Greetings in Jesus' name! Along with many of you I'm watching with interest the multi-faceted world that is Olympic sport. Once again the televisual experience has gone up a notch with new angles and insight into the stress and strain of competitors together with the unsurpassed joy of winning and the agony of loosing.

The Apostle Paul saw the spiritual journey in terms of a race. He said "Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Clearly Paul took God's call on his life with the utmost seriousness.

Tuesday

Early in the week I met with Silvia Purdie to discuss Christian environmental group a Rocha over coffee. Earlier this year St Barnabas became an 'Eco Church' with a commitment to environmental sustainability. It was also good to talk about her involvement in the 'Christians in Science' group and ways to stimulate engagement in this area.

In the evening I attended a 'Beautiful Gardens of Fendalton' planning meeting. A full compliment of 9 gardens are now confirmed but there is much organization still to do.

Wednesday

I attended a Cathedral Chapter meeting on Wednesday. Amoung other things we discussed  exciting possibilities of new ministry initiatives in our city. In the evening I popped in to see two couples who are new to our parish family. 

Thursday

In the morning I attended a 'Best Practice Governance' seminar arranged by the Diocese. The presenter was Carol Scholes of the Institute of Directors. She spent a fruitful time refreshing our understanding of the principles and practices of good governance as applied to our Anglican parish system. Later that day I participated in the funeral of our dear brother in Christ and faithful parishioner Colin Brown. In the evening I attended a Communications Team meeting with full attendance of members. We discussed how we want to continue to develop our digital communications. The expertise of those around the table included journalism, communications, web design, advertising, database management, business and IT!

Friday

Friday morning is always a busy time with pewsheet, St Barnabas Connect, prayers etc to complete. In the afternoon I attended a discernment meeting with the Bishop and others with a potential candidate.

Have a good weekend and may God bless you all. See you Sunday!

Canon Mark.