Morning in Oxford

I should have gotten up earlier today - it is a foggy day and by the time I got to town some of the fog had lifted. What was nice was the quiet in the city center at an early hour. One could almost imagine it in years gone by without the sound of buses and cars filling the air. I really enjoyed walking around and of course taking lots of pictures and just enjoying a different view of the city. By the time I got to the Botanic Gardens to view the roses in the morning the traffic was crazy but there were more bikes than cars so that is good for the carbon footprint. I was trying to take a picture of myself this morning and a woman came by and offered to take it noting that she had traveled alone and found it so difficult to get the "I was there" shot, so thanks to her you can see that I am here.

Today is a full day on my diary - what they call a daily schedule - When people kept mentioning that they would have to put "it" in their diary I thought "how boring to read that a hundred years hence." So I have learned and I now have a full diary too. Sermon prep between meetings with the lost, lonely and homeless and a meeting tonight. I am working on 1 Kings 17:8-24 which is the story of Elisha and the widow. I think it will be interesting to craft a message to a congregation that may in some ways see itself as the widow, picking up the last pieces and going to eat a final meal before dying. They simultaneously see themselves as having a prophetic voice for central Oxford in ministry with and for those who are on the margins - either a dissenter (not Anglican), LGBT, homeless, transient etc. The challenge is to hear the story from both sides life and death and consider what do we have to die to to live? What fears limit our vision (this text has a "fear not" in it) and how can we live into the faith in a God that will provide for all our needs and will breath life back into a people who would otherwise be dead? We will see how it goes. This congregation is a very intellectual one but they are human and have human needs and concerns just like the rest of us. I will do my best and share the word that God provides.