Monday I was teaching a course. There was some complexity over organising it as I had other things to do on the Monday morning, which meant that I had to fit it in at times that people did not necessarily expect. However I think my decision that first thing rather than later was good. The course went I think better than I felt it did, at least from the feedback that was given me. I suspect how well I think things go actually depends on how well rested I am. If I am well rested then I feel as if I am working well with the subject. On the evening it was the writers group final meeting for before the summer. It went fairly well. The piece I took was not my usual standard but I was not surprised about that, It had a weaker start and although the language had been tightened it had not been tightened enough.
Tuesday was a managers meeting for my team. As with three other people I only manage myself well that is not true, but I manage things rather than people. The thing was that I was able to check with my boss and she agrees that a blower heater is not a sensible solution to heating problems in my office (the central heating is no longer able to pump water through the upstairs offices). As we are only there for another year I am going to suggest a mixture of temporary secondary glazing and more sensible portable heating. On the evening went out to Bible Study at Herringthorpe. I am not sure that it is working properly and I am at present trying to gently challenge the presumed hegemony on teaching. Oh the leader started to draw a distinguishing line between spiritual and practical/profane. It is one line I have learnt to be increasingly sceptical about. The profane is often used to symbolise the spiritual and the spiritual can have practical/profane implication. He also said that ministers should decide the spiritual because God only speaks to individuals not to committees. That would be fine if God only spoke through the apostolic channel but God also speaks through the prophetic channel and the prophetic typically speak from the margins and the outside.
Wednesday I collapsed with a migraine. Actually I had noted that a migraine was hovering the last few days so I decided that the most sensible option was to let it come on Wednesday and get it over with. It was three weeks since the previous one so they are again spreading themselves out.
Sometime during the week I came across two different definitions of Liberal Christians. One was someone who accepted the Liberal tradition of interpretation of the Bible which often means a set of views such as: accepting evolution, dismissing male headship and the contextualisation of the bible. The second is somebody who believes that a variety of views should be tolerated within the church and respect for alternative opinions is important. The argument was not that a person isn’t both, but that a person needn’t be both. So you could have someone who accepts creationism but believes that those who accept evolution are valid. That person maybe described as liberal even though their personal theological stance isn’t. Equally people can accept the liberal tradition but feel that those who accept creationism really are not thinking reasonably and should be challenged by the powers that be in the church.
Thursday I was up and ready for work, indeed so up and ready I managed to find time to walk the slightly longer way in. Basically walk up Broomspring Lane and then down Glossop Road to the department. I hope to be able to do this more often over the summer. At lunch time I met with Cliff to do a check on the sound equipment in the church. When looking at the speakers it was felt that the speaker by the choir is actually aimed at the bookstall at the back. Now don’t get me wrong books are important but they don’t need to hear the service. However on investigating the ladder Cliff found that the rubber ends of the ladder were so old that they had gone hard. He did not feel safe going up it so we left more exploration for a later date.
On the evening I went across to lead a brain storm for the youth group at Herringthorpe URC so that they could collect ideas to make a video for me introducing the church to people their own age. I suggested that they might think of it as going onto the website. There were only four there, normally there is about seven or eight but the scouts were having a social. It is odd but I think I am beginning to know most of the youth group. Certainly the four there to me were not strangers to me. It was interesting that among the important things for them as for older people were the relationships they have with people. I am also beginning to think that we need to think of how we use electronic media in pastoral care. Just as the phone call became part of the tools for pastoral care, so for the younger generation (i.e. the under seventies in this case) are using electronic systems to keep in touch and know how each other are doing. They don’t exclude the traditional like visiting but where as churches might have in the past rung around to see who was coming to an event, now for younger people it is probably more efficient to send a text. It does the same thing. At Herringthorpe facebook is actually one of the tools of keeping in touch with people. I started using it to put up photographs of events, if I put them up for friends of friends then anyone who has Pauline the minister as a friend can see them without them being available to the whole world.
Friday was busy for all it was a day off. I went to Broomhall Breakfast, then onto PJTaste to pick the present for Fleur and Walters Ruby wedding. Then I went down to Waitrose as I realised I was out of instant coffee and breakfast cereal. I was tired after that and the day was stuffy warm so I went to bed for an hour. I am not sure I actually sleep but pictures flicker across my mind. One of them this time involved a flying gingerbread woman. Then I sat down and wrote up the brain storming from the previous evening before catching the bus out to the Dicksons for a pleasant evening.
Saturday was Fleur and Walters Ruby Wedding. This involved me getting a train to Stockport, getting a taxi to my parents, dropping my stuff for the weekend then going in the taxi back to the station with them and then meeting up with Ruth on the train. We got there to find Marion coming outside and wondering where Fleur and Walter were as they had not arrived yet. It was about 12:25 when she actually said that. Fleur and Walter and family were doing all the catering themselves although they had hired a room in the town hall in Macclesfield. This meant for once Walter was working the room while Fleur was trying to check that everything was going fine and talk with the people who wanted to talk to her. The major success at keeping the children happy and entertained were old fashioned balloons, which were thoroughly enjoyed. Bubbles were less successful, as the mixture was tipped on the floor rather than bubbles being blown. The two youngest spent most of the time following their mothers around. Anyway at the start of the meal I realised that I had forgotten to pack my medicine. I needed to take the evening tablets as whereas I would be okay today I would have had a migraine tomorrow, going by past experience. So I hitched a lift back with the Dicksons, who then ran me to the station while Ruth saw my parents back to Stockport. I caught a train back and have spent this morning being quiet at my parents while they went to church.
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