Looking forward

While the rest of the world was celebrating Holy Cross Day (!) or the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity, All Saints' was following the readings for Proper 21, 2009!

This was primarily to allow me to test run some SU material, but it was also a good opportunity to talk about pastoral care.

This was a good Sunday. For the first time, we sent the children out before the first hymn - rather than before the service - which gave me the opportunity to pray with them and do a bit of input with my new sunglasses (modelled here by Rozi).

During the service we also prayed for our new authorised preachers and gave them their "letters". Rozi, John, Sue and Phil have all shown that they have gifts in this area and have therefore been made authorised preachers on the understanding that they will all complete three portfolio competencies during the next three years - or produce evidence of previous work. There are six other preachers in the Watling Valley who will also receive their letters in the next few weeks... This is an exciting development!

Joint Councils

I've been in the house all day today while the painters have been painting the window frames and the ADT man has been servicing the alarm system. This gave me an opportunity to finally get going on some writing I need to finish by Friday... I've managed to do most of it although I still need to come up with an all-age talk...

One of the problems with today's plan was that all the windows and doors needed to be left open, so the house was cold and there was a howling gale blowing through. It was good to shut everything up once they'd gone.

This evening I attended my first All Saints' and St Mary's council meetings post-sabbatical. For those who don't know we set up a very nice arrangement between the churches which basically means that we meet together for ministerial and parish business and then share coffee before splitting into separate groups. Each church has me for half the evening before we join together at the end for final prayers and "circle time". This final time of sharing is often valuable as each person is asked to mention one thing that they will take away from the evening. This has enormous value to people from both churches as learning is shared and they inspire each other.

This arrangement was originally planned as a way of saving time but it has interesting consequences in terms of cross-pollination and seems to generate a great deal of energy.

This was a good evening, as always. The St Mary's people are looking at ways to open up their building for prayer and turn fund-raising into positive community mobilisation. The All Saints' team had a good conversation about pastoral care and the need to encourage more people to be consciously caring.

There was also a discussion about worship leaders taking on "padwan learners" - who they would nurture as intercessors. All good stuff!

A good evening but an odd one for me since I'm not sure where I fit into all this...

The days other highlight was the arrival in to post of my sabbatical notes, all nicely bound. It's nice to see this as a finished product.

Team Meeting

We had a Watling Valley Ministry Team meeting tonight. We spent a lot of time discussing pastoral care and the meeting planned for the 18th. We also had a very brief 5 minute update on LSM and discussed Jeff's placements. This was Nick's first meeting.

Sutton House

Went to Sutton House and spent some time with Audrey. Her neighbour has just died, so please pray for the family and the Sutton House community.

The Substance of Church

I went to see the Cramps this morning for home communion - I know I'm not supposed to be working but they couldn't give me time last week. The number of jobs still hanging over from pre-sabbatical work is slowly diminishing...

I had a very interesting conversation today with John Punshon (Quaker historian and conveener of the MK Theology Forum). He wanted to discuss the remit of the Theology Forum in relation to its work on Local Shared Ministry. 

The issue that they are wrestling with is how we can develop Local Shared Ministry in an ecumenical context. Each denomination has a different approach to ministry which is both functional and theological. This makes it extremely difficult to develop coherent and radical local practice. It's easier to go for a lowest common denominator approach - what must you do, rather than what can you do.

John's suggestion was that the Theology Forum look at the way different traditions express the same basic features of church in their own way. By doing so, it may be possible to give LSM Ministry Units a bit more clarity about how they relate to the wider church and how they exercise their own ministry... Some simple guidelines may be produced.

I look forward to seeing how this work progresses...

After coffee with John, I went to the gym and rowed another 5k and ran for another 20 minutes. Home to do some SU work until it was time for bed.

Thursday

Worked during the morning while girls were at a fun day.
Went to see Jessie's family this afternoon. We reflected on the changes that she had seen in her long life, particularly in Shenley. It feels like the end of an era.
Stewart rang this evening to say that Ken had been taken ill. Went to see him in hospital.
Am having an interesting break...

Wednesday

Jessie Dundas died today.

Supporting Clergy in LEPs

Had a good session this afternoon with some colleagues from the Mission Partnership. We were discussing the thorny issue of Ministerial Review in LEPs. In the past the MP has asked two questions: 1) Is this post needed, and 2) is this the right person for the job - and these reviews have been tied to licence/term renewal.
The only problem with this is that these are the two questions we really can't ask. No one is going to say that a post isn't needed - it's up to the denominations to decide what posts they can afford and where best to put them - and there are a huge range of employment related problems related with decisions about renewal of posts...
We got to a good point in our discussion when we agreed that the main concern of the Mission Partnership is to provide support for clergy working in LEPs where the issues of different denominations intersect. I'm going to write this up as a concrete proposal for the exec...

