OK, so it was technically Pentecost Eve, but who's counting?

Wow, what a wonderful day we had and if the numbers attending were lower then we might have dreamed of, they were still excellent and people really appreciated the free and almost free afternoon for all the family.  A good number of folk from our Lunch Club came along, some children from our Games Club and lots of little ones I know by sight from being a school governor... as well as a load of folk I'd never seen before.  EXCELLENT!

At 9 a.m. we began the process of transforming the school field into an all age 'playground', erecting the gazebos and tents that would house attractions.  Methodist Derek and I got it down to a fine art with our best time at under 5 minutes from opening the box and pegging in place.  Kathryn and I had fun building the giant Connect 4 game - which came with no instructions but within ten minutes it was ready for action.

"We shall not, we shall not be sued..." As I walked round with all the disclaimer signs for the car park, bouncy castle and school adventure play equipment, I was told I looked like I was setting off for a protest march.  It is a sad state of affairs when you have to erect such notices - but we had a school and three congregations to consider as well as those who would come along for a fun afternoon.  In a mischievous moment we did wonder if we ought to add a note to say we'd do a special offer on funerals for anyone who killed themselves, but decided it might not be appropriate!  Thankfully the afternoon passed off with no injuries at all, so maybe my singing as I walked around planting signs was prophetic?!

At 1:30 the party began and we had a steady stream of people from then on.  I painted faces continuously for three hours and was the last stall to finish bang on 4:30 when we closed.  The pocket money stall selling junk left over from past events did a steady trade and made about £20 selling stuff for as little as 5p a go.  Decorating pots and potting plants went well with 40 people having a go - and the remaining plants sold of at 4:15 to raise another £10 or so.  Kiddies crafts produced a veritable gardenful of bees, butterflies, caterpillars and ladybirds - and the children who had made them were delighted to show them off to anyone who'd look.  The £30 raised will go to support the work of our local children's hospice.

For those a little older, the Fairtrade stall took over £100, several had a go at card making and pretty well everyone enjoyed a free cream tea.

At 4:30 we packed away giant jenga, badminton, a model railway display, a collection of historical photographs... and a whole heap of leftovers that found their way back to my house 'for next time.'  By soon after 5:30 there was nothing left to suggest we'd been there - except the bunting on the school fence which I have to remove today. 

This afternoon with more blazing sunshine we will praising God al fresco - and hoping that maybe a few folk from yesterday will come and join us.  Having spent the morning washing paint brushes, sorting out left over items and discovering under the junk that I do have a kitchen floor (I will get my dining room back sometime during the week!) I have had some time to reflect on the wonder that the small team we have who are willing to work on these events have once again done such an amazing job.  About 25 people in total were involved in making it happen - and we probably saw 200 guests.  FANTASTIC!

And there was even a minor miracle.... the Methodist minister bought me an ice-cream (with sauce and nuts, it came in a plastic tub with a spoon) at about 3p.m.  When I finally stopped painting faces at 4:30 and had a chance to eat it, it had not melted - unlike my black face paint which had degenerated into a right sticky mess.

I guess I'd like to think that the whole event could be both a gift to our community and an offering to God.  May the works of our arms and legs, the laughter from our mouths and the love from our hearts be acceptable to you, our Rock and our Redeemer.

I know that BPW (Baptist Praise and Worship for the uninitiated) never really caught on, was published too late and so was overtaken by Mission Praise, Songs of Fellowship and The Source and is long out of print.  I also know that nowadays many churches have abandoned books in favour of data projectors and quite a few use things like Hymn Quest.  But I also know plenty of churches for whom BPW (and even the 1962 green book!!) is standard fare.

But why, oh why (to quote the song by Fischy) does the list of music sources published for Baptist Assembly not give the BPW numbers for those hymns and songs that are in it?  To cite HTC (Hymns for Today's Church an Anglican hymnal that predates BPW) seems to me to add insult to injury! 

I actually think BPW is a pretty decent hymnbook, though only one of many resources I use.  Like all the 'traditional' hymnals it has some useful seasonal cross referencing and biblically thematic indices and it seems sad that it is ignored or overlooked by the very people who created it.

Enough of today's blogging frenzy!

I'm never sure if posting prayers constitutes hypocrisy of the street corner variety, but here, for what they're worth are my draft intercessions for Sunday.  If they're of any use, feel free to plagiarise or copy...

Holy God we give you thanks for your precious gift of the Holy Spirit, our helper and encourager along life’s way.  As we ponder some of the images used in the Bible, we allow them also to shape our prayers for our world – your world.

Sometimes like a gentle breeze on a hot summer’s day, cooling and refreshing us.

Sometimes like a powerful hurricane sweeping away everything in its path.

