Ok

By continuing your visit to this site, you accept the use of cookies. These ensure the smooth running of our services. Learn more.

A Skinny Fairtrade Latte in the Food Court of Life - Page 356

  • Ritual Relaxation

    It's one of the many things they don't teach you at Vicar School - what do you do after a funeral?

    Interestingly, it is often my non-church friends who ask how I 'deal with' or 'process' the emotions, memories or whatever it is that are stirred up for me.

    So here's a secret - I have some rituals that make it copable.

    Part of the reason I "collar up" for funerals is that in so-doing I take on the persona of 'minister' and even, arguably, 'the church'... it is a sign to myself as much as anyone else that I am now 'in role', my professional head is on and I can do this.

    After the service, after the committal or burial, after the 'tea' if I am invited, I go home, change into jeans and a sweatshirt, make a huge mug of tea, grab a few digestive biscuits (if there are any in the house) and take time just to blob.  If I happen to get home close to a meal time then it'll be beans on toast (or something similar) eaten on my knee, washed down with said huge mug of tea.

    I don't do much if any active thinking, I just take time to be.

    If the weather is suitable, and the workload permits (or if it doesn't but my inner need demands it)  I may go for a walk, look at the trees and plants, watch the birds, see life being lived in its ordinariness and so move on again.

    Nothing clever, nothing overtly spiritual, but it does the job for me!

  • Three Services in One Week

    Once upon a time, any Baptist minister serving a Scottish church would prepare two Sunday services and one for midweek (often called a Bible study but it was really a serivce).

    When I began in full time ministry in Leicestershire, I used to prepare two full services every week... two sermons, two sets of intercessory prayers etc., etc.

    Nowadays I mostly have one service to prepare for, which keeps me more than adequately occupied.

    This week I have two church services and a funeral (non-church) to prepare.

    I can't say I am hankering for the old days, but I admire those who to this day prepare and deliver two or three fresh services every single week.  And that's without any occasional offices.

     

    One draft done, and one will get started this evening, all being well.

  • Never Too Ordinary

    Today's focus was on the story of Stephen from Acts 6 and 7... the table waiter who gained the confidence to speak boldly in public and who was executed for his beliefs.

    One of the options we offered was to do some ceramic painting - using special markers to decorate mugs and plates (tiny plates; the example above is a plain white tea plate I used from home as a prototype).

    Other options were 'grown up' colouring, word searches, puzzles and 'fun with food' as well as listening to a spoken reflection with interative prayers using newspapers.

    It seemed to go pretty well - and the ceramic painting was amazing, I wish I'd taken my camera to record the skills of those who chose that option.

    The key message was a simple one, about healthy self-esteem, about healthy regard for others whose gifts and skills differ from our own, about no-one and no-thing being too 'ordinary' or too 'special', about the priesthood of all believers...

    Three out of seven now completed, we have all adjusted to the format, I've kept my word and kept services to 50 mins... not remotely complacent, but I think it is going OK.

     

  • Weaving My Life Tapestry...

    I'm not sure tapestries are woven, but never mind.

    Last Sunday one of the metaphors I used was that of weaving.  One way to employ it is to see that every experience, every emotion is somehow woven into the pattern.

    The last few days it has felt as if quite a few strands have been woven into my own tapestry, strands that arise precisely because of life events and choices made.

    These last few weeks up to 'five years since diagnosis' are proving remarkably introspective one way and another, and I think the last few days have highlighted that...

    • the privilege of being called in by a charity to conduct a wedding for someone with only a few days to live...
    • ... which arose because someone I know works for that charity...
    • ... and that someone knew I'd recently been asked to conduct a blessing for someone in similar circumstances

     

    • a number of phone calls regarding my peer support  clients...
    • ... to reschedule...
    • ... to let me know one was unwell ...
    • ... and to women at various stages of treatment, offering them a listening ear and an open heart...

     

    • preparations to travel south to Blackpool to meet friends who have shared a common experience...
    • ... and to remember friends whose lives were cut short

     

    So many people whose paths have crossed, and continue to cross, my own.

    So many lives interwoven for a reason and/or a season

    So many ways in which I am enabled to make meaning of my experiences, weave new patterns, add new colours and textures...

    So many ministry and (loosely) mission opportunities I'd never had imagined and would never have chosen...

    Bit of a waffly post... but it makes sense to me!

    Tomorrow I'll travel south to meet people I'd never have met had things been different, but who are now among my closest friends...

  • And breathe!!

    It's a lovely morning in Glasgow, with blue skies and bright sunshine.

    The last few days have been rather on the busy side, and some of the stuff quite demanding emotionally/spiritually.  Today I am more or less on top of things again, have a draft of Sunday's service to check over this afternoon, the PowerPoint is done, the change-to-published-schedule creative activity is hopefully winging its way to me, and I can devote time later to some administrative/legal matters.

    This morning I will poddle along to the Coffee Club - remembering to take my sunscreen, sunglasses and probably a sun hat too!  It will be good to slow down, to catch up, to listen and chat.  It will be good simply to take time to breathe after the busy and challenging days recently.

    Oh, and remember, children, do not look directly into the sun, you will hurt your eyes!