Leading and Preaching at East Grimstead

A bit of a lie-in for a Sunday as I wasn't down to take a service until 11 a.m. - at East Grimstead.  After waking and having a cup of tea, I finalised the service and sermon and printed these out to take with me.  Thom and Mary stayed at home but Sara accompanied me to East Grimstead where I presided over an All Age Worship Service with the theme being Christ the King. A copy of my sermon can be found at http://pulpitmichael.blogspot.com. As usual it was a small congregation but a dedicated one and there was a great sense that those there had attended out of a wish to be there and not just a duty.  The service was followed by coffee and biscuits and some interesting theological chats.  We were also blessed with the presence of the "singing dog" who joined in in all the choruses.  Sara and I left East Grimstead feeling that our presence had been helpful to the worshippers and that both they and us had got something from worshipping together this morning.  The afternoon started with a delivery from Tesco following which we had a generally lazy afternoon watching an Agatha Christie Poirot episode on TV. Thom and I watched the Carolina Panthers take on the Miami Dolphins at Miami which resulted in a very narrow win for Thom's team - the Panthers.  I joined Richard C at the Lion's Head this evening for a couple of pints and a catch-up.  The Lion's Head is now so quiet on a Sunday evening that we are thinking of decamping (or is it decanting?) ourselves and changing our pub night to Friday at the Lord Nelson.  It will only be about six months before he will be leaving Winterslow with Linda who will be starting her curacy in Poole.  We have agreed that we shall try and get to Cornwall again in January if the weather is kind enough.