Many of us will be familiar with the name of Rob Frost, a Methodist and founder of Share Jesus International, whose recent work included the Essence outreach material and a millenium musical called Hopes and Dreams.  A committed evangelical with a strong social conscience, so far as I can understand, his work is well repected across denominational and theological spectra.

It seems that in the summer he was diagnosed with cancer, that treatment was not successful and he died on Sunday.

He will be missed by many, but the work he began will continue to the glory of the Lord he loved.

Today's Baptist new esweep says...

"The Baptist equivalent of General Synod, Baptist Union Council starts today..."

Is it?  I kind of hope it isn't!  Not that I am anti-Synods, it just doesn't sound like Baptist speak or Baptist doings.

I'd always seen it as somehow more like the Deacons' Meeting - given that we seem to equate Assembly to the Church Meeting.  Or maybe I have a funny view of these things...

There's that nice triangle diagram thing that has minister at the bottom of the heap, then deacons, topped by members - I guess unless/until we have an archbishop equivalent then we lose the minister layer at Union level, but Council seems to sit in the middle - does all the hard work and slog, thinks, prays and formulates things that go as recommendations to Assembly.

I might have this totally wrong, but I thought Synod (in Anglican not URC parlance) was the voting body, not only the thinking body. 

I guess that BU Council must have the potential for as much frustration as Deacons' meetings when all your hard work can be dismissed by a show of hands by people with only part of the information.  Maybe the difference is that the procedures for 'due process' are more clearly defined and propsoals are always circulated with enough time for people to think/pray about them.  Whilst I/we try to model that in our church working, I know it isn't always so straight forward.

Anyway, to those I know who are at Council and who are likely to read this... no blogging in the back/front row unless it's really dull, and pay attention to your nice Moderator!

Last Thursday's Church Meeting included sorting our arrangements for services over the holiday period when the school is closed.  Because of how Christmas falls, and because of other complexities, it means we will be out of school for three consecutive Sundays, and January isn't a whole let better!

We began with Sunday 23rd December- would people be around (only about half of them) and would they like to join with another church or do something of our own?  Were we really justified in paying out to hire a room for a dozen people?  Options were listed - join with D+1., join with Meths, join with Anglicans, meet in my house, meet in someone else's house...  next thing I know, we've agreed to join the Methodists in the morning and come to me in the evening for tea and a short service - so now I have an extra servcie to be at (the Meth's one) in a manic week.  How'd that happen?!

December 30th - I am off - and it's almost a 'wasted' free Sunday because they aren't going to hold a service.  This has been practice since we closed the building because it is one Sunday I always take off - along with 99% of ministers I suspect.  I know that about half of my folk will go to one of D+1, D+2 or the Meths; a few will go Penty, the rest will take the day off.  I'm glad as many as half want to go somewhere; I'm also glad we are seen as people who make arrangements for our folk over this period.  As for me, I shall be asleep!

Janaury 6th - we will be at D+6 to farewell one of their ministers and then at D+1 for a joint service - unless we can persuade them that it's too much to do 3 p.m. and 6 p.m in which case only the former.

January 13th we have our own service - which will probably be Covenant - something I think is important.

January 20th I preach at WPCU joint service for Churches Together at Meth's building  I think.

Janaury 27th is World Leprosy Day - and we hope to have raised enough to buy a house in India.

Yeek! That's a twelfth of the way through 2008 without drawing breathe!  How'd that happen too?!

Feeling dizzy yet?  I sure am!!

This morning as I was getting ready to go to the GB church for parade, I realised I had lost my poppy so dashed to the convenience shop to get one, only to discover they'd sold out.  A man queuing to pay for his paper looked at me and said 'are you on parade?' and when I replied in the affirmative said 'I've got one in the car, you can have it.'

He didn't know me from Eve,and I was touched by this act of kindness to a stranger.  Maybe something of what this day is meant to achieve happened?

A little late for this year, but I came across some great resources on the Baptist Peace Fellowship website including this bidding prayer that captures some of the ambiguity of the day...

A BIDDING PRAYER

aware of the voices clamouring to be heard on Remembrance Day:

those who demand that gratitude be shown to those who have made the supreme sacrifice and given lives for sovereign and country

those to whom this is irrelevant past history

those who wish to remember and expect others to do so

those to who, today is but a re-opening of wounds and a delay in healing

those who glory in war and those who loathe it

those who see war as a cruel necessity and those who see it as an evil in which no-one should participate

deliver us all from an insensitive polarising of attitudes.