This logo is now a common sight.  Wandering around Leicester city centre yesterday it was to be found in coffee shops (which I don't visit in Lent!) and M&S as well in the newly refurbished Just fairtrade shop; almost every supermarket was plugging fairtrade fortnight with a wide range of products.  What a long way things have come in the last few years as fairtrade has moved from the margins to being a major player in the UK marketplace.

In the evening I went with a couple of church folk to a Paul Field concert to mark the end of Fairtrade Fortnight (he is the writer of 'Lord make me a mountain', 'With all my heart I thank you Lord' and 'One of us, flesh and blood').  The audience was not large - perhaps fifty or so, sat cafe style in the Leicester Y theatre for an evening of thoughtful and thought-provoking music, first from support group Imaginary Friend (who had an interesting array of skeleton electronic stringed instruments!) and then Paul - who I now realise I first heard about 25 years ago when he was part of Network 3, the support act at a Cliff Richard concert, a trip arranged by my, then, RE teacher!

I found in some of what Paul said, and sang, echoes of much I hear in singer-songwriters of his age group, and which resonate with my own thoughts and feelings.  He is, he says, no longer concerned to please people, it matters not if the audience is 10 or 10,000, he has things to say about which he feels passionate (and that 'passion' has replaced 'energy' as he's got older) and he's going to say them, right or wrong, popular or not.

And he does!  One of his songs, exploring the relationship between 'church' (worhsip) and the 'real world' actually included a line that went something like 'do they give a sh*t?' (and, for the nice polite folk among us, the vowel was not 'a', 'e', 'o' or 'u').  How far Christian music has moved in 25 years!  And how much more real we have started to become.  OK, so I wouldn't choose to use that expression myself (and would not dare play that song to my congregation!) but they are sentiments I gladly echo.

It would be good for Fairtrade Fortnight to become redundant.  It would also be good if we could all do just a little bit to start giving a thought (much tamer word!) to relating our faith to our lives and our world.  Long live James 2: 26!

Well, I'm obviously in waffle mode this week as this is the third post!

Yesterday I went along to the local Rally of Women's Meetings, which my lot were hosting.  Essentially this is a service followed by tea, which they produce and deliver themselves.  In the coming months they then tour each other's churches for more rallies and more teas and generally have a jolly time.

The speaker was excellent, if a little too anecdotal for my preferences, but the service structure itself drove me to the brink of despair!  I begin to wonder whether people actually have a clue what they are doing when they structure a service, or if they just think 'oh yes, we'll have that bit now.'

The order was: hymn, Bible reading, praise songs, prayers of thanks and intercession, hymn, sermon, hymn, blessing.  (Not a million miles from the induction service I was at the other week really).  By the time we got to the sermon I was struggling to remember what the reading was!

For many years I expressed a dislike of 'liturgy' which I wrongly understood as 'pre-printed forms' as our Baptist forebears would say.  I still dislike too much dependence on forms of words- though do use them now and then - but have learned a better understanding of what 'liturgy' really is.  During the year of my training spent working with an Anglican priest, I was described as 'liturgically sensitive,' a label I am happy with.  If liturgical sensivitivity means understanding about the 'shape' or 'flow' of a service, creating something that makes some kind of theological sense, then that's something I aim to do.

Why then so much liturgical insensitivity from people who have been leading services since before I was born?  I am often amazed when people on the reader's rota ask me where the reading will come when, liturgically, it's always in the same place.  Am I really so odd in noticing the patterns and appreciating the rhythm? 

Some of the newer lay preacher training does cover this aspect of worship leading but I do wonder what might have happened in the past that we end up with such muddled and confusing services led by highly gifted and experienced people.  What do others think?

I am currently reading Mirosalv Volf's latest offering Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace (published by Zondervan, 2005).  You can check out the blurb on Amazon (click on the picture below) if, like me, you don't hapen to be on first name terms with Rowan Williams, who recommends it for Lent!

