to pray with people after the service. I wonder if they're ready to pray with someone who wants to give their life to Jesus?
One of the guys received feedback from someone:- "I could have heard that message in a mosque". I don't think I've ever heard a sermon that I could say that about, but I can think of at least one that came close - very close -and it wasn't based on an Old Testament passage either.
Now to the culture that these guys live in. They get letters about what they SHOULD preach about because someone's bringing a friend or relative to hear the gospel. That's how committed their congregations are. It is a different world. I struggle to get useful feedback of any kind, they have requests!
The other thing I noticed about the culture, apart from is Americanness, was the view that "Evangelism should be a joy instead of a duty." That might be quite a hard sell in our church, but we do "let people tell their stories" and it's true for us as much as anyone that "everyone loves a changed life". Here they are talking about people being baptised as adults, which as also a rare occurrence for us.
I think we have a long way to go before we get to the environment I was hearing about in the video. We need to be more open and engaged in conversations about our life with Jesus with other members of the congregation before we will be able to enjoy speaking of Christ with non-believers.

Strange thoughts during the morning

2011-05-22T16:30:00.000+01:00

Geoff of Father's Robe was at Christ Church this morning. He preached on the prodigal son and explained the passage from the Fathers point of view. He also explained something of the work Father's Robe does.
When the prodigal son returns the father does not impose conditions and make him work for his re-instatement. It happens immediately. The symbolism of the re-instatement he mentioned was interesting. The Robe represents righteousness, the ring authority, and the sandals son-ship (slaves do not have sandals). He also pointed out that the party was spontaneous, not planned for a future perhaps more convenient time.
He asked us about our relationship with the Father, with the question "Are you in the house, but don't know the love of the Father?"
Geoff then told us about the work that he does. He spoke to us of the poverty of the people and their riches - they have nothing but a tin roof separating them from the Father. We of course have all sorts of thins separating us from the Father - TV's, Computers, Blogging, and all the trappings of our 'developed' society. Geoff also mentioned the work he has been involved with in Pollsmoor prison, where 1500-2000 inmates gave their lives to Christ. Then came my first thought. "What has happened to all those prisoners?" "Have they grown as disciples?" "What effect have they had on life in the prison?"
Later in the prayers a recent TV program was mentioned which contrasted the care provided to a UK woman having triplets and an African woman giving birth for the first time. In the UK there were three teams of specialists ready to receive the babies. In Africa there was a long walk for the woman whose labour had started before she would get any attention from a someone with medical training. The prayer was for her situation to improve. Then came the second thought. If the African woman and all those who live on that continent have a standard of living similar to ours they will have all the same distractions to put between them and the Father. They will put the same distractions in the way because studies show that the more 'developed' a nation is the less likely its people are to have a faith in God.
Of course we should pray and act to help those who are less well-off than us, whether they be in Africa or Billericay, but we should also pray that all those who are reached by those we are supporting grow in their faith and become effective disciples of Christ. Then we start to see more of the effect of Christianity in the world.

Lighthouse Furniture Project

2011-05-15T17:08:00.000+01:00

Brian & Kim visited Christ Church this morning. They came to talk about the Lighthouse Furniture Project. Some years ago they set up the company as a not-for-profit social enterprise. Its aim is provide furniture and electrical items to those in need. They work with many different types of organisations supporting people who are moving into unfurnished accommodation for emergency housing, providing for the basic needs. They also open their warehouse to the public - where sales are made to generate income to support and expand the work they are doing. Their furniture is distributed from East London across Essex as far as Southend-on-Sea and Chelmsford. Two members of our congregation are volunteers at Lighthouse Furniture. They are now moving into computers - which are fast becoming essential items in our society.
At the 8am Brian & Kim gave a straight forward presentation of their work and their history and told the story of how God called them to the work. At the 10am all-age and parade service Kim had fun with the children trying to get them to name the essentials that would be needed. Some obvious, but well thought out, wrong answers included 'a toilet' and 'a tap'. The children have got their priorities right but do not understand the nature of council re-housing in our country - and why should they at primary school age? We did eventually get to beds, table and chairs and sofa. We thought that had it covered, but Brian pointed out that they are often short bed linen, so covers are one of the things which they often need.

I'll leave you with that poor attempt at a pun, but first I must say that it was a very good morning at Christ Church this morning.

Narnia Day

2011-05-14T14:06:00.000+01:00

A great idea for a wet May Day Bank Holiday - show the three Narnia films, with breaks for games and food. To improve the entertainment even further invite a live band for the afternoon intermission. The only problem we had was the weather - it was a glorious weekend. Nevertheless the setting for Narnia day was brilliant.

We arrived in the Morning for "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe". The foyer had a wardrobe in front of the doors into the worship space. Passing through the 'coats' you landed on snow! (OK, fake snow - but it looked real enough). There was a 'gas' lamp as well.

I neglected to take my camera, so I've had to wait a while for the picture to arrive, and, of course, it is not the shot I would have liked. It does give a good impression of the decoration in the church.
I've seen all the films before, so had decided that Prince Caspian could be given a miss, it is not even close to the other two in the presentation of the story. Anyway there needed to be a break for me to come home and walk Brody our Labrador. We got back in time for the ice cream van and the live band. Warner was asked to do a solo. As usual he was very good and has a gift for singing. I'm waiting for the youtube video of that! I have reviewed The Voyager of the Dawn Treader here. It is a very good telling of the story.

My thanks to all who were involved in setting this up, I hope all those who attended had as good a day as I did. Mostly I hope the films communicated more than just a story. Warner did a 'my favourite part of the film was ...' at the end of each, where he picked out the key Christian message from the films. For The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe it was the scene where Aslan returns from the dead. For The Voyage of the Dawn Treader it was the scene where Aslan tells Lucy and Eustace that in their world He is known by another name and they need to get to know him by that name.

That idea sums up the reason for Narnia day.

Wiser Choice?

2011-05-09T21:29:00.000+01:00

The award for this years highest quote goes to Wiser Choice (perhaps they should change their name?) I'd heard car insurance was getting more expensive but ....

Thanks to the Meercats for this quote. The one I will be buying for is just 1.2% of this price!

Osama Bin Laden is dead

2011-05-02T20:19:00.000+01:00

My first reaction was "Good". Please note the lack of an exclamation mark. More accurately we should say Osama Bin Laden was executed - there was no sense in the News I have heard today that any attempt was made to capture him. British leaders praised the actions of the Americans, perhaps because the destruction of the twin towers was also the worst terrorist atrocity to hit the British people.
After just a little thought I realised there is a serious problem here. There is no justice. U.S. President Obama is wrong: Justice has not been done. The intention should have been to capture and put him on trial. We cannot tell which of these to options, execution or trail, would cause the most suffering in the world. I suspect we have the worst of the two options.
Worse that that was the unedifying sight of Americans gathered outside their seat of government chanting "U S A ... U S A". Why? You just killed an enemy, you just won a battle, but the war isn't over. Someone in the baying crowd said to the interviewer "This is an end". How wrong can you be. This is neither an end nor a beginning, it may be an escalation.
It may be an escalation because an executed icon is a martyr. Those left behind will, perhaps rightly, be aggrieved at the actions that have been taken. They will respond in the only way they know how. As a result more 'innocents' will die.
Now we are all on high alert looking for reprisals.

When they happen, then what?

We go and execute those who commit further acts of terrorism and each time there are 100 more ready to take their place. We have understood this effect for centuries as the Hydra myth proves.

There is a better way - arrest and trial and then to attempt to win the peace, not the war.

A better Birhday celebration at the Whitehall Hotel

2011-04-23T21:09:00.000+01:00

This year the event that should have been planned for last year was planned and executed, not perfectly, but close enough (I hope). Jo had wanted to have a cream tea with all the family at a posh restaurant. We'd looked at the prices and decided that it could not be afforded. I found a nice restaurant and we went out for a meal, except it was not such a nice restaurant. This year there had been various discussions about afternoon tea in the papers. I was a little wary. Still I booked the Whitehall Hotel for Sunday afternoon tea. I'd discussed it with the girls and then let the boys know. I left telling Jo's mum until the last minute. My sister and her children came, unfortunately Jo's sister was on holiday, so couldn't make it.

Its quite a long drive (about 50 minutes), with Mike in the car complaining that he's missing football on the TV and moaning about being stuck in the car for such a long time it seemed a lot longer. The North Essex countryside is a lovely place to be in the warmest April I can remember. The Sat Nav took us straight there. Some of our party had to rely on maps and took a lot longer to find it. It is 'in the middle of nowhere'.

It didn't look too impressive. I was starting to worry.

We arrived about 10 minutes early and were led into the restaurant. We explained that there were still 4 to come. Drinks were delivered and soon the sandwich course came out, some were held back waiting for the other guests to arrive. Two more arrived and then after some 'phone calls, one made from the hotel phone, because mobile reception is very poor, which we were not charged for, the final two arrived. The remaining sandwiches were delivered and the champagne was brought out.

We sang 'Happy Birthday' and I took a few pictures. Our waiter offered to take a picture of us all Here it is:

The cakes were delivered shortly afterwards. If the sandwiches were nice (very nice), the cakes were out of this world. All but the Danish slices are made in the hotel - our compliments to the chef. There was plenty of tea and coffee. After we had eaten we sat in the garden for a while. It was still very warm and comfortable in the garden. The only interruptions to the peaceful countryside were planes leaving Stansted Airport, which is only a couple of mile away.

A really enjoyable afternoon.

I have joined the Deanery Synod

2011-04-11T21:00:00.000+01:00

I was asked to consider standing for the Deanery Synod. I decided to give it a try and was duly elected on Sunday being one of three candidates for three posts. When there's an election (rarely) we use a simple first past the post system, rather than alternative votes, that's because we're almost always voting for more that 1 person and rarely have more than one candidate to eliminate. In a single post many candidate situation AV is better.
Back to Synod. Last time I was on Deanery Synod it was a simple talking shop. Nothing it did mattered. I cannot remember anything from Synod affecting the PCC in any way. I really hope that it is much more effective now.
We had probably the shortest sermon Christ Church has ever heard because the service was to be followed by the Annual Meeting. It followed the video 'The Big Red Tractor'. I don't know if it will be put on the web site but if it is watch the video first.

On Friday and Saturday I was in Woking at a Through faith Missions training day, follow the link to read about the event.

Getting Heaven into us / Home Group Meeting in Bedford

2011-04-05T20:35:00.000+01:00

On Saturday we went to Bedford for lunch and a short walk but mainly to meet up with our old home group leaders. Once again we all piled into our Previa and headed off around the M25. The journey was uneventful - the A1(M) is a pretty good road. Bedford along the embankment is a lovely setting.

The Embankment pub is a good location for lunch, but don't expect to be served in a hurry. We arrived early and were told that the staff were in a meeting and we'd have to wait for them! This is an appalling error from a junior member of staff. The service was generally slow but the food was quite nice, and when a sweet was delivered cold it was quickly replaced. During lunch my 2 hours of parking expired and I had to go out to move the car. After lunch we walked along the embankment for a while. Someone kindly volunteered to take a picture of us all. You can see us if you visit the album above.

When we returned home I got straight to work on the next day's sermon. You can see the results here.

So I had an enjoyable, if busy weekend.

Budget: a personal response

2011-03-26T17:03:00.000Z

I've had a few days to let the budget changes sink in - or to find out about them at least. According to the BBC's calculator (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12773565), I'm going to be £26 a month worse off. It won't break the bank. Here are my comments on the changes.

Fuel Duty Cut - 1 (new) penny
It makes a nice headline when the petrol price is rising 10 pence per litre per quarter. The real effect as we all observed was nothing at all. To say that the corresponding tax increase on oil companies cannot be passed on was clearly rubbish. Do we import petrol (refined and ready for the car) from outside of the EU - no we don't - it's all made locally.

Personal tax allowance rises by £630 to £8,105 in April 2012.
A year is a long time to wait. I'm also waiting for the National Insurance (NI) & Income Tax merger, which I'm broadly against. NI should be a ring fenced fund for pensions, NHS etc. - so we can all see how much it costs us. Income tax (which should be scrapped, in favour of higher VAT) should mean that anyone on the minimum wage (£5.93 per hour @ 40 hours per week = £12,334.40 per year) should not pay income tax, so £12,334 should be the personal allowance. This would take many people out of the tax system and save money on expensive tax inspectors. This is a step in the right direction.

Corporation tax to be cut by 2%
Instead of the one planned, and is now targeted to come down to 23% by 2015. Probably helpful for small businesses. It might stop a few companies re-locating overseas.

Gift Aid & Charities
Some relief on the administration side but little incentive for the 'Big Society' to pick up new roles and take over government functions. Gift Aid means that tax is refunded to the charity from the Income Tax I paid on the money I earned and gave to a charity. Now up to £5000 of unaccredited donations can be used to claim back gift aid. In theory it should be at the basic rate of income tax, but when that was last reduced charities could still claim the 21% back. So If I gave £1 they got £1.28. Now they will get £1.25, that relief should have been extended.
As someone who respects the requirement to tithe and does it from Gross income, not Net income, this change will have an additional impact on me. I haven't calculated the cost of that yet.

Overall
If I was in as much debt, proportionally, as the country is and still borrowing to keep my life afloat, as the country is then I would want it fixed as quickly as it could be. So I have to support the cuts and I expect them to hurt. Time like these should be use to re-structure and set the foundations for the next decades. I haven't seen much of that, if any.

Do you want to get well?

2011-03-20T14:49:00.000Z

With the boys back from their holiday, but still a little jet-lagged, and Liz back from retreat the house is slowly returning to its normal bustle and volume. Preparing this sermon yesterday was difficult. It had nothing to do with the volume or bustle, but relates to my previous encounters with healers and the extreme scepticism I suffer from in their presence. Do I really believe God will heal me? Is that something he just does for others? - I have known people who have received healing Perhaps it is the scepticism that needs healing rather than my partially healed and ageing body. So I finished late and was still reading and tinkering with the text into the evening. I'm not sure why I do that either - I don't speak it most of the time - except some stories that are read to ensure the key phrases come through.
Still it went down well, with some positive comments - mostly about my poor impression of Michael Palin. All feedback is good. I prefer it to be specific and positive (not necessarily praising me, rather helping me to do better), but all feedback is good.
That was the 8am service. My day started about 5:30 this morning, I say that now so you will understand a little more of what happens later.
Breakfast was abbreviated as I took a look at the office e-mail system. Whatever problems they are having do not occur on Sunday mornings. While I was finishing the last one we found that one of the SMB visitors had a window in her car broken and her handbag stolen. She was understandably upset but graciously said she hoped they would read her Bible.
The 10:00 service was a parade, with fewer cubs and brownies than usual. That's a shame because the SMB folk did a really good job of telling the story. An inflatable paddling pool and sheep hanging from a 'gate' would give you a very slight idea of the flavour of what they were doing.
We arrived home before 12:00 and I promptly fell asleep listening to Just a Minute, and struggled to wake up for lunch!

The pranksters are out

2011-02-28T23:26:00.000Z

I'm going to sound like a grumpy old man. Too bad - for now, at least, I am.

It all started yesterday when a car hit the Londis shop in Stock. The building is unsafe and has been cordoned off. As a result one lane is closed and the other is restricted. Buses cannot get through, there is a simple diversion round the incident by going the other side of the cricket ground.

