Virtual Methodist

It is usually around this time of year that I have traditionally received gifts that many laypeople would be deeply jealous of... Funeral Directors' pocket diaries... One year I received 4. I offered them to members of my family but they thought them a tad ghoulish. But a member of my then congregation heard me commenting on this and asked me for one... And from there on in he sidled up to me in mid-December and asked had I a spare diary going. As the years went by I received fewer, but I had long since stopped using paper diaries anyway... Then two years ago my friend died... And this year I haven't received any Funeral Directors' diaries at all (just a pen so far, which my eldest son has purloined In the days when I was receiving them, one of the most frustrating tasks was filling in the first batch of dates (including birthdays etc). With a rolling electronic diary backed up online I don't have that problem... But this year I have more dates than usual coming in...

Have you ever heard of Ruth and Verena Cady? I hadn't until I read a reference to them in a Max Lucado book , and then followed up with some judicious Googling ... For those who haven't read about them previously, they were twins, born in 1984… and like many sisters and particularly twins, they shared everything… they shared the same womb before they were born and the same room afterwards… they even shared the same bed every night… they shared the same toys… even sharing one trike between them… But it went further than with most sisters or even twins, because Ruthie and Verena’s bodies were fused together from their sternum to the waist… Though they had different brains and nervous systems and distinctive personalities they were sustained by a single, three-chambered heart and the food that came from a single intestine… They were literally inseparable because one could not survive without the other… and if truth be told when they were born the doctors didn’t think they would su...

Did you see the big fight? Not the Joe Calzaghe v Roy Jones Jnr bout from Madison Square Gardens, but the Armenian Orthodox Monks v Greek Orthodox Monks from the Holy Sepulchre. If you haven't seen it, you can find footage of it here . But you're probably better not watching it. For once it was not Northern Ireland dragging the name of Christ through the dirt. But it brought to mind this piece written by Arthur Leonard Griffith: "At the centre of the old city [Jerusalem] stands the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, reputedly on the site of the original Calvary and the original Garden of the Resurrection. It stands, but only because ugly steel scaffolding permanently supports the walls inside and out. This church is one of the dirtiest, most depressing buildings in all Christendom. It should be torn down and rebuilt. This is not possible, however, because the Church of the Holy Sepulchre belongs jointly to the Abyssinians, Armenians, Copts, Greeks, Syrians and Roman Catholics, ...

Today, the theme of our service at Faith United Methodist Church in Grand Rapids, was our call to be United, as in the affirmation that we believe in ONE, holy, catholic and apostolic church... rather than anything to do with that football team from Manchester who must not be named. We shared in communion, that sign of our unity in Christ, which sadly so often is a sign of our disunity as believers, unable to commune around a shared table. But we also shared in the words of based on Psalm 133. How wonderful, how beautiful when brothers and sisters live together in unity. It is a sign of God’s anointing. It is like precious oil poured upon the head of God’s appointed priest; Running down Aaron’s beard and down the collar of his priestly robes. It is like fresh morning dew, from the cool heights of Mount Hermon falling on God’s holy mountain Because the Lord God has commanded his blessing: Everlasting and abundant life. From Psalm 133 © David A. Campton 2008 Shalom