You can't earn salvation, but urns can save the day when you have a very leaky baptistry to contend with!

I arrived at D+2 this morning to discover much frenetic filling of the baptistry going on, saucepans of water being heated on the cooker in a desperate effort to get warm-enough, deep-enough water in time for their service, as it leaks so much that overnight it had emptied...  It succeeded, but the thought of doing the same between lunch and our service really did not appeal, so I rang someone from church to see if they could locate and deliver our urn - which they did, along with one from our local Methodists!  Ten gallons of almost boiling water, along with the three baptistry heaters, meant we had water at a pleasant temperature and a good depth, so all was well.

It was a great service, with over 50 people in attendance, despite a fair few of our folk being absent for one reason or another (I guess broken hips are a good excuse...) including family and friends, a few people's spouses who came out for this special event,  and around a dozen or so from D+2 who knew our candidate because she'd attended their Alpha course (though this was not a factor that appeared in her testimony).

The new hymn by Martin Leckebucsh went really well and was enjoyed by those who commented on it.  I discovered even more folk who'd known him at school, as the husband of D+2's minister was in the year above him at shcool...  Hopefully the hymn will get itself published soon so that other congregations can have a great Baptismal hymn to sing.

From there it was off to take an evening service for a congregation of eight at a church to which everyone drives some distance - which made preaching on Hebrews 10 and not giving up meeting seem all the more poignant.  Given that five minutes after the service ended the door had been locked and everyone had gone home I wondered how much fellowship these folk actually share.  Still, they are faithful and obviously value meeting together - even if they sang 'Forth in Thy Name, O Lord I Go' to the dirge that is Old Hundredth because they didn't know the set tune.

And now, finally, I can sit down and enjoy a cup of tea, and reflect on a day well spent.

Been a mad week!  Lots of driving, lots of hospital visits, lots to do and not enough hours in which to do it.

Finally I think we're getting there with preparations for tomorrow's baptismal service.  All the heaters have been collected and delivered, the 'dry run' walk through has been completed successfully, gifts bought, certificates arrived from BUGB store, leaflets printed and collated, and my share of the tea now prepared!

Giftwise, in the end I went for a book token from church, as that's what they sell at the Leicester shop formerly known as SPCK, Christian Resource Centre, and then decided to personalise a white towel, sort of copying what a friend of mine did for me many years back:

Not a great photo - the only digital camera I have is on my phone.  The butterflies were already on it, and seemed quite a good image - new life, resurrection kind of thing.  So I added the occasion and date.

I will be using one or other of my white 'gift ' towels (my friend did me a second one for my ordination) so that will make it a bit special for me too!

I have since been busy making cauldrons of soup for the post service tea - a variation on this pumpkin soup recipe (without the chillies, to which I am allergic, and which is scrummy: I tried some of it) and some leek and potato, using up some frozen leeks one of my congregation gave me some months back.

Having purchased fresh coconuts I was left with loads of the stuff to use up, so made some coconut barfi (pretty much like coconut ice really) and coated it with dark chocolate - beats Bounty bars any day!  If you used fairtrade coconuts (which Sainsbury's sell, others may too) and Fairtrade chocolate you could possibly offset your ethical concerns over Carnation's makers.

Both services are ready and printed, I just have to buy some bread for communion (because it isn't communion week) and then all is ready.  Phew!

I have to write two sermons for Sunday - one for our Baptism service and one (on the same passages, cos I'm lazy) for a guest preach two hours later (on renewed commitment).  So far I've done all the good minister stuff of reading commentaries, thinking and (even!) praying and am getting nowhere fast.  I have some ideas, but nothing is cohering.  If all else fails I'll have to blag something around my paired ideas -

• ordinary and special
• human and divine
• individual and corporate
• completion and continuation

Nothing special about the water itself - but a special moment for those involved.

A human choice (discuss!) in response to a divine command/call/invitation

An individual moment in a corporate/communal life; a communal responsibility and commitment

The completion of a stage of a journey - and the start of the next bit

Nothing original or special about these ideas but hopefully they will turn into something soon - please!

One of my mother's oft quoted sayings is this:

Two men looked out from prison bars

One saw mud, the other saw stars

It is quite probably a misquote, though you can find this exact form in Google, so who knows the true origin?

I was reminded of the saying last night when I went to visit Florrie (not her real name) in hospital, where she is waiting for her broken hip to be pinned after a fall at home on Saturday.  Florrie is fiercely independent (even by my standards) and often says very little.  In recent months she has begun to come out of her shell a little and has revealed a mischievous side which is a delight to behold.  At the time of the visit, she was in a side room (the only available bed) on the fifth floor (6th if you're American) of the city centre hospital.  She told me about the porridge she'd had for breakfast - suitable it seems for hanging wallpaper - and the noise of the overnight deliveries when lorries parked and disgorged their contents immediately below her window.  Suddenly she paused, and said 'look at that sky.'  I turned and looked out of the window, past the concrete chimney to the streaks of gold piercing the clouds of the dusky sky, and beyond to the streetlight jewelled cityscape spreading out befor eus.  Somewhere in all of this was the balance missed in the extremes of the saying, mud and stars are equally part of our experience and whilst extremes of repsonse can be valid, more typically it is a mix of the two.  No-one at church would see Florrie as a deeply holy person, she has steadfastly spent a lifetime refusing baptism and church membership, yet in this moment between porridge and sunset was something sacred, a glimpse of glory from ward 17 on the fifth floor.

On the left is the sign that was attached to the baptist heater (sic) that I've just collected from a church in Nottingham which warns you of the dangers of leaping into the baptistery whilst it is still electrically live - sadly my understanding is that this does sometimes happen with tragic consequences.

Anyway, it made me smile to think that there really was a device designed precisely to warm up congregations - presumably to make them more receptive to the sermon?!