Almost three days off work - just the kids' club on Friday night, which turned out to be less fraught than usual.  It has been really good to do the kind of things that my 'normal' friends do over a weekend, and dare I actually confess to being in a supermarket on a Sunday...?  Well I was, but more of that later.

Being part of a large, at least by 21st century standards, extended family means Christmas is a large task.  Being a minister of a small church, who happens to take Christmas seriously, means that if you don't get the shopping done early, it doesn't happen.  Maybe I'm just very sad, but I actually enjoyed spending most of two days choosing, buying and wrapping gifts for my family and friends.  It was good to make, and take, the time to put myself into their shoes and think what they would enjoy receiving; I do give a lot of money gifts to the older nephews/nieces and Godsons, but I honestly think that is what they prefer - better than some ghastly item I might choose anyway.  I also enjoy selecting the wrapping paper and creating the surprises.  A long job, but worthwhile - just have to make all the practical arrangements for deliveries anywhere between Cheshire and Cambridgeshire and to fit around police, hospital, college and warehousing schedules...

I also spent two evenings writing Christmas cards - unusally the list was slightly shorter this year due to elderly relatives dying - but again I enjoyed choosing and writing cards for friends, colleagues past and present, and of even the 'duty' ones for church!  Some folk I only ever contact at Christmas, and I do wonder if we'd even know each other if me met, having last seen each other as much as 20 years ago (scary!) but there is a sense of connection and continuity as we exchange these greetings which, for me anyway, are more than habit.  Happy memories come to mind of 'my' girls now grown up with children (scary again), of jobs well done, of customers satisfied, of challenges completed, of laughter shared; even of difficult moments survived.

It was also a chance to spend some time in the kitchen.  I'm not exactly a keen cook, but one of the things I miss since leaving the 'real world' is the opportunities to bake mince pies for work!  In my last employment it was something of a tradition - one I took over from another (female) colleague - that we had homemade mince pies at Christmas.  No one 'expected' it to be done, it was something we enjoyed, part of the office camraderie that went along with Team Leaders (of which I was one) taking their staff out for drinks and the retired (and gone-to-be-ministers) staff coming back for the office Christmas lunch (I still get invited back even now...).  There are good reasons why I don't bake for church, but I'm not bad at pastry and I miss doing it... so today was the first batch of mince pies in years, and they turned out not too bad considering and will feed my Advent pray-ers in the next little while.

Oh, and why was I in the supermarket today?  I had managed to melt the flex on my slow cooker yesterday evening (don't ask!) and needed a replacement in time to make soup for Advent prayers which start in just over a week.  Yes, I could have waited until next shopping trip, but it was pouring with rain so a walk was out of the question and there was nothing I wanted to see at the cinema...  I also remember something about Sabbath being for people, not vice versa - my day spent baking and writing cards was space to be, to reflect on the blessings in my life, and I'm pretty sure God was OK with it.

Simple pleasures, for sure, but having been told by a well meaning friend this week that she worrried about my 'empty life' (by which she meant it was endlessly full of church stuff and not a lot else) it has been good to be reminded of what gives me pleasure and what gives value out of all the busyness.  As far as I can tell, all ministers in small churches (and probably most in big churches too) end up on some kind of treadmill.  As I reflected on what my friend said, I concluded that it isn't just that I'm a workaholic churchaholic, but that actually, it is church and work I talk about because that seems more important, or is more what we have in common, than other stuff.  So, if you've been generous enough to read this far, now you know that I find pleasure in very simple things ... and I'll email you a virtual mince pie if you ask nicely!

There are certain advantages to getting involved with Association matters that bring you into contact with folk from Didcot!  One is that you discover that the resolution passed at BUGB Council yesterday is viewable on the BU website now - beating next week's BT "exclusive" quite legitimately.  Check it out here  Fine words - let's hope and pray we can match them with fine actions.

This is one minister of a small church sharing with others in a simliar boat some of the stuff I've done on the basis that you'll have some I can pinch another time.  Puzzle pages seem to go down well in our church magazine, and most months I make up a word search (bad move - people might be tempted do it during the sermon!).  Here are this year's Christmas offerings, if they're any use.  NB if you spot errors feel free to fix them, I'm not offering any answers and the first one I got online from here (they have lots of quizzes with answers available free to use).

Have fun!

