I have a vague recollection of the little book called Milliganimals in which Spike Milligan poems described a whole range of weird hybrid animals.  Here is the said poem:

Such a beast is the Hipporhinostricow
How it got so mixed up we'll never know how
It sleeps all day and whistles all night
And it wears yellow socks which are far too tight.

If you laugh at the Hipporhinostricow
You're bound to get into an awful row
The creature is protected you see
From Silly people like you and me

This has nothing to do with what I've been thinking about but it came to mind when I was thinking of a title for this post!

In a few weeks we begin our 'Animally Theme' set of services, which will be a mix of approaches, some using some of the animal metaphors which abound in the Bible and some that look at ethics.  The first one will focus on creation and will be an exciting experiment as it'll be the first time we try a new approach to church whereby I start the service then leave with the Sunday School and someone else takes over the adult part.  After my holiday we will planning this service, but inevitably ideas swim around my subconscious and now and then float into consciousness.

Genesis is a much misunderstood part of the Bible and it seems a lot of commentators get rather defensive in their approach to its early chapters.  The two creation stories - chapters 1 and 2 -  seem to cause a lot of squirming as people try to make one coherent whole rather than delighting in the differences.  I'm not about to get into a J/E/P debate but it was a concept I found freeing when I first discovered it.

Anyway, this is rambling even by my standards. Genesis 2 is the story that floated into my mind in a way I find rather fascinating.  In this account God makes a lovely garden then fashions a man out of clay to live in it.  God then goes on creating, making from the clay all sorts of land creatures and then brings them to the man to give them names. I was really struck by this - the creator hands over this power and responsibility to the created.  God could have said 'look here's a hipporhinostracow' but God brought the creature to the man who said 'giraffe'; God could have said 'here is stripy creature like a horse' but man said 'zebra.'  Somehow the significance of this had never really struck me before (I can be slow sometimes)... in this amazing role reversal the creator brings new creations to the created, if not for approval, then at least in humility.

In Genesis 1 we see a God who makes things and says 'wow, that's pretty amazing, I'm pleased with that.'  Now in Genesis 2 we see a God who, maybe even a little tentatively, comes to man with his new life-form and says 'look, I've made with this, what will you call it?'  I need to do a whole load more thinking (and non-thinking) about this before my ethics sermon scheduled for September but for now I will enjoy my image of a delighted God running up to Adam and saying 'look what I've made...'

Yesterday, in a rare moment of something or other, I decided that the church kitchen really needed tidying up, and if someone ought to do it, then why not me?  After all, I am the one person in the church who is paid not to go to work...  Inspired, I then moved on to the hymnbook cupboard before deciding that now I really did need to write a sermon and plan a couple of services.  As is the way of these things, the ideas then flowed freely and I achieved a lot.

This morning I walked into my office/study/vestry and thought, I really ought to clean this out too.  We have a very friendly and helpful professional cleaner at church, so the carpet is hoovered and so on but (probably because I've never asked her to) nothing gets dusted and I could leave messages to myself in the dust.  That plus the fact that I am a very untidy person, meant the desk was buried under my heap system which had spread to the chairs and even the floor.  In part this is because people bring me 'interesting things' they have found when clearing cupboards at home and I don't have the heart to chuck them until I've looked at them properly.  In part it's the "I'll just put it here for now" habit that seems to permeate every church I know: we fully intend to clear away properly but somehow months later things can be in the place we left them temporarily.

So, I have spent about three hours so far (see, I'm very messy) sorting, chucking, shredding, dusting, rearranging and so forth.  In the process I have uncovered things I'd forgotten I had which may prove useful, as well as being reminded of many of the things we've done together since I arrived last autumn.  Once the task is complete I will have a nice, sparkly workspace for a day or two before normality returns.  More important, I think, is the personal benefit it brings in sorting and sifting stuff internally.  Stuff to chuck out, stuff to file, stuff to rearrange.  It is surprisingly therapeutic.

The new academic year starts up here in mid-August so it is good to clear the decks before then.  And it will be a treat after my week off to come back to a gleaming desk and a clear (well, almost) work space.

Now, where did I put that duster...

It will be a little quieter around these parts next week because I will be walking from Fort William to Inverness, as one does.  I am hoping for a little less rain - I think it's England's turn next week - but not too hot either.

At a mere 73 miles this is one of the shorter rotues I've done and also one of the flatter ones.  My tally is now two traverses of England (W-E and E-W at different latitudes), one length of Wales (S-N) and one part way up the side of Scotland (S-N).  A Scotland traverse (SW-NE) feels like a good addition!

