Had our first of a very quickly cobbled together Alpha evening on Thursday. Hosted in a beautiful home and on a beautiful evening, so we started by sitting outside in the courtyard with a gin and tonic and smoked salmon. Good way to start a course, in my book.
Alpha is aimed at young, non-church people and this small group is old, church people, so I felt there was leeway for adaptation. The adaptation consisted in me summarising the rather long-winded material and us all getting down to discussion over food.
We continued in the dining room with wine and pizza, also very good! The topic was ‘Who is Jesus?’ which might be challenging for non-church people but which was less than challenging for this group. So the discussion hived off in many different directions and we had quite a good set-to over how Jesus could possibly be fully and completely human as well as fully and completely divine.
We don’t meet again for a week, but then the topic will be ‘Why did Jesus die?’ which I think should be quite interesting. Hopefully many different theories will emerge which should make us all think.
Took a baptism today in my smallest (and closed) church. There is just Frenze Hall (where the baptism family live), a few farm cottages and Frenze Church, in the farmyard. Yes, literally. When Olly Cromwell’s men came rampaging through this quiet English countryside around 400 years ago, destroying all the treasures in English churches as being too ‘popish’, the few people of Frenze covered the altar in the church with hay and wheeled in the cattle. They proclaimed it a barn and it was left entirely untouched. Or so the story goes. It’s certainly full of ancient artefacts – a three storey pulpit, boxed pews, a font from around 1200, etc. etc.
Great fun.
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Drove to the Cathedral yesterday morning, for a College of Canons meeting. As it was my last meeting with the exalted status of Canon (no, not the sort you park on the front lawn. The churchy kind) I particularly wanted to be there.
Arrived in good time to robe ready for the Eucharist, only to find I was alone. No-one else was there.
‘Uh-oh,’ I thought (being the quick-witted type), ‘perhaps I’ve got the time wrong.’
But on checking my diary I found that I hadn’t got the time wrong, just the day! The meeting is next Tuesday. So I drove home feeling somewhat peeved with myself, a peevishness which increased dramatically when the car radio refused to switch on, however much I bashed it. (When Ed tried it this morning it responded first time. Doesn’t that make you want to spit?)
Did two Home Communions in the afternoon and was delighted that 97-year-old Mollie is again feeling well enough to make the tea. The tea ritual at the end of the short service is vital, you understand. Either she was feeling better, or the tea I made was so awful she couldn’t stand it any longer…
Had a baptism visit in the evening, but had to ring from the car on my mobile phone to find out where this young family lived. You’d think in a village with one street that even I could find ‘Hall Bungalow’, but no. I was stumped.
“Oh,” she said (laughing), “you go through the big iron gates marked ‘Private – keep out’, drive for about a mile until you reach the big hall, then turn left. Our bungalow is the last one there.”
It also turned out to be the only one there, some twenty minutes later.
Got home eventually to receive another telephone call from a couple whose child I’m baptising on Sunday week.
“We had a meeting tonight,” they said, “but you didn’t come…”
Oh well. Put it all down to jet lag, mental aberrations or senility. Not necessarily in that order.
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Drove to the Cathedral yesterday morning for a College of Canons meeting. As I’m retiring in August, this would be my last meeting with the exalted status of Canon, so wanted to make sure I was there. (Become a Canon Emeritus after retirement, which is a poncy way of saying ‘old’.)
I was certainly there, arriving in plenty of time to robe for the Eucharist, but found myself alone. Nobody else was there. It clicked the first warning signal in my tiny brain. The second warning signal came when I checked my diary to see whether I’d got the time wrong. No, just the wrong day. The meeting is next Tuesday. So I drove home again slightly peeved with myself and even more peeved when the car radio refused to respond. (Strangely, it went on immediately this morning when Ed tried it. Isn’t that irritating?)
Took Home Communion to two of the elderly housebound in the afternoon and was pleased that Mollie aged 97 was now feeling fit enough to make the ritual cup of tea after the short service. She had a lengthy spell in hospital and at the last two visits, it was me making the tea. Of course, it may not be that she’s feeling better, but simply that she couldn’t stand my tea any longer. We shall never know.
Bit thin on the ground at all six of our churches yesterday, it being a Bank Holiday weekend with the sun shining. This is so rare in the UK that the world and his wife flock out in their cars to join streams of traffic heading towards the coast. You can see the attraction.
Still, got asked to run an Alpha course. we ran several in the benefice some years ago, but in villages it doesn’t take long to use up all the likely recruits, so it was quite refreshing to have a request to start a new one. It’s all a bit rushed as the asker will be away from the beginning of July until September, but at least we can start, hopefully this week. The asker is willing to host it, provide a meal and recruit any passer-by on two legs, so all I have to do is run it, which should be fun. I do enjoy a good religious discussion, especially with people who have lots of questions and refuse to take anything at face value. At least, I think I do. Will let you know after the first evening!
Another glorious summer’s day today, so it being a Bank Holiday (and having no food in the fridge on account of just returning from holiday), Ed and I are going to walk to the Garden Centre, browse amongst the leisure goods and have lunch in the café.
May not sound like much, but we simple folks enjoy our simple pleasures!
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We’re back from Singapore after a brilliant couple of weeks. And yes, you who told me to take an umbrella were quite right. As you had clearly noted, it doesn’t just rain but precipitates monsoon proportions for a short while, then clears again. Actually, the rain was a relief from the sometimes stifling humidity.
For shopaholics, Singapore is the place to be. I’ve never seen anything like the gigantic wall-to-wall shopping malls, all with their air-conditioning (thank you, God), fountains and escalators. We did indulge in some made-to-measure gear in pure silk. Well, you have to, don’t you?
The highlights were Singapore Zoo and Night Safari, the Jurong Bird Garden and a free concert by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in the Botanical Gardens. That was magic, especially as they dished out free fans and free water as well.
Friendly people, a public transport system second to none, food halls galore serving every dish imaginable, China Town, Little India and of course, Mustafas, made it an experience to remember. Although the crush in Mustafas basement (bargain floor) was so unbearable I’d never want to repeat it! Got a couple of half-way decent tops, though.
But it’s good to be home. Stepping off at Heathrow at 6.00am into crisp English sunshine was like experiencing real-life air-conditioning. Fantastic. Who’d want to live anywhere else??
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