Tree trimming and an Eastertide procession

As I surfaced from sleep this morning, the street outside, normally quiet on a Sunday morning was full of the sounds of warning beepers and slow moving vehicles. I wondered what on earth could be happening. The carriageway on the bullring side was closed to traffic again, as last Sunday, several mobile platforms were positioned alongside and above the tree canopy, each with a worker armed with a fearsome looking chainsaw. Tree trimming time.

They worked through until lunchtime and did the entire section of trees lining the west face of the Plaza de Toros, about two thirds of the total length of trees to be trimmed. A start on this job was made early last Sunday at the far end it seems, although it didn't last long, and left a certain amount of foliage in the street, which took a couple of days to get clear away. I wonder if they'd arrived but then had to abandon the task last week because not all the crews or equipment turned up? This week they certainly seem to have got it right.

Adult Confirmation class scheduling meant that Doreen and I were both at St George's this morning, so she presided and I preached, as happened with Gilly on Easter Day. Doreen has done classes over the past two weeks, and the next two week, I'll be doing. She's been working with a couple of young lads whom Gilly has been preparing for Confirmation, teaching them to be acolytes, and eventually serve at the altar as well. Also she's press-ganged a couple of adults into acting as book bearer or crucifer, without them having wear robes, as there aren't any. Until lately adults have only taken part in lesson reading and interceding, so it's good that participation is slowly and gently increasing.

Michael, who's been caretaking and acting as sacristan at St George's for several years is leaving for Nigeria to see his family this week. There's a certain urgency about encouraging others to take on sacristy duties in his absence. This too is good for participation levels. Michael was reticent about coming up to the altar for a blessing to send him on his way, so we met him at the door where he often stands, giving out books, and blessed him there informally instead. Apart from regular British and Nigerian church members, there were worshippers from the USA, New Zealand and Germany in church this morning. All part of normality here in Malaga. I love it.

After lunch and a siesta, I did my usual walk around the port and the Old Town, taking care to end up in the vicinity of Dos Martires Parish Church by seven, as I discovered earlier in the week that the Cofradia de Nuestra Señora del Amor Doloroso, one of the several that are based here, would be holding an evening procession. The crowd wasn't large, in comparison with Semana Santa, so much so that the cafe opposite was operating normally with tables out in the street occupied by customers. It wasn't obliged to close as happened a month ago. There was, nevertheless, a full length procession with a fine band, which according to the church notice board, had come from Seville to play. There's such a lot I don't know about the history and organisation of these processional guilds, and how they integrate into city life. It's hard to know where to start finding out.

  

Special preparation sessions

As it was a bright and breezy day, I started yesterday morning by doing a load of washing. It dried in a few hours, even though it wasn't very warm.

Then, I had an email from Church Warden Jane in Montreux, giving me contact details for a couple who want a wedding blessing at St John's while I'm there on locum duty in the summer. Last year I was also in contact with a couple about their wedding blessing several months before I went out the Switzerland. This was far superior to a last minute rush, and I had time to give to this as co-incidentally I was here in Malaga at that time. 

After lunch, I drove out of the city along the east bank of the rio Guadalmedina, then took the A45 autovia towards Granada, for a rendezvous with Doreen the Chaplaincy's Curate, at a hotel restaurant just outside Casabermeja called El Corte, about 20km from Malaga. 

We have some adult candidates for Confirmation on Ascension Day and needed to talk through all aspects of the course. She'll be taking a session on her own when I'm far away at Salinas, we'll be sharing a couple of sessions and I'll be doing a couple on my own. The candidates so far at all Saint George based, and as the two of us have to move between the dispersed three church congregations, it's a challenge to make suitable arrangements. Also we have to adapt the course material to the candidates, and distribute it through five sessions. So, we discussed our priorities and approaches at great length while we planned, and worked over beer and tapas for three hours before parting with homework to do.

It will be a challenge to both of us, since the candidates are Nigerian migrant workers, based in the city but sometimes working elsewhere. Doreen already knows them, I don't. We're both going to find this challenging, but I think our varied set of past experiences in mission will hold us in good stead.

More preparation work to do today, for the Liturgy of Good Friday and in particular the Passion reading. I couldn't find an A4 leaflet file of the dialogue version of St John's Passion  in my web archive for use with a congregation, although I thought there was one somewhere which I created a long time ago. 

When I was at St John's, we still used an old fashioned Lent, Holy Week and Easter Church in Wales booklet containing this kind of material, dating back to the late sixties. It had been well conceived and was still good for use once a year. Perhaps the dialogue version I wanted is in my Geneva archive. That hasn't yet made it into the Cloud but is on one of my memory sticks. Ah well, never mind. I have done a new text now.

With this task complete, late afternoon I was able do go to Mercadona for my main week's grocery shopping, and then went at a pace for a circuit of the port and the Old Town in a chill wind, to be sure of getting some vigorous exercise after several hours hunched over a keyboard, editing.

Down on the quay, near the Pompidou Cultural centre, a cluster of white wooden hits is in the course of erection since yesterday. They suggest to me that there's going to be some sort of seasonal market in the coming weeks, as I know there will be around St John's in Cardiff city centre. I look forward to seeing this with great interest.
    

News from abroad

I was delighted to welcome my friend Valdo here this morning. He'd come ready to go out a walk, but we had another wet and windy day that made the prospect unattractive, so we stayed in and we talked, drank tea and ate together for seven straight hours - church, politics, computing, and since his retirement, he's acquired a taste for bird watching, and avian photography with his new Lumix TZ DMC 101 camera. It was great to share enthusiasms again, especially as he is learning how to identify all the different aquatic birds that live or overwinter on or around the lake. He let me take a copy of a multi lingual glossary of lake bird species, an invaluable asset for talking with others out in the field, if the occasion arises. We're hoping the weather will pick up again next week and allow us to take a walk together. That would be a great delight.

Finally, a week after it was posted by Clare, a packet of Mistletoe herb tea arrive in the mailbox. It's something I've been trying out over the past month or so, to see if it has any impact on my blood pressure, which doesn't seem to be impacted by the standard regular medication I am compelled to take by my anxious doctors. Since I lost a stone in weight, I've felt generally fit and well, and my quality of life has improved, so long as I pace myself, prepare and rest well after intense activity. It is a bit of a mystery, but I don't see why I should impair my existence with unnecessary worry.

This evening, Rev Doreen, Curate of St George's Malaga phone to discuss plans she is developing for Confirmation preparation groups of adults and children, while I'm there on locum duty. Bishop David visits on Ascension Eve. It's a great opportunity to share in catechetical ministry, especially with adults. The group consists of Nigerian migrants, many of whom are from different church backgrounds and have never been confirmed, although the are regular attenders. For most of them their first language is Ibo, their second  is everyday Spanish and English is their third, and few of them are well educated. It's going to be a very special kind of challenge to work with them, and I'm looking forward to it immensely.