Hmm, so which picture should I have as my blog picture?

For now it's a rather ham-fisted composite of four photos, made with very basic software, reflecting how I have looked over the last month or so.  Granted one was taken before I left Dibley, but most of my photos are 'formal' so hair tied back and I wanted one of the few with it loose.

They're all me and they're all not me - no one of them captures more than a moment in time, and maybe that's the point.

Until I decide on something else, or get a better composite, this will have to do.

My penultimate service on the Bible will, I think, involve a series of shorter explorations picking up a few ideas around context (textual, sitz im leben and our own), proof-texting and the handling of tricky passages, all done under the heading of 'doilies and confetti.'

But here's the tricky bit - how I talk about proof-texting without, er, proof-texting?  I have a nice little intra-Biblical illustration, James contra Paul on use of a verse from Genesis, but then isn't that a proof-text approach to criticise proof-texts...?  Oh it's tricky!  But fun.  Tricky and fun is good.

I am working on my reflection for Sunday's service.  It won't be a full blown sermon because I haven't allowed enough time for one, preferring instead to hear scripture read in many different, unfamiliar languages by some of the folk who are part of the diverse community at the Gathering Place - we will have Twi, Yoruba and Swahili for certain and hopefully Korean as well as Canadian French.  That's exciting.

Checking Bible Society information reveals that there are more than 4000 languages yet to have any part of the Bible translated into them, that whilst 1 in 6 people worldwide cannot read, audio-Bibles are available in less than 3% of languages, braille Bibles are only available in 'major' languages and as for sign language, that is only just beginning in the UK (don't know about other countries).  Add to that the numerous nations where Bible reading/owning is a crime.

Now look at the set text - the Nazareth manifesto (Luke 4:16ff) and start linking that to Jesus as the incarnate Word, the church as the Body of Christ, so the word enfleshed in our own day, and see where that takes you...

A lighter moment from yesterday evening.

One of the readings was Daniel 1: 11 - 16 which was chosen by the speaker because it had been used at a course he attended as the earliest know record of clinicla trial...

Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah,  "Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink.  Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see."  So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.

At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food.  So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.

Yesterday's evening service on health care was brilliant - crammed full of things to make you think, liberally scattered with Bible readings and threaded with beautiful, often poignant, hymns.  If I had ever had any doubt about the complexity of health care, I have even less now.  There aren't easy answers to these incredibly complex questions but it was good to be challenged to think about them.

It is unjust that a woman living in East Glasgow with the same diagnosis as me has a lower chance of survival for no better reason than her postcode.  She would receive the exact same treatment from the exact same specialists but there is measurable evidence that relative poverty, lack of access to education, even a different support network make a difference.  It isn't fair that my opportunities give me an advantage over someone else who didn't get them.

It is unjust that clever and capable physicians from so-called developing nations are brought over to the west to train in specialisms needed back home, may be underpaid while they are here and can be sucked into staying on the west where they can live a very comfortable life, leaving their home nations lacking in the very skills they need.  It is unjust that often such 'foreign doctors' find themselves treated poorly by patients and colleagues alike.

It is unjust that our home medicine cupboards are full of 'out of date' over the counter remedies that could save lives in other countries.

It is unjust that people find themselves pressurised to accept or decline treatment and unjust that physicians and surgeons are pressurised into meeting 'targets.'

So much that is unjust.

I am glad that the NHS is staffed by people who are willing to wrestle with these issues, to try to even out the injustices without creating new ones, to treat without fear or favour all conditions of humanity.

What does the Lord require, this, only this, do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with your God. These characteristics are evident in last night's speaker who holds together immense ability and responsibility, with grace, humour and firm trust in God.

Today I pray for all ethics and prescribing committees  and all those involved in case conferences facing the thankless task of doing justice in an unjust world