We think of the people of Burma whose lives have been torn apart by the cyclone just a week ago.  As the death toll continues to rise, and as aid agencies begin to be allowed entry to that proud and troubled land, we pray that you will inspire all who seek the good of that land to work together to restore hope.  Bring comfort to those who mourn, and healing to those who suffer.

God of love, hear our prayer.

Holy Spirit, Living Water

Sometimes like a playful brook, bubbling and babbling as it crosses a meadow

Sometimes like a rushing ocean, waves crashing on a distant shore.

We think of those whose lives are blighted by water – its lack or its excess.  We pray for those whose fields have been washed away by floods, and for those whose crops die in parched earth.  We pray for the work of organisations that seek to bring clean water to distant villages, to develop irrigation schemes and to develop coastal defences.  Refresh those who are thirsty, renew those who grow faint and weary.

God of love, hear our prayer

Holy Spirit, Free flying bird

Sometimes like a gentle dove, fluttering down, cooing softly

Sometimes like a hawk, hovering over the chaos that is our world

We think of those places known to us where there is violence, hatred and disorder, seeking you healing peace.  Especially we recall the lands of Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel-Palestine, Zimbabwe, but know also that there are countless wars and violent acts that we will never hear about.  We pray for all who seek to bring an end to violence, for peacemakers and peacekeepers.  We pray for all whose lives are torn asunder by human sinfulness.  Bring peace to broken lands, order instead of chaos.

God of love, hear our prayer

Holy Spirit, Oil of Gladness

Sometimes like the oil used to anoint powerful men and women for service

Sometimes like the balm of eucalyptus oil rubbed on the chest of snuffling child

We pray for all who hold positions of power and authority, in government, commerce, industry and in public service.  Please give them wisdom in the decisions they make, and compassion in the execution of their duties.

We pray also for those known to us who are sick at this time, in body, mind or spirit, asking for your healing balm to be upon them and those who care for them at this time.

God of love, hear our prayer

Holy Spirit, Flaming fire

Sometimes like the cosy glow of red embers on a winter’s night

Sometimes like the white heat of a furnace melting ore and refining metal for service

We pray for ourselves, aware of our own shortcoming and need to be purged of all that hinders the fulfilment of our true humanity and our discipleship of Jesus.  Please cleanse from failure and sin and renew us to continue our journey.  Where we have grown cold or complacent, revive the fire within us, to strengthen our resolve.  Where we are tired and over burdened, please grant us rest and release.

God of love, hear our prayer

Holy Spirit, Wisdom of God, Comforter in our sorrows, Counsellor in our confusion, Intercessor when words fail us, we implore you to present our prayers to the Living God in the name of Christ Jesus our eternal hope and salvation.  Amen.

(My congregation think our church is like 'The Apprentice' because I'm always giving them challenges!)

This weekend is our, now annual, Pentecost Party, a virtually free community outreach event, through which we have contact with anything up to 300 people and usually attract a few to the Sunday afternoon open air service. With a fraction of the 'staff' levels available for the Baptist Assembly event last weekend it is hard work with a capital 'H'; in fact, to be honest, all the letters should be capital.  My loyal team of workers include people well into their 80's and the youngest is me (look elsewhere on this blog to track down my age, but it's not especially young).  We will paint faces, serve cream teas, offer kiddies crafts, decorate plant pots and then plant them with flowers, supply a bouncy castle and outdoor games all for free.  There will Fairtrade gifts on sale and Fairtrade chocolate for free (Green & Black minis in tubs of 200 for £20 - fantastic give aways), handmade cards - and for the first time this year a pocket money tat stall selling off some of the leftovers from past events (plus a bit extra I bought this time!) at knock down prices and all proceeds going to charity.

On Sunday as the dust settles, we allow the 'post party flatness' to form a starting point for our service as we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit for always, for everyone.

At the moment, my dining room looks like, in the expression favoured by mother, 'Paddy's market', not really a good phrase with its racial under/overtones, but I don't know a better one.  Lengths of bunting, boxes of bubble mixture, goody bags, tubes of paint and dozens of plant pots hide my dining table.  There are still things to be done between now and Saturday, and I will once more wonder why I didn't buy a van last time I replaced my car, but it is a great opportunity for this little church, tired and tattered, to show this community something of the amazing God who inspires our living.  So, just need the weather to hold and all will be well...

Oh yes, and at the end of the task no one gets fired - just a bit more fired up, I hope.

At Assembly I attended an afternoon seminar where one woman said that her son, a drummer in their church's worship band, "prophesied with the drums."  Can anyone tell me what that means?  ... and how on earth (or heaven or the other place) anyone would know what was being prophesied.