Mike's musings

Reading, and revue

(backposting) I was reading at morning prayer this morning: one of those great opportunities: John 1:1-14. It's just one of the greatest passages in the Bible. I was pleased with how it went, and thought that the service - led by Peter, of whom more below - went very well. I was particularly impressed as it's well outside his tradition.

The rest of the day was around preaching practice. The course is trying to set up groups of 2nd and final year students to go and listen to each other preach. The plan was to start by preparing a short sermon each and criticising it, and then, over the year, to visit each others' churches to hear sermons in situ. I've got Richard, Peter (as above) and Iain: all good men and true. We went off to have tea/coffee in Bungay (_not_ the most salubrious place in the world), and had some good chats. We then still had a good session where we could prepare the sermons. I knew exactly what I'd be preaching on, and didn't expect it to take long. God had different views. I prepared the initial sermon notes (on justification by faith alone in the Epistle of James), and then decided I ought to read a bit of context around the pericope. Of course, there was a verse a little on which directly contradicted the point that I'd decided to make. So, went to the library, had a chat with Richard (a course tutor), read some concordances and a couple of commentaries, scoured through some Greek, and changed my views, my theology and my sermon significantly. Yes, my theology.

The last evening worship of the course was when my vocal group were down to sing the Henry Ley piece. We had a little rehearsal beforehand, which was OK, but far from brilliant, but when the time came, they did a fantastic job. I was so proud - even had a little cry afterwards. I love the English choral tradition - it's really where I get my kicks.

Stayed up till 0100 or so, should have gone in a little earlier, but I was far from being the last.