If there was one phrase that stood out when I began to study missiology a quarter of a century ago, it was this one from David Bosch... the, at once, obvious, and, all too often, overlooked truth, that mission comes in many shapes and sizes.

This month here in Railway Town we will be living that reality...

On Saturday 16th, we have 'Shoes and Brews', when we are opening our premises to receive gifts of school shoes/trainers that we will pass on to a local charity.  The kettle will be on and there will be snacks to enjoy.  I think last year we gathered around 30 pairs of shoes, enabling a whole class-equivalent to be kitted out for the return to school.

On Sunday 31st, we are teaming up with the town's volunteer 'Clean Team' for a 'Litter Pick-nic', to clear litter from the streets around the church, and share time together over food.  This is a new one, and I hope a fun one, as we serve our immediate neighbours in a practical way.

Mission as service, as loving our neighbour, as clothing those who need clothes... good news lived out.... mission in many modes.        

Yesterday I had a day out with a very long-standing friend, including a wander along a canal where we passed these ducks who, until I got out my phone to snap their photo, were very much in a row.

Apparently the origin of the phrase about getting one's ducks in a row is something of a mystery.  My sense is that, in life, approximate alignment is about as good as it ever gets... just when I might think my ducks are in a row, one of them moves or something disturbs them.

This summer has been characterised by much that's unexpected, so if my metaphorical mallards are as well aligned as the ducks in the photo, I reckon I'm doing okay! 

This week has been one of those where "life is what happens whilst you are making other plans" and/or "ministry is the interruptions" or something along those lines.  I did have two lovely days out with two different friends, but beyond that it was definitely the enacted parable of the knitting, or something like that.

I began this knitting project in May, with a deadline of mid-August, but since then lots of 'life' has meant it kept getting put aside.  This week I knew that I had to get it done... and then lots of life happened, not to me, but in ways that meant I set it aside to do/be who God has called/made me to be for others (no major tragedies, but some people facing significant challenges).  Last night, I finally completed the knitting and began the 'making up'.  The photo above shows it looking like some sort of mutant knitted creature, with lots of twists and turns (okay, ribs, cables and reversed stocking stitch), a few errors that I've largely worked in to the design,  (gotta love a Persian carpet) and much careful easing of edges to match things up.  Today, I completed the project and I am well pleased with the result, a cabled hoody ready to gift to a couple expecting their first child (although it will be a few months before the child is large enough to wear it).

I think my week - and that of many others - has been a lot like this project, and we still have a lot of work to do to knit something beautiful from the 'yarn' we've been given... there will be twists and turns, things to tweak and rework, maybe even a few elements of Persian carpet, but we will, and in its own unique way it will be beautiful.    

Walking from home to the local Heritage Centre (which is mostly about railways, unsurprisingly) I passed this vibrant and aspirational mural... to be a place that is accepting, vibrant, inviting and friendly seem a good aim for a small town that has been bruised over and over again with demise of its core industries.

I had a fun day - far more fun than I anticipated when I first arrived onsite and the absence of clear signage was a little off-putting.  Being able to explore old trains and learn about how different types of signal boxes function was interesting and engaging.  The volunteers were well informed and interesting to listen to, and there was plenty of hands on stuff for anyone who wanted it.

I did feel they had missed a trick with the pop-up cafe (I understand the permanent one is closed for refurbishment) which really should have been called 'The Shop in Coach C' given the similarity between what it sold and what Avanti (and previously Virgin) sell in theirs... mind you, the heritage centre was a good deal cheaper!

This weekend was a World War II themed event with an interesting exhibition, including maps showing where bombs had landed in Crewe - some just a street away from where I now live (and explaining why there is a significant area of new-build housing in a Victorian street)  and a photo of someone who had lived a few doors down from where I do who was standing next to a train when it was hit... a real shudder moment.

Unlike yesterday's visit to a professionally curated, university-linked museum, this was a low-budget volunteer-run enterprise.  One actively seeks to decolonise its global heritage, the other seeks to tell the story of its own context.  And both 'work', showing that whilst there is no one 'right' way to be a museum, if stories can be told engagingly and honestly, then visitors can have fun and learn/discover new information and ideas to help shape their thinking and living.  

Yesterday, I went to the special exhibition at Manchester Museum called 'The Cat that Slept for a Thousand Years'.  At one level it was a gimic to get people into the museum. At another level it was a quiet space to slow down and chill (I recall a zone in the Millennium Dome that had music that would take 1000 years to repeat, which had a similar feel). At yet another level it was a way of finding one thread (cats great and small) to follow through different exhibits in the museum (with an optional augmented reality game thingy you could download - I didn't!). At yet another it was a creative way of encouraging people to engage with the museum.

There was also a leaflet called 'Decolonise' which invites visitors to rethink their approach to the exhibits they discover, with a couple of areas of the museum specifically devoted to what might be termed 'revisionist readings' of the artefacts... gently challenging white, western, enlightenment, colonial, acquisition of 'curiosities', and giving 'voices' to other cultures and even to the objects themselves.

I had a great day out, with lots to ponder as well as having fun visiting a giant inflatable cat!