Should be fun and I'm looking forward to spending some time with my very loyal walking friend from that jewel of the NW of England called Warrington.

My endeavours to locate a photo of the carved Glasgow coat of arms in Northampton failed miserably, but I think this is part of the same building.  Thanks to mira66 for posting this image under a creative commons on Flickr.  (I hope this constitutes adequate attribution)

So far as I can ascertain this company is long defunct and this is probably the only surviving building bearing their arms.

Other branches were in Leeds, Leicester, Bristol, Manchester and London.

It's always worth looking up when you're walking around as there often amazing, or at least interesting, bits of architecture to check out.

(It seems  from other searches that this firm were tanning factors which fits in a shoe town)

(Editted to work with MS Explorer)

Just when you thought memes had died away...

I was tagged to come up with 25 books that had 'made an impact on me in whatever way' and that it shouldn't involve too much thinking.  I deliberately opted not to have too much theology and mostly picked fiction.  Not planning on tagging anyone, but feel free to make your own list!  I didn't find it easy to get to 25 'significant' items.

So here goes...

1. Beauty and the Beast (Ladybird) the first book I remember reading over and over and over

2. The Railway Children ( E Nesbitt) adventure, morality and even a bit of mild theology!

3. Ballet Shoes (Noel Streatfield) especially Pauline who wanted to be an engineer! Even if as a child I never imagined I'd end up as one

4. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett) – I remember wondering what "the ch-olera" (as I mis-pronounced it was) and loving the story.

5. Heidi (Johanna Spyri) – doesn't everyone read this?!

6. Last Term at Mallory Towers (Enid Blyton) well there has to be something by her doesn't there... I collected and read the whole series. Always more Sally than Daryll and never understood why a girl had a boy's name (all the Darrells I'd met were male and thugs-in-training!)

7. Tom Brown's Schooldays (Thomas Hughes) I loved this classic, and re-reading years later was amazed how rich the Christian overtones were.

8. Winter Holiday (Arthur Ransome) and indeed all the Swallows and Amazons series; this was the first one I read.

9. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) my all time favourite book! First read at age 11, regularly revisited.

10. Eagle of the Ninth (Rosemary Sutcliffe) I cannot recall any of the story, but I do recall loving the whole series of historical novels

11. Anne of Green Gables (L M Nongomery) which was serialised on the BBC and I later read the books. I think I probably envied her confidence and mischief.

12. Jude the Obscure (Thomas Hardy) having been made to read Far from the Madding Crowd for 'O' level English and told to read more Hardy by our English teacher, this was my favourite. Some say it explains a lot!!

13. God's Smuggler (Brother Andrew) which led to a long commitment to supporting Open Doors and sending money to smuggle Bibles. My one bit of deliberate law breaking ... even if it was USSR law.

14. The Bible (!) Began reading regularly when I was 13; significantly, when I was about 20 I read it front to back in about a term... bad move... but I still read it almost daily. My absolute favourite book is the Letter of James, my call to ministry comes from 2 Timothy, my key ministry passages from Matthew, my favourite gospel is Luke and OT is Psalms. It always surprises me – something about being a living word I guess! (Is that really 66 entries?)

15. Light a Penny Candle (Maeve Binchy) the first novel by this writer; I've read almost everything she's written but this was probably my favourite.

16. Picnic in Eden (Sally Spenser) an amazing exploration of friendship. A 'dark' story, very dark, but I loved it.

17. Today's Christian Women (Ann Warren) showed me there was life beyond Sunday School or tea –making (I was young a long time ago!)

18. Step by Wicked Step (Anne Fine) and others by her. Read at a time when some friend's marriages were failing and re-juggling; it seemed funny and informative in equal measure. She tackles many issues creatively for children/youths.

19. Skallagrig (William Horwood) a bit of mystery-cum-thriller exploring issues around learning disability.

20. The Wonder Worker (Susan Howatch) whether it was this one or not, I'm not sure, but it was one of the trilogy, I then read the Starbridge series. Fantastic!

21. Transforming Mission (David Bosch) seminal work on mission; massive impact on my thinking.

22. Giraffes Can't Dance (Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees) a lovely book with a great message.

23. The Book Thief (Marcus Zusak) a great story narrated by Death!

24. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant) a fascinating twist on a lesser known Biblical tale from a different perspective

25. The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips (Michael Morpurgo) a fabulous children's book set in WWII on the Channel Islands.