Yesterday we concluded our series of services thinking about stewardship.  On the whole they seem to have been well received and certainly generated some good questions from those who heard my sermons.  That stewardship is a whole of life issue should, by now, be firmly planted in people's minds; how they make that a reality is something they must determine for themselves.

Yesterday in my service on the theme of 'time' I ended by sharing some thoughts I've played with on and off for a number that draw together some of the principles from the mandates for tithing and for Shabbat.

When we looked at money, I had worked with a whole series of biblical material but began in the Torah where there are, it seems to me, three purposes to which the tithe is put...

1. The practical support/maintenance of the priesthood
2. The great feast before God
3. One third to be set aside for widows, orphans and foreigners

I postulated (as I have done before, elsewhere) that this might form a model for church finances whereby we spend a third on cost of ministry, a third on the worship life (including fabric) of the church and a third on mission and charitable giving.  Since in my church ministerial costs and maintenance costs are similar that would give a hint of what extra would be necessary to achieve that ideal.  I didn't say that we must or even should do this, merely I thought it was a good ideal.  Since, like many churches, we don't actually quite meet the cost of the first two, there's a long way to go.

And then to our time.  Some ideas I have played around with over a number of years, on and off, which draw together the principles of the tithe with the mandate for Shabbat.  If time is viewed as a 'commodity' that can be employed (not a model I especially like but it works for this purpose) and if we take seriously the mandate for a complete day of rest and the idea that time could be tithed, what might that look like?

One week = 168 hours, less 24 hours as Shabbat leaves 144 hours.

Suppose we choose to commit one tenth of that explicitly to conscious Christian activity, what might that look like?  I choose my words carefully, the idea of 'time for God' and 'time not for God' is not one I endorse but at the same time not every moment of every day is consciously God-centred.

So, a tithe of 14.4 hours, of which on average around a third will be sleep!  To keep the sums simple let's say that leaves 10 waking hours...

Public worship will probably occupy around 2 hours a week, and daily devotions the other six days say 30 mins each, making a total of 5 hours.  That leaves five more hours to be consciously employed.  Now suppose 2.5 hours were given to work in/for church (possibly including mission) and a further 2.5 to charitable endeavours (and/or mission in many modes) beyond the church.  What impact would that have?  Again, not saying anyone must or should, just what might it look like, what might it achieve?

After the sermon yesterday we sang Fred Pratt Green's hymn 'When the Church of Jesus Christ shuts its outer door' (BPW 614) which seems to me to offer some important correctives both to individualist pietism and smug social action...

When the Church of Jesus

Shuts its outer door,

Lest the roar of traffic

Drown the voice of prayer:

May our prayers, Lord, make us

Ten times more aware

That the world we banish

Is our Christian care.

If our hearts are lifted

Where devotion soars

High above this hungry

Suffering world of ours:

Lest our hymns should drug us

To forget its needs,

Forge our Christian worship

Into Christian deeds.

Lest the gifts we offer,

Money, talents, time,

Serve to slave our conscience

To our secret shame:

Lord, reprove, inspire us

By the way you give;

Teach us, dying Saviour,

How true Christians live.

F Pratt Green (c) Stainer & Bell

So, on into March and a set of 'one off' services looking at Fairtrade, Children in the Church, a free Sunday visiting my little sister and then Palm Sunday... where is the time going? ;-)

So, this morning I was a good girl - I undertook my first piece of reflective journalling for my Practice Mentor Course.  I logged into Blackboard, typed it all up, opted to spell check before saving and... crash!  All was lost.  An hour's work not down the drain, because the thinking was useful, but lost so far as UWS was concerned.  So, as today is not my Sabbath, I bought a sandwich from the shop round the corner (without getting zapped!) and returned to my computer to try again.  This time I wrote it in Word, saved it, checked it, re-saved it and then imported it to Blackboard... it seems to have worked.

Shame about the word count, but could not have done it in many less words...

Useful exercise in something or other... not so much in how to do theological reflection as in how to avoid exploding when the technology mis-behaves.  It was so much easier writing them with a pen once a week for three years for NAM, even if the postage costs were enormous...

We were advised that this exercise takes about 30 minutes - and I'd concur as a minimum (usually takes me nearer an hour) - thanks to technology it's taken me nearer 240...  Ah well.

The move has gone well.  All my furniture fits into the new flat, all the boxes have been opened and the vast majority emptied and sorted.  It appears a couple of pictures have gone astray, so I will have to get onto the original movers to see if they have a 'lost property' stash into which they may have been put as long ago as last autumn.  If they are lost for good I will be disappointed, but it's hardly the end of the world is it?

Anyway, I have rediscovered muscles I had forgotten I had (which now ache) and have a brain like so much cotton wool after a few days of physical hard labour.  This is when I realise that I am 47 not 27!

Still, I am loving my new home, and have all but one room pretty much sorted out now.  I also have no less than 6 boxes of stuff for the church spring fair as I have unpacked boxes and wondered just why I still had some assorted clutter I did.  And, shock horror, there are even a fair few books amongst what is going... maybe I am finally learning to hold my possessions a little more lightly?

Now I just need to finish preparations for tomorrow's service on the theme of 'time' as part of our stewardship... and then maybe fall asleep!

I am sure it must be, because the email I received from our wonderful choirmaster has been carefully crafted to resemble the classic 'notice sheet blooper'...

10am tomorrow
Now is the healing time decreed

Psalm 90 Restless is the heart

Something for Jesus
All on sheets that I will bring

Thank you P, that made for a great giggle at the start of Sunday!

Next week I move to my gorgeous new manse - and go up in the world to the third floor where, from my kitchen window, I will be able to see for miles south-ish over the Clyde.  As my Dad used to say, on a clear day you can see Big Ben... if you have a photograph in your hand.  And for those who think that's the closest to heaven I'll get... bless you!

Once more I've been sorting, packing (how did I gain so much more stuff in 5 months?!) and labelling boxes.  This afternoon the colour coding will get done in the hope the removers can get the right box to the right room...  Time will tell.

Between being at college on Monday and moving over Tuesday and Wednesday I won't be around much next week (and have already written my sermon for the following Sunday!) and this bit of blogland will be quieter.

So, if you want a few little gems to read over the next week then how about this from the Beaker Folk?  In amongst all the clever satirical posts, here is one that is pure theology at its best.  It certainly made me pause as I gleefully anticipate my new home, lending an appropriate perspective to it all.

Or, if you want to see a new take on an old idea (I heard something similar more than 20 years ago...) this from ASBO Jesus reminds us that the majority of "youf of today" are as decent as they were when we were the subject of similar comments back in the 1970s/1980s (or whenever it was for you!).

And for anyone who likes random bits of proof of how small the world is... some of my folk know 'Scottish Rhiannon' alluded to in my previous post here and the sister of one of my C of S colleagues played the part of the registrar who married Bradley and Stacey in this week's East Enders... whether she has to make a return visit to record Bradley's death who knows?!  This was the first time in more than a decade I deliberately watched episode of East Enders - and saw two episodes in one week.  That should do me for another decade I think!

Back soon, but really must go and sort out 5 month's worth of cardboard to take to the recycling centre.