Why Meester Bond, I've been expecting you...

***Warning - Very limited metaphor approaching - take cover***

Last week I was away on the Good Book Company's Bible Centred Youthworker conference. I go every year, and every year it's excellent. I suppose I could write a review of the whole thing, but that's not what this is about.

We were looking at Romans 8 in quite some detail, including looking at what it means to battle sin throughout our lives. This morning, I got to thinking (I really must stop doing that) about what it means to battle against something when the fight has already been decisively won, and that's when I realised: it's all about James Bond.

What's the one thing you know for certain when you watch any Bond film?

You know that Bond will live (spoiler alert).

In old Bond, the fight scenes included a few well thrown punches and perhaps a little light peril, but that would be soon followed up by a shucking of the cuffs and a throw-away remark. Old Bond breezed into and out of his fights like they were nothing.

If we think of the Christian life and the battle with sin like this, we're going to end up feeling pretty rubbish and under par, perhaps even start to feel like giving up.

I think we're more like new Bond: blonder, bigger, fitter...

Actually no, I think we're like new Bond because when he gets into a fight, it hurts. He ends up battered, bruised and bloodied, hospitalised and on the point of death, even, but he's still Bond, he still survives. The outcome is certain, so the battle is unpleasant for certain, but assured.

We don't battle sin daily in the hope of a particular outcome, but in the certain knowledge of it.

I think sometimes we need to be better at acknowledging the war wounds we get.

But don't forget, Mish Moneypenny, Bond always lives.

Known unknowns?

This post is written less as a response and more as a tangent or corollary to a post from Si of The Alethiophile which you can find in full here. In his post he was explaining and expounding a tweet which had caused a few people, myself included, to raise an eyebrow. It's an interesting, thought-provoking and well-argued piece (we expect little else from our favourite mouse), and it got me thinking; a dangerous business if ever there was one. I'm not planning to tackle exactly the same topic, though I wouldn't be surprised if there ends up being a degree of overlap.

A friend of mine wrote a blog post recently which referred to a Bible class he attended. Rather than summarise it, I shall quote the paragraph wholesale:

"This came up at a monthly bible school I have recently started attending at the church I’ve settled at after having moved house last year. The overall discussion was about the Magi, with a significant portion devoted to whether or not they were Zoroastrians. The point at this stage in the discussion had been about Jewish eschatology and how a good many intelligent people had ideas about how and when the Messiah would come, but what actually happened, even though it fitted up with the Old Testament prophecies, still came rather unexpectedly. Therefore, though we have a wealth of ideas about christian eschatology, ideas of heaven, hell, resurrection and annihilation, it might well turn that we have all got a little bit right most mostly wrong, and that what we expect will be radically confounded."

In the interests of full disclosure, I should say that had I been present I would have found spending a session discussing whether the Magi were Zoroastrians incredibly frustrating: I prefer my Bible classes to feed more directly into the world of exposition, rather than pondering apparent imponderables. That said, it's given rise to some useful thought, so, everyone's a winner!

In my after school group for 11-14s we are working our way through John's gospel, and this week we were in chapter 10. The group are really getting to grips with it, and were baffled that God's historic people couldn't see the Messiah when he was right in front of them. The response that John is calling for in his gospel is for us to not make the same mistake, and to put our faith in Jesus as the Christ, and so have life.

The question I want to ponder in my untrained, ham-fisted fashion is this:

What are the chances that our reading of the Bible is as wrong as the first century Jews' seems to be in the gospel accounts?

To do so, I want to take a brief look at two passages from the New Testament.

From Hebrews 1, I want to spend a moment looking at what the Bible says about how God speaks, and whether that has changed since Old Testament times.*
From Ephesians 2 I want to look at how we listen, and whether that has changed.

