Yesterday one of our members led us in a service for Homelessness Sunday.  As part of this, we were invited to think about the foods we enjoy and to add our thanksgiving prayers for them to a table set in front of the Communion Table.  The suggestions were delightful - from 'sweet treats to cheer us up' to 'runny fried eggs with chips for dipping'.  Perhaps it was the time of year that influenced our choices of comfort food, but it was good to realise how very blessed we are.

We were told about street homelessness data and reminded how the local authority in our area responds to those in need.  And we shared communion, our beautifully prepared table immediately behind our visual prayer. 

I rather like to think that Jesus would have enjoyed egg and chips washed down with a mug of tea in a soup kitchen.  And I am reminded of this painting by Iain Campbell called 'Our Last Supper' whose 'models' are homeless and vulnerably housed men supported by Glasgow City Mission...

Fifteen years ago today, I was officially inducted to the Gathering Place in the Baptist Union of Scotland, an historic appointment that still leaves me somewhat bemused, because I really am nothing special, and there are women who were chaplains or associates already in post by then. I was just the one who, somehow or other, God thought might do an okay job in this specific role... and I guess, on balance, I did.  This isn't false modesty, it's just that it's all just a bit weird to be history in your own lifetime, and knowing that there were things you could have done better, or more, or less, or different....

Anyway... photo me with Rev Andrew Rollinson who, at the time, headed up the Ministry work of the BUS, and who is one of the good guys.  

Today I am working my way through a raft of documents about risk assessment, which means checking at least two Baptist websites, and then reverting to the place I trust best for this stuff - the Health and Safety Executive (though I should declare an interest in that I used to teach their stuff in a past life; and to be fair both websites signpost there).

I like that my 'old tricks' are still useful quarter of a century later... just need to bite my metaphorical tongue hard at some of the quasi quantitative stuff that is (at least sometimes) used unquestioningly by people not qualified to make that judgement... a good qualitative risk assessment wins every day of the week imo. 

(And if this all sounds like gobbledegook, I rest my case!)

...until Christmas, or at least until Advent, or the Vicar School Carol Service?

This afternoon I have been thinking about an '(Alternative) Carol Service', a 'Pop Up Nativity' and what I might include in an 'Angel-themed Advent'.

And getting sidetracked... listening to music I've used in other places and other seasons, and remembering people who have now passed through the mystery that is death... Recalling services and series I have prepared and shared (and realising they were actually really not half bad)... And feeling pleasantly melancholy, and looking forward to Advent's minor keys, and how I can weave a Sally Army rendition of a piece from Godspell into different contexts... And being surprised that I spent so many hours just pondering and exploring, and ordering and downloading... And hoping that someone else just might love some of it when it is eventually shared... 

And knowing that someone where in all of this the God who is beyond all comprehension has been present and, I dare to believe, active... and that 'Farewell to Stromness', and 'Highland Cathedral' and bits from 'Godspell' can and do express something important.

A bit of a ramble!  I have had a great afternoon, the kind that perhaps only vicary/ministery types really 'get', and I am glad.

... on Sunday our service will centre on Level 1 Safeguarding (something it's good to do at least annually) and I will be preaching drawing on Proverbs 31: 8-9, Matthew 18: 1-6 and Galatians 6: 1- 10.  It is among the least 'expository' sermons I've ever written, and, in a week where issues of abuse have filled news reports, one that feels extremely important. It will mention by name a former newsreader, someone who owned a high class shop, a nurse, a GP and a couple of  significant Christian leaders and  organisations.  It will include some anonymised stories that may hint at glimmers of hope.  It will pose some tough questions and avoid simplistic answers.

It will include a (repeated) trigger warning.

It won't be enough because words are never enough.

But it's something, and hopefully that's better than nothing.

I have no idea who King Lemuel's mother was, but she spoke some wisdom:

"Speak up for people who cannot speak for themselves. Protect the rights of all who are helpless. Speak for them and be a righteous judge. Protect the rights of the poor and needy." (Proverbs 31:8 - 9 GNB)