Categories: uncategorized
Date: 12 March 2006 18:50:07
Going from the sublime - my disjointed ramblings yesterday - to the ridiculous - my various aches and pains. Having avoided catching the lurgy off little Miff who's been off school for most of the last week and Ms Miff who appeared on Thursday with same, I'm now feeling distinctly Jacob- like (baa!) My periodic backache which has been so much better of late flared up last week. Goodness knows how I managed workwise, but I limped through with the aid of ibuprofen and heat patches. It's as if my body knows when I'm off duty though, and as soon as the weekend comes along....bang!
So taking today's reading from Philippians 4 to heart, I duly staggered over to the prayer team in church this morning, (narrowly avoiding falling down a grating in the process). The original intention was to request prayer re the pressing matter I mentioned in my last entry, as indeed I did, obliquely. But, in for a penny, in for a pound; there's nothing like presenting a 'shopping list' to 'Him Upstairs' . After all, Paul in his wisdom did say, 'In everything present your petitions...' (rough papraphrase here). Although you'll be rejoiced to know that I've also employed my God- given reason plus the brains I was born with, and re-started my daily programme of back strengthening exercises. (Absolutely fatal. As soon as I lie down to do them, I have this overwhelming urge to go to sleep!) Zzzzzzz...
Grate- falling apart, it was an interesting experience this morning. Our church has had a major reorganisation of services recently. Today was only the second week of the experiment, with two main services of a Sunday morning: the first CW Communion, followed by a more informal family worship. I'd not managed to get there for the first week, but today decided to give the first service a go, natural inclination dictating that that would be the one that was more 'me.' Apart from the logistics (I only got in on time because someone drove by and kindly offered me a lift. I was surrepticiously checking my underpinnings for the first 20 minutes as I'd dressed in such a hurry) and my tendency to get lost finding the communion stations - (hence the grating incident when I found that the usual prayer place had been replaced by a kiddies' play area and wheeled smartly round in panic) I was pleasantly surprised. I'd been worried that the new set up would turn out to be rather sparse and cold in atmosphere, like some of the evening HCs I've attended in the past. In the event, it wasn't really all that different from the original family communion it had replaced. Folk had been encouraged to group together in the centre part of the church, and apart from the almost total absence of young families (the 2nd service has more facilities for children) and an average age of ....ummmm....let's say fifty, not much had changed, and that that had was generally for the better. There was more use of trad hymns, starting with 'Praise to the Lord, the Almighty,' and ending up with whatever that one is that's sung to the music for 'Praise to the Holiest' but which isn't. Music was shared between organist, choir and music group, but with each sticking to their appropriate style. Hence the organ for the more trad hymns, and music group for the contemporary chorus during communion. No ghastly mixes. (Anyone who's every heard 'Shine Jesus Shine' with an organ accompaniment or sung in beautifully enunciated Cathedral choir mode will know what I mean). There were also more 'meaningful' silences, of the intentional kind, not the type when the sound system has cut somebody off, or that uneasy transition after the children have gone out and you try to slide into more po-faced gear. So far, so good.
Other bits'n pieces. Well, thanks to a fellow SOFers gentle encouragement, I've fired off an e-mail re a possible new Miffcat. And another mail re the 'C' business I was yattering on about yesterday. Heeeelllllllllllppppppp!