Last Sunday we had our second look at the psalms, and some 'disorientaton' with Psalms 13 and 137 in full.

We began with an interactive bit where I asked people to name 'storms of life' or 'situtations of struggle.'  I had decided that when I listed these I would group them according to whether they were primarily 'personal' or 'communal.'  We got a good long list, though only one was 'communal' - interesting.  We revisited this later in the service.

Psalm 13 and the permission to shout at God seemed quite a timely message: in the last seven days many of our folk have encountered life's storms either personally or among those close to them, from redundancy to sudden death, relationship breakdown to terminal illness.  Being reminded that God is quite big enough to be shouted at seemed a good thing to be acknowledging, as did the challenge to Christian denial of struggle.

When we returned to our list, and people were invited to think of things that affected whole communities, we were able to pick up topical connections: many local businesses struggle and shops are closing; families or friends are affected by war or terrorism.  Even our own recent experiences have been of a community facing struggles.

Psalm 137 is an odd mixture - the start which once found its way to the top of the UK singles chart and the horrendously violent ending that sounds like incitement to religious or racial hatred.  It allowed us see something about how whole communities can struggle together and about the risks of being open about feelings.  Whilst God is not going to grant requets for violence towards another race, it is easy to see how pain or even justified anger may lead to sinful responses.  Very briefly we touched on terrorism and its links with religion, but more thought about how Jesus reacted to those who crucified him - seeking forgiveness not revenge.

On reflection, I think the timing of this service was right - people did need permission to shout at God and to be alerted to the risks of allowing anger to turn to bitterness or hatred.  Through our hymns and songs we found some signs of hope to balance the gloom, without going over the top into either denial or triumphalism, e.g. Graham Kendrick's 'For the joys and for the sorrows' and the old Boys' Brigade favourite 'Will your anchor hold'. 

Next Sunday we look at 'new hope' with Psalms 40 and 96.  It has been an interesting little sereis to work on, and I hope has brought some useful insights to our folk.

Two days in ancient Egypt and we are getting to know our fellow travellers quite well.  Fifteen children have joined us and seem to be getting along well together.

I am always fascinated by the assumptions about children's spirituality and understanding.  never more so than when it is assumed that "churched" (horrid verb, 'to church') have so much more insight than those who have not had this process done to them.

Today the video extract began with Benjamin and Jacob expressing their sadness over the loss of Joseph and Rachel; Jacob even had a good psalm-style rant at God.  Not very accurate Bibilically, but I'm sure with a ring of authenticity.  This brief scene obviously struck home with one little girl, who when we got to prayers at the end of the morning asked if we could pray for children who don't have Mummies or Daddies.  She has no church background, unlike one boy who knows the answers to every question and, after bouncing about happily all morning asked that we could pray for him as he has a cold.  Maybe he had, but I'm not convinced!  I know which one I feel had the depth of understanding and had grown through being with us today.  But then there is the additional challenge of how we help our churchy children move from head knowledge and even professed faith to spiritual growth and maturity.  Answers on the back of a camel please!

Today one of my Church Members turns 75 and announces his engagement - cause for celebration.  His fiancee has been coming to church for several months now and already takes an active part in our life together - plus she nods, smiles and frowns at the right places in my sermons, so at least I know someone is awake!  He is very keen for her to become a member once they have married, and I think that she is quite keen too.

Tomorrow we will celebrate with tea and cake (M&S celebration cakes at £9.99 a go are becoming a regular feature!).  The girl on the till in M&S thought it was wonderful when I told her what it was for, and it is.  So often we bemoan the reluctance of young people to enter committed troth relationships, yet how often do we actually celebrate with those (of any age) who do?

This couple's romance has brought delight to their lives, and I wish them a blessed future together. The marriage preparation stuff might be entertaining all ways round but I am looking forward to their wedding in January when we once more borrow a church building (D+2) and celebrate together.

More seriously, I am trying to find some suitable membership material - I have most BUGB and BUS stuff but it tends to assume either youth or ignorance of Christian basics.  Does anyone know of anything suitable for a thinking 70 year old?

The Dibley Manse looks like a cross between a jumble sale, a craft shop and ancient Egypt - all in the cause of mission!  To the left you can see the Amazing Pyramid at Dibley, flanked by a Sellafield Palm, the only variety able to grow to the height of a pyramid!