This morning, during rush hour, some traffic maintenance people decided to close the B1007 from Queens Park in Billericay to its junction with the A12 on the other side of Stock for goods vehicles and bigger. Our bus driver was confused, and a little annoyed. He knew the diversion because he had already been through it. We had passed another bus and he had made arrangements to show that driver the revised route. After a number of phone calls they started letting buses through again. No one told our driver - so he was a little angry (understatement!). We got to Chelmsford 25 minutes late.

Tonight on the way home additional diversion signs were being added to the junction of Sun Street and Chapel street, for the benefit of those travelling away from Stock. To take them where? - I can only guess.

When I took the dog for his walk I went to see how the diversion signs were progressing.
At the top of Southend road it said straight on - that's a 'No Entry' road. At the roundabout at the top of Sun Street it said turn right - that takes you through a gate into Mill Meadow!

I know Essex's traffic management is poor but this is really not good enough.

Moan over -- until tomorrow ...

Dog Weekend

2011-02-06T19:53:00.000Z

Saturday morning's first activity is to take Brody to Sun Corner and attempt to wear him out. This is almost always a failure because his recovery time is very short. Sun Corner is a green space (three joined fields) a few minutes walk away. He is very often recovered and ready to play by the time we get home.
I hear some strange things when I'm out with Brody. On Friday night I passed four women (I can't call them ladies, there behaviour makes that impossible). They were all a little passed drunk. As I passed one of them was pushed out of the way by the dog because she had stumbled into his path. She said to her friend "Was that a blind man?" No, I'm not, I'm just a concerned dog walker.
Back to Saturday morning, wandering across Sun Corner, putting the 'empties' in the bins, I found a Blackberry (not a fruit, a mobile phone). It was working so when I got home Liz helped me find who the owner was. They later came and collected it - they didn't seem that pleased!

Sunday morning starts the same way as Saturday.

Today, being the first Sunday, was the church walk. Only a few of us there, many of the regulars are at the "Just Looking" course at church. We went up to Lea Valley, a wildlife wetlands park. Brody went in at the deep end which was a bit of a surprise for the poor animal. I had to help him out because the bank was too steep for him.

So I'm now at the end of a tiring weekend.

08453007027 - Barclaycard: Customer Service Failure

2011-01-29T14:42:00.000Z

Barclaycard took over my Leeds credit card. On receipt of the card there was still a 'cash-back' balance. I use to be given 1% back on purchases made on the card. We stopped using the Leeds card a long time ago, I can't remember why, but there was a good reason. Anyway I decided to try the Barclaycard. I made a purchase - just one as a way of checking how well it worked.

My statement came, and I was pleased to see that the direct debit had been carried over.

Yesterday I got one of those silent telephone calls on my mobile from 08453007027. I checked it in Google and apparently it was Barclaycard. I got another call from them today. They wanted to help me avoid late payment charges on the account. The direct debit was not authorised for use before 24 February. I had absolutely no input to moving the card or the direct debit.

When a company makes a mistake like that they should ring to apologise and ask me what I would like to do.

They are a bank, so even when its their mistake they come demanding money, and then more money. I paid, I had no reason not to, except by now I wanted to make it as hard as possible. I'm told the payment will take two hours to clear.
Then I will close the account, I have already cut the cards in half.

Another 'triumph' for Customer relations.

Weekend Away Advert / Testimony

2011-01-24T19:16:00.001Z

Yesterday the guy who will lead the Christ Church Weekend Away in the Autumn preached at Christ Church. Phil Wason spoke on our series in Ephesians, from Chapter 2:1-10. He comes from Milton Keynes, but originates from Liverpool. He is an excellent speaker and spoke for quite a long time, so I'm going to have to listen to the sermon again when it is published on our web site. I'd never heard of him, so I decided to see what Google has to say. This is what I found:
his books at WHSmiths.
a contribution to the churches in Milton Keynes
a sermon
his testimony
some talks

that'll do for now.

In the afternoon I attended the "Just Looking" course. (4pm @ Christ Church every other week until Easter) I was to give my testimony about the time I was unemployed and how God worked in my life during that time. (There are only two posts labelled 'redundancy'. So I must remember to write a fuller account of the events before I forget them.)

Talking about what God has done in your life is one of the most important things you can do. Well it is for me. When I seem to be loosing track of God and Jesus seems just like a character in a piece of fiction it brings me back to reality. Now looking back I can see the track I have been following. I can see Gods plan being revealed. I can see how my relationship with Jesus works from day to day and through the years.

I said in a sermon recently that I have no idea where Jesus is leading me next. That is still true. What I learn from looking back is that He has a better plan for me than even I could imagine. So I await the next step with 'bated breath.

A Quick Exit

2011-01-13T20:32:00.000Z

Sunday saw us make a quick exit from church as Jo was in pain from a nasty tummy bug. I don't remember much about the morning before that. The rest of the day was very busy. I managed to cook lunch and clear up. Then almost immediately prepare for our visitors - my sister, my nephew and his girl friend coming to tea to mark Andy's birthday.

Monday, I made emergency arrangements to work from home. Jo was still unwell. With the loft now cleared - well tidy anyway, it was time for the insulation to be installed.
Here you can see the before and after images part of the front of the house above our bedroom. The before image is really a 'half-way' image. The before image would have shown the area packed with old cardboard boxes.

This is how it happens. When you buy something you are told you must keep the box, if you need to return it. The box goes in the loft. You buy something else. The new box goes in front of the old. Repeat the process every few months for 23 years or so. It makes good insulation. Lets hope the new stuff is as good. It bedroom was certainly cold after the boxes had gone!

There are lots of new series on TV at the moment. CSI, CSI New York, and Hustle are the ones I watch. I have seen the first episode of each. The CSI stories are good, but Hustle was streets ahead as a story, for its characterisations and for raising your spirits.

Wedding Blessing

2011-01-06T21:24:00.000Z

It's like the answer to the question "When is a wedding not a wedding?". All the preparation is the same. The bride wears her wedding dress - because she couldn't when she was at the marriage service, it was 4000 miles away. There is a church service. There is a reception. There is a rehearsal dinner, because this is an Anglo-American wedding and both traditions must be accommodated. People come from great distances, at least 4000 miles and rooms have to be found for them to stay in. Invites had already been sent, but for a wedding, so they had been overtaken by events. The service is about the only place where you would see a real difference. Even then you'd have to look quite hard. The vows are not said, instead a prayer is prayed together.
The whole process was unconventional. At the reception there was food and speeches, but no 'best-man' running the show. After that there was dancing.

The most important thing is that Karen and Robert had their day in front of their (and our) friends and families.

Will they have two wedding anniversaries?

It was a really good couple of days.

On New Years Day we travelled to Cherish End (a B&B in Dunstable) with the whole family (except Karen, obviously). On the way Brody was dropped off at one of Andrew's friends houses. He looked so unhappy, but he came back happy and with way too much energy. We arrived in time to get unpacked and changed before the rehearsal. Once that was complete we visited the Halfway House for the Rehearsal Dinner. We had a reserved area, they did a very good job of looking after us and the food was good too. There were supposed to be speeches there but by the time we had finished eating it was too late, so we made our way back to the guest house, leaving the boys to continue at the party. They were rather noisy when they returned and then spent a considerable time talking. I could hear enough to keep me awake so went to ask for quiet - reminds me of when they were young children.

Sunday started with an English Breakfast. I then played chauffeur for a while, moving people and things to and from church and other places. I had time to get the car washed (so that's done for the year now).
The wedding itself went very well. Everyone remembered what they had rehearsed. Various pictures and videos were taken and will be posted in various places. The speeches followed. I had been rehearsing my speech in my head for hours after leaving my notes at the B&B. I remembered most of it, nothing too significant was left out. The partying did not go on too long and the members of St Hugh's are really efficient at tidying up.

It was great to see so many friends and family come from various places to be with us. My thanks go to all who travelled, and my thoughts and prayers are with those who could not come due to illness. It was also great to have some of Robert's friends and some of his family. They are really friendly people and we look forward to meeting them again.

Monday started with an English Breakfast. Then we packed up and travelled home. The rest of the day was restful - as it needed to be.

So Karen and Robert have made their vows before God and a small congregation and have promised to keep them before God and a larger congregation. They are well and truly married.

We are pleased to welcome Robert into our family.

Five Earliest Memories - an exercise from my school days

2010-12-27T16:56:00.000Z

1) Age ? The Wasps. At the bottom of the garden where we used to live there was a wasps nest. I first realised this while playing there. A swarm of wasps rushed out of a hole in the ground. A few weeks later a man came in and sprayed a holewhich had been dug in the ground to make the wasps go. They did go, but it took quite a time for them to leave the nest - an old mattress.

2) Age 3 The Cat. We had a very large and fluffy tabby. He was very old and would move very slowly. I was upstairs one day when mum told me I should not go in the kitchen as the cat was very ill and would probably die. She did and the next day the vet came he told us that our cat died of a very nasty and dangerous disease and that we could not have another cat for six months, because the disease could still be lurking around the house.

3) Age 5 We were thinking of moving and had looked in many houses. One particular one we visited was dark on the outside and when we got in it was black, although the wall paper was a lighter colour. The room that would have been my room was covered in a light blue peeling wallpaper with the same shade of paint and after seeing around the house for the last time we went to go. The door was stuck solid and would not move. We were lucky because dad was going to come and see the house straight after work. He did and we got out. After the experience I did not like the house anymore.

4) Age 5 Starting school on a rainy day was not nice but I enjoyed it and as we entered the school the head teacher talked to me. I remember saying to her how big the school hall was. Of course she agreed and after sitting in her office for a while we walked back to the classroom a very long way away. The teacher was tall and the first lesson I remember is two plus two.

5) Age 6 Soon after I learned to ride my bicycle I was riding along very fast and decided to turn completely round. I did not achieve this and found myself lying on the ground with a stone in my knee. Later I dug the stone out with my finger nails. Mum and dad did not want to touch it.

========================
We have been clearing out the loft in preparation for insulating it. There is no date on the single sheet of exercise book paper (6.5 inches by 8 inches), but it was with things from the third year of senior school (age 13-14). The stories are supposed to be 9 lines each.
Now I have no recollection of the first one and little of the second. I remember that the cat was doubly incontinent - yuk! Being locked in the house (3) is still a frightening memory but I do not remember anything about the inside, just wondering what we would do if no-one came.
I started school late because of moving house - that's why I had such a personal induction.
The stone in the knee episode is still quite a clear memory, especially digging into the hole and slowly prising a fairly cubic stone out of my flesh. I still have the scar, but not the stone.

Inappropriate Explosions

2010-12-25T16:46:00.000Z

The Christingles at Christ Church went very well. Both the total number at the three services was up as was the collection for the Children's Society. I lead the last service and didn't manage to set anything alight, except the candle - which I was supposed to do. At the 'midnight' I was serving at communion. It is always a surprise to see people at that service that I have never seen before. Then there are the family traditions that still survive, even though the children are all in their twenties. One present is opened after midnight communion and before bed.
When the children were young it stopped them getting up too early. This morning none of them were up early, except perhaps me, but not that early.
The morning started well, and went down hill from there. I took Brody for a quick walk. He didn't really want to come home, but didn't cause me a problem. Then we left for church. Arriving about ten minutes before the start I was instantly reminded that I hadn't bought the laptop - with the songs on. A quick drive back home to grab the PC and back to church. Only the first two songs were missed, and they were both in the books.
Worse was to come.
The Christmas day service is billed as "Jesus' birthday Party". There are balloons in the church just for this service. There are party poppers for the end of the great celebration. I raced into church, found my family and sat in the middle of a row. That is never a good idea. We have heaters on the walls like electric fire and my head soon overheats. In plenty of time for the novelty sermon - a re-telling of the Christmas story called "A Sweet Christmas" mentioning every sweet you can think of, and a few biscuits as well. On the floor next to my chair was a party popper in pieces. I picked it up and fiddled with it. I was still fiddling as we started the Eucharistic prayer. Then BANG! I hadn't realised it was loaded. Some people blamed the children near by. Jo pretended she wasn't with me. Karen whispered "was that YOU?" A few adults around stifled a laugh.

The service went on.

I had tried to disrupt it (unintentionally) and failed.

Back home for lunch. That's when the traditions started to break dome. Our Christmas lunch is usually on Boxing Day, as we are off somewhere else on Christmas Day. The lunch was prepared by Karen and Liz, mainly. They did a very good job.

Then we opened presents. Another break with tradition, but this time so that Liz can visit her boyfriend tomorrow.

Here's Brody enjoying his first Christmas with us. Dog presents are a tradition from my childhood that we have added to our traditions this year.

Joseph and the Nativity

2010-12-19T17:49:00.000Z

This morning we left the house at 06:58 for the 30ish minute walk to church. The snow on the ground would have made driving my automatic too dangerous. I was preaching at the 8:00. We arrived about twenty five to eight, in plenty of time. The church was just beginning to warm up, well it had left icy cold but only just. I was really pleased not to be first.

My sermon was on Matthew 1:18-25 - Joseph's dream. It's here if you would like to read it, and I assume will be on the Christ Church website so that you can listen some time soon. The congregation was tiny, less than half the normal for the eight o'clock.

After the 08:00 service we had breakfast in the hall as usual. The weather had not stopped breakfast I'm very please to say.

The weather did affect the Nativity I think. The congregation there was rather low there too. The children did well this year, especially the four young girls who had a long script to read as narrators and the boy who played Herod. We were also treated to:

It was good to see Kermit again.

The Christmas season starts here - I can start my shopping!

Star Wise and seeing the light

2010-12-12T16:03:00.000Z

Yesterday, to my surprise Andy and Mike put the Christmas tree up. The photo does not show the flashing lights. So after a year or two of trying to avoid having a tree (pagan fertility symbol) - we have one again, as we did last year and I will have to make the best of it!

Last night Jo and I went to see 'Star Wise' at Billericay Baptist Church. Follow the link to find out what I thought about it, but I can tell you before you do that it was better than sitting watching TV.

"The people living in darkness have seen a great light" (Matthew 4:16a) was not the text for this morning, although it should have been. When I picked up my bible to follow the reading I could not focus on it at all. It was then that I realised that the lights in the back half of church were switched off. We were literally living in darkness. Thankfully the front half was lit and the spotlights used to high light the cross were switched on, so the front of the church was very bright. The Bible reading was also on the screen, so I could follow it there. Sitting in the relative dimness of an unlit Christ Church has more of a feel of the theatre, and my mind went back to the services with the Bill Legend band. How nice it would be to have a rock band leading the worship again.

Warner spoke on many different aspects of Isaiah 35:1-10. I expect it was a good sermon but I was distracted by thoughts of Joseph, the subject of next weeks sermon, and martyrs, probably the subject for the following week. I will have to listen to it again when it is posted on the website.

Bishops

2010-11-28T16:19:00.000Z

Yesterday the 10th bishop of Chelmsford The Rt Rev Stephen Cottrell was installed. You can see his introductory video below.

The bishops from all the linked diocese around the world were invited to the service. At Christ Church our connection with Ciamanda school in the diocese of Embu, in Kenya meant that bishop Henry Kathii was our guest this morning. He spoke on Matthew 24:36-40 and left me with one memorable question - "Are you lost in the Church?". Meaning are you focussed on working for the Church and you don't have a relationship with Jesus. A very good question when talking about the return of Christ - the theme of the first Sunday in Advent.

Here is Bishop Henry talking about the environment in his diocese, the only clip I could find of him.