God Speaks

The opening words of the letter to the Hebrews tells us that

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son. (Heb 1.1-2)

God has chosen over the course of salvation history to speak to his people in a variety of ways: burning bushes, overly chatty livestock, prophets, you name it. God would speak to his people typically through a mediator, leader or prophet, who would pass the message on for him as it were.
Those days, according to Hebrews, are gone. That is how God used to speak, but at the incarnation things changed: Jesus revealed the Father, he spoke to us about who he is and how we can be in relationship with him.
The gospel of Jesus - the good news about who he is and why he came - have been committed to paper, under the guidance and overall authorship of the spirit, so that now when we read our Bible, God speaks to us directly. This is an immense blessing and a privilege, and one that is only possible because of the atoning work of Jesus on the cross.

We Listen

In Ephesians Paul tells us that

And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

There are so many places in the New Testament I could have gone to, but I'm quite familiar with Ephesians, so I stayed on ground I know.

In the Old Testament, it seems that God sent his Spirit on people at certain times for certain things. The Judges often acted to rescue and defend God's people in a state of temporary-Spirit-filledness. The Spirit was sent on Saul, and later removed again. The prophets looked forward to one on whom the Spirit would come and stay [sorry, no citation - my brain's on a go-slow].
That Spirit-filled leader (spoiler alert) was Jesus. He came, he lived and worked in the power of the Spirit, and when he left, he sent his Spirit on his followers, and that Spirit lives in us, not as a temporary resident who might pop off, but as a seal, guaranteeing our inheritance.

So the same Spirit who oversaw the writing and compiling of the Bible is the same Spirit who lives in us. That does make it sound easier, doesn't it - having the author constantly on hand to help us understand what we read?


Now of course, we are finite and sinful human beings: we misread, misunderstand and misapply the Bible left, right and centre. We cannot fit all the magnificence of the Bible into our tiny hearts and minds (or is this just me?) There are limits to what we can know, and "know" is a sliding scale.

But there is plenty we can know with confidence. We have a God who has given us his Word which is able to make us wise for salvation. We can't know everything, but we can know enough to be right with God. I'm confident that thanks to the Spirit both speaking and helping us to listen, we (those who believe in Jesus) have more than enough to not end up on the outside.


It's worth re-iterating: I have next to no formal Bible training, certainly nothing that comes with a piece of paper to show for it, and I could very well be wrong.
If you have a comment, are able to express these things better or would like to put forward a dissenting view, please do, but play nicely, OK?


*I've been reading Guidance and the Voice of God by Payne & Jensen which has been invaluable with this. There will be a review coming soon here.

Reading challenge, 2014

Goodness me, it's been quiet in here, hasn't it?

I've given in and started the new year with something that approaches a resolution: it's a challenge. As a side bar, I feel like putting a sign on my back when I go running which says, "not a new runner!" Oh the shameful pride.

Any who, the challenge I have set myself was inspired by someone I know who read about 45 books in 2013 (he blogs here): my challenge is one to get me reading. I have two very bad reading habits: buying books and then not reading them, and starting books and then not finishing them. The first applies more to Christian books and the second more to novels, but I have my moments.

I'm poor at reading Christian books because, well, I've never been any good at reading things that are there for my benefit: text books, improving Christian works, the Bible... But I buy them because I know I should read them. It can be an expensive habit.

Starting novels and then not finishing them comes mostly out of not being grabbed by a book. If I get into a book I can barely be separated from it until it's done. I think many of the works I've abandoned had nothing wrong with them, I just never finished them. I could say something about not being a completer-finisher at this point, but I don't want to depress myself.

So I've chosen two books for each month of 2014: one Christian, and one not, so that my bookshelves can be a little less guilt-inducing towards the end of the year. It should also do marvels for that post-book anxiety that kicks in when you have to work out what you want to read next (am I the only one who suffers with that?)

So here, in all its glory, is the plan:

January
Grimm Tales by Philip Pullman
An easy start: I was ambushed by this in Waterstones in the run up to Christmas and am half way through it. I love fairy tales for all sorts of reasons, and this is proving a real pleasure. It's a bit of a cheaty way to begin (i.e. half way though!), but it would be a shame to start the year by abandoning yet another book.
Guidance and the Voice of God by Jensen and Payne
I have no idea how long this has sat on my shelves, but my rather aimless approach to life might have something to do with the fact it remains unread.

