This afternoon I've begun another cull of books form my office/study. Some of these are ancient tomes passed on to me by someone they'd been passed on to umpteen years ago.  Most of them are key texts I had to buy for my research degree, and which have been gathering dust every since.  They represent serious expenditure back in the day, but now I am hoping that they will find new homes and bless new people.  Three of these fifty or so books survived the cull... I have lots more shelves to cull, lots more memories to let go but I have so many books double-banked or stacked on the floor that it's all just silly.

Almost all these books spark (or sparked) joy but now it's time to share that joy with others. 

Friday evening, at the end of a busy week - good stuff that has been rewarding if tiring (introvert doing lots and lots of people stuff).  From Bible quiz to Bible study; role play to role allocation; service planning to service preparing; discerning and deciding; reading and writing; thinking and speaking; getting cold and getting hot; walking and running; trains, buses and taxis; the list could go on for a very long time.

Lots to encourage and gladden my heart, and some stuff to ponder a bit more...

It's been good but, like Sasha, I am yawning and need some sleep!

Yesterday I left home at silly o'clock to travel by train to meet with a NAM I am mentoring in the north of England.  Today I went into the centre of Glasgow to meet with a PAM I am mentoring up here. Tomorrow I will at the Board of Ministry interviewing a candidate who feels called to follow this same path. In between times there have been all the usual (and some not so usual) things to get on with also.

I've been pondering what it is I think mentoring is about, and I think it really comes down to three things:

• listening
• normalising
• encouraging

Listening to what is written/said, and for what is not said/written

Normalising the experiences, feelings, concerns and questions

Encouraging the mentee by affiming what is already good and offering suggestions if help is sought/needed

And I think that the kind of interviewing I'm doing tomorrow needs much the same facets, with underlying question 'is this person someone who, with the right nurture and support can be a good-enough minister of the gospel?' I hope the person I meet will feel they were heard, valued and encouraged by the experience.

Our sermons/reflections on January have focussed on three episodes in Jesus' early life as recorded by the writer of Luke (circumcision/redemption of first born; visit to the Temple around the time he became bar mitzvah; baptism at around the age of thirty) alongisde some speculation on what filled the very obvious silences... we looked at games children played one week, synaggoue eduction another, and synagogue and temple worship today.

In a sense, we did what preachers always do when confronted by scriptural silence - we extrapolated from other sources and from old traditions, made guesses and even read-in our own thoughts shaped by our own time and place. 

In a sense, we did what preachers always do, even when there is no obvious silence - we padded out bland descriptions with colourful details in our attmept to discover the truth hidden within.

I've certainly enjoyed thinking about the stories, and about about the gaps, and what any of it may have to say to us. I also think that God's Spirit inspired at least some of it - especially as today's intercessory prayers had an unusually high 'hmmm' count!