These words from the hymn 'O Sacred Head Sore Wounded' formed the title of a book by Brian Wren exploring the use of language in Christian worship.  It's all a bit dated now, though much of what he said has still to find its way into public worship in general and hymnody in particular.  But every now and then it comes to mind as I find myself pondering what is the 'right', by which I mean 'appropriate', language for various contexts.

Tomorrow I have been invited to speak at a 'Gospel Meeting'... the title says it all really.  I am really pleased to have been invited, and I know the cost to the person who has invited me, a woman, to speak in a context where patriarchy reigns in its often rather ungenerous extremes.  Just imagine being the coordinator of a meeting, and having invited speakers tell you that you may not even give the announcements because you are a woman...  If it were me, I wouldn't invite them back, I can only assume that in this, she is way more gracious than I.

Anyway, language.  Hmm.  This is a meeting that centres on its weekly altar call, even though the same people are always present and have heard it every week for donkey's years.  I don't 'do' altar calls, I fear that they can be counterproductive, leading people to confuse emotion with spiritual awakening.  So I have had to find a way to say stuff that includes an invitation to respond to the hope we have in Christ (which is close to an altar call) and also to challenge them to consider what a grounded expression of discipleship might be.  A lot of language games and of style games (about half of what I'm saying is direct chunks of Bible!) to say what I feel I can with integrity say in a way that can be heard and received by those who are present.

I think these words, from 1 Peter 3: 15b - 16a, which come near the end of my 'talk' offer me a helpful principle:

Be ready at all times to answer anyone who asks you to explain the hope you have in you, but do it with gentleness and respect.

God works in mysterious ways - the idea that I am speaking in a gospel meeting is quite bizarre, but I pray that gentleness and respect will characterise my speaking and doing.

Over the last year my working patterns have become increasingly messy - having Monday as a day off hasn't always worked as well as I'd hoped, and working from home for a while reuslted in blurring of boundaries I'd worked quite hard to establish.  This morning I decided to take heed of my own preaching the other week and make today a proper relaxation day... it pretty much worked.

Central to my day was a visit to the cinema to see Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, which I thought was both beautiful and deeply sad.  Hopping back and forth in time to present two (or three) stories, it explored something of the "deep heart relationships" of the lao tong contractual partnerships of women in nineteenth century China.  Playing to an audience of seven, it was hardly a big box office draw, but I thought it was worth the £6 odd I paid to see it.

A bit of Christmas shopping, lunch out, a new radio alarm clock (the one I bought about three years ago proved not a great buy!) and some new kitchen scales (to replace some that finally gave up the ghost after about 30 years!).

All in all a good day.  Just need to keep it up now!

As part of today's service on the above hteme I am using a video short from a few years back with Paul Field singing 'God of the Moon and Stars' which you can download here for free. Embedding is (understandably given you can get it eslewhere) disabled on the youtube version.

Googling to try to check the copyright status this morning, I also found another version on youtube - not sure if it's the original lyrics (the second pairing doesn't fit so smoothly into its location in the song; there is no clear answer to irignal words I can find online) but it's more outrageous, more generous, more challenging.  Watch, listen, ponder... not only what it says but your own response... afterall, God is the God of sinner and saint, tax-gather and Pharisee...

Of course, whatever the orignal wording - the nice tame 'near and far' or the disturbing (for many) 'gay and singles bar' - the end message is identical - God is the God of everyone and everything , everywhere... and that is pretty ourtrageous!

Yesterday was a stunningly beautiful autumn day - golden, crisp and cool.  Unusual for bonfire night, in my experience.

This morning as I looked out of the window, having been roused by a hungry moggy at 6 a.m., it was misty and frosty... and also beautiful.  Not sure my pics taken from the window, do it justice, but still...

As I am, unusually, taking my car to church today (too many things to carry!) I will have go get the scraper out soon!  Mine is the blue car in the middle... well frosted up!

Just a thought... last week I decided to get organised and buy some snow-grips for my shoes just in case we get another snowy winter ... is this my reward/punishment?!

Somehow if we hear the word 'abomination' in a Biblical context it carries a level of disgustingness beyond any other (yes, I'm inventing words again... disgustingness).  Anyway, in the light of some of the recent debates I decided to use an electronic Bible to find out hust what it is that is an abomination to the LORD and to ask myself just how selective our reading/hearing is.

According to the NRSV, the word arises 48 time in 44 verses, and among the things that are abominations (no I'm not going to the obvious Levitius 18 and 20 stuff) are the following birds (sic)...

• eagle
• vulture
• osprey
• buzzard
• kite
• raven
• ostrich
• nighthawk
• seagull
• hawk
• little owl
• comorant
• great owl
• water hen
• desert owl
• carion vulture
• stork
• heron
• hoopoe
• ... and bat (?!)

So, I hope that someone has informed the RSPB that opreys are evil, that the ostrich farmers feel suitably guilty at enticing people to eat forbidden food, and that generations of parents realise the damage they've done claiming babies are delivered by storks...    Oh, sorry, you thought the NT overturned all that...?  But the Bible says...  As for the preposterous idea that bats are mammals not birds... shocking!

More seriously, this little list from Proverbs 6: 17 - 19

There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him:
haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that hurry to run to evil, a lying witness who testifies falsely, and one who sows discord in a family.

Perhaps if we got a teeny bit interested in this list and pulled the tree-trunks out of our own eys, we'd be better equipped to consider the microscopic specks in other people's eyes...?