COUNTDOWN TO EASTER
The first half of April was dominated for me by Holy Week and Easter. On Tuesday 5th I started a series of five minutes daily readings from ‘Jesus the Troublemaker’, tracing Jesus’/Yeshua’s journey for the Jordan valley to the cross. I recorded it on Zoom and was able to upload each one on my Youtube Channel (Andy Roland). I have not worked out how to edit my short videos, nor how to put a title at the beginning and end. Still, it’s a start.
It was a very busy Easter for me church-wise. I have been taking the main morning service at Holy Trinity Prince Consort Road, by the Albert Hall, once a month as they are having a long interregnum. I took the services on Palm Sunday. On Wednesday, I took the lunchtime communion service at which I read part of Jesus’ prophecies of the future in Mark 13. This is never referred to in normal Holy Week services, but I think it is crucial to understand what Jesus was deeply concerned about. I then took the Maundy Thursday service, at which I used all of Cranmer’s service including the rarely read exhortation. On Good Friday I led a two hour meditation on the seven last words of Jesus on the cross.
EASTER DAY
Easter Day itself was mega! It started at 8.00 pm on Saturday evening with the lighting of the Easter fire at St Cuthbert’s in my road, followed by a two hour rich service of Vigil, Baptism and First Eucharist of Easter, with glasses of Prosecco afterwards. The next morning I went to our communal garden at 7.00 to re-enact for myself Mary’s journey to the tomb and her encounter with the risen Lord. At 11.00 I went to Holy Trinity Prince Consort Road and celebrated Easter again, and again had Prosecco after. I then went to the Easter lunch at St Cuthbert’s where there was great food and the wine flowed like water! Followed by an hour of essential sleep. I then went to Evensong at St Cuthbert’s, and, blow me down, there was more food (bread and cheese) and wine! I certainly celebrated Easter!
Linda was in Plympton with her parents for the weekend. On Bank Holiday Monday I went for a solid 6 mile walk from Amersham to Beaconsfield. I was pleased I could do it!
MY BIRTHDAY
The following Saturday it was my birthday. Linda surprised me with a card which invited me to a weekend by the river Thames at Cookham. I accepted! After a delicious breakfast of chakoushka (a North African breakfast) in Earls Court, we went by train and taxi to a small but beautifully appointed boat house on the banks of the Thames. We walked to Marlow and had a delicious supper there. On Sunday we were taken to Cookham church by our hosts in their boat! Lovely weather throughout. A blissful birthday!
Our boathouse is in the middle with the white roof.
RETREAT
Immediately on my return I went for a three day retreat to my regular Monastery of the Holy Trinity at Crawley Down, near Gatwick. I really needed it, it helps to unfrazzle my brain.
REVISING BOOKS
I also did some work on a couple of books I needed to revise. One was to produce a performance version of ‘Discovering Psalms as Prayer’ for Peter Walters who will record it as an audio book in June. I have almost finished that. The other was to revise my next book ‘The Church has a Past. Has it got a Future?’ I had already written two thirds of it, 44,000 words, but felt I had to stop when Covid hit. I did not know what the post-Covid world would look like. But now I have started up again. I intend to write a blog for May on ‘Stories’ as part of religion, using the insights of Hariri in his book ‘Sapiens’. I aim to finish revising what I have written and then send it to a church friend of mine for her comments while I am away with Linda in May.
While looking at ’Future Church’ I discovered some blogs I wrote during the lockdown which I think can from the basis of a small, but I hope popular, book: ‘Daily Prayers with the World’s Faiths’. That will get done when I can fit it in. It means that I will have to do some research in Sikhism. The rest I have some acquaintance with. The prayers (in chronological order) will be Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity – East and West, Islam and Sikhism. I will also include a section on Alcoholics Anonymous as a spiritual path.
WISHPOND
You may have noticed that I produce books at a great rate, but actually sell very few of them. Marketing in our digital world is something I do not succeed in. I was intrigued when I got an email out of the blue from a Canadian marketing company called Wishpond. They had seen my book ‘Five Step to Faith’ and saw me as a potential client. I have had three half hour Zoom chats with them and have decided to give them a go for a year. Their aim is to build up my email list, mostly through social media. I will have an account manager and will talk with him/her on a weekly basis. They aim to create six campaigns over a year. I certainly have enough books to feed such campaigns. It costs, but if it gets me to a new level of being visible in the market place, I think it is a worthwhile investment. It starts in June.
