This Sunday we are receiving four friends into Church membership - which is fantastic.  Following what I think is pretty standard custom and practice, I invited each of them to choose a hymn or a song for the service... and as always the choices are wonderful: expressions of faith, commitment, trust, disicpleship, hope, vision...

Always, it's a blessing to celebrate with siblings-in-Christ; always a blessing to share the songs/hymns that are meaningful for them.

According to the Bible, Euodia and Syntyche had a quarrel, right?

Well, I actually took the time to read what it says... they clearly disagreed but I don't find the words 'quarrel' or 'fell out' or 'had a barney' or any such similar thing in the Greek.

Sure, they needed some help to resolve their disagreement, but then isn't that just an example of the kind of a model described in Matt 18 now seen in action?

I can't help feeling that centring on the perceived squabbling, bitching, bickering women is to read in what it doesn't actually say (eisegesis).  These women clearly had a significant role in the mission of the early church, and their failure to agree did not somehow debar them from office, rather together with help from others, they needed to sort it out... I reckon that's just common sense.

I'm preaching on this passage on Sunday (it's something of a gift!) so wait and see what I end up saying!

After the heavy stuff of the past few days a couple of little things that appealed to the peverse sense of humour I have...

Last night I was helping with post service refreshments, and went to 'plunge' the caffetiere, only for it to erupt all over the work surface, spraying cups, biscuits, sugar packets and everything else with coffee... what a mess!  And I went to bed even after washing with that lovely, exlusive scent "eau de fairtrade coffee"!!

During the night I woke up as I usually do mid-melt (oh, the joys of chemically induced menopause sheduled to last a decade!!) and thought my shoulders were even wetter than usual (sorry if that's too much information)... I realised that my chillow had popped, or at least sprung a leak, soaking my pillow and bedding, ugh!  Up I got and sorted that out.

But, overall these two little incidents were so silly, so trivial that they brought a smile to my face, a lightness to my heart and a bit of perspective... OK so I'd had a tough old week, but I had one heck of a lot to be thankful for... including paper towels at church and spare bed linen at home!

Someone said to me after this morning's service, that ministers have a tendency to think they're God... not in the arrogant, above contradiction, my-word-is-law kind of way, but in the impossibly high and unrealisitc expectations they place upon themselves... we allow other people to be fallible but expect ourselves to be perfect.

I think these are wise and helpful words... and I will try to be a teeny bit kinder to myself!  I'm not God, just a very naughty girl.... :-)

Today in our service we had one scriptural parable and three others...

The parable of the tenants in the vineyard, rebranded as 'the parable of the landlord who refused to give up'

The Parable of the Candle

Light a candle and see how it dispels the darkness, its tiny flame visible over vast distances, bringing sight to those around.  But draw too close to the flame, the source of light, and all is dark.

The Parable of the Charity Fun Run

Young and old, fit and flabby, some fast, some slow, some the full distance, some only part... each one with a shared goal, each one rewarded with the same medal

The Parable of the Ski-ing Lesson (borrowed/adapted from Lesley Riddoch)

The novice skier stood at the top of the slop and pushed off.  As she gained pace, she saw in her path a small child... transfixed by that she wished to avoid, she hurtled faster and closer... only when the child moved to one side was disaster averted.

[This one came inits original form with an explanation: don't focus on the thing you want to avoid; focus on the thing you want to achieve]