This morning's post brought me a replacement ink reservoir for one of my fountain pens - seemingly Parker vector use a non-standard size so you have to buy their own product.  Not very exciting - except I bought it on Ebay from Australia which, including air mail postage, was cheaper then driving to Leicester to buy one.  Probably not very green, although the plane would have flown with or without my item, but less cost, less time and less hassle: how daft is that?

Anyway, my pen is now fully functional again (and as I bought of said items I have a spare in case of need) so I'm happy.

I am this week prepraring no less than 4 services, though two are essentially identical (home and away on the same day the day I get back from hols) and one is largely a copy of one I've used locally that is being taken to my 'sending' church where I'm doing a guest preach part way through my hols.

In preparing one of them, which came with requests for lots of songs, I've now been told there will be no musicians as they're all on holiday and there is some uncertainty over sound and projection.  Now I can do all of the above, I am a 'get by' church-level pianist (albiet out of practice) and can strum a guitar or play a recorder if needed, I can drive a laptop, a data projector and a simple sound system but, alas, I'm not an octopus, so I can't do them all at once.

I feel very sorry for the preaching secratary of the church concerned (who booked me last year) and now has to check if there will a keyboard for me to play, whether I need to supply my own technological wizardry and even if there willpeople there willing to read the Bible passages.

In the meantime, it's back to practicing F#m7 and other delightful bar chords and wondering if people will be able to sing the things I've selected with only my rather reedy mezzosoprano for a lead...

Yup, I swallowed a dictionary this morning.  OK I didn't really.

Anyway.  This Sunday this is what will be happening in our service. We will be hearing the 2 Kings 19 passage of Elijah at Horeb and then the Matthew account of Jesus (and Peter) walking on water.  The people will be told to close their Bibles and try to identifiy any themes or ideas that connect the two passages.  After a couple of minutes thinking time, they will be invited to share - briefly their thoughts.  Once we've done that, I will move into the "sermon" (?) which will begin with Baptist declaration of Principle (naturally enough!) on liberty over interpretation and from there into some of the challenges of hermeneutics (interpretation) and discerning whether we hear God, received wisdom or culture in our Bible reading.  Lastly I'll share my thoughts from doing the exercise myself (albeit over somewhat lnger than 2 minutes, but without consulting commentaries this time around).  The hope is that it will encourage people to recognise that 'different' is not automatically 'wrong,' that the Bible isn't an easy book to interpret or understand and that communal hermeneutics and homiletics actually have some merit.

And as I leave straight after the service for three weeks off (yeay!) they have plenty of time to discuss my heresies before I return!

It is also a great excuse to sing one of my all time favourite hymns (below) alongside selected verses of 'K' from Rippon's collection and my recent discovery 'Open this book'

We limit not the truth of God

To our poor reach of mind

By notions of our day and sect,

Crude partial and confined

O let a new and brighter hope

Within our hearts be stirred:

The Lord has yet more light and truth

To break forth from his word.

 

Who dares to bind to their dull sense

The oracles of heaven?

For all the nations, tongues and climes,

And all the ages given?

That universe, how much unknown!

That ocean unexplored!

The Lord has yet more light and truth

To break forth from his word.

 

In faith our forbears boldly went

The first steps of the way;

It was the dawning, yet to grow

Into that perfect day.

And grow it shall, our glorious sun,

More fervid rays afford:

The Lord has yet more light and truth

To break forth from his word.

 

O Father, Son and Spirirt, send

Us increase from above;

Enlarge, expand all Christian souls

To comprehend your love:

And make us to go on to know

With nobler powers conferred:

The Lord has yet more light and truth

To break forth from his word.

George Rawson (public)

George Rawson

 

I learned this hymn (~30 years back) to the tune Ellacombe which can be found at 297 in BPW or in any good hymnbook! I don't know the set tune, and the metre identified in BPW (DCM) will not take you to Ellacombe (76 76 D), but trust me, it fits.

A bit of channel hopping last night landed me Channel 4's documentary about the Hampshire WI and their resolution on legalisation of brothels.  Not, perhaps, what you imagine your vicar watching on Sunday evening - but not quite what you think of with the WI either.  It was an intriguing programme to watch as the nice 'ladies' of the WI began to discover the difference between talk and resolutions - which are easy  - and action, which is tough and costly.  Without Channel 4's involvement I guess the whole thing would have been rather different, but as a result a lot of awareness raising has been achieved.

The thing that struck me most was what happened when they arrived back at a WI meeting with their "WI mobile brothel" and people got very upset at seeing their logo on the side of a "brothel."  Outrage followed - in so far as nice Hampshire ladies become outraged, it was all very dignified (at least on camera) and people threatened to resign from the WI if this continued.  Determined to keep the peace, the two protagonists rapidly amended the signage to "WI resolution of brothels" and took it to town to gauge public opinion.

I was waiting for "angry Christian" to appear denouncing the campaign but she/he did not; instead was a very ordinary vicar in clerical collar who spoke calmly and rationally about the need for the campaign  - which is about safety not the rights and wrongs of the trade.

What struck me more than anything was the general principle of 'nice respectable people' passing resolutions from the comfort of a conference hall which don't actually 'cost' them anything weighed against the costly decision to do something about it.  It gave me "pause for thought" at the number of campaigns and resolutions I've supported over the years simply by raising a voting card or signing a petition, and wondering how I'd have felt if someone had put a church logo on the side of the 'mobile brothel.'  To speak of justice is so easy, to ally oneself with actually doing it, is not.

This is not the place to discuss the ethics of the prostitution, but I seem to recall a brothel keeper in the OT who was commended for her actions in sheltering Israelite spies and whose name is in the Matthean genealogy of Jesus.  As I ponder the actions of the WI, I wonder what Jesus might have had to say...

PS due to the words in this post and it's likelihood of attracting undesirable spam comments, I am not enabling 'comments' so if you want to share your thoughts you'll need to do so via one of my other posts.

Recently I was in a conversation with other ministers and the topic of after-service tea came up.  Someone commented about the drinks given to the minister as she/he stands at the door.  Er, sorry, run that by me again - brought to you?

Usually at the end of our service I walk to the back and collect a cup of tea for one or two of the more frail folk and then one for myself.  A few weeks back I did an experiment, as none of the frail folk were there, and waited to see if I was brought any tea.... no!  Today I tried again, delivering tea to a frail person and then spending time with someone who needed a little TLC.  Again, no tea.

So, is this a local thing or are other churches similar?  I can recall, as a student, having to juggle polystyrene cups of tea whilst shaking hands with vigorous-hand-shakers, which is rather hazardous, but at least I didn't have to wait until I got home and boil my own kettle (though at least that way the tea is the colour I like it!).  What happens where you are?  And if you aren't a minister, how is your minister cared for after giving their best in leading worship?

Overall then, not 'more tea, vicar?' just 'tea, minister?' please...