Leading and Preaching at West Dean again

I officiated at the West Dean Morning Worship service today with Sara coming along to support me.  We had a small congregation of only 10 but as I know each member of the congregation quite well now it was a pleasant affair and seemed like a house group.  Everybody made both Sara and I feel most welcome which is lovely and I had quite a number of compliments about my sermon.  As I have told them, it is really God’s word and I hope that they can take something away from what I have spoken about to them.  Today I spoke of the brokenness of Peter and Paul when they were first called to be Jesus’s apostles (the full text of the sermon is available at http://pulpitmichael.blogspot.com) and this seemed to strike a chord with some people.  Sara said she enjoyed the service and sermon.  After coffee and biscuits, Sara and I went our separate ways – Sara to Fordingbridge to pick up Mary and I return home to change out of my smart clothes and wash the car and mow the lawns – quite heavy work.  This evening we had roast pork for a late lunch/early supper, Mary went to Rockface to tell the members there all about Spring Harvest and particularly the role of Compassion UK and the family’s sponsoring of Shima in Bangladesh.  Tonight, instead of going to the Pub Quiz, I decided to stay at home and try and finish my University assignment.