Fun

Today was my day off and my last day with my family. We went horse riding near Kenton on Sea. None of us are experts on horses, so this was a bit of a 'follow the horse in front of you' ride. But it was great for the kids (and for me)!

Grootdraai

I went to take a service at a farm called Grootdraai this morning. It is 112km from Grahamstown. I struggled with preparing for the service yesterday. I only knew on Friday that I was going. I don't know how to preach to these people out on the farms. Some of them are illiterate. Not many speak English. But sometimes there are one or two who are working in the 'outside world'. I have so little conception as to the nature of their lives that I find it hard to prepare a sermon. I don't know what they know well from the Bible. I don't know what their concerns and worries are. I don't know how to communicate.
I try to console myself that I am going with a message from Jesus - but am brought up short by the those who say that we are arrogant to talk about 'taking Jesus to people' because God has always been there. Well, then, why am I doing this?
I am increasingly going back to the roots of my faith. If I am called and sent by Jesus then there must be a reason for it. I am, in a sense, taking him wherever I go, even if he is already there. And I don't think that it is arrogant of me.
At the end of the day we got lost and took a 50km detour and only one local person actually pitched up to the service. It's not what I would do for fun, but I trust that our faithfulness will have encouraged this one person to greater faithfulness and will have in some way demonstrated the love that Jesus has for him. I don't particularly regret going out there.

Busy is good

I've submitted the first full draft of my Masters dissertation. I'm happy to have it in, and my supervisor back from leave, but I know that the thing doesn't flow properly. Hopefully over the next couple of months my supervisor can help me get it up to a decent level!
The Grahamstown festival is still making the town a busy place. We've been to three shows - Jazz, a teen modern dance thing and classical violin and piano. The Jazz and the violin were great, the dance was ok. We plan to see Andrew Buckland tomorrow (in Stilted)- I've always wanted to see him, so this will be cool!
It is different having my supervising minister away. The congregation has no choice but to speak to me and I am getting more of a picture of how things happen. They are very gracious about talking to me - even when they have to explain things sixteen times so that I can get a grip on what they are saying! It's nice that I can now take the initiative in helping people and making things happen.

Future

Sometimes moving into the next minute, hour or day productively just means pushing through time as if was an obstacle. At other times it means pushing through people and things as well as time. However, when there are people involved it seems as if time is rarefied and easy to push through. But the objectives achieved may be those of others and not your own.

The Cats Are All Away

My superintendent is on leave. My supervising minister is on leave. Even the bishop is on leave. Only minister in circuit this week is a first year student - me! The whole town is at the festival, so it shouldn't be too stressed - except that there is supposed to be some district event here on Saturday and all the locals are involved in the festival (they take on extra jobs during this time). I'm looking forward to being a bit more of a 'real minister' this week.

Got to Work

I've got to get this first draft of my Masters completed. Got to. Limited blogging till then. Soon. Keep limiting stuff till it's done.
We went to see the Awesome Big Band playing Jazz on Sunday evening. We haven't done much of that sort of thing and we enjoyed it.
Going to work now!

National Arts Festival

Everything for the next few days is 'Grahamstown Festival'. Which is cool! But they say, no church meetings. People will not even come to church on Sundays because they have jobs at the festival. There certainly is a buzz of activity in the town and even in the township.
It is great to have my family with me - they will enjoy the festival. We walked around the two 'flea market' areas yesterday and the day before. I'm not great at flea markety stuff, but it was interesting to see. I guess we will go and see some show or other before the festival is over - maybe my husband and kids will see more because I am supposed to be working!
We bought a set of sticks - I don't know what they are called. There are two straights sticks about a foot long, covered in rubber and then a longer, flexible stick, also covered in rubber. You use the two straight sticks to throw and catch and spin the longer stick. I've always wanted to try it, and I now have my own set! It is a lot of fun and the kids are enjoying them too.