We met on Sunday in glorious sunshine, after a frosty night. We were warm and cosily wrapped up against the cold. The colours and the scenery were breathtaking.

As we looked around we noticed the newly refurbished roof inside the bandstand. No fund raising, no thermometer (well it would have registered near freezing anyway). What a lot we have to be thankful for!

And the theme for this morning …

GRATITUDE

graffiti of gratitude

After thinking of all the things we felt gratitude for we tattooed each other with the international symbol for gratitude. (Permanent marker!) So throughout the week we could be reminded about having an attitude of gratitude.

International symbol for gratitude

Sharing bread and wine with friends, sunshine, laughter, belonging to Third Space Community and a bit of art work – what a lot we have to be grateful for!

The wallpaper of gratitude!

Questions we considered in the pub tonight.

Topically we had a look at what we thought about the decision of Synod to shut the door of the house of Bishops to Women.

The question out of the hat read:

“Many Anglo-Catholics and evangelicals come here to represent their town tribal loyalty rather than the dioceses that they represent”. Tony Baldry, Conservative M.P. who speaks for the Church of England in parliament.

• Do you agree with Baldry?
• Has the C of E made itself a national embarrassment with the recent vote?
• Does this represent institutional sexism?
• Are those who voted against women bishops followers of Saint Paul or the Pope rather than Jesus?

also topical was;

“Can pay, do pay! We pay our taxes. Your money, your bookshop, your community, we pay our taxes“.

• What is the above all about?

Answers on a post card please.

Only joking it was Boris Johnson about the Occupy demonstration outside St. Paul’s last year. 

We met at the bandstand on a beautiful sunny, frosty autumn morning. The colours of the trees were resplendent in the sunshine.

Fran with her new pup

Relaxed old hand

We added to our numbers with an extra dog!

As it was the 11th November we had decided to lead quite a traditional Remembrance Day service.

This I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning.
Lamentations 3.21-23

Those who wait for the Lord shall renew
their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not grow faint. 
Isaiah 40.31

What does the Lord require of you
but to act justly, and to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6.8

We opened with part of a poem written by Alan Seeger, a soldier in the First World War who died at the Somme in 1916.

I have a rendezvous with Death

On some scarred slope or battered hill,

Remembering

When you go home
tell them of us and say,
for your tomorrow
we gave our today.

They shall not grow old,
as we that are left grow old;
age shall not weary them,
nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun
and in the morning,
we will remember them.

Two minutes silence …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

The wisdom from God is first pure, then
peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of
mercy and good fruits, without a trace of
partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of
righteousness is sown in peace for those
who make peace.
James 3:17-18

Some Help Here, Please!

By Warrant Officer Theodore Knell

Parachute Regiment

Hello God it’s me again.

I know I only call when I’m really in the shit

but at least you know you’re needed

and I’m not faking it.

I only call when it’s something really big,

well God today is one of those days.

I know you’re busy elsewhere

with other

more deserving lives to save

but you must have heard that bloody great bang

and seen the white plumes of our phosphorus  grenades

To say we’re outnumbered would be a bit  of a joke

the fire fight’s in full swing now

the air full of buzzing bullets

and thick with acrid smoke

I have two dead

and of the four that are left

two of us are carrying fresh wounds

so as you can see

we’re in well over our heads

I’ve spoken to base-

they’re on their way

but it could be some time

so it would be really good to get a  second opinion

as to whether I’ll live to fight another day

anyway God,

needs must

things to do and lives to take

thanks very much for listening

but I suspect the next time we talk

it could well be

face to face.

Prayers

Lord we bring before you for all who have
died in the violence of war, each one
remembered by and known to God.

We pray for all
who in bereavement, disability and pain
continue to suffer the consequences of
war and violence.

We remember with thanksgiving and sorrow
those whose lives,
in world wars and conflicts past and present,
have been taken away.

For the people who love them in death as in life.
For all members of the armed forces who
are in danger this day, remembering
family, friends and all who pray for their
safe return.

We pray for the wounded and the disturbed, the grieving and the homeless,
and for all who suffer due to war and conflict.

For women, and children and men
whose lives are disfigured by war and violence.
For peace-makers and peace-keepers, who
seek to keep this world secure and safe.

For those known to us who need Jesus now………..

