I wish I could blame this particualr amnesia on a bump on the head but I can't!

I am trying to recall and retrieve a book I read when I was at college, I think broadly Biblical studies, which took a look at how the layering of tradition on top of the Biblical narratives of the nativity, and even the elision of the Matthew and Luke accounts can be read positively rather than negatively.  For example, the popular portrayal of the 'three kings' as one white, one black and one oriental speaks about the inclusivity of the gospel and the 'neither Jew nor Greek'.  Or, as another exmaple, the inclusion of the animals around the manger is not just Victorian kitch but can point more widely to the idea of the new creation, the lion sleeping next to the lamb.  I recall at the time not being entirely convinced by the argument but intrigued by it nonetheless; now I'd quite like to revisit it.

Trouble is I can't recall what the book was called or who wrote it, only that I am fairly certain I read it in the final year I was at college - in which case Sean and Kez if you are reading this mabe you will know what I'm rambling on about.  If anyone thinks they recongnise the book from this mangled recollection please let me know via the comments.

Why does the Bible have such a downer on stiff-necked people?  This morning I have a stiff neck (and shoulders and a fair few bruises all over) and I find myself wondering, albeit flippantly since I know what it really means, about this source of divine displeasure.

I remember being told about some work that the theologian John Hull was doing on the pejorative use of the concept of blindness in the Bible borne out of his own experiences of losing his sight.  I guess we need to be reasonably alert to the way we use metaphors, especially of goodness/badness so that we don't inadvertently either build prejudices against people who, for example, have stiff necks or make then feel as if they are somehow inferior.

Anyhow, stiff-necked or not (in either sense of the word) I am back in the land of work and today met not one soul coming in the other direction... maybe the jogger grapevine has sent out the word to beware relatively early morning walking ministers...?

Yesterday being my day off I undertook an experiment - could I visit my Mum for the day when she lives about 350 miles south of here?  The answer was yes - though it was a very long and rather expensive day out.  Leaving home at 5:30 and getting back at 22:30 made it tiring and the railways did their utmost to thwart me by setting fire to a train near Coventry but it was possible and it was an enjoyable, and worth repeating experiment.  I would especially commend Parksafe at Glasgow airport (well near it) who were inexpensive, very helpful and completely hassle free.

By contrast today, a very different trip after a jogger hurtled round a corner knocking me off my feet and cracking my head on the pavement in the process.  Spilling sassenach blood was a passtime I thought had been long abandoned...  An ambulance ride was not in my plans but the crew were kind and helpful and full marks to the good people at A&E who glued me back together and send me on my way.  According to the head injury card I was given side effects can include disorientation and grumpiness - but would anyone notice the difference?!  On reflection I feel very sorry for the poor jogger who thought he'd at least half-killed me, but maybe next time he will look up and about as he runs...  And maybe I should not try to set off to work before it is light...  Am I now a dark mornings statistic?!

So now I am running a couple of hours late on my plans for the day, have some new bruises and have seen some new places I hadn't planned on and am meant to keep waking myself up all night to make sure I'm not dead...  But what has been good is the kindness of strangers, albeit doing their jobs, from the woman at Parksafe who gave me a slot near the office because I'd be back late at night to the person who lent a terrified jogger their phone to call an ambulance.

Now, unlike humpty dumpty, I am glued back together and must get on with some work...

Ministerial training is a thankless task - whatever you elect to teach your students they will find things for which you had not prepared them.  To be fair, I think we were told to expect the unexpected and some of the things I was sure they were daft to be teaching us have arisen several times over in the last six years (I suspect as normal church members we see things very differently from how the 'rev' does).

At the moment I am preparing long-distance for a funeral, something I've done a few times in the past when relatives have lived a long way from the deceased and it was necessary to do all the 'conversations' by phone or email.  This time it is me who is 300 miles north and will be travelling back to Dibley for a service I knew was 'on the cards' before I left.  An aggressive, terminal illness has run its course and now I have a promise to fulfil, one I am privileged to fulfil, but one that is more complex at a distance and following so soon after a sudden death in the same congregation.

In my more flippant moments, I have pondered the effect of the back-clad vicar boarding the 'red-eye' flight from Glasgow; in my more serious ones I wonder about flight delays or cancellations on the one day I cannot be late.  Mainly I ponder the unique and privileged nature of this role, for which no one can prepare you, as you are permitted to share in the extremes of human experience in this way.

The person who has died wasn't a regular church-goer for various reasons but did confide in me his assurance that there was 'more than this.'  He was a loving and much-loved person with a mischievous sense of fun that, evidently, continued to his final moments.  It will be odd going back as a 'borrowed minister' to a 'borrowed church' when already my sense of 'home' is in Glasgow but it will be a real privilege to say farewell to someone whose life was lived well with love and laughter. God bless you LS RIP.

Next week I am having a week off, not least as I have a sizeable amount of annual leave to take and also as Advent is looming large.

It is hard to believe that this is my 7th Sunday in my new church and that, today, I complete my first preaching series.  The timed as whizzed by and yet in other ways I feel as if I've been here for ever.  For the first time today I will be asking the adults to do something more than listen to me talk - so that'll be a test of something or other!  Using the 1 Peter 'living stones' we are going to make a collage of cardboard 'dressed sandstone' bricks (both blonde and red!) on which we will write our first names.  For the first time ever I have to write "Catriona G" to distinguish myself from others with the same first name - that made me chuckle a bit.

Anyway, all quiet here for a week or so and then back to begin the Advent journey with ecumenical lunchtime prayers during the week and a  preaching series based on the lectionary.  Good fun, and I'll look forward to it.