Today's PAYG was the well known incident where Jesus' disciples were squabbling about greatness and Jesus took a small child, set 'it' amidst them and said - you need to become like one of these.  For two millennia since then, churches have had a complex relationship with children, so much so that I feel a bit tentative posting, and know even as I type this could be misunderstood or misinterpreted.  So, a reminder of the disclaimer stuff - my blog, my mess ups. 

How do we make churches a place where children discover their inate spirituality and grow in faith?  How do we do this in a way that is helpful for as many peple of all ages as possible?  How do we truly value everyone equally?  I have a suspicion if I knew the answer to that, I could be a very materially wealthy woman! 

Sometimes it seems easier to work out what we are getting 'wrong' or what is not really helpful than the converse.  Something which, I think, is made more complicated by the fact that the church is out of kilter with a society where childhood has become almost a cult in its own right over the last century or so.  Thank goodness children are now protected by law from exploitation and abuse; that they are educated, inoculated and given top class health-care.  Thank goodness that catch-nets are there for those whose parents cannot cope.  But there is flip side... we have become so cautious that children are denied the simple pleasures that even my generation took for granted, we have teachers fearful of chastising poor behaviour, we have expectations that every (or almost every) aspect of life is totally child-friendly/accessible and so on.  If I am honest, I am not quite sure that if Jesus was in the same situation today, at least in Britain, that it would be a child who symbolised the 'least' in society.  Not that I'm quite sure who it would be instead - possibly a single, homeless, adult male as, top my knowledge, they have the least 'rights' under UK law.

None of this means that in churches we can get away with ignoring or marginalising children; au contraire, we must work harder to wlecome and encourage them.  But it also means that we have to beware the risk of marginalising some other part of society in the process... people with hidden disabilities perhaps, or people with mental health issues, or single adults in their thirties and forties, or whatever it is.  Part of nurturing children - and adults - is help each come to understand that society is so much bigger than 'me'.

Jesus took a worthless individual and set 'it' amidst the crowd... unless you become like this, you have no place in my kingdom.

Children - in

People with disabilities - in

People with mental health issue - in

People who don't conform to societal stereotypes - in

Whoever I perceive as worthless - in

So, here I am - trying to work it out, failing miserably, risking being misheard... but willing to hear Jesus challenging me in my attitudes, my exclusions, my evaluations.

Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

This is my annual boring ranty post... well annual for two years now anyway.  And the one that marks my gesture of turning my blog pink for the month.  October is the month when we are all supposed to alert ourselves to the existence of breast cancer, which means all things pink (I so don't do pink!) fluffy (no disease is fluffy) and naff - silly Facebook status things about bra sizes (mind your own business) fruit equivalents (ditto) which don't really achieve a whole lot imo.

Scary to think that since my diagnosis, the greater part of of 100,000 more people have been diagnosed in the UK, and are even now coming to terms with that diagnosis or going through treatment.

So... the annual rant....

CHECK! CHECK! CHECK!  And if you don't know what you're looking for find out here.

Get screened if you are of screening age

Go to your GP IMMEDIATELY if you find anything odd - don't be fobbed off with a two week wait, tell them why you are calling

If you are male, don't think it can't happen to you, it can.  Every woman I know in the bc world has met at least one man with this disease... check your pecs!

Spending Saturday pushing myself up a mountain was about a lot of things... it was celebrating life, it was remembering absent friends, it was supporting friends... and it was about the hope (in a broadly Christian eschatological kind of a way) that one day there will be a cure, that one day ranty posts like this will be a memory.

Cancer, of any kind, is not a ribbon.  Nor is it, by any means, the only invisible disease.  But it is one where we can help ourselves by being alert and acting swiftly.

OK best stop ranting and do something holy!

Probably the hardest thing I have ever done, made more so by adverse weather conditions, but we did it!  And I am very impressed to have done it in 8 hours, despite a stretch at snail's pace and wondering if I really would get there...

Yes, that's snow at the top!  The first of the season (and by heck did it sting!)

When I hill walk, and the going gets tough, and my creaky joints creak, there are several strategies I use to keep me going.

One is to anticipate the exhilaration when I (finally) get there.

One is to consciously call to mind the reason I am doing this - whether 'just' pleasure or as a fundraiser; if the latter I deliberately imagine walking with me the people who inspired the fundraising in the first place.

One is to count the paces - no stopping until I've done 100, 200 or whatever it might be... inevitably by the time I reach that figure I've walked through the latest 'wall'.

And one is to sing songs and hymns to myself.  As often as not 'Father hear the prayer we offer' with its line 'but the steep and rugged pathway, may we tread rejoicingly'.  This morning I've been wondering what others I may need to get me up Ben Nevis, especially if the predicted snow arrives! (They were predicting sun a couple of days ago).  Among those I know pretty well 'off by heart' are...

One more step along the world I go [or, up the hill I go!]

Brother, sister, let me serve you... we are pilgrims on a journey, and companions on the road, we are here to help eahc other, walk the mile and share the load  [or, companions on the Ben]

Step by step, on an on, we'll walk with Jesus til the journey is done....

The journey of life may be easy may be hard, there'll be trials on the way...

When we walk with the Lord...

Any other suggestions gladly received!  Though it may need a transmat beam for them to reach me!!

Many, many thanks to all who have sponsored me - the total this morning is £1300, and there are still a few promised donations to come.  That is wonderful news.  See here for some of the ways the money might be used.  If you happen to live in NHS GGC and are unfortunate enough to join this 'club' you will almost certainly be given leaflets produced by this charity as part of your info. pack.

Back on Monday... blog silence whilst I am 'up north'.  Have a good weekend everyone.

'What?'  You ask.  Let me explain, or try to.

I have been a Girls' Brigade leader for a little over thirty years - scary in itself.  The GB leaders a generation 'above' me tended to sign off letters as 'yours in Brigade' and we all kind of knew what it meant.  At various times I have met people who are/were GB leaders and we instantly fell into deep and hilarious conversations about all things GB.  There is something about the intentionality of the organisation that runs quite deep.  My Guide friends report the same thing.  Indeed, to be fair, GB and Guide leaders are capable of similar unintentioned intentionality when they get together.

In a couple of hours I am due to pick up an online 'friend' at Glasgow airport and see her and her husband safely onto their train to Fort William where they are travelling ahead of the weekend's Ben Nevis climb.  Combine the ridiculous lack of a rail link from Glasgow airport into town, with Scotrail's crazy route, and they are slightly bewildered.  Easier by far that I collect them and dispatch them from the centre of the universe that is Hyndland station, possibly on the self same train that Scotrail told them to get from Glasgow Central via Dalmuir (the Fort William train goes from Queen Street....)!  She and I share some common experiences over the last couple of years, and so there is a similar unintended intentionality going on.  This morning, I had an email from another online 'friend' who is part of the same 'club no one wants to join' saying she wanted to travel up (from Cumbria!) to welcome us back off the mountain.  The same kind of instant connection arises as does with the GB/Guide leaders.

So.  Question.  Is this a 'girl' thing?  Or is it a shared experience thing?  It happens to an extent at Baptisty events, but never to the same intensity.  I have never shared real belly laughs with individual, unknown Baptists, and sometimes they really wind me up form the get-go.  What do others think?