see-through faith

My friend’s daughter drove me up here this morning. It’s lovey to be back though I am so well looked after in Ashbourne as eija writes maybe I don’t want to come back to Egypt. (grin) No way! My heart is in Finland. But it has been lovely to be in the UK and Derbyshire is such a beautiful rural part of the country, and much more important I feel that I am in the right place with regard to calling/ministry right now - though how God works it all out is still anyone’s guess.

The chocolate muffins yesterday for the return to church Sunday/ harvest festival service were a great success - mostly I think because the church goers aren’t used to home baking! We had a lot of dishes to wash though, as the dishwasher was broken. Still it was a lot of fun!

Now I’m back at college. This week it’s the Leadership, Renewal and Worship module and very interesting already.  It’s felt a lot more manageable because I know the routine at least - but there will be so much to do I don’t even dare to think about it. (Did I mention I have an ostrich syndrome sometimes!)

Very different people this week .. and I was adopted by some ladies first thing this morning. We walked up to chapel together for prayers. Based on Ps 128.

News from home. Mindy was placed second with Eri (excellent) at the dogshow yesterday, as was her son Rasmus. He very nearly won too - the judge deliberated for ages apparently. Misty didn’t fare so well EH (very good) and unplaced. Hubby and DD were pleased though, and I was happy to speak to them on the phone. I’ve been away for a long time - and missing them all.

Today I have taken a day off of the studies. Yippee!!!

My friends took me to Burton-on-Trent to go to a bookcrossing meeting. My first in the UK. It was lovely. We met in a great cafe - excellent chocolate cake and coffee/hot chocolate for only £2.50 each … and we even got our photo taken by a professional photographer some of whose pictures were on show in the cafe. (I’ll post a photo or two when I get them!) On the way back to the car we nipped into M&S so I could buy some new underwear too. (The choice is much better over here in the UK and less silly prices!) Anyway that’s another job crossed off my list! Phew.

Tomorrow is “return to church Sunday” and harvest thanksgiving here in St Oswalds Ashbourne (Anglican) and as my friends had signed up to do church coffee - I’ve been baking since we got back because instead of biscuits (boring!) I decided to make chocoalte muffins. I’ve made about 60 and we’ll put some biscuits out too … it’s been a lot of fun and a welcome change to my routine. While I was waiting for each batch to cook  though I was busy checking of the second draft of the PhD I’ve been proof reading/editing - I’m hoping to get that finished tonight so that I can put the corrections on the pc early next week and send it off soon.

All in all it’s been a busy day here in Derbyshire - and now I have six more books to read for fun (there were about 100 on the coffee table to choose between and my friends (who aren’t yet bookcrossers!) picked up 13 between them - Wonderful!

I’m being well looked after. Tonight we ate lamb chops and new potatoes and peas. One of my favourite meals!

Just got an email

TS passed his driving test today at the first attempt!

Congratulations son - proud of you!

it’s Friday already!

The last couple of nights we’ve watched a 2 part series on TV called Silent Witness It was very, very disturbing story about gangs in London. What really got to me I suppose was that this wasn’t just a story, but an accurate picture of what it’s like to grow up on a council estate in the inner cities here in the UK - be in London or Birmingham or Manchester or Bradford or Glasgow, and how impossibly hard it is for young kids to avoid getting caught up in the violence and oppression.

It makes my campaigns against litter pale in insignificance, though I’ve been doing that here too. Ashbourne is a small town (though it’s expanded a lot in recent years) and overall it’s relatively clean. My friend told me about an anti-litter group here who pick up at least 7 pieces of rubbish a day, which is commendable and surely makes a difference. I’ve been doing my bit too - e.g. on my walk to and from the market square (for fresh air) yesterday I picked up several beer cans (why on earth they don’t have a deposit system here I still don’t understand!), lots of cigarette packets (one with 3 cigarettes still in it!), choclate bar wrappers and crisp packets - but by far the worst both here and in Finland are the fast food containers. Here in Ashbourne it’s takeaway chicken boxes, else where McDonalds (or its competitors) and all those cardboard coffee cups. It’s all so unnecessary … but it also struck me there’s also a need for more rubbish bins in the community, for example at the end of the lane leading to/from the supermarket! 

I went swimming yesterday too. Ashbourne poor is only 25m long and quite old but has recently been refurblished and expanded to include a gym etc. My friend swam 40lengths (1km) and I did a bit more -but the showers were archaic though and the floors cold and slippery. A good reminder of the things I like about Finland!

Life is pretty busy right now and I think it will be more or less like this the whole year to be honest. The studies are very demanding. I’ve been battling with my first 6-8000 word assignment all week:

‘Rather than emerging, the church needs to return to the Book of Acts’ - Discuss

Daunting isn’t it?

I got up early this morning in order to submit my proposed outline. (Waiting to get on line as I write this - no wifi here!) The paper is due at the beginning of November so there’s not that much time to do the background reading and thinking. Hopefully my tutor can give some useful feedback on my thoughts so far, as I feel as if I’m stumbling around in the dark right now. Next week I start my second course - leadership, renewal and mission. Yikes. In two weeks time I’ll be back home but will have my nose to the grindstone until Christmas,that’s for sure.

That said, I’m taking a few hours off tomorrow though to go down to Burton on Trent and meet some local bookcrossers. That’ll be fun. And as it’s ‘back to church’ Sunday at St Oswald’s (Anglican) church here on Sunday - and my friends have signed up to do church teas - I thought I’d make some chocolate muffins as my contribution.