More Tea from the Vicar

I'd been tipped of at the weekend that one of our older members fancied a visit, so I popped in. We had a great chat - as always - and I made her a cup of tea. It turns out she finds it difficult to use her kettle which probably isn't designed for her. I did say phone me whenever you want a cup of tea, but I'm not sure how many cups she would want in a day...

Doing the rounds

William Sutton House this morning. Wished happy Birthday to a man who's going to be 90 this month. Seemed fitter than me!
Met with Veronica and Margaret to choose hymns. We got up to June...
We had a Taste and See planning meeting this afternoon. We are reasonably on track for the Easter Labyrinth.
Team Meeting this evening. We discussed appointments, away day and pastoral care...

Back to Work

Back to work today...
I dragged myself up for 8:00am - which felt challenging having sat up till 1:00am planning the day... Preached on the Samariton Woman at the Well.
Went to Holy Cross for the 9:00am Communion - Samairiton Woman again... (shortened version - the sermon not the woman)
Popped back to the house for my guitar to play "Be still" for the 9:45am service at which Liz was preaching - she also needed to borrow some sandles and a baby blanket - something about Moses...
Then back to All Saints for the 10:30am service on the theme of Spiritual Gifts. All in a days work...

Home for bowl of soup.

Visited Tim and Julie. Julie is looking better, but still feeling awful after her car crash.
Then popped in to see Paul and Molly at the Hospice. Delivered copy of Voices.

Service Planning Meeting at 3:00pm: We worked through the plan up to Septmber/October with some thought about Christmas and the Silver Jubillee celebrations in October 2009.

Went home to cook tea - Chiken Tikka Masala with coliflour.
Gils had cooked cake - yum.

Watched Wife Swap in the evening. Pastor's wife swaps with smoking, gambling, boozing fellow Christian. Great to see that we have all sorts in the Church(!) The highlight was when the slightly up-tight pastor blew £63 on the dogs... and then his wife found out... oops...

Bed and sleep. ZZZZZZZ

Using the Book

Today I had was involved in a visit at St Mary's, handled some tricky emails, met Ross and Tim C to talk about Areas 10 and 11, and attended the Holy Cross Church Council. A fairly average day.

One of the more fun things I needed to do today was to visit Ron and Joy Cramp for Communion. This gave me an opportunity to use the Book of Common Prayer they gave me for Christmas. It's a really super edition, with reproduction engravings in the margin. They appreciated me using it, and we had a good time - in the best sense of the word.

Area Deans and Lay Chairs

The Area Deans and Lay Chairs of Buckingham Archdeaconry met today at the Green Park Conference Centre. The last time I was in Aston Clinton was for our wonderful new year circular walk. The sun was shining today (apparantly) but we spent the day in a windowless room. The food was good and it was great to spend time with colleagues - as always.

This eveing we had the second gathering of pastoral carers in Watling Valley. Most of the Ministry Team came (as agreed) which I hope was an indication of the Team's commitment and support. The only problem with having six ministers turn up though, is that it could give people the impression that we have a lot of ministerial resources to play with... which isn't entirely true. I think it was a useful evening, but I'll keep my ears open for feedback...

This was yet another evening when I needed to start work again after 10:30pm. I had something to write for a meeting next week - which emerged from the meeting today - so I needed to get that done. This I didn't mind, but there were another couple of jobs that came in today and wouldn't wait until next week... So it was another long night at the desk...

It is intersting to think about how easy it is for us to do far more that we really should. Prioritisation is really hard when so many jobs are both urgent and important. I would reflect more on that, but I'm too tired. Time for bed...

Wet Tuesday

We had our weekly Team Space this morning, during which we planned the Pastoral Care Meeting in January. We came up with quite an exciting plan with brief sessions with Liz (and Derek?) on the Theology of Pastoral Care, with Yvonne on referal and myself on overall strategy... tied to practical input on listening skills and the creation of a contacts list. Should be a good session...

Then I met with Phyllis and Jeff to talk about Holy Cross. This was a great session and I feel I should say more, but I'll check with them first...

In the afternoon I had a fascinating conversation with John Punshon who's the conveener of the Worship Forum and an expert on Quaker History. The Theology Commission are going to do some work on Local Shared Ministry - which should be enormously valuable! There are so many issues connected with local ministry where denominational differences become problematic... I look forward to seeing what they produce...

This evening's Exec Meeting was in Simpson Church - which was a nightmare to get to since the road was closed. In the rain and in the dark I found myself driving round in circles... I found parts of Milton Keynes I'd never seen before - and eventually found the church...

Wednesday

Started the day with a three mile run. Didn't record time, but tried to calibrate a step counter. Managed to get it to record one mile as 1.05 miles by setting stride length to 52 inches (note to self). Am hoping to run the MK half marathon during my study leave, so need to get back into regular runs.

Met with Yvonne to talk about her work at Oakhill STC.

Spent some time working on the Viewpoints Course Material. It's not perfect but is complete enough to circulate and begin the pilot... I had already decided to introduce it in the service at All Saints' on Sunday, but haven't planned this yet... must put some work into the congregational side of the project!

