full days

The days this week see me hit the ground kind of running.

There's a lot to do first thing.

Making the soups and off to the school and setting things up in the hall. Then letters to write and e-mails to send.

And then the time of prayer. That's always very welcome. The chance to stop and join with others and commit the day to the Lord. And a whole load of people as well whom we ask the Lord to help.

It's not that long 'til the first group of come to the halls are here. Expectant Mums, here for their next 'ante-natal'. Along with one of the midwives.

It's good to be able to welcome them and put them a bit at their ease. We've more than one hall so they don't always know where they're going. And, of course, for most of them, the ground they're about to cover (in pregnancy) - well, that's all new as well.

We try and give them a sense that they'll not be alone as they travel these next months' miles. A sense of the Lord himself being there to keep them right.

So little things like spotting them as they arrive, going out of the halls to meet them as they come and lead them up those next few steps to where the meeting'll be. All that is just a simple way of giving a sense of the Lord being there as a shepherd, to lead them along this path.

There's a group of older ladies who are hard on their heels. They were here last week and enjoyed it so much that they're back. It's great to see them all again and to welcome them here once more.

I take some time for a bit of a chat and a bit of a laugh and I kid them on that maybe they've come for the ante-natal group. Which, of course, they strenuously deny.

They enjoy the banter and fun. And it's clear that again they're glad to be here and they're sensing there's something about the place that is different and pleasant and good.

There's a lot that I've to do with all that's coming up this week.

The whole of Thursday morning will be taken up with the Primary 7 classes from the local school - coming along for an inter-active session on the meaning and significance of Easter.

So it's going to be a 'shorter' week. And there's loads to do in connection with Thursday as well, of course.

And I've two fairly lengthy reports to write - one in connection with Barry, the student who's doing his placement here; and one for the whole group of churches here in Edinburgh. A kind of 'state of the nation' report on our life as a people here and the hopes that we have for the future.

I get a bit done, some progress is made.

And then there's someone to see. At a fair bit of length. Vexing and troubling and painful hurts which span a whole great range of different issues in the person's life - and ours.

There's a sense through it all of the Lord making clear what the nub of the matter is.

And, for me at least, that sense is more than confirmed by the drift of the message the Lord has been laying on my heart for tomorrow's lunch-time service.

Douglas is in here for lunch. And we chat a bit and pray before we part.

The day is already flying by!

There are cards for each of the children who'll be coming here on Thursday with the school that I must get printed off. A simple adaptation of our Easter card, geared more to them and where they're at.

Another task completed.

The glazier's here as well. Someone took a shot, a while ago, at one of the larger windows in our worship centre. An air-gun by the looks of things. A neat little whole and the rest of the window a sort of million piece jigsaw of shattered glass.

So there's access to be given. And now that they're here I take the chance to get out and into the village. Some folk to see and stamps to buy and letters to post ... and then back to check how the glaziers are getting on.

The evening's as much of a whirl as well.

The traffic's queued back for miles all round. An eighty metre stretch of the Queensferry Road has one lane closed. Which makes for huge long queues on all the roads.

Again, it's quicker by far to walk.

There's a couple I've said that I'll see at the church. They're due to be married in 2010. In the church, but not by me, since I'll be off on my holidays then. I'm pretty sure.

I wanted to get the chance to meet them both and begin to see how best we take them forward in the range of preparations that there are for getting married. They were both at school at the local secondary school. So they remember me (vaguely) from there. Connections.

And then I've to rush on up to the centre of town for a meeting there. It's usually not that lengthy, but tonight it goes on and on.

Important issues, certainly, and all of them hinting, or so it seems to me, at the need for us to take a long hard look at how we understand the church. The system's geared far more to maintaining the institution than to extending the kingdom of God.

A rather fatal flaw I think!