fuel etc
I'm on the hay diet (as is David) - for health reasons but with the hope that some excess baggage will slide off.
Ron read out of the farmers weekly, an ad for a heater for farmhouses which (appallingly) burns GRAIN as fuel. What does the Lord think of a nation which, as a mark of gratitude for a bouteous harvest promptly stores it up to throw in the fire? The most appalling aspect of this is that there may be people (even Christians) who don't see any problem with this. In our materialistic, utilitarian and relativistic society I guess we can't be surprised at either the grain being put to such use or the masses being indifferent to it - but we can still be saddened.

I was reading through the intro. to the Book of Common Prayer last evening. When driving up and down England (as one does!) one sees many fine examples of old churches which are pleasing to the eye. I used to ponder WHY people (many of them newly-arrived Normans) bothered to build such structures - after all, if one has to expend a great deal of time on gardening and farming in order to provide food for the family, and, on top of that, fight off trouble-makers, there couldnt' be much spare, in terms of resources, to qualify church building as a 'leisure' or 'recreational' activity. Then again, these places are used once a week (or sometimes less now) - unless they have been converted to some kind of retail outlet) - whereas it is clear from the BCP that there were (ordained) services twice a day (at a convenient hour, the bell to be rung to summon the locals to join together in hearing the Word and praying) as long after the Norman Conquest as 1662. I wonder where it all went wrong. It is bad to long after old days but it is an attractive concept to have a local church, within hearing/walking distance, to which one could wander daily, to join in community worship and hearing the Word / Prayer. I suppose there would be those who say that since we are the 'temple of the holy spirit' we can worship all the time wherever we are - with which I don't entirely agree, if that means that worshipping together as a community becomes of no importance.

I've been immensely blessed by using the Book of Common Prayer Morning Worship for the past 3 weeks while I have been away with (most) of my children. EAch one (who can read) takes it in turns to be the 'leader'. those who can't read have memorised many of the scripture quotes and responses and can take part. We round up by everyone giving a 'prayer request' for the leader to (try and) remember - which is all good practice. OR we pray round. It's not very expert and considering the exalted language we have used up to that point the words are a bit limited, however, I keep reminding myself that I am in the 'foundations' business. In the 'sermon' slot I read a section from one of my three excellent old books by J Reid Howatt - which are worth their weight in gold - of children's sermons.

Following on from this, Timothy showed me a book which he just bought from Amazon on worship songs and nonsense (which in many cases are synonymous). The book was not calling for a return to intelligent singing, just an avoidance of the worst excesses (some examples of which are offered in the book!). The author seems to have had the priveledge of growing up in an church where the line 'here I raise my Ebenezer' was sung - he claims not to know what it meant. He states that people now wouldn't know what it means and therefore it ought not to be sung. I admit I didn't read the book from cover to cover but I DID scan it for the word 'Psalm' - in vain. Of course the Psalms are full of cryptic allusions to the wonderous works of God (or mighty GAFFS of the Lord's people, or His enemies) in time past. If we want to sing the psalms meaningfully we have WORK at understanding the stories of the OT. One thing we DON'T want in 'worship' nowadays, (well, I speak popularly, of course) is effort. If we are tired out at the end of a service because we've had a jolly strenuous bounce around, all well and good, but don't ask us to use our MINDS please! So as long as we keep at arms length historical Christianity and a sound knowledge of the Bible we can expect the future to be VERY bleak in terms of 'worship songs', I fear. And still there are myriads of sincere Christians who believe the 'Lord has given (them) a song' - which congregations (or gatherings?) of people, in all sincerity, offer up to the Lord.
One thinks of Cain - he was sincere about what he offered up to the Lord and then got cross when it wasn't acceptable. If we DO what is pleasing to the Lord, then He will be pleased, but perhaps we ought honestly to consult Him as he reveals Himself in His infallible Word.