Keep Calm and Carry On

2010-11-14T16:17:00.001Z

It was not the first time I had spoken on Luke 21:5-19. The sermons though have a very different context. Today was remembrance Sunday, the last time it was not. The worst thing was that I left the video clip on the computer at home, so had to act it out. People were very polite, but I'm sure it wasn't that good. I hope though that they got the point. Here's how it should have been, and looking at it again I realise that the impression was rather lacking. The sermon was based around the reading (as always) and the poster "Keep Calm and Carry On"). It will soon be published on the Christ Church web site, so you will be able to hear it, if not see it. To read it go here. It seems to have struck more of a chord with the older members of the congregation. However, it was not my intention to speak more to one section of the congregation than another.
Preaching is tiring, and I very nearly fell asleep during the last race of the season. Congratulations to Sebastian Vettel, F1 world champion. There are drivers and teams I support, and drivers and teams that I oppose. Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel are not in either camp, although I am happy to recognise their achievement.
That's all for now, as I have to resume loft clearance activities. The other week I removed all the old boxes and then we had a cold snap, the bedroom hardly warmed up at all. I'll be glad when the new insulation is fitted.

SMB Curry Night

2010-11-11T20:38:00.000Z

On Tuesday evening I went to the SMB Curry night. They are preparing to launch as a charity. SMB have been going about 20 years and I have been to a curry night for them before. The last time they were mentioned here was back in 2007. The evening was very enjoyable and the food served by the Indian Ruchi was very good. I hope that SMB made a reasonable profit on the evening. As always, when I eat Indian food I eat too much. This left me with bad indigestion during the night. I never learn.

I had worked reasonably late. On the bus on the way home I met Mark Pape, our former youth worker. He now works for SMB. He was travelling back from their base to Billericay. With him was Ray, the youth worker from the Methodist Church, who I hadn't met until then. It was Ray who I ended up sitting next to at the Curry Night. Another one of those strange God-incidences?

The only other thing to mention is the quiz. It was geared to my age group, so I was able to contribute a little, but that's not the point. It was also quite controversial because of the number of disputed answers. The quiz itself was fun, but the discussion afterwards was great. (and it stayed friendly)

Praying for the Kingdom - Luke 18:1-8

2010-10-19T20:31:00.000+01:00

Sunday was a strange day. I had missed the church 'Away Day' to prepare my sermon for the 8am service. I had wanted to be at the Away Day, but there are duties to be performed. I had spent quite a lot of short pieces of time on the flight to Atlanta and in the hotel room reading and making notes. Thursday morning was spent writing an outline of sorts. I started preparation on Friday evening and was hoping to complete the sermon then. That should leave enough time on Saturday to practice. I wrote two or three paragraphs straight off and then needed a pause to work out the direction. A few minutes later I woke myself up by almost hitting my head on the keyboard. I needed sleep. That was all I could do. My concentration was gone.
Saturday morning I started in good time but my thoughts were not on the sermon. It seemed to have been prepared in another country. I struggled. I prayed. I struggled some more but fluency only came after lunch. I'd just about finished when Jo returned from the Away Day. Early evening I did my first practice. It was not good. The words and thoughts did not flow. The illustrations seemed to be separated from the text. Too late for a re-write now. Another half-hearted practice later was no better.
See what you think of the final result. It sounded better to me at church than it had all weekend.

By the time we came to the 10am I was again half asleep. Maybe jet lag, but more likely I just hadn't slept enough, it was a very uncomfortable overnight flight back on Friday morning. Liz did a good job of leading the service and Steve Kersey told a very long story. I did wonder if he would get to a point. It did seem to hold people's attention, and he did get to the point in the end.

Have you ever asked for anything lots and lots of times? Did you get it? Did it help when you did? Those questions seem to be the basic framework.

This week I will be mostly asking for the chance to catch up on my sleep.

Our first Family Wedding

2010-10-17T16:48:00.000+01:00

Our first family wedding took place last Wednesday. All very sudden. I can explain that (sort of) - here's what happened.
On Thursday during the afternoon tea break, while I was on my SQL 2000 to 2008 upgrade course, I received a phone call from Karen. Robert's fiancée visa had been turned down, so they were going to get married in Georgia next Tuesday. This led to a few frantic phone calls and a few frantic people. Could I get time off work? Could Jo get to the show she had tickets for on Monday evening. Could we get flights and visa approval?
More discussions on Friday moved the big day back to Wednesday.
Work said I could go - indeed they were very good about it. Jo could get to her show.
I set about buying tickets. Booking late is a bad idea. Ticket prices are not only very expensive but they change every few minutes. After a number of attempts on Opodo.co.uk I gave up - I could not get as far as the payment screen before it timed out. I tried Expedia, but by the time I got there the return flight had sold out. Even there I could not get through the web screens. I phoned them on different flights to the ones I wanted. I was finally able to book flights, but the return trip was over night. I've done over night's west to east before, they are the worst for jet lag. The ESTAs went OK, I bought train tickets at work on Monday - something I hate doing.
Early Tuesday morning we set out for Atlanta. I still hadn't managed to get to the 'check-in' site for the flight so I was not expecting that we would be able to sit together. We arrived at Heathrow almost four hours before departure, only to be told I was too early for baggage-drop (is baggage drop a prediction or a promise?) . We again tried check-in, and needed help to complete it. It had to be on the Delta flight number (which Expedia didn't give me), not on the KLM flight number I had booked. Anyway we got the last two seats together on the plane. Then it timed out while I tried to find the address or the hotel where we would stay (Robert had booked it for us). Back to the desk, where they seemed oblivious of the ESTA requirement to log the first nights address with the airline. Delta check-in at Heathrow is a mess. Still the flight was uneventful, and the extra hour to get out of Atlanta Airport was similarly uneventful. You get your bags from baggage claim, go through customs, give up your bags to security, go all the way to the opposite side of the airport to pick the up again. We walked because the signage is unclear - its a loooong way. We had also arrived 20 minutes early after boarding 45 minutes late, so we had to phone Robert - who came and picked us up and took us for a meal.

Wednesday morning I found that the nice white shirt I had picked up belonged to my son and was 2 sizes too small. That was the only problem with the day. The rest of it went very well. We travelled to Lithia Springs Baptist Church via Robert's mother's house, where we picked her up. The service at the church was attended by Robert's family and friends. We then went to a local restaurant for lunch. After lunch we went to the Douglasville Court House where the registration of the wedding was completed and they were legally married.
After returning to the hotel to change into less formal cloths we visited Robert's Aunt Pat for an evening reception where more of the family arrived to wish the happy couple well. They had a proper wedding cake, which was amazing given the short time there was to make it.

The following day we had a quiet morning - I was trying to prepare a sermon for Sunday, and in the afternoon Robert took us into Atlanta to visit a mall and later to the Aquarium. Unfortunately it had closed early because of some special event happening in the evening, so we visited the World of Coca-Cola instead. It was an interesting exhibition but they could have done so much more - where were all the TV adverts?
After a meal in the CNN centre - which reminded me of a Bond film - it was time to return to the UK.

We again arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare. The security leaving is nothing like the security coming and we soon found ourselves bored at the gate waiting for the plane. It was the most uncomfortable Atlantic crossing I had ever experienced. The seat belt signs were on the whole way. There were children being sick. Serving of food was stopped as the flight crew had to strap themselves in. I was very glad that we were all in one piece when we landed at Heathrow.

A big thank you to Robert and his family for looking after us while we were there.

Best wishes to Karen and Robert for a long and happy life together.
There will be a number of things to add to the 25-things list form our little adventure, I'll work those out later.

"Thankfulness" @ St John the Divine

2010-10-10T21:45:00.000+01:00

One month after my last visit I find myself back at St. Johns. The readings mean that I am preaching on a reading that I've done before. Today's sermon is here. The previous one is here. Having read it again, I remember the previous sermon quite clearly. It poses the question for me: "How has my preaching changed?". My earlier sermon is more aimed at teaching - there is much more detail in it on some topics. There are also a couple of personal stories which I always find helpful from preachers, so use whenever I can. The later one is to a less well known congregation, and has more 'stories' in to illustrate the points I'm trying to make. It got a few gentle laughs too. The biggest laugh came from my attempt to get the flip chart to a place where everyone could see it. Almost a piece of slapstick (a small tribute to Norman Wisdom perhaps). I realise how spoilt I am by the modern technology at Christ Church. The sermons aim was less at teaching and more at encouraging the congregation to act in a different way (be more thankful). Is that a good change?
I used to think that the Bible should be allowed to speak for itself, and that if it was explained properly and people were committed to understanding and acting on it (aren't all Christians?), then all the preacher had to do was make the text clear. Judging by today's sermon it isn't that clear cut.

Hmm ?

Being at St Johns has always been a good experience, and today's was no different. They are a very welcoming and friendly congregation. I enjoyed the service, I hope the congregation did too, I pray that something I said will have helped them as they try to follow Jesus more closely.

Harvest Weekend

2010-10-03T18:42:00.000+01:00

"We are a non-agricultural community." I've heard it said a couple of times this weekend. It means we get our food from the supermarket rather than the village market. Supermarkets source from everywhere - so we lose track of the seasonal link to our food. We lose track of the other links too - such as the need for bees to pollinate so many crops. We are fortunate enough to only rarely suffer shortages. What can we do for a 'Harvest' celebration - what does it even mean? The traditional offering of fresh produce has been largely eliminated by quality concerns - in the name of health and safety. Making an offering of supermarket produce always seemed a bit strange, although we have done that too. In recent years we have encouraged people to sponsor goats in third world countries and other similar schemes.
This year though it was different. This year we held a scarecrow making contest. We invited anyone to make and submit a scarecrow. There was a time to make them on Saturday, and at the barn dance on Saturday evening they were in church for people to look at them. Each scarecrow comes with a description of what it's about. Scarecrows, in the wild, are rare now. Instead we occasionally hear the loud booms of the 'bird scarers', even they don't seem to have a great effect on removing the birds. Scarecrows are still a common image though, so it it a clever idea.
The scarecrows and the barn dance help us and some of our friends to celebrate God's goodness to us, something we don't do as much as we should. Perhaps it also helps us to realise that although the harvest is plentiful, the workers are few.

Top 10 @ Christ Church #8 Stealing

2010-09-30T12:06:00.000+01:00

Ii was my turn to set up and lead the evening. Its my only go, so I have to make the best of it. With that in mind Jo and I arrived in plenty of time to photocopy the 'reminders' and set up the technology. All went well, I'm pleased to say. So as people started arriving I was ready and could be there to greet them at the door. By the time we were due to start the weather had changed. Heavy rain that lasted for the whole evening had started. Happily it didn't seem to dampen people's spirits - about 80 people still came out.
J.John challenged us all on exactly what stealing is. "What do you have in your possession that is someone else's?" "When have you taken time from your employer that you shouldn't have?" "When have you failed to give what you promised to give?" These are just a few of the difficult questions that were asked. We were then encouraged to make restitution, and where that's not possible to rid ourselves of anything stolen.

Food for thought.

What do I have that I shouldn't - I bet there are some things, and as they come to mind I have to decide how I'm going to put things right ....

Home via LandGuard

2010-09-27T17:52:00.000+01:00

We have been staying at Thatched Farm. They have two small cottages (formerly barns?). I think we were in the smallest. The location is just a few miles off the A12, well into the countryside. It is a nice cottage even though it is so small.

2010_0924-27 Thatched Farm, Waldringfield

There are a few more pictures in the album. One is of the solar panel generation meter at the RSPB. It was generating a mere 790 watts while I was taking the picture. I have to ask - are these things really worth having? What is the energy requirement in building the thing in the first place, and is it recovered over its life time?

On the way back we visited LandGuard Fort near Felixtowe. It's a mess of development and re-development and a fascinating place to visit. Some of the information that has been lost, which archaeologists will have to work out, is exactly what type of Radar was installed there in WWII. It is amazing how quickly knowledge is lost. An attempted invasion of England by the Dutch was repelled in a battle at the fort in 1677.

We then move on to look at St Johns Great Wenham, which was unfortunately locked. We drove onwards for a while in a generally homeward direction and came upon The Carriers Arms. Lunch was good, but nothing special.

We arrived home in time to see Basildon's parking attendants watching the school traffic, and chatting for a long time to a woman who then got in her car and drove away. One day they may possibly get it right.

Greene King @ Bury St Edmonds

2010-09-26T21:11:00.000+01:00

Today's trip was to Bury St Edmonds to visit the Greene King Brewery. It is open at 11:30 for the tour only on Sundays. The forecast was heavy showers - an entirely accurate forecast. It was a very relaxed start for us for a Sunday. A bit of a lie in and an unhurried breakfast. Then we set out on the 30 minute drive to Bury St Edmonds. The brochure said there was limited parking outside the brewery. There is space for five or six cars. There was one space left. We were 20 minutes early. We strolled towards the Abbey Gardens and back in time for the start. About 13 of us were on the tour. The young lady taking the money - and leading the tour started well - while she was taking the money.
"That's taking its time" I said as we waited for the card to be authorised.
"Yes," she said, "we're still on dial-up", then after a short pause "Well we are a museum".

A good line, but not strictly true. The brewery is still working (but not on Sundays).
We were taken up to the roof and shown the enormous site, and the huge water tanks. Then we worked slowly down the building, tasting the different types of roast barley, smelling hops, and learning about the process. It was a very interesting tour.
At the end we were taken to the bar and allowed to try many of the Greene King beers. I'd already tasted most of them. You can't turn them down though. My favourite, that I had not even heard of, was Strong Suffolk. That's one of the beers that is only available in bottles and is stronger than the tap beers.
Once the beer was server - very small samples for drivers and slightly larger for the rest - the visitors started to relax and chat. One lady gave out poems she had written and it seems she keeps a supply with her just for that purpose. There was also quite a discussion about CAMRA and their attitude to Greene King.
The tour was over but the normal souvenirs were not available, so we were allowed one bottle of beer per couple. "Strong Suffolk" was the obvious choice.

After the tour we drove to a car park and ate our sandwiches. It was raining. It was still raining when we finished. Shortly after that it dried up and we wandered through the town to the Abbey Gardens. There we made a note of the road and went back for the car (the car park ticket was about to expire). We drove closer to the Cathedral and then took a look around. Evensong was about to start, so we looked around quickly. St Edmondsbury is an ancient building, and also a very modern one with works still in progress to develop the building. We also walked in the Abbey Gardens and looked at the Abbey ruins. What would England be like if the monasteries hadn't been destroyed by Henry VIII? The Abbey is thought to have been the fourth largest in Europe.

Pictures will have to come later - I left the card reader behind.

Lunch at thirty feet

2010-09-25T21:55:00.001+01:00

Today we went to RSPB Minsmere. We have been members of the RSPB for years. This is the first time we have visited a site. At Minsmere there are two main routes and five hides. The first route we walked through we saw almost no birds. Someone said there was a Marsh Harrier, I think I saw it. The image is from the RSPB website. Something to do with it being a windy day perhaps. At the last hide, which was designed to let you watch birds in the tree tops, we ate lunch. The trees were moving very noticeably in the wind, and even the hide moved a little. Still no birds. The other route went via the beach. Before we got to the end of the beach it began to rain heavily. We hid in the next hide. The rain seemed to bring the birds in. There were quite a lot of different species. There was even an Avocet.
Other birds we saw included Swan, Comorant, Grey Heron, Woodpecker, Great Tit, Lapwing, Magpies and various ducks.
When we got back to the visitor centre we bought Jo a new pair of binoculars. The went back to the last hide to see the difference - quite remarkable.

