Well, tonight's service ended up feeling pretty special one way and another and I thought, yes, if this is Baptist clustering then it's pretty good!

We are an unusual cluster, of our notional seven churches, four are actively involved, two won't talk to us because three of us have women ministers and the other one does stubborn Baptist autonomy to perfection.  Having three women ministers in such a small area is incredibly unusual for Baptists, and we are as diverse a set of girlies as you could wish for (given that actually we're all middle-aged) which makes it all the more fun.  I think we really do enjoy watching and learning with and from each other, celebrating the differences in our respective callings and yet at the same time feeling a strong sense of unity.  It is good to have others with whom one can be oneself - and not have to worry what Uncle Paul might think if you sign off your emails with the word 'love'.

What was also unusual was that our guest speaker was a woman, a minister who had been to Angola with BMS and came to share something of her experiences with us.  With tremendous grace, humility and insight she shared information in a way that enabled everyone to learn more and feel a sense of connectedness to our sisters and brothers in that far off land - there were folk in our churches whose grandparents contributions to BMS would have paid for the early Angola missionaries for which the Christians in Angola wished to thank us.

As part of the service intercessions centred on the various churches and their diverse needs - all in times of challenge and change.  We also shared some news and it is certainly exciting that three out of four churches have baptismal services coming up in October!

Around 70 folk shared together in worship, which may be less than some readers' Sunday congregations, but for most of us it felt like a big gathering.  It was also a comfortable gathering in which folk from very different backgrounds and communities were able to be together worshipping, communing and communicating some of what it means to be "the bestest cluster there is."

I should note for the record that the congregation included a male retired Baptist minister, a male Baptist minister in training and a male retired Anglican priest. But it must be unusual in any setting for female ministers to be the majority!

For anyone who think the LORD ought to smite people who shop on Sundays, well, you can interpret this as you see fit.

After the GB parade service this morning, I nipped to the local supermarket (for which there are evidently more reasons to shop at that any other) to pick up some food for this evening's bring and share pre-service tea - a large box of salad and some sausage rolls.  I also filled a salad box for myself for lunch, chose a fruit flan for the tea and headed off for the checkouts - disaster I dropped the smaller box of salad.  As cherry tomatoes rolled across the aisles, mayonnaise spread in sticky puddle littered with cucumber, pasta shells and the exactly three chunks of feta cheese I'd managed to find in the relevant salad, I asked a staff member to call for a cleaner, and wondered why this had to happen to day when I really did not have time to start all over again with another box...

Amazingly, the person literally inches from the box did not end up wearing salad, and I settled for a salad-less lunch, while chapel folk well get their large box fully intact.  But maybe next time I'll make sure I'm not racing around after a Sunday service doing food shopping for church!