drunk

It's busy, I know, at this time of year, but I do love the build up up to Christmas!

Another long day (Christmas candles are there to be burned!) with an early 6am start. I thouoght I'd get on with preparing the soups - it being our special, festive week and all!

A good, thick, mouth-watering Scotch Broth (for the traditionalists!) and a large pan of Red Plum Tomato Soup. Not Plum Tomato Soup which happens to be red, but Tomato Soup made with stewed red plums.

Novel, perhaps! But good. And suitably festive, I thought. I mean, we have 'plum pudding' at this time of year, so why not 'plum soup'.

(OK, I don't want to know your answer to that!)

I like to make it special, and Christmas week especially so.

So I got that done before I was off to the secondary school for half past eight. The next in the series of first thing in the morning year group assemblies.

This time S2 and 3. A bit more rowdy than the 5s and 6s had been yesterday. But then, I guess, we're one day further nearer the big one and spirits run higher by the moment!

The Rector seemed more than content with what I had to say (I don't know about the pupils!) and that at least is something. Although ostensibly my talk's directed to the pupils, the staff are there as well and ... well, who knows just what's being taken in by whom?

Later on it was back to the Primary School for the last of the four long sessions with the Primary 6s there. Jesus - his story.

This time on his death. What a great time we had! They were full of all sorts of questions - some of them focussed on the blood, the gore and the pain: but some of them, too, quite probing and perceptive in their way.

I love it when the children are like that. Full of questions. Wanting to know. Eager to get the picture. As I say, I thought it all was great. And I think they got the picture just a bit.

And their teachers, too. They seemed appreciative. And stressed, in winding things all up, that now the children would be better placed to understand what Christmas was actually all about.

I was sad to finish off these sessions with the Primary 6s. They've been good. But I was invited back - which I took as a positive sign!

And even as I was leaving, walking along the corridor, I passed the P5 classroom and the teacher invited me in. They were having a practice singing class for the service here tomorrow. And they wanted me to hear how good they were!

It was like they felt that I belonged to them, was one of them, a part of all they're doing through this year. It was humbling to feel the welcome that they gave.

And, yes, they were good all right. Great singing, but lovely smiles as they sang as well. And I thought what joy the Lord himself must have in such a simple pleasure in the praising of his name.

Then they went on and sang me a carol in German. A foreign language and harmonised as well. I think they're just amazing! A lovely group of children. With so much to give. Such wonderful potential for the living of their lives.

Please God, I pray, so work in all their lives they do not ever lose that vibrant, huge potential for a whole long life well lived.

I'd have loved to have stayed and they'd gladly have had me there. But I had to get back and get the custard on for all the Christmas pies there are on offer here this week. It's a tradition this, my being the local custard-maker for these things.

Strange how the wonder of Christmas is built around traditions that just grow. It's sort of giving people memories which will stick with them for ever and remind them of the goodness of our God in Jesus Christ. So I guess we work at these simple, small 'traditions'.

Plus, I love custard!

It was good to catch up with Douglas at lunch. I haven't seen him for a while, the way that things have worked out.

He was thrilled to bits to have had his thesis newly printed out. He must have been working on the thing for almost six years I think. It feels like that at any rate. And must seem like eternity for him! The good things in life area worth waiting for.

The chance to stop and pray is always good as well. A time of prayer with him in the early afternoon. As we'd had a time of prayer, as staff, before I'd headed off to school much earlier on this morning.

Good to be able to bring each other's needs before the Lord. Good to be able to pray that God himself would be at work in all that's going on.

"Every day is different. And I never know from one day to another just what the day will bring."

Not my words. But the words of the lady I saw up at the funeral undertakers in the afternoon when collecting the casket with my mother's ashes in. With the interment of her ashes coming up on Thursday of this week, I figured I should probably go and collect them!

But that was what the lady there was saying. I haven't ever met her face to face before. We simply sort of know each other's voice across the phone.

In some ways it's a bit like us and Christ. We hear and know and recognise his voice. But one day we will get to see the Lord face to face. I suspect that'll be a surprise! It isn't hard to put a face to any voice we hear. It's just hard getting the face correct!

I didn't imagine the lady like that at all! And I don't suppose that any sort of pictures that I've had of Jesus are ever going to be remotely like the real thing!

And yet all the time I guess that what I'm trying to do in life is helping people form a sort of picture of the Lord. Strange.

I'm painting pictures day by day to try and help folk see just what the Lord is like. That's what we were doing at night in a way. Carol singing with the young folk from our Sunday evening group. Up town, starting from The Lot and moving on from there.

And coming back as well (they kindly gave us steaming hot chocolate afterwards, which we were more than ready for! The night was freezing cold!).

I thought it was great the way these young folk are so ready to participate in something of that sort. They've good voices too. Most of them anyway. And they made it fun.

We were collecting for a Trust which serves the homeless in the city here (Bethany Christian Trust) and were given some money by some of the passing traffic. Pedestrian traffic, that is.

Being a freezing cold night, and a Tuesday to boot, there weren't that many people on the streets. Except the smokers, obliged to smoke their cigarettes outside the pubs and restaurants.

We were either a welcome relief to the biting cold for them, or they were a captive audience! Some of them were really very generous indeed.

I think there must be some sort of graph which shows that the drunker they were the more generous they were as well! (Though I guess there'll be a cut off point at some point in the level of inebriation!).

Generosity comes with hearts that are 'drunk' on the wonder and beauty in all of the love that the Lord gives.

Which is back to the children at school. The P5 classes singing their Christmas songs. Giving it all. Faces alive and smiles so broad. 'Drunk', in a way, on the wonder and excitement of this Christmas time. And thus generous, too.

In their case with their voices and their lively, lovely laughter and their smiles. That's got to be the way to live! 'Drunk' on the wine of the Spirit of God. 'Drunk' on the water of life!