Monday 30 November 2009

Wesley Owen to close!!

Some of you may not have heard of Wesley Owen but those who have will know that they operate a chain of 40 Christian Bookshops around the country which are under threat of closure if a buyer can not be found. While this is bad enough on its own there are wider implications for other Christian bookshops as the group that Wesley Owen belongs to also supplies a large number of independent Christian bookshops. I have received an email from one of our circuit local preacher secretaries asking us to pray that a buyer will be found and I really feel given the importance of this it needed a wider circulation - so hey readers if you have a blog how about spreading the word via you blogs. More details of the story can be found here.

Friday 27 November 2009

Vestry Prayer Advent 1 year 'C'

Her we go folks as promised last night a vestry prayer for the first Sunday in Advent.

Loving heavenly Father, at this time of preparation we ask that you would prepare us this morning for this act of worship. Prepare the hearts and minds of people and preacher alike as we gather to bring our worship to you today.
We ask your blessing on our brother/sister N.... as they lead us and bring your word to us today. May our hearts and minds be open to your word and may it be as we gather around your word and hear again familiar stories that through the familiarity we will be able to see or hear something new and exciting.
Bless each and every person gathered here as we ask these things in and through the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Amen

Thursday 26 November 2009

Long time no blog!

Hi folks I have just returned from a Circuit Meeting where I was taken to task by one of my readers for not blogging so I thought I needed to make sure I posted something in case other readers were suffering from withdrawal symptoms.

As a point of information I have now sold 59 copies of my book 'A Bang or a Whimper' and have finished recording the audio version of the book which should be available next week or the week after at the latest for the really good price of £10 per copy (will probably be 3 or 4 discs). Don't forget the printed version is available for just £6 and you can email me for further details or to place an order.

Vestry Prayers - this Sunday coming is the first Sunday In Advent in year 'C' of the Revised Common Lectionary so I will be posting a vestry prayer sometime tomorrow for those who find these useful.

Christmas is coming and I would like to advertise two events that are coming up at Pleck Methodist Church that I will be involved in - the first one is an afternoon Carol Service on Wednesday 9th December at 2-30p.m.which is really intended for people who may not wish to come out in an evening. The second one is an event called Carol Praise which will take place at Pleck Methodist Church on Wednesday 16th December at 7p.m. with music provided by HIMS Ancient and Modern. If ou want more details please let me know.
If you are free on either or both of these days we would love to see you there.

Wednesday 18 November 2009

Christmas is coming!

It's true folks Christmas is coming! I know because last night I joined a local band called 'Wot's next' at their rehearsal to practice some carols with them. They are preparing for a booking at a local church where they want to do a mix of Christmas Songs (Chestnuts roasting etc) and Christmas Carols but it appears their keyboard player is not happy playing the carols so they drafted me in.
I see that there are a lot more lights appearing on houses as well so that must surely be a sign.

My marking is complete and has gone off to London and I hope that in the next few days there will be 14 happy students at least - I do hope they read the comments I have made to encourage them on their journey's to becoming fully accredited.

I have just been on a tour around the blogs I read regularly and I am always quite interested by the vast range of topics that people in the blogosphere are talking about, that's when they do talk of course, and I know I might be told I am not looking at the right blogs as there are some who blog regularly. I really must sit one of these days and look at the list of blogs I read and see if there are some I could remove while at the same time adding some different ones. I think one of the reaons I haven't done this is that I think most of the people who read this blog also read all the others that I do where there may be a whole load of links to a wide variety of blogs. I have on occasion clicked on a link on other blogs to find the link takes you nowhere presumably because the person has ceased to blog or has changed to a different provider.

On a slightly different note I can report that my son has done some test recording and it looks very much as if the 'talking book' version of 'A Bang or a Whimper'could very soon become a reality. I will keep you updated dear reader.

Well a busy week ahead with Local Preachers tomorrow evening, preparation for a special celebration service I am leading on Sunday and catering for an 80th birthday party where there will be 80 guests as well as doing a full time job

Tuesday 10 November 2009

Nearly Done!

Just thought an update for my reader might be appropriate - the marking is nearly complete - hope to finish today and then there will just be the completing of the feedback sheets and I can send the stuff off to London and relax until the Spring when the next lot of marking arrives.

On a different topic sales of my book are going steadily considering I haven't really pushed it and most sales have been through someone telling a friend or colleague about it (40 sold so far). I have had a suggestion that I should do a 'talking book' version and this may well be the next project for my technical expert (my son) to assist with as he reckons we could do this fairly quickly and effectively with a programme on our Mac computers called garage band. We have had a little dabble with it and managed to record the foreword and first chapter so watch this space for more information on this project.

And finally just in case you hadn't realised Christmas is coming! I saw my first house decorated for the season yesterday evening on the way home from work.

Tuesday 3 November 2009

Funeral update

In my last post I mentioned the funeral I was playing at yesterday and thought I should give an update for any who might be interested. The church was almost full to capacity (including the folding chairs we had put out) with many people present who belong to choirs in the area. The singing was absolutely fantastic but as we were limited for time we were not able to have an extra chorus of any of the hymns which is what we often do at Pleck, however when we got to the last hymn (great is thy faithfulness) I really sensed an air of expectation that we would have an extra chorus and thought to myself it is what Iris would have wanted and went for it followed by the assembled folk as one voice.
I thoroughly enjoyed the service (can you enjoy a funeral?) and I think one of the ladies from one of the choirs summed it up when she said I could hear Iris singing every word - I think I could too!

Monday 2 November 2009

Marking well on the way!

Just an update really to let you all know I am about two thirds of the way through my marking so blogging may continue to be a little sporadic for a few days still - my deadline is 14th November but I hope to complete well before then.
I have an interesting day today because in my lunch break I am going to play for a funeral service of one of our church members. We are having five great hymns - How Great thou Art;And can it be; When the roll is called up yonder; What a friend we have in Jesus and Great is thy faithfulness. We are no allowed to wear black or dark blue either as Iris said she wants the funeral to be a celebration of her life - I have to say I am quite looking forward to it.