I’m having great fun at the moment overhearing people in shops suddenly remembering that it’s Mothering Sunday this week. I’m also amazed at what shops think that mothers would like to receive on Mothering Sunday !

So here I am reminding you with 6 days to go of the big event…call it a social service to you all !!

Preparation and forward planning for Mothering Sunday for me no longer applies since my mums death a few years ago. My two children are now at the age of sorting things out themselves….(but I must just double check !!) all i have to do is prepare services for Mothering Sunday !!

Now that seems to be getting harder each year. What are we actually celebrating this Sunday ? What of those for whom this Sunday is not a celebration ?  And as for the origin of the day…when servants were allowed time off work to go and visit their mothers..that seems to be well and truly gone

Which makes me sound a little bit ‘humbug’ but I don’t mean to be. I’m just asking the question of what it’s all about ? I guess the answer to that is that it’s about what you want it to be about ! For me, i will remember, with fondness and thanksgiving, my mother and all that she did,knowingly and unknowingly, for me. The plain fact is that everyone has had a mother, otherwise we wouldn’t be here. That in itself is something to remember on Mothering Sunday

I recently bought a book on body language….a subject that intrigues me, especially in my ministry as i love ‘people watching’. Now straight away those of you who meet me,as part of the church or circuit, may well become self conscious at the next time we meet. Don’t worry, i don’t look out for body language all the time ! But I’m told it can tell an awful lot about a person

Which was put to the test yesterday when i watched part of Tony Blair’s questioning at the Iraq inquiry. Just watch those hand movements go !!

which is why communication  by e-mail,Facebook,blogetc is so limiting….. you can’t see my reaction as i write this,nor can i see how you are responding to this ! Which is why, more and more, i think we need the ‘oil of grace’ poured in abundance in responding to e-mails etc. I compare it to how we used to (some still do !!) take time to compose a letter, take it to be posted and then wait for a reply….all of that taking time in which there was opportunity to withdraw the letter if we had second thoughts about something we had written. Pressing this ‘Send’ button is too easy and quick sometimes !

Grace….now there’s an ancient virtue which the Christian faith speaks allot about. And i can’t help thinking that it’s a good job God has it in abundance otherwise he might be pressing a few ’send’ buttons very quickly when we get things wrong !   But i also can’t help pondering what body language God has in response to all that we do….any suggestions ??

So how was it for you ? I hope you had a good Christmas and New Year…the reality now hits as people return to work and school; the decorations go down and the sweets and chocolate that either we were given or we bought don’t seem to be as attractive now !

And then i hear a debate on television as to whether we are to call this year two thousand and ten or twenty ten….. some news programmes have too much time to fill !

My own reflection is that New Year’s always come with a certain amount of optimism. It’s like that feeling you had at school when you were given a new exercise book to do your work in… clean sheets of paper with enormous potential.  And the book had to be written in page by page and woe betide you if you skipped or wasted a page ! Each new day of this new year is unique…there will never be another Tuesday 5th January 2010…or whatever the date is when you read this ! It comes with a clean sheet of paper regardless of what happened yesterday or what will happen tomorrow….yours as a gift from God. As an old saying goes:

yesterday is history; tommorrow is mystery; today is a gift…that’s why it is called the present

Have a good day…have a God day !

What a great Nativity service we had yesterday (followed by a great Carol Service at night !)  The picture shows the fact that we invited ALL AGES to come dressed as a nativity character and as the story is retold, to join the scene and be part of the ‘action’

It was a reminder to us all that we are ALL invited to be part of the Christmas story. It isn’t something that we are meant to be onlookers with…..  rather, something to get involved in…just as God got involved with this world by sending his Son, Jesus.

So, just four more ‘get ups’ until Christmas day….don’t just sit there…DO something and get involved  !!!!

Today I’ve had wall to wall Christmas ! The delights of our Pre School Nativity this morning….the best yet; this afternoon welcoming Heatherside Junior School for a Carol Service ..the first in a long time here ! But now I’m reminding myself that there are still 10 days to go before Christmas day…. helped by my going out for a curry tonight with a church member ! Hardly a Christmas event but the closest I get to a works Chrsitmas party !

So DON’T PANIC. (Mr Mainwaring)  10 days to go and lots to do but don’t let all you have to do make you so tired adn stresed that you forget the real reason for the season – JESUS !

So then, my once star of Arsenal FC, Mr Henry in in trouble. Did you see the reply of his hand ball that lead to France’s goal that sent them to the world cup last week ? There have been appeals for a replay but all to no avail. He claims he is not a cheat and that the referees decision is final (as if he has never argued with a Ref about a decision !)

The sadness for Thierry is that this once great footballer (notice he started on ‘the slide’ from greatness after he left Arsenal !) will,like Maradona, be remembered more for his ‘hands’, than his feet. For what it is worth, the only thing I think he could have done,and to be fair I agree with his explanation of ‘instinct’, is once the goal had been given to tell his French team mates to let Ireland score a goal to make amends

And then there is the small matter of Jordan today coming out of ‘I’m a celebrity’ because she has been chosen to do Bush Tucker trials for the seventh consecutive time. The British public has spoken ! She agreed to do the programme for ‘closure’ of recent events in her life. I can’t quite see that will be the case !

