There is a Graham Kendrick song that says "I want to be history maker, I want to be a world shaker" and whilst I kind of get what it tries to say, viz, "I would like to play my part in the in-breaking of God's Kingdom of Shalom" (which hardly makes for a snappy little ditty does it?), my instinctive reaction to it has always been 'no I don't, I'm happy enough just to be part of the 'crowd of witnesses' (ok, pedants, cloud).

Anyway, this week sees the 15th Anniversary of some history makers in Wales including my blogging-buddy Perpetua who was one of the first women ordained priest by the Church in Wales... see her reflections here.  Now I am pretty sure that neither P or any of her 'cohort' woke up one morning and thought 'I want to make history' let alone 'I want to make history thus' but do so they sure did.  I love the photos she has posted, ear to ear smiles that radiate through the ether...

In those fifteen years of faithful ministry, quiet and unobserved by the fame-machine, I wonder how it has been for these pioneer-sisters?  The anxious times, the sad times, the lonely times, the wonderful times, the privileges, the challenges, the doubts, the questions, the highs, the lows, the thrills, the new insights, the glimpses of grace...

I find it all rather bewildering that I, too, am a history maker, a flawed, inadequate, competent, hardworking, anxious, laughing, learning, growing... etc etc disciple of Christ who, it seems, God trusts not to foul up big time in the task of pioneering sole female Baptist pastorates in Scotland.

On Saturday I will be dancing (metaphorically) as I attend the ordination-and-induction of another woman Baptist minister in Scotland.  Alas, the second 'sole charge' woman is still a pipe dream, but God has this sneaky habit of calling women and leading them into ordained ministry.  I hope by the time (DV) I reach 15 years since ordination (only 7 to go!) women sole charges in Scottish Baptist churches will be a lot less pass-remarkable.

God bless you P in your continuing ministry, and F as you are formally recognised and commissioned.

Today I have been juggling three Bible Study guides and a few commentaries, trying to plan a series from 1 Peter.  The decision to go with 1 Peter was made back in September, but to my shame until now I haven't given it any more thought, and the first one is next week.  In the end, I have opted to adapt the title of the one of the study books to form a question "The Best of Times or the Worst of Times" and to use the longer Dickens quote as a jumping off point:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. (A Tale of Two Cities)

I have to confess I have never read the book, but this sentence has a timeless quality about it and will hopefully lead us into a series where, after an introductory study next week, we can reflect on

• Hope
• Holiness
• Relationships, both domestic and societal (two studies)
• Suffering & Struggle