Yesterday I wondered if anyone would come to our open air service, apart from our own folk, and possibly not even all of them.  I need not have done, we had a congregation of just over 50 of whom around a dozen had no known church connection.  We had a good smattering of Methodists and Anglicans and a good time was had - the sparklers sparkled, if briefly; the windmills did not collapse, though not all were functional; the doves looked great and the bubbles filled the sky!  It was a good service, people joined in, laughed, smiled and helped each other make the objects - some real community spirit.

By the end of the afternoon my already sore throat was quite painful, and I'm typing this whilst dosing myself with Beecham's, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Two highlights:

Early in the service the cattle in the next field gathered very close to the fence, pressing their noses through the gaps in the railings and looking as if they were taking in everything I said!  By the time the blessing had been pronounced, after we'd sung 'God's Spirit is in My Heart' they were nowhere to be seen - prompting comments about the fact that they'd gone to take the Good Moos to the other cattle!  Very Francis of Assisi!  It seemed to sum up the experience, we'd had fun, the cows had entertained us and the message had, to some degree anyway, been heard.

Then praise indeed from one of my people who confessed to having been sceptical about the whole undertaking, and proved wrong, and had enjoyed himself.  He worked incredibly hard all weekend and made a massive impact on the whole thing for good.  It takes a lot of courage to admit that you'd been wrong about something like this and I salute him.  My people worked hard for God, and for the local community - they should be very proud of themselves for what they've achieved and inspired for the next step in mission, as we too share the Good Moos!