Spring Harvest - Day 5

Another full day at Spring Harvest today. More reflections from Jeff Lucas in the bible reading followed by further study and discussions with Russell Rook and Lynda Bywater. All very inspirational and I could go on listening to these wonderful speakers for ever. We are so lucky to be here and the weather has been so wonderful to us too. I think it is Monday but to us here in Minehead it is simply Day 5 of Week 2. Anything could be going on outside in the wider world. Spring Harvest reminds me very much of a six-days transatlantic crossing ion the QE2 (except the accommodation is not so palatial). You are in your own community where you have time to listen to good discussions and presentations and be with your good friends doing what you want to do, Both children are very much involved with their groups and own spirituality - it's wonderful to see. This afternoon, Mary sang in a one-hour concert with Pop Connection (see picture) and had her photograph taken with Bebe Vox. It was delightful to see her singing with such gusto and enthusiasm. Back to the Big Top tonight where we were treated by a talk on Esther from Danielle Strickland - the highlight of the week in some respects. Unfortunately, she only spoke for about 25 minutes which was far too short. She is an enthralling speaker and one I could listen to for much longer - I can't say that of all preachers! We also were given a short talk by Phil Wall about a charity called Hope/HIV which aims to bring hope and assistance to families in Africa devastated by this dreadful illness. We were each asked to open an envelope given to us as we entered the Big Top. Inside was a ten pound note (as there were 3,500 of us this meant an outlay of £35,000!). We were asked to do one of three things with it - 1). Keep it if our needs were greater than those of these poor families in Africa; 2). Give it back or 3). Take it away and try and convert it, by investment/fundraising into £100 for the charity - to be done in the next 3 months. Back to Hamish and Nicola's again tonight for wine and nibbles. I brought a bottle of champagne as it was the last night and Sara's birthday is only a couple of days away. We distributed it communion style so everybody who wanted some had a chance to have a sip at least. Sadness has descended as we realise tomorrow we have to go home. We also discussed what we should do with the £10s we had received (most of our group deciding to try and turn it into £100 for charity). I suggested that we pool the money to fund a large fundraising event. This met with general approval and I will arrange a meeting when we get back to Winterslow to encourage ideas and agree how we put things into practice.