I find it a rather odd name for a 'refresher' type gathering of ministers, but I am off this afternoon to spend a couple of days in Pitlochry with around 20 ministers reflecting, sharing, praying and hopefully having some laughter too.  I'm a bit apprehensive as I hardly know any of them and it's likely to be extremely blokey...

Will report back!

The second of our lent Sundays with ten minutes talking and ten minutes silence was again well received by the majority of people.  What a fun and varied morning...

Songs from Nigeria and Ukraine

Art from around the world

Magnetic fishing game

John 4

Sermonette

Ten minutes of silence

N's yummy fruit loaf

Familiar faces returning for a visit

New faces

Children playing ukeleles and the piano

And it all worked, the serious and silly met and melded in  a way that seemed to make sense... happy day :-)

Here are three of the images we used (shamelss nicked from the www)

Every now and then we come across something that really strikes home, lodges itself in our psyche, alters our outlook or prompts us to think or do differently.

I came across this photo shared online today:

Way back in 1974 my then form teacher, a very scary man, one Mr T R Philp, wrote these words in my autograph book... in those days it was the fashion for those leaving primary school to collect autographs from as many teachers as they could.

I can still visualise Mr Philp's tiny, immaculate hadnwriting, and see him copying the words from a card he kept in the top draw of his desk.  Maybe it was some kind of mantra for him?  I don't know, I never stopped to think about that.

But it was one of those things that struck home, an aspiration to be adopted for my own life.  By no means am I successful - any more than John Wesley was - my feet are very claylike and I fail regularly to meet my own standards.  But wise words, and a good aim, I think.

Other authogrpahs from friends and teachers were less profound or inspiring, but this one (which took me two nearly decades to work out because of how it was written on the page) is also sage advice:

pas d'elle yeux Rhone que nous

(read it aloud or you, too might take two decades to decipher it!)

Somehow a whole week went by before I spotted this (obviously not checking Twitter often enough - but then I don't really 'get' Twitter).  A little something to listen to in Lent which balances chuckles, chocolate and challenges...

Lent Podcast Extra

This year I seem to be so busy being busy that my Lenten intentions for blogging are falling by the wayside.

This week's photo is from New Zealand, and from the War Memorial Musueum in Auckland.  The walls of two huge halls bear the names of those whose lives were lost in WWI and WWII, and on a further blank wall is this inscription:

"Let these panels never be filled"

A prayer?  A wish?  A statement of hope?  A declaration of intent?  Yes.