on balance

Well, Jenny’s room is ready, and Molly says it passes quality control.
The rest of the family also have a place to sleep. Now I just have to clean the floors for Finn and deal with all the churchy bits (booklets, sermon; messy sacristy which may get ignored again).
The experience of preparing for this visit [...]

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act of mercy

My best friend has just told me of on-line horrors.
She put ‘Holy Trinity Church service times Dunoon’ into Google, and found neither my blog, nor the church blog, nor even the diocesan web page, but a blog-like thing that had a repeating nasty-passport type photo of me on it.
Now, those of you who know me [...]

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bloggers and bluebells

Thanks to Kelvin for the reminder to make this official. I’ve been telling people here and there, but forgot to post.
There is sufficient interest for the Piskie Bloggers day to go ahead on Saturday, 17 May in Dunoon.
10.30 – 11.30 am coffee at the rectory (address below the fold).
11.30 am – 3 [...]

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too easy

One of things that has happened through blogging is that I am more regularly in contact with — and generally aware of — people from other denominations. And when the blogs take me back to my North American roots, that means there’s plenty of room for envy of larger churches, a culture of tithing, [...]

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tricky thing, scripture

This Sunday, I will baptize my own god-son. A bit unorthodox, I know, but that is how it is.
And what do the readings offer, to this composite group of Christians and ‘Seventh-day Adventurers’? The martyrdom of Stephen. The claim that some are destined to disobey. And the mixed blessing of ‘No [...]

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hold on

Last night was another session of the bible study which I should have named ‘A Reckless Romp through the Old Testament’.
Reckless because we have been going too fast.
Reckless because so much depends on the overview given in week one, and not everyone was there.
Reckless because I am fascinated by the OT, but it is not [...]

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today, today

I’ve just learnt that today is Blogger Appreciation Day.
Now, I’ve not been giving you a lot to appreciate lately, but hopefully someone else has. The idea is to leave them a comment, thanking them for something specific that you value from their blog.
I think this is a great idea (and I bet the comments [...]

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unintended consequences

Sometimes fiction speaks more effectively than anything that is objectively true. And never more so than in complex pastoral situations where no one (not even the poor pastor) can hold all the pieces.
So today, I offer a double book recommendation for the emotional unravelling of pastoral knots. But be warned: the books [...]

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fine for some

Once when I was a little girl, a big nasty man who was not good with children leaned over me and said ‘So do you want to be a lawyer too when you grow up?’
I scowled at him, and based on six years of hard won experience I said, ‘No. They have too many meetings.’
Sadly, [...]

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mother of invention

I’ve thought of a new gadget.
I want a heated computer keyboard.
Now that it’s Spring and the heating isn’t on all day, I am once again sitting here with fingerless gloves and white fingertips.
(If you are reading from North America, don’t even try to understand this post. Though I suppose wood cabins by Lake [...]

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