Today I had to go into town, so I took the opportunity to pop into my favourite social enterprise cafe for lunch.

As I walked in, I overheard a customer who was leaving complaining about the rough sleepers and vulnerably housed people who receive free lunches there: they're here every day, he observed, and they never pay a penny...

I sat down at the one available table, which happened to be next to where two such men were eating their lunch - a bowl of soup, a hunk of bread and then hot drink in a take away cup as they left.  They were just like any other customers, quietly chatting, enjoying their lunch and a brief shelter from the rain.  They were polite, and they exchanged banter with the staff.  They left to go wherever they were going...

My steaming bowl of delicious soup arrived, accompanied by a cheese and caramelised onion scone, and I began munching...

Within a couple of minutes their place was taken by four antipodeans on a walking holiday, whose biggest concerns were whether or not they needed to buy midge nets in September (I mean, it was only bucketing with rain, no self respecting midge would be out in that weather!) and what the wifi code was for the cafe.  They ordered their lunch, which arrived just as I was leaving...

As always, the wait time to pay is the longest part of coming to this cafe - getting food out is clearly a higher priority than getting paid!  And, as usual, I paid for a suspended hot drink (sometimes I pay for a meal) and went on my way...

So what?

I love that one minute I was sitting next to two men who had almost nothing, and the next people with sufficient wealth to take a holiday on the other side of the world.  I love that the staff were as polite and gracious to the grumbler as they were to the men, and no less than they were to myself or the tourists.  I love that this cafe does something vital (essential and life-giving) for whoever walks in off the street.  I love that whoever you are, you get simple food 'done right'.  I love that this is the gospel in deeds.  And so what if someone gets more free food than someone else deems fair; and yes, I'll go on suspending hot drinks when I go in there because what I cannot do, they do do.

Today we began our Creation Time/Creationtide series 'Animal, Vegetable & Mineral'.  This was the Communion liturgy we used...

Preface

In the beginning was a seed,

And the seed was buried in the rich, dark earth

And the seed grew…

In the beginning was the stalk,

And the stalk brought forth the golden, heavy ear

And the seed was in the ear…

In the beginning was the seed,

And the seed was spread between cool, heavy stones

And the flour was ground…

~

In the beginning was another seed,

And that seed was buried in the rich, dark earth

And that seed also grew…

In the beginning was the vine,

And vine brought forth the dark, weighty cluster

And the grape was in the cluster…

In the beginning was the grape,

And the grape was crushed until its skin ran dry

And the juice was collected

~

In the beginning, someone took the flour and made a loaf of bread

In the beginning, someone crushed the grapes to make a skin of wine

And all was made ready for the banquet of hope…

In the beginning, in the gathering, in the breaking, in the sharing, in the scattering…

In it all, God is here.

The Story

Here is bread, and here is wine, and here we meet to share.  But why?  How did it begin?

In the beginning, God’s Creative Word lived among us in a Jewish man called Jesus, who called his closest followers together to share in a Passover meal.

And in during meal, God’s living Word became a man’s spoken word, carefully recorded for all of history…

Taking the loaf, and giving thanks, Jesus said, “this is my body, which is for you, whenever you do this, remember me.”

Taking the cup of wine, and giving thanks, Jesus said, ‘this is my blood, poured out for you, whenever you do this, remember me.’

And so here we begin again –

We hear the words of Jesus,

We listen for the Word of God,

We participate in the remembrance of Christ

Thanksgiving

Creator of all that is good and beautiful, we thank you for this bread and for this wine, for those who grew the crops, gathered the harvest, baked the bread and bottled the wine.  Help us as we share and as we remember to find sustenance for our souls.  Amen.

Distribution

Prayer afterwards

In the end, all things will be re-created

In the end, all will be well

Until then, we entrust ourselves, and our creation to God’s safekeeping

Amen.

