It rained in the night and it persisted until mid afternoon, so we're under miserable low cloud again today. The Sunday Worship slot on BBC was devoted to the 80th anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz, led by Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg with his journalist nephew Daniel and his son his son Amos, a Synagogue cantor. They told stories of family members killed during the Holocaust and we heard some of the chants and prayers in remembrance of the dead, ending with the Kiddush table blessing prayer. The Rabbi is an occasional contributor to 'Thought for the Day'. It's rare for Sunday worship to be led by a non Christian, but since tomorrow is Holocaust Memorial Day, this is an appropriate and welcome offering.
I drove to St Paul's in Grangetown to celebrate Mass. despite the bad weather, only a few regulars were absent. We were eighteen adults and five children. Today we kept yesterday's feast of the Conversion of St Paul the church's Patronal Festival. The readings for the day didn't include this story but after Communion a short video clip summarising the story in a cartoon format was streamed on the video display. This took me by surprise as I hadn't been warned, but the Sunday School children had just arrived for their end of service debriefing, so it fitted in very nicely.
I got home early, to find Clare so absorbed in practising her flute, she'd forgotten to start cooking what she prepared before going to church. Even so, we sat down to a cooked meal at one o'clock as usual. I'd been listening in the car to a Radio 3 interview with the master French chef Raymond Blanc, reflecting on his life in cooking and his favourite selection of music, so we listened together to the second half of the programme. Unlike Desert Island discs, music chosen for the 'Private Passions' programme is played in full, with fewer pieces selected. The conversation was engaging and deep.
It seems the young Raymond had no idea of what he wanted to do with his life when he left school, until one day he was passing a luxury hotel in his native Besançon, and fell in love with what he saw from the outside - the furnishing, design, smart uniforms and impeccably clean and fresh environment. He decided it was where he wanted to be, and started work there as a cleaner, then a dish washer, then a veg preparer. He succeeded in offending the chef and was sacked, and somehow ended up in Britain, working his way up as a waiter, learning English and adding to what he'd learned about cooking from Maman at home. A great story of learning by doing, striving for excellence in everything, and a vocation discovered through finding out where he wanted to spend his working life. When it comes to vocation, the place your heart is drawn to can help you discover what you're meant to be doing with your life.
I walked in the park for just over an hour, to be back at home to welcome our friend Marc. Clare asked him to re-string a violin her grandfather made, but was going to be out when he proposed to come as she'd decided to go to the Unity Week service at St Catherine's at four. Mark and I had tea and cake while we waited for her to return, and was ready to proceed by the time she got back from church. It's important for Marc to explain to Clare each step of preparing the violin and stringing it. It's such a sensitive instrument that there's an ideal way of going about the and less ideal ways. Good to learn from an experienced master of stringed instruments.
When Marc left, I added a new app I'd found to my Linux desktop workstation. 'Imagination' is a dedicated slideshow maker, with a simple working interface once you identify images and sound track you want to use. It's not as fancy looking as the Windows once I've used for the past four years, but works faster and isn't cloud dependent.
After supper with 'Call the Midwife' on the telly in the background, I started work on next week's Wednesday Morning Prayer and Reflection as there was nothing I fancied watching online. Recording this must wait until tomorrow. Having learned how to use 'Imagination', I'll be able to give it a full test tomorrow. And now bed.
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