God of truth and justice
hear our prayers for all who strive for peace,
and all who yearn for justice.
Help us, who today remember the cost of war,
to work for a better tomorrow; and as we honour the past, may we put our faith in your future.

Amen.

Always Loved – Never Forgotten

We had our own act of remembrance – thinking of those friends and loved ones we have lost. During another silence we wrote the names of those we wish to remember on tissue paper petals and then made poppies, which we will take away with us.

Bread and Wine of Remembrance

When the time was right, God sent Jesus to be among us.
Born into this life, seeing your grace revealed in all things,
he laughed with those who laughed, and mourned with those who mourned.
Through your love, he healed the sick, he welcomed the outcast, he challenged those in power,
and the structures that kept them there. And he called us back to your love.
In the power of the Holy Spirit,
the Christ laughs and cries,
heals and welcomes,
challenges and loves,
again and again and again.
We have been told that, on the night before he was taken to be
tortured to death on a cross, Jesus sat with his disciples,
and ate with them, in a meal of remembrance.
Jesus took a loaf of bread,
asked your blessing upon it, broke it,
and gave it to his disciples saying:
Take this – all of you – and eat it.
This is me. My Body. Given for you.
Each time you eat it, remember me.
Close to the meal’s end,
he took a cup filled with wine,
asked your blessing upon it,
and gave it to his disciples saying:
Take this – all of you – and drink it.
This is me. This is my promise in my life’s blood –
poured out for you and for the world.
Each time you drink it, remember me.
So we, his disciples,
eat bread and drink wine – and remember.

(from Richard Bott – Communion Liturgy for Advent.)

  We celebrated All Saints and All Souls days today. beginning with the words from Ecclesiasticus 44 which tells us to remember the famous but also to know that God remembers those we have forgotten – all lives count:

¹ Let us now praise famous men,

And our fathers that became the father of us.

⁷ All these were honoured in their generations,

And were a glory in their days.

⁹ And some there be, which have no memorial;

Who are perished as though they had not been,

¹⁰ But these were men of mercy,

And their glory shall not be blotted out. 

So we began by remembering and celebrating some saints who have gone before us…

Saint Therese of Lisieux – whose remains were visited by pilgrims across the country 3 years ago.  She reminded us that the kingdom of God grows by the little things that we do and that none of us is too insignificant to change the world for Christ. In living simply in community she inspires us to love and aspire to much in the simple things of life.

St. Francis of Assisi – who reminded us that all of creation shares its origins in our Creator – that everything God has made is our brother or sister – and who continues to challenge us today to nurture and protect the world that we live in.

St. Maximilian Kolbe – who hid and sheltered Jews at the time of the Holocaust , then ministered to others as a prisoner in Auschwitz, and eventually laid down his life in place of another who had been selected to die.  His suffering and sacrifice inspire us to live the hope that we share with him.

St. Teresa of Avila – who brought us words of enduring comfort for the journey  when she reminded us that nothing should disturb or frighten us, for all things are passing and God never changes.

St. Stephen – who was the first to lay down his life for his insistence that Jesus is Lord and whose costly payment has inspired and continues to inspire all persecuted for their faith.

St. Ignatius Loyola – who inspired us to use our imaginations in meditating on the Bible – and opened up all manner of opportunities for God to speak to so many of us causing untold celebration and changed lives.

 St. Aidan of Lindisfarne – who, as a boy, threw the washed up starfish from the beach into the sea after a night of fierce storms.  When challenged that he was making almost no difference for the vast numbers of starfish dying, he replied that it had made a difference to the ones that he did rescue. He inspires us to make a difference and we remember him with thanks for creating the monastery on Holy Island and for being so significant in the cleansing Celtic Christian revival in England.

St. Thomas – whose shortcomings and failures and initial scepticism gave way to the powerful affirmation of Christ’s resurrection and inspirational statement of faith ‘My Lord and my God’

Martin Luther King – who led the peaceful protests that overturned the racial divide in the southern United States and reminds us of the power of non-violent resistance and of the possibility of resurrection wherever there is the seeming of triumph of evil.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer – who believed in the face of evil, in a better way and who displayed so much courage in opposing the Nazi regime.  He inspires so many today through his writings and example and his wrestling for justice and integrity.

