Fifty Acts 32. A Week in a Day

This morning started out on a high.  Palm Sunday and a triumphal procession which, while uplifting, was a little bit windswept.  One of the younger members of the congregation was being blown along unassisted in his pushchair, and as we rounded the corner of the church and I looked north to the snow covered hills, I wondered what the weather was like in Jerusalem today.  (22c with a light breeze)  But this isn't about that service.  Instead, it's about the evening service.

Tonight I was "Roadie" as Mrs Gerbil did the evening service.  The service was a reflection on Easter Saturday from the perspective of the women.  Mrs G wanted music played, so I took along my Dad's PA system which comprises of a reasonable sized amp, two CD players, and a small mixer contained in a substantial MDF cabinet.  I remember him saying that he planned on lightening the cabinet, or at least fitting wheels as the thing weighs a ton, but we never got round to it.  At least the church hall has level access, as the process of getting the thing down my stairs and into the car, then back up was backbreaking. You will never meet an unfit roadie...

Saturday is often overlooked at Easter.  It's all too easy to go from the joy of Palm Sunday to the joy of the resurrection on Easter Sunday with out the death on Friday and the emptiness of Saturday.  Basing the service on Mark's gospel, and with reflections from the perspective of the women, we traveled through the Easter story as if told on Saturday.  Amongst all that, the music included a small contribution from the band Nine Inch Nails...

Did I like it?  Yes, and I'm not just saying that because it's Her Indoors that took the service.  It was moving and atmospheric.  And I was able to get into it despite having one hand on the mixing desk.  But I probably wouldn't have liked it last year, at a time when I thought the only real format for a service was five hymns, three prayers, two readings and a sermon.

I think I'm changing.

What have I become, my sweetest friend?

Fifty Acts 31. Bringing it all Together

This weekend I left Mrs G nursing two sick gerbils as I went off to conference.  One gerbil has recovered nicely from ear surgery, while the other is on antibiotics for an unrelated belly infection. 

The OLM trainees don't get out to play together that often, so it was good to get together this weekend.  Gartmore House, where we gathered, was once an approved school, so we fitted right in. 

We had daily acts of worship over the weekend, once in the comfy armchairs in the lounge, while another, the act of Communion at the end of the weekend took place in a circle around the conference table.

It's small acts of worship that I seem to get the most out of.  While we learned a lot about team working and personalities, it's the thread of worship that ties the whole lot together and reminds me that, in a couple of years, it's going to be me leading worship.

But regardless how the weekend went, I'm glad to get back to my own bed. 

Vacancies and Selections

On this momentous day, as a church seeks to fill a vacancy, pray that those responsible for filling the vacancy make the right choice.

;-)

Marriage

If I want to know what I'm thinking, I just read a newspaper.  The newspapers know what I'm thinking because there are a number of supposedly Christian organisations that feed them news releases.  And because I'm a Christian, I'm supposed to be in agreement.  So I read the papers to be told what my representatives tell me I am outraged about.  It saves me from working myself into rage and writing my own news releases.

So I went to an event that was run by one of these organisations.  You can't argue with someone until you have heard their point of view, so along I went.  They are telling me that I am supposed to be objecting to gay people getting married.  Apparently that is what all the Christians are talking about.  I need to sign up to their campaign or I'm somewhat less of a Christian.

How can I put this politely...?  Bullshit.

I've been amongst a number of congregations recently, and while the gay thing has occasionally been mentioned, you are more likely to hear things like poverty, food banks, unemployment, and the oppression of Christians worldwide.  If fact, recently, I've been hearing a lot about how churches want to set up food banks to serve the community. The soup kitchen I used to help at had students telling us that this was the only hot meal they got in a week.   A country that has enough cash floating around to build nuclear weapons shouldn't have people living in poverty.

I went through the news feed of one of these organisations that supposedly speaks out on behalf of me for a wide range of Christian issues.  In a totally un-scientific test, I ran their page through a word counter.  Over the past twelve months, porn got mentioned more times than Jesus.  Salmond was more popular than Clegg, Gay topped the list, and God was nowhere to be found. Read into that what you will  

But the whole marriage thing keeps getting kicked around in the press.  The same press that has a poor record when it comes to morality, wants to watch the fallout when we get our drawers in a knot over marriage.

So I sat for an hour being told how I should be telling my MP, MSP, MEP, Councillor, therapist, barman etc why I don't thing gay folk should be married.  I then heard a Q and A session where I was tempted to stand up and flame the audience, but somehow I bit my tongue.  I'm here to observe.  And what I observed was a lot of married people saying how people that want to get married will in some way undermine their own marriage.

Here's the thing.  The only persons that affect your marriage is you and your significant other.  So love the one you are with.  Let them know how much you care (((((hugs Mrs G))))) and let other people do their thing.  Gay people getting married won't stop world huger, won't stop poverty, probably won't help set up a food bank.  But it's not going to build nuclear weapons either.  It's just a couple of folk saying that, yes, they do care about each other.  What's the problem with that?

Now, how do I set up a food bank?



Videos to follow.  Language may not be suitable for work or younger audiences.

Gay Women Will Marry Your Boyfriends

Gay Men Will Marry Your Girlfriends

Fifty Acts 30. Free? All Right Now.

This morning I visited the local Free Church.  Starting off a decade ago, meeting monthly in hotels, they now meet in one of the local schools every Sunday.

The service was a mix of psalms and hymns.  The psalms were unaccompanied, lead by a singer who told us which tune we would be using.  When set against the mix of organists and bands I've heard this past few months, it made for a refreshing experience.  In a strange sort of way, it felt more pure than the couple of accompanied hymns we had later on.  This is filed away in the folder of things I'll try some day when I've really got the measure of a congregation.

The congregation was a good mix of ages.I was told that this may be partly to do with the venue, there being a connection between pupils, school and parents, so the Sunday School was strong in number.

So I think it was all right.  Had I been new to the area, based on first impressions alone, I would have been tempted to give this congregation a few more visits, with a view to joining.  It just had a good vibe to it.  Although, if you find a church that is perfect, leave or don't join.  You'll only spoil it!

This week I'm going undercover and infiltrating an organisation that I don't exactly share a viewpoint with.  If I can blog it, I will blog it.

The Creativity of Biblical Women. Part 23

I was watching the washing machine this morning, marveling at the ingenuity of the person that thought to combine electricity and water in a domestic appliance. Yes, the retired life is thrilling.

This took me back to the Exodus class last night. Exodus 19. It's the first day of the third new moon after the Israelites left Egypt. 600,000 men, not including women and children. And then Moses tells the gathered crowd to wash their clothes.

In a desert.

Now I'd like to believe the men did a bit of work here, but I can see an awful lot of domestic conversations starting with "Here's my clothes Dear. Moses said..."

Assuming one set of clothes equals one wash load, you're going to need 51 tonnes of Persil And 12 olympic swimming pools worth of water.

In a desert. A place where Persil and swimming pools are in short supply

I know two things at this stage.

1. Some of the numbers and dates quoted in Exodus may be open to historic interpretation.

2. Moses knows how to make himself popular.

Now I'm off to hang out the washing while it's a good drying day.