Advent, the Waitig Place

It is ironic that Advent should be a time for reflection, time to pause in the stress dominated lives we all seem to lead. Instead, Advent Sunday acts as a starting gun for the mere 4 weeks we have to work through an impossibly long 'to do' list.

It was refreshing, in view of this`, that our Family Service at St Mary's was so well supported and we were able to counter the trend. Then, in late afteroon, the people of Winston  gathered in the village hall for a cafe style act of worship. Here, the number of young people present was heartwarming and Methodist Minister, Bev Hollings, included them in her well planned and thoughtful service.

What did I say about business? A truncated band practice in church on Monday was followed by a village hall meeting and Tuesday began with a Christingle planning meeting at school and ended with a marriage preparation meeting with a lovely couple from Gateshead who are doctors. In between, we managed to have some lunch out at Whorlton.

I spent most of Wednesday teaching myself to build a web site and somehow managed to publish the site, though there is a lot more to do. have a look: www.gainfordwinstonanglican.com. The evening was taken up by the house group, where 'anger managemesnt' was the theme. It was an interesting discussion although a Nicky Gumbell video was not vey helpful. Inevitably, we talked about the vote in parliament and opinions varied.

I must make a start on the Christmas card list!

Thursday, after a schol assembly, there was space for visiting, both in hospital and home visits, always one of the joys of minstry. It was back to the school in the evening for the Christmas Fayre - good to see so man people there.

Today was devoted to Gegenforde (band), Scherzo (choir) and now I am settling down to watch Hartlepool take on Salford in the FA cup.