This past week has been quite 'full on', largely because I said 'yes' to a number of things that all landed rather close together.

It has been a good week, characterised by beauty and blessedness, even in the midst of the mundane.

I had two church out-of-doors meets with people I last saw in the flesh in March 2020! The picnic lunch in a garden, and the Danish pastry outside a cafe were lovely - but more so that conversations that flowed quite naturally and soon moved beyond the superficial.

Several months ago, I was asked to lead a CMD session on sustaining spirituality in ministry, and after a late night finish on Wednesday, I delivered it on Thursday.  It seemed to scratch where people were itching and I received lots of encouraging feedback.

Friday was mostly devoted to the 'big' assignment for the first module of my Pastoral Supervision course.  This was the sixth and seventh 'reflective learning notes' along with some practice logs and reports received from others.  It was good - if demanding, and leading to another late finish. Hard to believe I am so far through the course already.

Much of Saturday and a chunk of Sunday were devoted to reading, and collating information from, a whole mound of virtual paperwork relating to people seeking to train as ministers, and whose interview panel I now chair (for one of the English Baptist Colleges).  It is demanding, and responsible, stuff.  It is also interesting and inspiring to 'meet' in some measure women and men exploring their callings.

Sunday morning was a shared Zurch, which went well, with feedback from people saying they'd love to do it again... if the pandemic has done nothing else, it has allowed us to discover new (and probably greener) ways of connecting different congregations.

In between have been lots of little moments of joy, and more than a few surprises... roses from a garden, a beautiful bouquet, the gift of a nice-to-hold ballpoint pen, online chats, 'Magic Bags' to share with others, and the discovery that if you gently defrost and warm up a frozen jam doughnut in the microwave, then pour over some single cream it tastes divine!! 

A good week, and a blessed week.

In times past, the various published rubrics for communion services used in 'Memorialist' traditions stated that leftovers should be disposed of reverently, for example, scattering for the birds of air.  This morning, unusually, I used actual bread rather than crackers for Zurch.  Sophie was straight in the moment the Zoom call ended to help dispose of the bread. Whether it was reverent or not, I leave you to decide!

More seriously, we had a great joint service with a most excellent sermon from our guest preacher.

It's been a while since I posted anything, partly because I have been otherwise occupied, partly because other platforms seem to be more urgent these days.

Anyway, last Friday afternoon was one of pure joy as I had the privilege of conducting the marriage of a young couple in the Memorial Chapel at the University of Glasgow.

Covid restrictions resulted in relatively small numbers attending, and social distancing meant the place felt quite full, as everyone was so well spread out.  There were no hymns and no solo singers, just some lovely organ music, beautiful poetry and a couple pledging their lifelong loyalty and love.

It was a once strange and totally normal to be in a place with fifty people (the last time I did so was March 2020) and the atmosphere was just one of love, hope, joy and grace.  The chapel staff were really accommodating, and the photographer and videographer so inconspicuous.  The sun shone, the bride was both radiant and beautiful, the groom handsome.  It really was an afternoon of bliss.

Today's Lectionary invited us to set alongside each other two images - the tall, beautiful, strong cedar tree (35-40m tall, evergreen, wood and oil much prized) and the small, ugly, not so strong mustard plant (1-1.5m tall, often seen almost as a weed).

In each image (Ezekiel and Mark) the tree becomes a safe refuge for birds (and other species).

Jesus seems to be saying, that the Kingdom is like a pernicious weed, that is almost impossible to get rid of, and that seeds in amongst other plants (in contravention of Leviticus 19:19) destroying purity.

So what are we to make of this?

The Kingdom of God is low-level, spread widely at grass roots level, transforms all it interacts with and, eventually will take over.  Here, in this unlikely, untidy, organic, powerless muddle, is peace, reconiliation and hope to be found.

I wonder, if it's a valid reading, what we do with that?

As my staycation draws towards its close (two days left!), I finally completed the jigsaw I bought as a holiday project.  With a lot of assistance from the kitties, it was finished this morning - the final hundred or so pieces of 'sky' keeping me occupied for several hours.

I think the jigsaw is a wonderful metaphor in many ways, with all the sifting and sorting, fitting and puzzling.  And it takes a long time - this thousand piece puzzle has taken many, many hours, sometimes with quick progress, sometimes hardly an at all.  And then, when it's finished, and I sat back to admire it, Sophie decided she needed to do a few checks before taking a nap right in the centre of it.  Well, why not, a cat snoozing on a picture of cats.

This past couple of weeks the River Clyde has been the 'stunt double' for the Tiber, the Seine, the Danube and the Vltava, as I pretended to visit various places around the world.  I baked a Dobos Torte (Hungarian) and Oggies (Welsh/Cornishpasties); I made spanikopita (Crete) and pea cakes (Malta).  Some of the baking was shared with others.  All sorts of bits and pieces that somehow came together to make a meaningful and enjoyable staycation. Definitely more than the sum of the parts.

Now that we are once more allowed out of the city, I may venture further afield for the last couple of days, but I may also simply take a couple of days to rest - after all I have visited a lot of countries in the last fortnight!