My cat has fleas.  I know this because I got bitten.  Apart from a bit of scratching, Holly seems unperturbed (though I bear the cat scratches on arm and face from when I treated her with the necessary remedy).  All it took was one flea - and I do not know how it got in to my house, but get in it did.  I have a theory, but I won't share it for fear of embarrassing any of my (distant) readers!!  Anyway.  The cat has been jolloped, the carpets and curtains and furniture have been sprayed, hoovered, sprayed again and now I have to wait - two weeks - for the treatment to kill the little monsters.  Then repeat for good measure.  Undoubtedly there is a sermon in there somewhere, if only I could be bothered to find it.  I have to learn patience and keep up the hoovering!

Sunday coming we continue our stroll through Mark's gospel, a couple of weeks behind the lectionary.  It is good to read in sequence several familiar stoires - and also to note what's been omitted.  This week we have the story of Jairus' daughter and the woman with the haemorrhage.  This is a fantastic story to work with, so rich in potential, and I am looking forward to it - even if I have to hang fire on fixing one of the all age bits to see what the postman does, or does not, bring this week (more patience needed).  I am excited to work with it, discovering yet more new (to me) insights. 

I am also curious as to why the lectionary skips past the exorcism story that lies between the storm stilling and this healing narrative.  Granted I'm not sorry to evade that particular passage, but I'm not sure that's really a good enough reason to miss it out.  Why this bit and not that?  AFter all the author and, presumably, God, thought it was an important part of the story!

Then in the evening of Sunday I will begin my urban sprituality series - and thanks to PAYG this morning I now know how I will open the service... but I'm not telling just yet!

This morning I was at the launch of an exercise programme available to anyone being treated for cancer, or who has been treated for cancer, with proven benefits for health and well-being.  This new programme builds on the Active ABC model, but is open to anyone affected by any kind of cancer (though it was still mainly women, and mainly people who'd been affected by breast cancer at the launch it has to be said).

Anyway, you can read more about it here or if you live in Scotland can catch TV coverage today on STV at 2 pm or 6 pm, possibly on Daybreak, and tomorrow in the Scottish press (Glasgow Herald, Daily Record). 

I spoke to one of the coordinators who said that now that NHS GGC are actively committed to it, more people are taking part.  Given that research suggests exercise reduces the risk of recurrence by up to 50%, and has well-being benefits for at least five years, it all seems like a no-brainer to me.

I can be be seen in the TV coverage looking suitably gormless it has to be said (avoided most of the press photos!) but it was good to be there... and I got my five a day for free as part of the buffet lunch!

This morning as part of our service we used a selection of 12 pictures of Jesus stilling the storm, from Rembrandt to contemporary interpretations.  People were given a picture at random and invited to spend a minute looking at it, then to share what struck them with those near them.  The idea being that every person sees something in the picture that says something to them, and that may be the voice of God.

Here is one picture, which I 'borrowed' from another blog and I found very worth sitting with for a while...

Picture From Christ Port blog

For me it is the diversity of facial expressions and reactions that is striking, echoing as it does the diversity of human responses to crises.

... and I am researching stuff around urban hymnody.  So, using my trusty HymnQuest, I did some keyword searches on

City

Cities

Town

Towns

Urban

Urbanised

Urbanisation

Only the last of these failed to turn up any results!  it has to be said, that the ones with 'urban' and 'urbanised' were undoubtedly very worthy but not very singable in my view.

But here is you little challenge...

HymnQuest says it has 40,981 texts, so of these how many contain the follow words:

City

Town

Urban

Then, out of the following hymnals in use in and around my 'patch' which have the highest number of items with references to city/ies or town/s...

Baptist Praise and Worship

Common Ground

Church Hymnary fourth ed.

Mission Praise (complete extra fat edition)

Songs of Fellowship (Books 1 - 4; bk 5 not yet in HymnQuest)

Recognising that SOF and MP are substantially larger collections than the others, how significant is the numerical difference?  (That's largely rhetorical btw).

If you have any of these books, and means of searching them electronically, now go and see just how these references play out and what they might say to town and city dwellers....

Interesting stuff!

I also came across a teeny work called 'Hymns of the City' which contains just 32 items... published by the Urban Theology Unit in Sheffield.

Well, a week on Sunday I start my three week evening series on 'sprituality in the city', so I guess I'd better start reading the books I picked up on the topic!

Today there is little in the diary, worship prep for Sunday as just about there, so I am planning to sit quietly and read a collection of essays called Spirituality in the City (ed. Andrew Walker, London, SPCK, 2005).

My three week series is...

An urban spirituality?

Urban hymnody and liturgy

Praying our patch (an urban prayer walk)

Should be fun. 

If anyone wants to suggest any resources please feel free (I have Crumbs of Hope, Clare McBeath and Tim Presswood).