On the way in we had seen signs for the start of the Red Deer rut. We went to Westleton Heath and walked along the path. Eventually we came to a small group of people including some RSPB volunteers who were full of useful information on the rut. There were plenty of deer in the distance and at least three stags. They were all very young. As the season has only just started there wasn't any action before we left.

Top 10 @ Christ Church #9 Lying

2010-09-24T09:28:00.000+01:00

I arrived at church to find that the chairs were not put out. One of the disadvantages of our wonderful worship space is the constant removal and replacement of chairs. Jo and I started putting them back where they 'belonged'. As we finished the caterers arrived and set up coffee. It was time for a de-caff and another explanation about why I don't drink real coffee any more. I have already reached my lifetime intake of caffeine. Still, that's really another story.
People arrived more slowly (O me of little faith) I wasn't expecting so many this week. How wrong can you be. While Warner was finishing his introduction I did a quick count - 91. That's as many as we get for some services!
Do not Lie. The truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth. There are many ways of saying it, and J.John came up with a few I hadn't heard before.
Another good evening.

Speed Test

2010-09-22T18:38:00.000+01:00

Tonight's speed is:

Which is much better, and a lot more like what I was getting after the upgrade.

Up To

2010-09-21T21:31:00.000+01:00

There's a lot of controversy about those two little words at the moment. When you sign up for 'up to 8Mb', or upgrade as I have done to 'up to 20Mb' you expect a service that's close to the stated number. I know that if you are a long way from the exchange that the speed drops off.

For the first few days immediately after the upgrade I checked the speed of the link and was receiving 13Mb. Wonderful! Recently I noticed that videos were stuttering and sites taking a long time to load. I checked the speed again. Less than 4Mb on that day.

Today's speed is:

Returning Roots

2010-09-19T22:32:00.000+01:00

Alison & Peter, our link missionaries and longer time friends have been back from Tanzania a while. Our church was one of their supporting churches. Jo and I have known them a lot longer and were therefore please to host one of the meals that they shared with members of Christ Church as they spoke about their time in Tanzania and the reason for their return. They are slowly getting re-accustomed to England. Cars and parking, supermarkets and cold weather, long hours of daylight and the equality found in our society are all things we have discussed since their return. You can see how the re-establishment of their home is going on the Roots News blog. This morning they spoke at both the 8am and 10am services. They shared a summary of their time in Tanzania. Some of the pictures they showed us are on the blog - so do take a look. There is also a website that they used while in Tanzania - it is still in existence, so if you would like to read what they said a while ago try http://www.roots-online.org.uk/, but it may not last long! I have a link on my site to a blog called 'because baronesses are people too' - its closed now, so will be removed soon. I mention it here because one of the themes of last night was that missionaries are people too - just like you and I. Well some of you anyway. Let me explain. Perhaps it would have been better if I had said "We are all missionaries really, some of us just go overseas to carry out our mission", then you would see that 'missionaries' are just like you and I. (If you're a Christian that is.) We all have the mission of caring for the world and spreading the good news that Jesus has beaten death.

Sometimes that mission can involve some very difficult - even life threatening - problems. That was partly the theme of the 10am service, where Warner spoke on 1 Peter 4:12-19. The church was packed, with two baptism parties totalling around 70 people and a regular congregation. He started with a sweet shop and his family 'advertising' their favourite sweets. It certainly got the attention of those listening. A difficult topic handled honestly (as it was) may well have a greater impact on those hearing the message for the first time than a simple message that doesn't portray the gospel accurately.

In other news, this afternoon, our Sky-TV system was upgraded to HD (thanks to Andrew). We now have even more channels - many showing the same programs in better quality pictures. One of the first adverts I saw was for Sky-3D. Where does it end?

Top 10 @ Christ Church #10 Covetousness

2010-09-16T21:00:00.000+01:00

J.John is a very entertaining speaker. It would have been good to have him 'in the flesh', but the best we could manage was video. It was better than good enough. A very relaxed, informative and somewhat challenging evening for me. I'd love to know what others thought of it - so if you're reading this, please comment.

There were 85 people in church on Wednesday night. Many of them I had not seen for a long time, some I hardly seen at all. We were greeted with refreshments and then sat in relative comfort to watch the first video. Afterwards people were allowed to chat, have more refreshments and talk to the vicar if there was anything pressing or if they were in need of prayer.

There were 6 principles mentioned in the video, which we struggled to remember afterwards, but Warner promised to get them from the video and write them down. That's good, but what is more important is the things that God spoke to people about as they listened to J. John. Some will know exactly what God said. I hope they take it seriously and act upon it. Others won't be so sure, for them I pray that they will understand (and get help in trying if they need it) and act on what was said. Some will just have enjoyed the jokes and not really taken it seriously. That was me once, and the preacher was Eric Delve. It was part of my journey to faith. I pray also that others have taken a step in the right direction in their journey, and that it may end in the same place as mine will.

Bring on next week - can't wait

St John the Divine

2010-09-12T20:16:00.002+01:00

Today I was leading and preaching at St Johns Outward Common. The congregation is smaller than Christ Church, but they are very friendly and welcoming. Sermons are not recorded there so the only way you will have any idea what was said is to read the script. The videoed rehearsal was better, but still not good. I enjoyed the service, except for missing out a hymn, and had some good conversations with people afterwards. I'm looking forward to going back there later in the year. I found out just before I left home that I was supposed to be on serving duty at Christ Church. Thankfully Liz stood in for me. I haven't received the bill yet!

This afternoon, after watching Jensen Button just missing out on a win at Monza, I spent nearly an hour on a Skype video conversation with Karen. The conversation was mostly about her forthcoming wedding. The man she is marrying is an American and she was trying to work out the best time for his relatives to come over. Hopefully the date will be confirmed soon.

After that we took a drive to Willingale.

View Larger Map

We parked under the cherry tree in the 'Street view' picture (its not in bloom now though). We soon lost the track that was described and ended on the road at the wrong place. I wonder if that was due to the field I think we were supposed to cross just having been ploughed. I will probably never know. The outline map we had indicated that another path existed so we followed that as best we could. We did get back to the original route, and returned to the village at about the right time.
Its a very nice walk, in a village that has two churches next to each other.

Matthew 5:17-20 "The Laws of Life", an introduction for Just 10

2010-09-05T14:49:00.000+01:00

Today was a "preachers choice" sermon. A chance for the preacher to give a more personal message to the church. A chance to speak on subjects that are perhaps news worthy or otherwise topical for my church. As we are running Just 10 from September 15 it seemed logical that I should speak on The Law in some way. We also wanted to show the Just 10 video - the one that starts with J.John saying "people live in one of two tents - con-tent or discon-tent ...". That meant I was limited to 10 minutes. Time for a different approach. Choosing the passage was difficult, and I ended up with the Matthew passage from the start of the Beattitudes, where Jesus reminds his followers that he is not about to overthrow The Law. The sermon was all based around events in my life - so I know the stories I'm going to tell really well. As usual I spent Saturday writing the script. I was done by noon and completed the practices using my new webcam to see how it worked. Those recordings aren't anywhere near good enough for you-tube, so no one will ever get to see it, but maybe in a few months I might try to publish one. The recording will of course be on the Christ Church sermons site in the next few days so you can listen to it there. That is probably the best option because I hardly used the script at all, and some of it did not come out in the order I intended yesterday. If you would like to read the script it's here.

Prayer @ Christ Chruch

2010-09-04T11:40:00.000+01:00

Wednesday and Friday saw an experimental prayer service at Christ Church. Experimental for us anyway. It has long been a concern, for me, that we don't meet as a church to pray together. The last time we did was when Warner was ill. We met then to pray for him and for the church while he was off work. After he returned the will to pray seemed to dry up. That was 2008, so its been too long.
The evenings were structured as services and included some worship - with Warner leading the singing and playing the guitar. Some of the songs were relatively new to us and some were very familiar. I have to say there wasn't a lot of volume. Our singing seems to get quieter and quieter. There were some video's, Bible Readings, and a little bit of talking, from some of us but mostly from Warner. The Wednesday service ended with the option of being signed with the cross, with water from the font. "It isn't Baptism" Warner said, but it was a good opportunity to make a statement of your intent to God. A few took up his offer. The Friday service ended with communion. While Wednesday was mainly about the Church, Friday was more about Christians in the world. One feature was the 2010 World Watch List from Open Doors USA. It contains countries that I had never thought of as oppressive, and some of the usual suspects were missing, I expect they've dropped out of the top ten (good!).

We broke into small groups to pray, and were encouraged to pray out loud. Some did, and sometimes it was very quiet. We are out of practice - I am out of practice. One person admitted in their prayer that it was really hard to pray into 'such darkness'. That is true. There are times (such as this one) when I just don't have any words, the ones that come are angry and sharp, they are certainly not for public consumption.

Should the event be repeated as a single session - 8pm to midnight? A single service, rather than two would make more sense in a lot of ways. Easier flow, better focus, more chance to concentrate on some specific issues. Midnight though is late for me to be out on any day other than Friday. Saturday is the only day I don't get up to an alarm. I don't have family responsibilities like school runs and bed times any more either. There are other practical considerations for Fridays as well.

My only dis-like for the two events was the moving backgrounds to the song words. I find them distracting, my concentration flicks over to think about the pattern cycle, when I should be concentrating on the meaning in the words. Also, I occasionally loose the words in the background.

So, I'm looking forward to the next one ...

Last of the Summer Days?

2010-08-30T20:57:00.000+01:00

Today is a public holiday in England. While the rest of the holiday weekend hasn't been nice the weather today was quite reasonable - dry and sunny, if not very warm. Yesterday was busy. Liz spoke in the morning on faithfulness from the parable of the shrewd manager. She was also singing with the band. Warner was leading the service and playing and singing. It was really too much for both of them, although the service went very well. There was another christening. It has been lovely to see so many families in church over the summer, I can't remember another summer like it. This family, like one or two of the others also hired the hall for their celebration afterwards. There were so many for tea and coffee that I was sent to buy extra milk.
After that I cycled home (you have to if you've cycled there!) to watch the Belgium Grand Prix. Spa is always a good race. The weather is unpredictable and it keeps the teams on their toes. There were some nasty crashes, particularly the one the ruined Jenson Buttons race.
In the afternoon Jo, Liz and I drove to Luton to see Karen and to 'meet' her boyfriend from Atlanta via a Skype connection. The technology worked sufficiently well, although putting the laptop on a pouffe was not a good idea. It got too hot and switched itself off. Queue a lot of waving of hands and blowing - should have got that on video! We then went out to The Raven at Hexton for dinner. Liz had been there before, but she can tell you about that if she decides to. The food was good and we had an enjoyable evening. We got back quite late.

Today was a relaxing day. I finally got to sleep in late but didn't feel greatly refreshed. The main task for today was to finally choose the reading I will preach on next Sunday. Next Sunday we are going to introduce the Just 10 course, so I have been struggling with what should go with that. I have settled on Matthew 5:17-20 where Jesus says "Do not think I have come to abolish the Law ...". Now I just need some inspiration to make it transformational, not just informational. I have also built a list of reading material for the next few days. This afternoon I have tidied up a small part of the garden - so small you'd probably not notice - and spent a lot of time playing with Brody, our labrador. I've also 'caught up' on some recorded television programs. One I found quite upsetting. Called Mountain Gorilla it chronicled the last weeks of Titus the oldest living silverback. He and his pack were hounded by one of his sons for weeks until Titus was exhausted. He then took three weeks to die. Why am I so affected by this when it takes me weeks to remember to make a donation to the Pakistan floods appeal? How do my priorities get so messed up?

BTCC @ Silverstone

2010-08-25T20:53:00.000+01:00

Sunday I got up even earlier than Saturday and unusually it had nothing to do with church. This was my first Sunday this year not attending church. We travelled for two hours in a roughly northerly direction to get to Silverstone. This is my birthday present and its going to be a fantastic day. There are three rounds of the BTCC at each race day, and a number of other supporting races and events. It took a while to get our bearings at Silverstone. There is a lot for them to do to improve the visitors experience. Jo had her radio with her, so we tuned into the circuit radio to listen to the commentary.

2010_0822 BTCC 19,20,21

BTCC is a complicated sport and I don't pretend to understand it - not like I do F1 for example. However it is enjoyable, and the day as a whole was very good. I'm learning more about it too.

Here are my impressions of the races.
There's a lot of overtaking and quite a lot of pushing and shoving to achieve it. They have the advantage of covered wheels so contact is not so serious. The races are enjoyable because there's a lot happening and because of the crowd's reaction - and they're not that long!
We support Team Aon, but I'm not sure why, probably because Liz's boyfriend does. They were a good team to support today, they won all three races.

In the first race Tom Onslow-Cole was leading when he pulled off line and let Tom Chilton past. Chilton went on to win the race. Onslow-Cole said he missed a gear but that doesn't explain it - he was well off the racing line when the pass occured.
In the second race Onslow-Cole was leading again and again gave way to Chilton. Team orders are allowed in the BTCC. I still don't like them. Onslow-Cole did not recover from the slow down and ended third.
Onslow-Cole won the third race because Chiltern was never higher than third.
Almost the perfect day for the team. Congratulations to Tom Onslow-Cole, driver of the day and the real winner.

We watched the first race from a Woodcote stand with a good view of the pit straight and Luffield. All the action took place at Maggots. We walked round to Maggots to watch the second race and the best action took place at Luffield. We watched the final race at Luffield and had a good view of lots of the action.

Of the supporting races the Ginetta (GT50's) was the most interesting with lots of action, and the last of them was red flagged! (Race abandoned is what a red flag means, in case you don't know). The Formula Renault (open wheeled) was also good, as were Clio's which we watched from Maggots - a good place to be if you like to see cars struggling to slow down. This race also included the cleanest overtake I saw as one car ran wide and the following braked later and passed on the inside.
The Porsche races were least interesting - nothing much seemed to happen.

The red arrows did a display, which we mostly missed and a Lancaster bomber did a fly past, you can just about see it in one of the pictures.

After the final race came the long and patient wait to get out of the car park. The stewards had blocked part of the road.

Its was a brilliant day, but quite long and tiring. - Thanks Liz.

P.S. This also counts as one of our '25-things' as we have never been to a motor race together before.

Julie and Pauls Wedding

2010-08-24T21:13:00.000+01:00

Saturday morning was an early start. Off to Christ Church and hope the hired mini-bus has survived it's stay in the car park over night. We arrived at 7:45. They were all there already. They must be getting used to me. 16 of us left the car park shortly after 8am for the long drive round the M25 (south to avoid the roadworks) and down the M4. On the journey the weather couldn't make up its mind - rain or cloud. We had a long way to go and a reasonable amount of time to get there. After a hiccup with the Sat-Nav we picked Karen up in Swindon. We arrived in Highworth about 11am and easily found St Michael's Church. Parking was harder. I found the recommended car parks but they were both too full for a 17-seater. We soon found a place on the road. Then it was up to the church where they were serving refreshments for the visitors. There were people there we hadn't seen for a very long time. Plenty of time to chat before the main event started.

2010_0821 Paul & Julie's Wedding

We had waited a long time for this wedding. Even Howard said so in his sermon. The wedding went very well. The pictures afterwards were a bit chaotic, but that often happens. There was a reception in the church hall and a not-very-strictly observed no-speeches rule.

Congratulations Paul and Julie! May you have a long and happy life together.

