A view from my window overlooking (roughly) Broomhill.  Though not clear in this photo, the first light of dawn was grazing the horizon, a hint of pink in an otherwise indigo sky.  Streetlamps pierced the darkness with their sodium glow and the sound of commuter cars rumbled beneath my gaze.

It is no secret that the part of the Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas to which I am always most drawn is the the 'shot at dawn' memorial.  The place where simple marker posts bear the names of men and boys shot as deserters in Wolrd War I - some of them having previously been decorated for gallantry.  That they were eventaully all pardoned 'en masse' does not take away the sting of the experience of standing there on an chill morning, having read examples of the 'last letter home' and the kangaroo courts which summarily executed these men.

I am glad we live in an age when PTSD is recongised and those traumatised by their experiences receive help and support.

If it offends my military friends, I apologise, but just before dawn I chose to remember these men who died in the service of their nation.

Eternal rest grant to them, oh LORD, may they rest in peace

Can any of you lovely people help me?

I am looking for a music copy of Carol Praise (1987 or 2006 edition) and or a music copy of Let's Praise (c. 1987 too).  There are word copies of the latter at church and I've tracked down a few word copies for the former (at 1p plus postage each) but I cannot find a music copy of either for love nor money. (I know our pianist has music for Let's Praise, but I'd like my own copy)

If you one going spare, I'd gladly pay postage plus a fair price for a second hand copy.

Anyone....?

One of the questions I am still working out an answer to, even eight years down the line (plus four years of placements before that) is "what do ministers do?"  This week, I think I am a professional coffee drinker, as three days will have involved doing just that.

Either that or a professional waffler - I seem to talk far too much these days.

When I was in the coffee shop opposite church this morning, one of the guys behind the counter asked me if I thought it was too early for them to have put up their Christmas decorations.  It should be noted that the decs consist of three bunches of baubles - looking a bit like overgrown bunches of grapes - in a fairly tasteful, muted colour scheme.

Christmas decs before Remembrance is something I'm not keen on... let's be honest it took me about forty years to come to terms with them being up before my birthday!  With supermarkets and chain stores filled with Christmas stuff since late August, with Starbucks and Greggs flogging their festive products, the precedents are clearly there - I reckon my local independent coffee shop is entitled to join in!

Anyway, when I get back from my lovely weekend away (now including the very, very exciting possibility of attending an ordination/induction for a genuine Scottish woman Baptist minister) we will be starting Advent a few days early, as this year the material I am adapting for our lunch time reflections has five parts.  "Mother Roots" by Helen Bruch Pearson is a book looking at the stories of Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba before introducing us to Mary.  With a 'scarlet thread' running right through it, we will have a very different approach to the Christmas season.  I hope people enjoy and are inspired by it.  Some years back I preached a series based on this book at Dibley, and it was evidently memorable for the right reasons!

Sundays will be based on David Adam's 'Candles in the Dark', a study guide for Advent which I used the first year I was at Dibley for lunch time reflections.  I ought to note my gratitude to that little congregation who actually asked me for the Advent reflections, so much had they appreciated the Lent ones I'd dared to innovate soon after arriving!  I am excited about this series of services because they are going to be a bit experimental, a bit multi-sensory, a bit interactive and a bit of a longer series, as the book carries us through to Epiphany (something I didn't achieve in Dibley where we used the first four studies only).  Rather than lots of long sermons, we will be doing stuff together that, I hope, allows us to be open to hear God afresh, to slow down, to be excited and mystified.

So, a very busy Advent in prospect: I love these seasons so much, and long to make them special for others.  I'm excited - hope others will be too.

Yesterday I received an invitation to be part of a conference taking place next May in Glasgow to celebrate the centenary of the first woman minister to be ordained in Scotland.  She was in the Church of the Nazarene, and her name was Olive Winchester.  On May 12th 1912 she was ordained.  What is intriguing is that this was more than a decade earlier than the Baptists and Congregationalists in England (who squabble regularly about who was first!) altough of course Deaconesses and 'She Preachers' go back far further and it is a moot point whether or not they were 'real' ministers.

Any road up, as the saying goes, once I have more information, I as hysterical historical object and "exhibit 'A'" will be preparing to partiicpate in something that I think is really important and rather wonderful.... a day for celebrating women ministers in Scotland.