Recently Craig posted on the experience of eating his first faitrade Kitkat (here). Yesterday I went out and bought one too.  Not having eaten one in, ooh, fifteen years or more, I'm not sure I correctly recalled the taste, but it was fine.

Craig was wrestling with the morality of eating this Kitkat, after all, Nestle have not abandoned all their practices that caused people to 'boycott' them in the first place.  Should we reward their good behaviour when they are still doing things we perceive as bad?  Comments on his blog varied.

So what do I think?

I think it is complicated (my usual answer to everything!) and that there is no precise answer to this.  I choose to buy Fairtrade products where I can but recognise that even that choice impacts those who produce the 'not Fairtrade' products I am not buying.  I choose to buy 'Farm Assured' products, look for 'Rain Forest Alliance' or 'Dolphin Friendly' or 'Free Range' labels on products but at the same time am oblivious to the ethical practices of the majority of manufacturers, distributors and retailers.  I like BOGOF and 2 for 3 offers, but am aware that someone, somewhere has to pay for these (and the share holder it isn't).  Retail staff rarely get paid much over minimum wage.  Small suppliers struggle to win and then retain contracts with the giants. If we want to go down the 'punish everyone for everything they do wrong' route we aren't going to be buying much at all - with inevitable consequences for our own comfy lifestyles.

On balance, I think it is right to reward the good behaviour.  After all, that is how we want to be treated ourselves.  "Whoever claims to have no sin deceives themselves" so the Good Book says, and it's true.  We are all a 'work in progress.'  Part of the mystery of what we believe as Christians is that at Calvary atonement was accomplished, yet the transformation of our lives is ongoing.

Nestle haven't got everything right, and it is important that people go one encouraging and cajoling them to change what is wrong, but they have got something right and they should be rewarded for that.  It is so easy for us to criticise their practices, but what actually are we doing to overcome the problems of accessible clean water in African nations?  How much do we really know about the situation, and how much do we just jump on a judgemental bandwagon?

Forgive us our sins as we forgive... dare we really pray this?

Now that Chris Evans has taken over the Radio 2 breakfast show, it has a new feel to it.  Not 'better' than Terry Wogan, just different.  And I am enjoying it.

Today he was talking to a 'Rev' who was with the landlord of her local pub and the conversation reflected the place of each in their local community, and she commented on the inter-relationship of the two.  Chris always comes across as respectful of people of faith - and his former tea time show is the only one I know of that played 'There is a Redeemer' as a listener request!

A few minutes later came the bit that caught my attention though, as Moira Stewart reported the example of a Methodist church in north east England who had done a 'toilet twinning' exercise.  By charging people a penny to "spend a penny" they had raised the necessary £60 to sponsor a toilet, presumably through this organisation.  I think it's a great idea...

Today was the first session of a new module in mentoring being piloted at/by the Scottish Baptist College, and which I am taking.  Whilst I find it hard not to groan at the prospect of yet another round of enforced theological journalling (sorry Stuart, this is year 11 and the umpteenth iteration of this...) I am looking forward to what the module has to offer.

It was good to see the college 'in the flesh' and to meet those who I'd only spoken to on the phone or in the ether, and good to meet some other ministers with varying experiences of mentoring/supervising those involved in workplace/work-based learning.  It was interesting to compare how students here work with how I was trained/formed in Manchester and I will at some point give some time to reflecting more on this.

However, I am not sure whether to be amused or annoyed that the University of the West of Scotland cannot spell my first name... I mean, c'mon, it's not like it's English or anything...

Anyway, a good day all in all.

Yesterday was my first Church Meeting since moving north.  It was a good natured affair and people seemed to engage well with the material I gave them to help us begin to reflect on the next step of our life together.  As part of this there was an opportunity to ask any questions they wanted about the story to date concerning the redevelopment of our premises (yes, my role in life is a bit of a Joshua-meets-Samson-meets-Nehemiah role it seems!) as well as starting to think about life beyond that.

So, on Friday the question was 'what does the minister do all day'?

On Sunday it was 'what do the Deacons (by any other name) do?' (and also one of the other groups)

I think the follow-up to these must be... 'and what does the congregation do?'!

Once you move beyond the laughter, they are actually not bad questions to think about.

Anyway, I have collated more than two dozen questions raised by our folk, am seeking answers from those in the know where I don't yet, and am yet to collate the ideas and thoughts about "what next" which is where the excitement really begins.

Apart from posting twaddle on their blogs of course.

An interesting conversation with one of the toddler mums this morning, who asked me this question but didn't give me the opportunity to answer!

I did wonder if she twigged that the conversation we were having just might be part of the answer.

The conversation made me think - another part of what ministers do all day - about how the church, and even Christianity, relates to her and others like her.  This was a very intelligent young woman, her father a theology lecturer, her grandfather and great-grandfather clergymen, and she had been brought up in the church.  She spoke of recognising a void in her life, of her innate spiritual yearning, of her guilt at having left the church, of her struggle with committing to any particular faith, of her anxiety that her child was missing out, of her fear of what church might be like (physically cold, old people, condemnatory attitudes) and a longing to be part of a worshiping community.  All this in five minutes - no wonder I didn't get a word in!

What do ministers do?  Listen to people like this young woman, come alongside them and give them space to ask the questions, avoid the temptation to offer trivial responses, go away and think and pray about just how the church might respond creatively, authentically, open-handedly.

There are no quick answers.  Building relationships takes time (and every week I have to explain to someone that no, I'm not one of the mums!) and risks rejection or misunderstanding.  If I can help these parents (we do have one dad) to feel that this is an OK place to be, that actually we do care about them and are interested in them, then maybe more good conversations will follow and one day I will be able to offer useful answers to 'what do you do all day?'!