You mention a date - as I did this morning - that is significant for you, and discover that it has different significance for someone else.  26th April 2009 - the first time I preached at the Gathering Place, turned out fo coincide with the birthday of someone who joined us a couple of years ago.

A few weeks back, I was involved in facilitating some training for peer support volunteers with a cancer charity, and one of the women, in sharing her story recalled the date of her diagnosis - which coincided with my birthday.

On my thirtieth birthday, my then car broke down at Keele services, and the teenage daughter of someone I knew gave birth to a son... I wondered then how his life would pan out (he'll now be 23!) and each birthdya I still do.

Some dates etch themselves onto our memories for one reason or another, and we can be taken by surprise when our "happy" day is someone else's "sad" day, or vice versa.

Perhaps somewhere in this the "rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep" attitude is important - recognising and holding the tension between what this means for me, and what it means for you; understanding that no one experience or significance is "superior", rather that they are just different.

Many years ago, when I was training for ministry, two couple in the church had sons and daughters-in-law who were waiting the arrival of babies.  J arrived first, technically non-viable, but defying predictions and living for a few short hours on a lovely, sunny July day.  K arrived a few weeks later, full term, healthy and thriving.  The two sets of grandparents shared joy and sorrow, each mindful not to allow their own emotions to dominate or overwhelm the other.  I learned a lot from them.  I don't recall the birth-and-death date of J, but whenever there is a bright sunny day on July, and I see purple flowers in gardens, I remember, and am grateful.

Life has been very busy for the last several months, and I have been growing increasingly tired and tetchy (I'm allowed to say this, even if other people are too polite to comment).  So it was a bit of a "hmm" moment this morning when the choir sang the "gathering song" (introit by any other name), and in my mind I was transported back to the first time I crossed the threshold of The Gathering Place, when I felt a deep sense of "home-coming".  It was good to reminded of that, reassuring, affirming and, I believe anyway, of God.

This evening I will joining many others to share in celebration of a Golden Wedding.

Fifty years married is an incredible achievement, and it is a great privilege to be invited to be there.

Way back in 2009, I first got to know this couple when I came to visit the Gathering Place for either for a "squint" or to "preach with a view/as sole nominee" (memory fail; but probably the latter).  After morning worship there was spare time before my flight back to East Midlands, and this couple kindly took me home for a meal and one of them showed me round the Botanic Gardens, including "behind the scenes," as they volunteer there.

Since then, I have enjoyed their generosity and friendship - and I have probably driven them to despair at times - as well as valuing their tireless service to the church.

They have made it very clear that there are to be no gifts this evening, and I, being a girlie swat, will do as I'm told.  Truth is, the greater gift is what they give to others, modelling commitment and stability, hospitality, humour and, above all, love, in a world where all of these sometimes seem to be in short supply.

God bless you B&K  (and thank you for the chicken dinner you rustled up for me at zero notice all those years ago!)

Not a good photo, taken through glass, from too far away, with too simple a camera, and a deal of 'shake'... but you can see the first red-gold leaves on the trees I see from my window each morning.

A little earlier than usual this year, and before the subtle change in the quality of the light that heralds autumn, but nonetheless it thrills my heart to see them.  Another autumn will soon begin, and I will be here to see it... and that is good news.

Oh dear.  Spectacular memory fail! I just sat down to begin work on a new sermon series and then, oops, realised that just four years ago I had done one on the same book, though arguably with some slightly different angles from those I'm thinking about this time.  It's just a bit embarassing to have zero recollection of it!

Ah well, this week's is a fairly general overview, so hopefully it will be different enough from last time that those who do recall what I said won't feel too cheated!

As for the rest of the series - well, we'll just have to wait and see!