Next week I am having a week off, not least as I have a sizeable amount of annual leave to take and also as Advent is looming large.

It is hard to believe that this is my 7th Sunday in my new church and that, today, I complete my first preaching series.  The timed as whizzed by and yet in other ways I feel as if I've been here for ever.  For the first time today I will be asking the adults to do something more than listen to me talk - so that'll be a test of something or other!  Using the 1 Peter 'living stones' we are going to make a collage of cardboard 'dressed sandstone' bricks (both blonde and red!) on which we will write our first names.  For the first time ever I have to write "Catriona G" to distinguish myself from others with the same first name - that made me chuckle a bit.

Anyway, all quiet here for a week or so and then back to begin the Advent journey with ecumenical lunchtime prayers during the week and a  preaching series based on the lectionary.  Good fun, and I'll look forward to it.