February
The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke
Lent to me by a friend last year, this is a collection of short stories that are midway between fairy tales and Jane Austen. Confession time: it's only collected dust since it made it into my house.
Joined Up by Danny Brierley
I don't have high hopes for this book, but youth work theory is often interesting. It's been on my shelf glaring at me for a good ten years now. I'm anticipating being a bit frustrated by some of the ideas, but 1. I could be wrong and 2. even if I'm not, I'm sure I'll learn something if only in opposite terms.

March
Disciplines of a Godly Woman by Barbara Hughes
The fact I have books I've owned for 10 years and not read tells you all you need to know about why I need this book. I'm expecting Americanisms ahoy, but usefulness in bucket loads. Given everything that I have to squeeze into April, this book can't come too soon.
Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh
Ghosh's The Glass Palace was one of my favourite reads of a year or two ago, and was a story that stayed with me. I bought this and keep putting off reading it for reasons I can't fathom. I might be worried it can't live up to its predecessor. There are boats and opium, that's all I know.

April
April is a very busy month in 2014 with Passion for life, Easter, Word Alive and my 5th wedding anniversary (already!), so I've gone for some shorter ones.
True Worship by Vaughan Roberts
It's Vaughan Roberts, what more could I want? Rightly connecting Sunday mornings to the rest of the week is no easier when you work in a church, so I look forward to this.
The Invisible Man by HG Wells
I love a bit of sci-fi, and this is a classic. I got a few chapters in before being distracted by sparkly lights or something.

May
Selected Writings of John Calvin
I know quite a lot about Calvin, but have read very little directly from the man himself. I remember reading bits of this book, but certainly not all of it.
Titus Alone by Mervyn Peake
The BBC's 2000 version of the first two books from the Gormenghast Trilogy was my introduction to Mervyn Peake. I bought this trilogy, read the first two but stumbled over the third: the change of location was troublesome to me (I had the same difficulty with the closing pages of Tess of the D'Urbervilles). I'm hoping to get on better with it this time.

June
The Cross from a Distance by Peter G Bolt
I think I've flicked through this, but never really even tried to read it properly. I love a good Bible overview type book, and I'm hoping to find this in-depth and challenging.
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
I bought a penguin classics compendium for Hubby, and after a while I started on this. It has ingredients I like in a book: multiple plot lines and a reasonably long time frame. I think it's time to give her another go.

July
The Enemy Within by Kris Lundgaard
All about holiness and fighting the battle with sin, I bought this book which draws on works by John Owen, a couple of years ago (come to think of it, make it at least 5 years ago...) I think it's time that the battle with sin got serious. Definitely going to be a highlighter pens job.
The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum
Love the film, love other books he's written, gave up on this. I think now I better know what to expect (the 1970s, for instance), I'll get on with it a bit better.

August
Think by John Piper

I've often struggled to work out how being brainy goes with Christian faith: not the old science vs God thing, but more the struggle to not over-intellectualise everything, and make sure I'm loving God with my mind, not just examining him. This book is, like so many I own, over-due a read. Hopefully I won't struggle too much with Piper's style.

A Passage to India by EM Forster

Bought and half-read on honeymoon, it's time to finish this classic off.

September

Generous Justice by Tim Keller

I love Keller's writing style, I really would like to be very clear in my mind about how we serve and love the poor and demonstrate God's justice in the world, I have just never got around to picking this up.

Stuart, a Life Backwards by Alexander Masters

The one biography in the list: I'm not a fan of biography in any form, but I bought this after hearing the author interviewed on Radio 4 not long after it was published (2005. Ahem.) As the title suggests, it's a story told backwards, from adult criminal to happy-go-lucky 12 year old. I enjoyed the bit I read all those years ago, and I'm starting to really find these types of lives interesting.

October
Emotions by Graham Beynon
A companion piece to the Piper book above. I've read a lot of this book, but not all of it, and I think reminding myself of the importance and god-given nature of emotions will be a good idea after reading the Piper book over the summer.
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
I read a good deal of this many years ago, and judging by the Clive the Cat bookmark emerging from the top, so has Hubby. I love a good classic, especially a Russian one, and once I've prepared myself for the mass of confusion that is the Russian naming system, it'll be all go.

