AN INTERESTING AND EVENTFUL DAY

Before going to Church, I had listened to Radio 4 Sunday Worship, as I usually do on a Sunday morning.  Today it happened to be a Tribute to Bishop Timothy Dudley-Smith, who was a prolific hymn writer - in fact, I believe he has written more than 400 - if you want to listen to the service, you can find it HERE.  I guess that many of us who are Christians will know and have sung the hymn “Lord for the Years your love has kept and guided...” which is often sung at the beginning of a New Year.  

It was interesting to learn that although Timothy Dudley-Smith wrote so many hymns, he was tone deaf, so he relied on friends to write the music.  Incidentally, he was also born on Boxing Day, as was one of his daughters, and died in August 2023 aged 97.  When speaking about her father on the programme, she said that she felt sad to see his name with “1926-2024” after it,  whereas previously it had just said “1926 with a dash”!  However, as has been said, what matters most of all is the dash between those years because that dash represents all the time that a person spent alive on earth.  How true is that?

We had a good service at Church this morning, when Rob preached on “Putting on the Whole Armour of God” from Ephesians 6.  Rob pointed out that the battles today may be different to how they were thousands of years ago, but they are still as powerful and therefore, we shouldn’t think about going into battle unprepared.   It was a great sermon and we sang some wonderful songs to underline what he had spoken about.  We sang THE BLESSING SONG  and it was great to think that we were all singing it to one another - in fact, at the end of the song, Rob said it had made him feel quite emotional and I’m sure he wasn’t the only one!

As I wandered around the Church both before and after the service, several things caught my eye - the Cross at the front, with the shadow behind it, and as the windowsill displays are still there, I took a shot of one of the trees, complete with star;  I don’t remember ever taking the shot of the Prayer banner at the back of the Church - however, Mark and Matt, who were chatting nearby said they were happy not to be in my shot!  

Then, after the service, as I wandered some more, I noticed the new equipment that was put in recently, together with the desk that obviously manages the cameras now - aided by a human!  I don’t often get to look at these things, but as our service is recorded and broadcast each week, it’s all necessary equipment so a BIG THANK YOU to all those who give of their time and expertise not only to broadcast the service but to make sure that the audio visual things are where they should be and at the right time.  

The wellie boots were Antonia’s and she obligingly showed them to me whilst I was chatting to her Mum and Dad - she is such a cutie.  Please don’t ask about the mop and bucket - all I can think is that it was lashing down with rain at the beginning of the service, so it would have been needed to mop up all the water that had dripped off people as they came in.  I certainly didn’t use it, but someone must have!

You can see Mr. HCB chatting to Martyn, our Interim Moderator.  We don’t have a Minister, and haven’t for almost three years, so Martyn keeps us “on our toes” and keeps us “in order”!  He is a lovely man (as is Mr. HCB) and I understand they were swapping health stories - always good to hear that men do that!

When I got home, I was pleased to see that the little violas in pots in our front garden were standing up - because last night, in the small amount of snow we had, they were bowed over - but such is their resilience that today, they were upright.  We could certainly learn something from these tiny plants and flowers!

After the service, when everyone had gone, Mr. HCB went to collect some produce from Morrisons and I stayed to help put some vegetables out ready for the Community Fridge to re-open tomorrow.  When he got back and had brought all the stuff in, we eventually left and got home at about 1.15 - so I was glad that I had made the lovely soup yesterday, so just needed to heat it up for our lunch. 

I had intended to sit down this afternoon, but hearing that an old friend was back in hospital, asked Mr. HCB if he would kindly drop me over there so that I could visit her and of course, I managed to bless some of the nurses with a little wooden heart!  I walked back partway and then rang to ask Mr. HCB if he would please collect me - phew - now I can sit down, I thought, but as he so kindly reminded me “You haven’t done your Blip yet, have you?  You’d better do that before you sit down!”

Well, it’s now done and after another eventful day, as per usual, I will be preparing our evening meal, and Mr. HCB will be watching football - ah well, he did do a lot of running around today, so he deserves to watch.

Hope you all have a great week - stay safe and warm.  M xx