Weekend

 

It has been a full weekend.

A longstanding member of one of the congregations I oversee died. We give thanks for her life, and pray for her husband. I anticipate a call some time today that will set off the timeline to her funeral.

Three storerooms worth of donated items were moved on to Newcastle. It all heads to Poland and Ukraine today and tomorrow. The love offering of a local community.

We held our monthly hot lunch for some of the most vulnerably-housed members of our own local community. We had to suspend this over the pandemic, and it is good to be back again.

Jo and I joined other members of our running club on a mental health RunandTalk. A gentle 3 mile run along a beautiful stretch of the river Wear, and great conversations.

As a family, we watched The French Dispatch (quirky, genius) and, at our fifteen-year-old’s request, started watching The West Wing from the beginning.

I had the privilege of anointing people with fragrant oil as a sensory—and efficacious—sign of God’s glory shared with us and revealed through our lives.

It was great to see so many nationalities and families with children at our Sunday morning services. Unity in diversity. And, again, God’s presence shining from many faces.

In a great weekend, our monthly Sunday evening LGBTQIA+ communion service was a highlight. My colleague Jacqui had prepared a simple eucharist (holy communion) but our conversation in response to the Gospel ran rich and deep. Jacqui discerned the prompting of the Holy Spirit to lay down the rest of the service she had prepared and allow the sharing of our lives to run on; she offered that for our consideration, we weighed it and agreed. A level of openness and flexibility that, frankly, just isn’t possible in our more formal services.

How was your weekend?