Distant Mountain

The last week has been Full. Packed. Chocka. Work has been busier than ever, quite stressful with a manager who never seems happy however hard you work, but I don't want to dwell on that. A number of things have happened which I have been struggling to get my head round, mainly due to lack of time to reflect. On Pentecost, the reading from Acts spoke of flames touching the Apostles as they were filled with the Holy Spirit. What an amazing way to be called to build a church! Then a few minutes later, during the sermon, I saw flames moving in front of me, which certainly made me blink! I quickly realised that the air above the candles on the altar was shimmering from the heat, and directly behind the heat haze was a stained glass window depicting Jesus and the fisherman disciples on shores of Galilee, with a small fire on the beach in the lower left corner - and the flames were moving as the preacher spoke about us being moved by the holy spirit at Pentecost. With all my ruminations

Thank you to everyone who wished me well or sponsored me as I ran the London Marathon on Palm Sunday. The weekend began on Friday with registration at a big exhibition centre in the docklands area. The race number and timing chip were safely issued and I was in. My home for the weekend was St Pauls Youth Hostel, and I pleased to be able to make it to Evensong in the Cathedral, which was an amazing experience. The Saturday was an easy day. A visit it to the Sunflower Seeds exhibition by Aiwei Wei at the Tate Modern in the morning, which was an awe inspiring installation. Then it was off to the London Marathon Service of Thanksgiving at All Hallows by the Tower in the afternoon. A simple service and because of the date, some elements of Palm Sunday were included (including Palm Crosses) for those of us who would be running the next day instead of being in church. It was also an honour to be able to read some of the prayers at the service as a Christian Aid runner. There was an interest

The last month or so has been one of those where it feels like, more than usual, I'm taking on too much! Since the London Marathon (for which I will post a race report soon, promise!), we have had our kitchen and dining room cleared, gutted, knocked through, re-fitted and decorated. So we have been living, in the living room along with the fridge, microwave, a large labradoodle and a boy who likes watching a lot of telly. This combined with a very busy job which recently seems to use all my thinking energy has left me more drained than usual. Especially when it comes to posting blogs and keeping in touch. In the last month I also attend a LMT service at the cathedral and led evening prayer in my own church for the first time, which felt, well, right. The energy levels aren't quite back yet, but I made it to morning prayer on Saturday, our family worship on sunday morning along then Evensong at another church in our benefice. This helped recharge the spritual batteries a