Helder Camara – who refused to be quiet but spoke out on behalf of the oppressed and denounced the corruption of the powerful to the point of giving up his life for the values of the kingdom.  He inspires us to continue to be Christ’s voice for justice.

Brother Lawrence – the monk who learnt how to find God in the busyness of the day and in the mundane washing of pots and pans.  He reminds us that we don’t need more time for prayer, but that we can meet with God in the now of any part of our day. He speaks to us of integration in our lives.

Mother Teresa – who stooped to serve the lowest of the low and the poorest of the poor, inspiring the world with he words of wisdom and love, despite years of spiritual doubt and uncertainty. She speaks to us of service of the highest cost.

The writer to the Hebrews reminded us:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.                                                                                                                                                        Hebrews 12:1-3

We considered what purpose the two days had for us today and reflected that we see things through the distortion of time, but that there is a greater reality in terms of eternity. This is our hope and our comfort, our challenge and our inspiration.

Walk to the beech tree:

We read the poem below and made it our own naming to God all those who we were remembering, who have inspired our faith and had a part to play in our journey. We included those people in our walking through leaves, by the river. Giving thanks for each one.

All Souls’ Day

Let’s go our old way

by the stream, and kick the leaves

as we always did, to make

the rhythm of breaking waves.

This day draws no breath – 

shows no colour anywhere

 except for the leaves – in their death

 brilliant as never before.

Yellow of Brimstone Butterfly,

 brown of Oak Eggar Moth – 

you’d say. And I’d be wondering why

 a summer never seems lost

if two have been together 

witnessing the variousness of light,

 and the same two in lustreless November

 enter the year’s night…

The slow-worm stream – how still! 

Above that spider’s unguarded door, 

look – dull pearls…Time’s full,

 brimming, can hold no more.

Next moment (we well know,

 my darling, you and I) 

what the small day cannot hold

must spill into eternity.

So perhaps we should move cat-soft 

meanwhile, and leave everything unsaid, 

until no shadow of risk can be left 

of disturbing the scatheless dead.

Ah, but you were always leaf-light. 

And you so seldom talk 

as we go. But there at my side 

through the bright leaves you walk.

And yet – touch my hand 

that I may be quite without fear,

 for it seems as if a mist descends, 

and the leaves where you walk do not stir.

Frances Bellerby.

At the beech tree:

An African tradition is to toast ancestors by pouring a drink onto the ground.

We poured out a little wine as toast to those who had gone before us who we love and give thanks for, saying:

To our fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters in Christ

ALL:        We thank you!

Soul cakes prayer time:

A great way to pray!

On All Souls’ Day in times past, children begged for and received “soul cakes”. The cakes were given in return for prayers for the donor’s soul:

“A soul-cake; a soul-cake, have mercy on all Christian souls, for a soul-cake.”

This is said to have led to the trick or treating tradition, which originally carried connotations of being an opportunity to pray for one’s neighbour!

We ate soul cakes and made each mouthful a prayer for all those known to us – our neighbours – who are struggling with bereavement and ill-health.

We then finished with Steve’s words written for under the branches of the huge weeping beech – reminding us once again of our interconnectedness…

Intertwined

Divine Entanglement with Bread and Wine

Look up, all around, entangled and surrounded, mind-blowingly all enveloping – God’s breathing, God’s love sweeping down and curling around.

Acknowledged blessing and unacknowledged blessing, love noticed and unnoticed, blessings overt and covert. Incidences and coincidences and God-incidences too complex for us to sort through and untangle. We are caught – in the web. God behind us, God in us, God before us.

Surrounded and enveloped by God’s care, those blessings obvious to us now and those blessings only to be known about in the future and those blessings perhaps never to be known by us.

God at work in us and in those around us and in those we love and in those we despair of. God’s love touching us, our ground, our lives through His humanity and love incarnated in Jesus.

We are surrounded in our space and time by roots, by branches, by leaves, by this living and growing 360 degree, multi dimensional, 24/7, God who loves. We are not tree hugging, but we are God- hugged.

And so while we are still indifferent, ignorant, hostile, unblissfully unaware, God loves us and in our hands we hold the bread and wine which expresses, encapsulates and enfleshes that Jesus love.

So why us? Why are we invited to this banquet under this umbrella of God’s love? Because we deserve it, merit it, lead good lives and have good theology? No, because God loves because he loves because he loves….

