A 'postcard' in transit

A 'postcard' in transit.
Back late last night from a great weekend in Notts and Derby District. Spent Saturday with about 80 local preachers - what a lot of people remain deeply committed to the ministry of preaching, and desperate to become more effective ministers in this respect!
Sunday was spent on local radio and then three services, and a couple of pastoral visits in between.
The evening service was a district celebration to mark St Thomas' Rd Methodist Church centenary, and 300 years since the birth of Charles Wesley. There was a large choir, and a large overflow in the back hall. It was a great sing, and i got the feeling of a time of mutual encouragement.
Observation? 'Dry' as we are in many places, and struggling in all sorts of ways, there remains among us a deep desire for greater passion and commitment. In the words of one of my mentors, Donald English, 'Methodist people want to be better than they are'. By this he did not mean they want to be upwardly mobile, but they experience, deep in their spiritual bones, the desire to be better Christians. I think last night many of us realised that that desire has not yet disappeared. Therefore there is hope.

Off to the Conservative Party Conference. I wonder what level of hope I will encounter there...?