AmuSinG MomEnTs           Items taken from Callington Methodist Church magazine 'CONTACT'. Editor. Val Hall
An elderly woman in a Bournemouth hotel was heard to remark to a friend, "I never tell anyone how old I am, dear.  When you get to my age, actions creak louder that words!  The Friendship Book, D C Thomson & Co Ltd.
 
A Quickie Brainteaser
Here are four questions.  You have to answer them instantly.  You can't take your time, answer all of them immediately.  Find out just how clever you really are ...!
Q1.  You are participating in a race.  You overtake the second person.  What position are you in?
Q2.  If you overtake the last person, then you are ...?
Q3.  Very tricky arithmetic!  Note:  This must be done in your head only.  Do NOT use paper and pencil or a calculator.
Take 1000 and add 40 to it.  Now add another l000.  Now add 30.  Add another 1000.  Now add 20.  Now add another 1000.  Now add 10.  What is the total?
Q4.  Mary's father had five daughters:  1. Nana, 2. Nene, 3. Nini, 4. Nono.  What is the name of the fifth daughter?
Contact Magazine, 'Borrowed' from the Lydford Parish & Community Magazine, 2009  (Answers, bottom of page)
The New School Prayer
 
Now I sit me down in school, where praying is against the rule
For this great nation under God finds mention of Him very odd.
If Scripture now the class recites, it violates the Bill of Rights.
And anytime my head I bow, becomes a Federal matter now.
Our hair can be purple, orange or green, that's no offence; it's a freedom scene.
The law is specific, the law is precise, prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice,
For praying in a public hall might offend someone with no faith at all.
In silence alone we must meditate, God's name is prohibited by the state.
We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks, and pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks.
They've outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible.  To quote the Good Book makes me liable.
We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen, and the 'unwed daddy', our Senior King.
It's inappropriate to teach right from wrong, we're taught that such 'judgements' do not belong.
We can get our condoms and birth controls, study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles.
But the Ten Commandments are not allowed.
It's scary here I must confess, when chaos reigns the school's a mess.
So, Lord, this be my silent plea I make: should I be shot, my soul please take!  Amen.
Written by a teenager in Bagdad, Arizona, USA  From 'A Box of Delights', J John & Mark Stibbe, Monarch Books
Mothers
Real Mothers don't each quiche; they don't have time to make it.
Real Mothers know that their kitchen utensils are probably in the sandbox.
Real Mothers often have sticky floors, filthy ovens and happy kids.
Real Mothers know that dried play doh doesn't come out of the carpet.
Real Mothers know that a child's growth is not measured by height or years or grade ...
It is marked by the progression of Mummy to Mum to Mother ...
From 'Contact' Magazine
A teacher was observing her classroom of children while they were drawing.  She would occasionally walk around to see each child's work.  As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was.
The little girl replied,  "I'm drawing God."
The teacher paused and said, "But no one knows what God looks like."
Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing, the girl replied,
"They will in a minute".  An extract from Callington Methodist 'Contact' Magazine
Sunday school was in session in a Yorkshire town.  The classes were separated only by partitioning which went barely halfway up the room.  The teacher of one class became annoyed beyond endurance by the noisy behaviour of boys nearby.
He walked round the partition, glared at the biggest boy who seemed to be making the most noise, and ushered him over into his own class, telling him to sit in the corner and behave.  For a few moments there was an almost unearthly silence and then a small voice piped up: "Please, sir, you've taken our teacher"
The Friendship Book, D C Thomson & Co Ltd. (20011129)
 
A Scottish visitor to the Holy Land was outraged at the cost of a boat trip on the Lake of Galilee.
"Do you realise", he exclaimed, "I can hire a boat for a week on Loch Lomond for that?"
"Ah, but sir, "the guide explained, "these are the waters on which our Lord himself walked."
"No wonder he walked!" said the Scotsman.
By Kevin Veal taken from Callington Methodist 'Contact' Magazine
A few items from actual Church bulletins or from announcements during services. 
(Obtained from the Atherington and High Bickham Parish Magazine)
 
The Sermon this morning: 'Jesus walks on water'.  The sermon tonight: 'Searching for Jesus'.
 
Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale.  It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house.  Bring your husbands.
 
Don't let worry kill you off.  Let the Church help.
 
Miss Charlotte Mason sang 'I will not pass this way again', giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.
 
The Rector will preach his farewell message, after which the choir will sing 'Break forth into joy'.
Many thanks to Charles Pearce for this contribution.
 
