News Archive
My Spring Harvest
Mother Teresa of Ponteland again organised the annual HBC pilgrimage to Spring Harvest with her customary efficiency. On Thursday 5th April the HBC mobile congregation of 4 Baggots, 4 Bartletts, 5 Birds, 4 Costigans, 4 Knights, 5 MacFarlanes, 4 Wylies, a Lightbody and a Taylor set off for Butlins at Skegness.
We were joined by 4 well known visitors from China, several cafétieres and a vital communication network consisting of 25 mobile phones. We were ever mindful of 3 Wallheads who were absent for reasons we all know, but were missed. The use of badges and wristbands was the preferred option to identify us as a group, we considered circumcision but this was not a popular proposal, even given our recent teaching.
The ‘teenage’ crowd were inseparable and, with no MSN in sight, they operated like ‘the Lab on tour’ turning one chalet into a youth club, which even welcomed visitors at times (Bex – who is Mike?), as well as music a bit louder than adults appreciate. The rich aroma coming from them was a combination of Lynx, Impulse and Testosterone, as they bonded and supported each other, with tears and prayers. The matching knickers, shirts, socks and ‘hide & seek’ with a duck was as entertaining as getting them to bed was impossible.
The adults had a common goal to enjoy daily intakes of coffee, nuts, chocolate, confessions and ‘Lucas Aid’ in Trumpton, which also provided an excellent recycling opportunity to add to our green credentials. The experiences of Jayne and Linda in full flight will haunt us for weeks, as will Joe’s chest. How we can fair-trade our carbon footprint remains a mystery.
The theme was One Holy Catholic Apostolic Church (which we discovered wasn’t a Greek orthodox in a string vest addicted to cats) and was endorsed by preaching, dancing, singing, laughter and swimming. Holiness is to be fun and involves us focusing outwards to serve as one church. If church is messy and has conflict to resolve, then we are striving to make progress and will seek God’s strength and guidance. But have fun, we are not the frozen chosen.
Our non-spiritual intake was taken in the Coral Beach restaurant, so called as Sandy Ford seemed to live there and they also made the coffee from seaweed. We did get our 5-a-day, but that was just leaflets and adverts for more events. The highlight was not the food but Tim’s face when an 8 year old asked him to explain exactly what a virgin birth meant. Outreach was to the fun fair, especially go-karting, to go mad, go fast and shout ‘go Aaron’. Other favourite phrases became, where is Sam’s hat? Where is Zoë’s phone? Has anyone seen Aaron? Where’s David tonight? How can Rafi hold his breath so long? Also where is Amanda’s dinner - alas lost forever.
After 5 days, thoughts were provoked as God spoke, lives were challenged to Jesus’ call and friendships were deepened as the Spirit moved. What we do next will, or will not, change our lifestyles. We agreed this was one of the best yet - now we must seek out what to do with all the input.
On the 200 year anniversary of passing the law to abolish the slave trade, Stop the Traffik was a main feature of the week and the battery of the Bartlett’s car seemed to take this challenge literally and their outreach nearly made them into Proclaimers, with a challenge to walk some hundred miles to their door. I was also reminded of the words of Amazing Grace - God's grace and mercy will follow me all my life, which is fantastic. But I hope the fellowship of God’s people will not be too far away also.
If you need to make sense of the above – come next year, and see Mother Teresa.