November
Christian Youth Work by Mark Ashton
By the time November comes around, it'll be over ten years since I started in full time youth work. This is the book everyone says you should read. I've dipped into chapters here and there. Come on, Noodles, stop faffing about and read the thing.
Lustrum by Robert Harris
I know - wrong picture. I read all of Imperium, then half of Lustrum. The problem with Lustrum was that it seemed to come to a conclusion half way through. I put it down at that point and then had no motivation to pick it up again, so November is its day.

December
Counterfeit Gods by Tim Keller
As I've said earlier, I find Keller very easy to read. I'm hoping to get this read in an afternoon or two, perhaps as a tonic against the on-slaught of Christmas shopping.
Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
I remember reading the children's version when I was young, and I started this when we lived in Camborne, but - big surprise - didn't finish it. Now is the time. I'm classing this as a novel rather than a Christian book because it's so allegorical.

If this goes well, there are other books I can challenge myself with in 2015. Still, one step at a time, eh?

Squeeee-DINK!

Soundtrack to the day: Steph MacLeod and Sam Williams (both well worth a listen!)

Well yesterday I returned to an old friend...

Ah, decaf americano, how I have missed thee.

Suitably refreshed, I bought my mystery ingredient:

Can you guess what it is?

No?

The clue's in the title: it's squid ink!  Or, once it's gone through the D:Team perception filter, squee-DINK!

Now what might I possibly want that for?  Well, I've been making my own pasta lately, so some is destined for that (but not until I have gloves; don't fancy ending up with blackened, squiddy mitts).  I also bought some squid, and a little goes a long way with squid, so much of it is in the freezer now.

Incidentally I also had the most expensive haircut of my life.  It was fine, but not worth THAT much.  I was in shock.

But yesterday I made...

Arroz Negra!

Or black paella as it's also known.

Delicately fishy and ever so easy to make as well as being cheaper than you might think, it was a bit of a winner.  And it goes like this (for two greedy people):

1. Fry plenty of garlic and some spring onions
2. Add 300g paella rice and stir around for a few moments to get nicely cooked in
3. Add 450ml fish stock and the contents of the squid ink sachet.  Do not get it on your hands/clothes/cat/children
4. Mostly cover and leave at a gentle simmer for about 15 minutes
5. Check on it, remove the lid and add more water if needs be
6. Once the rice is pretty much done and is sticky with very little sauce, get going with the squid
7. Fry the squid rings in a really hot pan for just a couple of moments.  Err on the side of undercooked to avoid getting rubber rings
8. Serve.  Try to avoid getting cat hair in it.  Ahem.


Which was very exciting and paved the way for today nicely - fish being brain food and all.

D:Team were given the choice of what to study this term from a carefully selected list and went for Proverbs, so we kicked that off this evening.

Let it not be said that I waste time on unnecessary graphical flim flammery.  Ahem.

Reading Proverbs is like wandering around a town of cartoon characters; one moment you're chatting to the fool, the next you're listening to the voice of the Woman Wisdom or spotting the sluggard hiding behind his door (the lions! The lions!)  Each person in Proverbsville is listening to the voice of one of two people:

Either you're listening to the Woman Folly, in which case you will end up on the path of folly which leads to... death!  Or you're listening to the Woman Wisdom whose words lead you onto the path of wisdom which leads to... life!

Over the next few weeks we will be looking at some of these characters as they make their way through Proverbsville and find out who they're listening to and what effect that has had on them.

Step-by-Step Fish Pie!

I found myself with a glut of parsnips, plenty of leeks and some unspecified white fish.  It might be pollock.  It might not.  For illustrative purposes only, here is a pollock.

We caught these on a fishing trip off Tresco a couple of years ago and had them barbecued for tea.  The fish for the pie came, rather more prosaically, from Asda.

