Posts Tagged ‘Nutritional Therapy’
Church of Coffee?
October 7, 2010Since starting my role as a Church Assistant, I have made SO much coffee. What is it about the church that requires so much time and money to be spent making small cups of a brown addictive drink? I don’t understand.
I don’t drink coffee. I don’t like coffee. I have never liked coffee. Or the smell of coffee. And since beginning Nutritional Therapy, I rarely drink caffeinated Tea. It’s bad for me. And YOU.
The first Sunday we new, shiny Church Assistants were left to fend for ourselves, we ran out of coffee at church. My colleague wound up running to another church building to bring back enough coffee to get us through the whole day. I obviously didn’t appreciate the grandeur of the disaster we were facing at the time! I asked uninformed questions like; ‘Shall we make instant instead?’ or, to the Rector, ‘can you make an announcement during the notices about the lack of coffee..?’ My colleague, by running and leaving us to deal with ‘real church’ while he ran on his coffee hunt, was heavily praised for his good deed of the day.
I am thankful that considering the amount we consume, as a church, that we are a Fair Trade Church. That does a least make it ethical.
Still, I often wonder what would happen to the institution we know and love, called the church, if coffee was banned? People would go into withdrawal. There would be much lethargy. Worship would be bland. Meetings would turn into siestas. And, seemingly, the church would cease to function.
This came to a head for me when, on Tuesday, for a conference held at church, I spent the entirety of my shift MAKING COFFEE!
I texted my good friend, explaining that I spent my whole day making coffee, and asking;
Did Jesus drink this much coffee?!
He replied with that well known miracle in the first chapter of the Book of Coffee;
And the master of the banquet tasted the water, and it had become coffee, because that’s what the Christian’s wanted. And everyone thought Jesus was awesome.
I mean, how could I forget?
If only we were as addicted to Jesus as we are to coffee. No?
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N.B. I would like to make it clear that I do not condemn the social, fellowship, which often occurs over a hot beverage. In fact, I endorse it. I am just making light of the amount of coffee which is consumed in our culture.
Breakfast Bible Study
September 14, 2010Today I had my first Breakfast Bible Study shift. As much as getting up at 6:30am is a little painful, I really enjoyed being at work for 7am; it was fresh and had the added bonus of finishing the days work at 2 enabled me to have a trip over to Northwood to visit some LST folks 
I was able to take part in BBS myself, I joined a table to do the study. We’re looking at the 10 commandments in the run up to Advent.
I was really challenged by the three verses we were looking at today; Exodus 20:1-3. We as Christians know what it means to love God, but really, do we actually do it 100% of the time? In 2 Kings 17:9 we read that they were ‘secretly’ against the Lord their God. Ironic, that they tried to do things secretly from their omniscient God! They started out blindly following the other nations, until, before they knew it, they were casting themselves idols. We often feel so distant from the Golden Calf incident, but we, even in the 21st Century, even those of us who work for the church, are not immune from idols.
I was challenged to think about what my idols are today. Obviously, we are surrounded by people who want to get to the top in their work, clothes and the latest fashions are many people’s idol, or the latest car etc… I know that my cello has been an idol in the past, but I realised that some of my friendships have been idolatrous, in the sense that I would turn to specific friends rather than to God. I’m working on it, but I still have a way to go.
It’s simple; Jesus instructs us to Love the Lord your God with all your heart, strength and soul.
I’m definitely going to make an effort to get to BBS even when I’m not working
Week One on our own…
September 11, 2010Here we go; it’s down to us…
On Monday I arrived at work in time for Staff Fellowship Groups followed by Staff Lunch. It was our first Staff Lunch with everyone back after the summer. I love it. We were introduced to the new Apprentices who have just started their year this week. We had our meeting with Dave, reviewing the previous week and looking at the week ahead. Our Monday Training sessions start next week, so we got ahead with prep. for the evening as there was a Fellowship Group Support meeting for all the Fellowship Group leaders.
On Tuesday John and I were on duty for the Prayer Gathering shift. All of us Church Assistants were invited to the front to be introduced officially to the Church Family, which ended up being hilarious as ever!
