Going to the dogs

I attended All Saints, Winterslow this morning to give the shortest reading I can ever remember - Proverbs 25:6-7 - my announcement of the biblical reference took longer than the reading itself!  I stayed for the gospel reading and the sermon from Andrew - a good sermon on the topic of humbling oneself - and then slipped out to be picked up by Sara to drive into Salisbury with Mary to attend a much livelier service at St. Paul's (Mary had asked if she could go to St. Paul's again after a positive experience there last week and I thought it would be nice to go as a family). The contrast to All Saints was quiet stark - from 23 members of the congregation in a "traditional" setting at All Saints to about 230 with Spring Harvest type songs and a worship band. A great number of children were there too. Mary feels much more at home here - she doesn't want to go and won't go to All Saints) and Sara has decided that she will be bringing Mary on a regular basis to St. Paul's so that she can join the youth group.  In fact Sara wants to be a regular worshipper herself at St. Paul's and may join their Alpha Course. A very friendly welcoming atmosphere and I had the opportunity for a long chat with the rector, another Andrew.  When I am not on ministerial duty within the Clarendon Team I shall also join Sara and Mary at St. Paul's. Back home we had a BBQ using some beef burgers bought from Lidl on the way home from church and tonight we all went down to Poole to enjoy an evening at the dogs. It was a profitable evening for once too!  Sundays are free admission and Thom won £10.00 and Mary £15.00 tonight and I had a small £5 win.  Nothing great but much better than normal.  All we paid for during the evening were a few drinks.  A warm barmy evening with even barmier dogs!  As the first race began at 6 p.m., and we stayed for just 10 races, we were home by 10 p.m.