Mike's musings

An old friend

(backposting) Today I was taking two services in Earls Colne: a quiet 0800 Holy Communion, and a quite energetic Family Service at 1000 (note to self - I must check the words of a song before encouraging people to clap along when it says "I will clap, clap, clap", because the next verse might say "dance", which means that I have to dance..., and yes, I did, in the aisles, fully robed). At the end of the latter, Pamela, who was a chaplain (then a deaconess, since priested) at Bryanston when I was there, came up and introduced herself. We'd not seen each other for about 22 years, so it was a bit of a blast from the past, but great to see her. She had a strong impact on my faith at that time, and although we've recently got back in touch over email, she lives in New Zealand, so it was a real bonus to be able to catch up with her in person.

In order to give Moo a bit of a break in the afternoon, I took the girls swimming. Jo was back in the big pool, and Miri consented to spend a bit of time in there, too. Miri is now quite a strong swimmer, underwater at least, and we must look at getting her some swimming lessons.

Labels: church, friends, swimming

Sauna

(backposting) A good, challenging day at work, but very fulfilling. In the evening, I went to the gym for 20 minutes or so, and then headed up to the 9th floor for the pool, intending to do a few lengths. Got changed, slipped my toe in, jumped out. 17 degrees Celsius, which is _cold_. So, decided to try the sauna, instead. Men only, no clothes, but that's fine. And after 15 minutes or so of great sweating, I decided to try the pool again (with trunks on). This time, though very cold, it was really refreshing. Not sure I could jump in a frozen lake, as some Finns do, but I can certainly see the point now.

Off to a Lappish restaurant for supper. Lots of food, much of which was reindeer. Rather glad that we walked back to the restaurant, as we were all stuffed.

Labels: food, swimming

Middleton church, Essex
Originally uploaded by MikeCamel

The gout was somewhat better today, luckily, and I headed off to Halstead church for the 0800. 8 other people there, which isn't bad for that service. I preached on the Messianic Secret, as the gospel reason was Mark 7.24-end. Why, I asked, was there a point in having a Messianic secret at all? Only if Jesus were so obviously a man _first_ to those who met him would it make any sense at all. And although the more extreme emotions - anger and sorrow - are maybe quite easy to associate with Jesus, the gospel reading show him tired, wanting time to himself, telling people not, please not to say who he was, and even maybe a bit grumpy. This helps me to appreciate the humanity of Jesus, particularly as I've been very tired recently.

After the service in Halstead, I went to this lovely church in Middleton, deputising for a colleague in a nearby benefice. I preached the same sermon, which seemed safe, and several people said how much they enjoyed it (always nice).

In the afternoon, once Nina had taken her two home (Jim had headed off even earlier than me to watch the cricket with Dad), I took the two girls swimming. Jojo managed a whole length (25m) on her own, with which I'm very, very impressed indeed.

Labels: sermon, swimming

More beach

(backposting) Made up with Kate, my mother-in-law, which was a good thing. Other than that, what to report? More job preparations (I'm nearly there) and more holiday. Good stuff. Today was the last day of the holiday, so we decided to ignore the fact that it was clearly going to rain, and a few of us went down to the beach. I went for a lovely swim, and, feeling brave, took my trunks off for a bit of skinny-dipping. I have to admit that I cheated, as I took my trunks off only after I'd entered the water, but there were small children around - not all my own - so I did feel justified.

Labels: holiday, swimming

Swimming

(backposting) Went with Kate to a lovely simple BCP (Book of Common Prayer) service at 0800 in Overstrand Church, which was a good start to the day.

And we all went to the beach. I think there's going to be a lot of going to be the beach, even if it's 140 steps down (and then back up again, more relevantly). I went swimming, as did Jen and Turtle (with some support), and we saw a seal! It came to within about 7 metres of me, and surfaced a couple of times. A lovely start to the holiday.

Labels: church, family, holiday, swimming

Preaching on the Trinity

It's the one everyone worries about: preaching on the Trinity. Either it's easy to explain - and impossible to understand - or it's impossible to explain - and easy to understand. That's received wisdom, anyway. I was preaching in Colne Engaine, to a family service which a fair percentage of children.

I ended up preaching analogies - and noting that they're both useful and near useless. I used a few analogies, but my main one was cake. It's currently getting a bit of retweeting, which I'm quite chuffed about. The analogy I used was that the Trinity is a little like cake, in that you need ingredients, cooking and eating: they're all separate parts, but they're all required. I said the same about a conversation: you need a speaker, a listener and meaning. Or a song: music, words and singing. It all seemed to go down rather well, and I was quite pleased.

