I find it rather hard to believe that this blog is eight years old and that typically around 2000 unique visitors will land here in any given month.  The truth is that sometimes I have very little to say, and posting can be as much habit as anything else.

So it is interesting to look at the stats, and especially the key word searches, that bring people to this corner of blogland.  Obviously there are seasonal variations but there are a lot of searches for

All age communion liturgies

All age worship

Funeral liturgies, especially for babies

Seasonal liturgies

Fairtrade products, liturgies, hymns and prayers

Specific poems including

'The Train to Glasgow'

'The Hipporhinostacow'

'God knows' by Minnie Haskins

Medical and cancer related topics, and information on specific medical professionals (I have an ace GP and a fantastic breast care team :) )

Random stuff such as motorway matrix signals, films or books

Eight years on, I still have days when I will post three times (or more!) but I think there may be more days when I don't post, not because I'm bored with blogging, but because I really don't see the point in posting for the sake of it.  Sometimes, I suspect, less is more.

So I walked into the vestry this morning to find a huge, rather wonderful, painting of a tree on the vestry floor, along with a note explaining why it was there.  Then PAYG centred on the parable of the mustard seed, which grows into bush in which birds find shelter.  How lovely to have my very own visual aid ready and waiting for me!

Yesterday was rather wet and miserable here in Glasgow - but as nothing compared to the storms that battered the southern part of these islands.  It was also my 'day off' and I took myself into town to see the film 'Sunshine on Leith', a feel good story set in Edinburgh and a real Proclaimers fest - numerous songs that I haven't heard for many a long year, and others that reappear from time to time in new guises.

The film was a ray of sunshine, a simple story with no real plot and a broadly happy ending.  With huge numbers of extras, the musical scenes had echoes of 'Oliver!', 'Mary Poppins' or even the end of 'Slumdog Millionaire' complete with lots of dancing.  And I guess, too, some, albeit lesser, parallels with 'Mama Mia', 'We will rock you' and other musicals/films based on songs by specific artists.

Panaoramic views across Edinburgh punctuated the story and were stunningly beautiful, and good use was made of local venues to frame the story line.

The humour of any story is always interesting - and as an English person in a Glaswegian cinema audience it was 'interesting' to see what caused people to laugh aloud, something I am still mulling over (was this humour 'against ourselves' or 'against others'... and does it matter which it is, hmmm).

Not that many films send me out with songs resonating in my head, and not many manage to be feel good without tipping over into twee.

Lots of fun, then, but also a film with potential for those who like using film and/or music as a jumping off point for theological reflection... be it confession/absolution, forgiveness/reconciliation, ambition, love, separation, amibition, and so on (♫  'It's over and done with' ♫ 'I'm on my way from misery to happiness' ♫ 'Letter from America' ♫ 'I would walk 500 miles' ♫ etc).

Good fun, and glad I went to see it - it certainly was a ray of sunshine on a rainy day.

That's it, I just booked my flights and accommodation for my trip to New Zealand... a big hole in £2000, yikes!  Have arranged it so that the conference is slap bang in the middle of my visit giving some fun days either side.  Just need to write that there paper now!

Very exciting and slightly scary!  BC I would have been much more wary of something like this than I am AD... some changes are definitely to be embraced.

Because I woke up early today (my radio alarm clock changes automatically, my cat alarm clock does not!) I found myself listening to 'The hour' on Radio 2 ... not really my cup of tea, but at least now I know that.  One of the songs that was played would have annoyed me anyway, but with hurricane force winds forecast it was just plain wrong...

He is jealous for me,

Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree

Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.

When all of a suddent, I am aware

of these afflictions eclipsed by glory.

And I realize how beautiful you are

And how great your affections are for me...

John M McMillan (c) Kingsway

So it's alright people, don't fear the hurricance that threatens to blow off your rooves/roofs and wreak havoc in your lives, don't be worried if the rivers overflow, washing away and destroying everything in their path... because evidently that's what God's love is like.

It's a terible metaphor and, in my view, an ill-conisdered choice by the Radio 2 production team. 

Sorry, but in my mind it is, as I've already said, at least twice, just plain wrong.