And so, to the pie:

1. Make sure every pan you own is available for use and that the dishwasher is empty.
2. Poach fish in milk with salt, pepper, ground mace and a bay leaf.
3. Remove fish to a plate, use poaching milk to make white sauce.
4. Cook leeks in butter.  Abandon pretence at this being a health food.
5. Boil parsnips until soft (to a given value of softness; these are parsnips after all.)
6. Mash parsnips in food processor with plenty of butter and milk until creamy.  Think not about your waist line.
7. Put fish and leeks into baking dish, pour over white sauce.
8. Pipe parsnip mash on top, sprinkle on parmesan cheese.
9. Put in oven on timer to be ready for tea time.
10. Hope for the best.

Now I can sit down and have a think about things that are coming up while the kettle boils.

This afternoon I need to come up with some exciting ideas for camp, re-outline some Proverbs stuff for D:Team and write a talk about Ehud for Enigma.

Ehud was one of the judges of Israel, found, (strange enough to say) in the Bible in the book of Judges.  Judges tells us of the time between Israel settling in the land God gave them and the time of the last judge, Samuel, whose responsibilities included announcing the selection of the new King.

The judges were not people in the legal profession, but rather simply leaders who took charge in some or all of the nation of Israel, and their time in charge follows a very particular pattern; a downward spiral.

First off, the people would forget God and rebel against him, often by abandoning him and worshipping the gods of the surrounding nations.

God's response to rebellion against him is that of any good parent - he meters out punishment to show his children where they have gone wrong.  He allows the people that surround Israel to come in and overrule them.  They prove invariably to be harsh masters who make life hard and difficult for Israel.

After an amount of time (in the case of the story of Ehud, 18 years!) the people would finally cry out to God for help.  God is not a petulant father, he always hears the cries of his children, and so he would act...

... and raise up a rescuer, or judge, to save the people.  Hurrah!

The judge would bring peace to the region for the remainder of their days.
But on their death the people would abandon the LORD again and the whole thing would start again, only worse.  Worse rebellion, followed by punishment. They eventually cry to God and he rescues them with a judge and all is well until the death of the judge.

Rebellion, punishment, crying out, rescue, death

Worse rebellion, punishment, crying out, rescue, death

Yet worse rebellion, punishment, crying out, rescue, death

The rebellion gets worse and the personal qualities of the judge deteriorate likewise.  The downward spiral starts with Othniel, and makes its way through the suspicious cowardice of Gideon, the frank immorality of Samson and ends with borderline civil war and the indictment of the end of the book: that everyone did as he saw fit.

Doesn't it just make you ache for a leader, a judge, who will not be a moral dirtbag, but even more than that, who will not be held by the power of death.

Now who might that be, do you think?

Catching Up with D:Team

Soundtrack to the afternoon: Kermode and Mayo's Film Review (podcast it now and thank me later)

Phee-yew!

As I mentioned in the honey biscuits post, it's been a busy couple of weeks here at Chateau Noonan; nothing particularly dramatic, just a few extra meetings and a holiday club reunion (which was great fun), and all of a sudden I'd been working for about a fortnight straight - whoops!

Hubby is out at work on a dreaded 12-8 shift, so he had lunch at about 11am and might have tea at some point tonight, so it's time to sit down on my day off and process a few things.  I'm armed with a fresh coffee and some winter-spiced biscuits (dunking required - they're pretty crunchy!) and I'm enjoying looking looking back over Ephesians.

I think the last thing I posted about D:Team Ephesians was the blessings of chapter 1 part 1.

***

Chapter 1 part 2 takes us through the who, what, where, why and when of Paul's prayer for the Ephesian Christians.

***

Chapter 2 part 1 is one of my absolute favourites (I know I shouldn't, but there you go...).  It's amazing to first of all be shocked by the depth of the problem that sin is, then that wonderful "But God" of verse 4 as we find out that God works a miracle in people like me, which is exciting and humbling all in one go.

***

Which brings us to Ephesians 2.11-22, which was also the week I unveiled the new D:Team bibles, which have very pretty covers and are made from paper which is thick enough that you're not forced to try and read three pages simultaneously.  Hurrah.

