The Glasgow West End Festival is a big thing for us, as we play a full and active part in offering a range of community events.  This year the festival lasts the whole of June and we are offering no less than six contributions. 

Yesterday I picked up a programme and was pleased to see that many of our events had landed plum spots on the pages - slap bang in the middle of one page, first item on another and so on.  I also took a little bit of time to see what we were in 'competition' with.

Our children and families event is the same day as a number of others, but is one of the few that is free and the only one in direct competitnio is charging.  It should be brilliant fun - an indoor beach party for which I have just been recruited to make smoothies...!

Our midweek event is a cupcake decorating extravaganza, and seems to be about the only free 'food based' event taking place.  The only direct competition is a 'cupcakes and cocktails' thing over the road from us, with a professional cake decorater, but it's in the evneing and costs £25 a head!  Coffee and Cupcakes for free... no  contest!  We have already had a booking for half a dozen... yeay!  I may or may not be at this one - I'm double booked - but my planning team have some fabulous ideas to make it go brillirntly - and we have a practcie run next Wednesday for which I am baking...

A new event is an afternoon story-telling for adults with a professional story-teller who will share folk tales, history and more.  This should be really good - I love listening to stories, and I'm sure we will be packed out.

Our other three events are well-established favourites. Two Sunday afternoon 'Philosophy Cafes' with invited speakers on topics of interest will be sure to draw in a capacity crowd (note to self - short sermons those days!) and the Choral Communion for Midsummer is a place of calm and stillness attracting those who simply want to chill after a busy day.

It's all good.  And it will keep us all VERY busy.  I'm glad I have some holiday before it... even if I have two conferences to fit in during it!!

Sitting on my desk at church is a DVD from BMS, waiting for me to decide when and how to use it.

Undefeated is resource linked to the paralympics and centring on issues of disability, especially in the world's poorer nations, but not forgetting the challenges and questions closer to home.  I am quite enthused by the resource and hope I can find a good way of working it into our autunm schedule.

Find out more here

I have pinched the promo clip (legally I hope, it does have a 'share' option)

Can anyone tell me a star, planet, nebula or whatever that's about 2000 light years from earth?  Google isn't turning up an answer and I'd quite like to know...

As I've already said, I was away in London over the weekend, so inevitably there was cover preaching at church.  One of the great things about my church is the willingness to allow novice preachers an opportunity to exercise their gifts.

On Sunday a young woman (I assume she was young based on her voice!) preached on Hannah's Prayer.  I have just listened to her online, and she was good.  No, she was great.  Well prepared.  Well rooted in her passage (not so much of that in London this weekend).  Honest, appropriately tentative melded with profound faith.  Prayer is tricky topic to preach on, and it was handled so well.

Ministers often lose the ability to listen to sermons - because we blab on for 20 minutes (or more) every week we unlearn the ability to listen.  There is a phase most ministerial students go through, when they become sermon critics - spotting every bit of dodgy exegesis, every instance of eisegesis, identifying 'better' directions or 'holes' in arguments.  Thankfully we move past that, rediscover our need for something to ponder, something to 'feed' our inner needs.  One phrase that struck me (among many) was "the beautiful gift of prayer".  I think often we (I) have too mechanistic or functional view of prayer; to see it as beautiful is to add something special.

A very honest sermon, acknowledging the mystery of how prayer may not be answered as we would like, but recognising how the answers may be more wonderful than we would ever imagine (my interpretation of what was said).

Thank you E.  I pray that you will be enabled to employ your considerable gifts to the glory of God.

Yesterday as I sat on the train from London to Edinburgh (the lowest cost route home) I finished the book I was reading with several hurs still to go and no-one to talk to.  So I clicked into Kindle store and bought another two books.  I have never bought a book on a train before.  I have never bought a book whilst moving at 100 mph before.  The joy of Kindle shone brightly!  Hurrah for 3G which works most of the time.

Back to normal with a vengeance today, but taking a gentle run in as I've just done four very long days and I have a meeting tonight.