... or how I nearly blew myself up in the garden.
We have an alternative -ish service planned for Sunday night here at Robinson Chapel (6pm, map here - visitors welcome). A kind of mix of the most beautiful of the ancient hymns and music, with some contemporary interpretations of Lecto Divina, video and power point film stuff, visual prayers...
the central visual idea was (according to my plans) to be a huge flame right in the middle of Chapel. 
Ever since I read about this meths-burning exercise last
year I have been musing on whether I could get away with doing the same
here. I thought we might. I researched the possibilities. I got the advice from a couple of scientifically minded students who explained all kinds of stuff to me like the volatility of meths, the absorbency of different kinds of stone, etc. etc. And we had the pictures of e~mergent kiwi's amazing burning pumice stone to prove it works.
So I dragged a friend off to the out of town stores and got all the kit I needed. But naturally you don't do this kind of thing without having a trial run first. So I did my trial run in the garden yesterday. And fortunately I remembered what my Dad taught me - stand well back after you've lit the fireworks. A big bang and a couple of exploded tins and flowerpots later I decided to stick with candles after all.
What is it with me and science and technology? I followed the instructions, I swear. I am not a brainless "blonde" (I'm not even a natural one!). Yet when I do this stuff it either looks more like art than science (good result) or goes horribly wrong, as yesterday's inferno demonstrates. Does God just sneakily change the rules when he sees me about to try stuff? Humph
maggie, im a teacher in cambridge... really enjoying following your blog... do you still have the alternative service at robinson? i go to a loud church and am searching a spot of quiet-ish contemplation!! when's it on?
Posted by: niallm | 12/05/2005 at 11:53