The Blurb: May 2007

Speaking in different languages

Monday 28 May 2007  2.06 pm

Apparently at Pentecost, fire came down on the believers and they started speaking in different languages.  I don't blame them, frankly.  Here's a new cartoon to illustrate this point.

I've just finished leading Host Team for this weekend at Lee Abbey.  It was quite a stressful one to organise, with co-ordination of both House and Beacon, and lots of Holy Spirit moving and inconveniently changing times!
 
Comment on this entry

Under-promising and over-delivering

Saturday 19 May 2007  7.20 pm

I promised yesterday that there would be two new cartoons today.  In fact there are four.  Here they are: Advice Slip, Christian Speed Dating, Exhibition Area and Stands at the CRE.  As my old business studies teacher used to say, "always under-promise and over-deliver".  Or at least my old business studies teacher would have said that if I had in fact had an old business studies teacher.  I didn't do business studies.

On a related side note, I am also very proud of the fact that we gave out our 1200th and last brochure, and also our last brownie, within the final five minutes of the four-day exhibition on Friday.  How's that for planning?  (Or God-incidence.)
 
Comment on this entry

No Eye, dear

Friday 18 May 2007  11.59 am

Yesterday was a beautiful evening here in the capital.  And a great moment for spontaneity, so we thought.  So the Lee Abbey CRE Team decided last night to take the train to central London and see the sights from the top of a ferris wheel.

I'd never actually seen the London Eye before, having not been to London since it was built in 2000, and it was more impressive than I expected.  Bigger, more beautiful and more inspiring.  And closed.

OK, so we thought it opened till 9pm but that's only from June.  Still, we had a very nice walk along the Thames, looking at the other sights as the sun set and the lights came on.  I'd never want to live in the big city but I love to visit and just look around, drinking in the whole scene and feeling alive.  It was very cool.

(The image here, I'm afraid, is a Google Image Search effort, not mine.  I also have two CRE-related cartoons which you'll see when I've scanned them on my return.)
 
Comment on this entry

Male and single

Thursday 17 May 2007  4.11 pm

I saw a sign just now at the CRE.  It said, "Male and single?  Come to Speed Dating!" From memory I quickly checked myself off against both criteria and concluded that I was eligible.  But I didn't go because I was too scared.  I'm not sure I could meet the woman of my dreams in three tense minutes' conversation!  Instead, I settled for bribing unsuspecting members of the public with brownies.

It's worth noting to the church at large that it's actually no easier to be on the men's side of the "Great Christian Man Shortage" problem (wherever you put the emphasis in that phrase) than the woman's side.  Being outnumbered can be fun - but it's a minefield too when the last thing you want to do is take advantage.

I wonder how many men went to the Speed Dating today after all... I suppose they could have turned it into a sort of panel event with one man to three women or something.  Or maybe that would just have been silly.
 
Comment on this entry

The Archbish Effect

Wednesday 16 May 2007  1.36 pm

I have an explanation for the extraordinary day we had at CRE yesterday, shifting record numbers of brownies and brochures and keeping all three team on the stand busy.

Was it an unusual astronomical event?  Or an expensive goodie bag given to every visitor?  No, I know what it was - it was the fact that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan himself, was there to open the show yesterday.  I'm sure of it.  You see, we're still doing well today, but without him we've noticed the numbers drop!

In my personal starspotting endeavours, however, I didn't do so well.  I was away from the Lee Abbey stand for five minutes, and when I got back Rowan was just passing into the distance.  I was there at his opening speech, so I guess I can say I've seen him at least.

So that's two near-misses with Archbishops in three weeks (see my recent entry in May on George Carey).  Not bad eh?  :o)

Also today, I saw Dave Walker of CartoonChurch.com.  He hasn't got a stand at CRE this year but he did visit ours and took a picture of me with some brownies.  Maybe I'll be famous yet.
 