On Wednesday, after being rudely awoken by builders and diggers outside my bedroom at 7.15am, I began early to set up for the Aroma leaders meeting and training session before it starts up again next week for the new term. Mark repeated a talk of his from Cornerstone on the Gospel of John, as that’s what they’ll be looking at each week. The others’ were all painting two rooms upstairs whilst I got on with the ‘normal’ Wednesday duties. Hannah and Oscar appeared to get more paint on each other than on the walls! The others wound up staying late to get the rooms finished, but I’d done all my tasks, so went home and slept… for 4 hours! I felt rubbish, but it was John’s birthday party, had it been any other social I probably wouldn’t have gone, but I thought having slept for 4 hours I would be alright… Oscar had cooked a feast for us, but it was all a bit behind schedule due to finishing work late! We ate around 10pm… Hannah and Maw had made John a birthday cake which was lovely, too. Dave gave me a lift home when the celebrations finished around midnight, but I really wasn’t feeling well again 
I wound up being up, ill most of the night, and had to take Thursday off ill. My first full sick day. Sad times.
I picked up again by late afternoon, at which point I had the dilemma of going to the ASO rehearsal for Manchester next weekend. On the one hand, it may well pick me up mentally and physically by getting out the house, seeing people and being productive. I am working next Thursday evening so I can’t make the rehearsal, so I felt I should go this week. Yet I didn’t know how it would look being in church playing my cello, having been off ill all day. And the worry of if I go, I may not be so well tomorrow…?! I decided to go for it in the end, and I’m glad I did; it was the right decision
On Friday I did my first solo shift at St Paul’s Robert Adam Street. I was working for Jelly Beans, the Mum’s and Toddler’s group which is an outreach of All Souls. I then had various cleaning tasks to do, which I finished early, so I used the opportunity to cycle over from SPRAS to All Souls, using my new Boris Bike key! Initially it took a while to get a bike to come out of a dock, once I did, I realised how bumpy roads in London are! I then discovered that I don’t fully know the one-way systems around the area, and ended up going in more of a zig-zag direction to get back to church!
On Friday evening we were all invited for dinner at the Enns’ house; John Stott’s former home. We had fun times with them, eating very yummy food and getting to know Louanne and Paul a bit more. After some persuasion, Dave offered to drop me and my Cello off at St Pancras Station for a train back to the ‘shire for Colette’s 20th. I found it hilarious that on the way out of the Enns’ flat, Dave caught his shoelace in the door and had to call the buzzer to be freed!
More Anon. Here’s a few pictures from the week;
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Blessings
September 3, 2010I feel so blessed lately… small things which just make me smile and know that I am loved.
Last week, Noel encouraged me to keep playing with the All Souls Orchestra, but in a way that I know he values me as a player; I don’t just sit in the section bumbling along… He also said he’d fight my corner if needed with my rota so that I can play for orchestral services and things… which is nice, but at the same time, I am aware it’s up to me to pace myself, too!
We’re also very blessed with food. As Church Assistants, we’re allowed to eat food from the Church kitchen. We also get a food allowance, so that Jack, the Chef orders things in for us and puts it in the freezer. We’re in negotiation as a team (as we have to order the same things each week) It’s looking along the lines of meats. Protein. Nice.
I just wanted to share that with you!
I have ‘survived’ two weeks as a Church Assistant!
August 21, 2010So, most of this week, I’ve already told you about; Sunday was awesome. Monday and Tuesday were at Cornerstone.
On Wednesday morning Hannah took us through a week at SPRAS, and after lunch Dave gave us training on Event Management/Hosting. He encouraged us to think outside the box; thinking initiative, and big picture. Planning ahead and priorities. Recognising urgernt vs important. Recognising we may not be able to achieve everything. But that we should do the best we can. We then set up ready for the evening Summer Bible Study with Simon.
On Thursday morning, Maw and I thought we were running late, but appeared to be the first ones to arrive! Dave taught us about the cleaning systems, and then set us to work cleaning the toilets downstairs before lunch. After which we met Simon at SPRAS where we did Sunday set up, and took it down again, just so we knew how it all worked! We then ventured back to ASLP and did Sunday set up there.
That evening Maw and I cooked a darn good Sausage Casserole for Dave and Simon and the other CA’s. Maw had also made a wonderful fruit crumble for pudding Despite Oscar, Hannah and John arriving quite late, it turned out to be a wonderful evening. We were all laughing so much… and I struggled to stop laughing, which was painful! I was starting to feel quite ill and was exhausted, so was pleased when I found my bed!
On Friday I had an appointment at the local doctor’s to register. Which included some nice awkward questions about contraception; What do I use? Would I like any? Have I had a Chlamydia test done? Would I like one? Erm… thanks, but no… To be honest, I was a little bit concerned about the whole appointment, nothing wrong with people from oriental backgrounds, even if I can find them hard to understand at times, but when they don’t seem bothered about taking an accurate account of things, don’t know what M.E. is, doesn’t want to take a note of all the medication I’m on… it’s a little bit worrying. I was hoping I’d get an appointment to see a GP, as I was running very low on some medication. I also wanted to chat about the medication Dr Brown prescribed last week, which I started taking on Thursday.
