Today, as I sat in my office, I heard the patter of small feet climbing the stairs and turned to see a small boy bearing a plate of food for me.  Pakoras, onion bhajis, apple pie and coffee cake, a celebration feast because two of the mums in the toddler group had just been awarded British citizenship.  A lovely fusion of their traditional food and quintissential Britishness.

I went and congratulated these mums, we laughed that they know more about Britishness than most of us who were born here.  I chatted to the other mums and carers too.  They love this place where their children can play safely, where they can chat about the challenges of city life or bi-lingual families or mulri-culturalism, and they really appreciate the freedom they are given in using the space.  Some little links being made... and with Christmas on its way all too soon, I am beginning to think how to develop those creatively...

Yesterday I popped into Waitrose to see what all the excitement was about - ultimately it is just another supermarket but even so, it was full of people come to see it.  And to be fair, for many folk it is now their local supermarket and here they will do their regular shopping.  I bought a pint of milk ("red milk" for those who speak the lingo) and a packet of biscuits!

As I got to the checkout the woman offered me a free bag-for-life, a gimmick they are running for the first couple of weeks, which gives them incredible levels of free advertising.  The West End of Glasgow was awash with people clutching Waitrose bags and 'walking the dog' as the checkout operative put it, giggling as she observed it would really wind up the other 'up market' food outlet just down the road.

All of which made me think about what we do as Christians and what is an appropriate way for us to walk our own particular dog.  In common with many of my ministerial peers, I am 'big' on give-aways, whether they are events or meals or gifts, but am not quite so sure about the idea of branded carrier bags (or whatever might be equivalent).  I am certainly not happy with the denominational (brand) competition intended in this campaign but is there something about awareness raising?  Tricky.

Images of yeast and salt or of tiny seeds hidden in the earth offer a very different perspective on how we permeate society.  And yet there is the contrasting image of the city on the hill, the light that cannot be hidden or defeated.  Being 'salt and light' seems to demand a tension of hidden and visible, of 'walking dogs' and plain paper bags.  I don't know how the right balance is struck, but maybe that's part of the challenge of being disciples - learners who never quite get it sussed but keep trying.