And so together as one body within God’s enveloping, connected with the worldwide family, we eat bread.

And so together as one body within God’s enveloping, connected with the worldwide family, we drink wine.

And so we have communed with God in this banquet but we do not now take our leave of Him. These roots and branches encircle and will not let us go even though we depart from this holy ground. He goes before us, marks our steps and our way.

And so we pray for all:

May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore.

AMEN!

Thanks  to all for this time together – it felt special – as ever!

We noticed a real change in the park this morning, autumn colours and mists were in evidence. Just the right time to celebrate harvest.

Since pagan times there has been a festival to celebrate the first fruits of the harvest and, as with many ancient festivals the Christian church adapted and adopted it making it their own. Traditionally it was in August (well the harvest is very late this year!). Lammas day or loaf mass day marked the beginning of the harvest season, the ripening of first fruits, and the first wheat harvest of the year. On this day it was customary to bring to church a loaf made from the new crop.

So we had some home baked bread and as it turned out we had no need of breakfast this morning.

For the promise of harvest
contained within a seed
we thank you.
For the oak tree                
within an acorn
The bread
within a grain
The apple
within a pip
The mystery of nature
gift wrapped
for us to sow
we thank you

http://www.faithandworship.co.uk/Praying_through_the_Celtic_Year.htm#ixzz276vl6iQN

We chewed on our first piece of bread, whilst walking slowly around the bandstand taking in the beauty of the autumn morning and thanking God for his provision for us.

Taking another piece of bread we remembered those who do not have the provision of basic food because of war, famine or natural disaster

We took oil from Palestine remembering it was an area of continuing conflict, hostility and oppression. We prayed for all those who find themselves in situations of hostility, oppression or conflict.

We prayed for those we know who are in need.

Why did we use the oil? – It has been used symbolically in many ways by both Jews and Christians over the years. Oil is mentioned in many contexts in the bible.

You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.” Psalm 23:5b

The Psalmist David knew about shepherding sheep. At the end of the day it was customary for the shepherd to station himself at the door of the sheepfold, where he would examine each sheep as it passed. He would especially examine the head for injuries. When he noticed a sheep with an injury on the head, he would pour a little oil on the wound, thus anointing it. The oil had healing properties, and the sheep would soon be well again.

The oil lamp in Jewish Scriptures most often symbolizes God lighting the way for his people.

Christians used oil in lamps to represent Jesus the Light of the World

Oil is used for anointing for healing, light, the bible talks about the oil of joy and oil of gladness.

Oil also symbolises the Holy Spirit – OT prophets, priests and kings were anointed on the head with oil and this act symbolised the setting apart of the individual for special service. David was anointed as king several times during his life time.

Jesus refers to his special commissioning when he says;

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed. . . .” (Luke 4:18)

Instead of anointing our heads with oil we anointed the bread and shared it with one another saying:

Name ……the Spirit of the Lord is upon you – you are set apart for a special purpose within the Kingdom of God.

The next piece of bread was used for our customary sharing of bread and wine – what other liturgy could we use for this but our Companions Liturgy.

Take a question out of the hat – discuss – it could sound like an exam question, but over a drink at the pub – well – stimulating, enlightening, informative and fun!

Is it always wrong to tell lies?

Should there be an “opt out” rather than an “opt in” policy for organ donation, meaning that more organs are available for transplant?

What is the most effective source of renewable energy in your opinion?

Is the Protestant Work Ethic from God or from man?

As a Christian what question do you hope you will never be asked?

How do you feel about the recent case of the maths teacher and the 15 year old girl who went off together to France?

Time ran out, we didn’t have to agree, we didn’t find all the answers, but the discussion and fellowship was good.

Our morning began with Steve reading the Genesis 1 creation account. This was the first time I can recall hearing that, whilst looking at the park, trees, sky and hills, imagining each part of the landscape being filled in, day by day (even down to the dog being walked as we were hearing about the 6^th day!). The benefit of worshipping in the open air was yet again breath-taking.

Steve then led us with these words:

We are jointly and generally, specifically and individually co-missioned, sent, charged and entrusted.

We take Jesus wherever we go and we represent Him to those we meet. This is a privilege and a responsibility. May our innermost thoughts and values, our words and our actions point to our Servant-Master Jesus!