After my appointment, I walked to church to return Dave’s wallet as he left it after the meal. I still wasn’t feeling fab. I walked home and made myself a bacon sandwich, which I struggled to eat… by which time my cup of tea had gone cold, which was upsetting. I managed to take tablet without too much gagging, and took a nap.
Mr Marriott came over for the evening, which was lovely to see him. We cooked spag. bol. which was lovely we hung out, ate cake and ice cream and watched the Vicar of Dibley. Frustrating that I wasn’t feeling so great at all. I went to bed when he left.
I woke up about 1am with a really strong feeling I was going to be sick… I made it to the toilet. I wasn’t sick. I grabbed a bucket and crawled back into bed. I didn’t really sleep again until nearly 6.30am I felt so sick, and had a crazy fever, I knew I was really hot, but was shivering like mad.
The builders arrived again, putting up yet more scaffolding in Browning Mews!! I could barely move without feeling incredibly sick. I couldn’t face bacon for breakfast, so ate some cereal in the hope that food might help? It didn’t, but it didn’t make it worse, either. I slept some more and finally dragged myself out for a walk to Regents Park in an attempt to get some fresh air. I was feeling okay whist I was sat on a bench watching people in the boats. But when I got up to walk home I felt really ill again
I don’t know why I feel so sick. I don’t think it’s something I ate because everyone else is okay and it’s been more than 24hours. So it could be either my body telling me I’ve done too much lately? Or it’s reacting to some new medication I started on Thursday, but the information sheet doesn’t list nausea or gastric symptoms as side effects, and those tablets are also used to help combat morning sickness in pregnancy, so surely they shouldn’t be making me sick? I just don’t know? I just wish I could feel better. It hurts. Everytime I move I think I’m going to be sick. And I’m meant to be at work at 7.15 tomorrow! I don’t want to take a sick day after just 2 weeks. I don’t want to let people down.
My favourite shift so far…
August 15, 2010Today Maw, John and I were on the early Sunday shift, we had to be at the church for 7.15am. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t looking forward to it. Despite when I worked at Southwell Minster having to be at work for 7, on any given day of the week, and that was 12 miles away. Our flat is less than 10 minutes walk away, but still, I wasn’t looking forward to the early start!
My alarm went off at 06.30, I got up, showered, washed my hair, made Bacon Sandwiches and a cup of tea, arrived at church in my Sunday Best, in time to start the days work. On the ‘phone to Mum this afternoon, she thought she was speaking to someone other than her daughter, teehee.
I really enjoyed the shift. We unlocked various areas of the church, tidied the front steps and prepared for the three morning services. 8am Communion was well attended compared to last week, 8, or Morning Communions at Southwell which would range in numbers between 0 – 15! There was 18 of us there this morning, I enjoyed it. I think I prefer the Sunday morning shift to the afternoon shift because although we’re busy; there’s always something to be doing, it’s not too busy. The time doesn’t seem to drag, and it doesn’t feel like work, it feels like church. I like it.
I also like that we finish at 2.15pm, so have time to cook a proper dinner, spend time with friends etc.
Maw and I went to our local Waitrose after our plan of going to the local farmers market failed; they closed at 2pm! Whilst in the shop, we saw Diane-Louise Jordan, of Blue Peter and Songs of Praise fame. We found the prospect of her living in our neighbourhood quite exciting.
Mid-Week Adventures as a new CA
August 14, 2010- Monday -
Monday morning duties at All Souls are invariably done by the CA who was on the evening shift on the Sunday, so, the more we get done on a Sunday, the easier the shift on Monday, and, conversely, the less we do on Sunday, the more there is to do on Monday morning! Simon showed Maw, John and I the tasks sheet, which included emptying bins, checking toilets, Church House supplies, Weekly Fire Alarm testing, Laundry, Hoovering…
We then set up with Waldegrave Hall for Staff Lunch which happens every Monday. Usually it is cooked by the All Souls Chef, but it’s August, and he’s away, and everything is slightly different! Hannah had returned from morning duties at St Paul’s, Robert Adam Street (lovingly known as SPRAS), and a milk shortage was noticed, so we went to Sainsburys’ to fetch some cakes also for dinner. I really liked Staff Lunch, it’s one time in the week when ALL staff who work for All Souls and her link Ministries come to All Souls and share food together, there’s a lot of us; between 50 – 60! I’m looking forward to more of these special times together as a whole staff team.
