Last week at church I gave people the challenge of finding a way to balance a large bar of chocolate on a sheet of paper (which was not allowed to be flat on the table!) this photo was the test of my prototype with a mug of tea.  Fitting, maybe, that it was a, now very old, church mug.

The past couple of weeks have been immensely full, all of it good, all of it important - and so blogging has fallen by the wayside.

June began with a Baptism service and reception into Covenanted Membership of two new people, as well as commissioning two new Deacons.  The there was the college retreat in the Lake District closely followed by a round of interviews for prospective new ministerial students.  Today is an infant blessing... and, next week, the start of July will see a welcome to a whole family with both an infant blessing and a reception in Covenanted Membership, with, hopefully, another new Member in August.  Added to this, are the beginnings of preparations for moving, an Induction at the new church that's not Dibley but sounds similar.

It is joyfully bonkers - and the more important to find a bit of balance.

Thank you, God, that as three years in Railway Town draws to its close, there is so much hope and new potential.

There is quote from Dag Hammarskjold that I have come to value: 

“For all that has been,
Thank you.

For all that is to come,
Yes!”

Amen to that!

This morning I have written a 500 word review of a recently published book for a journal.  I am not good at writing book reviews, I tend to lack the critical edge that others have, and something deep within me doesn't want to upset the author... It's even worse when I know the person who wrote the book!  Overall, since I've started to mark essays, I think I've got a bit better at it, and did raise a few small points on this book (which really is well worth reading)

Anyway, I have written it and in some months, if it passes muster, it will get published in a journal to be read by learned people!

The key take away from the book, and from conversations with disabled people, is that you can have all the ramps, loops and policies you like, but what really matters is authentic relationship.

Today was a very full day at Railway Town Baptist Church, and we welcomed a lot of visitors for a service that included a Baptism (hence the photo above, used with permission of the person who took it), reception into Membership of two other people, and commissioning of two new Charity Trustees.

I love this photo, taken from behind the baptistry, through the cupboard that is usually filled with tables, looking underneath the pulpit and capturing the reflection of the rose window in the southern wall of the church.  There is something strangely appropriate of the way that the mundane - a cupboard - and the symbolic - a baptistry are so closely aligned... There is something beautiful in the reflection of coloured glass in water waiting to welcome a Baptism... And there is something uniquely precious about our Baptist ways of doing things. 

We had a wonderful morning which included the sharing of Communion (using a gopak table at floor level, as the baptistry is right underneath where the heavy oak communion table usually sits!) and was followed up by celebratory Colin the Caterpillar cake.

As my time here draws to a close, as I and we reflect on what we have shared together, days like today are special and important... people still want to become part of the story of Jesus-followers, people still want to the throw in their lot with local churches, and people are still willing to do the work of Charity Trustees and Deacons.  All of this brings me joy.

Sunshine... singing... strawberries... a lovely way to spend an afternoon, and a great way to raise some money for BMS World Mission..  Great to hear news from the churches' link Mission Partner, and to have a blether and a cuppa.

This picture appeared on college social media yesterday.  I am pleased and proud to announce that, from September, I have been called to serve a congregation just two miles away from Vicar School.

This a story of a beautiful circularity and the God who weaves wonders from the threads of the ordinary.

Back in my student days we had a thing called 'College Sunday' where you would be sent off to preach at various churches who, in turn, would make a financial donation to the college.  From Wales to Yorkshire, down to the Midlands and almost up to the Borders, I preached in all sorts of places.  One of them was this church in Manchester - and I recall being terrified because not one but both of the college New Testament tutors were in membership (fortunately neither was there the week I preached!)

When I was called to my first pastorate in 'Dibley', I asked one of those tutors to 'preach me in'.  I can't recall very much of what he said, apart from that his observation that 'she's not the Messiah, she's a very naughty girl' went over the heads of most of the congregation. 

Now, I find myself working for the college that formed me, and called to serve the church with whom so many tentative links already exist.

From college in Manchester to Dibley to the Gathering Place to Railway Town and now to bi-vocational ministry in Manchester... a delightful circularity that brings me back to where it began... a lived pastoral cycle... a spiral staircase of learning and growing... lots of 'things that make you go 'hmm''... a weaving of thread into a Persian carpet... and in it all a God whose essence is unchanging even as everything continues to change.