When I used to work in the nuclear industry an increasing amount of effort went into what was termed "legacy issues" - basically work concerned with what happened after the stations were closed and decomissioned, as vital as the work done during their working life.  The next few weeks sees me doing "legacy issues" for church.  In a sense this is quite affirming - that people want to continue some of the intitiatives I've led seems on the whole a good thing, even if it does mean a lot of faffing around to pull together what they think they need.

Among the requests to date is some guidelines on how to do the lunch time prayer meetings for Lent and Advent, including "where do you get the sheets from" (er, I make them up!).  I am really pleased that people want to continue to meet for prayer in this way, and that they are ready to accept the challenges of hosting, cooking and leading.  So now I guess I need to get them some study books/guides to start them off (I don't quite make it up ex nihilo, I adapt study material) and produce some outline forms based on the various 'daily office' books kicking around my house.

If one of my legacies is that people continue to meet for prayer and fellowship, then that's a good thing.  Plus it gives me the confidence to offer something similar a few degrees north...

Finally, despite the worst efforts of my computer to lose it, I have a draft of my research proposal essay thingy sent out for comment to the two kindhearted souls who are willing to act as my supervisors. It is 1000 words over the limit (nothing new there) and I have bibliographic footnotes in places that take half a page - 17th Century Baptists didn't go in for snappy titles.  Alas the bit that pleases me most is that I have 8 sides of bibliography (single spaced), giving me vague hope that in another three years I might be able to run to the 20-odd pages that most theses seem to have!

The good news is I can now forget it for a fortnight.  Hurray!

Small things make big differences - anyone who thinks otherwise has never spent a night with a mosquito (according to Anita Roddick among others).  Other kinds of mites have a mighty effect too - as we have been discovering in dear old Dibley.

Two examples:

A couple of weeks back we all signed a card for a small church whose building was about to be closed leaving them in the wilderness - a place we know too well.  It cost us next to nothing, just a bit of time to add our names, but it meant a lot to the recipients.

As part of our clutter clearing, we uncovered three spare copies of BPW music edition (the red book) (after we'd kept a couple for ourselves) and a small number of BHB words edition (the green book) which we offered via our Association newsletter to any church who could collect them or pay postage.  Within 24 hours I have rehomed the red books and some of the green books to three other churches: two are HM funded, one very very tiny, one struggling as we are with extremist politics, and one going through a tricky interregnum.  All three are thrilled with our cast off, shop-soiled music books, two telling me they've been looking for a copy for ages...

There's a saying about the person who does nothing because they can't do much.  We've done a few tiny things and through them God will bless people we'll never meet... kind of reminds me of a widow with copper coins and a lad with a few fish butties really.

Sounds like a quick rendition of BPW 358 (without the emendation that removes the mite) is called for...

Just discovered that my old college has (finally) appointed a new Biblical studies tutor (here, for now anyway - no permalink on the site that I can find) an Anglican priest just completing his PhD and sounds like he has quite a lot of offer.  I am pleased they've got someone but, if I'm honest, disappointed there aren't any Baptists they could have found  - maybe our biblicism trumps our desire to get to grips with this complex work?  I do wonder how easy he'll find the transition to Baptist ecclesiological thinking, lack of hierarchical authority and the like, but I'm sure he'll bring lots of new insights from his own world.  I hope it is a great move for all concerned and that he and they enjoy a fulfilling future.

One of the summertime/autumn aspects of life in rural Dibley is the mysterious appearance of plastic bags on my back doorstep containing food offerings - yesterday some home grown potatoes and a large lettuce.  On balance of probabilties in the next few weeks there'll be a few tomatoes and several tonnes of windfall apples.

Moving to the city will, I guess, bring this quirky practice to an end - but no doubt introduce some new ones all its own... like getting paid in money rather than turnips perhaps?! ;-)