Now, before we get on with the drama, we need to establish that the world can be split into four groups.  To work out where you fall, simply ask yourself two questions:

1. Am I, by genetic and racial heritage, Jewish? (If no, you're a gentile)

2. Am I, today, trusting in Jesus for salvation from my sins? (If yes, you're a Christian)

OK, now find yourself on this graph (oh yes, there's a graph.  I do this for fun, you know):

As you can see, we're really only going to deal with the bottom line: people who, regardless of their racial heritage, are loving and trusting Jesus.

In order to explain some concepts that would be pretty new to most, if not all, of the group, I raided my box of little plastic people.  I have been known to spend so long trying to decide who to have for each person, I've taken to a policy of grabbing the first ones that come to hand and then casting them according to whim.  So now, please welcome to the stage:

Noah, Florence and Doris.

Noah was a shoe-in for the part of God.  Look at that beard!

Florence became the representative of all gentile Christians because most of D:Team are blonde gentiles.

Which left Nurse Doris to represent all Jewish Christians.

Thank you for participating, your cheque is in the post.


OK.  We're getting somewhere now.

Florence and Doris have a problem:

There is a dividing wall separating them.  We didn't go into much detail about this on the night, but suffice it to say that it's more serious than the coaster implies in the picture.

But wait, it gets worse:

Not only is there a dividing wall between Florence and Doris (Jew and Gentile), but all people are separated from God, and that separation is much more serious, hence it is represented here by a much thicker boundary.

But hurrah and huzzah!

Thanks to Jesus' death on the cross, not only is the coaster smashed and removed, but the big old book of regulations and laws has been dealt with too! (Can you tell we've been doing Colossians on a Sunday night?)

So not only have all people who love and trust Jesus (regardless of their racial, religious or ethnic heritage) become one big family together, the family they are in God's and they're not separated from him any more!

Wowee!

Thanks, Noah, Florence and Doris, that was great!

***

If that wasn't enough, we made a start this week on Chapter 3.  We made it as far as verse 6, and it was great.

Paul is writing from prison, and we had a think about what effect that might have had on the Christians in Ephesus, and we found time to have a chat about what life is like for some Christians.  In fact, on Sunday morning, the grown ups will be doing a lot more about it, including watching this video from Barnabus Fund.

We had a look at how Paul's life was turned around when he met Jesus, and how we have ended up with the Bible we have.  It was great.  And so was the mac and cheese.

Getting Crafty: Advent 1

Soundtrack to the early evening: more Radio 4.  Of course.

I'm sorting out our Sunday School Advent sessions, starting with the craft.  I enjoy doing craft, but I struggle to think of what to do.  I thought Advent Sunday itself would be a good day to make an advent calendar of some description, but all my ideas were too complex to pull off in the limited time offered by the session.  In the end I adapted this from an idea on a beautiful homemade gifts blog.  I apologise that the end product is not the thing of beauty that the original is.

In order to make it simple enough to do in one session with the children, I've gone all liturgical and gone for a design which only features Sundays.

Start with a square of paper around 15cm square:

Fold it in half:

Fold the front top peak down to the bottom fold (instructions like that is why I use pictures):

Unfold that last one to leave a crease.
Fold the bottom corner in so that the side lines up with the crease:

Repeat with the other side and stick both corners down.  I used sticky fixers which made it nicely 3D.
The top fold can be up or locked back down:

Repeat with 3 other squares.
Stick labels onto the pockets and mount them onto card.
Tuck a card with the day's message, along with a chocolate coin, into each pocket.  The cards remind the kids about what they're looking at in Sunday School that day.
As each one is opened and read, the top flap is folded down to show it's been and gone.

The final thing will be done in more Christmassy colours.

Great stuff!

Questions, Questions

Soundtrack to the morning: silence.  My brain is too distracted to cope with music as well as thoughts.

We'll be thinking in D:Team this afternoon about Ephesians 1.15-23, considering the who, what, where, why and when of prayer, looking at how Paul does it and considering whether our world view is big enough, especially when it comes to how we pray.

I'll tell you what, mine isn't.

I suspect it's not just me who regularly finds that their perception of what church is, who God is, what salvation means and a thousand other things has contracted into something small and piteous.  Thinking through things for this afternoon is going to challenge me in ways I might not be comfortable with, but yey for that!  I've spent most of the morning faffing over how my hair looks, so it's undoubtedly time to expand the old horizons again.

