Sermons

Over the last two weeks I have been preaching, and in the course of doing research, I found the following news stories. The first I didn't use when preaching the passage of Jesus walking on the water but the second I hope to use on Sunday when the reading inculdes Jesus telling His followers that he is the bread of life-

Walking on the water
A priest has died after trying to demonstrate how Jesus walked on water. Evangelist preacher Franck Kabele, 35, told his congregation he could repeat the biblical miracle. But he drowned after walking out to sea from a beach in the capital Libreville in Gabon, west Africa. One eyewitness said: “He told churchgoers he’d had a revelation that if he had enough faith, he could walk on water like Jesus. “He took his congregation to the beach saying he would walk across the Komo estuary, which takes 20 minutes by boat. “He walked into the water, which soon passed over his head and he never came back." August 31st 2006

The Sandwich
The meat had been cooked, the sandwich almost assembled and assorted Guinness Book of Records dignitaries were patiently waiting by to give it their official stamp of approval.
But cooks in Iran were left in despair after their bid to create the world's longest sandwich failed when the crowd started eating it before it could be measured.
Event organisers had planned to stuff the 1,500-metre-long sandwich with 700 kg of ostrich meat and 700 kg of chicken, and display it in a park in the capital TehranBut as the sandwich was being measured, chaos ensued. The giant snack was gone in minutes, leaving the three Guinness representatives with a problem.One of the event’s organisers said video footage of the sandwich would be sent to Guinness officials.
"We still think the sandwich will be recorded in the Guinness book because of all the evidence and footage that we will send them," claimed Parvin Shariati.
The stunt had been organised to encourage Iranians to eat a healthier diet.
Ostrich meat is far leaner than much of the Iranian diet with as half as much fat as chicken, lots of iron, and very little cholesterol - as well as being extremely tasty

I hope that you enjoyed the irony as much as I did!
Keep an eye on the blog, I hope to keep it more updated soon.

A Steep Learning Curve

It has been an interesting time since I first donned the collar the day of the Ordination. It was quite the day. I didn't realise that I was bracing myself to endure it until the service started and I realised that I was really enjoying it. It was a fantastic day and I thoroughy enjoyed it from start to finish. It was lovely to have so many people travel to be with us and it was also wonderful that Mum could be there. It was really nice to have a reason to celebrate with those who have had reason to support our family during less happy times.

Since starting work, I have been very conscious that the sight of a woman in a collar isn't as common as I would have thought judging by the number of double takes I have seen. On Monday evening, while in Jury's Inn in Cork for a classmate's ordination, I was asked by the young very French barman if I would rather be called "Father" or "Mother"! I really had no answer except to say that it really didn't matter. In response he said that he really had to know so I told him that Rev covered all. How do you get your head round that?

In the parish school I had to choose between Rev Ruth or Miss Elmes. I asked the principal if I could just be called Ruth by the children and the response was that I had to be called one or the other. Isn't it funny that as all else is changing that it seems so important to hold onto something so simple as your Christian name to keep some sense of identity.