About 3:30pm we set off for home - the mini-bus being due back at it's base by 6pm. Somewhere nearing the M25 in a hot humid mini-bus one of our number feinted. Not knowing what was going on, and being quite worried at having an unconscious person in the bus we stopped. We had just called the Ambulance when the Motorway Patrol arrived. They coned off our section of the hard shoulder to protect us from the speeding traffic and put the Motorway warning signs on. They also called the Ambulance service to get an ETA. The police arrived and took next of kin details and tried to contact the family. Two ambulances arrived about 2 minutes apart. Slowly our patient was recovering. The paramedics carried out as thorough an examination as they could and recommended that a hospital visit should occur. I had already arrange for someone to accompany our patient if required. The free trip to the local hospital was forcibly declined, and a window seat found for the patient. The Motorway patrol even cleared the nearside lane for us to get back on the Motorway.

The emergency services in the county are truly amazing.

The mini-bus finally returned to base about two hours late. It was OK, I had been given the keys and instructions just in case.

They day ended with mixed emotions remembering the happy occasion but concerned for the health of a friend. There was also quite a bit of expectation for the day to come.

8 mile more

2010-08-15T18:40:00.000+01:00

So after the last blog I decided to try some cycling. I again managed 8 miles in about 45 minutes. This time, more than last, I really knew I'd done it. Oh well, keep going - puff, puff.

Long week

2010-08-15T15:01:00.000+01:00

I really don't do early. I never have. I was born late at night and have always been at my best in the afternoon and evening. Last week saw a number of early starts. By Friday I could barely concentrate on the program I was writing and needed some proper sleep. The changes we were making that required us to be in the office before the users are complete for now, so it should be back to normal next week. All that made preparing the sermon for the 8am service an interesting prospect. I was interrupted a number of times, most notably by a guy selling solar power electricity generation. He was talking to me about the 'Feed in Tarrifs' (FITs), a scheme we are dealing with at work (for business users, not private) that provides guaranteed minimum pricing for electricity sold to the grid by micro-generators. A solar panel on a roof, or a wind turbine in the garden would qualify. He's coming to see us tomorrow.
By early evening the sermon was ready. I was also ready for bed, but first we had to eat. "Let's go out". "OK - where?". "Little Burstead". So off we went to the Dukes Head. How it's changed. The refurbishment looks very good. We wandered in. The style is very different so we waited to ask for a table. ... and waited. "I'll be with you in a minute" one of the staff eventually said. Then he ignored me and served another (more recent) customer. We left. The Duke is not good enough, we'll try the King. So we went to the Kings Head at Great Burstead. They were almost full, but we found a table, ordered our food and drink, and ate a very good meal.
The 8am went reasonably well, except for the lack of microphones and therefore the hearing aid 'loop', so I hope everyone heard me. I'm not used to speaking loudly for so long and am a little croaky now, but its all good practice. My text is here.
The 10am service followed breakfast, where Margaret was preaching and there were two christenings. It was very busy, but I was starting to fade out a little by the end because of yet another early morning!

Flat Walk

2010-08-09T20:30:00.001+01:00

It's August, and that probably says it all. People are going away, gone away or just got back. There seems to be no-one around. It's like working late on Christmas eve - just me and the man who switches off the lights - and he's threatening to lock me in! Well, perhaps not that bad, but is was quiet. Which is a shame because is was a good service. Warner spoke on the parable of the lost coin, there was a piece of video of Tony Robinson looking younger than Baldrick, and quite a challenging talk on finding the lost (people). "More tattoos in Church!" is the slightly unfair summary. It raised a lot of questions for me about just how we would communicate effectively with people we have so little in common with. Trust, grace and a few miracles required - just to get started.
That formed a background to the walk around the sea wall at South Woodhan Ferrers (near Marsh Farm). Its a very pleasant, very easy walk, but it was also quite hot. Brody was worn out when we finally got back home. On our return we were shouted at a couple of times for wandering on the farm (you're supposed to pay and dogs aren't allowed anyway) - a little bit uncalled for and easily avoided by keeping the gates closed (as the country code say they should!)
In the evening I had a long chat with Karen about her time in and around Atlanta, Georgia. Sound like she had a really good holiday, how nice it must be to have friends all around the globe.

Freecycle

2010-08-05T19:22:00.000+01:00

I have a natural dislike of throwing things away when they are still in good functioning order. We are supposed to be good stewards of the earth and its resources, and I try to live up to that. That's why, a while ago I joined the local freecycle website. Its a place, a message board (a yahoo group actually) where you can put 'adverts' for things you would like to get rid of, or things you would like to acquire.
Time moves on and technology changes (improves?). As a result, and so that we are into the digital age, we have just bought a new television - a Samsung. Its digital and HD, so I'm almost up to date.
What to do with our old Sony? I can't even work out how old it is (at least 8 years, I think), certainly nowhere near as old as the Ferguson we had before that, but things change so quickly. The Sony was working well, and not showing any signs of problems. So to free cycle with it. I looked at trying to sell it but for £40 (the going rate for similar TVs), its hardly worth the effort. I looked at giving it to charities, but they won't take analogue TV's any more. So freecycle it I did, and after just 3 days it's gone. I hope it's new owners enjoy it.
That's my first experience of freecycle and it's a very good one.

Almost like starting again ...

2010-08-03T21:20:00.001+01:00

That seems to be the theme of the day.

I was preaching Sunday morning and as I listened to myself I was not at all happy with the balance. Here's roughly what I said. Too much concentration on the problem and too little discussion of how to avoid it. Warner added a prayer at the end which worked well. However God did manage to speak to some people through it. I got some helpful feedback, but also just some "well done"s, which I'm never that sure about. I MUST remember to respond to those with some sort of question ...
I haven't reacted like that to the structure and content of one of my sermons since the very early days.

That was the first 'starting again'.

After lunch, a bottle of Bishop's Finger and the Hungarian Grand Prix (perhaps Mark Webbers best race?), I decided to go for a cycle. I only managed the shortest of my courses and had a very sore knee at the end. I
was also feeling quite tired.

That was the second 'starting again'

In the evening we took Brody and some sandwiches and went to Matching Tye for a 1.5 hour walk through the very dry countryside. Most of the time we were walking across or around fields of grain clearly ready for the harvest. If there's any appreciable rain now it will all be flattened and rot. The walk officially started at the Village Hall, but we started from and returned to The Fox Inn. They have a very large garden so it was easy to fit Brody in.

I slept well Sunday night!

Finally, the Falmouth Fortnight reports

2010-07-31T20:18:00.000+01:00

I have finally finished writing about my holiday, if you're interested:
First Week
Second Week
Pictures

4.3

2010-07-30T20:28:00.000+01:00

The drugs are working - which is really good news. After three weeks on Statins my Cholesterol score has dropped from 6.9mmol/l (millimoles/litre) to 4.3mmol/l. Target is under 5mmol/l. Now I'm praying I'm not one of the very few who suffer some really horrible side-effects after about 3 or 4 months of taking them. That's not the only down side of my treatments. A study has revealed that Calcium supplements increase the risk of heart attack. I had just re-started taking the calcium. I may need to reconsider as my calcium levels have always been within the expected limits. So the next thing to measure is blood pressure. I'm told I can get a home machine to take my own measurements. That will be another thing to add to the spreadsheet I keep of weight and waste-line measurements.
Isn't getting older fun?

Back to the old days

2010-07-25T15:03:00.000+01:00

We have come to that time in our lives when we have been married for 25 years. Yesterday we visited our close friends as they celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. 25 years ago I was best man at Jim & Nicola's wedding. On Friday night I was phoned and asked "Accustomed to public speaking as you are, would you like to say a few words?" The answer wasn't "Yes", but I did agree. It wasn't a best man type speech, just a few memories and lots of appreciation. Their family has grown up and is moving away but their service to Jesus and His church continues. There were quite a few friends we hadn't seen for a while. Our CYFA leader, who has just retired, and friends who have returned from many years as missionaries in Tanzania.

Will any of us make 50, and if we do will I still be blogging?

This morning John Carr visited Christ Church, he is an excellent preacher and gave us a very straight forward sermon on prayer, which will be on the web site in a day or two. We also sang some 'traditional' (for me) hymns - Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, which was printed on the Evening service service sheet when I joined Christ Church in 1979/80.

So it really has been back to the old days.

Long and Varied Weekend

2010-07-19T20:32:00.001+01:00

On Friday morning we set off to Cranbrook, Kent for our 'Red Letter Day' - we had chosen The George, a hotel we had seen but not stayed in when we visited Cranbrook last December. We chose it for two reasons, firstly we like Cranbrook and secondly it's not too far away so we don't waste time travelling. The journey was uneventful until close to the end, when we ended up nowhere near Cranbrook High Street. The sat nav had us on Maytham Road, Rolvenden, some 4.5 miles from where we should have been! We arrived in Cranbrook in time for lunch, and visited the Co-op for sandwiches, salad and fruit. We walked into a green area with a skateboard park and some swings and ate our lunch. Then wandered around Cranbrook and checked the opening time of the Windmill. By now it was time to book in. The George gave a very friendly welcome. The room was big enough for us and the en-suite was up three steps. After a few minutes of settling in and sampling the champagne we set off for Sissinghurst Castle Gardens. It's a National Trust property now. In common with many of the National Trust properties we have visited, it is well looked after but the presentation is poor and the prices rather too high. The most recent occupants were Vita Sackville-West and Sir Harold Nicolson, both writers. Vita designed the gardens and wrote a lot about gardening. The gardens are impressive and the tower gives a good view over that part of Kent. The National Trust have kept the gardens well and employ five gardeners - one who grew up in Falmouth where we have just holidayed.
We had dinner at the George in their very nice restaurant, where they kept food coming even while we waited for starters. It was an excellent meal. We were worried that the noise from the pub below would keep us awake but we both fell asleep watching the TV!
Breakfast on Saturday morning was a slow affair, even by hotel standards. I'm not sure the young lady serving us really knew what she was doing, although she was polite and attentive. We checked out and made our way to Merriments - another formal garden and a very different style. For lunch we went back to The Woodcock, where I had rabbit for the first time on our last visit. The food is still excellent, the parking is still difficult.
Finally we visited Cranbrook Union Windmill. We had seen it on our last visit and were glad to have an opportunity to go inside. The trust did a marvellous job of presenting the mill, with guides on every floor enthusiastically explaining any and every aspect of the mills history and workings. We were there for 90 minutes!
A very enjoyable short break.
Saturday night I paid a quick visit to the Vicar to get the following days service finalized as it was the start of our summer series, which makes up part of the series on Jesus the Storyteller. Four of the congregation had created a scrap book (although that title really undervalues what they have done - it's brilliant!) which includes activities for both children and adults. A very good addition to the service it made too, along with the reading being given from memory from a platform in the centre of church with props for the children to demonstrate the stories. Sunday morning was a very good service, which is not at all down to my leading but to the contribution of the congregation. This is how church should be!
Sunday afternoon saw the birthday celebrations for Liz and Karen. We played 'Top Golf'. Each ball must be registered as it is collected and must be registered as 'in play' before it is hit. Then the computer works out your score. On one ball I scored 26 points (for most I scored 3 or none) because it was on a double, it was the bonus shot and it was my best shot of the day. Karen had posted the picture on Facebook!
I think I'm going to claim 2 of the '25 things' (follow the theme link if you're confused):
1) Going back to somewhere we've holidayed before.
2) Playing Top Golf.

What a brilliant weekend I've had.

Thanks to The boys and the girlfriends at Christmas for the 'Red Letter Day', to the contributors at Christ Church and to Liz and Karen for inviting us to their birthday celebrations.

Health update / Lost Son

2010-07-07T23:47:00.000+01:00

Since returning from holiday I have joined what has been called the biggest drugs trial of all time - giving everyone who is over 50 and has an elevated cholesterol reading statins. My last Cholesterol reading was 6.9, up from 6.7 in a little over a year. I was offered the chance to take these tablets - to try them and see if they are OK. I'm told they save 6 of 100 people in 10 years. It doesn't sound impressive, so put another way my chances of a heart attack in that time go from 1 in 4 (25%) to 1 in 5 (20%). The latter is a more convincing statistic (to me anyway). So every night (but one - it was late and I forgot - memory pills next!) I have taken a 20mg Simvastatin tablet. Soon it's back to the doctors - to get my blood measured again, I expect.

The main reason for the entry is really to mark the 18 month recovery period for the broken (smashed, destroyed, mangled) shoulder. Most days I would not know that I had received such an injury. I rarely experience pain and have adequate movement to live my normal life. In reality the range of movement has continued to increase since I stopped the physiotherapy but the increase is slow. I have also compensated by using other movements to achieve my aim. I have noticed recently that I have started reaching for things with my right arm - a good sign. The osteoporosis tablets have stopped - the side effects are too extreme to continue.

This morning we were woken to sounds of barking. Brody (our chocolate Labrador) had returned home and found his way into next door's garden - and their dog was barking. Andy was missing. A phone call soon established what had happened. Brody had run off with another dog, got himself lost, and decided to come home. Andy was still in the meadow looking for him.

Almost a Church Walk

2010-07-04T22:42:00.000+01:00

It was one of those Sunday's when the preacher chooses the passage. Margaret chose Genesis 26 (most of it). I was leading. The band started with Father Abraham, including the actions - they were much better than the girl in the video, but you won't ever get to see them because it was not recorded.

As I listened to the sermon the atmosphere seemed to get heavier. The message was clear that relationships need to be sorted out, if it can possibly be achieved. Certainly you cannot force someone to accept an apology, but you can make the apology if you have done something to cause offence. In the space of a few minutes we had moved from the light hearted fun of Father Abraham, to the serious business of dealing with God, and honestly trying to follow his Son. I hope the message went home to the people it was meant for, I don't know exactly how many that might have been. I reminded them all that prayer was available after the service. The Holy Spirit seemed to be saying that this really needs to be addressed.

Following church (& lunch) we went to Hadleigh castle for the monthly walk - except that wasn't where we were supposed to be! We were supposed to be in the country park that surrounds Hadleigh Castle. So much for my expectation that I knew the area - it has changed a lot since I last lived there. We eventually met up with the group, and found our way back to the car park that we should have started at, and that I had later moved the car to. Oh well, we must make sure we get the instructions next time - even if I 'know' where I'm going.

Falmouth Holiday

2010-06-27T09:34:00.001+01:00

For the first time in many years Jo and I have had a full fortnight holiday. We stayed in Falmouth in Cornwall.
View Larger Map
The first week was sunny, but windy, the second week was calmer and hotter. We have had a very relaxing and reasonably active holiday. Falmouth is about 6 hours drive away (including short breaks), so the two travelling days were hard work. It was worth it to get to a different environment. The pattern for the day was (roughly) - wake at 7:30, breakfast 8:30, reading 9:15, daily activities start at about 10:00, and we came back when they finished. Cornwall is a beautiful county and benefits from the Gulf Stream, so has a milder climate as some of my pictures will show.

More later ...

Dog Week / Foulness Island at last

2010-06-06T19:42:00.001+01:00

Getting up early this morning to walk Brodie before we went to church was the hardest part of the week. Other than that the extra time out has not been a chore. Jo and I had lunch in the 'garden' at the Coach and Horses on Saturday and Brodie sat with us and was very well behaved. The family has talked more - we spent an evening swapping dog stories, and I'm getting to know my youngest son again, having walked with him and the dog twice.
Today, leaving him behind and going to church was difficult, it was also the first time he had been left on his own. He was not happy when we returned some 3 hours later.

