Call to Caerphilly

A sunny start to the working week with a few showers. Housework after breakfast, then I cooked lunch. A message from Emma in Caerphilly to ask if I could cover a couple of services for her this coming Sunday, as the person who was covering for her was no longer able to. It happens to be the only Sunday that's still free in my diary until October, a fortunate co-incidence. I couldn't possibly refuse an opportunity to return to the parish where I served my first curacy after ordination. I've returned just a couple of times in the past forty four years. The first service on Sunday is at St Catherine's Caerphilly at nine thirty and the second is at St Andrew's Penyrheol, where my public ministry started in 1969. I wonder if any parishioners in either church will remember my time there, or anyone there I'll remember for that matter.

After a long catch-up chat with Emma, I cooked lunch and then worked to complete this week's Morning Prayer video and upload it to YouTube, which took longer than usual today. I had a Windows update to run and that took longer than promised too, so I ran an internet speed test and it's a tenth of what it usually is in the middle room downstairs. In the front room opposite the router, it's back to normal speed. In the back room it's slower than usual but not very slow. Something's up somewhere. It may be that though the wi-fi extenders work better since Rob modified the settings, they don't work perfectly switching from one to the other as more up to date kit would. Once you're used to high speed internet you soon notice the difference. At least I can sort out the issue easily without serious disruption.

At tea time I want and walked in the park for an hour and a half, then after supper started thinking about a next Sunday's sermon. The Gospel parable about wheat and tares gave me a few ideas, so I spent a couple of hours writing a first draft. I recall that last time I preached in Caerphilly I was working with USPG, and that was when I first started to speak about the environment in sermons, in the light of the 1987 report of the World Commission and Environment and Development, called 'Our Common Future'. I'm still at it, thirty six years later. But did anybody ever listen?