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.

This morning I've been working on some reading for my sermon on Acts 15, and wondered what the time lapse was from Acts 10-11 which we looked at last time I preached.  I then wondered about the time lapses to Acts 17 and Acts 28, the other stopping off places in our journey through July and into August (four preaching Sundays).

It seems that the book of Acts covers a period of roughly three decades and, as luck/serendipity/Sophia would have it, the four stories seem to occur pretty much equi-spaced throughout that time.  Thus, for example, around ten years elapse between Peter and Cornelius and the Council at Jerusalem.  I think this is significant/important and something that is easily missed... the issue of what was required of Gentiles was not resolved in a few days, the 'paradigm shift' wasn't achieved in the 'twinkling of an eye', it all took time, lots of it.  This is not the main thread in my upcoming sermon, but it's a valid one.

Here's something to ponder, which may or may not find its way into the end result... What were the issues in church that occupied your mind a decade ago?  Are they still live today?  What has changed?  What hasn't changed?

Rome - and the Church - was not built in a day.  Sometimes we need to be reminded of that.

Oh, for amusement, according to the timeline I looked at, The Council at Jerusalem coincided roughly with the Roman invasion of Britain... I wonder where the use of wode/woad (spelling seems interchangeable) might have fitted in to the edicts given...?