So my Pink #Ribbonwalk Playlist now extends to 78 items!!!  An eclectic mix if ever there was one.  What's pleasing is that as I hear them I can recall who chose them and/or why they/I chose them.  There are two that almost make me cry - so a bit of rain on the day won't go amiss to disguise that!!

1. A Better Place, Glen Campbell
2. A String of Pearls, Glen Miller
3. Adagio for Strings, Barber
4. An Ordinary Life, Amy MacDonald
5. Believe, Yellow Card
6. Brothers in Arms, Dire Straights
7. Canon in D minor, Pachelbel
8. (Thank you for the) Day, Kinks
9. Deconstruction, Indigo Girls
10. Defying Gravity, 'Wicked'
11. Dignity, Deacon Blue
12. Don't please yourself, Foy Vance
13. Don't Stop Me Now, Queen
14. Eight Days a Week, Beatles
15. Everything I own, Bread
16. Falling, Haim
17. Feeling Good, Michael Buble
18. Firework, Katy Perry
19. Flapper Girl, The Lumineers
20. Get on your boots, U2
21. Gold, Spandau Ballet
22. Hallelujah, Leonard Cohen
23. Happy, Pharrel Williams
24. He ain't Heavy, He's My Brother, Hollies
25. Heaven, Emily Sande
26. High, Lighthouse family
27. High Flying Bird, Elton John
28. I ain't afraid, Holly Near
29. I heard it through the grapevine, Marvin Gaye
30. I will always love you, Whitney Houston
31. I will survive, Gloria Gaynor
32. I'm gonna be (500 miles), The Proclaimers
33. I'm still standing, Elton John
34. Imagine, John Lennon
35. It's a Long Way to the Top, AC/DC
36. Keep Right on to the End of the Road, Harry Lauder
37. Land of Hope and Dreams, Bruce Springsteen
38. Laura, Bat for Lashes
39. Living Doll, Cliff Richard
40. Lose yourself to the Dance, Daft Punk
41. Mallaig Sprinkling Song, trad.
42. Man! I feel like a woman, Shania Twain
43. Mr Music Master, Hoagy Carmichael
44. My Friend, Groove Armada
45. My love, Feat. Jess Glynne
46. Nella Fantasia, Moricone, sung by Katherine Jenkins
47. No Man's Land, Billy Joel
48. One day like this, Elbow
49. One more bite of the apple, Neil Diamond
50. Paranoid, Black Sabbath
51. Roar, Katy Perry
52. St Andrews Girls, The Other Guys
53. Say Goodbye to Hollywood, Billy Joel
54. Sheena is a Punk Rocker, Ramones
55. Shine on You Crazy Diamond, Pink Floyd
56. Show me the way to go home, trad.
57. Siyahamba, African traditional
58. Stand by me, Ben E King
59. Step by Step, Whitney Houston
60. Summertime, Ella Fitzgerald
61. Sweet Caroline, Neil Diamond
62. Take me out, Franz Ferdinand
63. These Boots were made for Walking, Nancy Sinatra
64. Walk like an Egyptian, The Bangles
65. Walk of Life, Dire Straits
66. Walk on by, Dionne Warwick
67. Walk this Way, Run DMC
68. Walking after Midnight, Nina Simone
69. Walking on Sunshine, Katrina and the Waves
70. Waterloo Sunset, Kinks
71. We Built this City, Starship
72. We Go Together, John Travolta
73. When the going gets tough, Billy Ocean
74. When you're young and in love, Flying Pickets
75. Wind Beneath my Wings, Whitney Houston
76. With a little help from my friends, Joe Cocker
77. Wonderful world, Sam Cooke
78. You'll never walk alone, Jerry and the Pacemakers

Last night's training yomp ended up a mile longer than intended, but was no less fun for that and, in fact, showed enough increase in speed that I completed 8 miles in the same time I was doing 7 a week ago.  The extra mile arose because it was pouring with rain and hood up, head down, I took the wrong side of a fork in the road and didn't realise until I was a good half mile along it and diverging further from my intended route.  Ah well.

All of which got me thinking a bit about metaphorical "extra miles", what they look like and whether they have to be consciously chosen or can arise simply by dint of circumstance.  No useful answers on that front, but it did lead me on to thinking about charity fundraising and wondering how much of it is associated with people walking, running, climbing, cycling, kayaking etc. lots and lots of miles.  From cancer to mental health, overseas mission to humanitarian aid, people are sponsored to participate in physical challenges that they may (or may not) enjoy.  Wouldn't it be good, I thought, if it wasn't necessary to raise money for these assorted charities - not because some mythical "they" should fund the research, support, welfare, aid etc. from a bottomless supply of money, but because there was no longer any need to raise money as the issues had been resolved.

I dream of day when the research instituions can close their doors

I dream of a day when the support charities can disconnect their helplines

I dream of a day when justgving and virgin money disappear from the web

I dream of a day when giftaid is a thing of the past

I dream of a day when no-one runs marathons, jumps out of planes or sits in a bath of beans

I dream of a day with no coffee mornings, strawberry teas or ethnically themed suppers

I dream of a day when there are no more tears, or sorrow, or death

I dream of a such  day - and I believe, if not in my lifetime, it will come

I dare to dream, not because I am naive or idealistic, but because I believe the promises of God to be trustworthy and my hope is centred upon them.

Walk an extra mile - too true I will, if it brings that dream a step closer, because I suspect until the eschaton the anticipation of that dream is dependent upon it.

This Sunday one of the activities I have planned is one that I have used in at least three other churches, and a variation upon which I did here nearly four years ago.  Whether anyone else will remember it remains to be seen.  Given that some of the children weren't born then, and several were under five at the time, I think it is safe enough to assume that they are unlikely to remember it, but if they do it's a bonus.  I am enjoying revisiting and revising it anyway.

I hope people enjoy the service - it is probably the most creative I've done for a long time - but I am aware that it does have marmite qualities and not everyone likes marmite...

On Saturday I had lunch with some friends, travelling with one of them by train between Glasgow and Falkirk.  In conversation it transpired that we both know, in very different contexts, the new rector of IBTS... she when he was a 'wee boy' and I from his time at SBC.  It made me chuckle, and it was good to discover yet another connection.

Then today I was out visting with some other folk and we got chatting about English teaching and the imapct of teachers on their pupils for good or ill.  A passing enquiry as to where one of them went to school revealed that they had been at the same schools as my mother, but three years behind her.

And so on and so-forth.  The world is smaller than we think, our lives intertwine more than we realise, the global village is maybe just that.

All good fun, and, if not very theological, it does make me mindful of how interconnected life really is, and how we should learn to care for one another.