Because of Geraint Thomas lots of people are doing this sort of thing.
A blog featuring whatever I fancy, often on the Christian faith but not exclusively
Lord's Day July 29 2018
Technically we were still in July yesterday but we re really inthe August period when numbers can be rather low. They certainly were yesterday with only around 25 there in the morning and 15 (not bad for us really) in the evening. The two new people came once again in the morning and there were three visitors from Paris. In the morning I preached another text - Jude 20, 21. That is a great text and it was good to be emphasising the love of God. The evening was a little different in that we had Sajida Iqbal with us talking about the work of Noor Ministries which is an evangelical work in Pakistan mainly focused at present on education. It is wonderful to realise what a wonderful work is going on there at the heart of this Muslim country. We hve rarely had someone speak in a worship service and although this was fine I felt a little squeezed come the sermon but that was probably my fault. I spoke on holy ambition from Matthew.
10 Names in Welsh for English Counties
1. Ebrauc/Efrog (York)
2. Henffordd (Hereford)
3. Rhydychen (literally, "oxen ford" Oxford)
4. Dyfnaint (Devon)
5. Cernyw (Cornwall)
6. Gwlad-yr-haf ("land of summer" Somerset)
7. Caer (Cheshire)
8. Caerwrangon (Worcester)
9. Caerloyw (Gloucester)
10. Caergrawnt (Cambridge, from Grantchester)
10 Names in Welsh for English Towns
1. Llundain (London)
2. Caer or Caerlleon (Chester)
3. Llwydlo (Ludlow)
4. Rhosan-ar-Wy (Rosson Wye))
5. Caerwynt (Winchester)
6. Yr Amwythig (Shrewsbury. It means "the fort in scrubland")
7. Croesoswallt (ie "Oswald's cross" Oswestry means "Oswald's tree" which could be referring to a cross)
8. Bryste (Bristol)
9. Lerpwl (Liverpool)
10. Llanllieni (Leominster)
(One erroneous "translation" is Rhydwely for Bedford, which is really Beda's ford)
10 Places on the island of Ireland also found in Wales
1. Larne, County Antrim; Laugharne, Carmarthenshire (Latharna, Talacharn)
2. Bangor, County Down; Bangor, Gwynedd and on Dee
3. Derry the city in Ulster; Deri the village near Caerphilly
4. Kerry the County; Kerry, Powys
5. Crumlin, Belfast, Crumlin, Dublin, etc; Crumlin, the village near Caerphilly (Cromghlinn, Crymlyn)
6. Holywell, near Swords, Dublin; Holywell, Flintshire
7. Newcastle, small places in Tipperary, Wicklow, etc; Newcastle Emlyn and two others
8. Newbridge, two places in Kildare and Galway; three places, including one on the Usk and one on the Wye
9. Newport, County Mayo; Newport, South Wales and Pembrokeshire
10. Newtown, loads everywhere in Ireland and a few in Ulster; Newtown, Powys.
(New Inn would be a similar example to these last)
(New Inn would be a similar example to these last)
Midweek Meeting July 25 2018
A number of us gathered again this week. We looked at the opening three verses of Genesis 19 and the figure of Lot, flawed but a righteous man and an example to us, especially of hospitableness. I hadn't intended to be but I was a little long and so we started to pray late and so one or two didn't pray who perhaps could have. Lots of things near and far to pray for as ever. Members meeting next.
10 Traditional Circus Acts
 |
| Magharebia, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons |
1. Clowns
2. High wire acrobats
3. Lion tamer (also other animal acts like performng seals)
4. Contortionist
5. Knife thrower
6. Juggler
7. Trapeze artists
8. Fire eater and sword swallower
9. Strong man
10. Escapologist and shallow diver
Day Off Week 30
Knowing I was planning to report back helped me be organised today I guess. It was a good day except for a rather low walking rate again. (It's too hot to be out much). I enjoyed lots of good music today among other things.
Some time ago I started reading Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse but had put it down unfinished. Anyway I managed to pick up again and enjoyed completing it both because I'm glad to have read a classic (I've not read anything else by Woolf) and because I enjoyed it (although it was an effort to psyche myself up to that level of language). I also read the last chapter of a book on Julia Pastrana translated from Norwegian that I also started some time ago (it was the Jerry Bergman book on The Darwin Effect that reminded me I had it). The book came out in 2004 and Julia's body is still in Norway when it finishes but I read that she was eventually buried back in Mexico where she was born.
