Categories: uncategorized
Date: 11 August 2008 10:59:33
This weekend started a 3 week period of quite hectic social activity as I catch up with people to say "goodbye" or some such.
Yesterday, Third Party and I were formally "goodbyed" & prayed for during the service at church - which was cool. As people have probably realised whilst I have a strong belief in the power of the Holy Spirit I'm not particularly charismatic. Therefore, I was quite relieved when the person leading worship and praying for us was somebody I really respect and was somebody who is quite old skool in their approach. It meant that her and her husband stood with us whilst she prayed but we avoided the octupus approach where the person being prayed for ends up in the middle of something resembling a rugby scrum and the microphone is then passed around those laying hands on them.
Then after church we had a goodbye picnic which was relaxed, chilled and fully illustrated the benefits of having a church just around the corner from a supermarket. Strange thing was most of the people there I knew I would def be seeing again over the next few weeks, (not least because a whole bunch of them are doing Greenbelt).
Then yesterday evening a friend invited me round for a wonderful farewell girls night in where we did champagne and the Peterson DVD, (which I can thoroughly recommend). Was a bit wierd because whilst I know I won't be living around the corner anymore or getting told off by the young people for laughing too loudly at, arguably inappropriate points, with this person in church anymore it's the one friendship I am certain will continue in pretty much a similar way to the way it exists at the moment. The reason? Well, whilst this person inhabits different corners of the on line environment she does that mixture of online life and real life which I do and travels around the UK meeting people in a similar manner, so I know I won't get rid of her that easily ;) That said I will miss having her around the corner loads. She is another of those straight Christians God is using in a really special way to show LGBT and others inside and more specifically outside the church many Christians aren't like the stereotype the secular world would have us believe.