I always enjoy Baptist Assemblies, and I was really glad to be down in Peterborough for this year's one day BUGB-BMS Assembly.  A long way to go for a day conference, for sure, but well worth while.

The photo above is from the Big Picnic Communion where we were invited to gather on the 'green grass' in groups of about ten to eat our picnic lunches and share communion... gluten free bread and alcohol free juice.  I sat with friends from "the church that never called me" twelve years ago and it was good to do so.

(Minors covered with blobs for child protection reasons)

The wall of boxes symbolises the house made of living stones (1 Peter) and the bottom few layers bore the names of the ministers and missionaries recalled in the In Memoriam.... among them my successor at Dibley... and I was glad to be sat next to the minister who "preached me in" at the Gathering Place, as hearing the tribute paid to him (he should have been there at the end of his NAM period) left me in tears... way too close to home. 

On the foundations of those already named, the  newly commissioned Mission Partners (including ours from the Gathering Place) and end of NAM ministers placed boxes with their names on them.  Finally everyone in the auditorium was invited to add their name to a box (per row) which was then added to the wall.

Towards the end of the gathering we were invited to send one person per church to receive a box to take home with us.  I got this one:

Had these folk not added thier last names (I only put my first name) I would not have realised that these were folk I have known since I did a summer placement at their church back in 2000.

As we sat with our boxes, two older women in front of us started to chat to us.  I explained that these names were folk I knew from Manchester and how... Yes, they said, and the new minister there came from our church in Sheffield.  The conversation progressed and I discovered that these two women grew up with a member of the Gathering Place whose father was their minister at the time.  (And if memory serves, a church where I know the current minister).

So I have brought back a box already rich in connectedness, and it will finds its way into worship in the near future.

One of the BUS 'values' which means that ministers are expected to meet together for support and encouragement, something that has been sadly lacking in Glasgow over the last few years, since the person who had worked tirelessly to promote it finally gave up.

I was asked by the BUS to try to start something up again, and yesterday five of us met in a pub to drink coffee, chat over what we wanted from such a group, share stories and pray together.  I was a really good gathering, and I felt encouraged.

Funny how it goes... years ago had someone told me I'd be part of a prayer meeting in a pub I'd have said, "I don't think so"... the Dibley Lunch Club empowered me to pray in restaurants, and now I have led in prayer in a pub.  Made me smile anyway.

A good beginning, now we have to make it happen long term.

Yesterday's service using the #showup theme seemed to be well received and, despite some hiccups (hiccoughs?) with the technology we got there in the end.  The Church meeting that followed seemed to go well, and we got through a lot of material in an hour or thereabouts.  By the time I got home, almost six hours after I arrived at church I was pretty tired, but it was good tired.

This week I will be showing up in all sorts of places doing bits of ministry with BUS, BUGB, the University of Glasgow and of course with the Gathering Place.  There's a fair amount of travel and a good deal of no web access (either as their isn't any or because I won't have a web accessing device).  So it'll be quieter around here.

In the meantime, I am now pretty clear what my own response to the #showup agenda will be, which won't be to join a political party but instead will focus on electoral reform (good job my dear old Dad isn't around to read that!!)