This Brother of Yours

 

Hello all. I hope you are well. I am fine, all things considered, and, as you are well aware, you will never hear me complain. 

I was on duty on the coffee rota this morning and managed not to accidentally kill anyone. People are very specific about how they like their drinks I am finding. Half and half this, decaf that, bit strong that my dear. Carrying out instructions accurately is not a skill I have developed as yet so most people got what I could remember and no one seems to notice. The lady I was on duty with is a dinner lady so, if the dishwasher is playing up, she's always very helpful. I'm not sure if she is a Christian. If she is, I think it must be a pretty recent development because she hasn't learnt to put their thoughts through the Christianese filter yet and I am rather liking it. At one point a lady came in for a drink and my coffeemaking partner said - "Oh I know her from singing at the front. It's always very la la la." This was not a criticism, it was just an observation and a very accurate one. Also, I hope no one has put me in there with her to lead her into the ways of Christian behaviour because that would be a very bad call. This morning I think we managed to scare off two very nice but quite wafty Methodist ladies who walked in while we were having a chaste but quite detailed discussion about doing a little wee when you sneeze. Also, she seems to be a naturally much nicer person than me so I could probably learn plenty from her.

During the meeting, we sang "And can it be?" which is Premier League Methodism obviously - Charles Wesley and all that. What I discovered was that singing this hymn in a Methodist church means that rules apply - notes are held just that little bit longer, words are punched out for dramatic effect and I'll be honest, I thought we had moved up a bit of an octave to sort the men from the boys. Still one of the best hymns ever written though.

Bit of pressure this morning on the meeting leader. (He is sort of deputy pastor while our pastor is on Sabbatical for a few months). I wouldn't particularly fancy trying to make sure the first hymn finished at just the right time so that we didn't go blundering into the two minutes silence. Living in a military city, you do see lots of people with medals just casually pinned on their jumpers on Remembrance Sunday.  And not like Prince Edward medals - real medals. It always gives me pause when I think about what they may have seen or taken part in. Always grateful.

We went to see Aged Parent, as usual on Saturday. She seems fairly settled and the staff are very good with her. She is just so angry - at everything - except when she is flirting obviously. There doesn't seem to be much to be angry about but there is a lot of fist-shaking going on. I watched a man snoozing gently through the Lord Mayor's Parade on telly and we wondered why my Mum couldn't have had snoozy dementia rather than Incredible Hulk Dementia. She doesn't seem to be distressed about it though so can't really complain.

Speaking of complaint - can I rant about I'm A Celebrity, please. I've never watched it to be fair but the fact that MH gets the chance to rehabilitate himself while being paid vast amounts of money is an actual, crystal-clear disgrace. Apart from all the people knocking on windows in A and E shouting "Will you tell my mother she's been a great Mum and that I love her!" to nurses holding dying people's hands, I keep thinking about his poor wife and children being dragged into this public disgrace. What is ITV thinking? I've already seen a few social media posts saying "To be fair, he did alright with that challenge." Is that how we are judging people/leaders now? It makes me as annoyed as Aged Parent. 

On to better things. Pen Wilcock has a new book out. Hurrah! I read This Brother of Yours in two nights. Once again, it is based in St Alcuins Abbey and follows the lives of the monks. If you are familiar with the stories, you will be pleased to meet these people again. (If I have a slight complaint - and I know she reads this blog - there's not enough Tom for me. This is possibly something to do with him being played by Tom Hardy when I imagine the characters but that is just my personal foible). It's not Line of Duty when it comes to action, although she's not scared of a death in the narrative, it is about character and life and friendship and mainly for me about the rehabilitation of a soul. When a brother who has left returns, he finds gentleness, acceptance and the opportunity to forgive himself. He's a sharp cookie sometimes but we are left in no doubt about his sincerity and brokenness. But also, and this is lovely, those who budged up to make room for him - specifically Abbot John who could well have taken a Prodigal Son's Brother kind of approach - a man who had enough problems to deal with himself finds that his returning friend is the one who will make him look after himself for once. William, who returns to the Abbey a truly broken man is able to find redemption and also support those who supported him. Like Matt Hancock then. (No).

Have a good week.