As ThirdSpace we are co-missioned. Missioned together, sent out to work for the Kingdom inaugurated in Jesus…in Matlock…at this time…

As individuals we are called to our home and work places to build the Kingdom Jesus inaugurated…at this time…

Jesus had his Kingdom mission summarised in this “manifesto”:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” Luke 4v.18-19

In response to those words, we were invited to reflect on ourselves, considering the questions:

To what are you called? Who commissions you? To whom are you accountable? Where is your support and resourcing?

To what are we called? Who commissions us? To whom are we accountable? Where is our support and resourcing?

We filled in sheets, detailing where when and how we were called to serve Jesus. This was then read aloud, whilst Steve poured water over the person’s hands (or in Paul’s case – the head!) in the format of

We anoint you (Name) to serve Jesus (adding the details here) May you know God’s leading, Jesus beside you and the Spirit within!      AMEN!

We then turned to bread and wine. Steve had also written new words for this:

CO-MISSIONING WITH BREAD AND WINE

L: We acknowledge our need of our God in Jesus. We are empty and bereft without Him. We vainly struggle to live by our own standards let alone His values. We acknowledge our need for forgiveness and restoration.

ALL: Feed us now so that we might be sent.

L: We thank you that on the night before you died, you fed your disciples with bread and wine.

ALL: Feed us now so that we might be sent.

L: We thank you that through your sacrifice which we now remember, you restore us in relationship with our Creator God.

ALL: Feed us now so that we might be sent.

L: We thank you that the meal you gave to them and now to us pre-figures the celebration banquet in the Kingdom realised.

ALL: Feed us now so that we might be sent.

L: May this bread-of-Jesus-incarnated sustain us.

ALL: The Bread of our Lord!

L: May this wine-of-Jesus-slain sustain us.

ALL: The Wine of our Lord!

ALL:  Now Lord send us out! We have been fed by you; we are co-missioned by you, and now we go with your Holy Spirit’s fire. AMEN!

An inspiring theme and start to the week. Brilliant!

This week we were on a canal boat – a trip auctioned and won by us in a blind bid for the teenage unit of Weston Park Children’s Cancer Hospital in Sheffield. It was a fun time together, with much laughter particularly when we got stuck in the overgrown weed and needed rescuing by canal buffs who acted a tow-horses! We enjoyed brunch and Bucks fizz, but it was our time of worship together that was better than anything!

Different folk brought a contribution. How is it that when we do that there seems the most extraordinary overlap? Grayden began with a reading which resonated with our experience as we travelled along the canal, surrounded by greenery and rapidly changing skies:

Genesis 2:15, The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden….. to work it and take care of it.

Creation is all things and us. It is you and me in relationship with all things. All things, the ones we see and the ones we do not; the whirling galaxies and the element-creating stars. This wonderful, beautiful, water-filled, life-giving Earth. The blue sky, and the grey clouds, sunshine and rain. The mountains and hills, valleys and plains. Surging rivers, still lakes and the restless seas.  Micro-organisms, towering trees, waving grasses, and vivid, multicoloured blooms. All the diverse, myriad, teeming, living creatures that share the Earth with us.  And all humanity and their children, and their children, and their children, and all who will live on this planet after us, and all who have gone before us.

Rev. 4: 11. You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things……

Rev. 22, 1-2. Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life………. and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

Rev. 21: 5. Then he who was seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!”

Frances  reminded us that in the summer we had spoken about the story of the woman anointing Jesus’ feet with nard. She had some in an aromatherapy bottle and passed it around. We all smelled it and put a little on the back of our hands. It was overpowering! No wonder it says that the aroma filled the house – it certainly filled the boat! It was a symbol of thanksgiving and love and the boat was full of it! And what blew us away is that we were smelling exactly what Jesus smelled then. Wonderful.

Wend shared a poem and thoughts from having discovered poems by Michael Mitton (our friend who likened us to the Celtic saints setting out in their coracles). Jonny Baker has included  one of them in his blog and had a link to Michael’s page of poems – which are glorious! The poem about
Brendan really seemed appropriate with us setting off on our boat for the morning.

This is the poem:

Dear God

Brendan was as mad as a bear with toothache

But it was a madness you loved

And you took hold of that old bear

And threw him out to sea

‘Til he returned to land with such a wild tale

That even the priests laughed themselves silly.

