On this blog in history...

So the challenge today is to blog about my day so it can go down in history along with hundreds (thousands?) of other bloggers.

Today at Morning Prayer and Eucharist we remembered Ignatius of Antioch who was an early martyr for the faith and wrote some powerful words to the Christians at Rome as he was being taken there to be executed for being a Christian(see below). We remembered in our prayers the people of China who are restricted still from acknowledging their Christian faith.

Later in the morning I had a meeting with Matt a fellow youthworker at the Baptist church up the road and we dreamed some big dreams of what we could do for the young people of the town including maybe a double decker bus to drive around the place and meet the young people where THEY meet across the area (at the local park, in the car parks where they hang out, etc) with a cafe and large screen tvs with all the works, mobile skate park that we can put up wherever we go and whatever else we fancy. Ok so I know from Simon's experience that there are ups and downs with bus projects so we also thought about opening a specific Christian youth cafe, maybe for the after school slot, and we thought about where we could do it. We also thought about an event which could be the same but travel around the area to different churches. It was a really energising conversation and I came away buzzing with ideas for our futures (and with a date to meet up again to carry it forward!)

Then later I met up with David the vicar for a catch up on a few things and spent the afternoon planning and praying through the confirmation session for the evening.

Before the session Michael, my husband and I had supper (bread, ham, cheese, betroot, some cold boiled potatoes, with a little chopped onion, cucumber and celery - apparently this might be interesting in a lot of years time!)

We watched a couple of Star Wars clips (Obi-Wan vs Darth Vader from A New Hope and Yoda training Luke from Empire Strikes Back) as part of exploring the Holy Spirit - using the way they describe the FORCE to explore the way the Holy Spirit has an impact on our lives. It was a really good session with lots of discussion and reflection too.

My favourite comedy moment has to be when we were discusing what our names mean and Tom W said, "My name means twin." "Hey so does mine!" says Tom F! maybe you did have to be there but it was funny!

So that was this day in history!


Ignatius' Epistle to the Romans
"Through prayer to God I have obtained the privilege of seeing your most worthy faces, and have even been granted more than I requested; for I hope as a prisoner in Christ Jesus to salute you...All the pleasures of the world, and all the kingdoms of this earth, shall profit me nothing. It is better for me to die in behalf of Jesus Christ, than to reign over all the ends of the earth. "For what shall a man be profited, if he gain the whole world, but lose his own soul? " Him I seek, who died for us: Him I desire, who rose again for our sake. This is the gain which is laid up for me. Pardon me, brethren: do not hinder me from living, do not wish to keep me in a state of death; and while I desire to belong to God, do not ye give me over to the world. Suffer me to obtain pure light: when I have gone thither, I shall indeed be a man of God. Permit me to be an imitator of the passion of my God. If any one has Him within himself, let him consider what I desire, and let him have sympathy with me, as knowing how I am straitened...I no longer wish to live after the manner of men, and my desire shall be fulfilled if ye consent. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet no longer I, since Christ liveth in me." I entreat you in this brief letter: do not refuse me; believe me that I love Jesus, who was delivered [to death] for my sake. "What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits towards me? " Now God, even the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, shall reveal these things to you, [so that ye shall know] that I speak truly. And do ye pray along with me, that I may attain my aim in the Holy Spirit. I have not written to you according to the flesh, but according to the will of God."