... around where the pig now has his golf course ...
I take exception to you referring to the Orange Oaf as a pig - pigs are noble and appealing creatures ...
Well... I have, in my time, observed pigs rolling in mud and excrement with their friends while clearly content with their lot. I merely observe the similarity.
... around where the pig now has his golf course ...
I take exception to you referring to the Orange Oaf as a pig - pigs are noble and appealing creatures ...
Well... I have, in my time, observed pigs rolling in mud and excrement with their friends while clearly content with their lot. I merely observe the similarity.
... around where the pig now has his golf course ...
I take exception to you referring to the Orange Oaf as a pig - pigs are noble and appealing creatures ...
Well... I have, in my time, observed pigs rolling in mud and excrement with their friends while clearly content with their lot. I merely observe the similarity.
Have you tried observing my Ship name?
There is a huge difference between a pig and a piglet. As everyone knows, piglets are charming and adorable. My beloved, late mother-in-law had a pet piglet when she was of a tender age.
I don't know if any of you watch the proceedings from the Scottish Parliament, but the MSP for Orkney, Liam McArthur, gave a very moving tribute today to his predecessor, Jim Wallace.
(In fairness, I saw it via a Facebook post from Liam).
Further to my post above, I'm rather pleased to report that Jim's funeral is going to be in St Magnus Cathedral, and he's going to be buried in Orkney.
I'd have understood if it had been "south", but I'm glad it isn't.
Further addendum to above posts: there's to be a memorial service for Jim in Dunblane Cathedral in June, and my friend from Scottish Voices who also sings in the Dunblane choir told me yesterday that she'd suggested (without my knowledge) to their choirmaster that I might like to sing with the choir for it, explaining my Orkney connection and my musical background.
I'm extremely chuffed, and shall be booking the day off work forthwith.
Having a day off work I got to church today. At the end of the service the Steward who had read was coming to speak to me - we sing in the same choir - when another, smaller lady suddenly accosted her and began to accuse her of « saying things » about herself. I could not escape as they were blocking my exit from the pew, and the they were arguing and eventually the smaller lady was shouting! And both were saying that such things shouldn’t happen in the Kirk. (NB this was a Methodist service, so not The Kirk as usually understood.). Then they turned to me and asked why such things happened in churches, and I said usually because of misunderstanding. Both agreed, but I don’t think small lady knows the meaning of the word, because she said she was misunderstood! I said « misunderstanding on both parts » and small lady stomped off, saying she would leave if the Steward didn’t. Poor Steward was very much upset and said she would have to not come back, that she couldn’t sleep at night because of this festering thing, and that she’d already left the women’s group to avoid further conflict. I said she should talk to the minister, and she said he would do nothing about it, which is probably true.
That sounds a very difficult thing to witness @Cathscats, but I hope your friend doesn't feel she has to leave the church if she is otherwise happy there.
I have stated that once both my children are at university I'd be willing to travel further to preach, at present my preaching has been within the old Strathclyde circuit and a couple of churches within the new Scotland circuit that are the same travel time (Stirling and Paisley). Maybe in a couple of years I'll be asked to preach there, and a sermon on really listening to others, seeking to understand a position before attacking or similar may be made appropriate for whatever the lectionary gives.
@Alan Cresswell Maybe, though I think the church will be closed by then. I’m sorry for both the women, as I think that old Mrs Poison Dwarf - as I now think of her - has been fretting and fuming over what others agree was an imagined wrong for so long that it is poisoning her mind. Myself I think the minister should speak to them separately and tell them he is doing this, and the burden of his song should be forgiveness. The wrong may be imagined, but the hurt is real on both sides.
I may say I think the Methodist way (at least in these further reaches of the church ) of never seeing the same preacher two weeks running, and seeing the named minister only once a month is very harmful to the members of the congregation as well as tough on a minister who wants to be trusted.
I may say I think the Methodist way (at least in these further reaches of the church ) of never seeing the same preacher two weeks running, and seeing the named minister only once a month is very harmful to the members of the congregation as well as tough on a minister who wants to be trusted.
