Yesterday I had the gift of a day without responsibility, over and above the nine I'm entitled to, as I prepare myself physcially, mentally, emotionally, spiritually for the coming weeks and months.  It being a glorious morning I walked in to Kelvingrove Park where I ate raspberry ice-cream and drank a full fat latte - maybe the last for a very long time (the drugs may make coffee unapallatable and there are various opinions on the detrimental effects of milk for people with cancer...).  Alas the swings were full of children, and I didn't have the heart to oust them so it was a walk on in to town instead.

I enjoyed the simple pleasures, but I really missed church.  I was passing near our 'mother' church at about ten to eleven and wondered about going in but decided that I couldn't face having to explain who I was or the questions about I wasn't at my own church, so I walked on.

This morning I listened to the podcast of our service on line - slightly odd of course because I got mentioned quite a lot - but at least I felt a sense of connection with my people.  Oops, I forgot, ministers aren't meant to talk of 'my people' or 'my church' because they are "God's" and "Christ's" respectively.  But you know what I mean.

I know that some of our folk use the pod-casts to catch upwith  sermons or services they've missed, and that there occasionally passersby who listen in to find out what we're like.  We also have the option of CD recordings for people who don't 'do' internet and each of these is an important ministry.

I constantly find that a lot of housebound people use 'Songs of Praise' and 'Sunday Half Hour' as means of staying connected with church in a wider sense, and there is clearly a real place in contemporary society for pod-church not as an alternative to real church but as a means of blurring its boundaries.