After lunch we went to the weekly admin meeting, which was pretty short and sweet, other than the explanation about the fire alarm situation; when we did the test this morning the bells didn’t sound…! So the contingency plan in case of fire was to hit the red alarm boxes as normal which would call the fire brigade, but then we would have to ensure that everyone in the building was aware! It turned out to be a faulty wire, having been dislodged by electricians doing work last week! All is fixed now
The afternoon then took the form of our official inductions with Dave, our line manager. He gave us lots of paperwork to fill in! And then we all did Lock Up with Hannah.
In the evening, Maw and I invited the others over for dinner. We cooked Spaghetti Bolognaise, which was yummy! We ate in our lounge around the table, which was followed by games, which was good fun and many giggles were had. Team Building
- Tuesday -
Today started off with a quiz from our last nights ‘homework’, which was to read two chapters of the Church Handbook. We had nursery rhyme ‘buzzers’ which made it quite entertaining, and Hannah and I got quite competitive towards the end! But she pipped me to the post and won by one point! We continued inductions with Dave and were shown how to use the computers, various passwords, iCal, email and phone systems.
We had a two hour lunch break, which was lovely before meeting Nick at SPRAS to go through Church PA and multi media things there. We were pretty zombie-fied by the time we got back to All Souls to do set up for Prayer and Praise that evening with Simon. Jenny, the Church Warden who hosted us on Saturday came in for a meeting with us to explain Sunday Services from their perspective, what they expect of us, how they will support us etc. Maw and Oscar were on shift that evening for Prayer and Praise, but I decided to stay for an hour to join in Prayer and Praise as a member of the congregation. I got home, ate and went to bed; I am so tired, it hurts.
- Wednesday -
Dave has decided to nominate me for the ‘Blond Award’ already, as Maw and I couldn’t work out how to use the Scales in our Kitchen, and thought they were broken… Dave looks at them and get’s them to work straight away *hangs head in shame*
Wednesday morning Hannah took us through ‘a week at All Souls’ in terms of regular events, etc. We finished this earlier than scheduled, so we moved on to the afternoon’s training on Communion set up and glass and brass cleaning which was scheduled for the afternoon, but we got it done before lunch, so we wound up with a three hour lunch break, which was lovely, as I was working late that evening.
We got back to All Souls at 4pm and met Nick who showed us the Waldegrave Hall PA and multi media things, which we set up for the evening’s Summer Bible Study. I quickly met Shirin for food before her rehearsal at All Souls for the Orchestra tour to Scotland departing tomorrow. Hannah, John and I were working under Simon which was a fun shift with much banter.
One thing I really am learning, is that there is so much cake around All Souls! I need to campaign for a Fruit Bowl, and not eat ANY cake, because when I say to myself ‘one piece wont hurt’ I’m a bit rubbish at actually limiting myself to one piece, and even when I do, my body feels the effects. Rubbish.
We finished the evening shift just after 10pm and Simon took me up the Heights of the Hotel next door, where at the top floor there is a restaurant overlooking London. It was beautiful. And reminded me of Aristocats! It was really interesting to realise perspective; so many buildings in London are huge, if they were in Nottingham, they would outshine most buildings, yet in the context of London, they all look normal, with other things standing out from them…
- Thursday -
Dave texted us to say we had a later start on Thursday morning, which was lovely, and gave us an extra hour to read out ‘homework’ from the Handbooks, which we were again quizzed on. This time our buzzers were animal noises! I won today’s quiz – harah!
Dave then showed us all the technical equipment in the whole church. Some things he showed us were new, but other things Simon or Hannah had explained to us already, but we were all like zombies! Not sure how much we’ll remember from that?!
We had been told not to make plans for Thursday lunch time, we walked with Dave towards SPRAS, then Hannah met us and showed us into a Private Garden, where there was a picnic prepared for us. It was such a lovely surprise! The Church has keys to the private garden, and we’re allowed to use it if we like, too, as long as we obey the rules; the boys were a little upset by the ‘no ball games’ rule..! The picnic was amazing, and I for one, felt very blessed by it. Dave turned all serious towards the end of the picnic, asking us the ‘Million Dollar Question,’ which was more what would your dream be if money weren’t an issue, rather than what would you do with a million dollars…
The rest of the afternoon was spent with Hannah showing us Sunday set up at All Souls, which would normally happen on a Friday; just to confuse us!
I got home and crawled into my PJ’s and into bed. I was exhausted, but I needed to eat! I managed to pull together a bacon sandwich, whilst watching Rev. on iPlayer and went to bed very early!
Simon had warned me to use my days off wisely; here’s to my weekend…!
But, I have survived my first week as a Church Assistant… I have survived a 36.5 hour week
