So, just days after its third birthday, this blog reaches its one thousandth post. Probably this should be marked in some way, but beyond noting the fact, I'm not sure how.
Last night our 'thing in a pub' had no speaker, and yet still there were six of us, and those who came seem to enjoy simply chatting and being together. We shared our sandwiches with three young care-workers having and after work drink and spoke to an older man having a quiet pint in the corner. Apart from my vicar-disguise to keep the church folk happy, there was nothing really to advertise who we were, but it felt positive,a nd the conversation flowed quite freely, around loosely church/faith topics. I think it served/serve a useful purpose in giving my younger widower and another lone male a place to go out on their own without pressures to do or be other than who they are. Perhaps I should advcoate pastoral care as pub visits?!
This morning I am due to drive to Fed-Ex to collect 200 Christmas crackers and the like ready for our big outreach events. Last night we chatted about how many of lunch club folk now think we are their church, even though they only ever come when specially invited or if we go to them. So, mission as mince-pies maybe?
Once I have done my collecting, it will be time to head to Fosse Park for a skinny fairtrade latte, and maybe a skinny muffin, in the food court. A time to relax and reflect, some time for me simply to be, to watch the people who mill around, and who knows, even to meet God in the midst of it all. Enough ramblings for one day, for one thousand posts even. Whoever and wherever you are, I hope yours is good day, and thank you for dropping by.
Comments
What's with the vicar disguise? Your church is happy for you to be in a pub as long as you look like a vicar? What's going on there then?
Hee hee, something like that.
When we first started going into the pub people sometimes asked who we were and why we were there, and then said 'where's your vicar then?' Evidently a woman wearing jeans did not fit the image, so to be accepted at least partial disguise is necessary. What that actually says, and how to challenge it, is another matter, but it seems like the right thing to do.
Congratulations on your millennium! If I'd known you were going to Fosse Park I would have neglected my housekeeping and joined you for a coffee instead.
Not sure about the vicar-disguise issue though!
Looking forward to the next 1000 posts
Sorry Angela, we will have to do that some other time.
I think you and Glen are just envious because I look so stunningly beautiful in a clerical collar! ;o)
Well done with the 1000 posts. Your blog is an ideal mix of pastoral reflection, historical enquiry, whimsical thinking, and always with such a good balance of human compassion and theological questioning. It's now a three year record of a pastoral and personal journey, letting many of us share in the fun and sorrow, growth and challenge of trying to be faithful to Jesus with some imagination and lots of determination.
Blessings from living wittily to skinny fairtrade latte.
Jim
Thank you Jim, for dropping by, for being a fantastic encourager, for wisdom and wit... and a shared loved of milky coffee!.