One of the lovely things about our church community is its racial and cultural diversity.  This is reflected in some lovely African cloth used week by week in Sunday worship, by a wooden celtic cross, by the engraved 'white metal' communion chalices, and so on.  In my office I have one or two little objects brought back as gifts by overseas students.  Recently one of our students returned from a trip to Ghana and Nigeria with a lovely carved wooden symbol mounted in colourful cloth and bearing the words Gye Nyame - Except God.  Here is what the symbol looks like (photo from web):

The beautiful, handcrafted banner is now hanging on the wall of the Gathering Place (and I am desperately hoping no-one nicks it!).  It seems to me a fantastic example of inculturation, a profound Christian truth expressed in a traditional Ghanaian carving - the supremity and sovereignty of God.

As you view the symbol, I wonder what you see and how you react.  I am just thrilled to enjoy it, and hope others will too.

Today has been a good day.

Firstly, I managed to clear quite a bit of admin stuff

Then we had fascinating and wide ranging conversations at Coffee Club

Then I got so engrossed in my service prep it was gone six o'clock when I knocked off for the day

Each of these is good, but it was the last that delighted me... it's been a long time since this happened; maybe my brain is finally returning to the levels I was used to.  Well I can hope.

The icing on the cake... a gorgeous golden sun in the evening sky and the lightest, brightest evening for a long time.

All in all a good day.

Yesterday's PAYG centred on some words of Jesus including the famous saying “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Matt 9:37-38).

This little saying has puzzled me on and off for as long as I've known of it - rather than getting on and doing the work themselves, the disciples are to pray for other people to do the work.  That, in and of itself is fine.  The disciples already have a task to do, as they learn from Jesus.  It is also fine in so far as it is far too great a task (even within the relatively tiny confines of first century Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, never mind the 'rest of the world').  Where it is not fine, and never has been, at least in my opinion, is when it becomes a formulaic response to every issue, ill or opportunity... 'please God will you raise up people with gift/skill X to do job Y...' which can leave me/us feeling very self-righteous whilst actually doing nothing.  It's the old 'here I am, Lord, send her'.

In my late teens we used to sing this worship song with all earnest zeal of youth, whilst secretly hoping God would pick someone else to be the answer to our prayers:

Here I am, wholly available;

As for me, I will serve the Lord.

Here I am, wholly available;

As for me, I will serve the Lord.

The fields are white unto harvest,

But O, the labourers are so few;

So Lord, I give myself to help the reaping,

To gather precious souls unto You.

The time is right in the nation

For works of power and authority;

God’s looking for a people who are willing

To be counted in His glorious victory.

As salt are we ready to savour?

In darkness are we ready to be light?

God’s seeking out a very special people

To manifest His truth and His might.

Chris Bowater (c) Sovereign Lifestyle Music

To pray the Lord of the harvest to send more labourers, more missionaries, more evangelists, more aid workers, more "Christian teachers/police officers/lawyers/engineers/doctors" is a cop out, a biblically legitimated cop out, but a cop out nonetheless.  To pray, as we once sang 'here I am Lord, wholly available..." is theologically risky, because God might just say 'great, OK then...'

I wonder, do we take the holy cop out, or do we pray the risky prayer?  God is seeking a very special people, willing to manifest (i.e. incarnate) truth and light... Whom shall God send, and who will go...?

OK, it seems I'm a little slow picking this one up, but The Fairtrade Fondation have posted this press release about the 20120 Olympics.  I think it is a pretty impressive achievement, given how little control host venues actually have over details.  It's be nice to think that this might be the shape of things to come.

Just wondering  - if the Olympics has bought up all the Windward Islands fairtrade bananas for July/August, where will Sainsbury's get theirs?!

On Saturday I was at a wedding on the east side of Scotland, just a couple of miles inland, on a farm.  The weather could best be described as attrocious, and some guests struggled to get there - though get there they did - due to closed roads and local flooding.

The young couple had worked like trojans (an expression I always find rather odd and don't know the origins of) to ensure that everyone who came was welcomed and offered great hospitality.  Family and friends had joined in to clean and decorate the barn in which events took place, to gather and arrange flowers, to collect and prepare locally sourced food and drink.  A local ceilidh band including people with learning disabilties serenaded us during the wedding breakfast (another odd expression) and there was plenty of entertainment for all tastes.

To be honest, I feared they had over-stretched themselves, being totally committed to a hand-crafted (or as they put it 'home made') wedding, but it all came good.  The bride looked lovely in her vintage dress, the groom in his suit (nice to see an English man not pretending to be a Scot!) and the guests in their assorted finery... kilts, floaty dresses, suits, bling.... oh, and a wonderful medley of wellies and high heels!

If any one wants to know, I was the one in the peacock green suit and green wellies!  One of the guests, who knows about such things, said it was fine because the boots were darker than the suit...

S&W all good wishes for your future together.