The people danced in the surf of Bantry Bay

And a thousand coracles set sail

Into the bright breeze of your Spirit.

O Lord madden me by that same Spirit

Bring on the God-blessed flights of fancy

Inebriate me with Holy Ghost visions

And set me free to behold with the eyes of my heart

Great wonders on the high seas of God.

With the image resonant of us in ThirdSpace, we contemplated where God might be sending us next – as a community as well as individually. Oh to be open to being blown by the Spiriit and finding ourselves in the place where God wants us, to be inebriated with vision…

Michele had a similar and overlapping theme with writings from Sister Sid about the difference between success and fruitfulness and how we might live well, which was very inspiring again.

Barbara led us in prayer, using a net into which we tied ribbons representing our prayers for ourselves and ThirdSpace. The net reminded us how we are all connected – it was a powerful and appropriate image.

We finished with bread and wine, using a liturgy we’ve used before written by Steve:

Divine Entanglement with Bread and Wine

Look up, all around, entangled and surrounded, mind-blowingly all enveloping – God’s breathing, God’s love sweeping down and curling around.

Acknowledged blessing and unacknowledged blessing, love noticed and unnoticed, blessings overt and covert. Incidences and coincidences and God-incidences too complex for us to sort through and untangle. We are caught – in the web. God behind us, God in us, God before us.

Surrounded and enveloped by God’s care, those blessings obvious to us now and those blessings only to be known about in the future and those blessings perhaps never to be known by us.

God at work in us and in those around us and in those we love and in those we despair of. God’s love touching us, our ground, our lives through His humanity and love incarnated in Jesus.

We are surrounded in our space and time by roots, by branches, by leaves, by this living and growing 360 degree, multi-dimensional, 24/7, God who loves. We are not tree hugging, but we are God- hugged.

And so while we are still indifferent, ignorant, hostile, unblissfully unaware, God loves us and in our hands we hold the bread and wine which expresses, encapsulates and enfleshes that Jesus love.

So why us? Why are we invited to this banquet under this umbrella of God’s love? Because we deserve it, merit it, lead good lives and have good theology? No, because God loves because he loves because he loves….

And so together as one body within God’s enveloping, connected with the worldwide family, we eat bread.

And so together as one body within God’s enveloping, connected with the worldwide family, we drink wine.

And so we have communed with God in this banquet but we do not now take our leave of Him. These roots and branches encircle and will not let us go even though we depart from this holy ground. He goes before us, marks our steps and our way.

And so we pray for all:

May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore.

AMEN!

Wonderful, wonderful, evocative, poignant, challenging, fun, uplifting – what more could anyone ask for? Thank you all.

Don’t know about you, but holidays always seem to be a time for me to reflect, re-asses, re-configure. I won’t bore you with the ‘no-doubt soon to be broken’ resolutions I’ve made, but did think a conversation starter on what we’re finding helpful, challenging, reading,   watching etc might be interesting. so here’s a few….
This fragile tent  blog is really good stuff…Chris Goan writes so well and he writes with honesty…check out his blog on ‘significance’. The faith community he is part of strikes me as very similar to Third Space but just a bit further down the line…would be nice to get together but we’re just a wee bit far way. In the light of the post-Olympic discussions all over the media,  Ian Adams asks the question What is the inspiring legacy you want to pass on to your friends and family…. your spirit and values?…now there’s a question and a half…and one which may require a good bottle of wine or two to get to the bottom of, but I found it interesting to keep Chris and Ian’s comments in tension.

If you’re looking for a non-blockbuster, non-super hero film to watch, you might want to have a squint at “The Way’ – Martin Sheen plays  an American doctor who comes to St. Jean Pied de Port, France to collect the remains of his adult son, killed in the Pyrenees in a storm while walking The Camino de Santiago. It sometimes wanders into cheesiness, but I felt better for watching it, in contrast to what is  too often the case, regretting wasting another hour and a half of my life watching bilge.

As to reading, despite it being on the topseller list ( and NO- it is Not 50 shades….!) I’m reading “Before I go to sleep” and I can’t make up my mind whether it really is good, or so blindingly obvious it’s terrible….it does raise some interesting thoughts about how memories shape and define us…maybe another pub discussion for the autumn..

Anyway, enough ramblings from me..now it’s your turn.