Both examples show the importance of right judgement, especially when in the public eye. It ask questions of where is the ‘moral compass’ for the individual and whose advice are they taking.

I’m reminded of a cricket many years ago who was chasing after a ball that went close to the boundary. No one could see whether it had reached the boundary and the difference in runs could seriously affect the outcome of th e match. The fielder picked the ball up and admitted that it was indeed a boundary, much to the dismay of his teammates. When asked why he didn’t cheat and say it didnt reach the boundary his simple answer was ‘Sunday School upbringing’

Now i wonder which,if any, Sunday School Thierry or Katie Price went to ?

I’ve recently joined up to Facebook…one of the latest computer generated ‘trends’ that people either love or hate. I’m told that the average age is quickly rising as parents and adults join and see what their children are doing…and the children join something like Twitter to escape their parents eyes !

I’m just amazed at what i see on Facebook….the classic being those who put on Facebook that they are 10 minutes late. I can’t but help think they would be less late if they hadn’t spent time on Facebook writing that ! The classic the other day was me having to contact someone on  Facebook to ask them to check their e-mail !

But I can’t help but be challenged by the communication method that Facebook is. (when not abused) I guess that Jesus would have used it as it was a method that so many people are engaging in. But I also guess he would also have something to say about it…namely this:

That communication is best done face to face where you can see a persons reaction;where you can hear the intonation in their voice; where you can  debate rather than just react to what has just been written. So maybe we can start up ‘FaceLook’ and actually MEET and talk with people….before we forget how to do that ! So if you live locally in Fleet, I look forward to SEEING you !!

So the Bishop of Reading thinks that Jesus would more likely shop at Aldi or Asda rather than Marks and Spencers….. which is a slight surprise given that the Anglicans like celebrating the saints and you would have thought they would have supported Jesus shopping at St Michaels !!

Actually I think Jesus would be a typical modern shopper…. he would shop at the places he felt welcome,cared for and provided what he was looking for. These, I’m told, are the by-words of the big supermarkets these days which is why ‘Customer care/service’ is supposed to be high up on the agenda; why some shops have ‘greeters’ who are ‘happy to help’ and why the stock they hold is constantly being replaced because they know that if they don’t have certain products, the customer will go elsewhere .

Those three elements: welcome,care and providing for peoples needs are 3 key factors of any good church too. I always ask new people to our church why they come. Their answer is virtually always at least one of those three. It is noticeable that over the last 20 years very few people now come because it is a ‘Methodist’ church. Why do we do focus on the three elements ? Because we read the Gospels especially, and see how Jesus welcomed,cared and responded to peoples needs. We are Christ’s Church !

Here at FMC we hope to meet those 3 features of welcome,care and meeting people’s needs….have a look at the rest of the web site for more information

After a couple of weeks on holiday, I now come back to the reality that there’s no more sabbatical or holidays on the horizon….it’s back to normal !!

And then this week I got older with a birthday. Someone in Junior Church said i looked 55 !!!!

And today my daughter has just received her GCSE results – 4 A* and 6 A’s . Both Dorothy and I are frantically trying to work out where she got her brains from as it’s not from us. I left school with 1 O level; 1 CSE grade 1 and not alot else… ! (I then took a ‘Gap Year’ to do some O levels !!)

 It’s all shocking stuff, so i need to sit down and take it all in………………….

Ah that’s better. So what do i think ?

First, a reminder of the great privilege of ministry as we start a new Methodist year next Tuesday

Second, I am NOT 55 (even though some days I feel at least that age !) and each new year/day is a gift from God

Third SHE DID IT…and I’m SOOOOOOOOO proud…that’s my girl   !!!!

 What a week… last week we had over 90 children for our Holiday Club (see the web site for pictures) and I had a ball … I think the children did too !! It included: making paper spectacles(…as you see I simply decorated mine !)  and wrapping up leaders in white toilet paper and then unwrapping them just to illustratethe story of Lazarus !

What I really enjoyed was simply leading a group of 10 children through the week and getting to know them…which makes a nice change from being in the ‘up front’ role !!  It was amongst those 10 children I was able to be reminded of a child’s eye view of  what God is like and who Jesus is (the Miracle maker – our theme !) Notice I say child-eye view and not childish view… for children can teach us adults a lot about God as often we over complicate faith in God

Which leads me to think that Jesus would have LOVED to be a leader at a Holiday Club. He loved being amongst children and on one occasion he stood a child amongst the crowd and said ‘unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of God’ (Matthew 18.2)

So look out for, and learn the lessons children can teach adults about faith…and about life. As someone once quipped when asked the question ‘Why do children ask so many questions?  His answer was:’ To see how little, adults really know !!!’