NO MORE WRITING ! (for the moment)
On November 26th I finally sent off the manuscript of ‘Journey through Lent with Jesus’ to Clare who designs my books. There was the odd email sent about the list of illustrations etc, but basically I had no writing to do at all in December. What a relief! Writing two sections for the fifty days of Lent in order to finish it in time for publishing in the New Year was a lot of (self-inflicted) stress. At last I had some life back! What did I do with it?
SOME MARKETING
On Wednesday 8th I went to the Christmas lunch for the Deanery Chapter – meaning most of the clergy in Chelsea. I was able to display my books and give out four of them to those who were interested. On 14th I went to Church House Bookshop, the flagship bookshop for the Church of England. The manager Frank was very supportive, and I had hopes of getting a review of my Lent book in the Church Times. My Cambridge representative (my brother Martin!) has got an appointment with the buyer of Heffer’s, now part other Blackwell group – very significant. Next month I will try to meet the buyer at Daunt’s, who did take my book on Jerusalem. Finally on 30th December I emailed seven senior clergy in the C of E to ask if they would write a short comment on the Lent book. On 21st I had asked Michael Ipgrave, Bishop of Lichfield if he would write a foreword and he has sent it to me on 2the very last day of 2021. Here is an extract:
‘The joy of this book is that, even as it establishes the strangeness of the Messianic story, it also provides lots of ways through which its unsettling and transforming power can reach deep inside us: reimagined dialogue, personal anecdote, historical explanation, spiritual guidance are all there to hook the story and its reality into our lives.’
What a great way to start the new year!
I decided to do a daily post on Facebook page – bibleinbrief or revandybooks – going through the Old Testament. I really enjoyed doing this, summarising great chunks in a couple of sentences with arresting headline and choosing two or three dramatic images to go with them. Each day I included an image of my first book ‘Bible in Brief’. Some days I got over a hundred people clicking. I wonder if it could be turned into some sort of publication? Next month a key task is to learn how to use Facebook etc. properly. I do have people I can learn from.
CULTURE
Done A LOT this month:
Excellent film ‘House of Gucci’ with Linda. Lady Gaga superb. An object lesson on the corrupting power of money.
Ralph Fiennes acting on stage T S Eliot’s ‘Four Quartets’. “In my beginning is my end…”
Seeing Shakespeare’s ‘Measure for Measure’ in the indoor Jacobean playhouse at the Globe, with a friend for whom this was the first Shakespeare he had ever seen. On 31st I invited him round to see a brilliant film version of ‘Much Ado About Nothing’.
Wonderful lunchtime concert at St Stephen’s Walbrook and our own one at St Giles, followed by a superb Baroque evening concert; I helped with the catering afterwards.
Fantastic carol services at St Augustine’s (HTB) and at the church I help out with monthly, Holy Trinity Prince Consort Road. And in St Cuthbert’s when rain sadly forced our Philbeach Gardens Christmas street festivities under cover. However, I sold five books!
CHURCH
I took six communion services: three on Monday lunchtime at St Mary Abbots, two midweek lunchtime services for Imperial College chaplaincy at Holy Trinity Prince Consort Road, and one on Christmas Day in the same church. There were just ten of us, we sang three carols unaccompanied and still managed a fine descant on ‘O come all ye faithful’.
CHRISTMAS
So comforting to know that our Prime Minister is working so hard to give everyone a safe and happy Christmas. Linda and Peter went by train to her parents for Christmas on 23rd. On Christmas Day Peter tested positive for Covid and as I write is still not well and is isolating in his bedroom while Linda tries to keep everyone safe, walking each day to the shops. A story repeated the length and breadth of the country.
Meanwhile I was having Christmas on my own. Well, I did invite five people from our street who would have been on their own, cooked Christmas lunch and then we watched ‘Home Alone’. Was invited to lunch on Sunday by a friend from HTB. On 27th had a fantastic home-made moussaka with our neighbours Soti (Greek) and Julio (from Chile). They came to me the next day for a Christmas meal and watched one of my all-time favourites ‘Tin Men’. On 29th I joined Martin and Ros at my nephew’s house with their two boys; lovely lasagne made by Martin followed by a walk in Pitzhanger Park. Today I am making proper Spaghetti Bolognese for a neighbour and me, followed by ‘You Kill Me’. On New Year’s Eve Soti, Julio, Claudio and I had drinks and nibbles on the street and an American joined us. So I had a really sociable time!
ZOOMING INTO 2022
Two special events and one recurring one. All of them will last just 1 hour.
8.00 pm Wednesday 19th January: Churches of Jerusalem and Christian Unity
1 History of Jerusalem – 3,000 years of violence
2 Christians divided – for over 1500 years
3 The churches of Jerusalem
4 Their message for Christin Unity
8.00 pm Wednesday 26th January : Launch of ‘Journey through Lent with Jesus’
1 Introducing the author
2 Introducing the book
3 Questions and discussion
I will send the Eventbrite links and Zoom link over the next few days.
Plus EVERY Wednesday 10.00 am Celebrating `Saints
A short informal time of reflection, prayer and bread & wine (though not communion!)
1 Welcome everyone
2 Pause for confession
3 Bible: a psalm and Bible passage for the saint of the day
4 Informal prayer (It works really well on Zoom).
5 Agape and kiddush.
We each provide our own bread and wine or substitute for: a blessing over bread and sharing the peace together and a blessing of the wine and making a toast “To Life!”, “L’chaim!” followed by half an hour of coffee and chat.
We will probably celebrate Bishop Samuel Azariah (1945), Aelred of Rievaulx (1167), Anthony of Egypt (356) and the Conversion of Paul.
I always find it encouraging. Come and try it.
The Zoom URL is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82909128301?pwd=QUxyc1JqOGY4S0RqbmFFNnhSY3JVZz09
Meeting ID: 829 0912 8301 Passcode: 419685