Warner preached on Luke 10:1-9 and started by showing Bubble Creek Canyon. He talked about being sent (to Billericay for an awful lot of people), and ended with the acronym P.R.A.Y
Pray for Peace
Relationships (esp Hospitality)
Acts of Kindness
Yahweh's Kingdom.
To make sense of it all the text is here.

After Church we left poor Brodie again and headed for Foulness Island (my last attempt is here). Revd James Knight, one of my Great Great Great (enough greats, or too many - not sure) Grandfathers on my mothers side, was Rector there from 1832 until he died in 1844 he was in his eighties. I suspect that he wanted an easy parish for the last few years of his life, there being no retirement in those days. In 1845 the current Church was built, so perhaps I'm wrong thinking he had an easy last few years. The current Rectory was built slightly later. The local historian gave us an idea of the location of the previous church, and told us where to look. It was just a small chapel built many years before (13??) so that the local people did not have to travel to attend Church.

Once again there was no physical evidence of my ancestors.

Then it was back home to see a limping dog. What happened I do not know, but when he gets going it eases up and he can trot and run OK, so there isn't much wrong.

Welcome Brodie

2010-05-31T20:48:00.000+01:00

After a false start our dog has finally arrived. We were expecting to have him delivered this morning, but the lady who is selling him is about to give birth to their second child, and we were delayed by a false alarm. So, Andrew and Michael went to pick him up as Jo and I left for Chipping Ongar to do next weeks Christ Church monthly walk (as we cannot be there on the day).

May 2010 Brodie

Here's a picture of the area that we have set aside for Brodie. It's not our choice of name, but it's OK, and silly to change it, as the dog is used to it. There are pictures of Brodie on the link, and also of Jo in Chipping Ongar. The walk took about two and a quarter hours, and took in Greenstead Church, which is the oldest wooden church in the world, dating from Saxon times. There is also a picture of the back of the church, which is built of halved tree trunks. It is beautiful inside too.
When we returned home the house was empty - Mike was walking Brodie and Andrew was at work. He is very well behaved so far, and seems eager to please. He is also tired tonight, having been walked and played with, and of course moved family. I'm expecting it to take a few weeks for him to settle in properly.

A Dog?

2010-05-30T17:35:00.001+01:00

Preparations are almost complete. A fence has been erected along the back of the garden, and part of the patio is fenced off. We are preparing for the arrival of a dog. Hopefully it will turn out to be "man's best friend" and not our worst nightmare. All that is required is a family visit, to make sure that the dog does not take an instant dislike to any of us and the arrival of a kennel. He is about 16 months and apparently well trained. He has all the appropriate paperwork and all the necessary treatments.

This morning I was preaching at Christ Church. Our bible reading was Romans 5:1-5. It is a difficult passage at the best of times, but when there are children in the service it is doubly difficult. My effort is here. See what you think. I found the service very uplifting this morning. Andy, one of our youth leaders was service leader and the young people were playing (its a fifth Sunday). They had a couple of adults helping out this time. They choose easy to sing hymns and make enough sound so that I'm not tentative about my singing - which helps me to get involved in the worship. My illustrations in my sermon went better than I could possibly have hoped, with young people eager to volunteer to help out. They also helped with the prayers.

A good morning, and surprise result to the Turkish GP made it an excellent day so far. Better still we have a Public Holiday tomorrow and the weather is improving.

Public Worship with Communion by Extension

2010-05-16T19:09:00.000+01:00

Yesterday's half day training means that I am now available to officiate at a service of Public Worship with Communion by Extension. The old arrangements have been replaced and a new form of service created. The service is designed to high light the differences between Holy Communion and what I struggle to resist calling unholy communion - which it most certainly isn't, of course. We were asked what receiving the bread and wine means to us? Before you read on, take a minute to think what it means to you.

To me it is the closest experience I have of God. The time when I can connect with Jesus' death and resurrection more easily and more fully than is normally possible. It is Jesus' command - "do this in remembrance of me" - just as "love one another as I have loved you" is a command. It is the one act in a worship service that distinguishes us from other religions singing hymns and praising the same, or a different God.

Many of the Readers there said similar things, and much more. Eventually the question was raised - the one that really needed discussion. Where are the benefits from - the bread and the wine, or the priest (who has blessed it)?
If the sacrament is being transported and is lost, and then eaten by a non-beliver who finds it - do they receive the benefits? - No. That would make it 'magic' food. If a priest alone blessed some bread and wine and eats and drinks it does (s)he get the benefit. No - because there is no communion (no community). So the benefits come from the act of remembrance, the faith of the believers, and the presence of God. Everything in the Church must be done in an ordered fashion. Paul tells the hungry to eat at home, so that everyone may get a share and order be maintained. That is why we need a licensed member of the clergy to say the prayer of blessing.

Having then completed the process in an orderly fashion we are now talking about the distribution, which is extended from one congregation to another. (hence by Extension). The service therefore goes out of its way to avoid looking like a Holy Communion service.

We were asked to look at delivering a Service of the Word as an alternative to communion and to accept that PWCE was the worst of the options. That is not my view. At Easter the other year, when Warner was ill we went out of our way to make Easter Day a proper communion service. We recognised that the alternative (by extension, under the old arrangements) was not good enough, but as a very last resort we would have offered communion by extension. No-one ever suggested a service of the word. We are just trying to follow Jesus' command as best we can in our imperfect and sinful world.

My personal view is that some form of communion is better than no communion, and judging by the comments of those present at the training I am not alone.

Uncle Albert

2010-05-12T20:15:00.000+01:00

Jo's Uncle died recently after a couple of strokes. The funeral was yesterday, I had a day off work, and so did Michael. I hadn't had the chance to get to know him well, but I will find out more about him because he has written down his life story. He was a dedicated member of Basildon URC and had worked for much of his life with the Boys Brigade. Christian funerals are different to other funerals I've been to, I suppose that its down to the belief that there is more to come and that the person we have lost is not gone forever. We have recognised the contribution he made to the lives of those around him - particularly his Children and grand Children, and also his more distant relatives and friends. I'm looking forward to reading his life story.
In the evening Liz, Jo and I went to The Ship. The meal we had there was very nice, if slightly more expensive than I was expecting. Over the meal we discussed how we might further celebrate Jo's birthday, as we haven't done much yet. Read Liz'z blog for details. If we do it will make for some excellent pictures.

Our prayers are with Albert's family and friends as they come to terms with his parting.

Jewish Roots of our Faith / 8 Mile

2010-05-09T17:39:00.000+01:00

Jewish Roots of our Faith
In January 2008 Michael Cohen visited Christ Church to talk about the Jewish roots of our faith. Here's my review of what happened last time. Michael made a return visit yesterday. Again he provided teaching from the point of view of a Messianic Jew, one who had found his faith and his roots after growing up in a secular background. My notes on this one are not so good, I am in the precess of ending my caffeine addiction (on medical advice, but that's another story). As a result my concentration is not what it should be and I missed a number of key links. I have however asked for the recordings so that I can study them properly when my brain chemistry has recovered. The attendance at this event was rather sparse. I don't think it received the publicity it should have done.
Michael was our preacher a Christ Church this morning and spoke to us from John 14:23-29, but mainly verse 27. He started with a question "How full of peace is your heart today?" and went on to talk about 'shalom' and its meaning of completeness. Later there was a reference to Romans 8:38-39 "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." It is only one of two places where Paul says he is convinced of something. The sermon will be here soon.

8 Mile
My quest to get fitter and perhaps cycle to work took a small step froward this afternoon. I investigated the back roads of Stock, to determine if there is a way around Stock Hill. There is. Small Gains Lane, Well Lane and Common Road which brings you back onto the B1007 (Stock Road). Today at the end of Well Lane I returned home via Mill Road and a 'freewheel' down stock hill, where I kept up with the traffic. It's a nice cycle, although there was a slight danger of decapitation in Small Gains Lane as there were workmen replacing cables and one was alarmingly low! The distance was 8 miles exactly (according to google) and so the longest yet. My time was about 44 minutes easily inside the maximum of one hour for the whole journey. More importantly my recovery time was about the same as the cycle time, so I would need another 45 minutes before I started work (and probably another shower!).

Elections May 2010

2010-05-07T20:58:00.000+01:00

I'm hoping and assuming that you've all done your part, and put your cross on two Ballot papers. I went further than usual this year and stood as a candidate in the local council election. I came 2nd, the result is here. It isn't bad considering that this is a very safe seat. I wasn't really expecting to win. Here though is the proof, a copy of the leaflet which should have been delivered throughout Billericay, but I know was not, because people have told me.
Here is the local Liberal Democrats website

It was a strange process, the only qualification seemed to be that I was willing for my name to be put on the ballot paper. I have been a member of the party for a long time, but never an active member - I have never been to a branch meeting, for example. Then there are the unbelievable number of pieces of paper. Thankfully the local agent dealt with all that. I did get 4 (FOUR) letters inviting me to the various post election proceedings - monitoring and counts etc. - and so did all my family.
If I ever stand again I have my first costs saving idea!

So what would have happened if I had won, if the Nick Clegg effect had yielded more than 4% increase in the liberal vote?

I would have treated it as an Act of God and responded accordingly - Tried to be a good effective councillor. After all it seems that politics and faith have at least one thing in common. To serve you just have to be available and willing.

Swallows and Avocets

2010-05-02T21:55:00.000+01:00

Being the first May bank holiday, the weather has turned from warm and sunny to cold, wet and windy. However, before I discuss our outing, I must discuss our church service. Warner spoke to us about the forth coming general election and used the Beatitudes to make some interesting points about the character traits of the sort of people we should be voting for. This came on top of the hustings of last Thursday and was a useful reminder to think carefully and try to make a judgement before you vote. He asked us for 100% turn out. I hope his wish comes true. The turn out at general elections is usually too low. Remember people have died for the privilege that we now take for granted, and sometimes ignore completely.

I am reminded of a conversation on the bus while the BBC interviewer was there. A young woman had been asked if she would say a few words on the recorder for broadcast later. The conversation went something like this.

Ben the BBC Essex man started with "Excuse me, would you say something about the debate?"
"What debate?"
"The priministerial debate"
"What's that?"
"About the Election"
"What election?"
"The general election"
"What's that? - I don't know anything about that"
"Never-mind, it not something everyone's interested in"

She then got out he mobile phone and called someone
"I've just been asked to be on the radio" ... "He wants to ask me about politics" ... "but I don't know anything about that"

After church we rushed home for soup and the rushed off to Two Tree Island for the walk. It was supposed to start at 2pm. We arrived at the designated car park just before two. No-one there. We drove on and checked the other car parks, eventually we returned to the designated car park. As we arrived so did some others. It is not an easy place to find, but as I had lived near by I knew where it was. For May the weather was unpleasant, but we were well protected from the wind and rain. We set out in the hope of seeing Kingfishers. Much of the area is looked after by the Essex Wildlife trust. There is a good picture here. We did not see kingfishers. We did see swallows. They are amazing little birds with their sudden twists and turns, and skimming food from the surface of the water. There are flashes of colour, white on black, and a stunning deep blue if you catch one flying directly away from you. I stood transfixed as they darted about. One of our party, who is a real bird watching enthusiast told us that they had probably one just arrived. At another pool further along the path we saw avocets - not like the chick in the picture, but fully grown wading birds. They too are fascinating to watch as they bob up and down feeding in the mud below the shallow water.

Another good walk, which I'm glad I attended. Despite living locally for many years this was the first time I had walked on Two Tree Island.

Fourteen Minutes and thirty seconds to go ...

2010-05-01T13:30:00.001+01:00

BBC Essex were live from the 100 bus yesterday morning. They started at Basildon and got off at their offices in New London Road. They were asking people about the debates shown on TV with the three party leaders.
I didn't see the debates, I missed the last one because I was at the Billericay Hustings, sponsored by CTB in Emanuel Church. That was interesting enough to qualify for a question, so here is what I said. It is a listen again of the whole of the breakfast show, my piece starts just after 02:23:00 (2 hours 23 minutes in). just after the traffic news. I'm not sure how long the clip will be there, and I haven't been able to capture it yet.
"Everyone has their 15 minutes of fame" (to mis-quote Andy Warhol). Well, if they do, I am due another 14:30. I'm also very aware of how little I manage of what I would like to have said - I'm not practised at dealing with the media One of the things I don't think about when preparing a sermon is a 30 second sound byte.

So what of the Hustings themselves?

As I said it was a good opportunity to meet your prospective MP and listen to what they say. You begin to find out who they are and what they believe. My summary of what I heard is here.

Another Evening at the Rising Sun

2010-04-27T20:45:00.000+01:00

Rarely as I've travelled through life I have found myself in a group of people who naturally gel. The team I was part of and then lead in 2002 - 2004 was one of the few. We were not split up all at once, but large companies tend to move their people around quite a lot - usually to try to save money, although I'm never sure that works. I originally suggested that we planned our next get together to occur some time in February, then March, and finally April. In April we just about managed it. We are now all working in different companies, I think, although one of our number was sent to Florida at short notice and couldn't be with us. We met at the same location - the Rising Sun. I notice that my previous two reports have been in June. There is a lot of re-development happening around St. Paul's Cathedral, we all had concerns that the pub might be closed. It wasn't. It was relatively empty though, its usually a fight to get to the bar - not this time. We stood inside, ignoring the newly pedestrianised road where most of the other customers were. Then it was upstairs to the Thai restaurant. What did we have last time? Should we choose the same again, or have something different. I chose ginger chicken stir fry, I can't remember the Thai name, and I suspect it wouldn't mean much to you anyway. The food was, as always, very good. The company, as always, was even better. There's always lots to talk about and we never seem to quite get fully up to date - so there's reason to come back again.
The journey home was uneventful, and I was relaxed and happy having spent a good evening with old friends.

A wedding and an AGM

2010-04-25T20:22:00.000+01:00

Wedding
Mandy and Rob were married at Christ Church on Saturday. The church had been tidied up the previous week and looked good as did the extra decoration for the occasion. This is the first wedding of a regular member of the congregation for quite a while. We were therefore all looking forward to it. Personally I have known Mandy for a long time - from youth groups, through to the visit to Tanzania in 2002, and to her recent role as worship leader. Our ex-vicar Paul gave an excellent talk. The service ran very smoothly and the bride and groom performed their vows loudly enough to be heard. There are pictures of the wedding on Facebook, so if you're reading this on Facebook, take a look.
Then off to Five Lakes, a local(ish) golf club for the reception.
The speeches were very good, very entertaining without getting nasty or abusive, as I have heard sometimes. The meal was very nice, but I did get a little shock. Trying to cut a piece of butter and pick it up on the end of the knife with my right arm extended to its maximum reach proved to be both painful and near impossible. That shows the limits of the healing process much better than digging the garden, which went without incident. Then on to the cake cutting - see the picture for that - it was an unusual cake.
Altogether a very good day for us, but more importantly a life changing day for Mandy and Rob. We wish them rich blessing as they live out their married life.

Annual General Meeting
For a few years now the Christ Church AGM has taken place after a shortened communion service. Today's meeting was convened at the end of the service, but unlike others we have had recently was inconclusive. A number of the people who volunteer to server the church had gone away for Easter holidays and had not returned due to the problems with flying through volcanic ash. So more posts than usual are unfilled and we will require a special meeting later to agree the final appointments, as is the legal requirement.

