Courtesy of my friend "The Happy Holy Homosexual":


The Lord is my programmer, I shall not crash.
God installed software on the hard disk of my heart,
All of God's commands are user- friendly.
God's directory guides me to the right choices; For God's name's sake .
Even though I scroll through the problems of life, I will fear no virus,
For God is my back up.
God's password protects me.
God prepares a menu before me; in the presence of my enemies.
God's help is only a keystroke away.
Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life,
And my file will be merged with God and saved forever.

Posted by Rev Rowland Jide Macaulay - see his blog: revrolandjidemacaulay.blogspot.com

You're welcome...?!

I have just today begun a placement at a local church..

This meant that this morning I was a visitor...

Now I have committed to attending this church, working with and for them for the next 15 months or so. If I had not, if I was just a casual visitor, trying to find a church that would welcome me, would I go back?

Well let's just say that it was a very confusing experience. When I arrived I was handed four, yes that's 4! different pieces of paper, along with a hymn book. You needed to be either very observant or well rehearsed in Anglican worship to follow what was going on - and I am nether! No-one suggested that when to stand or and at one point everyone suddenly faced the back! I realised that this was to hear the Gospel read, but I have a pretty churchy background...

All this is not to say that the people were not welcoming, especially once it had been announced who I was, but perhaps we all need to look at how our routines look to those who are not "in". It may seem superfluous to us to say which piece of paper you need next, or to explain how we are going to do communion, but believe me, as the one person who'd returned to the pew, only to find that everyone else was still standing round the altar, if you want to be welcoming, you need to work at it!!

"The sunshine of my life..."

For my Personal Statement of Learning after a recent NEOC weekend, I have been asked to provide a sentence, phrase or image that summed up God's call on my life...



I was at a loss for words and so started to play around with Google's image search, looking for some of my favourite images of God, from the Bible - not "Father" then! - but most of them were a bit too sugary sweet and sickly - all that love and hearts stuff...



Then I thought of light - and nearly ended up with a lighted bulb, though that seemed too limiting/limited... then I found the image below, which seemed to sum it up perfectly.

God is the very light which makes life possible, which illuminates all I do, who warms my heart and brings a smile to my lips...