Meet Millie Mole. If you don't understand the awful pun, then you clearly managed to avoid studying chemistry beyond 'O' level/'O' grade/GCSE/standard grade or any other equivalent 15/16+ qualification.
Millie is my new friend and has joined my church where she has already made herself very much at home and is enjoying meeting new people. She speaks very quietly - only I can hear her - but she is very keen to engage in church life. Amazingly she has a good grasp of theology and enough nouse to know when it is better to stay tucked up in my office (such as this Sunday coming) - hopefully she can teach me a thing or two...
Having children and young people in church is WONDERFUL, as is not being the youngest adult! I am really looking forward to this Sunday when the Sunday School will be leading our thoughts on the reason for Remembrance Sunday. Children, especially quite small ones, have an amazing innate ability to sense the 'moment' and can remain still and silent for a whole two minutes, knowing that this is something different.
Millie Mole is fun to work with (though a new challenge in her own right) but having the privilege of sharing with children and young people is a real blessing. I am excited about the opportunities that are opening up to build relationships with them and share in their faith stories.
Comments
I didn't even do Chemistry to O level - in fact despite having 10 of them I have not got one science O level - so how, you may ask, did I manage to produce a Bio-chemist as a daughter ? Its a mystery!
Oh dear! Barely a month into the job and you are already talking to yourself through a glove puppet. Let's hope you make some real friends soon or else you may need some ministry!
Seriously, I hope things are going well for you in your new church.
Regards,
Richard Malin
Love it! Has given me a much-needed laugh in an incredibly stressful week at work which is not over yet, thank you ... sadly I am also talking to myself without the aid of a glove puppet as a result.... does Millie have any words of advice you can pass on??
Millie says, ".........................." which sounds very wise to me!
However, she is very perturbed by the news today about English 14+ SAT science papers that ask students to identify the source of power for solar powered mole scarers. Not only is there a lack of scientific knowledge required to answer the question, she finds the concept very offensive indeed, and is wondering if she should be speaking to the EU court on, er, mole rights.
Fear not, the people in white coats are heading my way as I type...
All the moles need to do is sit it out until our scientifically illiterate descendants can't make solar powered mole scarers any more because they don't know why they work.
One of our deacons has just sent me an email, concerned about the fact that whilst googling for a recipe to use up a pumpkin, she found one which was served with mole! Fortunately for her [and Millie] I was able to explain 'mole' was a Mexican word meaning 'sauce'
I love using puppets in worship - and am very amused when the ADULTS in the congregation wave goodbye to mine.
I gave up chemistry at the age of 14 (as I'd swallowed too many of the experiments for my own good), so all this talk of moles confuses me.
If I understand m'learned friends at Wikipedia correctly, the basic question is how many moles you can get in 12 kg of carbon. I'm not sure moles like carbon, so that's probably not very many.
They also refer to the related unit of a kilomole. I really don't like the idea of a kilomole on the loose in your morning service, so please don't consider it.
I also note from the same article that 23 October is Mole Day. Not one I'd spotted in the official church calendar, but our friends at Husborne Crawley might have something to say on the subject. It seems right up their street.