Among the old hymns I enjoy singing, not least as it has a great tune, is this one:

For all the saints, who from their labours rest,

Who Thee, by faith, before the world confessed,

Thy name, oh Jesus, be forever blessed,

Alleluia, alleluia

A song that gives us permission to celebrate those who went before us, and who perhaps have influenced us in our own faith story.  I find it good, now and then, to pause and call to mind the 'saints' I've met along the way, some still with us, others in God's everlasting arms.

Another favourite from childhood day's is "I sing a song of the saints of God" with its refreshing earthy-ness.  And I like this contemporary re-write by sone friends in Manchester:

I sing a song of the saints of God,
Patient and brave and true,
Who toiled and fought and lived and died
For the Lord they loved and knew.
And one was homeless, and one was old,
And one was a traveller in the cold:
And with God by my side all the way I'll be bold,
For I mean to be one too.

They loved their Lord, who gave his life
And his love made them strong
And to follow his way was their delight
Though they sometimes got it wrong.
And one was a minister, and one was a nun,
And one was a child whose life was just begun,
And with Christ before, the race I'll run
For I mean to be one too.

They lived not only in ages past,
There are hundreds and thousands still;
Though the road may be rough and the workers few,
Who seek to do Jesus' will.
Yet still they are here and they urge us on
Whether young or old, whether here or gone,
For the saints of God look like you and like me
And I mean to be one too

©Clare McBeath & Tim Presswood, 2006

All saints - all of us, walking with Jesus, best we can, let's take a moment to celebrate that too.

OK there are around three hours of October left, but I reckon I can legitimately turn my blog back to blue!

A lot of things recently are pointing to something I have not yet quite worked out, but I have a sense, a hint, that maybe in it God is speaking.

At the Baptist Assembly, we had a series of three 'Bible studies' (sermons by any other name) based on the first half of Luke 4.  This interested me a lot as, for the next lectionary year, the gospel is Luke.  Recently I read something that pointed out how Luke/Acts is framed by the context of the Roman Empire (Luke 2... Emperor Augustus/Quirinius; Acts 28... Paul in Rome) that intrigues me and offers something about context.  At the Baptist Assembly the first study/sermon cnetred on the theme of Jubilee which is short through Luke/Acts.  The speaker (somewhat cynically) compared Biblical Jubiliee with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee... I got his point, up to a point, it was too simplistic but yes, what does Biblical jubilee look like.

One of the other speakers alluded to his own jubilee - he turns 50 this year, as do I, as do lots of other readers of this stuff.  That made me think too.  How do I live my jubilee in a biblically jubilee fashion...  Good question.

Next year is a 'zero' for our church as we reach the giddy age of 130 (mere children compared with Dibley, but even so, a good age).  I have some ideas of fun ways of marking that, but hmm, yes, a jubilee-filled anniversary; I like that idea.  And it's challenging.

Back in May I undertook to preach a series on Mission early next year, and as I looked at the lectionary, woo hoo Luke 4 comes early and offers a helpful leaping off point for such a series.  And the diamond as a jewel with many facets is a helpful metaphor for aspects of mission.

Next summer will be my sabbatical - a concept linked to jubilee - and as part of that I will be spending some time thinking about aspects of how to continue to serve God via the Gathering Place.  Stuff about mission and jubilee and so on...

I feel quite excited and re-energised to continue what I am called to.

Not got a clue what it will all look like but, hmmm, maybe God is speaking...

No secret that I have a "big birthday" looming and that I plan to celebrate it with great gusto.

When I had my 40th, I asked that, instead of gifts for me, people made donations to charities of their choice.  And on the whole they did.  I was really touched at the range of projects supported in celebration of my big 4-0.

This morning I was buying Christmas cards online from a number of charities close to my heart, and I stumbled across the 'thing' I want for my birthday:

For £120 it is possible to buy reconstructive surgery for someone affected by leprosy.  Until I had reconstructive surgery myself, I had no idea how significant it is - in my case it is, outwardly, largely cosmetic, though it does help keep my back straight and avoid lop-sided stresses.  But more than the appearance is what it does for the person, restoring confidence, giving hope and possibilities.

I will be spending money on partying with various groups of friends in various ways, but I will be saving some pennies to buy this gift of hope for someone else.  I kind of hope some of my friends might find it an appealing idea too... (not that they should give £120 each but could maybe club together)

Gutted because I just found out a couple of friends visited the Gathering Place yesterday when I was off elsewhere.  Glad because the message I picked up said they'd been made so very welcome by people here.  Hopefully I'll catch up with them in the not too distant future, but for now I'm just glad the Gatherers did what they do best - express welcome and hospitality.