New Kid on the Blog

It has been quite a couple of days - just one of those 'meeting to service to meeting to visit to meeting to service to service' kind of thing.  But three things have all coalesced and my thinkings have all come together in a way that seemed to me complementary. Firstly I had the privilege of presiding and speaking again at the 12-step Eucharist which is offered by Christ Church Cathedra l, Victoria.  The Gospel reading for the day and the structure of the service seemed to me (strangely in the case of the lectionary, as you will see if you follow the link) to speak to Grace, even in Jesus' Critique of the religious leaders of the day.  Then we had a wonderful celebration of New Ministry at the Induction of Bruce Bryant-Scott here in Victoria which had a sense of joy and liberation about it which made the whole evening (despite being at the end of a long day) feel very positive.  Then I was preaching and presiding again at our early Eucharist, which remembered ...

We don't always wrap ourselves in knots trying to keep things trad!  Sometimes we have a service such as this morning at which the Chuppets (Honiton Community Church Puppets) presented the parable of the sower, and kept us both thought-provoked and amused with their presentation.,  The music group, of which I was a part as our fantastic Curate Kate was on leading duties, did well and the worship was both lively and worshipful, we had a good number of children as well as a full mix of all ages. For me the highlight was leading all these folk in doing the actions for this song... That was fun!  Altogether a very enjoyable morning - our Big Bible week off with a bang!

Some of the Parishes in the Mission Community have decided to stick with the very traditional (and very long) nine lessons and carols, though two have decided to go for a shorter version of the service with a talk included (still about 20/30 mins less than other version so a sermon in the trad version is probably too much and I will forgo a talk!). Here's the talk I did last night, I may use it again tomorrow at the other church which has gone for a pruned down version of the lessons and carols! Christmas Carols 2008 Turn away from the lights Many of you will know that i am a biker. I do like motorbikes, and take the opportunity to ride whenever i can – and I’m not one of these fairweather bikers, oh no, I will ride wherever and whenever, whatever the weather. And today I got to ride my bike for a couple of hours, which has topped me up, fix wise, for a few days, though you will all, I am sure, be pleased to know that I am riding extra carefully due to the slippery roads at the m...