This morning I had a very apologetic phone call from the secretary of a tiny church, asking if it was now too late to send me prayer information for a joint Baptist gathering later this week.  They don't 'do' email, a fact I'd realised fairly late on, so had had to contact them by letter.  One way and another this little church has been through the mill in the last couple of years and they are bravely facing an uncertain future.

This was the only church to ask that we prayed for a world in need.

She then apologised for the selfishness of asking for prayer about their future...

Nuff said.

A few disconnected bits on a Monday morning.

I am working this week backwards - no, this is not further evidence of plot loss (finding plots seems to be a fruitless quest upon which I gather others are also engaged) but the dictate of circumstances.  So I think today is therefore officially Friday.  I don't feel too bad about this since the other week Moira Stewart announced it was Thursday 11th August on the relevant Wednesday; it must be definitive if Moira says it!

Next, here is the verse for All Things Bright and Beautiful we wrote yesterday:

The squirrels in the garden

The birds all flying by

Dalmatians and the dinosaurs

All worship God on high

Purists will note that the meter is wrong at 7.6.8.6 rather than 7.6.7.6 but the 'the' in line three was added so that the stresses make sense and it does work, honestly.

Lastly, something reminded me of the old advertisement for car insurance with Joanna Lumley that had the strap line 'you don't have to be posh to be privileged.'  One of the things people who don't know our church say about us is 'oh, the posh church' on the basis of our geographical location.  No, we're not posh, we're privileged:

Privileged to have forebears who moved out to a mining area on the edge of the city to plant a church (this means there are tunnels under the road in front of us...)

Privileged to be placed in what is now a vibrant, diverse part of the city

Privileged to continue the work of the gospel in a new generation

We're so not posh - no car park, no high tech gismos, no plush seats, no best china (in fact if you've really 'arrived' you'll come on a day when we get the paper cups out!).  But we so are privileged, and we're grateful.