st_martin_a

I fancied trying a different experience of Good Friday this year. I thought about trying a Catholic church but wasn't sure of the etiquette, so I found an Anglican church that had the same service listed as the Catholic one - the 'Stations of the Cross'. I'd read about the Stations of the Cross as an RE teacher but wasn't sure what to expect.
My wife came with me and we were made to feel welcome. There was a relaxed atmosphere. Only about 15 people. Then the vicar asked if everyone would feel comfortable reading a passage out loud. I like that kind of thing. It makes you feel part of it (and keeps you on your toes. Lol).
So the way it worked was - everyone wandered up to a picture of Jesus, a passage was read, and then the vicar explained what was going on in the picture. It was a cool combination of looking at art, hearing a commentary on the art, and praying. It happened for 14 different pictures. Well cool.
Really glad I went.
: )

I got home from work this evening and there was a burst pipe in the garden! Looked like a fountain going off at the side of the house.
I went out to see if I could fix it and got absolutely covered in freezing water, still none the wiser as to what the problem was.
I eventually worked out how to turn the water supply off to the house and then worked out what was wrong. I needed this really strange looking plastic pipe connector thing, so I took it with me and spent 3 hours driving to every plumbing shop in the city.
Eventually, at nearly 8:00 at night I pulled up at Screwfix - last chance saloon. If it didn't have the piece I needed we were going to be no water in the house for another 24 hours.
: /
Screwfix though, were another world - they had staff who knew what they were talking about and they stocked more than just the 5 standard plastic pipe connector things.
Cost me £2.84.
I still wasn't completely convinced that I had the right bit but when I got home, I started putting the pipes back together again, and it flipping worked!
We have water!
: )

I was going to play 'Kiss me' by Stephen Tintin Duffy in church this morning because I was delivering my sermon on King Solomon's Proverbs and he also wrote those words in The Song of Songs (recorded in the Bible). I thought it might get complaints though, and while that wouldn't have bothered me too much - it would have been easy to explain that the words were taken from the Bible, and I like pushing traditional boundaries in church; it would have made, what was all ready a controversial subject, even more controversial. Most of you here on lj wouldn't consider it controversial but I knew a few old people in my church would. And unfortunately a few of them still have positions of authority.

The sermon itself went well. I'm definitely getting more confident at delivering. I left a gap in the middle where I gave everyone 5 minutes to discuss whether the passage that I was speaking on was just for women, or whether it applied to us all. There's one guy in our congregation who is from the more right-wing end of politics and he was engrossed in a debate with this other guy. The other guy was a visitor to our church. He was dressed in his Sunday best, which is unusual in our church, and that made me think that he might have had a traditional understanding of the role of women too...? Possibly. Possibly not...? Anyway, when I drew the discussion to a close, these two carried on debating at quite a loud volume and it took another minute or so for them to stop before I could continue. Apparently the right-wing guy was actually arguing that the passage applied to us all. If he was, that's a step in the right direction for him...

Anyway, I followed up with a few examples from the Bible of women involved in roles that are not traditionally women's roles and then prayed for wisdom for us all.

I think it may have been the most feminist sermon that's been preached at my church.

I'll leave you with Solomon's song, revamped into 1980s synth-pop:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vfgjZHSPvyw

The King lives!
; )

I'm delivering another sermon this Sunday. It's on Proverbs 31. I mentioned it before - it's often used to argue for a certain stereotype of women, but I'm arguing a feminist interpretation. I'm doing it quite gently to hopefully get everyone on board. It feels like an important message to deliver.

I watched a few YouTube videos on public speaking to try and improve my delivery and some of them were really interesting. One of the things they said was that people often imagine the worst case scenario before they step up to speak. They said that you're better off imagining the best case scenario because it will make you feel better and that it will probably go well anyway. I realised that this is good practice in all areas of life - teaching, speaking to my boss, speaking to anyone...

I guess it's kind of obvious but I've started to make a more concerted effort to do it more and it seems to be working.

