Someone uncovered this - and a stack of other old books - buried under other papers and  clutter in one of the church cupboards.  Suffice to say, it, and other similar items, have now been carefully placed into a storage box and put somewhere a little safer!

Beautiful copperplate writing recalling the very first day that Sunday School was held here.  And a reminder that Sunday School wasn't what it is now!  Two sessions, one at 9:30 a.m. and one at 2:30 p.m. as well as two services (almost certainly 11 am and 6 pm) made for a very busy day.  The morning class learned about the birth of Jesus (in June!) and we are not told what the afternoon class learned. 

A little bit of searching online (Sankey's Sacred Songs and Solos is one book I don't have!) suggests the morning class sang 'Stand up, stand up for Jesus!'  whilst the afternoon class sang 'Come to the Saviour make no delay'.

So, for the record, yesterday we sang...

'I come with joy, a child of God' Brian Wren

'Make bread for the Table of the Lord' Christine Jones/Partnership for Theological Education, Manchester

'I am the bread of life' Suzanne S Toolan

'We come to your feast' (a video)

'Guide me, O thou great Jehovah' William Williams et al

 Whether someone will unearth this in 142 years, I very much doubt, but it shows something of a journey of faithfulness and change.   

Yesterday was what can only be termed 'a Good Day' for our little church.

I had long wanted to revisit - and slightly re-imagine - something I first did a decade ago in Glasgow, which was to make and bake bread for communion in the context of worship.  The photo shows the set up at the start of the service, with 'Sunday School chairs' set outside the 'Deacons chairs' so that when the children helped with serving they could do so as equals with the adults.  The table for bread-making is set with the ingredients and equipment so that we could make bread and make connections to Biblical mentions of wheat (flour), leven (yeast), salt, oil and living water (fizzy water).

It was great fun and the two children in adult aprons that reached the floor did a great job both of making and serving the bread.

After the service we had a fellowship lunch with around thirty people sharing a delicious spread, before we set to for a major decluttering session, filling a skip with broken toys, falling apart hymnbooks, and other detritus that accumulates in all churches with buildings.

To say I was tired when I got home is an understatement, but it was probably the best tired I've been in a very long time.

Grateful to the Deacon who suggested we had a working party and did all the organising, and to everyone who took part in what was a really good day.

Living Bread...

• the everyday food that enables us to live
• the flour formed when ears of wheat fall to the ground and their potential released
• the leaven of the Kingdom/Kin-dom of God
• the salt that savours and saves
• the oil of healing and gladness
• the living water that bubbles up and cannot be quenched

If we can live that out, even just a little, that feels like a good embodied sermon!  

Bread recipe...

Thirty Minute Community/Communion Bread

8oz/250g strong white flour (or indeed other flour)

½ sachet of dried yeast

½ tsp salt

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Approx. ¼ pint/125ml sparkling/carbonated water

Method

Preheat your oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas mark 7

Mix together the dry ingredients in a bowl.  Add the oil and, slowly, a little at a time, stir in the water (you may need more water, it varies according to your flour!).  Turn out onto a lightly floured board and knead for around five to six minutes.  Divide into small portions and roll into balls (this quantity of dough makes around a dozen mini rolls). Bake for around 10 minutes until cooked.  Great served warm or cold.  Go well with soup or cheese!

A quick check in to prove I am still here!!!

This week has been rich, full and varied... and almost every day I've been somewhere else or doing something else.

As well as all the routine college and church stuff, there was a day trip to London for the Memorial Service and Book Launch for the late Revd Dr Brian Haymes.  It was a lovely day, if long and tiring, and a privilege to be able to do so under the guise of 'work'.

Beyond that there have been meetings in Manchester, choir practice in Railway Town, services to prepare, shopping to so, admin to attend to, and a little bit of volunteering squeezed in too.

Without my diary, I would be clueless as to what day it is or where I am meant to be - but it's all good, life-giving and diverse.

