Scarlet cord in the window

The ordination at West Lane Baptist Church of its Student Assistant Minister on Saturday, and the church's generous hospitality at a barbecue in a neighbouring field afterwards, was all special in much more than the obvious ways.

He had spotted a while ago that an unlikely combination of football results could place a Quarter Final match in which England might just participate at exactly the same time, and so it turned out.  At the beginning of the service, those in the packed church made a shared commitment to pray rather than consult their phones, but, with the windows wide open because of the heat, the repeated sounds of huge celebrations from the pub a short distance away kept us pretty up-to-date with the progress of the developing score line.

And one of his College tutors preached intriguingly on the story of Rahab, the Canaanite harlot who is able to speak to the Hebrew spies about their God in Joshua 2 and who then becomes the great-grandmother of King David and thus an ancestor of Jesus.  He said that, given the ancestry, Jesus consorting with prostitutes and being willing to be taught theology by a Canaanite women in Matthew 15 wasn't actually that remarkable.  He encouraged the newly ordained Minister to continue 'the family tradition' - engaging with those most likely to be excluded, their needs and what they have to teach us.

Meanwhile, the Haworth mural is in the Car Park nearest the church.  It has everything from the elusive early Hovis advert (top left) to the Fair Trade logo on the steam train (bottom right).  Machu Picchu (top right) might be the biggest surprise - there is in fact a twinning relationship.