So, it's finals time in BUGB-land, and unlike Eurovision, it is safe to say the being ".co.uk" does not guarantee nurl points.

It has been interesting to compare and contrast the sites - a few of which seem more like blogs to me - and then to vote for the one that I liked best.

What makes a good website?  I tried to imagine that I was looking for a church to go to, and the questions I'd want to find answers to.  So, for me, the number of clicks needed to get to service times, location, contact details and activities were more important than how many whizzy widgets were employed.  Colour schemes, font size/style, language, photos probably came next.  I was clear I wasn't looking for 'a church I'd like' rather than 'does the website help me to decide if this might be a church I'd like.'

My vote went to Minehead because their front page ticked all the boxes for me - a map, service times, quick links to the main activities, good colour scheme, uncluttered layout and suitable use of pictures.  The site is not perfect - a few links are circular - but for me it does what a church website needs to do, and it does it well.

On Sunday I'll find out what everyone else thought...

So, Vision Day Part Deux is done - I have a sore throat, sore feet and am ready to rest, but still have to type up the outcomes for circulation and approval...

We began the day with one of those daft exercises where you compare your church to other things and say why.

If Dibley BC was a colour it would be...

red because it's warm

blue because it's calm

grey with yellow spots because there are glimpses of it being on fire for Jesus (whatever that means!)

If Dibley BC was a TV programme it would be...

The Apprentice - because Catriona keeps setting us challenges

Ready. Steady , Cook because we do an awful lot of catering

If Dibley BC was an animal it would be...

A donkey, or a camel: designed by committee, beast of burden

A cat - soft and friendly

So there you have it - and for the remainder of the day I tried to make Alan Sugar jokes...

At the end of the day we set objectives under four headings

• Spiritual
• Administration
• Premises
• Community

It's not fair to the church to tell the world what we decided; suffice it to say no one wanted to be in the group handling admin.  In the end four people were allocated to the group and struggled to come up with anything concrete but we did eventually develop some sort of objective to take forward.

Only 16 people came along to the day, but they worked hard, laughed, cried, got cross, got over it, shared food and worshipped together.  I think we 'did church' today.  No one got fired, everyone got tired and I hope we were at least in some small measure inspired.  (And, for the record, the place where we met was hired!)

Someone once told me that middle age was when your narrow waist line and broad mind swapped places.  I have a feeling my middle aged spread operates on both levels, as I reckon I am far more broad minded now than I was twenty years ago, or maybe less certain anyway.

Today I received an email from someone loosely associated with church asking for help in thinking something through.  As I reflected on how far their own thinking has moved in 4-5 years, I also thought about how my own approach to thinking through complex things has changed.  At 45 my perspectives are far more tentative than they were at 25, and I am ever more reluctant to make any kind of pronouncements.  It's not that I don't still have deeply held convictions, I do, but perhaps the way they are held is different (I am reminded of John Hull's work in his book 'What Stops Christian Adults from Learning' which I found very enlightening when I read it a few years back).

Life was certainly easier when I could condemn as ungodly or unchristian those perspectives I disagreed with, and I know lots of people in lots of churches operate in such a way (wherever they sit on theological spectra) but in a bizarre kind of a way, I think I actually prefer the muddledness I now have, which makes me more, not less, dependent on the grace and mercy of a God beyond my comprehension.

I hope my person found my thoughts helpful.  I hope that I continue to wrestle with the issues that cross my path, and never return to a simplistic 'sorted' perspective.  I also hope that 'pastoral pragmatism' never becomes careless condonement.  To be muddled and mystified but authentic and honest seems to be an 'ok' place to be... at least for now!

PS It's not that being 45 is 'better' than being 25, or that the certainty of youth is wrong, it's something about being authentically who you are and not stagnating along the way.

Just for fun. 

In a couple of conversations I had today the following observations were made by the other people... and I managed to keep a straight face... just: -

"Even when I was at my biggest I had a flat tummy under the fat"  (Er, yeah, didn't/don't we all?)

On the statistics for car accidents... "women may have a lower number of accidents statistically but..." (um, sorry, either we have less or we don't...)

... the pastoral concerns part of the deacons' meeting includes the report of the deaths of two dogs.  It sounds ultra flippant, but it's not, these dogs were both pets in families for whom life is currently quite tough, and this was just one more blow to deal with.  Fortunately it seems the diaconal cats are both in good health, though a ten year old goldfish is evidently looking a bit iffy.  At least it made us all laugh and released some of the tension that inevitably arises as we work through the various pastoral concerns.

We didn't quite pray for 'Goldie' but I did just wonder if Alice was lurking somewhere in the background...