In just over a week we will be running our Churches Together Holiday Club - an initiative now in its third year and involving churches of three flavours.  It will be at St Smells & Bells and looks like being our best attended yet with around 30 registration packs sent out.  We are doing Pyramid Rock this year's SU offering, though with our own slant on various aspects.  Our children will be between 3 and 11 years old - a deliberate shift since we discovered that many parents were not registering their children because they also had a toddler; for under 5's a responsible adult must stay all session (sneaky - free washers up and new contacts!) and it looks as if it has paid off.

St S&B have been very accommodating, allowing us to take out the chairs and use church essentially as a hall, so there will be tinsel palm trees strung from the rafters, inflatable palm trees and a gazebo at the entrance, a sand pit in the nave and craft materials all over the place.  Hopefully, the leaders will enter into the spirit and don the Egyptian style wigs!

We are looking forward to a fun, if exhausting time, as a motley crew of adults and children explore the Joseph story.  It seems a little sad to think that in another year St S&B won't be here as venue, since it is the most central we have yet used.  Nevertheless, it is good to see how out of adversity has been born a meaningful ecumenism that might never otherwise have existed.  As they used to say in the north west, God works in H M Prison, Manchester (Strangeways).

Summer is nearly over and as September begings to be glimpsed over the horizon, things start stirring again in Dibley.

Our courtship with D+1 resumes in September with a joint meeting of all our members - the concept of 'open church meetings' has yet to reach this corner of the world, which may or may not be a good thing.  Towards the end of September we will gather at 'D+2' and their minister will chair our discussions.  It seems a good next step, no decision making, just an open forum to share conversation and raise issues for debate. 

One of my deacons, on being told of the date, revealed that summer is to be equated with amnesia, as he saw this is a totally new initiative, not something we'd agreed to back in June!  In an email he shared his views on the whole thing and then suggested that if we did consider a merger we should have 'a trial period first before committing to it.'  I am suitably shocked - a deacon proposing that we (the churches) should live together without being in a covenant relationship.  What is the world coming to!

Whilst I can, at one level, see his point, I can't help feeling that the marriage analogy holds even in this aspect - at some point we have to decide 'yes' or 'no' just as a courting couple move from courtship to commitment.  Churches take a very dim view of couples who cohabit prior to marriage (i.e. who enter a 'trial period' to see if it'll work).  Most of our angst seems to be over what takes place in the bedroom, but we are never entirely happy when an engaged couple move into a house even days before the marriage ceremony because we feel it's 'not quite right'.  I can't help feeling that a similar caution should exist with church congregations -since we are ultimately talking about human relationships, albeit of a different nature.  I am not quite sure what might constitute the ecclesial equivalent of pre-nuptial sex - we claim communion is one of our most intimate expressions of faith yet gladly 'commune around' so to speak.  Perhaps the concerns of my deacon are more akin to discovering that your partner leaves the top off the toothpaste, wet towels on the bathroom floor and the loo seat up/down!

If living together is about seeing if the irritations and tensions are too great to make life-long commitment sustainable (i.e. not about sex, which let's face it does not need a shared home) then maybe my deacon has a point - but this may have implications for our attitudes to couples who do likewise.  Similarly, if we are of the view that a couple must eventually decide to marry (or not) without a trial run, surely we should be consistent in our potential ecclesial marriage?  It seems to me that at some point, both we and D+1 will need to make some important decisions.  First an 'engagement' or "betrothal" where we begin to work out the details of what marriage might mean: where we might live, what shape our new family will take, etc.  Then a 'marriage' when (if) we decide to go for it: the point at which we say, we'll never know until we do it, we're both committed to making this work so let's go for it.

I am fairly confident that if a cohabiting couple arrived at my church several eyebrows would be raised, and people would feel that if they were committed they really ought to marry.  I am also fairly confident that we would be less ready to take the plunge with D+1.  I am not entirely sure how good the parallels are, but I do wonder how much we operate different standards (and please, gentle, reader, no lectures on sexual ethics, I am merely thinking about the concepts of commitment, covenant and risk taking that apply to all 'troth' relationships).

But don't get too excited, we are still in a very formal, well behaved courtship as yet, so no need to worry that we might do something to raise the ecclesial eyebrows just yet!