So let's be amazed and excited once again about our amazing saviour, and stop the faffing with the hair long enough to see him for more like what he really is.

And now, a random picture to keep you happy, entitled, Reclaiming pebbles for Jesus #3:

New half term at Cheeky Monkeys

Soundtrack to the evening: Yet more mystery hammering on the walls by the neighbours.  (At least it's not too late at night!)

Well a new half term brings a new series to Cheeky Monkeys, and we're making a start on Christmas!  Early?  Maybe, but we're doing it in quite some detail, one teeny, tiny chunk at a time.  And to help us go, we have a fabulous (if I do say so myself) visual aid.

Each week we will pull a mystery item from the sock which will give us a clue about the story of the day.  But to tantalise you a little, here's a sneaky peak:

Now that should get you guessing...

Pre-Christmas ponderations

Soundtrack to the afternoon: O Come, o Come Emmanuel

No baking to be done today.  Shocker.

I am being outfaced by a blank piece of paper as I try and decide what to do with LARS in the run up to Christmas.  I've got a few ideas pinned down on paper for December, but Advent Sunday is currently defying me.

Do I go for:

10 Bridesmaids?  (I know... only 6 on show here...)

Or how about:

Going up the mountain of the Lord? (Again, I know...)

Or something else... A bit more ruminating and a nice hot coffee should help the brain along nicely.

What's exciting you from the Bible?

Soundtrack to the morning: The Sacrifice by Dolly Parton

The plan for today involves honey vanilla ice cream made from the yolks left over from yesterday's yummy pavlova.  The pavlova disappeared in record time (I'd rather not say how long; it's a bit embarrassing), and went down a storm with everyone's favourite fruit bat (Vicar-boss Jr).

I have to finish off the church magazine which the lovely D:Team have been contributing to and guest editing this month.  Then I can crack on with some Sunday School materials.  On Monday I got 6 LARS sessions written, which caused a small amount of brain meltdown, hopefully I can manage an equally productive day today, but without the burbling.  The church mag is an interesting project, and is reminding me that I tend to write in just one style these days; finding the journalist's voice is proving quite taxing!  The other day I came across the bit in my computer where I keep random bits and pieces I've written over the last several years.  Some of them I don't even recall writing, and some of them have quite impressed me - is that terrible?

Well, the sun is shining and fooling Mr Catty into thinking that it's warmer than it is.

He's now lying behind my chair and wheezing in a way that reminds me of my own attempts to do PE at school.

What's exciting you from the Bible this week?

I've been collating answers to this from various people including Vicar-boss.

After a final series on Leviticus from our lovely curate (now lovely ex-curate, I suppose), I'm still being stunned at how the Bible ties itself together in a way that no human mind could ever come up with.  Paddling and swimming, and all that jazz.

How about you?

Recipe for a Thursday afternoon

Soundtrack to the morning: Explode by BOSH

Onions: browned and smelling delicious
Potatoes: cooked in stock

Can you tell what it is yet?

Well once the nice man from the supermarket brings a collection of food (in about a 1:4 ratio of carrier bags to items if previous deliveries are to be taken as a template), they can get thrown together with some extra bits and bobs to make a corned beef hash.  The second in just over a week, and hopefully a tad more successful than last week's tasty-but-sloppy corned beef hash stew.  Throw in a variety of pickles and sauces and a side order of Bible and you have a recipe for an afternoon with my lovely D:Team.

Last week they impressed Vicar-Boss (and me!) with their ability to recall from flash cards the story so far.  Let's see how you can do:

Those who trust in Jesus receive spiritual blessings from God.  Those blessings include:

Being chosen and adopted

Being redeemed

God revealing his (previously mysterious) plan: to bring all things under one boss: King Jesus.

Have you guessed it yet?  Yup, we're in Ephesians 1, and now it's time to go and crack on with the next part: God's amazing goodness in not leaving up to anything we have to do.  What a relief!  I'd be rubbish if it were up to me!