Getting ready for Christmas

Around 3:30 in the afternoon the sun is behind the clouds and it is time to put the lights on.  The Christmas service invitation leaflets have been printed and are due for distribution this week.  Very soon the shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child will start their journeys to the needy children in various parts of the world.  The Christmas cards for our link missionaries are almost ready to post.  The food collection is coming along nicely.  Next week it is Advent and we will be lighting candles and learning about their symbolism - if all goes to plan.

It is nearly Christmas - all the signs are there - not to mention the shops and the TV - I'd better start thinking about starting Christmas shopping.

Today Margaret spoke on a difficult passage -  Colosseans 2:16-23, and reminded us of the dangers of religion being more important to us than faith.

Nearly Live

Nearly Live
It has been a busy week.  I've worked more hours this week than any other since I started this job.  Now I'm nowhere near the 70+ that I was once working, but that was many years ago.  The first phase of my project is about to go live, and performance has (suddenly?) become an issue.  It has been overcome, by redesigning some of the code, and the nightly run now completes without time-outs waiting for the database to get nothing.

If you didn't understand that - never mind -, but if you want more detail its here.

Today should have been a welcome break, but there is still one option that doesn't work.

Youth Worker Conference
Both Karen and Liz are away at the Youth worker conference this weekend.  I attended a few year ago and had a really good time.  It's even better if you're a professional, still I'd like to have been going.

Automated Lighting
The motion sensitive switch out side the front door has been playing up for ages.  A few days ago it gave up altogether.  I had already ordered and received a new one.  Today was time to put it up.  Drilling holes in walls and making the nece3ssary electrical connections is not too difficult, but the lack of strength in certain parts of my shoulder made screwing in the screws difficult, and surprisingly keeping the drill straight was harder than it should have been.
I'd read the wiring instructions and wired it up, then came back and read them again.  How come they are different the second time round?  I went back and corrected my connections.  The switch on was fine, and we now have light on our broken steps.

Winter - really?
This miniature rose appeared to have died, and was due to be removed, but here it is flowering at the end of November!

Drugs
This week has also been the week to replenish the drug supply.  I had given all the details to the Chemists as they offer a free service to collect and make up prescriptions.  I had completed and signed all the forms.  So on Wednesday evening the cynic in me was not at all surprised they had never heard of me!  They got me the drugs I need though, so it is not all bad. I picked them up on Thursday. The NICE (National Institute for Clinical Excellence) have changed suppliers for some of the drugs, and the headline description is different, so it was back on Friday to check that they really were the correct ones.  "It all makes work for the working man to do"

Today at Christ Church

I was preaching at the 8am spoken communion.  You can read the text here.

The bishops have re-iterated their advice on Swine Flu - as the number of cases increase during the Autumn - we are still restricted to bread, and prevented from taking wine.  They have now underlined the fact that the restriction is more about protecting others than it is about (not?) protecting yourself.  I said some time ago to the congregation that the restrictions should be seen as a sacrifice to protect others.  I'm still confused though.  Even the individual cups are banned - because the virus can survive on them.  Are they not washed?  Can the virus survive washing and alcohol?   It does seem to survive alcohol, otherwise there wouldn't be a problem with the shared cup.  In that case what is the alcohol hand gel for?

Breakfast was served between the services as is now the tradition on the third Sunday.  Different people prepared and cooked this week.  The breakfasts at Christ Church remain wonderful. 

Liz lead the 10am family service (all age I should say, but family sounds better to me) very well despite being unwell herself (probably not swine flu), and Jane spoke to us about growth from the parables.  At the end we were given an Iris bulb to plant and watch grow.  Can Irises be forced like Amaryllises?  - I may give it a try.

Everybody Welcome - Fifth and Final Session

This is an extra, but in no way is it tacked on the end of the course.  If we are to make something useful of what has been presented, and start to think more deeply about the way we welcome people, then this was the first step of the next phase.
We started with a couple of videos, I can only find one of them:


The launched into discussion about what we could do about welcome, what we should do and how we could do it.  There were some good ideas.  Particularly the statement that the END of the service is more useful for welcoming than the start.  At the end we server coffee, and have time to chat.  At the beginning we are finding our places and trying to get settled with just a minute or so to go before the service leader welcomes people.

What should the welcome (co-ordination) team do?  We recognise that the entire congregation must take some part in this, there were less than half present last night.  Some of those are already starting - they have the badges to prove it.  It is a small start, there must be more, there must be some organisation, and there must be some management.  But just as people remind me to introduce myself when I forget, there must be people watching and willing to comment to all involved on the things we can and should be doing.

Now we must wait to see what the next steps are ...

Alternative Christmas Fayre

I didn't take my camera when I set off for the Christmas Fayre so there are no pictures.  The idea is that we sell various items for Christmas and raise some money for the Church and the organisations that come.  The church was cleared of chairs and tables set out around the edges.  There were people sat at all of the tables.  When I arrived they were the only people in the church.  My sister and niece were there with their fair traded goods (traid craft?).  Jo had a table for the Christ Church Bookstall.  The Mum and me Jam Company were there - I have not heard of this before - its a clever idea.  I have a pot of their Jam - so we'll see how good it is.  I mention just a few - there were stalls all around the church.  Unfortunately there were not many customers, although I'm told the lunches sold well.  We had a better day last year.

The morning had been spent on paper work, although you would hardly know it.  The 'todo' pile doesn't look any smaller, but I had filled a recycling bag.  Having walked the two miles to church and then back home again, and then returned later to help with the chairs for this morning I was quite tired in the evening.  I'm still struggling with my fitness from the beginning of the year.

