we had a band practice at church last night (the second of three nights running for band practices this week).
it had finally stopped raining and the sun came out. it looked very pretty so i took a couple of photos.
hoorah for june and late night opening (but the nights are drawing in now)
here is the church:
and here is the field behind the church:
esther and kezia like to hide behind the pulpit at church when we are clearing up the music stuff afterwards. here they are playing with their small teddy bears and singing songs.
some minstrels in a big concrete circle. it’s just like ezekiel
here is the church we go to (just in case you wondered what it looked like).
update: here’s a history of Arborfield Church from our friend lynda. she thinks there might be some inaccuracies in there but isn’t sure where.
my favourite is the vague names of the early vicars !
one of the great things about church is that it’s a community of people who love and care for each other. what better way to show that than to have a barbeque together ?
there were four barbeques on the go so there was some competitiveness between the various chefs. here are two lots of chefs (chieves ?). note their different approaches. i was especially suspicious of the two on the left who were scoffing all their own food.
i can’t believe it. i missed jesus. i went out of my way to see him this morning.
luckily other people saw it for me.
it was bowling this evening. not entirely what i expected. bowling is all about cardboard shoes. but this was in a pub. so it should have been about throwing mishapen chunks of wood.
but this being the south of england it was about throwing small round balls (about the size of a baseball i think) at 9 sticks of wood. you have to put them back up yourself if someone knocks them down too.
anita organised it (very efficiently):
and here is everyone eating:
i walk past this church every morning and there are often homeless people on the steps waking up and doing their morning activities.
This morning (from the other side of the road) i noticed that the house next to it has a fire-escape which leads on to the church roof.
i didn’t manage to fit that building in to the photo. i imagine there’s a sign in that house which says “in emergency, go to church”.
here is lee preparing to preach on a tiny lecturn.
a friendless church is indeed a very sad thing. but if you are friendless and have a friend you are no longer friendless so you can’t be in it and you are friendless again. and so on. probably
come to me if you are worn out, stressed and done in, and i’ll give you some peace and rest (said jesus).
some churches have taken this literally. this church has a duvet stuck between the pillars outside its front door
here is a red apple on the floor outside a church.
the devil probably thought “they’ve fallen for this once, let’s see if it works again”.
oh, the shame of the fall.
here’s your weekly (weakly?) god-stuff:
There’s god right.
And he sent jesus his son ok.
and he died so we don’t get what we deserve when we die essentially.
and jesus has gone back up to heaven, but will come back basically.
and meanwhile we have the holy spirit who is like god being with us in the interim marvellously.
and the holy spirit is a bit like the wind (in that he blows all your sermon notes off the lecturn if you aren’t careful).
he is the fan outside the church on the way home.
it’s becoming traditional to have someone at church looking like they are smoking but not. last time it was kezia and today it was Big Eye Tony. He’s using a cheesy bread stick thing as a cigar to comical effect.
Interestingly he’s holding a pad of paper which has the words Big written. It may have said Big Eye. i’m not sure.
easter certainly brings out the vicars. we had a really good service at church this morning – it was family service (kids stayed in) and there was a communiion. it was a real celebration of what God, through Jesus, did.
there was also a baptism of one of our friends’ children which added to the fun. they brought their own vicar with them so there were two official vics there.
and then there was matthew, seen here. he’s also a vicar but you wouldn’t know to look at him standing their with his Easter bucks-fizz champagne.
we all stood around pondering the power of the resurrection and the fantastic things that God does whilst drinking champagne and scoffing cake.
bucks fizz and chocolate cake makes a good alternative communion.
at our old church they give out grapes to children in the communion which is a nice idea. they should wrap them in breadcrumbs – that would be even better
esther got up to preach her sermon only to discover she was slightly too short.
i’ve been working from home today which is why there’s been little blog activity.
this evening we had a band practice at church. Lynda brought a picnic.
it consisted of cake, biscuits and tea/coffee/hotwater making facilties (and some snoopy mugs).
she’s that kind of person. and we are very glad.
as i mentioned earlier, i went to see the Passion of The Christ last night. I didn’t think it was much good actually. but that’s my opinion.
the music in the cinema was funky, the seats were comfy and the refreshments were plentyful. there was an advert for ‘paradise poker’ before the film which was a nice touch
here’s me with my flagon of coke giving a nice ‘post passion’ wave:
but what did i really think ? here’s my review for those who like to read words:
