This week we said 'farewell' to two members of our lunch club.  Peter and Sheila both died last week and their funerals occurred this week.  Each of them was a bit 'unlovely' and they had few friends but it had been a privilege to get to know them in the last year and to show them something of Christ's love.

Sheila had shared with us some of her worries about her family while Peter had finally learned to smile after a life time of disappointment and emotional pain.

I attended both funerals on behalf of the church and club - complete with dog-collar which clearly freaked out the humanist celebrant at Sheila's! 

Sheila had a very clear faith, having grown up in a Methodist Church in Norfolk and had had links with us on and off for many years, I felt sad for her that at the end no one (openly) commended her to the care of God and wondered at the theology of my silent words of commendation as the curtains closed!  Ah well, it made me feel better.

Peters' funeral was simple but beautiful, there was gentle honesty about a man whose life had seen countless disappointments and whose potential was never fulfilled.  The vicar and I had chatted in the minutes before the service and he managed to mention our lunch club as one of Peter's interests!  After the service the two of us from church (the only non family people there) were warmly greeted by his relatives, one even running after us to thank us for coming.  Peter was a lonely man, and it was good for both us and them to know that he was loved. 

How little we hear about church with the older generations, how fixated we become with programmes and projects.  This week I was reminded that part of my call/ministry is located in the practical words of Matthew 25 - in a new paraphrase 'I was unlovely and you came to my funeral'.

We commend Sheila and Peter to the mercy and grace of God in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

As part of my preparation for the sermon on Rahab (Jesus' genealogy part 2) I have been re-reading Joshua 2 (and chapters 3, 4, 5 and 6) and am struck by the matter-of-fact-ness of it all.  There seems to be no attempt to explain or justify anything, and I am, as ever, left with far more questions than answers.

For example: Joshua 2: 1 "Go, look over the land,' [Joshua] said, 'especially Jericho.'  So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there. (NIV)

So, why did they enter Rahab's house?  Is it a good thing they went there (well, it turned out to be, but I mean, morally, ethically, religiously)?  What did their wives say when they got home and said, 'Oh, and by the way, we stayed overnight in a brothel.'  'That's nice, dear.'  I wonder!

How did the king's men discover the presence of the spies at Rahab's house, and why did she lie to them?  Why did they believe her?  And so it goes on.  Lots of 'why' questions coming to mind as I read on into the story.

She was patient, I'll give her that - three days of hiding before the spies go home, another three days before the camp moves to the Jordan.  Crossing the Jordan, an interlude while all the blokes get circumcised, recover and get ready for the attack.  Then six days of parades and trumpet blowing before the wall is breached and she and her family are able to escape.  What was going on for her in that time?  Or for her family, waiting inside the house all that time?

On the rare times this story ever appeared in church, it was centred on the gallant spies, sort of James Bond gets Religion, and sometimes the brothel became a hotel to spare the preacher's/teacher's blushes.  Rahab was just an incidental.  Fascinating, then, that she is the one woman commended for faith in Hebrews 11 (Sarah sort of gets mentioned in passing), and in James 2 (my favourite passage!) she appears as an example of righteousness. 

Maybe this is the point - maybe this is where the 'belong-believe-behave' approach and the more traditional models begin to fall apart.  Rahab did not belong, but she did believe.  Rahab did not behave - indeed her blatant lies seem to have served God's purposes (hmm, tricky!) - but she put her faith into action.  Rahab was not a stalwart of community but James saw her as righteous because of what she did.

I am still quite puzzled about where to the sermon might go - and this post probably makes very little sense - it could go in lots of directions, but not, on this occasion of the nice handsome, morally upright spies on an excting adventure in foreign lands.

Oh, and as a footnote to the Tamar sermon, my people seemed totally oblivious to the significance of Onan in the church's moral muddles!  Bless.

Finally!  Another £50 for a new gismo to talk to the web and I am back online.  New Norton ordered.  MS Office almost sorted.  Email - thank goodness for webmail.  Moral of the story - don't upgrade your PC.  Still, visiting 'Ice Mango' the cyber cafe in Leicester - picture to the left - was a fascinating experience and they did serve Fairtrade coffee alongside the incessant thumping music (OK, so I'm middle aged and a fuddy duddy).

At least with my new gismo should I ever get a laptop or second (third or fourth) PC it/they can share the internet connection via a wrieless what-knot - if I can face the hassle of setting it up!

Had a good final meeting with my NAM mentor after a relaxing week off in North Yorkshire, so feeling quite good about life - until the next PC crisis!!!

Hey nonny nonny as one of my former colleagues used to say.

This is a very quick cost as it costs me 3p per minute to write it in a cyber cafe in Leicester!
PC upgrade killed my internet connection so need some hardware to fix it (something to do with USB versions) and a new version of Norton since mine does not run under XP. Oh joy! Never had this with paper and pens.

Anyway, it'll be quiet for a week or so until I get sorted. Plenty of time to do some real work I guess!

Updated Sunday - a friend and I have spent another five hours playing with this PC!  Linking to their wireless hub hoojagmaflip means we can get to the interent to discover that there is no way of linking my DSL modem to the internet as all the drivers simply do not work.  pah!  Anyway, the little computer shop near Dibley will hopefiully have the necessary to get going again - either that or it's back to carrier pigeon!

I am just about to upgrade my PC - no, don't get excited, not a shiny new, or even refurbished, sleek laptop or Mac thingamajig; just a bit of software that will, hopefully, transform my steam driven Windows 98 into XP allowing me to add new software I need for my academic work which will not run under Windows 98.  I got it for just over £60 on Ebay (new, sealed) which is a good price.  Then I thought, hang on, this is for work, not pleasure, so who should pay?

I try not to envy those whose churches supply all their needs (and a few wants it sometimes seems) but am conscious how much time and effort I spend on saving my lot money and/or just providing stuff myself.  I guess if I ever manage to get hold of the tax man (whose phone is always engaged) I could offset against tax - indeed, I suspect, despite the small amount of funeral income, Mr Taxman would end up paying me.  So, is it reasonable to ask the church to pay £30? £10? £50?  Answers on a post card (and big donations to HMF!)