Holly the Cat is having an 'at home' on Saturday, to which she has invited everyone from church.  Whilst not everyone will be able to come, she is keen to ensure there is plenty of home-baking to go round, so she's had me hard at work in the evenings this week!

The picture shows the mini quiches I made this evening - it has to be said the photo makes them look better than they are in life, as with about two exceptions they stuck firmly to the bun tins in which I was baking them, despite them being non-stick!  They are now scratched non-stick where I dug out the pastry.  Only one quiche actually fell apart, so of course I tested it - it tasted better than it looked.  Three flavours, mushroom, bacon and spring onion, and cheese and tomato.

So far we also have a fruit cake (made to my grandma's foolproof recipe, it has never, ever failed, phew) and a carrot and apple cake (waiting for its cream cheese topping).  Other still to be made delights include vegan oreo chocolate cupcakes, strawberry cupcakes, possibly gingerbread cupcakes and/or blueberry muffins, and plain scones.  The original plan included making vol au vents, but there might have to be a rain check after tonight's bodgings!

Just hope Holly is happy with the end result, and that those who come to share feel welcomed and valued.

I've mentioned a few times we are having a slightly extended Advent this year, so today is hereby declared Advent 0 as we have our first lunchtime reflection service thingy.  In a few minutes I will load all my clutter into my car and drive to the Gathering Place - a rare event, I almost always walk.

Today our focus is on the story of Tamar, one of the lesser known parts of Genesis and seen by some as a mere interlude or excursus in the more familiar Joseph story.  Tamar's tale is hardly a happy one, and too readily people read in things that aren't there, making her the villain of the piece, despite the appalling treatment she receives from Judah, who fails to fulfil his commitments.

Not wishing to spoil the effect for those who amy come along, I'm not going to say any more just yet.  The one teaser for everyone who reads this stuff is this: go and read the Matthew genealogy of Jesus, pause at each of the women mentioned and ask yourself 'why her?'  If you were drawing up Jesus' family tree, which women (and, for that matter, men!) would you include and why.

Despite Onan making a fleeting appearance in our Bible reading, we will not be expending any effort on the trouble he has caused throughout the ages as people have mis-read and mis-applied that particular aspect of the story!!

Lots of red in our visual focus... can you tell why?  Intriguing the associations this colour holds in different cultures and at different times of year!

I've just been hunting around for a suitable liturgy to use with our Advent candles this year.  We are being a teeny weeny bit experimental with our services, and I want to find some words that will connect with our melding of materials based, independently, on the same study guide.

So, just wondering what you will be marking with each candle you light (if anything) and what resources you might be using?

F'rinstance, in what order do you have hope, love, joy, peace, if that is your thread?

Or patriarchs, prophets, John, Mary

Or second coming, Bible, God's people or any other combination or permutation?

Ours will be something akin to the first of these - just checking with the producers of one of the resources we're using their final running order - but it's always curious to see which themes, which order and why.

Not quite sure why that nursery rhyme came to mind - I have not been to market nor have I been purchasing porkine creatures, let alone obese specimens thereof.

A good few days away from it all - despite the Scottish weather doing what only it can.  Seemingly Glasgow had several gorgeous days whilst I had fog, rain, drizzle, and a little bit of sun only an hour's drive away.  The holiday apartment was HUGE - larger than my flat which is not exactly small - so loads of space to spread out and chill.  Some walking in the nearby forest (about 10 miles I reckon by the time I'd walked to and from), a bit of swimming (who said LD muscles are largely redundant...?  You lied!) and some reading of a novel, which I got through about half of.  I also wrote about 150 Christmas cards!!  That may seem very early, but the first one to arrive through my letterbox came about a week before I went away.  I also indulged myself in a couple of restaurant meals - not something I generally do on my own, as I was forced to do it too regularly when I travelled on business.  However, the two eateries at the holiday place were quite friendly and hye food good (I spotted another lone diner also with her book in the the second!)

So, back to work today - a service for Sunday to prepare, visual aids to gather for tomorrow's lunchtime meditation and a printer to be delivered sometime between now and five thirty tonight!  Hold my breath I won't.

Good to be home and back to work, feeling refreshed and relaxed and hopefully a little less tetchy!  Advent here we come.

PS Sorry to anyone who has found the blog 'missing' the last day or so, no idea why, I couldn't get on either, probably means they were upgrading the server or some-such.  Probably some-such...

For liturgical types out there, this coming Sunday is Christ the King, the final Sunday of the Church's year.  In recent times, I have usually taken this Sunday off as a breathing space before the Advent rush.  This year conforms to that pattern, so once agan it's a theme that I miss out on.  In fact, I think the last time I consciously preached on it, was in Wrexham in 2001 (or maybe 2002) when I was a student!  The Wrexham people were lovely, as I recall, and we had a good evening service on the theme (alas I've long since forgotten what I did in the morning!)

I know not everyone likes 'King' language, and some people talk of the 'commonwealth of heaven' rather than 'Kingdom of Heaven' but I think we can discard infants along with ablution fluid if we aren't careful.  Just because human Kings (or Queens) are flawed doesn't make the concept inherently wrong (though if I wanted to be a bit pedantic, God tried to dissaude Israel from having a King before eventually giving in and saying 'OK').  Changing from'kingdom', which offends some republicans, to 'commonwealth,' which others assert has little to do with Cromwell and less to do with British Imperialism, doesn't I fear, overcome the tension.

Odd that we are all quite happy with the idea of the 'Prince of Peace' but not everyone with the 'King' when his reign is fulfilled...

Bit of a rambly post, not thought through, just a brain dump.  That and I think I will be marking Christ the King in some way this weekend when I'm away.  If nothing else it's an excuse to sing this rousing old hymn...

Sing we the King who is coming to reign,
glory to Jesus, the Lamb that was slain.
Life and salvation his empire shall bring,
joy to the nations when Jesus is King.
    Come let us sing: Praise to our King,
    Jesus our King, Jesus our King:
    this is our song, who to Jesus belong:
    Glory to Jesus, to Jesus our King.

All then shall dwell in his marvellous light,
races long severed his love shall unite,
justice and truth from his sceptre shall spring,
wrong shall be ended when Jesus is King.
    Chorus.

All shall be well in his kingdom of peace,
freedom shall flourish and wisdom increase,
foe shall be friend when his triumph we sing,
sword shall be sickle when Jesus is King.
    Chorus.


Souls shall be saved from the burden of sin,
doubt shall not darken his witness within,
hell has no terrors, and death has no sting;
love is victorious when Jesus is King.
    Chorus.

Kingdom of Christ, for your coming we pray,
hasten, O Father, the dawn of the day
when this new song your creation shall sing,
Satan is vanquished and Jesus is King.
    Chorus.

Charles Silvester Horne (1865-1914)