Tomorrow I will be one of three speakers at a little symposium type thing on Baptist History.  I will be speaking on the 17th century hymn-singing controversy among English Particular Baptists, and will end up with some of Benjamin Keach's most terribe doggerel, one sample of which is here:

Our wounds do stink and are corrupt,
Hard swellings do we see;
We want a little ointment, Lord,
Let us more humble be.

(Try singing it to Winchester Old (While Shepherds Watched) which is a tune that was around at the time - I have no idea of the tune originally employed)

Tomorrow is also Shakespeare's birthday/deathday, so by comparison here is what is allegedly one of his most overtly religious sonnets:

My apologies to those frequent readers who use this blog as a way of keeping up with what is going on in my world.  Life is a tad daft at the moment and I'm afraid blog updates are pretty far down the priority list.

Long story, short-ish, my Mum has beem either in hospital or in care since the middle of January, and a fair amount of time, energy and long-distance travel arises from that.  I am now very familiar with the X336 Glasgow to Birmingham night coach, and am rapidly learning my way around the completely revamped Birmingham New Street and Northampton railway stations!  It's tricky to be supportive by phone and at a distance, but among my sibs I am the one best placed to handle this.

Church is busy and fun and challenging and busy some more.  My short series of sermons on women's stories is eliciting some feedback - not lots, but some; it is largely positive and even when not, it's helpful.  There are oodles of other things to fill up my time from meetings to visits, from strategy to service planning, from preparing a talk to talking about preparations... I am enjoying being back at work and, finally, as I near five years since the end of my "active treatment" for cancer, my brain is beginning to wake up again.  Being able to read and retain information is wonderful!  Also now I am not anaemic and bleeding I have energy - who knew?!

So, updates are likely to be sporadic and brief, but I am still here and still living life as best I can.

Today's sermon on the woman caught out in adultery ranged over quite a lot of stuff... the gender inequality/injustice enshrined in holy writ, the fact that I cannot imagine anyone ever sets out to commit adultery, that all of us is vulnerable to adulteries whether sexual or otherwise, that it needs opportunity, invitation/initiation and consent. I even noted that the woman was freed whilst the man was left with his guilty secrets - so did he really get away with it?

The new thing for me was when it struck me that "go and sin no more" was not a finger-wagging "you got away with it this time but..."  No, if we recognise that 'sin' means 'falling short of a target' rather than 'wilfully choosing the wrong thing' then it may better be heard as, "you deserve something so much better than this cheap, tawdry imitation of love" or "this falls way short of what God wants for you" or maybe even "don't settle for second best".

If we can hear it like that - that "all have sinned and fallen short" is not about being bad but about being fallible and finite, is about missing out on the best because we settle for less - then it becomes less harsh and more like our own experience.  Whatever it may be, in our own place of sin/failure, embarrassment/exposure Jesus refuses to condemn us and says "you're worth so much more than this, put it behind you and live the life you deserve".

I had a good morning, I hope others found it helpful/interesting/challenging/comforting or whatever was needful.

Saturday is a slightly strange day in my world... technically it's a working day (ostensibly I am available six days out of seven) but it's also a slower day, a day to catch up on household tasks, make final tweaks ahead of Sunday worship and generally be there if anyone needs me.

One Saturday morning a month, the cats and I take an hour or so to listen to the smallVOICE podcast, and it is always time well spent.  Wide-ranging, thoughtful and thought-provoking, it is worth listening to.  I don't always share the views expressed, and nor will you, and that is part of the joy of this podcast.  Always topical, always gracious it is one of the few things that I make a special effort to listen to.

If you fancy listening to this month's edition, then go here.  I am biased because people I know and love are among the those speaking in this edition, but it picks up some really important topics worth considering.

Otherwise, just enjoy the kitty cats photo, and have a great Saturday (whatever day it is) yourself.

Last Sunday I preached a sermon on "a woman with an issue of blood."  It was a somewhat experimental approach, centring on the shocking nature of the story, and the shocking reality of what the woman had already endured before, having touched Jesus' garment, her condition was exposed as, falling at Jesus' feet, she told her story.

In the sermon I alluded to two photographs that, having sounded out other women ministers, I opted not to use as illustrations.  As is the way of these things, the story of their discomfort in response to the images was a helpful 'way in' to a story that is shocking precisely because it challenges the taboo around menstruation, gynaecological issues and the like.

I haven't had much feedback as yet.  A small number of people did say they loved it and/or found it helpful, a smaller number have hinted at disquiet with the whole endeavour, and each of these is fine.  It's a shocking story, the poor woman has been forced to live outside polite society for 12 years and now, in a moment, she is blurting out the whole tale to a huge crowd.  It's shocking because Jesus, whom she has touched and therefore defiled, calls her 'daughter', credits her new-found wellness with faith and dismisses her in peace.  It's shocking because is shames the culture that says menstruation of gynaelcological conditions or stomas or catheters, or whatever it may be, are shameful.... private, yes; personal, for sure, shameful, no, no, no!  It is shocking because it exposes the fear of exposure, even perhaps exposes exposure for what it is, and in so doing subverts it.

For once I will make no apology to anyone who was discomfitted or worse... the whole point of this story is precisely that is discomforts us, disturbs us, challenges us...  And for those among us who live with hidden, unmentionable conditions, or even the perfectly natural process of menstruation, it offers the gentle embrace of a Lord who calls us 'daughter', 'son'; who cannot be defiled by our touch, but, mysteriously transforms it for our own well-being.

Two more sermons in this series.  Adultery and demons... watch this space!

Oh yes, the photos... fairly small versions, and feel free to look away now if menstrual blood embarasses or offends...