So, I am sitting typing stuff whilst Songs of Praise is on in the background.  How I love it - real Salfordians being real Salfordians.  There was someone called Lisa, a bit of a diamond in the rough, a true Salfordian in whom there was no guile.

I spent a very significant year of my life working with a Roman Catholic church in Swinton, very near where Songs of Praise was recorded.  Happy memories, and lovely to hear those accents!!

Today one of our readings was from Nehemiah 8, and the occasion when the assembled nation of Israel - adults and 'children old enough to understand' stood from dawn to midday listening to Ezra reading from the Law of Moses.  Had English existed as a language, and had they been reading in English, that would probably have been enough time to read Genesis - and I reckon Ezra would have been pretty hoarse by then!  After a time of praise and prayer, they spent the afternoon with Ezra, Nehemiah and thirteen named levites explaining to them what they had heard.  It was a very long day, which left the people tired and emotional... surprisingly perhaps, they were sent home to have a slap up feed, inviting any less fortunate neighbours to share their plenty.

For me, today has been a long day, and it's not over yet.  It has, I think, been a good day.  The service went well and elicited some interesting feedback (always intriguing to compare what I think I said with what people heard!).  This was followed by lunch at the home of one of our people, followed by a very creative and helpful conversation about aspects of our worship life.  This evening I will be at worship for Homelessness Sunday, something I am looking forward to, as it's someone leading I haven't heard before.

So, by the time I get home again it'll have been a pretty long day.  However, I'm not sure counting the hours is terribly helpful.  I prefer to measure this day by its quality, and it has been a good one.

Every January a substantial sum of money (roughly third of a month's take home pay) leaves my bank account and finds its way to various professional and learned bodies.  The bulk of this relates to my registration as a chartered engineer and appropriate bodies, which allows me to continue to use, should I so wish, the letters after my name.  Pretty much every year I debate the continued expenditure, since I don't practice as an engineer and the last CPD I can reasonably claim was more than a decade ago.  The various bodies, of course, are happy to take my money and not ask for evidence of CPD; indeed one of them from time to time writes inviting me to up my status from 'member' to 'fellow' - an invitation I studiously ignore, I would not qualify.  But every now and then, having those letters comes in useful, giving credibility to responses I give to insurers or architects or contractors - I may not practice as an engineer, but I do retain the ability to speak the lingo, to make reasonable judgement calls on reports, documents and, very occasionally, to write responses in a competent fashion.

The remainder of the money pays for continued membership of Baptist groups, one effectively a 'learned society' and the other purporting to be a 'professional body'.  From time to time I consider adding other minister-type subscriptions, but given that I rarely do more than glance at the four journals I receive (two minister, two engineering) would it be justified?

At the end of the day, the cost of these assorted memberships amounts to a little over £1 a day, which compared with my other expenses is pretty minimal.  It is rare that I use my 'letters', but at this price, and with the continued, if infrequent call on my professional judgement, it is probably money well spent.

Just as I have a lovely week, other people do not.  I was reminded of this poem/prayer someone sent me about a decade ago, maybe it will help someone, somehow...

Even as we seem to be dying

In weakness,

In fear,

Overwhelmed by all the force against us,

There are moments when we know

That we will never be determined

By any of that.

There is a God

Who says to us

Weep strongly,

Be strongly afraid,

Care strongly,

Choose life strongly in faith,

And I will live strongly

In all of that.

There is a God

Who moves from hill to mountain top,

Who stands high in the depths of the pit,

Who gasps free of the waters of drowning

And plants the cross-shaped tree

On the very shaking ground on which we stand

As tough our trembling earth is like a rock.

There is a God

Who steps free

Of the binding chains around our souls

And calls us in a voice

Which always knows our name,

Who always feels our pain,

Who lifts our feet

As through our life

Stands cupped in a saving hand

And cherished forever in a life-filled place.

Dorothy McRae McMahon in Liturgies for the Journey of Life,SPCK, 2000, p 124

For me, this has been a very happy week.  Having changed my work pattern just a bit, and having worked out how to make the best use of odd pockets of time on days when I need to be elsewhere, I am feeling very energised and upbeat, despite having worked two very long days and a total that would exceed the EU working hours directive, if it applied.  The fatigue and lethargy that had built steadily since September seems to have evaporated.  Amazing the difference a few tweaks can make.

The grand plan is that I will finish work early on Fridays, which feels like an unexpected bonus!  The challenge is to find good thing to do with that time so that I don't just fritter it away with meaningless activities or end up working because, after all there is always more that I could do.

So today it will be lunch in a local cafe and then head home to do some piano practice (one of my self-imposed challenges for this year!  If I get one session a week that'll do me!!)