Last few weeks at church

Over the last few weeks, my Senior Minister, Mike, has been away in India and Uganda. This has meant that, while he is still in charge (and in contact by phone) I've had a bit more responsibility in the church over the last few weeks.

There has been some good and bad. We've had some excellent meetings, although it has felt a bit like a rollercoaster at times. I preached 3 sunday mornings in a row for the first time. Which was great because I'm starting to feel comfortable with my preaching style, not umm-ing and err-ing or reading from a script.

I think that what i learnt about most was about dealing with things behind the scenes. There were lots of different situations that I had the opportunity to put some input into. Sometimes I felt a bit overwhelmed, especially on a Sunday morning after church when it feels like a million people want to talk to you. I have spent most Sunday afternoons asleep this last month.

We even got to have a proper day off on Friday. If you are ever in this area, may i recommend the Drake Manor pub in Buckland Monochorum as the lunch Alex and I had there was excellent.

Mike is home tommorow. I'm picking him up from Heathrow. I'm looking forward to hearing his stories, debriefing and getting back into the swing of things.

Btw. You may have noticed the 'Stop the traffik' campaign banner above. It is one of the campaigns that is celebrating the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in this country. Have a look and support it.

Simon

Paste

I'm guessing that if we've heard about this one, then it's going to be quite popular already, but we love this you tube video. She makes us laugh.

Culture-me-do

So, we have had the opportunity of doing a few cultural things as the new year has started.

Been to see 3 movies at the cinema. I now have a subscription for Empire which means that we get cheaper tickets, which is ace. As for the movies:

Mrs Potter - Charming movie, great for sunday afternoons, easy on the brain and the eye and it makes you want to go for a holiday in the Lake District.

Last King Of Scotland - Brilliant, but disturbing. Forest Whittaker is just obvious for the oscar. By the way, loved Mark Kermode's joke on the radio yesterday in light of Helen Mirren's 'you don't fall in love with me, you fall in love with the queen' speech on winning the golden globe, will Forest Whittaker's reply follow suit with a 'You don't fall in love with me, you fall in love with Idi Amin'?

Rocky Balboa - Loved it, as good as a Rocky movie in 2007 could possibly be.



Still looking forward to seeing Babel, Hot Fuzz (though not as much as my little sister) and The Curse of The Golden Flower. The last one is worth checking the trailer out here in all it's stunningly lovely hi-def glory. American reviews say it is over-wrought and operatic, but visually stunning.







Before we went to Rocky Balboa last friday, we went to the opening of a new exhibition at the Plymouth Art Centre called Slow. Most of it was useless, apart from a piece by a group called Low Profile, which you can read more about here.





The other big cultural event of the month for us (I say us and mean me=) was the release of a new Matt Redman album called 'Beautiful News'. For those who don't know, Matt Redman is one of the world's top worship leader / christian songwriters. It took me a few plays to get into the new album because it doesn't have a killer 'raise the bar of worship' track (like Blessed Be..., Stand in awe of you, Heart of Worship) which was disappointing because those sort of songs define what is great about Matt Redman. However, the album is very good on its own merits. Not a lot of surprises in what it sounds like (except the Mercury Rev-ish hidden track) but it is full of songs that are never less than good, often excellent and at times beautiful. 'Fearfully and Wonderfully Made' is the standout track.

Also this month, we got to hear Chris Tomlin's new album, See The Morning (more worship). You could say a lot of the same things about this album too. No 'how great is our God' standout, but a solid selection of worship songs.

Simon

A Short Film About Fish

Today I went to the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth. I love it there, it's one of the most fun, but also relaxing, places in Plymouth. They have 3 big tanks. The atlantic reef which is like watching a big movie about fish, the shark tank, which is a bit boring, and the coral reef, of which Snorkel the Turtle is the main attraction.

I did some videoing of what I saw on my mobile and uploaded it to youtube. Excuse the quality. Enjoy the fish.

Simon