Having discovered the pleasure of jigsaws, I am now embarking on another...

Will keep me occupied in my free time - and is undoubtedly more 'healthy' than watching television, social networking, or playing games on the computer.

The have way mark, or near enough, for those counting carefully!

Adults

Every day approximately 800 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. 99% of these deaths occur in developing countries.

Give 20p for every pregnant woman you know who received a decent standard of medical care in the Last year.

Every women I know, or every woman I know of... I seem to be turning into a semantic nightmare this year!  I have one friend in England who gave birth in the last year, so that bit is easy.  There are currently two women who regularly share in the life of the Gathering Place who are pregnant, two who come occasionally with a babies I think are under a year old , and at a slightly further remove at least one other newish grandchild.  But then there's the Toddler group which has lots of bumps and babies... should I count them in or not?  Oh decisions, decisions... I think I'll keep it simple and opt for £1! 

My Pledge

Today - £1

Total - £21.65, three prayers, one rant and one e-petition signed

This week, the focus shifts to 'women' which follows on quite neatly from the fact that last Friday was what used to be called The Women's World Day of Prayer, nowadays re-branded World Day of Prayer in an attempt at inclusivity, but it is still mostly women who do it!

Adults

70% of the world’s poor are women.

Give 10p for every woman in your family who has a job.

OK, bit of semantics here - I am assuming they mean 'a paid job', because I have yet to find a woman who has no jobs to so, unless she is so frail or ill that she is unable to fend for herself. Cooking, cleaning, child-rearing, grandchild-caring, home-making, these are all jobs, just not ones which attract financial reward.

Also more semantics - what do we mean by family?  Is it a 'we four and no more' which would mean I would give 10p for myself only.  Or should we read family in the extended way that would be true of the world's poorest communities.  I have one sister, who is paid employment, and two nieces of working age (which I am interpreting as 'over 18') one of whom is in paid employment.  I also have one sister-in-law who is in paid employment.  I think, therefore, it would be reasonable to say that the tally is four, which makes a pledge of 40p... which is almost half the amount the world's poorest people will have to live on today: scary!

My Pledge

Today - 40p

Total - £20.65, three prayers, a rant and one e-petition signed

Today, being the first Sunday of the month, it was Communion, which seems to allow me to pick a hymn for today which is less 'Lent' and more 'Passiontide'.  It is a very lovely Roman Catholic hymn, based in Isaiah 53, with the delightfully named tune Yellow Bittern, BPW No 229

See, Christ was wounded for our sake,
And bruised and beaten for our sin,
So by his suff'rings we are healed,
For God has laid our guilt on him.

Look on his face, come close to him-
See, you will find no beauty there:
Despised, rejected, who can tell
The grief and sorrow he must bear?

Like sheep that stray we leave God's path,
To choose our own and not his will;
Like sheep to slaughter he has gone
Obedient to his Father's will.

Cast out to die by those he loved,
Reviled by those he died to save,
See how sin's pride has sought his death,
See how sin's hate has made his grave.

For on his shoulders God has laid
The weight of sin that we should bear;
So by his passion we have peace,
Through his obedience and his prayer.

Brian Foley (1919-2000) © 1971 Faber Music Ltd, London.

Once there were two preachers who were going to use the parable of the wise and foolish builders as part of the all age bit of the service. 

The wise preacher found lots of lovely images online and created a wonderful PowerPoint presentation to accompany his telling of the tale.  The foolish preacher took a plastic tray, a flat piece of rock, some 'sand', some wooden building bricks and a watering can.

The wise preacher regaled the congregation with the exploits of the two builders.., even having the audacity to accuse the foolish builder of laziness or slipshod work (neither of which is in the original story), before announcing the moral of the tale.

The foolish preacher invited the children forward, tried to encourage them to build two identical 'houses' from her bricks, one on the rock, one on the sand.  A child was entrusted with watering can to  simulate rain... and the uppermost block toppled from the house on the rock, while that on the sand stood firm.  After a hasty rebuild of the house on rock, the intensity and direction of the rain was switched to undermine the house on the 'sand'.  No neat moral lesson to deduce from the tale, but rather 'I wonder what happened next'?  What if the wise men helped the foolish man to build anew house?  And a new 'moral' that sometimes we mess up, but Jesus gives us each other to help us start again...

Three times in the last decade or so I have attempted this.  Three times the house on the rock has collapsed under 'light rain'... is someone telling me something?

* The 'sand' I used today was sawdust made by adding water to wood-based cat litter, as I didn't have any sand.  In the past I've used both play sand and builders' sand with the same effect.