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Last night was music practice night. Each Wednesday those singing and playing for Sunday’s service meet together… The service has been prepared and planned. We discuss the songs, their meaning, our feelings and response… how they’re to be played, speed, dynamics, introductions, endings. We practice. Sunday’s Easter Sunday. We want all to go well. InContinue reading “Preparation, Planning, Practice, Performance…”

I was reading the beginning of the story of Job this morning. He’s lost everything – his family, possessions, reputation, good health. His three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar hear about his troubles and join him… They’re together, but Job is very much alone…   …Sympathy: ‘They set out from their homes and met togetherContinue reading “Alone Together”

Yesterday… remembering an old road safety slogan that said, ‘Use care and skill, not scare and kill’… thinking that could apply to my Men’s Shed friends in the workshop… Some quote the mantra, ‘Measure twice, cut once’. Regardless of their skill level, they’re careful, methodical and patient. Others want to get finished yesterday and createContinue reading “The Inconvenience of God”

On Thursday… I watched ‘Robin Hood’. It was the old story – Robin facing adversity in the wicked Sheriff of Nottingham… the old characters Friar Tuck, Will Scarlett and Maid Marion… but it was presented as a pantomime for young children with conjuring tricks, singing and dancing, a pantomime dame, water pistols, and the squirrelContinue reading “Facing Adversity”

Songbird was played at the beginning of the service celebrating my friend Bruce’s life on Thursday. I first heard Songbird when I ‘discovered’ Eva Cassidy. I bought her CDs, heard her tragic story. Twenty-five years ago they were probably my most played, most enjoyed CDs. It was only later that I realised that ‘Songbird’ wasContinue reading “Songbird”

Five years ago yesterday, 11th April 2020, I wrote my first ‘Malcolm’s Musing’. It became a daily habit. Today I’m musing on musing… I grew up in a Christian family 25 miles South East of London, trained as a teacher, got married, had 3 children, moved around England. In 1986 we moved to Lowestoft, Suffolk,Continue reading “Five Years Ago…”

Yesterday a good number of us met to remember and celebrate the life of our friend Rev Bruce Upperton who died a month ago. Friends and family told stories about Bruce… his work in the RAF and as a Christian minister, his family, his many hobbies… Great statements of his Christian faith were included. WeContinue reading “Saint Bruce”

Yesterday morning was washing day. The washing machine was filled… an hour later I hung the washing out on the line. It was grey, but a good drying day. By the afternoon the washing was dry – blowing in the wind. I walked by the beach. Parents and children were flying kites. Gulliver, the town’sContinue reading “Blowing in the Wind…”

At The Seagull Theatre yesterday actors were rehearsing for ‘Robin Hood’. The publicity says: ‘Take a trip with us to Sherwood Forest this Easter holiday and join Robin Hood and his Merry Men on their adventures through jolly old England. With all the laugh-out-loud moments you have come to expect from the early years pantomimeContinue reading “One Day More”

Recently I’ve been reflecting on life-metaphors… Yesterday afternoon I played chess with Roy… with a big pot of tea… at a table in a local hotel… all very civilised. Our skill (or lack of it!) is on a similar level. We managed four games in a couple of hours… Life’s a daily game of chess…Continue reading “Two Metaphors and Reality”