Yesterday the new edition of Magnet (a Methodist worship & spirituality type resource magazine) hit my doormat.  As I flicked through to see what ideas it had for Advent (albeit too late for people like us who plan way ahead!) I went into spooky muisic "do do do do" (X-files style I think) mode as there, large as life was... an all age service based around the Jesse tree.  This spooky because we will be creating our own Jesse tree over the Advent season.

My subscription is now up for renewal, and as it's a mere £10 and you get some fabulous A4 poster-pages in each magazine I will be sending off my dosh shortly.

I am pondering how to 'do' Advent this year on this blog... I have a few vague ideas but until I get back from my short break I won't finalise them.  Wait and see!

Around this time last year, this prayer by Theresa of Avila became very precious to me, one I used to sing myself to sleep with (or at least try to get to sleep with) in its Taize setting in some of my most scared and vulnerable moments.

Nada te turbe
Nada te espante
Quien a Dios tiene nada le falta
Solo Dios basta
Todo se pasa
Dios no se muda
La paciencia todo lo alcanza

Let nothing disturb you,
nothing afright you.
Whom God possesses
in nothing is wanting.
Alone God suffices.
All things are passing.
God never ceases.
Patient endurance attains all things.

Today's PAYG used a Margaret Rizza setting of the words, which was very beautiful, and then, hunting for the words I stumbled on this setting, which is achingly haunting (at least to me)

Right now I'm tired and tetchy, taking things far too personally, in real need of my few days away... It is good to be reminded of this prayer and to seek comfort in the shelter of its promises.

It has been made public today that the Baptist Times is to close at the end of the year (here and here).  I am quite surprisingly sad about this, not least as I have subscribed for almost fifteen years (and if I want to be sulky will have a half year pre-paid subscription outstanding at that point!).  I first bought the BT because my then minister told me to - it would, he told me, give me a clue about the life of the Baptist world.  I have continued to subscribe through my ministerial training and on into each of my pastorates.  From time to time stuff I sent in has appeared - from worship ideas to adverts to press releases to a commissioned piece on the recent Baptist Assembly in Scotland.  In those fifteen years the BT has improved out of all recognition, thanks to the hard work of editor Mark Woods and his loyal team.  Yet depsite that, it has continued to lose money hand over fist and it can no longer be sustained.

I cannot in all honesty say I read the BT cover to cover, but among the things I will miss are...

• The baptisms, ministerial news and ministerly dispatches
• The letters page - with its regular contributors, annoying though some of them are
• The 'outside edge' type columns
• John Rackley's column
• The book reviews
• Bits and bobs of local church news

I am sure BUGB will come up with something interesting and techy to replace the BT, and I'm sure it makes good sense.  It just seems rather sad that the old rag has reached its sell-by date.  Sure I've mumbled about it at times, but I hope it was the affectionate mumbling of a friend.

Farewell Baptist Times... and thank you for the years we've shared.

Yesterday one of my dinner guests gave me a helpful hint for Holly grooming... and it works!

Holly tolerates being brushed but hates being combed.  My guest asked if I had tried the 'marigold method'... put on a pair of washing up gloves and stroke the cat normally.  It works!  The slight abrasion of the gloves coupled with static electric effects seem to successfully drag out the dead/loose fur and leave Holly looking even more lovely.  To have her purring as she's groomed is a definite bonus!

And here's another tip I was given by a vet for my last cat more than a decade ago... to get them to take pills.  Crush the pill, mix it with some squeezy cheese spread and smear it on the cat's paw or mouth area... it will then lick it off and consume the pill with minimal stress to cat or owner.

Simples, as the meerkat would express it.

Another couple of days of professional coffee drinking ahead... it probably sounds idyllic, but it is often emotionally/mentally quite demanding.  Privilege and responsibility are constant companions, along with the fear that my best endeavours are never quite good enough... that and a whole heap of Advent stuff to start preparing and a mountain of administrative bits and bobs to work my way through.

Hey ho.  Maybe I'll make some more tea before I go any further!!