Jo was very sad when Mum and Dad went - lots of tears. So we went swimming, and had a lovely time. Kids went to sleep nice and quickly, and we're having a quiet time watching an old West Wing episode before going early to bed.

Labels: preaching, swimming, theology

A family service

(backposting) Given Miri's illness yesterday - she seems to be improving today - I'd let Geoff know that I might not make the 0800 service with him in Colne Engaine, which I didn't (though it was Jo who had me up in the night, in the end), but I took Jo to a family service at 1000. She did very well, and I spent lots of time beforehand trying to explain why she couldn't be with me all the time. The main tack was to explain that it could be distracting to other people, who might want to be thinking about something else. We talked about things that she doesn't like being distracted from (colouring, for instance), and I think that helped her to understand.

I also took her swimming this afternoon. Moo stayed at home with Miri - not fair to take her until things have settled down properly - and Jo and I had a great time. She's a really good swimmer now.

Labels: Jo, services, swimming

My first services

Today, I performed the services of a deacon for the first time as a member of the clergy. I deaconed at the 0800 at Colne Engaine church (BCP communion), and made my Affirmation of Assent (telling everybody that I believe the right stuff and will do as I'm told) at the 1000 Family Service at the same church. Viv was very supportive and helpful, and it was a joy. I was nervous, but it felt right, too.

Moo brought the girls to the second service, which I was very pleased about. It was hard for her, though, as Jo wanted to go to the swings that were near the carpark, and let Moo know about it throughout the service. And I had to stay afterwards for tea/coffee and cakes (we are CofE, after all), and couldn't be with them, which was also hard, so it wasn't perfect, but I was so happy they were there.

When I got back, the girls were asleep in the car (not Moo!), so I took over while Moo made me a cup of tea. I'd not had the opportunity to say Morning Prayer yet, so I said it in the car, and then had a bit of a sleep.

After more play with the girls (Moo elected to have a tidy and hoover, leaving me with them - though I offered), we all went swimming. Then waffles for supper, then bath and bed. Miri took 5 minutes, Jo over 50. Not good. But it gave me a chance to cook a large chicken, and we even had gravy with it. Whilst I was cooking, my mate Gary called for a chat. He was ordained today, and I'd left a message for him yesterday. Good to chat, and he had some good stories to tell. Really, really good to hear from him, despite the fact that he's from the Other Place.

I'm going to keep this entry open until someone wins the Wimbledon Men's Final. Assuming that's tonight...

And it's Nadal! What a match.

Labels: diaconate, swimming

Today, I shall mostly be ...

• ... sleeping in (but not as long as Jo and Moo)
• ... taking the girls swimming with Moo
• ... spending more money than I meant to in Waitrose
• ... clearing the dog poo off the lawn
• ... mowing the lawn (first time this year, if you exclude the two strims it's had)
• ... stepping in several instances of dog poo that I missed
• ... barbecuing with Si
• ... drinking beer with Si
• ... eating the barbecued food with Si, D, Morgs, Boo, Moo, Jo and Miri
• ... drinking wine with Si and Moo
• ... geeking with Si
• ... whilst drinking more wine with Si
• ... going for a walk with the girls, Moo and Buster
• ... having a bath with the girls (but not Moo and Buster)
• ... putting Jo to bed (very quick!)
• ... clearing around a bit
• ... loading the dishwasher
• ... doing some washing up
• ... and ... finishing my last essay for ERMC. YYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSS!

Labels: drink, ERMC, family, friends, geekery, swimming, walk

Communion - twice

(backposting) I went to communion at the 0800 service in Great Yeldham this morning, as I wanted to take the girls to the Palm Sunday benefice service at Toppesfield at 1100. Quiet service, got home, made waffles, got ready, and then went out again.

Having to the girls out of the car, I put Miri in the pushchair and walked with Jo along the street to where we were starting the procession with Pebbles the donkey (which is why I thought I'd take them along). After 10 minutes, about 40 of us, including a (robed) choir (with their coats over their robes) walked the 250 metres to the church, singing in the driving rain. I couldn't stop smiling: it was so English, and so Christian. I kept being reminded of what St Paul had to say about the foolishness of the world. It turned out to be another Communion service - if I'd known, I wouldn't have gone to the 0800 as well - but I decided to receive Communion again, as I didn't want to confuse Jo, who would have been expecting me to take it.

A really boring service for the girls, but they were brilliant, and in the afternoon we went swimming, partly as a reward for Jo. We'd bought her some swimming goggles yesterday at Freeport, and it really helped her. She was putting her face completely underwater, doing some actual swimming, and even managing to float on her back unaided by the end. The lessons are paying off.

