for i am convinced...

I've just given the 8am Holy Communion Service talk at HTB on Palm Sunday, and here's the talk!


Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem
Matthew 21: 1-11
 
I’m one of those people who when I’m reading really likes to be able to picture the scene in a story. Like when Homer describes morning as the “rosy-fingered dawn.” Or when Bronte describes the dark and formidable Wuthering Heights house. You almost feel as though you were there and could shake hands with the characters.

I've just done the talk at the midweek communion service here at HTB and here's wot I sed...

Luke 13: 31-end

Jesus' Sorrow for Jerusalem
 At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, "Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you."  He replied, "Go tell that fox, 'I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.' In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!

aw, does anyone else feel really saddened by Top Gear's Richard Hammond's very nasty car crash? I often seem to distance myself from news stories, but this one has got me really sad... Get well soon Hamster!

Well, last night was the first Clark pastorate social of the summer holidays. We hit the Thames for a pub walk (that's walk, NOT crawl... hehe) - I'd totally recommend it for any pastorate social! Here's the link to the tour company for anyone who'd like to do the same thing www.walks.comWe met at Blackfriars tube by our tour guide who had the biggest boomiest voice in boomy-voicedom. Six English pounds later and we were herded off along the South Bank seeing the Tate Modern, Shakespeare's Globe, inbetween some really great pubs.

Well it's been 4 days now since barbeques were mothballed, tin foil taken down from windows, torches put back in storage, name badges sentimentally retained and sand beaten from trainers, jeans, tops, socks, hair, armpits, bikinis, pockets... Yes, believe it or not, it's only 4 days since Home Focus ended. And yet it feels like a lifetime ago...

"For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12 :10)

Physically, I’m a fairly weak person – being a weakling hasn’t hindered me massively in life, besides getting into a few fights with bottle tops, and having to go to the office next door to get them to open my jar of marmite in the morning… the only time it did cause a bit of a problem was when I was growing up and was having those all important play fights with my brother and sister, both of which are bigger and stronger than me. We’d have our battles to prove who was the strongest… They became rather like that scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail when Arthur is fighting the Black Knight who was immortalised by the words “it’s a mere flesh wound” despite both his arms and legs being chopped off…

I spent a lovely weekend in the Sussex countryside this weekend and spent a lovely hour and a half in the sun on my own, lazing, sleeping, and reading. I spent a lot of time thinking ahead to the future, and at the plans that God might have in store.

Aw, today was a sad day in the office - one of the HTB Homebase fish was taken poorly, and it looks like he's on his way to the big gravelled tank in the sky.

Fred (pictured left in healthier days) seemed to be having difficulty remembering which way up he was supposed to swim, and although fish are renowned for having even shorter memories than a teenager who...er...who er...wotsit...what was I saying? Nah, it's gone...

I had a chat with Tuffers yesterday about encouragement. I’ve noticed on About Life that lots of people are so encouraging, and really go straight to the point. I think that’s so brilliant.

In Romans 12, we are told that encouragement is actually a spiritual gift, “We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage…”