Martha's Marvellous Munchies

After I finished reading The Imitation of Christ , I was going to jump straight in and start the next of my books for spiritual formation ( The Universal Christ by Richard Rohr, if you were keeping track).  But my church is currently working through  Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations by Robert Schnase.  So far we have covered two of the five practices, and those have given me so many thoughts buzzing around my brain that I decided to pause Richard Rohr for a few weeks until we get to the end of this. I have found that each practice is very broad.  Usually the book chapter covers one aspect, the preacher talks about something slightly different, my small group (never known for keeping firmly to a topic) has a discussion about some other part of it, and by then my own thoughts have gone somewhere else entirely. So I warn you that what you are about to read may or may not bear any relation to the actual book, and quite possibly won't reflect what is going on at my church.  In

"This is my hope, my only consolation, to flee unto thee in every tribulation, to trust in thee, to call upon thee from my heart, and to wait patiently for thy consolation." The second of my  four books for spiritual formation  is The Imitation of Christ  by Thomas à Kempis.  The introduction to my copy starts off by saying that 21st century readers may wonder why they are bothering, which hardly seems like a recommendation!  I have to admit I finished it with a certain sense of relief, but there were some hidden gems along the way.  It's rather like reading the book of Proverbs.  There's no story or explanation of a theme, but there are astute observations, honest prayers, the occasional flash of humour, and quite a lot of repetition. Thomas à Kempis was a priest in an Augustinian monastery in the 1400s.  Presumably his life conditions favoured the silence and solitude that he advocates for in  The Imitation of Christ , but also gave him opportunities to observe conf

In my review of 2021 , I mentioned that my grandma died in October.  Now, she deserves much more than a single line in a summary of the year.  I'm not sure I can do her justice even in a full blog post, but I thought at least I would share a few memories with you. Grandma and Grandpa, 2018   All of my mum's side of the family is American.  I've lived in the UK my whole life, except for four years in Texas, but my grandparents still managed to be a large part of my growing up.  Each week, a  blue airmail letter arrived, covered in Grandma's swirly cursive handwriting, and bringing news of her garden, the family, pets and church.  At Christmas, we eagerly awaited the arrival of the big box from America, filled with presents wrapped in thin, soft paper.  I remember clothes particularly - I guess they were easy to pack - sometimes slightly odd, due to the difference in styles between the countries, and sometimes something we would love and wear for years. And of course, the

Well, this is why I should do regular blogging - because trying to catch up on a whole year at once takes forever !  But it's kind of fun looking back.  It feels like a long time ago that we were homeschooling in lockdown, back in January and February!  As the restrictions eased and the weather improved, we got out to some new places and some old favourites.  We visited family (and they visited us!), kept busy at work and school, followed England's football fortunes in the Euros, and made some furry friends. A local alpaca farm Of course, these are the edited highlights.  We had a few ongoing issues as well - some have resolved themselves, so that I look back and think, "Oh yes, I'd almost forgotten we spent ages dealing with that, " while others are still chuntering along in the background. Big events We had a summer holiday in Somerset - we stayed in a dinky little AirBnB cottage and visited Wells Cathedral, Glastonbury Tor, the Fleet Air Arm Museum, Blue Anchor