Fellow Volf fans will not be disappointed - in what I have read so far (about two and half chapters) I find myself, as ever, captivated by the gentle, accessible and yet incredibly profound ideas of this writer.  The first part of the book explores the idea of giving and, as any Volf-lover would expect, does so in the light of a relational concept of trinity.  Our own giving is then critically examined in a way that is neither cynical or sentimental; it challenges our selfishness without inducing guilt in the reader - a gift I wish I had when preaching!

I don't intend to commit to write about this book - things have a habit of scuppering our best laid plans, and in any case my own Lent programme is decidedly hectic (think I might abstain from Lent events next year!) - but if you like Volf you'll probably enjoy this, and if you don't yet know him, it seems to me a good place to start.

Today I had an email from a colleague who is the student minister at Dibley + 1 mile telling me that he had received a unanimous call to a church as outlined above.  This was indeed good news, he hasn't had the easiest settlement process and as far as I can ascertain has that dubious honour of being last in his year group to settle (though still manged to do it 6 months quicker than I did!).

It is good news not just because he has settled, but because, based on what I know of him and what he has said about the church, it has that 'God's at work' feeling.

The Baptist settlement process is a funny old thing, yet depsite its flaws it is always good to hear of a church and minister coming together.  Amidst all the demoralising national and international news, it is refreshing to get something good right on the doorstep.

Now I need to get back to the 'cunning plan' for Dibley-area domination!!!

This week I seem to have spent a lot of time and energy thinking about 'Sabbath' and what it might mean in a 21st century post-you-name-it-it's-post-it society.  I had to lead session 1 of the Churches Together Lent Study from Life Balance, which was called 'time to pause;' then our Sunday service had almost identical readings as we pondered how understanding Sabbath affects our own lives and our approach to mission.  At a personal level, it prompted me to start planning in my time off more!  Not just the 'day off except when there's a funeral or special event' but clear blocks of free time almost every day.  Hardly earth shattering or rocket science, but with my workaholic tendencies something I need to do.  Having managed a near perfect score on the BBC Get Smart in a Week quiz before I start this, I can only anticipate that if I succeed I'll be a genius!  (And modest with it).  Seriously though, it has been good to make time to plan time out and I know I will benefit from time for relaxation and receation.  Sorry if you were expecting any stunning new insights - just a reminder that Sabbath is a gift and should be enjoyed not endured or left unopened.

Today was the grand launch of the data projector - and we discovered that 'Fn-F12' is the new 'F5' with the laptop we are now using.  It is so much easier with my PC where I just disconnect the monitor and hey presto, but we got there with 40 mins to spare.  It seemed to go OK - as did the new portable loop thingy (despite someone assuring me he had to switch his hearing aid away from the T setting for it to work, but as long as I used the mike he could hear everything despite there being no PA.  Hmm.  Wires crossed somewhere methinks!).  So Dibley is now in C21 and discovering it isn't quite so scary after all.  Well done Dibley residents!

Last Thursday was our AGM, followed by a business meeting.  It all went far better than I'd dared hope and we made some significant strides in our thinking and doing.  For the first time ever, so far as I can tell, we agreed a budget for mission - a sizeable sum that should allow us to do some creative and exciting projects - and were actually encouraged by the external 'powers that be' to apply for an increased Home Mission grant for 2007 (unheard of!) to enable us to do this.  The Pentecost Party is now officially 'on' and work can begin and, even more exciting and amazing, we have agreed to explore the possibility of growing a new 'congregation' on broadly 'emerging church' lines.  That's pretty radical for anywhere, never mind Dibley.  Obviously nowhere near everyone is enthused by this, and I've had a few suggestions of 'what you mean is Alpha' (no, thrice no!  Nor Emmaus nor any other similar thing) but the kernel of enthusiasm is infectious and I like creative worship anyway!

So, on balance lots to be glad about - perhaps when we get our new emerged congregation we can have chill out sessions so I can get some Sabbath space there!