This year it is seven years since my ordination - an anniversary I will be celebrating on 6th December.  I think the reason I've being recalling that is that most of my peers settled earlier than I did and had their ordinations between June and September; now most are beginning their sabbaticals.  For various valid reasons I will be deferring mine, not least because I will only have been in Glasgow just over a year when its earliest start date (1st January 2011) arrives.  Even so, as I pondered I found myself reminded of the pop song I used to frame my 'call story' in that service (see, I was a heretic even then!) and marvelling how parts of it have again and again proved to be pertinenet at times along the way.  I was a 'late settler' and the much loved little fellowship I served certainly had its struggles and dark days whilst I was with them, but, God (sometimes the 'me' and sometimes the 'you' as I read the song; such mixing of voice is OK it matches some of the psalms!!) was with us in it all.

Of course God speaks in Scripture, in whispers, in signs and in wonders... but for me its usually most clearly in 'things that make you go, hmmm' ...

When you're close to tears remember
Some day it'll all be over
One day we're gonna get so high
And though it's darker than December
What's ahead is a different colour
One day we're gonna get so high

And at
The end of the day
remember the days
When we were close to the edge
And we'll wonder how we made it through the night
The end of the day
remember the way
We stayed so close till the end
We'll remember it was me and you

'Cause we are gonna be forever you and me
You will always keep me flying high in the sky of love

Don't you think it's time you started
Doing what we always wanted
One day we're gonna get so high
'Cause even the impossible
is easy when we got each other
One day 'we're gonna get so high

And at
The end of the day
remember the days
when we were close to the edge
And we'll wonder how we made it through the night
The end of the day
remember the way
We stayed so close to till the end
We'll remember it was me and you.

'Cause we are gonna be forever you and me
You will always keep me flying high in the sky of love (x2)


High, high, high, high.(x2)

And at
The end of the day
remember the days
when we were close to the edge
And we'll wonder how we made it through the night
The end of the day
remember the way
We stayed so close to till the end
We'll remember it was me and you.

'Cause we are gonna be forever you and me
You will always keep me flying high in the sky of love (x3)

Lyrics: Tucker, source: here

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young people stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles (Isaiah 40:30-31a)

This phrase was on the candles we used on Wednesday evening.  It is part of John 1:5 in the Message paraphrase.  I thought of it again this morning as I read the news that some of the trapped Chilean miners are showing signs of depression.  I'm not surprised they are.  I can think of nothing worse than being trapped for months on end with no guarantee of rescue being successful.  I've known and worked with a few people with depression and it is a nasty disease.  Yes, a disease.  It eats up self-worth and destroys hope, engulfing its victim in darkness.  Now imagine experiencing that in physcial darkness and with the very real possibility that the light at the end of the tunnel will be blocked out... Ugh. It makes me shiver.

It is easy to be voyeurs for five minutes and then move on with our lives as new headlines grab out attention but for these 33 men it is real and ever present.  I cannot imagine how they feel but I do feel strongly moved to pray for them, and for their families anxiously waiting, hoping, longing.

One of the Taize songs we used on Wednesday is a voice of hope for all in dark places - physically trapped in mines, emotionally trapped in depression, metaphorically trapped in poverty, fear or isolation...

Within our darkest night, you kindle a fire that never dies away, never dies away.

Within our darkest night, you kindle a fire that never dies away, never dies away...

(c) Presses de Taize

Maybe it's a promsie you need.  Maybe you know someone who needs it.  Either way, please share it.

Tomorrow's morning service is all about birds... sparrows, doves, hens, chickens and eagles.  It will proobably be a bit marmitified but I've enjoyed preparing it.

Tomorrow's evening servcie is a favourite hymns evening - a baker's dozen to be precise.  Shuffling them into a sensible order was a challenge because they are all lovely, each rich in theolgoy and spirituality and as diverse as those who have chosen them.  We have one in Welsh (with English subtitles), one by Kendrick, one by Wren, one written on our patch a few years ago, one that dates back to St Francis.

Lots of flitting about then, lots of nightingales and crows singing praises to God.  I hope it's a good day for all involved.

I am pleased for David & Smanatha Cameron that their little girl arrived safely.  The early morning news on Radio 2 announcing this fact said that they hope to give her a name "with a Cornish flavour."  The first thought that went through my mind was.... Vanilla.  Followd swiftly by 'Mivvy' 'Tiggy Oggy' or 'Pasty'.

In recent months I have had cause to make good use of Travelodges, the low price motel type places where you can, if you get it right, book a family room for £19.  I quite like them.  Sure, they are all pretty much identical, but you get a large room with a proper sized bathroom (or wet-room in the newer ones) decent TV reception and a little workspace.  There is wifi available - unless like me you opt for mobile broadband, and I have to say O2 is proving very good so far.  They are always clean and the staff are always helpful.  Just one thing that always puzzles me is when I buy their 'breakfast bag' the croissant is always squished - a Catriona word that means utterly squashed.  An 'i' is thinner than an 'a'.  Why don't they pack them so that the croissant is on the top, maybe in a protective cardboard sleeve?  They taste the same squished and unsquished but they don't look great flat!