Hat Tip to Angela for this fun website with pie charts to make you smile and say 'hmmm....'

So now I know how to get my papers done on time and to length!

So here's my first - I have just asked the university for a deadline extension for one of the two pieces I have to submit this year.  At one level I am very disappointed by this: I hate failing to meet deadlines, even those that are self-imposed, and have been known to work crazy hours to meet deadlines even when delays are caused by others.  At another level I am relieved: the pressures of pastoral life this year have meant that I have done very little research work and have struggled to find more than the odd hour here or there to write.  Indeed, had it not been for a couple of train journeys and flights I would not have had any significant writing time at all.

I am grateful for the option of a deadline extension, and don't feel too bad because I have at least negotiated it on honest grounds (I used to get very irritated with students who asked for extensions in week 1 because they'd booked their holidays at the time papers had to be submitted).  However, it isn't something I want to be making a habit of - it causes as much angst as it overcomes!  Now I just have to ensure that what I do submit is of good enough quality - and comments on the draft of the paper I will submit  in July suggest that with a bit of tidying up, it will be.  Phew.

And for those who never thought they'd see this day.... as some of you have said to me at various times, never say never!

Wow, that was an interesting afternoon!  45 minutes of quick fire questions on anything from angelology to theodicy to vegetarianism to universalism and everywhere in between!  Not that any of it was expressed in those terms of course, eight year olds aren't able to to use that kind of language, but some good questions none the less.

Are angels real?  How old are they?  How many are there? - So I talked about special messengers from God and that no one can ever be quite sure if they've seen one as they most probably look like people.  I never did read about the arguments over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, so I have no idea how many there are... ;-)

How did we get here - creation or evolution (I tried to offer theistic evolution, without using that language, as a middle course rather than seeing the two as diametrically opposed).  Why did God make the universe?  Why are we here?

Why do we grow old?  What happens when we die?  Do animals go to heaven?  Will we be near people we know in heaven?  How big is heaven and will it be a squash?  Are heaven and hell kingdoms of the dead?  Is there a devil?  What is heaven like... or hell?  I told them I have no idea what heaven (or hell) might be like but that the Bible promises something that is free from suffering, sorrow and death.  I talked about a God who wants everyone to experience that but who respects our freedom to choose otherwise, that I hope hell is empty but that it's not for me to know.  I talked about death as being a bit like birth - a transition from one form of living to another, and of a God of mercy and love.

Who invented Christianity (no, I didn't say St Paul)? If Jesus was a Jew how come his followers are Christians?  How did God raise Jesus from the dead?

Loads of great questions - including the ubiquitous "who made God" - and then right at the end the one that only someone has who has listened carefully to what you've said and who knows a few Bible stories can ask: "if God is merciful, how come Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden of Eden?"  I spoke about choices and consequences, of how God provided them with clothes and food, but that this was as much as anything a story about growing up: free will means we can choose our actions but that if we make bad choices we can't expect there to be no consequences.  Not quite a traditional 'fall' hermeneutic but one that I felt was appropriate and honest.

I think I did more theological thinking in 45 minutes than I normally do in a year.  It was great fun - and I hope they found it helpful.  Quite what they'll go home and tell their parents I don't know, but hopefully I was an 'ok' ambassador for Christ.

This afternoon I am off to school to face a Q & A session with sixty Year 4 children (aged 8-9) who have thought up a whole load of questions to which they are seeking the answers of sa series of world faiths (albeit independently of each other, which is a shame because those of us invited in have been chosen as those who are tolerant and respectful of difference).  This is part of an attempt by their (Muslim as it happens) class teacher promote philosophy within the curriculum.  When he ranfg yesterday he said the chidlrne had come up wioth lots of questions - on green issues and ethics, but he hoped they'd go further to existential questions such as 'why are we here?' Help!  Don't think I ever studied the answer to that one and I couldn't honestly say its ever really troubled me.  So do I say "the chief end of man (sic) is to glory God and enjoy Him forever"? Or do I make something up!!  Hmm.  Will report back later.

Today has seen yet more demolition going on next door - the skyline is changing rapidly and I have been distracted several times by satisfying thuds as chunks of masonry have bitten the dust.  One of the things that always fascinates me is the seemingly gentleness of the heavy machinery as it nudges or tugs huge structures.  Apparently the developed hopes to start putting in footings within a forthight - a long way to go before then though.

From this...

Going...

Going...

Gone!