Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Clearing the decks

Now it's actually December, I feel able to say 'Christmas is coming'. Advent has started and we need to be getting ourselves ready to welcome the prince of peace. The trouble is that around this time of year, my life turns from peace to pandemonium - not that there's much peace through the autumn. But the Christmas rush presses in.

I am trying to finish an article reflecting on ministering in exile. I hope to get it done this week - but I daren't tell the editor that because I've got his hopes up so many times over the past few months!

However, the piece has a shape and some observations on Jeremiah 29 and 1 Peter filtered through my recent experience of ministry. The trouble with anything like this is that I'm not sure it will ever feel finished. I never had this trouble when I was a journalist!

Yesterday I was in Didcot for a meeting about the Baptist assembly and picked up a book to review for Mission Catalyst from the fresh expressions folk. Called Mission-shaped Questions: Defining Issues for today's Church, it's a collection of essays on the mixed economy church (an intriguing phrase which I see is also the title of the fresh expressions journal that hit my door mat this morning). It looks promising.

I'm listening to my top ten albums of the year trying to pick a winner for my festive feature that's coming soon. I might have to cop out and opt for category winners, so that each record wins a prize.

1 comment:

Lucy Mills said...

I'm so aware that often with advent it simply passes me by without my using it as a time of preparation...not intentional, but so easy to do.