Comment on this entry

On the road

Tuesday 15 May 2007  4.35 pm

So it's that time of year again!  It's been a busy exhibition season this year, with the Exeter Christian Resources Exhibition in January, Spring Harvest in April and now the National Christian Resources Exhibition (the big one) this week.  Just New Wine in July to go, and that's it, exhibition-wise, for 2007.

It's a good one though, this.  We have an amazing front-door spot, some gorgeous brownies once again, and things are going really really well.  In fact, of the 6 boxes of brochures we brought, we have already shifted 2 on the first day.  We've hardly stopped at all.  Not seen anything like this.

Also in my news: last night I saw Amazing Grace at Lynton.  Very, very good film about the abolition of the slave trade in 1807.  Lots of quotable lines, things to think about and more than enough to process on a second viewing, I feel.  Just a pity that it ends with a line something like, "Wilberforce will rest in the knowledge that the slave trade is no more." Will every viewer appreciate the heavy irony of that line (given that the slave trade is several times more alive today than it was in 1807)?  It certainly hit me...
 
Comment on this entry

Something for a rainy day

Saturday 12 May 2007  9.34 pm

Thursday this week had been the day for an epic 27-mile coastal adventure, walking from Lee Abbey to Woolacombe in around 12 hours with two fellow Community members.  However, lightweights that we were, a little rain stopped us.  (We're still planning to do this 27-mile epic by night on 4 June.)

Instead we decided to get the train to Plymouth, eat sandwiches in the rain on the Plymouth Hoe and visit the National Marine Aquarium which I'd been meaning to do for a while (the aquarium, I mean, not the sandwiches).  This picture (full size version here) I call "impressionist shark captured without flash while moving at reasonable speed".

It was quite a good aquarium; though there were only three large tanks, there were lots of little ones and several weird and cool fish.  Also I learnt that you don't want to get on the wrong side of a spiny starfish if you happen to be a tasty little clam.  Starfish can be quite vicious when they have a mind to be, apparently.
 
Comment on this entry

Banoffee pie

Sunday 6 May 2007  5.48 pm

Nearly three years after arriving at Lee Abbey, I have just been given my first cook shift in the main Kitchen.  We all do just 3 hours on Sundays and also tend to do many jobs rather than just our normal team; finally it was my turn to join Sunday Lunch Cook!

I made thirteen banoffee pies, at least 10 of which oozed messily over the edges of the flats that were supposed to have contained them, despite the best efforts of blue paper and pallet knives galore.  Well, it was quite fun.  And quite fun to serve as well, methinks. :oD

[The image is a stock image, not actually one of mine...]
 
Comment on this entry

Conservatives gain North Devon from Liberal Democrats

Saturday 5 May 2007  9.13 am

... and I couldn't vote because the Lynton ward wasn't being contested.  Talk about feeling powerless.
 
Comment on this entry

By George!

Tuesday 1 May 2007  5.49 pm

"I just want to thank the Lord..." said Ants as he gave the closing notices at a church weekend at Lee Abbey on Sunday.  But he wasn't referring to God.

It turns out that this church from Keynsham had in fact pulled out all the stops when choosing its guest speaker, and had brought along George Carey.  That is, they had brought The Rt Hon Lord George Leonard Carey, Baron Carey of Clifton — the second-most-recent Archbishop of Canterbury.

Had I realised this fact before they all left on Sunday afternoon, I could have sought George out and staked my own claim to fame by shaking his hand or serving him a cup of tea or something radical like that.  I could even, if I wanted to be truly original, have casually joked about whether he had tattooed on his bottom the words "Jesus is coming - look busy".  (For those looking worried, that's a reference to the film "Johnny English".)

Instead, I am left with the somewhat dubious honour of having sat in the same dining room as the former Archbish at lunchtime ... without even knowing where in the room he was.  Still, it's something.

Actually it's probably good that I missed him.  After all, what good does Christian starspotting do anyone at the end of the day?  I'm sure George for one has seen quite enough of it!  I have just as much identity in Jesus with or without association with any Archbishop.  I am happy and secure in that knowledge ... and only slightly gutted to have missed him. ;o)
 
Comment on this entry