Month: February 2019

Lots done yesterday – I think we can make it: but there’s still loads of stuff to deal with.

From Sunday’s Psalm … “138:6 For though the LORD is high, he regards the lowly; but the haughty he perceives from far away.”

Yesterday we were still making progress on the sorting. But my part is not going as quick as I’d like: I look at the papers and I keep getting distracted by the past. I think of people’s kindness over the years, and it’s all very well, but not getting me near the end as quickly as I want. The bags are building up, though, ready for the shredding firm.

Soon I am going to start saying goodbye to some electronic geegaws. Not looking forward to that bit.
Luke 5:11 (https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=111) … “When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.” … my italics.

There’s still a lot of stuff – but yesterday was modestly successful – an Oxfam run, a tip run, and various things, including a dishwasher and a washing machine, on the way to the scrapyard. This inevitably involves a compromise. I like to hang on to things until every possibility of repair is exhausted – by me or someone else…. which usually means ‘for ever’, because I don’t get around to it. But this is no longer possible – things have to be got rid of.

The dishwasher went out with the acrid smoke of finality – so no problems there. But the washing machine just refused to turn on one day a few weeks ago. It could be anything needs replacing – a circuit board, a power supply, even just an internal fuse – I just didn’t have the heart to look into it or get someone else to. So it’s on the way to the scrapyard.

I worked in Sheffield before I came here. I’d just like to point out that in Sheffield, the scrapyard is the beginning. All the steel made there (yes, it still is) is recycled.

It’s been a lovely morning for a while here. Looking from near the Co-op in Marsh, I could see the grey crowns of trees further down the hill, their lower halves airbrushed into the gentle fog.

Actually it’s a month of moving. Yesterday, some progress on putting paper in the shredder bags. Today I hope to get my four items somewhere accessible, then ask Kirklees to pick them up.

Here’s next Sunday’s lectionary readings…

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=111

Passing on the Good News;-

There’s elements of this that may surprise you…

It may not be the person you expect who spreads the news – Isaiah claimed to have ‘unclean lips’ – as many of us do to a greater or lesser degree – and Paul asserts “Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim…” – he doesn’t seem too bothered who does it, so long as the message gets through.

Another surprising element is it might go better than we expect, even after a long night of failure – don’t rule it out. In secular life, there comes a time when most people give up (not sure that is quite yet, HTAFC). But in God’s work, although there might be a time to give up on specific activities and do things differently – do not to give up the hope.

And what is the good news anyway? We’ve had two sides of it in the last few weeks – from Luke 4:18, and from what Paul writes today … 1 Corinthians 15:3,4. These two emphases have grown into very different kinds of Christianity. Is that a gap we can straddle?

 

There’s no water here this morning. I take encouragement from the fact that United Utilities’ website is down and that it takes at least a few minutes* for someone to answer the phone: they must be getting the message multiple times**.

I kinda miss it, water.

All those water metaphors in the Bible come to life that bit more when you haven’t got any.

This afternoon is the inaugural service of the Huddersfield Group of churches. It’s not that difficult to leave it alone: nevertheless I shall pray for them.

(* the point at which I gave up)

(**…or they’ve been subjected to a DoS attack)

And if yesterday’s sounds patronising, it’s not about the money for me either: I just believe our future lies in working together.

It’s a beautiful sunny morning and there’s a bit of snow on the ground. We’ve taken a day off sorting in the manse to go to our house and try to make some space for incoming stuff. There’s some snow on the fields and hills but the roads are clear.

Thank you God:
for we find glory in cold,
in the hard weather, the rain,
in days of sun and ease.
Give us grace to praise you
at all times.

So here it is: I am retired. It doesn’t feel any different from yesterday: the same mountain of sorting-out faces us today that faced us yesterday. Progress is being made, but it still feels slow in comparison to the scale of the task.

There’s a thin layer of snow outside, and shuttling across the Pennines to our house this February isn’t a very enticing prospect.

Here’s a bit from Luke’s Gospel, chapter 11 VV11-13…

“Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for* a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit* to those who ask him!’”

…that’s all very well, but what if your child asks for a snake or a scorpion? Would you finance a drug habit?

What about MP’s trapped between two different ideas of their duty – to carry out the will of the people, or to do what’s in the national interest? If they ever feel parental towards their constituents (it’s questionable whether they should), do they feel they’ve been asked to provide a scorpion?