Simon Says ...

The first of the Bible in an Hour talks is up as a podcast at virtualtheology.ne t The first one is the Whole of the Bible in an hour - well, an hour and 3 minutes. See what you make of it!

So much for the "Barbecue Summer" - flooding in the Vicarage and the Parish Office today. So this morning I took my socks and shoes off, rolled up my trouser legs and was bailing out the top floor of the Parish Office. I was just like going for a plodge* in the North Sea - cold and the rain was falling on my head as I did it. Fortunately for your sake there are no photos! * A plodge is a Geordie term that refers to a paddle that really means it!

One of the features of life at St Mary Redcliffe is the fact that we receive a good number of visitors each year. The ministry of hospitality is an important part of our work. A new feature of this is Sacred Bristol . A group of churches (though, as the name suggests, we have left it open for other faith communities to join) with Destination Bristol to produce a leaflet and a trail showing some of the notable churches in the city. We're pleased with the result, and it has been a good experience to get together with others in the city centre and beyond to do this. If you're bored this summer, why not download the tour and have a walk around some of Bristol's churches?

The Bible in an Hour continues tonight with "The Book of Joshua". In it I will reveal how Joshua dishes out more land than he has to give, how the answer to some fundamentalist readings of the Bible is to read it better and, just because I'm feeling generous, a pacifist take on holy war. "The Whole of the Bible" should be up on virtualtheology.net soon, for those who missed it or want a second listen. Thanks to Marc for the fantastic artwork, to Paul for technical help and to Niall for webspace. See you later ...

Working on how to react to the Swine 'Flu pandemic has taken a great deal of my time this week, together with that of other members of the church staff. First came the reading. There was a large document from the government on Faith Communities and Pandemic Flu . Then there was the Church of England's advice (at the beginning of the week) from the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds on the administration of Holy Communion . Just as I thought that I might have a handle on it, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York issued a letter which changed the CofE advice. Then this morning, my own Diocese issued its Information for Clergy . Got all that? Good. After the reading came the writing. A letter will go to all congregations on Sunday, and a paper has gone to staff so that we can put things in place. Our head verger has been busy buying hand gel and bins and setting up stations in church. He and I have to finalise arrangements for Sunday's services later this afternoon. There is...