Almost two decades ago, I spent time researching how past generations of Baptists had approached changes in practice... in a parallel universe, I completed the doctorate that would have seen debates among Particular Baptists on hymn-singing and General Baptists on marriage used as case studies to reflect on potential for change in the twenty-first century, but in this universe, I gratefully took the MPhil not expecting the day would ever come when I might want to dig out these old essays.

It appears someone else has now published on the hymn-singing debate (must read their work and compare it with my own) but so far I haven't heard of anything on the endogamy debate.  For at least a couple of years now, I have trawled trough old floppy discs and old CDs searching for the elusive essay - and today I found it.  Hurrah!  It may never reach publication (it would need a lot of work to stand aloe and to complete it - it was only ever meant to be a chapter alongside the hymn-singing stuff) but I am glad to have recovered it, because it was a half-decent piece of work! 

Two days in the vicinity of West Bromwich with several hundred Baptists.  And it was a good two days.

The highlights...

As always, it's about catching up with people I haven't seen for a long time, sharing joys, sharing sadness, sharing food, sharing laughter, sharing grumbles.  This year, as an experiment, we were at a venue where we could all sit down together to eat... there were challenges of long queues (though not if you had special dietary needs - result!) but these enabled conversations.  It was good to see so many people sample Caribbean food (even if I couldn't due to intolerances) and we were well served indeed.

The focus on Mission was good, and the stories engaging.  Did I discover anything new - no, I didn't, but probably others did.  It will be interesting to see how the theme develops over the next couple of years, as my main criticism would be that it was all a bit simplistic and lacked nuance (apart from one speaker).

Of course the In Memoriam is special, and every year there are more and more names of people I know... this year notably Rev David Baker, my predecessor at 'Dibley' and Rev Dr Brian Haymes, who retired just a couple of miles from where I am now.  This year the ages of the people weren't included - which felt like a miss, not a major one, but I find it interesting.  Still gives me pause that one day I'll be on that list...

And the joy of the Handshakes - this year again seeing people who I interviewed for training, some as much as a decade ago, fully fledged and flourishing.

A special mention must go to Lynn Green for her closing address, which was full of hope and encouragement... that almost two-thirds of Baptist churches, of all kinds, are stable or growing, and that the age profile is, generally, lowering, feels good.  I loved her emphasis that there is room for for all shapes and sizes of Baptist churches, and that we should encourage one another... My interpretation of this is: yes, small, traditional, liberal, affirming, Baptist churches, you matter, are loved and have something special to bring to this crazy, mixed up family!

The Grumbles

These are perennial - I suspect that the organisers can spot my feedback form a mile off!

The sung worship is too loud and too samey... and some of the language and theology is questionable... I was especially struck that we sang one lovely song with a verse praying for refugees in boats, and then a few minutes later singing that our praises are water to drown our enemies... erm didn't Jesus say something about loving enemies and praying for those who persecute us.  Looking around the auditorium, the level of active singing wasn't great, which is sad, because when Assembly sings, it really sings! 

Some more thought needs to be given to trauma informed practice - one speaker gave a content warning, another who ought to have done didn't (possibly didn't even realise they should have), and there was what felt like a scramble to rally Regional Ministers (who may or may not have been equipped) to offer to listen to and pray with anyone affected.   Hopefully we can learn from this and do even better next time - it's important to hear these stories, but we need to make it as safe as we can for all who participate.

And then I just wish more people would go and get involved... it's all to easy to say 'the date doesn't suit me' or 'the theme isn't interesting' or 'it's too far away' (I was the person who took sixteen hours on several trains to get there one year!) or 'I don't like the music' (I don't usually!) or whatever.  This is our family.  These are our siblings.  I am the annoying maiden aunt who brings sucky sweets, the stroppy cow who critiques the language... if there is space for me, there is space for you!

It was good to be there - and I have registered my interest for next year already.