There are, as always, pros and cons for any particular way of doing things. I moved back to the Methodists from the URC a couple of years back, so still technically a local preacher on trial as despite my previous preaching experience it was (mutually) considered appropriate that I go through the Methodist system - in part because of the differences in the nature of preaching in a circuit rather than a local church. From my perspective, moving from always preaching to the same congregation (and, that being my own congregation) to preaching to lots of different congregations is a challenge - not that challenging the preacher to put in work to know each congregation a bit is a bad thing, far from it. Most congregations seem to appreciate having different people, with different ways of doing things and perspective, each week rather than always hearing the same small number of people preach. But, it does reduce continuity - one thing I do find difficult when leading worship is not knowing what had been preached over the previous couple of weeks, because it is useful to build on what others have recently preached.
Like almost all churches, Methodists are struggling with too few ministers. And, especially in Scotland where Methodism was never a really big congregation with few churches close together, that does mean that the time any church sees a minister is limited. That impacts how often we celebrate Communion (another thing I miss is weekly Communion), and in particular impacts pastoral care where a minister or deacon is needed (most pastoral issues in Methodist churches should be handled by local members - though that does assume there are enough people locally with the skills to do that, usually OK for just calling in for a tea and chat, but handling the sort of situation outlined above requires more skill and almost always that will be a minister or deacon). That's especially the case where the only significant contact between minister and congregation is on Sunday morning - with dispersed churches it's quite possible that for the minister to call in to talk to people during the week would involve a lot of travel.
But, moving ministers around and having lots of different preachers is probably, IMO, healthier for a congregation than having a single minister do everything with only the occasional guest preacher, especially where that minister stays in post for decades. There possibly needs to be some middle ground, especially where circuits are geographically large (and, the whole of Scotland must be one of the biggest Methodist circuits), which I think probably has to involve greater ecumenical cooperation in ministry.
@Arethosemyfeet have you seen the April Fool headline - CalMac bosses drafted in to advise Iran's Ayatollah on disrupting shipping in Strait of Hormuz. Scottish ferry operator's decades of experience cited as key expertise for Middle East strategy.
@Arethosemyfeet have you seen the April Fool headline - CalMac bosses drafted in to advise Iran's Ayatollah on disrupting shipping in Strait of Hormuz. Scottish ferry operator's decades of experience cited as key expertise for Middle East strategy.
That has produced much sniggering from the three Aberdeenshire natives I'm currently sharing this room with.
@Arethosemyfeet have you seen the April Fool headline - CalMac bosses drafted in to advise Iran's Ayatollah on disrupting shipping in Strait of Hormuz. Scottish ferry operator's decades of experience cited as key expertise for Middle East strategy.
Comments
Well... I have, in my time, observed pigs rolling in mud and excrement with their friends while clearly content with their lot. I merely observe the similarity.
There is a huge difference between a pig and a piglet. As everyone knows, piglets are charming and adorable. My beloved, late mother-in-law had a pet piglet when she was of a tender age.
(In fairness, I saw it via a Facebook post from Liam).
😢
I'd have understood if it had been "south", but I'm glad it isn't.
I'm extremely chuffed, and shall be booking the day off work forthwith.
It was a really nasty little encounter.
I may say I think the Methodist way (at least in these further reaches of the church ) of never seeing the same preacher two weeks running, and seeing the named minister only once a month is very harmful to the members of the congregation as well as tough on a minister who wants to be trusted.
Like almost all churches, Methodists are struggling with too few ministers. And, especially in Scotland where Methodism was never a really big congregation with few churches close together, that does mean that the time any church sees a minister is limited. That impacts how often we celebrate Communion (another thing I miss is weekly Communion), and in particular impacts pastoral care where a minister or deacon is needed (most pastoral issues in Methodist churches should be handled by local members - though that does assume there are enough people locally with the skills to do that, usually OK for just calling in for a tea and chat, but handling the sort of situation outlined above requires more skill and almost always that will be a minister or deacon). That's especially the case where the only significant contact between minister and congregation is on Sunday morning - with dispersed churches it's quite possible that for the minister to call in to talk to people during the week would involve a lot of travel.
But, moving ministers around and having lots of different preachers is probably, IMO, healthier for a congregation than having a single minister do everything with only the occasional guest preacher, especially where that minister stays in post for decades. There possibly needs to be some middle ground, especially where circuits are geographically large (and, the whole of Scotland must be one of the biggest Methodist circuits), which I think probably has to involve greater ecumenical cooperation in ministry.
That has produced much sniggering from the three Aberdeenshire natives I'm currently sharing this room with.
Oof. Right in the timetable.