November is a strange month. For those of us who work with the calendar of the school year, it marks the start of the second half of the autumn term. Whereas the first half is almost a continuation of summer - September often being better weather than August - by the time the second half begins, the clocks have gone back, making darkness fall early, the weather is generally dreich (what a lovely Scots word!), and there's no doubt that the summer is well and truly over, and we're into winter.
My five minutes of fame on national TV.......
Christ's patient loving care over generations.......
We were on GMTV over the summer hols. Did you see us? There's no TV in our caravan so we've not seen ourselves, but others have, even someone from the Parish. They remarked on my homemade kebabs: sumptuous, multicoloured layers of vegetables and chicken threaded together and cooked over red-hot, glowing charcoal.
To dream the impossible dream...
To reach the unreachable star....
This is my quest -
To follow that star...
No matter how far
Do you remember that song? It was written (for the musical Man of La Mancha) in the early 1960s, a time of great change in society and culture. As we emerged from the long shadows of the Second World War, we began to envision alternative ways of living. In society, religion, politics and morals, the old certainties were questioned and even overturned. And the whole of our culture was shaken to its foundations as men and women of a new generation began to dream dreams of a new and better world.
With such an early Easter this year, we no sooner finish the Christmas season at the start of this month, with the Feast of Candlemas on the 2nd, than we begin the season of Lent on Ash Wednesday, the 6th. Lent, of course, is the season of preparation for Easter, but have you ever wondered where its name comes from?
As you know, the Chinese name their years after an animal. We're just finishing the Year of the Pig, and from February will be in the Year of the Rat. This set me thinking: if we did the same in our church and parish, what animal would we be looking forward to in 2008?
My immediate thought was that this year will be the Year of the Ant.
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