Settling in

Winnie Ripley Evelyn Quin and Elaine in an English country Garden

Hello every one on this Trinity Sunday. Just a few lines about the Trinity. As we Christians know the Trinity is a very hard subject to preach about. Many preachers use props to try and explain the great mystery of the Three distinct persons, but one God. I myself have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to explain This mystery so I stopped using such props, as three bottles of wine that are a third full, then pouring them in one bottle so that the three become one. Not only did it confuse my parishioners it confused me! Another priest friend of my divided three in to 100 on the computer and and the result was 33.3333… and he printed it out and showed the results to the congregation with reams and reams of paper. At the time I thought it was a waste of paper as it didn’t make much sense to me. I think the point he was trying to make was that no matter how hard you try, you cannot actually explain the Trinity.

The reason why I am going on about the Trinity is because on Saturday night I watched a programme on the TV we have over here called Gavin and Stacy. The couple are getting married and they went to the local Anglican Church for a service. It so happened that it was Trinity Sunday and the Anglican priest was trying to explain it by the different sandwiches people liked. Eventually it got so ludicrous and the vicar got himself into such a mess, that he completely losses his cool. It was very funny but it did make my mind up that I would never again try to explain the Trinity by using analogies.

Well I have been back for a month now and I have not stopped. There was so much to catch up with. On top of that I am in the process of moving from Crowthorne to Sandhurst. When I got back my lodger in Sandhurst, who was very helpful in keeping a presence there, had decided that he had to move. We then came to the decision that it would be easier to rent the flat in Crowthorne which is quiet compared to Sandhurst, so I offered to move. The only trouble is that the house in Sandhurst really needs decorating and refurbishing. So it is paint brush in hands again I’m afraid.

Every late May bank holiday we have a fund raising event called the Donkey Derby so I and a lot of the parishioners had been preparing for that. The weather before the bank holiday had been dry and sunny. That, however changed on the Saturday the heavens opened and it rained for three days solid so that the field we use was flooded. There was nothing we could do but postpone it until the 24th June. Since that postponement there has been nothing but good June weather. Its what you would call sods law. Well we will try again.

I phoned uncle Arnett and he said that they have had the most glorious beginning of winter in Christchurch NZ that he can ever remember. It has been wall to wall sunshine with the temp up in the twenties. I think the rain is following me around the globe. Maybe I have the wrong vocation and I should really be a rain ambassador. When I started my sabbatical it flooded in Thailand and Myanmar. In New Zealand they had the worse summer for years. When I went to Sydney it rained as it did in Melbourne when I got there. In Perth I was only there for a day before the heavens opened. I think you get my drift.

At the weekend I took my old friends down to a place called Old Alsford in Hampshire to see Elaine who was the wife of their nephew who died last year. Elaine has a lovely English garden which I have photographed and put on the blog. Thats all for now God Bless.