Labels: communion, Jo, swimming

Double preaching

I preached at both Shimpling (0900) and Long Melford (1030) today. Same sermon, though it went better second time. According to Ian - who officiated at both (I took up to the Eucharistic Prayer, excepting Absolution) - I was very "ummy" and "ahhy" at the beginning, first time round, and he came out of it intending to tell me that I really need to write down my sermons (which I've tried, and don't like), but second time round it was much better and more fluid. It seems that I need to work on the beginnings. I tend to run through sermons lots of times in my head, but I think I need to work on the very first few sentences better, as that's what seems to let me down. Useful feedback.

Poor Moo (who wasn't feeling great) had Jo and Miri for four and a half hours in the morning, in the end, and was very good about it. I took Jo for a good swim in the afternoon, and after the girls had bathed, took Miri and Buster for nearly an hour's walk. Pushed it hard, and my calfs (calves?) now hurt.

Joined Facebook last night, after Mark invited me. It was going to happen one day. You can find me there: "Mike Bursell".

Tomorrow is Jo's first day at pre-school. Oooh!

Labels: facebook, Jo, preaching, swimming, walk

Swimming

Didn't mention it yesterday, because I was synchroblogging, but Moo and Mel took Miri and Jo swimming as usual yesterday. Miri loves swimming, and so does Jo - and she made two big steps yesterday. First, she got much more confident about jumping in from the side. Second, she suddenly got the whole swimming thing. She had floats on her back, but was apparently moving at real speed. Next step is to remove a float at a time...

Currently trying to write an assignment in front of Big Brother and related programming. Not so good.

Labels: ERMC, swimming

Recovery

I've got to get well soon. I'm not sleeping at all well, and having to sleep during the day for at least an hour during the day, and it's seriously, seriously deep. Coughing, still.

It's been an up and down day. I was a bit miz this morning, having upset Moo last night. Jo's been really hard work, and neither of us has really been feeling great. I had a sleep after we got up, felt guilty about it, took Jo to Long Melford for church, which was OK, but generally involved less liturgy, and more child-minding, than I'd really like. Very welcoming, and a good service, but (as I've mentioned in blogs passim, I believe) this taking a child to church has really opened my eyes to how we can't make assumptions about the extent to which people enter into the liturgy. We went out for lunch at the Bottle Hall pub. Good food, good beer, Jo was a pain. We went back home, but the day ended very well as I took Jo swimming. She loves swimming, and it really cheered me up, too. A good evening, too, and I did the ironing. We're watching the end of the 2nd Green Wing series. It's just genius, and it's got Sally Phillips (of, among other things, the fantastic Smack the Pony, yes, she's gorgeous, though I don't usually go for blondes at all) in it, too.

Spoke to Ian, Rector of Long Melford about the possible ERMC placement, and, feeling brave, gave him not only my contact details, but also the URL of this blog. He'll get the former anyhow, but the latter has some risks attached to it, particularly given Friday's posting. But I decided that honesty's the way forward. Heigh-ho. Ian - if you're reading, hi...

Labels: ERMC, illness, Jo, Moo, sexuality, sleep, swimming

Last post of the year

Sitting watching Sense and Sensibility, which we recorded last night. We love Alan Rickman.

Not sure there's anything much to blog about, to be honest. Meant to take Jo swimming, but all of the pools in the area seemed closed, so Sennon and Victoria came around instead, and we went for a walk. Made flapjacks, ate them, or some of them. Moo made a lovely fish pie for supper.

We've got a new synchronised blog coming up on the 10th January: spiritual warfare, which is a new subject for me.

Here's to next year, 2007. May it bring Light into the life of all who read.

Labels: cooking, friends, swimming, walk

A day with Jo

(backposting) In an attempt to give Moo a day to improve somewhat, I decided to take Jo out and spend as much time with her as possible. We went out of the (unavoidable) "coffee and cakes" to Freeport, and then to Crazy Kids, an indoor play centre not that far away. We walked there from Freeport, and it hadn't occurred to me that after around 45 minutes of (hectic) fun, it might be raining. But it was, and it didn't help that I left the change bag. Didn't go back for it, but on to lunch at a Chinese place.

Jo's first try at Chinese food. Good thing they do chips and mince pies as well. I had a good meal, though, and then we picked up the car and drove back to Crazy Kids to get the change bag ("silly Daddy!"). Back to Moo, who had benefited from sleep and rest, and then off to swimming. Jo loves her swimming, and it's become a little thing for us to enjoy together.

Labels: food, Jo, swimming