Yesterday I was watching Pointless (a repeat but I hadn't seen it before).  The 'head-to-head' round required the contestants to:

• identify upper case Greek letters
• identify British national parks from their initial and final letters
• answer questions on the 1980s miners' strike

At the end of the round Richard Osman said "and especially welldone to anyone at home who got all fifteen answers'.... that'd be me then!

In 1985 I was in my final year of my engineering degree and had to write an essay on the role of power in the miner's strike... I wrote to both Arthur Scargill and Roy Lynk of the UDM so those questions were a gift.  (The letter to Mr Scargill came back to me marked 'gone away' I kept it for many years as it made me laugh)

I have walked in most of the national parks they listed, but was secretly pleased that I reocngised Pembrokeshire Coast (the lest known answer)

Greek letters - well any scientist or theologian really ought to know those, epseically as they were sigma, omega, delta, theta and psi.  Easy peasy!

Just a shame I have no idea when it comes to films and sport!

... the moon sees me.

Last night was an especially beautiful full moon, radiant, sparkly, slightly golden-glowing and, so it appeared, grazed by wisps of silver cloud in a darker than dark blue sky.  I should have taken a photo I suppose, but they never quite capture the moment.

I don't quite know why humans are so endlessly enchanted by the moon, but it does seem to have a kind of mystical magnetism that draws us into its orbit ((deliberately) bad physics but you know what I mean!)

I have in the past commented here about the sense of connectedness I feel when I look at the moon - that it hung in the sky when my forebears walked the earth, that it observed all the major (and minor) events of history.  That everyone who ever lived, famous, infamous or unheard-of has, at some point, glanced upwards and been struck by its presence is something that I find endlessly fascinating.

Quite why it is the moon to which this power or mystery is attributed I don't know.  I have never heard the same said of the sun or the stars, nor yet of mountains, rivers or seas, each of which in some measure carries the same sense of permanence.

God who made the lesser light of the moon

The reflected glow of distant sol

Silently embracing the earth 'below'

Thank you for this gift of grace

For the mystery of its beauty

For its timeless hint of eternity

For the secrets it keeps

And the joy it inspires

God who made the lesser to reflect the greater

May we we be as moons

In our time

And our place

Amen.

Recently two totally separate people alerted me to this upcoming conference/symposium in New Zealand next February, suggesting I might like to submit a paper.  Having contacted the organiser, he seems to think my work fits perfectly with what they are seeking (though I've been around long enough to know that conference organisers tend to be very glad of enquiries at this stage).

Anyway, my working title is "Public Faith and Privtae Pain: A Quest for Authenticity" - and I have about three weeks to come up with a synopsis and get it sent off if I go ahead.

What do any lovely blog readers think?

A really relaxed and enjoyable weekend visiting a central London Baptist church whose minister said it was 'nice not having to explain' to a visiter what they were about.  And it was nice not having to cringe too!  Arriving on Friday I was a bit apprehensive, not least as my hosts would not arrive until Saturday and had entrusted their home to me.  Going into someone else's home always makes me a bit anxious, so the fact they weren't there compounded that - but all was well, and indeed the place had an 'air' or 'aura' of calm (at various times people have said that about my house but I've never really 'got' what they meant, to me it's home and it's noisy).

It was good to see this church at work, to share worship with them (morning and evening) and to have some very, very long chats with the minister who was hosting me.

Among the things that have struck me on my travels are

• that a lot of Baptist churches like to think they that 'there's no-one like us' when actually we are all far more alike than we realise
• that the myths that relate theological stance to size or dynamism are exactly that - myths.  Or at best generalisations; I've been to large liberal churches and tiny conservative ones
• that the best place to serve after service refreshments is in the same room as you worship, or failing that immediately between it and the main exit
• that the best after service refreshments are undisputably served at the Gathering Place
• that independent coffee shops rule!!

My travels have mainly been a source of encouragement... The Gathering Place holds its own among churches in similar contexts with similar challenges.  I don't think this is just a nice cosy consequence of visiting CLU (Churches Like Us), I think it it is a fair reflection on who and how we are.

I now have four full weeeks based in Glasgow - and I am glad.  Travelling hither, thither and yon is fun, but takes its toll.  I think I know the West Coast Main Line, and parts of the East Coast Main Line better than I ever wanted to, and could get a job doing Virgin safety briefings in my sleep.

Today is devoted to catching up on some domestic tasks with varying degrees of overdueness... booking someone to come and fix my washing machine (that's only taken me six months to organise) and booking my car in for its annual service and MOT (ouch).  I feel a big outpouring of stirling from my bank in the next couple of days... but it is only money and, as the saying goes, there're no pockets in shrouds!

It's been a happy summer, and I am really grateful to have been permitted to spend it as I have.

Goodies heading south for my hosts.... along with a nice piece of thoroughly English gala pork pie for me!!!

Scotch pies

Macaroni pies

Sultana pancakes

Oatcakes

Tattie scones

Tablet

Macaroon bars

Lorne sausage

Island cheese (sic 'cheddar')

Anyone heading north is invited to bring...

Proper Eccles cakes

Banbury cakes

Bath buns

Chelsea buns

Blue Shropshire cheese

Sage Derby cheese

Red Windsor cheese

Scouse

Tater pie (Lancashire hotpot)

Bedfordshire clanger

And anything from Oliver Adams or Lawrence's bakers in Northampton

Fair exchange is no robbery, I feel ;-)