The Axe and Compasses Aythorpe Roding

2010-04-19T21:57:00.000+01:00

It was the fiftieth birthday celebration, or at least a part of it. Jo did not know what was happening, just that something was. Liz had helped me to select the restaurant. Neither of us had been there, but it had received good reviews. The immediate family, and their boy and girl friends made their various arrangements and we arrived at the Axe and Compasses in good time. The boys had brought some 'party things' - a hat and a badge with flashing lights - they had also bought some sensible presents.
After a drink we were led to our table. I had not tried Doom Bar before, it has a very pleasant taste, and is far too easy to drink. I am limited to just one as I have a full seven seater to drive home later.
The menu had been handed out in advance so by the time we arrived at our table most of us had decided what we would order. We had been told as we arrived that there was no pork left. We ordered various starters, I ordered the pigeon breasts. The starters soon arrived, after a very quick Grace from Liz we began to eat. We were in a quiet corner, but had livened it up a bit by now - and the regular family banter was already well under-way. The pigeon was extremely rarely cooked and bled onto the plate. I cannot eat bleeding meat, but the boys seemed happy to share an extra starter. There was quite a wait for main courses. We spent the time chatting and were not too concerned. Jo said I should tell them, but the meat was eaten, so it didn't seem right.
Eventually the main courses arrived. They were less than impressive from the start. The yorkshire puddings served with the lamb were burnt, so was the top layer of the lasagne. I had the salmon in cream and prawn sauce, with new potatoes. Andrew had chosen the same thing, so I passed on my prawns. Both of us agreed that the sauce was just prawns in cream, and was quite unpleasant. The vegetables were delayed (forgotten). By the time they arrived we were half way through the main courses. Some of my potatoes were cooked on one side and hard on the other. The carrots in the vegetable were similarly varied, some almost raw, some almost sloppy.
The third course was skipped but some of us - again because our choice was no longer available.
Only while I was paying for the meal was I asked if everything had been OK. I didn't get to the end of my list of complaints, I don't think she wanted to hear any more. Some items were removed from the bill.
We enjoyed the evening. Our family get togethers are usually enjoyable, and it takes more than a poor meal to put us off. However, it was a big occasion, that cannot be repeated, and I for one was left disappointed.

Grave Hunting, Jam and Windows 7

2010-04-13T21:29:00.001+01:00

The nice thing about graves is they move very slowly, unfortunately it is not a slowly as you might hope.

2010_0411

There are other things that make it difficult to have any idea who the stone relates to. Lichen can obliterate the writing very quickly (see album), sometimes the stone flakes and the top layer is missing. In the case of Mountnessing, the church was closed for a while, when it was re-opened the grave yard was tidied up, and many of the broken and damaged stones lost.
We arrived at Buttsbury just as Evensong began, there the church yard is also missing stones, but we don't know why.
We did not find any of the names we were looking for - this time on Jo's side of the family.
That was Sunday afternoon, a lovely day for wandering in the countryside, and the churches provided some lovely views, if not the right grave stones.

Jam is not like stone, but I promised here, that I would talk about the jam. At the alternative Christmas Fayre we bought a pot of Elderberry Jelly from the Mum and Me Jam Company. It's been in the cupboard a while, as is the way with jam in our house. Jelly, well yes, I suppose, but the jelly has the consistency of the jelly you have at children's parties. It is quite difficult to spread, however rather that than the commercial version of some "jellies", which turn to liquid at the first slice. The taste is very good and that's what really counts.

Now that the Projection project is finished at Church, I can get on with my own migration to Windows 7. Migration is slow, but is happening - you can see the updates here.

Jesus expects ... belief (John 20:19-31)

2010-04-11T14:27:00.001+01:00

My sermon text for this morning is here. The church was not as full as usual, it being the middle weekend of the school holidays. The church has a different feel when some of the families are missing. Nevertheless the service went well. I received lots of helpful feedback on my sermon, so it has been a good morning. Some friends we only see occasionally were there and it is always good to see old friends.

Yesterday, Karen visited for a while, on her way to the Hen Night for the wedding of the year. You'll have to read her blog or Liz's blog to get more details.

While browsing and thinking about updating my Christ Church History page, I came across the Internet Archive - This is Christ Church's earliest page.

Facebook Uploader - Yuk!

2010-04-07T19:55:00.000+01:00

I hadn't added pictures to facebook for ages. When I tried it informed me that the new uploader was available, and would be much quicker. The install was clunky - horribly clunky. I click install, I Click Installed, but I'd missed the link in the TEXT!!! to start the download.

Finally, it's installed, then the browser for finding the files looks like something out of the 80's, with extra columns for each level of directories (not heard of TreeView then?). Thankfully selecting the photos was standard. Now the upload is in progress. I wonder how long it will take and when & how I'll be notified?

While I'm complaining about facebook ... why does it take so long (20 seconds, just now) for the dialogue box to become accessible when you share a website?

Holiday Monday & "Are Christians being persecuted?"

2010-04-05T12:19:00.001+01:00

Such is the once Christian nature of our country that we have a Public Holiday after Easter Sunday, in recognition of the resurrection. Yesterday was Easter Sunday. We had the usual greeting at church:
Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed Alleluia
Christ is Risen!
He is risen indeed Alleluia
Christ is Risen!
He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

So the service got going.
I have not been 100% healthy over this holiday. I've had some sort of virus. So Easter has passed be by a bit. I missed the Agape meal at church on Thursday, the walk of witness on Friday, and would have missed the sunrise service on Sunday, had I identified one to attend. It has been different. Even the Easter Day service seemed different from my less than 100% perspective. Yes, I've recovered, but I'm still tired. I have though had some really good appreciative feed back from the Good Friday service. The services I lead often seem to go better when I'm not 100% - God works through me better when I'm less able to get in the way?
Warner spoke on the resurrection, and showed the clip from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe where the stone table breaks and Aslan appears with the Sun behind him. He spoke about our faith and even our dead faith being resurrected by God. One of the high lights of the service was the music. The younger, but no longer young (sorry, guys and girls!) people did a marvellous job and provided some very uplifting music. I must especially mention Mandy, whose singing and worship was tremendous.

Today was also the day we started to use the new laptop (with Windows 7) and Easislides. I had spent a long time evaluating various pieces of Freeware. Jo and I had spent a long time the previous week getting the songs into the Easislides system. It offers a range of imports, but our old system (SongPro3) doesn't export and the Songs of Fellowship CD words for books 1-3 are very poorly formatted. We arrived at 9am to set up the new system and to transfer the notices in to Impress. By 9:55 we were ready to go. Just in time. Easislides has a good user interface, but when I was asked to take over briefly - I got it wrong! Overall though it was a success. Now I just have to train the other operators, and make sure that the song counts work for the end of year copyright reporting.

Then home to wait for Karen, and watch the Malaysian GP.

One piece of Easter Entertainment - Jonathan Creek - The Judas Tree - didn't disappoint. I wasn't expecting anything else and was just about to go to bed when I saw "Are Christians being persecuted?". It was presented by Nicky Campbell - so I wasn't expecting good things. The last couple of things I've seen him in have missed the real issues and spent too long on people experiences. So I was pleasantly surprised. Various religious leaders were interviewed and allowed to say what they needed to say. We (the program stated as fact) live in a Liberal Democracy. The danger for the Liberal democracy is that when it has no belief it will find something - almost anything - to believe in. It was also recognised that secular humanism is as much a religion as Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity and the rest. There was a reasonable discussion on the difficulties involved in granting 'rights' to people that will inevitably conflict. Liberty, perhaps had a greater share of airtime than you might expect given the conclusion of the program. Some of the 'famous' recent cases of discrimination were also covered. Most notably the case of a Check In desk woman sacked for wearing a cross. There was also coverage of the Human Rights bill, which consolidates the various anti-discrimination legislation (equal pay, gender discrimination, sexual orientation discrimination). The danger with this is that in reality it behaves like a piece of Orwelian 'thought' legislation.
The program's conclusion:
No - Christians are not being tortured and murdered like they are in many countries,
and
Yes - In a Liberal democracy (so by our standards) the deliberate shunning of one religion feels like persecution.

Good Friday - Eastingle

2010-04-02T20:44:00.000+01:00

The service this morning was a reflection on the seven things that Jesus said on the cross. Mostly it was based on Seven Words for the 21st Century. This was the book that formed the basis of the few days we spent at Lee Abbey, last year. There is much more in it than you can possibly use in one service, and some of it is too detailed to be used in a 40 minute reflection. Margaret was the preacher, and presented a piece on Mary's thoughts at the cross. This was particularly well received. We finished with this youtube clip.
As I had been unwell yesterday and was still not feeling very good, I decided, reluctantly, not to go on the Walk of Witness. Easter isn't Easter without it really.
If its Good Friday it must be Eastingle. You can see what I wrote about it last year at the link. Liz lead the service again, but the difference this year was the projector. This meant that even on a sunny afternoon we could easily watch the 3 short clips that tell the essential of the story of Easter. Warner had produced these and had cut and paste pieces from various films both stop motion and real life. They were cut so well the transition was almost imperceptible. It was a very good, enjoyable service.
This year we had about 150 people at the service. Almost all of them had been at Christingle. I overheard part of a conversation as a family left, presumably about their own church. They were saying there is nothing for children on Good Friday. We have at least solved that one.

IT Director

2010-04-02T19:09:00.000+01:00

From yesterday my job title is IT Director. I couldn't write about it yesterday - there were too many hoaxes being portrayed as news. That is what yesterday is about. I have the letter from a few days ago, so it is not a hoax. It will change what I do quite a bit. Members of the family reacted differently to the announcement - as they always do. First I was told that it was a ‘small victory’. That is true – there is a small pay rise, and some extra responsibility – so some extra work too. I’m also aware that the bestowing of the title was not in recognition of what I had done, but in the expectation of what I would do, and how that would affect the roles of others. I am realistic enough to know that things will not change that much. I was disappointed and slightly downcast by the response. With all my realistic assessment of what it really means, and why it occurred I was proud to make the announcement. I felt I had achieved something, or at least had been given the opportunity to achieve something.
The other responses were more positive and in-line with my own reaction.

Pirate Radio

2010-03-28T15:06:00.000+01:00

On the way to church this morning the presenter on BBC Essex was talking about Radio Caroline. (Radio Caroline today) Jo asked me if I listened to it. I was immediately back in my garden at home. We had a large area of grass in the garden - 80 feet long, behind a double fronted house. I used to ride my bicycle round and round, with a small transistor radio in a leather case strapped to the handle bars. Listening to the Beatles, the Kinks and whatever was playing. My memories of those days are of warm sunny evenings with nothing better to do, and the joy of the sprint down to a tight turn at the bottom, keeping as near to the edge as possible, then back up to the top through the longer, greener grass on the 'wet' side of the garden. Happy Days (but well before the program was made). It was '64, '65 or '66. Radio Caroline gave good reception where as Radio Luxembourg was on long wave and the reception was poor. The radio took a square 9volt battery (no re-chargeables then) and I was forever trying to persuade my parents to buy another. When I crashed off my bike, as I often did, the radio would come out of it's case and go flying. If it hit the concrete path along the back of the house the case would break and I have to get the polystyrene cement (airfix glue) out and repair it. Somehow the radio always worked afterwards - but it soon looked like more glue than plastic case.. I can't remember the make and model - it was of no interest to me, but I remember what it looked like. Take the metal fittings off, move the speaker to the bottom and put a plastic cover over it, then move the two controls so that the dials are just slightly proud of the sides and that's about it. The picture is 'borrowed' from flickr. Mine also had a stand, like the Zenith further up the page, but that was soon lost.

Today at Christ Church we had a very high attendance for a Palm Sunday Service. Warner spoke on the tag lines "As a leader today it can be hard to know if you're being followed or chased" and "If you fail to plan, you're planning to fail". In the case of the people who set up Radio Caroline, they were followed by some and chased by others. It is probably true for all leaders, but was definitely true for Jesus. His careful plans for his entry to Jerusalem (Palm Sunday) with his followers, made him easier for the authorities to chase. In four days time they will have caught up with Him to put an end to his plans. What they don't know is ... Jesus wasn't planning to fail ...

Possibly the best Parade Service we've had ...

2010-03-22T21:05:00.000Z

The visiting speaker was from Kids Alive. It was not the person we were expecting - he is in Haiti - helping the country to recover. The message was simple - if heaven starts on earth then so does hell. Some people live there. Its a place where there is not enough love, food, education, etc to go round. What do we Christians do about it? or more directly what do you as Christ's representative from heaven do to try to rescue people from their hell? Kids Alive run orphanages where otherwise abandoned children are looked after - given food, education and love. Our speaker is one of the results. He was from Lebanon originally, and spoke very good English. He spoke at both the 8am and the 10am service. The talk was basically the same, but very well adapted to the different congregations. He also showed a couple of videos of two children in different locations. They showed us just what a difference can be made. As to his name - when I get the right spelling I'll add it.

The 10am was our occasional parade service - when the uniform groups arrive we often get swamped, and things don't run smoothly. Some of the leaders joined us for breakfast (served in the hall between the services). This service is something we have been trying to improve. This time it went well. All the children knew where to go and which seat they should be in. Enough seats had been reserved. Three additional flags and a mascot were presented this time. Its good to see the uniform groups growing - they had seemed to be in decline. There were also plenty of mothers at the service. As it all ran smoothly it was easier to engage with the service. The talk at this service was very interactive, and the children took a good active role in the discussion.

It is interesting to note that one of the young men I spoke to at the Men's Curry night was also involved with the Scouts. The Curry night was well attended, but there were fewer guests than we have had on previous occasions. Still, it was good to talk to different people and enjoy Indian food (from the local take away).

Choir for All Seasons - Saturday evening

2010-03-21T13:10:00.000Z

Jo suggested that we should go to the Choir for All Seasons concert at the Billericay URC. She had heard about it on the Radio. The URC is near the bus stop where I get off each evening and only five minutes walk from home. The concert was called "Strictly for the birds" and featured songs and music about birds, our impressions of birds and our emotions projected onto birds. Most of the songs I didn't know, but 3 I did. Snow Bird, Yellow Bird and of course Spring from the Four Seasons. All the items were enjoyable, and explained well by the conductor. The concert was an ideal end to a wet and dismal Saturday, after a week that had promised that spring had really arrived at last. Perhaps it was the weather but the number of people attending was not that great. The last time we saw them the URC church was nearly full.
If you're on Facebook, the choir's fan page is here. There is a little more on te choir at the bottom of this page.

Bundle on the bus

2010-03-17T20:46:00.001Z

"Bundle!!" was the cry we'd hear from the other side of the playground. Then we'd run as fast as we could to see the fight. Usually it was all over, or the crowd was too large to see the action. Just occasionally you'd see fists flying and wrestling moves being tried out. Within minutes a teacher would disperse the crowd and if the teacher was lucky, would walk away with the culprits.

Imagine my surprise yesterday morning when the bus doors opened and two girls were engaged in what I can only described as a bundle. The reaction was different form the reaction I was used to. No other children were interested - or at least pretending not to be. One of the passengers was trying to usher them off the bus, and various shouts of "Off the bus" could be heard. Then he called out "Where are their mates" and "come on" to the two that got up "get them off the bus". Then the bus driver saw what was going on and added to the crys "Off the bus". She did make sure they and their friends left. Before they left they were hugging, crying and still punching each other.

I do not understand - I probably never understood the boys in the playground that well, but I admit to being totally confused by the girls on the bus.

The passengers I understood perfectly - their motivation is pure - to leave the bus at the right place with the smallest possible time
lag. The bus driver was true to her mission - 'driving the bus and looking after the passengers'. As we drove off leaving the waring girls, their friends and fellow pupils on the pavement she asked if anyone had been hurt. No-one still on the bus had.

