Not Here

 Happy Easter. He is Risen. Yes, Risen Indeed. We had a kind of Easter Morning Melee today. I was on the table that had to "help" children to make a "cross in a plant pot". This is not the official title but it gives you an idea. Children were given a plant pot which they then filled with soil. Then two pieces of wood were put together via the medium of elastic bands to form a cross shape. As all the bands were bright pink, the children were encouraged to cover the bands with bits of rough string, in order to bring a bit more dignity to the whole thing. Most didn't bother. Then the cross was planted in the soil and children were encouraged to scatter grass seeds liberally in the pot. I'll be honest, I assured them that they would grow beautifully but that may not be true. I'm no Monty Don but when the word liberally has been replaced with "tip as much grass seed as you can into the plant pot" which is more or less what seemed to be happening. I feel your chances of a beautiful lawn at the foot of the cross are not that high. (Water it all you like chicken but there is more grass seed than soil in there so don't blame me). No photos I'm afraid. Our table was overwhelmed with children fighting over a grow bag pretty quickly so intervention was required asap. So I thought I would show you what can happen when really creative people get hold of the decoration and give you a photo of the front of the church. Some people are really clever. I really liked the "Not Here" hanging, especially. 

Aged Parent's Funeral went better than expected to be honest. In the end, there were only three of us and we all decided to go for black but we wore yellow buttonholes because she liked those.

The vicar was really lovely and he didn't do that thing where vicars pretend that they were the deceased's very best friend. He was just very kind and didn't seem at all fazed by the fact that there were only three of us. We walked in to Pat Boone singing The Old Rugged Cross which is when I lost it a bit but other than that, we all held it together. There were a couple of dodgy moments. We had also chosen In the Sweet By and By sung by Kenny Rogers but we had neglected to listen to it all the way through and it got a bit too over funky at the end when he was trying to pray at the coffin so there was a bit of a scuffle at the sound desk as a man in a top hat tried to turn it down. Also, at one point, while he was praying, he informed us that Beryl now "had the wind at her back" and I had no idea what he meant except that, if she had been there, she would have surely pointed out that, this was something that she often suffered from - especially after onions.

I was reading about the events of Holy Week. Sometimes, events that are so familiar can become diluted or memory can fail - mine certainly does. I was looking at when the women find the empty tomb after all the men have run away and there is an instruction given to the women to go to the disciples (and Peter) and tell them what had happened. (Therefore, the first person to be sent to declare the Amazing Grace of the resurrected Jesus to those who had failed him was a woman. Probably unimportant. Just thought I would mention it).

I was thinking, first of all, how did the women know where to find the men and how could they be sure what sort of a reception they would get? These men had run for their lives, they were maybe hiding and they may well have not been too pleased to see the women. The answer, I suppose is obvious. They were still a group, they were still close to each other. Some were praying, some were fishing and thinking about giving up the whole thing and some were still visibly and bravely visiting the tomb. But you don't seem to get a sense of the women being all "Ooh, we are the most holy of the lot because we are here and there is no sign of them." They just run to get their friends. And I thought about the old chorus "Deep and Wide" (Actions are compulsory I'm afraid) and how Jesus's love encompassed them all - no matter where they were spiritually. Sometimes life and everything that happens to us makes us step back from God and question things. We are frightened or hurt and it makes us shrink back but Jesus wasn't bothered by that at all. He reached out and reassured them and made sure that they knew that he still felt the same about them and they were still very much part of his plans. There are times when I might feel that I am not who I was but I try not to run too far. I know that I am still the same to him, still precious, he still has plans and he still calls.

Have a good week.