Resurrection - partly

I have been taken to task for not having "blogged" for several months, so I suppose that I had better post something on here just to prove that I am still alive - or I was when I got up this morning - not too sure about now ......

I suppose that I haven't posted simply because I've had nothing to say. I write each month in our Benefice magazine, and I update my Facebook status almost every day - Twitter a little less frequently, and LinkedIn hardly ever. There are so many ways of interacting with social media that it would take 24 hours in every day just to keep up with all of them. And anyway, who is really interested in all the minutiae of daily living? If there are people who would relish knowing what I had for breakfast, lunch and tea; where I went this morning or who I met; what programmes I've been viewing ... then they really need to get out more.

The simple fact is that having 11 active parishes under my care demands a lot of time spent in preparation and administration. Still to be done is the service for WWI commemoration on 3rd August, the Sunday service sheets for 10th and 17th August (when I am off-duty), the Banns book updates, a couple of weddings, a funeral and the general nitty-gritty of rural church life. The August magazine compilation is looming, and I still haven't sorted out my Tax Return for 2013-14 or started my accounts for this month.

I am also supposed to be off-duty Mon-Fri this week and next week, but I have the Thursday morning Eucharist to take, and today I have dealt with some funeral fees and met with a retired clergyman who has sold me a print of one of our parish churches with the suggestion that I sell it on to some parish resident for double the amount. I don't see that as likely somehow. I've had a friend visit for 2 nights, and now another one is asking to come a deposit themselves on me for a week and I need to come up with some convenient dates when he (self-supporting) can come.

I offer these reflections not as an excuse for my absence from Blogger, but as reasons. And when I have something else to rant about I'll be back. You have been warned!

Miserable Old Git syndrome

Oh for ***** sake ......

From the Diocesan website:

As part of our support of A Season of Invitation, the diocese will be hosting three 2-hour events on Wednesday 25th June in which Michael Harvey (A Season of Invitation, Executive Team) will provide training for clergy, readers, wardens and church members on how to successfully hold A Season of Invitation.

I thought I'd been doing this all through my ministry every Christmas, Easter and Harvest. How did the church survive almost 2,ooo years without this incessant "training"?

From Paul, Apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ, to the faithful at .......... I shall be holding a training session for our elders and leaders in the gymnasium at Corinth next Thursday. Please be sure to attend so that the Holy Spirit will know what he/she is supposed to be doing, and how we can enable him/her to make converts to the faith.

I despair ... and I won't be going.

The best-dressed man in Normandy

Having just finished 2 volumes of stories by Isaac Asimov, I thought I should change my reading genre, and so I plucked from my bookcase "Highways & Byways of Normandy" by the Rev. Percy Dearmer (he of church ceremonial fame), published in 1900. Written for the gentleman taking a cycling tour of the region, he give, in his Introduction, some sartorial advice which it would be entertaining to revive.

"If one takes a portmanteau, it is easy to carry a sufficient change of clothes, including some linen shirts and collars, and also that most precious boon, a folding india-rubber bath."

It took me a few moments to realise that he was talking about a small item which would allow you to locate a puncture in your bicycle tyre rather than a full-size receptacle for personal hygiene! He continues:

"It is most important to wear nothing but woollen clothes for cycling, and if one does this I do not think it is worth while carrying a mackintosh. There is no place in Normandy where one cannot wear a knickerbocker suit with an easy conscience."

Now that is something I need to remember on my next foray across the Channel!

Soliloquy

Now is the winter of my ministry Made glorious Advent by this week’s Retreat; And all the work that lour'd upon my desk In piles of papers lie to the side buried. Now is my brow less furrowed with sermon text; My PCC Agendas hung up for monuments; My diary engagements changed to merry meetings, And a wondrous march to delightful southern coast. Grim-visaged congregations hath smooth'd their wrinkled front; And now, instead of calling on the ‘phone To fright my soul with fearful news and plight, The instrument lies soundless and ringeth not. And though I to foreign Brugge have often gone, Not now traverseth I the watery main, For gentle Sisters there doth not a Guest House run, But concentrate their thought on matters spiritual. And so without a tonne of chocolate must I live, And quench my thirst with local brew Instead of wondrous ale. And yet, I shall partake of pleasant company Upon the shores of Merrie England, And sup and dine and give the gifts That doth this coming Season make.

Waiting for the Great Pumpkin!

Getting there

The painter finished his work last Thursday, and so since then it has been a case of restocking the rooms with my possessions that have been stored in the two large sea-going containers on my front lawn. By Sunday night they were empty, though the interior of the sitting room, study and two upstairs bedrooms rooms looked like the Vikings had just raided, though without the accompanying rape! Tonight, Tuesday, the downstairs rooms are back in operation and work continues with the bedrooms. One of 95% there, and the other is about 50%. By the end of this week we should be ship-shape again.

It's been somewhat disturbing having my home and workplace in upheaval, more so than I anticipated, and there have been unexpected stress-related consequences. And we're not finished yet ... there's the containers to be collected (next Monday) and then both drives remodelled and re-laid, and a new garage door.

Guests arrive mid-November. We should be ready to receive them by then.

Onward!

I feel honoured ....

... four builders have turned up today. There's banging and heaving in all directions, and I'm waiting for something major to fall out!