Month: September 2024

The temperature wasn’t especially cool this morning, but it was humid and breezy, so that I did well to wear my hoodie on my morning run. My legs limbered up moderately soon, and it was a good run on the whole. Then coffee, shower, Morning Prayer, breakfast with Margaret in town (during which I puzzled over Wrede), home for lunch and dog care, soon back to church for a meeting, then home for the day, ideally to hammer down some loose boards on the essay I owe….

Didn’t run this morning cos (a) it was raining on and off and (b) I didn’t sleep well. Coffee, sermon-polishing, showered and dressed, early for 10:30 Mass at St Helen’s, then home for a relaxed afternoon with maybe some glimpses at Wrede.

I had a difficult time shifting out of low gear this morning after having taken yesterday morning off. I didn’t get loose till I was nearly home. Nonetheless, I felt moderately limber after about the last half mile, and I ran a moderate, steady pace. Coffee, hot breakfast, and alternate work on Wrede and on my homily. As it turns out, I have a related sermon in the files that I could have repurposed, but in the end I decided to stick with the start I made this year.

Margaret arrives home from the Society for the Study of Christian Ethics this afternoon, and I will turn right away to the parish centre for a meeting on baptismal/confirmation instruction. Once home I will take an easy evening.

I had a wee lie-in this morning, partly because I did actually sleep till after 6:30, and partly because it was rainy when I got up — not actively raining, but threatening to rain at any minute (and it did indeed rain a bit later in the morning). So I had my cup of coffee, pondered Wrede’s ‘Die Biblische Kritik innerhalb des Theologischen Studium’ (of course I did, because I have to compose a sermon for Sunday and finish an essay for publication as soon as humanly possible), showered, and put out the bins before Morning Prayer. After that I walked to the town square for a cup of coffee and to protect some unwary patron of Java from eating one of their cinnamon rolls. Then off to home with stops for a nine-volt battery, groceries, and a stop at the church office to check phone messages. I tell you, the excitement never stops around here.

I’ve had three good runs in a row — strong and steady, but I feel knackered when I get back. Hearty breakfast, Morning Prayer, lots of church work. Keeping busy, trying to remember to blog every day. Or every third day, anyway.

Back in Glasgow, I had a wonderful conversation with Simon Dürr, one of whose projects is to translate William Wrede’s essays from Vorträge und Studien; that includes ‘Die biblische Kritik innerhalb des theologischen Studiums’, an essay I used in my thesis. I’ve gone back to the translation I made for myself to see how it compares to Simon’s translation. Wrede was a brilliant reader of the New Testament, but he was a resolutely modern reader.

Is it already in September? I remember thinking September was weeks away. Could I have been that wrong?

I had a very good run this morning after having not run yesterday; I had the 8:00 service, and didn’t have enough time (I estimated) to run, cool down, shower, get to St Nic’s, etc. before the service. As things went, the service was fine, and I joined Margaret, David, and Marlies for the 10:30 at St Helen’s. We then decamped to the town square for a leisurely and tasty brunch, then home for David and Marlies to pack and head in to Oxford. So when morning came today, I was well-rested; I limbered up quickly in the 18°, 100% humidity air, and ran to a comfortable, somewhat ambitious pace. Coffee, fruit, shower, Morning Prayer (in church again, yay!), and I’m about to tackle some correspondence after writing a squib for this week’s newsletter. Then I’ll begin work on a homily for Wednesday Mass, and presumably some further tasks and errands to keep me from loitering on a street corner and causing a public disturbance. Yesterday’s homily below… Continue reading “Pardon Me, Friend”