Just back from Assembly, exhausted but I've had a good time.  B&B next to the late night disco bar and neighbours having an all nighter out of doors not ideal, but hey, you live and learn.

Some really good Bible studies with Simon and Sean - both made me think - and a very powerful sermon from Alastair Brown that was very focussed on issues of justice and integrity. 

You're probably not meant to admit to liking the handshake experience all that much, but I did!  Being clapped, cheered and whooped as we walked into Prism was fantastic!  Then we were sung to/over and blessed by the whole congregation before we left for the big stage.  OK, so I was front row, centre stage, right behind the big cheese of ministry department himself (or is that little cheese, he's only about my height!) but it was wonderful to look out and see so many people supporting and affirming us after seven (plus) years of blood, sweat and tears, laughter, exhileration and God-moments.  We were told to savour the moment, and I did (let's face it normality returns very quickly in these parts!).  Photos will follow when emailed to me by several kind(?!) readers.

My five minutes in the Small Churches presentation went well, and it was good to see many friends in the audience.

Despite a protracted train ride home (arriving an hour later than advertised) and a good dose of normality waiting for me I am still pretty uplifted.  Two thousand sleep deprived Baptists let loose on an unsuspecting nation - hmm, now that's an interesting thought!

I have just checked the local council results for my ward and district.  Overall the swing is strongly away from Labour to Conservative.  The people I voted for came 6th and 7th in the ward level stage.

Our results are scary - the BNP candidate top.  The white conservative was elected with the non-white conservative coming 5th.  So now we have one Conservative and one BNP councillor for this ward.  The latter troubles me greatly.

How ironic that as the BNP got voted in we were in a pub talking tolerance and respect!  Some serious preaching may now be needed.

Well, we made it!  Our first COMPASS pub-based event happened (despite numerous near misses along the way) and we attracted one person from outside our church (a Seventh Day Adventist whose daughter has converted to Islam) and half a dozen or so eavesdroppers for our discussion around 'faith and faiths.'  The discussion took a while to get going but the Adventist joined in and was very knowledgeable and interesting to listen to.

So, a 'congregation' of 12 plus 6 for a first attempt was pretty good.  It still all feels pretty vulnerable and I'm still doing a swan impression behind the scenes to keep it roughly on track but all in all a good first effort.

I hope the speaker felt it was worthwhile, and that the young trainee PC he brought with him found it helpful.

Now I need to wash the smoke from my lungs before I head to Brighton tomorrow (roll on July and the smoking ban!).

Today was meant to be a gentle prepration for Baptist Assembly, in fact, this week was meant to be quiet.  Silly me.

Omnicompetent horsefly that I am, this week's new skills (so far) have been...

Invoicing Social Services for Lunch Club

Banking Lunch Club money

Mopping up geriatric vomit

Patching up geriatric injuries

Reporting crimes to property (empty church broken into) to Police and insurers

Negotiating with contractors over potential sale of floorboards and light fittings

 

Should I do these things?  No.

And if I don't...  At least the first two were "one off" cover due to pastoral situation

Core Competence Numbers 1068 -1073 or thereabouts (sorry Kez, I Lost count somewhere along the line).

Just back from my 2 minute walk to my Polling Station, the nearby St John's Community Centre.  Here the Returning Office was loudly proclaiming that it was not St John's it was the council's they had a 25 year lease (about 10 years ago) from the diocese and had wanted to drop the St John's so people wouldn't think it was the church hall - even though it still is and the church has several people on the committee.  My retiring (and standing) local councillor who opposed (though obviously could not vote against) our planning application stood at the door sporting a jacket over his usual teeshirt and jogging bottoms.  Obviously election day is the time for dressing up.  Having removed a fly poster from our noticeboard then dodged litter and dog mess to get to the poll, it will interesting to see if any of the candidates, if elected, come good on their promises to clean the streets and address vandalism.

Whenever elections come around, I remember my Dad's one and only very stern instruction on politics - that we must vote, that people died to get us the vote.   It was not an option and there was always a vague sense he might return to haunt me if I didn't!  He was right of course, and now, as I look back, I realise that, even if I don't share his politics, he worked hard for what he believed in.  He and his brother must have been an odd pair, one a soldier in north Africa, the other a consientious objector; one a Conservative, one a Socialist, yet both at different times served on local councils (my Dad was very much into getting road signs put up on hazardous bits of road - there are still a few signs in North Bucks he is responsible for!  My uncle was at one point a big wig in a council in Bromsgrove).  It is perhaps as well they lived in different counties as in later years it might have been confusing to have them door knocking for opposing parties!

Thinking about these two ill matched, yet ultimately similar, brothers makes me a little less gruff in my attitude to my, likely to be re-elected, local councillor.  I might not share his politics, I might not like his opinions, but at least he is prepared to work for what he believes in.

In our Lent studies, one of the threads was about polititians, and Wendy Craig, I think it was, observed that they have a very difficult job, and one they enter because they want to make things better.  She, rightly, reminded us that we should pray for, not about, them.  So, having fulfilled my responsibilities as a UK citizen, and exercised my right to express my preferences, I can do no other than heed her advice.  By this time tomorrow we will have a new local council, new committees will convened and who knows, we might even get our planning application through next time!