Earlier in the day I bought a new kitchen tap. The plumber came later in the day and did us a good couple of jobs. In the evening we were out in West London at my esteemed father-in-law's with his new wife (52 days he told us) and a nice group of others with different connections. A really lovely evening of food and conversation in good company.
Incredibles 2
 |
| Pixar/The Walt Disney Company, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons |
The family got to see Incredibles 2 in the cinema recently (to be strictly accurate, Eleri went to see Mama Mia 2 - a mere 10 years behind the first not 16 like our one - while we three boys went to see Incredibles). The film was always we have come to expect from Pixar and followed on from the first film without etting the side down. Part of the focus is on the baby Jack Jack. I thought the idea that gifted kids are born with multiple skills but have to learn how to use them was nicely explored, the house husband/woman at work thing is perhaps a little passe but done nicely enough, I guess. The film is apparently littered with in-jokes. Sorry to see a slight worsening in allowable language. The sight of a hnad gun may be controversial.
The setting is the sixties when I discovered my superheroes and I think that is where they belong. Multiple films that seek to update things cut no ice with me. It is apparently the longest computer-animated feature film to date (nearly two hours) but did not seem long. (The short beforehand Bao was well up to standard).
Killed by my debt
Alerted to it existence by an article in The Times we watched the BBC 3 drama Kielled by my debt the other night. It was a disturbing drama based on real events. A the story unfolded it had all the marks of a tragedy as it trudged on to the seemingly inevitable denouement. There are many problems in society today that this story highlights including zero hours contracts, easy credit, money hungry local councils, inhumane bailiffs, low views of the worth of hman life, th failure of Christians to connect, etc. If you ever wonder why aspects of socialism are always popular with some, you need only to watch this.
Lord's Day July 22 2018
I had an anonymous phone call before church. Someone wanted me to pray for a relative on heroin. I also had an email I noticed asking when the church was open. These are unusual but remind us that there are needy and to some extent willing people out there. Attendances at both services were quite good. The heat is demanding on preacher and congregation alike. I tried to keep it short. We looked at Hebrews 9:24-26 in the morning and the next bit in Matthew 20 (17-19) in the evening. We had a lovely gathering back here of several members and friends. Something distracting was on my mind through part of the day. I'm not sure if that made me a little flat. It was encouraging to see young people (new graduates) there. I hope they can stick with us.
Christian Institute
Last night we had a presentation from the good people at Christian Institute. Rhys Curnow (whose family we know) and Ian Hamil spoke. There is no particularly burning issue at the moment but it was good to get an update on things. There were some questions at the end and lots of literature for us to take. I do have one or two reservations about CI but they do a wonderful work all told and it is good hear from them regularly. It was also gratifying to see 30 or 40 present for the meeting. The first twenty or so were our own members and people from the Kensit Evangelical Church who had kindly transferred their midweek meeting to Childs Hill. Then there were various others from churches near and far including our nearest BU church. It was nice to have RHys over for tea beforehand with Eleri's dad and his wife.
Midweek Meeting July 18 2018
%20(1).jpg)
We were only six on Wednesday but we had a decnet time of prayer preceded by a message from Gensis 18 on Abraham interceding for Sodom. Generally it is unwise to talk about prayer before people are about to pray but one man was quite exercised in prayer and to some extent prayed, I thought, in the sort of way Abraham might have.
Quotation about the British
In the Gimson book I read recently I came across this description of the attitude of most British people given in a book on Queen Victoria by the historian Cecil Woodham-Smith (who turns out to be a woman born in Tenby and writing in the seventies).
British belief in the superiority of the British nation knew no bounds. It was an article of faith that one Englishman could beat six Frenchmen, more than six of any other foreign nation, and it was an almost religious conviction that the British possessed a sense of justice and fair play to be found nowhere else. An Englishman stood up for the weak, faced disaster without losing his head, kept his word and never kicked a man when he was down.
My grandfather was a Victorian and even in the seventies when I grew up this attitude was sometimes in the air. it is not hoow people think today.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)