It's harvest thanksgiving today, and yes, the time stamp on this post is correct... the manse moggy in her wisdom dragged me from my slumbers at some unearthly hour demanding food.  Unusually I gave in!

As I type the Brazilian honey cake is baking in the oven and a lovely smell is wafting my way... said moggy is of course fast asleep once more!

A very world-wide harvest celebration today as we have three different focuses!

Firstly, we are collecting tins and packets for Glasgow City Mission, to support the vital work they do among disadvantaged and homeless people.

Secondly, our children are participating in the Just Trading Scotland rice challenge, selling 90kg of rice, which will enable one Malawian farmer to send one child to secondary school for one year.

Thirdly, we are supporting Operation Agri, in their 50th birthday year, with an envelope collection, and using their material to focus on a honey project in Brazil (hence the cake, their recipe), a coffee project in Thailand and a project to train farmers in Uganda.

In our multi-ethnic, multi-national church that all feels very appropriate.

Hopefully everyone will feel part of the service and we will each find space for gratitude and response to the Lord of the Harvest

All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above

So thank the Lord, oh thank the Lord, for all God's love.

PS No ploughing fields or scattering... (i) we're urban (ii) since when did you scatter seeds in October?!

A fun afternoon lunching with the ladies from the bcc forums who live in central Scotland.  Most of us had never met before, but it was a happy and relaxed event, with enjoyable food, lots of laughter and good conversation.  Inevitably some of the conversation was about our shared (or not) experience, and the majority of us were sporting very similar hair styles.  It was nice to be out with a group of others who were every bit as likely as I was to need to fan themselves with a menu or to mop their faces, nice not to feel any need to explain why you did or did not eat certain things, nice to put faces and names to avatars, and actually nice, just to get out and meet new people.

I do wonder what the waiter made of us - a group of women with sticky labels each of which had a first name and an online pseudonym, laughing and talking as if we'd known each other for ages.

One of the things I especially liked was the sense that everyone equally owned the afternoon and that the edges of the group were 'fuzzy'.

Some good converations and interesting questions about how my faith had played a part in my experiences.

A different kind of 'intentional community' but food, sharing conversation, having something that unites us beyond what might otherwise separate us... echoes of what church can be.

Good fun... and I hope there'll be a 'next time'