Unusual Weekend

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 ...