I'll let you know how it goes.

I made it out last night as a Street Pastor at about 9 o'clock. I thought I was going to go on my own but a woman from my church who lives down my road came too at the last minute.
We met this guy called Bal in town, who had set up a table similar to the one we normally use, serving tea and coffee.
We shared a cup of tea with two homeless guys who are normally based in Lichfield. One of them had been beaten up by drunks but wasn't too bad. They didn't know where they were going to stay for the night. We offered to buy them some food but they said they had eaten.
Otherwise it was very quiet.
We did one circuit round town, helped Bal pack up and then headed home.
I'm glad we went out. I prefer being outside than stuck in.
: )

I don't want to cause a riot amongst my lj friends but you may remember that I don't like Harry Potter - the books or the films.
So my oldest son persuaded me read J K Rowling's 'The Casual Vacant'. It's the holiday. I could do with something to read. So, I'm giving it a go. It seems alright so far...
Anyone read it?

I was woken up by Zac this morning playing Happy Birthday. (He's having his party today).

Sent from my iPhone


...Morning...
:/
At least I've got a week off school now.

Last night I went to collect my oldest son from this youth club that a friend of mine runs in the town centre. My son volunteers there, and I thought I'd see what the place was like while I was there. It was very lively. My friend has been trying to persuade me to help him there for ages but I couldn't do it after a week of teaching. No way. Interesting to see it though.

Today we're going laser shooting for Zac's birthday. You have laser guns, targets on your back and on your chest and you run around in the dark trying to get as many kills as possible. I must admit, I'm looking forward to it. I can feel my competitive side coming out (even though it's going to be against 8 year olds).
;)

Staff soccer is back.
: )
It is the best possible way to start a weekend without a doubt. Half an hour after the last school bell we're in the school sports hall running around with a ball. It's so much fun that it doesn't feel like a workout, but afterwards you're completely wiped out.
: )
We played 4 against 5. I'm probably the least skilled player out of all of them and definitely the oldest by at least 10 years but I can't be that bad because I was on the side with 4 players and we won.
: )
I had a good night on my Alpha course this evening too. This new guy came along called Mo (which is short for Mohammed). His dad was from Bangladesh and his mum was English. Interesting guy. He was a punk in the 80s, he's an artist, and his girlfriend is from Columbia. I really clicked with him. Really glad he came along.
Chilling out now in bed glad that it's the weekend.
: )

This year has been named 'the year of the woman' in the UK. It's 100 years since women have had the right to vote here.

It's 'Mothers Day' soon too, and my wife was asked to lead the church service on Mothering Sunday and to include a short sermon on Proverbs 31 - 'the virtuous woman'.

When she told me, I felt a bit uncomfortable about it and I couldn't bring myself to help her like I normally do. It didn't lie well with me. My wife wasn't convinced that it was right either and she told our pastor (who is normally very sound) but apparently he was insistent, saying that we shouldn't avoid challenging passages from the Bible.

So, she did her research and it turns out that this Proverb, which has been used to illustrate how a virtuous woman should be, or should aspire to be, for years, isn't about a woman. It's a metaphor for wisdom.

So there you go...

I went for a jog this morning. I was partly inspired by lj friend spikegirl's pictures that she posts on here. Spikesgirl often posts images of beautiful but simple outdoor scenes and they made me feel like getting outside myself... So at about 8:30 this morning I put on a t-shirt, trainers, tracksuit bottoms and a hat, and went out. It's funny, most joggers round here wear proper expensive jogging clothes - sort of bright coloured lycra. I prefer the old '80's Rocky Balboa look (except without his physique or goodlooks)... It was a beautiful morning and I surprised myself how much energy I had. I normally give myself a break when I get to the lake in the park, partly to appreciate the view, but mostly as an excuse to ease up for 5 minutes. This morning I just kept going. Mind you, I slowed down about 5 minutes later when I went up a hill... Great morning though before church.