This morning I took my foot pump to church, as one does, to inflate the giant Fairtrade banana and giant cup of Fairtrade coffee that will be visual aids for tomorrow's service.  I am fairly sure the sizes of the two are on pretty much the same scale, which is fine until it comes to blowing them up!  It is fair to say that my legs got a good work-out this morning as it took around half an hour's work to get the two done.  A moment's panic when the size of the inflated cup was remarkably similar to the size of the vestry door, but it will go through - just.  Maybe next year they could make a Fairtrade grape, just one, not a whole bunch, that could be inflated in seconds...  As it is I am trying to think where I can safely store these items inflated as the thought of deflating them and doing it all again next year lacks appeal.

Another visual aid I have is a whole selection of fairtrade chocolate bars - Divine, Maya Gold, Supermarket own, Cadbury Dairy Milk, four finger Kitkat (for some reason the two finger and chunky ones aren't).  As well as the 'big swap' we now seem to have the big choice - do we buy Divine or do we buy Cadbury?  Do we buy Dubble or opt for Green and Blacks?  Is it possible that Fairtrade is becoming a victim of its own success and a new competitive market is opening up among the Fairtrade brands?  Intuitively it seems good that more and more products are more ethically produced (including animal and planet welfare considerations) but what happens if the goal of it all being this way is reached?  Would the ethical production prove sustainable or would 'market forces' (consumer power) actually tip it back to the old ways, as brands sought to undercut one another to keep market share?  I would hope not, it would be amazing to have a world where justice for all was achieved.  Maybe the Jewish folk lore philosophy that one day like this would trigger Messiah's arrival, or the occasionally voiced Christian view that we can hasten Christ's return by our actions mean that were it done then it could never be undone.  In the meantime, I find it a pleasant, of bizarre, situation that when I go to my local supermarket instead of my choice being 'Fairtrade or not' I can choose among the own label products such as tea, coffee, sugar, bananas etc . knwoing they are all fairly traded.

This evening the last bag of stuff got emptied, sorted and put away -at least enough for me to say I have now opened and emptied every bag and box that moved here.  Yes, there is stuff that lives in boxes/crates such as craft equipment, face paints etc, and there is a whole massive pile of old services to be recycled (as in the paper sent for recycling not re-used here!  I have 95% on disc so if I ever did want to re-use them I could) but I can now see floor in all rooms.

After five years of living with a spare church in my house, at the moment I have a spare kitchen in my kitchen (white goods from store to a flat with integated appliances) but once they have been rehomed and the removers have taken away their boxes it will feel like a real home.

A week on Saturday is the grand manse warming, to which Millie Mole (my puppet) has invited all her friends, so between now and then I have to hang pictures, shuffle CDs into order and child proof the breakables.  All good fun.

This morning I was doing an e-search of the 'Good News Bible' to find verses that contained 'child' or 'children'.  Imagine my horror when I landed on Proverbs 22:15 and it was rendered thus:

Children just naturally do silly, careless things, but a good spanking will teach them how to behave. (GNB)

This isn't just bad translation, its very scary interpretation.  So, I was distracted into a time of web-trawling, using Bible Gateway to check other translations, trying to find out just what the 'rod of disicpline' might have been or meant and finding some highly disturbing far right American Christian websites along the way - one even telling you what size of 'switch' you needed for a baby under a year old. Very scary indeed.

Most Bible translations opt for something such as

Young people are prone to foolishness and fads; the cure comes through tough-minded discipline. (The Message)

or

Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from them. (NIV)

Several online commentators see the 'rod of discipline' as figurative, one comparing it to the 'long arm of the law.'  Those who see it as literal, and even those who see it as allied to corporal punishment, see its referent as 'grown up children' and note that since we don't stone our wilfully children to death (Deuteronomy 21) why would we spank them?

'Firm discipline' and 'tough love' are one thing, violence against children is another and we do well to beware any bad translations that tell us to 'spank' when the intent is otherwise.

Then there's Proverbs 23:13-14 too often cited as 'a good spanking never killed anyone'... if the rod in this context can't kill then it clearly isn't a 'good spanking' that is being alluded to.  The GNB sacrily renders this verse as

Don't hesitate to disicpline children.  A good spanking won't kill them.

Well actually yes it might, and alas plenty of news reports show it does.  Better is the CEV which says

Don't fail to correct your children. You won't kill them by being firm, and it may even save their lives. (CEV)

Anyway, enough of the Bad-News Good-News Bible - I have to find some useful passages for next week.

(NB this post corrected due to earlier error)

This afternoon when using a theme search in Hymn Quest I stumbled across this hymn about approaching old age (and even death I suspect) which I thought was rather lovely (even if it is no use for my upcoming service on the child in the church!)...

When I was a child I walked in the sunlight,
Drank the wind,
Listened to moss in a wall,
And I thought I knew it all.
Now I walk in the dark,
Nothing high, nothing low.
There's no colour of sound
As with steps in the snow.
I walk in the darkness
Through an unpinioned night,
To the time when I'll be a child
With strength to bear the light.

When I was a child I walked in the sunlight,
Stroked the bird-song,
Leaned my full weight on shadows
And for me they were so strong.
Now I walk in the dark,
Nothing deep, nothing wide.
I unslip all the years
That scold and deride.
I need no shadows
For support in this night
Through which I go to my birth
And strength to bear the light.

Estelle White (born 1925) © 1969 Stainer & Bell Ltd and McCrimmon Publishing Company Ltd
Irregular

Maybe at a future date I'll do a service on older people and the church...?

This morning I had to go to the sorting office to collect a parcel, something which now involves longer waiting in the queue than getting there and back as it is almost next door to my new home.  As I stood in the queue I read the various notices including one relating to the collection of mail from private mail boxes.  I can't recall it verbatim, despite reading it twice in disbelief,  but the gist of it was thus:

Mail from private mail boxes will be available for collection at 9:00 a.m.

Customers may collect mail before that time but only mail that is available can be collected.

Mail not available until 9:00 a.m. will not be available for collection before that time.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

All very logical but do people really think that something not available before 9 a.m. will be available before 9 a.m.?

I can't somehow imagine a shop saying 'this store opens at 9 a.m. customers arriving before 9 a.m. will find this store is not open until 9 a.m., we are sorry for any inconvencience this may cause' but the logic is pretty much the same.

Of course, at the Gathering Place we would have to say this:

Morning worship starts at 11 a.m.

People may arrive before that time and will be assured of a warm welcome

People may arrive after that time and will be assured of a warm welcome

Indeed, come along on a Sunday morning and you will be welcomed

We hope you will enjoy worshipping with us and your arrival time won't inconvenience us at all

(Most folk arrive by 11 but it's not unknown for them to wander in any time, and it's fine, we just get on with it)