Hello All. I hope you are well. We are ok, all things taken into consideration. Judging by the Internet, lots of people are away on their holidays - what with it being the second week of Easter and all that. Also, church seemed a bit quiet this morning - lots missing. We were visited by two Ukrainian ladies in full national costume. Apparently, this weekend is Ukrainian Easter so they volunteered to sing for us. As is often the case with "impromptu" performances the desire to be at the front is not shared by all the performers. While one lady had definitely decided that it was her time to shine, her friend looked as if she would rather be anywhere but there. Actually, that's not strictly true. She was fine for the first three verses and then seemed to be ready to get off the stage after that. I just kept thinking about how far from home they were and what they had been through. Sometimes you watch things on the news and, with the best will in the world, you are not really aware of the reality of people's circumstances. When they are standing ten feet in front of you, it can really bring the whole thing to life.
We continue to sort through bits and pieces that AP has left behind and are also taking the opportunity to sort through some of our own stuff. Unfortunately, some of my books which we keep in a storage cupboard in the underground car park haven't made it. They are readable I suppose, provided you are willing to risk catching something nasty from the spores that are on the stains on the edge of the pages. Or, conversely, there may be possible cures for several diseases growing there. If I am totally honest, I'll never read a lot of them again so they have gone into the bin and all the fat-bottomed rats that live in the car park can fill their boots and build nests with the paper. But, my CS Lewis books have been affected as well. Now, I could set myself a five-year quest to visit car boot sales and charity shops and buy second-hand copies and build a charming if slightly dishevelled set of books. But I say blow that for a game of soldiers. I have been on Amazon (I know, I know) and bought myself a full set of new matchy, matchy books by Lewis. I am happily stroking them at every opportunity and have actually started reading them again. I have to say, he isn't a half-bad writer and he might definitely be on to something with this Screwtape chappy.
Anyway, back to Easter. Last Saturday was what people (not me) like to call Silent Saturday - because alliteration is compulsory through every holiday in the Christian calendar now. Silent Saturday is the day after Good Friday but before Easter Sunday. After the first Good Friday, when Jesus' followers had watched him crucified, everything when quiet. They had no idea what was going to happen next. They didn't have Martyn Joseph to sing and tell them "Sunday's Commin". All was quiet. They had to wait. I once knew someone who said that when he fasted he EXPECTED to hear from God immediately. He said that was a kind of exchange of faith between him and God. I always thought that was a bit cocky personally and - proof of the pudding and all that - I never really found out if that always happened to him. I can't say it's always happened to me. Most of the time, when I pray, not much happens at all immediately. I pray, give things over and then continue to blunder along and there is often a wait or a silence. I suppose it's the choosing to blunder along in faith that makes the difference.
Do you remember a few years ago when the militant atheists were putting stuff on the side of buses saying "What is prayer? It's people asking the sky to change things that were going to get better anyway." I'm not certain how they would know that anyway - not actually doing any praying. Anyway, I think what I am saying is - the wait, the silence, the gap - it doesn't mean we are forgotten or he's not bothering. Easter Sunday was always on the way and it was better than anyone could have reasonably expected.
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