Bank Holidays!!

What an interesting Bank Holiday long week-end! Yes, I did manage to see something of The Wedding, but spent most of the day making sure I was fully prepared for Canterbury and Monday.
Canterbury was a great week-end visit, with generous hospitality as always. I was there for the bicentenary of the Methodist Church in the city and we celebrated with our ecumenical and other faiths partners as well as with the Methodist family. The services were full of imaginative and inspiring contributions as we gave thanks for the past, rejoiced in the present, and recognised God's call to move forward into the future. The newly written anthem was impressive - and easy to join in with at the right point. Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make this event, and the following octave of celebration which I could not share, such a worthwhile occasion. And God bless your future ministry among your communities.
Then Monday was the rally to celebrate 10 years of working for The Living Wage for everyone. It was an amazing event - in our Westminster Central Hall once again - and it was a joy to me to be able to speak for Methodism's commitment to pay justly. There were so many ecumenical partners and other faiths represented, as well as those who claim no faith presumably, that it took me quite a while to find many Methodist colleagues in the crowd. Some of course, I met on the way in! It was also a joy to discover how often Methodists figured in the roll call of Living Wage heroes.
FairPensions was launched, and CFB was part of the process, as of course, was the Joint Public Issues Team. Thanks be to God for so many people who are prepared to work out the commitment we made and enable us to live our faith with integrity.