A TEACHER was exploring the children's notion of God.  She asked, "Tom, who is God?"
Six year old Tommy furrowed his brows and thought for a moment or two about the question.  Suddenly he brightened, and with a smile said:
"I think God is the man who saved the Queen".
From Christian Crackers by Phil Mason
 
Children's Logic!
The children were lined up for lunch in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school.  At the end of the table was a large pile of apples.
The nun made a note and placed it on the apple tray: "Take only ONE.  God is watching".
Moving further along the lunch line at the other end of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies.
A child had written a note: "Take all you want.  God is watching the apples!"
Taken from the Newsletter of Oadby Trinity & Great Glen Methodist Churches, Leicestershire.
Answers to Quickie Brainteaser
 
Q1:  If you answered that you are the first, then you are wrong!  If you overtake the second person and you take his place, then you are second!
Q2:  If you answered that you are second to last, then you are wrong again.  How can you overtake the LAST person?
Q3:  Did you get 5000?  The correct answer is actually 4100.  If you don't believe it, check it now with a calculator!
Q4:  Did you answer Nuno?  Wrong I'm afraid.  Her name is Mary.  Read the question again! 
Mothers
A few months ago, when I was picking up the children at school, another mother I knew well rushed up to me, Emily was fuming with indignation.
Do you know what you and I are?' she demanded.  Before I could answer and I didn't really have one handy, she blurted out the reason for her question.  It seemed she had just returned from renewing her driver's license at the County Clerk's office.  Asked by the woman recorder to state her 'occupation', Emily had hesitated, uncertain how to classify herself.
'What I mean is,' explained the recorder, 'do you have a job, or are you just a ...?
'Of course I have a job,' snapped Emily, 'I'm a mother.'
'We don't list "mother" as an occupation ... "housewife" covers it,' said the recorder emphatically.
I forgot all about her story until one day I found myself in the same situation, this time at our own Town Hall.  The clerk, was obviously a career woman, poised, efficient, and possessed of a high-sounding title, like 'Official Interrogator' or 'Town Registrar'.
'And what is your occupation?' she probed.
What made me say it, I do not know.  The words simply popped out.  'I'm ...a Research Associate in the field of Child Development and Human Relations.'
The clerk paused, ball-point pen frozen in mid air, and she looked up as if she had not heard right.  I repeated the title slowly, emphasising the most significant words.  Then I stare with wonder as my pompous pronouncement was written in bold, black ink on the official questionnaire.
'Might I ask,' said the clerk with new interest, 'just what you do in your field?'
Coolly, without any trace of fluster in my voice, I heard myself reply, 'I have a continuing program of research (what mother doesn't) in the Laboratory and in the field (normally I would have indoors and out).  I'm working for my Masters (the whole darned family) and already have four credits (all daughters).  Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities (any mother care to disagree?) and I often work fourteen hours a day (twenty-four is more like it). But the job is more challenging than most run-of-the-mill careers and the rewards are in satisfaction rather than just money.'
There was an increasing note of respect in the clerk's voice as she completed the form, stood up, and personally ushered me to the door.  As I drove into our driveway buoyed up by my glamorous new career, I was greeted by my lab assistants - ages thirteen, seven and three.  And upstairs, I could hear our new experimental model (six months) in the child-development program, testing out a new vocal pattern.
I felt triumphant.  I had scored a beat on bureaucracy.  And I had gone down of the official records as someone more distinguished and indispensable to mankind than 'just mother ...'
Home ... what a glorious career.  Especially when there's a title on the door.From A Box of Delights, J John and Mark Stibbe. Monarch Books
What is ... (1) Conscience?
I've heard many definitions from pulpit and platform and read even more in books written by the greatest philosophers who ever lived.
But one of the most memorable, if perhaps the most light-hearted, comes from a schoolboy to whom that question was put not long ago.
"Conscience," he said solemnly after a moment's thought, "is something that makes to you tell your mother before your sister does."
 
... and (2) Woman's intuition?
Intuition is what enables a woman to contradict her husband before he says a word!  
The Friendship Book, D C Thomson & Co Ltd (730305-730706)
 
And finally ...
 
Whilst carrying our some work to the outside of the Church building quite a while ago I was approached by an elderly couple who were on holiday from up North. 
 
They asked various questions about the history of the church buildings and the activities which took place within it.  I opened the front door and allowed them to have a brief look around; they were very impressed with the interior of the church.
 
Music was something that they were both very much involved in back home.  When I was asked about our own choir I was able to tell them that it consisted of about 'TWENTY ODD PEOPLE!'