Keeping in touch with friends on the journey.

It is good that we don't travel our journey alone and it is good that we can connect with friends old and new from time to time. Having taken on the role as East Kent Network Home Mission Champion we took a Sunday to remind ourselves of our wider Baptist family and the partnership that helps us support them and they us. We are grateful to be in receipt of a BU Ministry Grant which supports our ministry and it was good to watch BUGB video clips which showed us of similar work to ours in different parts of the country.
Together with friends from the churches of our community we shared the story of the Christian women of Malaysia when we hosted the annual World Day of Prayer service.It was good to have almost every church represented and members taking part.
Another friendship grouping is our local Deal Area Churches Together fraternal. It was good, as always, to meet with clergy colleagues to chat, laugh and plan together.
Interspersed with this was the visit to a care home resident who had been moved to Walmer to be nearer her family but whom friends in the West Country where anxious about. It was good to assure her others were caring and concerned - friends on her journey taking an interest.
Finally, it was good to catch up with old friends passing through the UK on a grand tour of the World - next stop Paris.
So it has been a week of making connections, reminding ourselves of those who take an interest in us as individuals and as a church.
By the time I post the next update, I will have met with my Supervisor and Field Placement Tutors for the final time and also with my Support Group at Bloomsbury. Their friendships, support and interest is greatly valued.
So I, personally, thank God for friends who keep in touch with me on my journey.

D'oh I'm a Simpsons expert?

Amazingly my assignment on The Simpsons for the Cultural Hermenuetics module has been marked and returned with a mark beyond my wildest expectations. Similarly my reflections on the Thailand Trip have been marked and so all the assignments for Semester 1 have been completed.
Having taken a break for half term in Berlin - cold and snowy - its back to college for the final round of lectures and their associated assignments. Colleaugues are sharing joys and frustrations experienced as part of the Settlement process and I'm glad not to have that added stress.
In Walmer we continue our planning for the Jubilee and Olympics. This week sees the resumption of Friday Night Pizza with our two teenage girls. The Sunday Club team are preparing worship for Mothering Sunday.
The local paper has printed a photo and article on our new Badminton Group and, this week, should feature the knitters and photos from the Ukraine where the latest shipment of jumpers etc went.
Lent has begun and with our Anglican friends we are running a series of studies exploring the theme: 'Finding Welcome'.
Life therefore remains busy and full of challenges with little time to watch anything as trvial as The Simpsons.

The Home Run....

So the final semester of my degree course begins. Two assignments from the previous are still being marked but assuming they make the grade it is just the assignments for my last three modules and the dreaded PMP folder that remain to be completed. Guidelines for the arrangements of the forthcoming Graduation Day in June have been circulated.
Today, compulsory modules on Early Baptist Church History and Encountering World Faiths have begun. Tomorrow, my option of Module Exploring Spiritualities will round off my college days for the week.
The last two weeks at home has seen further planning for our grounds project to mark Olympic and Jubilee year. We've marked education Sunday with a visit from Ruth Gouldbourne, braving a heavy snow fall which gave Ruth and Ian a challenging journey back to London.
We celebrated a blessed Church Year in 2011 at our AGM on Saturday acknowledging that together we had achieved such a lot and that our finances were in a healthy state.
This week sees us host the rehearsal for the forthcoming Womens World Day of Prayer Service and the first of our fun Games Evenings for this year is scheduled for Friday.
I've rashly booked a holiday in Berlin for the Half Term break where I will meet up with an old friend who is a Lutheran Pastor.
The next update is likely in two weeks ... watch this space!

Semester end looms...

Ok, so Christmas happened, and although it already seems a distant memory it needs to be recalled. Having hoped for snow, which never came, the week before Christmas saw time spent decorating the church for the season - battery operated (health and safety compliant) candles flickered and our alternative Christmas Tree reminded us that a story beginning with a baby in a manger leads to a man dying on a cross and more...

Our all-age Nativity saw everyone get involved in re-telling the familiar story despite the wise men's enthusiasm to get to journey's end without following the star on the 'long' journey around the church!
Traditional readings from the King James Version of the Bible (acknowledging its 400th year) were well by a group of new readers at our Carol Service. The families kept coming and coming for our Family Carols on Christmas Eve which filled the church and was a great encouragement. Christmas Day saw another full church of young and old.

Between the holiday weekends there was time to write an assignment - a further achieved in the first week of the new year!

The pressure is on to write 3000 words on my specialist subject - The Simpsons - D'oh, why did I opt for Cultural Hermeneutics?

We are preparing for a busy church year and our AGM is in three weeks time when we will reflect on our finances and our life together in the past year, dreaming dreams together for 2012 and seeking to discern God's will and plans.

The Vicar comes to preach this Sunday as part of Christian Unity Week and we anticipate Ruth Gouldbourne's visit on Education Sunday in a few week's time.

With the deadlines looming for the end of the penultimate semester, the pressure is on but updates will come here even if regular readers may need to prompt me.

Cant's avoid Christmas!

Its the day of the college Carol Service an event I have excused myself from in past years but this year I'm a Wise Man reflecting on my experiences to the assembled company. Malcolm and his team of college caterers are preparing a seasonal buffet so I guess there's no escaping Christmas celebrations.
On Saturday we hosted our church Christmas dinner a jolly event at which we sang our first carols of the season in the building although not yet in the Sanctuary.
That will change this week as we share together in the fun worship of our All-age Nativity and then the round of Carol Services begin in earnest.
Hopefully, I trust, we have done justice to the 'waiting' of Advent by resisting the move to Christmas too soon although with the distribution of Hot Cross buns to everyone last Sunday you could be forgiven for thinking we had fast forwarded straight to Easter.

Anyway, the sobering thought as Christmas is now less a fortnight away is that I have three assignments to wrtite over the holiday season which will ensure I don't go overboard on the celebration and remain focussed on the priorities of study!

Sssshh! It's not Christmas yet!

I'm resisting the whole Christmas thing as hard as I can, as usual. There are still 18 days of Advent to enjoy - waitin, reflecting, anticipating, hoping...
That said, we had our Easter Tree at the local Christmas Tree Festival last weekend and this weekend we have our church's Christmas Dinner with obligatory carols afterwards.
College has gone all Christmassy too with decorations up and rehearsals for the Carol Service underway.
Our church Carol Service requires readers and the arm twisting has begun.
The list of the sick, recovering and hospitalised seems ever longer this year and with the colder weather finally with us after a long unseasonally warm autumn, doubtless other will succomb to colds and flu.
Having successfully despatched an assignment to college last week, it was pleasing to receive it back with a good mark.
One more week of studies for 2011 remain a hopefully amidst all the festivities there will be time to update the blog before Christmas.

Editted Highlights

Its 'Retreat Day' today in college's Reading & Reflection Week so I should perhaps be being contemplative as I sit here in the college cloister rather than updating my blog?

So, this week just some editted highlights of the past week...

Friday: Decorated the church for Advent - the sense of anticipation begins.
Also guided ladies (reps from local churches) through next year's WWDofP Service - all responsibilities assigned and a good meeting.

Saturday: Table-top sale attracted a good crowd - treasurer very happy with financial result.

Sunday: Toy Service went well. John, LCM missionary was great and left with his car boot crammed with toys.
United Service with local Anglicans was a great success. Advent has begun! They've agreed to host next year.

Monday: Dentist visit a nightmare! One of two teeth pulled but not easily so number two has to wait for next week.
Meeting with local Baptist leaders to plan Baptists Together programme for 2012.

Tuesday (today) : Up early to get the High Speed train in order to get to college in time for all that today has offered.

More detail next week, time, weather, assignment deadline permitting!