My Dad used to say of people who spoke twaddle that they 'opened their mouths and their bellies rumbled.'

I have a feeling I have been rumbling quite a lot recently, mainly because I'm totally whacked and more than a little brain dead.  So, I'm going to take a break from posting for a while until I have a bit more energy AND more importantly have a fit for purpose essay to submit at the end of June.

I don't think I'll manage to quite as sporadic as some of my 'betters' (if not elders!) in posting but I feel a bit of 'me time' doing not a lot is of greater important at the moment than the fun and insights I get from blogging.

So, for a little while their will be less rumbling from this corner of blogland!

Today I needed diesel for my car and it was 130.9p a litre.  Ouch.  Evidently we have the dearest fuel in Leicestershire.  I pity those who get paid around minimum wage and still have to travel to work by car and those who live in remote areas where filling stations have no competition to limit the prices.

FHB - family hold back - a phrase I first encountered in the North West but which I am led to believe originates from the West Midlands.  The BSS is our next outreach event - The Big Summer Sing, a songs of praise style invitation service to be followed by a 'strawberry tea'.  I'm not entirely sure what the latter is, since the butties seem to be the same as for any other tea; the defining quality seems to be the dish of strawberries and evaporated milk that follows.

Yesterday I was chivvying up our lunch club folk to pick their hymns as I had only one request - for 'Abide with Me'; perennially popular, guaranteed to flood the place with tears and inevitably linked to funerals.  By the time I left I had 17 hymns and songs - far too many for one service.  So, what to do?  In the end I decided to go with the FHB approach, and start with those chosen by non-church people and then add in one or two chosen by church folk who don't normally pick hymns.  In the end I have eight, plus a recording of 'You raise me up' (is that a hymn?) for the BSS.  Then the Sunday afterwards we will have 'BSS-2: family favourites' using the songs and hymns requested by church folk.  Not sure we'll have strawberries two weeks running, but maybe I can persuade someone to make us some scones or cakes for family tea?

A nice problem to have - and we will quietly lose 'Abide with Me' from the running order, as those who asked for it subsequently put in a further request...

Every now and then a minister will, tongue in cheek, cite 1 Timothy 7:!7 which, in the KJV, so it must be right (!), says, 'Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine' as the reason by he or she (usually he, it has to be said) ought to be paid more or given more time off.  It is certainly the case that when I talk to people outside church they are often shocked to discover what ministers are paid.  I'm not complaining, I knew what I was getting into, and compared to some in this country, never mind overseas, I am comfortably off.  But this text came back to mind last night at our churches together meeting, at which I was the only minister present, and the chairperson said to my people 'I hope you're paying her well, she's worth two.'  Well, I guess compared to the experience of our Methodists who get one fifth of a minister, maybe I am.

And then I got thinking about why most ministers are so bad at receiving compliments and why, on the whole, we are so bad at showing our appreciation for/to them.  This week has felt very strange because the compliments have been flooding in - well there've been about half a dozen anyway - but all of them have come from outside my own fellowship.  So why is that?  Why is it easier to say something encouraging to those outside our churches (or families) than those inside?  Is there a sense of taken-for-grantedness that means we no longer see how blessed we are?  Is it because it is easier to see the failings of those we know better?  Or is it that we see ourselves as the employers of these people and that you just don't thank people for doing what they're paid to do?  (Though my experience in industry was that I did get thanked for doing what I was paid to do...) 

So, where does this leave me?  I think I have to learn to be better at accepting praise when it comes, and some of it this week has been quite amazing.  And I think that we as churches need to learn to be a little more open in expressing our appreciation of those whose work is to labour among us 'especially preaching and teaching'.  Perhaps if we could manage two compliments to every one criticism, our ministers (and others) would all feel more valued.

As an aside, this week I heard that having a 'A' level in Maths should boost your earning potential by an average of 10% over a lfietime.  Since I have one - and some degree level maths as well - maybe I can claim to deserve 2.2 times the honour?!

I love lunch club days; they are frenetic, hard work but our members love it so much that it is all worth while.

Today was no different from any other month except that John (not his real name) was having problems with his false leg and we had to lift him on and off the coach to get him to the restaurant.  Not dignified, not safe - not good enough.  So we booked a wheelchair friendly taxi to take him home afterwards.

There were definitely some comedy moments as I walked along, pushing the wheelchair with John's leg tucked under my arm.  Thankfully, he is a man with genuine good humour and saw the comedy value for himself. 

WWJD?  Well, there are no stories of miraculous regrowth of amputated limbs, so it's an interesting one isn't it?  I'd like to think he might have had to call a taxi too!