We arrived in Chelmsford without further incident and no significant delay.

I can't help wondering what became of the children once they were on thier own in the High Street.

Unusual Weekend

2010-03-14T16:49:00.000Z

Rarely do we have two unique events in a weekend.

Saturday
Karen came home to visit because it was her Nan's birthday celebration. She and Liz had promised to cook dinner. It is Mothering Sunday as I write, so Mum was allowed a night off. The celebration took place at our house, and the attendees were Karen, her boyfriend, Liz (without hers - he is unwell), Mike, Mum-in-Law, Jo and I. Andy was at work. That is not a combination we have ever had before. The location was also new for the birthday celebration. Initially it was quiet for us, but the conversation soon got going. Stopping Mike talking about football is an impossible task.

Sunday
Mothering Sunday at Christ Church was also unique. Billed as Half Cafe Style, it was really Half 'Messy Church' Style. Coffee and refreshments served first, and the mothers given cake and a drink. The regular parts of the service started about 20 minutes in. Various activities were provided to try to engage the Men and Children. I am not a 'craft' or 'arts' person. The start of the service was therefore not something I could take part in. That in itself is a lesson - there is no such thing as 'all inclusive' in what we do at church. There is never a service that has been done that did not exclude someone in some way. The trick is to make it good for most people most of the time AND never to exclude anybody most of the time. I think we do a reasonable job, but there is always room for improvement. Liz lead the service and did a good job of explaining what was happening - an important part of getting a very different service going well. She spoke about some of the activities but not all of them. One was an acrostic poem based on Mother Church. I struggle with poetry too, so I did a couple of acronyms - I'm sure you can improve on them - if you do, leave a comment please.
My
Old
Thing
Has
Eaten
Radishes
- call for the men in white coats NOW!!
Before they get here:
Christ
Has
Undone
Rotten &
Careless
Hurts

I should emphasise that I wrote that only during the time Liz was talking about that particular activity.

Anyway, there followed communion, at four stations around the church, which worked better than I could have possibly imagined. Here too though there is room for improvement.

We left without having more coffee, because there was none being served. Its true I wanted to get home for the F1 GP, but still leaving without chatting over a cup leaves me thinking I left 'half' way through.

As it is a very pleasant day, I tried a bit of cycling. In my quest to get as far as work (and back) by sometime in the summer. Today's route began an investigation of the lanes behind stock hill, but only just. About 5.9 miles (according to Google) in about 40 minutes, that's just over an hour to get to work - assuming the really steep hills can be avoided. However, I would not arrive in a fit condition to do any work for at least another 30 minutes!

Time to go with the friendly men in their white coats ...

How many policemen does it take to arrest a shop lifter?

2010-03-10T23:07:00.000Z

Last night on the way home I called in at the chemist to inform them that my drug supply was running low. They had given me a date during next week for my next top-up. That is too late. I used up the last weekly ones on Saturday. I walked along the street and into the shop. To get to the dispensing counter I passed someone on the phone talking about the price of some of the cosmetics packs. It's mothering Sunday next weekend so that wasn't a surprise. When I got to the counter the staff were very distracted. I heard one of them say "The police have got him" and "He's thrown the bag back into the shop". As I approached the shop I had noticed nothing suspicious - don't ever ask me to join neighbourhood watch - I'd be useless. Now there were blue lights flashing outside. As I left it was very obvious that an arrest was in progress - even to me!

I remember once asking a question in a sermon and promising I would answer it later. Having got the congregation to vote, they were clearly expecting an answer. However time was moving on so I cut out the piece with the answer in it. Imagine the disappointment. After the service I didn't need to imagine it - there were plenty there to tell me exactly how disappointed they were.

So I'd better get back to the question. I asked Liz as soon as I arrived home. Her answer: "4". Just about right, but as I was walking away another car arrived with two more!

I'm all for justice, shoplifters should be prosecuted, but is it really necessary to have 6 policemen at the scene of the arrest?

A walk around Middle Earth

2010-03-09T21:22:00.000Z

I arrived at church quite early - even for me on a preaching day. There was more to set up than usual. Slides and video. Warner was already there. Before prayer we combined the video's and presentations onto the one laptop. That meant only two to switch between. Christ Church had some electrical work completed during the week to satisfy the requirements of the quinquennial (5 yearly building inspection). As a result the heaters had only just started and it was very cold. Then we found that the sound system wasn't working. Happily (especially for me) it was all fixed between 9:50 and 10:00. My sermon 'script' is here. I used to follow the script very closely, but I do that much less now, so the text is what I planned rather than what I said.. There will be a recording posted on the Christ Church web site soon. I tried to encourage people to listen to what God had to say to them. I do not think I succeeded, but we will see if anyone goes to the vocations day. They certainly enjoyed the video clip - watch the faces of the crowd and the judges if you follow the link in the sermon.

After lunch we drove to Warley for the monthly walk. About 50 of us gathered outside Fords. Although the Sun was bright the day was cold so we were all glad to get moving. People who are not regular members of the church are starting to join us for these walks, which is really good news.

We soon found ourselves in Middle Earth, somewhere in The Shire judging by the name on the gate. (If you've never read Lord of the Rings, just ignore me for a bit!) Our destination was Warley Place an Essex Wildlife Trust site that is only occasionally open to the public. It was a house with a formal garden, but was sold to the trust who are letting it be reclaimed by wild life. I spent a good while wandering round and talking to the trust staff. The snow drops here are the biggest I've ever seen and put on a show to rival the blue bells (due in a couple of months). I thought I'd better catch the others up, and returned to the entrance for what turned out to be a long wait. A flask of coffee proved to be much more important than I had thought possible. That and the walk back over still frozen puddles slowly warmed me up.

A very enjoyable day, the remainder of which was spent half awake in front of the television. Stress and exercise had taken its toll.

Does this make you feel insignificant?

2010-02-28T17:10:00.001Z

These three images come from a much larger composite at http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=46916. I found this while reading someone's blog.

	The size of the earth compared to the size of the Sun
	The size of our sun compared to the largest sun yet found.
	From a small area of 'empty' space, Hubble looked intently. What it saw were galaxies - far far away.

How does this make you feel? There is various speculation about other intelligences 'out there' on the site. Are we alone in an unimaginable vastness? Are there other intelligences greater than ours? If there are should we really be thinking of contacting them? "If there's life on other planets than I'm sure that He must know and He's been there once already and has died to save their souls" to quote Larry Norman. Or perhaps it will be our job to tell them too. Enough idle speculation, now read Psalm 8.

Today in our Diocese, just down the road, less than a pixel away on the top picture something of significance has happened. Three of the young people who attend Christ Church have been confirmed. It means that they have made a statement that they will dedicate their lives to Christ, and the Bishop has confirmed the presence of the Holy Spirit within them.

At Christ Church we completed out series on Colossians with the final few paragraphs of the letter. Paul values his friends and makes sure that his message is taken with them to others in the churches. Warners sermon was linked in to the "Friends Rediscovered" course tonight.

Uganda Report - Last Sunday

2010-02-25T21:17:00.000Z

Last Sunday my daughter Karen came down to Billericay to speak at Christ Church. Her subject was her trip to Uganda with Mission Direct. She took a number from her youth group with her. They had an incredible time in Uganda. As you know, I'm sure, she grew up at Christ Church and it was great to see her 'up front' and hear her talking about her experiences. She spoke at both the 8am and the 10am - essentially the same talk, but with subtle differences to take into account the age and profile of the audience. She is now an accomplished speaker and well used to doing presentations, both to and for church. She spoke of how amazing it can be working for God. At one point in the 10am she suggested the young people were asking their parents if they could go to Uganda. She was wrong then, but not later. A number of them had thought about it, and now it seems that Liz may be thinking about where the Christ Church youth group should go - some of them would love to go to Uganda, but Christ Church's primary links are in Tanzania. We'll see.
At the 10am Liz and Karen did a 'double act'. They started the service by getting us all in a 'circle' and singing "Rise, Shine", which is how she started the children's group each morning in Uganda. There was also a baptism in this service - not by immersion - but not so far off as usual.

Sunday was a fun day at church.

Comments, lovely comments

2010-02-22T20:42:00.000Z

I do enjoy reading peoples feedback. After all what's the point of typing all these words if no-one ever reads them. So I was very pleased indeed to have received a response to one of my older technical posts. It is also gratifying that my solutions work for other people, sometimes the technical posts are simply put there so that I can remember what I did. That IS one reason for writing all these words of course. The solution to the Vista DVD drive problem I have used many times.

I've also received a number of spam comments written is Chinese and leading to some sites that I would rather not be connected to. So the comments process has been tightened up - please don't let that stop you though. It must me considered that everyone is not after the same thing - either in life or on the web. I am not averse to publishing relevant comments - even if they disagree with what I'm saying.

'Long lost' Relative

2010-02-21T17:51:00.000Z

We were recently contacted by one of my cousins who is also researching his family tree, so there is quite an overlap. He too is having trouble with the mysterious grandfather. We spent Saturday evening comparing notes sharing thoughts and generally catching up on the last 52 years - that's the last time we saw each other. I do not remember that encounter - which should come as no great surprise as I was around 2 years old. The large family Bible, which has been passed down to me has a lot of family history in it, so I copied its pages for him. I also scanned in a few of the old pictures that he has taken away in order to have professional copies made. The picture shows my father (right) and his big brother, it was taken in 1941.
Both my sister and I found it quite a strange experience to be talking to a relative who is so obviously part of the family - but who we really hadn't met before. Some of the memories that we have of family stories begin to fit together a little more.

Fencing

2010-02-20T12:37:00.001Z

As my rapier wit will not allow me to get to the cut and thrust of the issue until I have parried away all these useless puns, I'll just have to get to the point. We have been trying to put up a fence. Yesterday I had a day off work. Andy and Mike were also off work. We started shortly before 10am in the end. The next few hours were spent cutting back trees and preparing the line. It has to be quite a high fence but the drop to the base is already 18 inches or so (~0.5m) below the level of the garden because that's where the level for the drainage ditch is. It is very muddy. We have the line cleared and the holes were dug for the four posts. There is not a great drop from one end to the other but there are a couple of mature trees to pass. There are also many less mature trees that mark the existing border. One of the holes (only one) immediately filled with water, it was second from the top of the run of four. We put the posts in the holes and packed them down with hardcore and stones. Then we put a cement cover on. It was unlikely to work, but what else is there to do?
This morning we found that the cement is still soft, so work for the day is over. We moved the tree cuttings on to the garden to block access to the property.

The reason for all this work at the wrong time of year: The boys want to get a dog. The garden must be secured. Project Dog is now on hold pending some dryer weather.

By late afternoon we had finished work for the day, so had some time free. I visited the recycling centre with some old CRT computer screens (all working) but nobody wants them - you really cannot give them away.
Then we went to look for fencing for another part of the garden. It seems that you can't buy fencing this time of year!

This morning I was feeling stiff from the previous days exertions. Surprisingly though it was my left shoulder that was painful - not my right.

Yet Another Snowy day and some communication glitches

2010-02-14T21:22:00.000Z

I opened the curtains to another dull morning. I had a dehydration headache. I didn't want to get out of bed. Snow was falling like rain. The road was turning white. I thought seriously about going back under the covers and having a morning in bed. Jo brought me a cup of tea. Slowly the headache drained away. I remembered that John Carr was coming to church, so there is a guaranteed good sermon - one that will give me something new to think about. Over breakfast there was more snow. We decided to walk to church. I found my walking boots - still muddy from last weeks walk and banged them together to get the mud off - too late by now to clean them properly. We set out in the snow-rain to a very lightly populated High Street even for a Sunday morning. Arriving at church in plenty of time for Jo's duties, I helped get the Laptop set up and the projection software loaded.
Then I was asked if I was serving at communion. My name was on the rota in pen - not printed like all the others. I'm still not sure if I'd received that notice - but OK, it's not something that I have to prepare for. With 10 minutes to go there was still no bread for communion. The lady who provides it had checked the rota and seen it was 'by extension', so ready blessed bread would be brought by someone else. Except it wasn't 'by extension'. The Bishop's new rules mean that we readers are no longer allowed to deliver communion by extension without some extra training and special permissions for each occurrence. We had therefore asked Revd John Carr to come and he had agreed. The message had not got through to the rest of the system. In talking to various people it seems to have fallen at each possible hurdle. I could have been in the communication chain, but I didn't think I needed to be. Bread was found and communion went ahead. No-one would know anything was different - except the bread was different, so they may have wondered. They will know if they read this of course.

John spoke to us on Colossians and the need for rules. Without rules we would live in Chaos. He gave the example of a taxi in Malta taking him and his wife the wrong way down a one-way street. He survived that journey, but he didn't enjoy it. That's precisely how I felt about the start of the service. God, of course, wants us to enjoy our lives - so he has set some rules in place.

This afternoon I was working on my program (in VB express 2008) to convert the Songs of Fellowship text words into a form that EasiSlides will import. In programming the rules are VERY strict. If you don't follow them nothing works. It is still possible though to follow all the rules but program badly and make the program work. God's rules are not that specific e.g. Colossians 4:6 "Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." So they are much harder to follow - but when you get them right things just work so well.

Evidence of her travels

2010-02-12T21:12:00.001Z

Jo likes to attend conserts given by her favourite 1970 pop acts. She recently went to see the Bay City Rollers at the towngate theatre in Basildon. To prove that she did there is a picture of her on the Bay City rollers facebook group page. Look above the back of the head for a lady in a blue coat.

God's little joke

2010-02-08T21:00:00.000Z

Well, I'm sure you can think of many, but here's the one played on me.
For a while now I've been ranting on and off about the Christ church notice sheet. I've done a few small things to try to improve it - to make it easier to use - so that the information is clearer, and to make it easier to update. These things are mutually exclusive a lot of the time. It's one of those issues where I lack grace. Red rags and bulls are nothing by comparison. So don't ask me about it if you value your ears - I'll only chew them off for you! Warner has also been trying to improve things, and his attempt IS a big improvement. He's had an email that was perhaps a little too straight forward - not rude but rather curt. But this is just background so that you can appreciate what happened next. There I was Sunday morning - settled comfortably in my seat, expecting a good sermon from Margaret - which I got in due course, and enjoying the band and the worship. I looked down at my notice sheet to make a note about the verse sequence on a particular song. It wasn't listed. Neither was the next one. I pointed to the poor formatting, and the song list and said to Liz -"So this is a complete work of fiction then!" and crossed out the hymn list rather dramatically. Liz checked her sheet - sure enough it was spot on - every hymn listed correctly. Further examination showed my notice sheet to be dated 6 Dec 2009. Last weeks surplus notice sheets are recycled on Sunday mornings - every week. How did that one survive two whole months. God goes to a lot of trouble, it seems, to show us how easily we make fools of ourselves.

The first Sunday of the month sees us off into the countryside for a pleasant stroll close to one of our local towns or villages. This time we met outside The Hoop, in Stock.

After a short wait while we organised car parking and generally got together we started off. there were about 40 of us, which is a really good attendance.

Passing "The Bear" we left the centre of the village and began walking past back gardens until eventually we came to All Saints Church.

We crossed the main road and left most of the houses behind, returning to it near Crondon Park golf course. The round Stock walk did not take very long, perhaps close to two hours. It was not a pleasant day, we got quite wet and some of us very muddy. Nevertheless it was enjoyable. On our return to"The Hoop" six of us went inside to enjoy the refreshment on offer.

An excellent way to spend a Sunday afternoon.