The weather is lovely again -nippy at night and early in the morning, but as I look out from the window -great view of St Oswald’s - there are blue skies with a few puffy clouds, and the sun is shining. My washing is already hanging on the line so as soon as the sun moves round -it’ll start to dry. That’s another thing I’m looking forward to going home to - a choice of clothes, though I did buy a new jumper (secondhand) yesterday.

About a week ago I got an email from DD’s Godmother in Scotland reminding me that it was 30 years ago (autumn 1986) that we - and TS’ Godmother - had met as we started our undergraduate studies at Stirling University in Scotland.

Tonight I hooked up with a friend that I met at exactly the same time, though we haven’t seen each other for 20+ years. I googled him back in Feb - found him -and a few months later there we were -wandering around Derby- which has changed beyond recognition since I lived here in the mid 90s -looking for somewhere nice to eat.

Remember my post about sun-blushed tomatoes? We found that restaurant -Limes in Friargate -and tried the parmisan coated chicken with roasted veg and blushed tomatoes. Delicious! As were the two cocktails. We went dutch on the bill and he put me on the bus ‘home’ at 6.30pm … hopefully found his way back to the station. Fun evening! And what a trip down memory lane!

I’m not happy about it -but the change in weather to rain does make this seem more like England.

Hubby arrived home ok last night - though his bag (more or less full of my stuff) is still somewhere in transit. Also when he got up this morning he noticed that DD’s bike was missing. Hopefully it turns up …

After leaving the hire car at Manchester airport yesterday I took the train down to Buxton. Wandered round for an hour and then met up with the friends I’m staying with -for dinner and a tribute to Berstein at the theatre. It was lovely. The orchestra was superb, and the singers good, though the women clearly better than the men, in both singing and performing. It was lovely to have a real night off before starting the studies with a vengence.

I’ll be blogging a lot less this year - or at least later in the day, having determined to put it at least 3h in a morning before turning on the pc and dealing with email etc.  I need to put in at least 35/40 h a week in order to do these studies full time - and since I feel I’m well out of the loop in as far as emergent church /fresh expressions go, will probably need to do perhaps 45 hours a week. I’ve set aside 8-1pm each week day (which gives me a core of 25 hours) but need to set aside a couple of afternoons and at least two evenings a week, plus Sunday evenings at least. It means remembering that in effect these studies are my job for the next year (even if unpaid, or even worse self/financed). yikes.

Our trip down to Wiltshire to see the stud dogs was good. It was a lot of driving though -but luckily we didn’t run into any traffic jams, and the weather was good the whole time. Hubby took lots of pictures … I’ll try to post something when he sends me it. I’m back at the college again next week so that will be a bit easier then.

This evening I’m meeting a friend from a long long time ago. We were undergraduates together -actually started studying this time 30 years ago (ouch!) and we haven’t met for about 20. Hope it works out. But for now it’s back to my work …

This is the last weekend in September and the weather has been glorious!

Hubby arrived in the UK yesterday and I was there at the aiport to meet him. I took the train from the quaint station nearest to Cliff (Grindleford) and chugged through the Hope Valley to Manchester and out to the aiport. We’d hired a car for the next five days (I’m the driver!) which we had to wait for as they were washing it. But as we were driving around the multistory carpark the car sounded funny and by the time I’d got to the roundabout we both decided that it didn’t sound/feel good and so I turned around and we exhanged it for another. Much better. The hour’s delay worked in our favour though as we didn’t run into much traffic and were in Ashbourne about an hour or so later.

Today we’ve been for a long walk along to Tissington from Ashbourne. The weather was so good I didn’t even take a jumper with me -tshirt and sunglasses all the way. There’s no pub in Tissington but a lovely coffee shop -where we shared a bacon and brie baguette and a pot of tea and toasted teacakes. Lovely!

Tomorrow hubby and I drive up to North Yorkshire (and a curry with TS’ Godmother!) and on Monday we have a long trek down to Wiltshire to visit a golden retriever kennel. So a busy few days.

Have to dash dinner is ready …

After breakfast each day there are prayers in the chapel here. Everyone attends including the staff, though it’s not mandatory. Yesterday was wonderful. It was led by an African PG student who challenged us to sing everyday that This is the day - another day - that the Lord has made. It was my first thought this morning when I woke. Wonderful.

The PGs on this course are a really interesting, and lovely mix of people. We are about 20 I think, and at least half were first years like me. Most will take this part time, which means one unit a term, but a couple of us are doing it full time - which means a double work load. Since I’m not working for this coming year (unless something changes) it should be do-able, but I will have to start thinking of my studies as my job and spend about 30-35 hours a week on it. It is going to be demanding and I’m already thinking how I can structure my days and weeks.

This first course is on emerging church. If you don’t know what that is - that’s ok - the movement/ conversation doesn’t seem to know either. And yesterday afternoon we had a very challenging couple of lectures critiquing the whole movement. The most interesting thing for me so far has been the discussion about being post-Christendom and what that really means. More on that another time.

For our assignments there’s a choice of a research paper (6-8 000 words) - about 10 topics to choose between, and an on-line exercise. I’m doing the latter in the next course because the scenario was more interesting and I’ve whittled the choice of essays down to two. Today I hope to be a bit clearer on that.

What’s been impressive here is that the lecturers are ‘real people’ who are brought in from the outside. By that I mean people who not only know this, but live it on a daily basis. And tomorrow we are having a live discussion with Brian McLaren via some fancy technology.

We had a Communion (Eucharist) service this morning. More on that later too …

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Cliff college is in one of the most beautiful parts of the UK. In North Derbyshire. To say it’s rural is a bit of an understatement. Even the nearest village is a mile away!

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Please pray for those families and the whole community in Finland who must be in shock.

More later