August is the month for dusting off the jam pan. So far the apples have started landing regularly on the lawn. Rather than waste these early fruits they have been transformed into ‘Spiced Apple Jelly’ with just a hint of the old favourite – Chilli! Without a greenhouse at the moment the chillies are slow and few, but the next project, since there are apples a plenty on the tree, is an apple press, it seems the best way to construct one is with a bottle jack and some stout timber, both of which are lying around in the shed! Whether cider is attempted or not rather depends on the juice – it might get drunk too quickly!
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Small joys

It is the little things that count!

And sometimes there are not many to count, however at the end of a manic morning, the final baptism was a quiet affair, only about 20 people – just how I like them!!

It wasn’t that that made it special. The family were related to people I knew from a recent funeral, the granddaughter of the recently departed had just been born, I ‘met her’ as it were before her birth, and now with mum and dad as godparents to the baptise-ee.

I’ll be ~~buying~~ burying (thanks Dot!!) the ashes of said departed later this week. The whole of life caught up in one small moment and for those families the connections and relatedness made the act of baptism even more special.

These small blessings make all the difference and certainly give me hope for community life!

Tags: baptism, community, grace

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Peace

These things never come out as well as they did when they were first articulated. During a session on worship we were discussing ritual action. I remember once being confronted by the thought that if I could not face, let alone share the peace with one of the other congregants, then as the biblical passage goes I should leave my gift at the altar and make peace with the person first. This was a problem, especially in the Anglican Church as the peace happens before the Eucharist. However in the Iona tradition and indeed in the wider tradition of the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian) the peace is shared after the sacrament is received. In that situation I would then have been able to face the other person, because of the gift of the grace of God given at the Eucharist. The simple moving of the position of the sharing of Peace changes the emphasis of both Peace and Eucharist. If you make Peace with your sisters and brothers, then receive the sacrament, this is great, but what if you can’t? The tradition from the Church of Scotland allows us to approach the altar table and receive gods grace in the [...]

August

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Small joys

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