So, after this morning's urgent planning meeting - amply supplied with scones (said as 'skon' not 'skown' btw) and mincepies - we are all set for our advent adventure, still in our own 'backyard' but with a hired in heater until we get our system fixed.

It was a great meeting - everyone's determination to keep the show on the road and all planned activities on target was inspiring.  As was the commitment of those who took time to to come along or to phone/email their thoughts if they couldn't.  What a great congregation!  What a great God!

The fun part, for my perverted sense of fun, is that the heater is located in the part of the Gathering Place known as 'the snug' a little area near the servery where late comers hide and quite a few early birds choose to lurk just beyond reach.  It's a great place for people with tinies as they can breast feed unobserved by 'tutters' if needed.  And it's a great place for newcomers and visitors to watch from a safe distance.   But it is now out of commission for the foreseeable.  These people will have to be adventurous in one of two ways... either join the main body of the church (which will mean other people have to change seats) or climb the stairs to our upper deck*.  The meanie within me is intrigued to see what happens on Sunday as people have to sit in new places.  But the pastor within me knows that it'll be fine, that people will cope well and understand the reasons for the change.

If Advent and adventure are meant to go together, well it looks like we're on the way... Just please God, don't send 2" of snow on the 'doomed roof' before Sunday...

* It is worth noting our 'upper deck' was used recently as an overflow even with the Snug in service, we are agrowing...

Feeling a bit plethoric this morning!

How do you hear God?  I think I heard God yesterday through a gas service engineer.  A bit if a sense of deja vue as it reminded me of events almost exactly six years ago (ironically in 2004 all dates from 1 March onwards fell the same weekday as 2010).  The scale is different, the consequences are different, the people are different, even I am different, but in this unexpected and undesired service engineer report I felt I heard God say to me, 'see, it'll be alright.'

To explain.  Most of the time I remain upbeat, content with the way my treatment progresses, enjoying life and looking forward to the time beyond all this.  Most of the time.  But there are moments when I'm not so sure, when the 'what if fairy' of whom I've spoken before flies into my window late at night and whispers in my ear.  When I began blogging this 'journey' I said I'd be honest and try not to fall into the trap of happy Christian twaddle, and whilst I think I've avoided that, perhaps I have been too eager to protect my readers from the fears and doubts that sometimes sneak in unbidden in the wee small hours.  The last week or so the scary thoughts have been there lurking in the shadows and, whilst nowhere near the abject terror I felt in early September, they are pernicious.

So when the gas man made his pronouncement yesterday, it was as if God said to me, 'this is the stuff you can do, this is the stuff I knew would be needed here, this is the assurance you'll be alright.'

I'm not glad the gas man's report is causing us extra work, expense and hassle, of course not, nor do I think that God broke the flue to make me feel better about stuff, just that somehow in it all God reminded me that 'all will be well' and I needed to hear that.

Oh, btw, please don't feel bad you didn't spot I was being plagued by 'what ifs' - you can't know what I don't tell.  And I am fine now, honest injun.  Glasgow by frost is glorious (pace Jim) and an urgent planning meeting awaits... watch this space for exciting developments!!

This morning I received one of those emails with things children allegedly wrote in exams.  This one made me smile...

Q: What is a mosque?

A: A mosque is a church with a doomed roof

We have one of those!  Does that make it a Baptist mosque?!

Imagine that you can give a dinner party or a banquet for as many people as you would like to, money is no object 'cos some TV company is paying.  Who would you invite?  This is fantasy so they can be living or dead, real or fictitious and the venue is big enough for as many as you might want to ask.  What menu would you serve?  Be adventurous, the wherewithall is there, and help if you need it.  What entertainment would you offer?

Now imagine the big days comes but instead of guests come emails, phone calls and texts to say that absolutely no one is coming.  Everyone, it seems has a better offer.  But the camera crew is here and the feast must happen.  Who is on your 'B' list?  Who just might come now, at the last minute?

Now imagine they either come or don't, but embarrassingly the venue looks bare, empty tables groaning under food.  The film director takes you aside, this is not going to look good, surely you can fill this venue.  So who is left to ask?  Who is it that would never make your Christmas card list, who might embrrass you by slobbering over their food or getting drunk?  Who is it who smells a bit wiffy or dresses unconventionally?  Who is speaks out of turn, lives a lifestyle that offends?  Who can be dragged in at the last to fill the hall and save your face?

And what will the end result look like?  How will you be portrayed once the editting has been completed?  How do you feel?

Now go and read Luke 14: 15 - 35.

Thanks to IBRA notes for sparking this idea

For Advent 2 I am using four readings from Isaiah, the book of, two from "Proto Isaiah" and one each from "Deutero Isaiah" and "Trito Isaiah".  I have chosen the readings for what they say, not which hypothetical prophet wrote them, but am fascinated how the commentaters I have to hand seem almost more obssessed with how many Isaiahs there were than what they/he said.

A lot of preachers I know say that sermons boil down to 'what kind of God' and 'so what'.  In regard to Isaiahs, one or "at least a dozen" as one commentater scathingly critiques the multiple view, I am left thinking 'so what?'  In relation to what kind of God and what kind of message, now that's a whole different matter and one I will devote time to.

If anyone wants to share their pet theories on the number of Isaiahs, rather than the alignment of the prophet's eyes (one higher than the other), feel free to comment.