And they said it couldn't be done !

At 10.35am this morning the 165th individual reader got to the end of Rev 21, leaving only Rev 22 for Ann Burgess to read at our United Worship. We did it !!!!! In nearly 300 slots of 15 we covered the whole Bible and we delayed the start of the news on BBC Radio Somerset so that they could cover the start of it all live on Thursday.

A huge thank you to everyone. The great things for me were 1 ) The sheer number of people who said how much they enjoyed it and how much they got out of it 2 ) The people who said they met Christians from churches they hadn't met before 3 ) The way people turned up ! Only one person didn't do their slot in the end, with people swapping and shuffling etc  4 ) The fact that people turned up to see if they could get a slot, having heard what fun it was proving 5 ) The sense of teamwork which pervaded it all 6 ) The fact that many of those who were involved weren't the usual suspects who do FACT stuff and certainly weren't those who their ministers would expect to read in church.

It might have been rushed at times to fit it in but we proved it could be done.

One thing which stuck in my mind last night. I heard all 4 Passion narratives within the space of a couple of hours and quite unrehearsed and without hearing the others, each reader left a poignant pause at the words "and breathed his last " or "gave up his Spirit". Now that's the Holy Spirit working in us.

Sunday Spotlight - 11th October 2009

Roman Catholic/Methodist/URC - 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Anglican - Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 23

Job 23:1-9, 16-17 or Amos 5:6-7, 10-15 * Psalm 22:1-15 or Psalm 90:12-17 * Hebrews 4:12-16 * Mark 10:17-31

Today's readings put into focus our views on personal possessions self sacrifice. There's nothing wrong with personal wealth, it's what we do with it that is important. For some people following Christ will involve the sacrifices that Peter points out that he has made, leaving everything and going where the Lord wants. For others it will be less dramatic but no less worthy. There are many examples in the past of rich people doing good with their wealth without ever leaving home. We are reminded that there will always be persecutions even when we make great sacrifices. Some people might not be keen on what we do as Christians in pusuit of spreading the Gospel, but that should not stop us. If it takes every penny we have we should carry on regardless, at the end of the day the message is much more important than money, and we can't take it with us !!!!

This weekend so many of the Christians of Frome have done exactly what today's Gospel asks for by making personal sacrifice for the good of the Gospel. They have given up their time to read in the Bible Marathon and in doing so have not only made a difference to the lives of the people of Zimbabwe but also to getting the Gospel message across in our town. With only a few hours to go, we are tired ( especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice and did without sleep ! ) but bouyed up that we did it and what was another of David's crazy ideas has come off !

Donald Soper and William and Catherine Booth

Donald Soper - Methodist - Minister (31 January 1903 – 22 December 1998)

Donald Soper, the son of a marine claims adjuster and a schoolmistress, was born in Streatham on 31st January, 1903. His father, a devout Methodist was a Liberal and an active member of the Temperance Society. Donald's mother also held radical political ideas and was a supporter of the Women's Social & Political Union. Donald was brought up in a home that strongly disapproved of alcohol, gambling and blood sports and he was to share these views all his life. Soper became a probationer minister in the South London Mission. As the congregation was small, he began preaching in the open air. In 1926 he started regular soap-box sessions on Sunday at Hyde Park Corner and at Tower Hill on a Wednesday. Soper drew large crowds and soon became one of the best-known churchmen in Britain. The poverty that Soper witnessed in Derby and London converted him to socialism. In 1929 Soper moved to Islington and remained there until he became superintendent of the West London Mission at Kingway Hall. Appointed in 1936, for the next forty-two years he developed homes and hostels in London for the homeless, unmarried mothers and alcoholics. Until the early 1960s over 400 people would hear him preach on Sunday morning at Kingway Hall and attendance at evening meetings sometimes reached a 1,000. He was created a life peer for his work.

Willam and Catherine Booth - Salvationists - Officers(10 April 1829 – 20 August 1912) and (17 January 1829 – 4 October 1890)

William Booth was a British Methodist preacher who founded The Salvation Army and became its first General (1878-1912). Catherine was born in Kent in 1829 and they were married in 1855. Together they worked in ministry with Catherine working with young people and children. They went onto found The Christian movement, with a quasi-military structure and government - but with no physical weaponry - in 1865, in London and this went on to become the Salvation Army. Their ministry was always to the poor of society.

Cheese and Grain United Worship on Sunday

Just a reminder that this Sunday 11th October is our annual morning United Worship. Many churches have made this their only worship for the day, and we are developing an understanding of why for some of us this is impossible ( its all part of the unity with diversity process)

It all starts at 11am by which time we should be ready for the last bit of the Bible Marathon. We are going to ask the whole congregation to round off the Marathon by saying the last word together ( Ann Burgess whose idea it all was and who read the first chapters of Genesis on Thursday, will read the last verses of Revelation ) If you don't know what the last word of the Bible is look it up so you can join in !

Ann Taylor will be organising children's activities in the foyer, and its scheduled to be a maximum of 1 hour 15mins !

See you there

In the Beginning...

Those words have just got us off to a flying start. The Bible Marathon has started !

Bible Marathon - Less than a day to go.

There have been times when I felt we would never get there, but despite some last minute hitches and drop outs ( and some new recruits ! ) we are there. Its still not to late to sign up and if you're flexible then we should be able to get you a slot !

Do come along and be there to listen if you can, you never know what you will hear and which parts of the Bible you might discover !

If you can come and help steward and help with the admin of the days even for a short while then it will be most appreciated- especially by your harassed chair !

If you haven't had chance to sponsor a reader there will be collecting buckets there for you to drop something in for the people of Zimbabwe.

Please pray for the success of this event.

If you want to listen live to the start of the Marathon then it will be on BBC Radio Somerset at just before 8am in the morning !!!!

Blogging

Apologies that the aim of daily posts hasn't been kept up lately. Organising the Bible Marathon and other work has kept me from posting. It would be interesting to know how many people are regularly reading the blog and whether they find it useful as a tool for our ecumenical work.

The normal order of posts has been distrupted but hopefully we will be back on course once this weekend is over.