There is a Graham Kendrick song that says "I want to be history maker, I want to be a world shaker" and whilst I kind of get what it tries to say, viz, "I would like to play my part in the in-breaking of God's Kingdom of Shalom" (which hardly makes for a snappy little ditty does it?), my instinctive reaction to it has always been 'no I don't, I'm happy enough just to be part of the 'crowd of witnesses' (ok, pedants, cloud).

Anyway, this week sees the 15th Anniversary of some history makers in Wales including my blogging-buddy Perpetua who was one of the first women ordained priest by the Church in Wales... see her reflections here.  Now I am pretty sure that neither P or any of her 'cohort' woke up one morning and thought 'I want to make history' let alone 'I want to make history thus' but do so they sure did.  I love the photos she has posted, ear to ear smiles that radiate through the ether...

In those fifteen years of faithful ministry, quiet and unobserved by the fame-machine, I wonder how it has been for these pioneer-sisters?  The anxious times, the sad times, the lonely times, the wonderful times, the privileges, the challenges, the doubts, the questions, the highs, the lows, the thrills, the new insights, the glimpses of grace...

I find it all rather bewildering that I, too, am a history maker, a flawed, inadequate, competent, hardworking, anxious, laughing, learning, growing... etc etc disciple of Christ who, it seems, God trusts not to foul up big time in the task of pioneering sole female Baptist pastorates in Scotland.

On Saturday I will be dancing (metaphorically) as I attend the ordination-and-induction of another woman Baptist minister in Scotland.  Alas, the second 'sole charge' woman is still a pipe dream, but God has this sneaky habit of calling women and leading them into ordained ministry.  I hope by the time (DV) I reach 15 years since ordination (only 7 to go!) women sole charges in Scottish Baptist churches will be a lot less pass-remarkable.

God bless you P in your continuing ministry, and F as you are formally recognised and commissioned.

Today I have been juggling three Bible Study guides and a few commentaries, trying to plan a series from 1 Peter.  The decision to go with 1 Peter was made back in September, but to my shame until now I haven't given it any more thought, and the first one is next week.  In the end, I have opted to adapt the title of the one of the study books to form a question "The Best of Times or the Worst of Times" and to use the longer Dickens quote as a jumping off point:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. (A Tale of Two Cities)

I have to confess I have never read the book, but this sentence has a timeless quality about it and will hopefully lead us into a series where, after an introductory study next week, we can reflect on

• Hope
• Holiness
• Relationships, both domestic and societal (two studies)
• Suffering & Struggle

For those who are interested.... the rest can go and find something else to look at!

I am very happy with the cut, so no need to be cautious... just so long as you don't say I should have done it years ago!

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

Of course, as soon as I went out into the damp and breeze it started to revert to curls...

30 minutes to zero hour and 'the' haircut upon which everyone (it seems) has a view!

In my teens the rage was for page-boys, Purdy cuts and perms, and I steadfastly refused to join in.  "You really ought to get your hair cut"... NO!  I have no regrets, I enjoyed my long locks until the day we parted.

Now as I am about to say farewell to my chemo curls (the hairdresser reckons my hair will revert to being straight, one of my church folk assures me othewise as they are a blessing from God...) I am inundated with people saying 'don't cut it, it's lovely.'  Actually it's very untidy and needs a tidy up, which is why I'm going to get it cut.

I guess in a way this is the 'end' of a process that began when it was cut in September 2010... so I tried this morning to recreate one of the photos I had done before it was cut then, and will hopefully repeat it once the 'deed had been done'.

So, a few definite 'no' answers for this morning...

no to colour

no to clippers (memories)

no to straighteners

no to seriously short

See, despite everything, some things just do not change!

(Pics will follow for those who are contemplating asking for them!)

Last night's theological reflection group was led by Dr Heather Walton of Glasgow University... get us!  She led us in some explorations around 'God and Stuff', that is our relationship with the material world as made by human beings.  It was very interesting and has spurred my brain to go off and do some mulling.

The thesis was, roughly, as I understood it, objects and artifacts both embody and make meaning for us, and so they become significant.  This can conflict with a received protestant asceticism that equates material with worldly and elevates frugality for its own sake.  Is it possible, she wonders, if in someway we can encounter God in or through the material world of everyday stuff?

A few random thoughts I've had so far are...

The contextual nature of semiotics (sorry, meaning of symbols (and language for that matter) is determined in a specific place by specific people) - the objects that carry meaning for me or my family of my church do so (or specifically in that way anyway) only in that context.  One day most of the photos that mean so much to me, the yellowed theatre programmes, the degree certificates, the tatty toys will all be consigned to the bin because their meaning will die with me.  Those that don't will move on to form part of someone else's 'stuff'.  So, significance is partial and transient, rather than absolute and permanent.

There is a balance between eschewing materialism - the acquiring of more and bigger and faster and more shiny - and dull asceticism which denounces all things material.  It is possible, surely, to hold possessions 'lightly', valuing them and enjoying them without becoming trapped by them.   There must be, I feel, a middle ground somewhere.

The difference between 'value' and 'price' - pretty obvious really.  I would not be gutted if someone took away my fridge freezer or my settee, but I would if they stole some of the meaningful tat from my shelf.

Something about the fact that if we are image bearers of God, with creative gifts (whatever shape that creativity takes) then our creativity has the potential to carry something of God's creativity too.  I think I have to say potential, since if I believe in free will, and I do, then we can choose to abuse that creative potential  in ways that are ugly or point away from God.

Heather linked beauty with the meaning of objects without specifying what that meant.  I guess this is a hint at what philosophers and theologians sometimes call the 'third transcendental' - God is beauty.  This is fine but I am not sure that, for me, beauty is a key feature in the objects that I choose to surround myself with, not least as I tend to live with lots of clutter and 'heaps' of things that are 'useful' (at least potentially).  Hmmm.  Maybe I need the other two transcendentals - goodness and truth - to widen the scope a bit?

So, how to ground any of this in a world of material 'stuff' during an economic downturn.  Not sure of any useful answers... I'm not a great acquirer of 'stuff' in an economically materialist sense but I do have an awful lot of it.  Maybe I need to be a little more alert to why I keep what I keep, and how it helps or hinders my disicipleship?