Origins & Lemons

Wednesday evening saw us at Origins & Lemons at Christ Church - read my review here.

Maintenance Day / Off to see this piggies

Maintenance Day
Well almost!  We have them at church and occasionally there has to be one at home too.  The toilet seat is replaced.  The fixings had rusted through.  It is an old 1980's colour and a matching one is £70.00.  We found a translucent one, which will do the job for half the price.  Fixing it was relatively straight forward, but I don't know how long it will last - most of the fittings are metal.  1 success.

I also replace the bulb in the outside light.  It still does not work.  It has needed a new bulb since the kitchen was fitted - when the switch was moved from the kitchen to the garage.  Now we have to work out why it doesn't work, and buy a new one, I expect.  1 failure.

Tidying up the garden is just a routine activity as winter arrives, however, I was surprised to see new flowers on one of the cherry tomato plants.  I have left it out to see what happens.

Christ Church morning service.
We were lucky enough to secure the services of John Carr to preach at this service.  He took a few verses from Colossians and explained the whole gospel.  He has a rare talent.  Someone who can speak straight forwardly, gently and simply, and yet command your whole attention throughout.

Of to see the piggies
We had been planning to go to see the 'piggies' for a long time.  So after the last race of the F1 season was complete, we got ourselves together and drove to Luton.  Karen saw the 'piggies' when they were very youmg, and couldn't resist them, so she has two, in her house. They are peculiar little things, and reminded me of tribbles a little.  They are scared of pretty much everything, and will disappear into the bottom of their cage at the slightest noise.  She has of course given them names Jeffery and Billy - they are both male so they can't produces any more 'piggies'.

Karen and one of her guinea pigs. I have to admit they are cute, but I can't really see what they are for.  They produces a rather pleasing wheek-wheek sound when they are stroked, and are probably quite calming if you are agitated.

Standing with a guinea pig on my arm and stroking it gently, I tried to imagine myself as blofeld.  It is possible to be menacing holding a guinea pig? I suspect not!

After a few minutes with the piggies, we left them to a quiet house and drove off to a harvester for tea. Being All Saints Day, and also the last day of half term, it was packed, and we had to wait one hour for a table. Still the food was good, and the company better, although both Liz and Karen were tired after their night in St Albans Cathedral.
We arrived home late. I was wide awake from two hours driving, eating late, and drinking coffee (to ensure I stayed awake while driving!) and went to bed far too late.

Do not be decieved - Colossians 2:1-5

The text of today's sermon is here.  Please note that this sermon was accompanied by an Impress presentation, and was quite interactive.  It was preached at a family communion.  I don't yet have an easy way of posting impress information on my blog, so you will have to do without it - unless you're desperate to see it - then post a comment and I'll send it.

Margaret lead the service.  I thought the service flowed well and felt quite well integrated - but I was involved, which always makes it more difficult to judge.

Jesus dropped the charges

Today I attended the "Diocesan Readers' Day - Eucharist with the Admission and Licensing of Readers" service in Chelmsford Cathedral.  It was a drizzly dark morning, the last of British Summer Time.  There was little summer left, only the warmth to tell you winter had not quite arrived.  I arrived damp in the foyer, just 5 minutes walk from the bus stop.  Do I have a reserved seat - no I don't.  There's a thing.  As I choose not to robe I don't get a reserved seat.  As Readers we are expected to attend this service, and the afternoon talk, which finishes around 3pm.  I could have gone out of a sense of duty, but my main reason was the Licensing of Chris from Hutton. She helped me while I was on my Parish Project - perhaps my favourite module on the course.  I was very pleased to see her licensed at last.
The other great pleasure of the day was the opportunity to hear David Lowman preach.  He is unique among the preachers that I hear, in that he almost always shares events from his own life to make his points.  This makes him a pleasure to listen to - because he really knows his subject well, and is very focussed on his relationship with Christ.  Today was no exception.  He explained how he came across this song, then went on to explain the effect it had on him. A penny dropped!

The picture of an archdeacon dancing round will stay with me for quite some time. That is quite normal when listening to David Lowman.

It was a good day - even if the afternoon session was not up to the standard of last year, there were still some important discussions, which I may well blog on in the coming weeks.

Everybody Welcome (4)

After they've been welcomed, how do our newcomers get to the point where they feel they belong?

This was unfortunately the weakest of the courses so far.  Maybe the fact that I didn't get the pre-reading done has something to do with it.  Nevertheless there were some good parts.  Discussing the situations that the church might have to deal with was interesting.  We had a simple solution to our problem - it was simple because it was never going to have to be implemented.  All that was needed was to find a way to support a young family with a very grizzly baby.  Easy - surrogate grandparents!  The questionnaires made me think too.  Just how much pastoral care really is going on in the church, and how do we know if there are people who are not cared for?  I also learnt that our Home Group structure may not be all that it should be - and that people found it intimidating - not knowing how join or who to talk to.  I had done a feature on Home Groups at one of the services a while ago.  It sounds like it bears repeating or improving - perhaps both.

The hardest part of this session though was the DVD (again).  The part I'm talking about has two women sitting outside a church discussing groups in the church and how they are joined by newcomers.  The expert was the most confusing person I have listened to for a long time.  She seemed to be saying:  Groups of people form naturally, its the way humans are made.  We should go out of our way to welcome people and include them in our groups.  There was a question about whether everyone could do this and the response was that people need not go out of their comfort zones - even that they should not.  How do you grow if you don't go out of your comfort zone, if you don't experience new things, if you don't ever tackle anything difficult?  As you can see I reacted to that, so I lost the next bit - it all got very confusing after that.