It's nearly midday on Thursday, and not one word written for Sunday's sermon.  Well, that's note quite true, I have lots of notes and a couple of workable ideas, but I still have a decent chunk of this book unread (and probably now won't get it read at this point in time).

This book is not a quick read, and I did get a bit bogged down in the biology stuff near the beginning (probably because it was detailed and I was wanting more overview on that part) but it repays careful reading.  Like all theological/spiritual works it's imperfect and, here and there, gaps or elisions in the author's argument are evident.

At around £11 it's a relatively inexpensive purchase (I got my copy free from BMS many years ago now - should have read it back then after all) and a useful addition to the library of anyone who has a reasonable grasp of science.  If you never did science at school, I suspect it's pretty incomprehensible in places.

PS The titular question is (obviously) rhetorical

Yesterday we used some DIY jigsaws as a visual expression of our prayers - symbolising interconnectedness.

After I'd re-jigged the pieces to make two 'more complete' jigsaws rather than four fairly sparse ones (not that that mattered, it's just my collating nature!) I had a spare unused one, and decided to use it as a sort of reflection on where the series had taken me, and to some degree, maybe us.

I added the names of the eight 'heroes' as it was their stories that had allowed me to make connections to my own, and our own, story.  Then I added some of the many congregations, organisations and charities that, directly or indirectly, now or in the past, we have connections with.

Lastly I added four phrases that I think summed up the message - of encouragement and challenge - that emerged from the series.  A mix of being and doing, phrases that can be paired in different ways or taken on their own...

• Trying to follow Jesus (doing) surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses (being)
• Trying to follow Jesus (doing) attempting great things for God (doing)
• Trying to follow Jesus (doing) being something beautiful for God (being)
• Being something beautiful for God (being) surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses (bring)
• Being something beautiful for God (being) attempting great things for God (doing)
• Attempting great things for God (doing) surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses (being)

Of course, each of these six pairs can be reversed, the emphasis changes, the meaning is subtly altered and new insights may be discovered/discerned.

For me, at least, there is plenty to continue to ponder as I consider how to 'be and do' what this series has inspired within me.

No 'Going Deeper' this time - cos I just never got round to doing it!  Instead, today is about making connections, drawing together the threads.

By serendipity, our last hero, Brother Andrew, of Open Doors fame, turned out to be a great choice (in my not so humble opinion) as his story allowed all sorts of interesting connections to be made. I recalled the importance of Girls' Brigade in my faith story, and of how at a Young Leader's training weekend I'd bought the book 'God's Smuggler' which inspired me to support Open Doors for many years.

As it happens, we have someone in church who grew up inside the USSR and experienced its break up first hand; someone whose family were among the recipients of smuggled Bibles, tracts and greetings.  It made a wonderful illustrative link.

This series has allowed all sorts and sizes of links to be made, here are just a few I made...

From my GB church to College St Baptist Church to William Carey

From one of my GB leaders a direct link back to the chapel Mari Jones attended in Wales

From Mari Jones, via the Bible Society, to Elizabeth Fry, Eric Liddell and Brother Andrew.

From Eric Liddell to one of my predecessors at the Gathering Place.

Indirectly at least from William Carey to David Livingston and Mary Slessor, and possibly (through the India link) to Mother Teresa

And so on and so forth.

A few folk have shared with me links and connections that have been meaningful for them, to this or that person, place, time, interest, and that's been lovely.

I've had so much fun reading and learing about these people, making new discoveries and being reminded of others.  Today, I've loved setting it all in the context of the vision of Revelation 7:9-11 and the 'cloud of witnesses' of Hebrews 11 and 12. 

As summer ends, I am, in the best possible way, really tired; this series has needed a huge amount of work.  It has been so worthwhile though, and I have material I can use in other contexts in the months ahead.

I planned the series on a bit of a whim, because I thought there were stories worth telling, and these were the eight people I came up with.  Somehow, that whim has translated into something of which I have the audacity to feel quite proud, and through which I - and I think it's fair to say, we - have been blessed.