Two festivals today, for those who keep festivals.

Rosh Hashannah, the Jewish New Year, which heralds a ten day time of reflection ahead of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

Michealas, the day of St Michael and All Angels, a day that was introduced to the church calendar to 'Christianise' the pre-existing pagan rituals that surrounded the autumn equinox.

I'm not much into angelology, and since I learned the word simply means 'messenger' and that the Bible (NT) translates the word differently in differnet contexts, I've always been extra wary.

But these four 'arch-angels of the Lord', three of whom are named in the OT, and are probably part of a bigger group, traditionally numbering seven, who are they?

Michael - the head honcho angel - whose name means "who is like the Lord?"

Gabriel - the Christmas angel - whose name means something like "God is my strength" or "strong one of God"

Raphael - no, not, so far as I am aware a teenage mutant ninja turtle angel, nor yet an artist - whose name means "God heals"

Uriel - the one who is only named in the aprochrypha - whose name means something like "Light of God" or "Flame of God"

Just wondering if maybe messenger and message can in some way be conflated :

There is none like God -

God is my strength

God is my healer

God is my light

A busy day ahead, with zillions of pastoral things involved, so good to start with a few moments beign reminded of God's promises.  PAYG today centred on the encounter of Jesus with the very human Nathaniel, whose name means 'gift of God'.  I guess the thing for me to take with me into the day is, 'how can I be a gift of God (ie from God) to those I meet today?'

A few days ago I wrote of the privilege of sitting at the bedside of someone nearing the end of life - that someone was Kerr Spiers, a much loved and respected Baptist minister who had served in Scotland and Canada in a variety of ministries before retiring back to the Gathering Place, where he is one of my predecessors.

By the time I knew Kerr, his health was already starting to decline, but his keen mind and ready humour shone brightly, and he was a great encourager in the early days of my ministry in Scotland.  Kerr trained at Rawdon - one of the fore-runners of Northern, where I trained - and we did periodically recall names of mutual acquaintnaces 'south of the border'.

One of the most moving services I have conducted since I arrived here was the blessing of Kerr's youngest grandson, a little over a year ago.  The memory of a happy family gathering, of hope and expectation remain precious.

Kerr suffered a major stroke on Maundy Thursday of this year, and has been in hospital since then.  Despite the limitations of his battered body, his mind was as keen as ever, and it was always a privilege to visit him.  Today, peacefully and with his family nearby, Kerr slipped through the door from here to eternity, to the fulfilment of the promises that had sustained him through a long and active life.  His death leaves an enormous gap, and he will missed enormously, but there is also a sense of release as he is freed from suffering.  Thoughts and prayers are with B, E&D+4, G&A+2.

Rest in Peace Kerr.

This morning, having kind of sorted this Sunday's harvest service, I am starting to move on to think about Advent.  This has to operate at three levels... what we will do at the Gathering Place in Sunday mornings, what we will do in the joint evening services and what we will do as our midweek lunchtime reflections.

The last of these is the easiest, and I am revisiting something I used as a preaching series a few years back, and adapting it for a quiet, reflective devotional.  The women in the Matthean genealogy will form our focus, and there will be a scarlet thread running through the series.  The book Mother Roots by Helen Brush Pearson will form the basis for what we share over five weeks (an extended Advent!)

I have a couple of other ideas; one (not sure yet which) will form the basis for our morning worship, and the other may find its way (or not) into evening worship.

One is a variation on the Jesse Tree, and is an adaptation of a study series by David Adam called Candles in the Dark which runs through Advent and on to Epiphany as a coherent whole.  The other is consider Journeying with the Magi, adapting the ideas in the study guide by Keith Duke, which I like as something a little different, and, with its focus on the gifts, the potential for a tidy three weeker leading up to the nativity service.

I'm meeting my C of S colleague in a couple of hours to plan the joint services, so hopefully after that the way forward will be a little clearer!

PS if you think this is early, look out for the special new Christmas bottles of J2O called Glitterberry, in a supermarket near you now!

I know some folk would like to comment and the blog platform misbehaves (quite regularly at the moment).  However, as this problem seems to be true of several other platforms, and as I am a boring enneagram 'loyal', I am staying put for the foreseeable future. 

If you happen to know any of my email/PM addresses you can always comment directly to me should this occur, and I will slot your replies in as post edits.  At the moment it *seems* that comments are working - I tried successfully using both of my IP locations - so 'we'll just have to wait and see' as my mother would say.

This morning PAYG had a very short reading from Luke 9: 51 - 56

As the time drew near when Jesus would be taken up to heaven, he made up his mind and set out on his way to Jerusalem.
He sent messengers ahead of him, who went into a village in Samaria to get everything ready for him.
But the people there would not receive him, because it was clear that he was on his way to Jerusalem.
When the disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?"
Jesus turned and rebuked them.
Then Jesus and his disciples went on to another village.

Lots I could play with here, if I so wished, especially some of the translation choices from Greek.

What strikes me, though, is the contrast between the reactions of James and John to the perceived inhospitality of the Samaritans and that of Jesus.

The disicples' logic seems to run thus:

We tried to arrange for you to stay there, they reject you, you should smite them

The Samaritan's logic seems to be

Jesus is not interested in us, why should we welcome him?

Jesus' loigc seems to be

Don't you tell me who to smite!

I guess the decision to stay in a Samaritan village was pragmatic - a convenient journey length - rather than anything more calculated.  It does make me ponder who it is I deny hospitality to because they are 'passing through' and assume they aren't interested in me/what I have to say.  It also makes me ponder who it is we might wish God would smite (or assume God will smite) because they don't do as we want/say.

And because I'm mischievous, was it 'human messengers' or 'angels' Jesus sent ahead of him to the village?  Check the Greek, check the interpretive decisions and ponder how that affects the hermeneutics you apply!