Yesterday I travelled to Manchester to attend the funeral of a friend who, along with her husband, had been a huge support and encouragement to me during my ministerial training, and indeed, beyond.

I had arranged to visit the family (who live opposite the church where the service was held) in the morning, and could not have been made my welcome, my genuine protestations that I should leave them, this was family time, being brushed aside.

It was a lovely service, truly honouring a woman who loved, and was loved by, so many people.

Unusually for nowadays, she had been brought home the night before the service, and her coffin lovingly place in the conservatory where she had so often sat to watch the garden birds or to admire the flowers in her garden.  It was a real privilege to be permitted to sit with her while her husband ran the final few errands for the catering (the tables had to be literally groaning under the weight of delicious food, and plastic tubs were labelled up to be filled with snacks for my journey home!).  In the stillness, cup of tea in hand, with the scent of flowers filling the air, I sat, remembered, smiled and prayed.

The service was a pack-out and people had travelled considerable distances to be there.  Beautiful hymns, whose significance I knew, lovely readings and tender, thoughtful tributes... it was as good as funeral is going to be.

Later, munching my packed lunch/tea on a train that was equally packed out, this time with slightly merry young women en route to a Hen Weekend in Manchester, and school girls who were chatting about how they 'CBA' to do this or that, I smiled to myself in gratitude.  Life in all its fullness, youth and age, beginnings and endings, laughter and tears... and in it all love and hope.

Farewell A, you have given me so many happy memories, and entrusted me with so much.  May you rest in peace and rise in glory.

My shiny new laptop has arrived, bang on time as predicted by DHL, and looking very lovely.  I'm doubly pleased, as I need to set off soon for today's training course.

I have yet to get it set up (this evening's job) but all is looking good for Sunday now... and maybe taking it with me tomorrow to work on the train journey to/from Manchester.

God is good - even when my theology is terrible!

As part of my prep for Sunday, I was searching for a version of the Lord's Prayer in a specific African language (not disclosing which yet, it'd spoil the effect) and came across this book which includes a speically comissioned version in Egyptian hieroglyphs.   It certainly made me smile!

As part of my preparation for Sunday, I'm reading, as fast as my kindle and brain will allow me to, a biography of Scottish misisonary Mary Slessor.  It's a good read (albeit a bit repetitive in places) and reveals a feisty, somewhat short tempered, pioneering woman, very different from the Sunday School storybook with which I began.  Not quite sure how I'll work with it yet, but it's good stuff.  Just another seven biographies to find and read, then!!

This week is one of those where I am somewhere different each day, and one when there is a lot to fit in.

Yesterday, I had a lovely day-off trip to Carlisle, something I'd booked several weeks ago.  I visited the castle, the cathedral the Tullie House museum and a particularly wonderful secondhand bookshop which had a whole floor devoted to theology.

Today I headed off to Stirling to attend a training session on Safeguarding, something that BUGB require me to do every three years, and that BUS happened to have a course planned.  It was really well prepared and delivered, thought provoking and practical.

Tomorrow I'm basically in and around Glasgow, with a meeting in the morning and then lunch with the Coffee Club.

Thursday sees me back to Stirling for some more CMD (Continuous Ministerial Development) and a session on time management.  I reckon I'm quite good at this, and have done oodles of compulsory courses on it in my time in industry, but it will be good to see what new hints and tips I can discover

Friday I am up very early to head down to Manchester to attend the funeral of the friend who died suddenly a couple of weeks ago.  A long journey and one which I plan to put to good use doing some reading or writing.

Saturday will be a day given over to finishing preparations for Sunday which involves... an all age interactive service, a retirement lunch and a wedding (I may yet bunk off the evneing service!)

It's a week packed with good things - and I am really enjoying myself - but it's also a week with rather a lot of juggling, so I'm actually glad that next week will be somewhat more mundane!