I have just had the luxury of almost two days self indulgent study time, and am anticipating a weekend 'almost off' with great delight.  It has been - is being - good, I needed it.  Hopefully I'll be less grumpy and more positive as a result; hopefully I'll have enough energy to last in the whirlwind of events between now and 27th December when I next get a break.

At the same time, I have been following the adventures of folk at BU Council as they wrestle with tough questions around a Baptist apology for our participation in the slave trade.  It has (thankfully) been agreed, and the tarted up version will be published shortly.  One of those who was involved in the meetings rightly commented on the difference between formulating some words and living differently, between reacting to expressed pain and being proactive in addressing injustice.

So here's the balancing act - between the seemingly self-indulgent and the blatantly obvious self-giving.  I think my justification - to myself, cos no one else is going to ask for it this side of eternity - is that actually my research is ultimately linked to this kind of balancing act.  What is it that we can learn from reflecting on Baptist involvement in slavery that can inform our practice now and secure a more hopeful, more Gospel, future for others?  How can we employ the lessons from our past?  How can we read or write the story so that it is useful?  What can we learn for today and tomorrow from yesterday and today?

I'm glad that the people entrusted with the work of BU Council worked so diligently on this issue, and I hope that they get some R&R after their labours.  I certainly hope that we in local churches can find ways of making it meaningful at grass roots level.  I am glad, too, that I have had some space for refreshment.

It is easy, too easy, to feel bad about the things we don't do, the causes that we fail to get behind - and even the research work that never quite happens - but for now I'm going to stop stressing and enjoy the relative calm of this week!

Here is someone whose name is less spellable/pronounceable than mine.  Having read this book in just over a day (and having already posted a few thoughts) it seemed good to wrap up with an overview of this book.

It is a good read - the style is accessible, in places laugh out loud funny (or I've got a warped sense of humour, or both) and ideas adequately provocative and inspiring.  For anyone who is interested in Biblical studies, and especially the more literary approaches, it is probably a must.  For those of us who preach it is well worth reading.

I found myself postulating who the implied reader of this book might be - and/or who is the target audience - and for that matter, how these two correlate...

It seems to me that the five theses he derived for the New Testament probably also hold - at least to an extent - here

• A stakeholder - someone who is involved in Biblical studies, or maybe in preaching, someone for whom this whole field is important and who may well be employed within it.
• A convert to the gospel - I am taking this as he uses, i.e. what most commonly is termed a Christian.  Whilst Bockmuehl acknowledges and affirms other faith and non-faith insights, a committment to the Bible (and specifically the NT) within a thoroughgoing Christain faith shines through.  Whilst people of other stances will undoubtedly read this book, there is an implication that the Christian story will make spiritual sense to the reader.  Alternatively, and less faith-specific, the person will be committed to the worth of Biblical studies as an academic field within theology.
• A person who sees the NT as authoritative - yes, see above; even if they don't share an overtly Christian faith, they clearly see that this book is at least worth studying and probably has some 'timeless ethical truths' within it. 
• Someone in a faith community, reading within that community.  Less easy to support, except by the previous two answers.  How about 'someone in a Biblical studies research community, reading and working within that'?  The yes, definitely - as seen from some of the references to scholars and the smattering of NT Greek.
• Someone inspired by the Holy Spirit who expects the NT to speak - I think that comes through loud and clear in the essays that form the second part of the book.  More generally, in academic/professional circles, someone who will expect to gain from reading this book.

I think that the ease with which I can find evidence to support these theses is where I see both their strengths and weaknesses.  As he expresses them - explicitly in a faith context - they apply to the Bible or NT.  A little bit of stretching is needed to apply them to his book, yet with a small amount of redefinition, an equivalent set can be identified applicable to academic texts, as hinted both above and yesterday in relation to Baptiast history.  There is something quite ingenious in identfiying something that when you read it seems suddenly absolutely obvious!

The book would be useful for preachers, partly because the author offers some skillful and fascinating examples of careful reading of well known texts, but also because he offers ways of approaching the Bible which combine academic rigour with honest spiritual seeking - in my limited experiecce a lot of stuff is 'either/or.'

Reading this book has been helpful for my research, but has spoken beyond it - and that I think is the wonder of good practical theology.  God can speak through theology text books as well as through beautiful scenery or profoud liturgy; theory and practice feed each other and boundaries can become helpfully blurred at times.  I'm sure that there is plenty in this book that could be challenged or critiqued, but in my view it was money well spent.