Took the girls to the dentist in the afternoon. It's amazing how quick checkups are these days. We were in his room for only a couple of minutes... I wonder if vicars should try doing our work in the same way. Two minute funerals and thirty second weddings - we could be much more efficient and cost effective...

Had to open up All Saints for the Pastoral Care course this evening. There are 26 people on the course - which is a bit tight for the church room! - but it's really good to have so much enthusiasm! As Peter Ballentine says, things do seem to be happening...

The Team Meeting was good tonight. Jeff was in the chair and brought the whole thing in within two hours - always an achievement! I presented the report on Local Shared Ministry and we agreed to make this the theme of our next Away Day - should be interesting...

Being Awake on the Second Sunday of Advent

I rarely sleep before an 8:00am service. It's partly because I'm worried about getting up in time, and partly because I'm worried about waking everyone else up... I was woken early at 3:00am this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. This gave me some extra time to contemplate three very different services - which required three very different sermons...
(Last night Isla and I calculated that I have preached between 60 and 90 "Advent" sermons in Watling Valley... How do I say something new?)

Services this Morning:

8:00am - Holy Communion (Book of Common Prayer) - All Saints'
It was still fairly dark when I headed out to All Saints'. The 8 O'clock congregation have become a close knit group over the last couple of years - Ann and Roger have been particularly key in building relationships - providing a good example of a "Care Circle". The closeness of this community was demonstrated during Tony Knight's recent illness, death and funeral.
This morning's service was quiet (appropriate to the season) and I preached a fairly somber sermon... (Not one of my best, but gave me a chance to explore some themes...)

9:00am - Holy Communion - Holy Cross
A very different service at Holy Cross. In theory, this is the quiet communion service which takes place before "all-age activities" at 10:45am. In reality this is a fairly all age communion service with children and a wide range of people in the congregation... Christmas decorations were up and there were a number of visitors. This service therefore required a fairly high energy all-inclusive approach which I hope I was able to deliver. This service felt positive and fun - and I thinks the congregation were in good spirits...

10:30am - Holy Communion - All Saints
By the time I got to All Saints' I was completely exausted - mentally and physically - not only because of the day, but also because of the week and the long crisis and project filled term. I'm finding it difficult to cope with three morning services these days - must be getting old...
I had decided to try a more challenging sermon here, wanting to respond to critisisms from certain members of the congregation. To be honest, I was too tired, time was too tight, there were too many things going on, and I'm really not sure this is the right time or place.
Couldn't finish the service within the hour - which is a disaster for visitors and community development. Not a good morning...
I've tended to think of ASL10:30 as a "seeker service" where the emphasis is on the visitors and fringe members - on baptism families, wedding couples and those who drop in from time to time. These people need brief, engaging, simple but relevant sermons that communicate more by the way they are delivered than by their content. I can just about deliver this if I hype myself up on adreneline and get on with it. Content based expository sermons targeted at church members just don't work - and I haven't got the time and energy to write or deliver them. I think I'll write this morning off as an experiment that was never going to work and stick to the "seeker" agenda. I believe in it - and I can just about pull it off...
The question that remains is how to encourage the congregation to meet their own needs through the other opportunities on offer...

Night out with Crowded HouseWe don't get out much. This was our one night out this term and we were determined to enjoy it! Duke Special and Crowded House at Wembly Arena! What a night! Good to see DS although they were relatively tame compared to their wild performance at Greenbelt. Crowded House were phenomenal - they kept playing till 11:00pm! Great gig, great evening!

They'll soon be going back to New Zealand - a place very much on my mind since we have family there and Local Shared Ministry is big news... Shame it's so far away...

Busy Day in December

Went to the office at 9:00am to do some photocopying for taste and see. Had a chat with Jenni and Steve about a request for quinqennial inspection reports from the URC. It's important for me to pop into the Office since I am meant to be the line manager for the project...
I then popped into William Sutton House for the monthly communion. Good to see the Audrey and co as always. We chatted about the Queen's visit, prayed and broke bread.

This has been one of my longest standing appointments - a monthly visit since 2001. I started visiting Sutton House as the minister of St Mary's Shenley when I took communion to a couple of residents. We then persuaded the trust to overturn their own rules so that we could hold a service in the lounge. I kept up the visits when I stopped being the minister of St Mary's in 2002 and so it has continued...

After breaking bread at Sutton House I popped down to Fenny Stratford to see Veronica (St Mary's Organist). She, Margaret and I spent two very productive hours choosing hymns for January and February next year - from our new hymnbook - CH4 (Church Hymnary Fourth Edition). It was great to have a good range of hymns to pick from! I'm only sorry I'm not going to be there for all the services...

We didn't quite finish by 1:00pm (another session planned next week) but I needed to scoot off back to Christ the Sower to set up for Taste and See... This didn't finish until 4:30pm... Quick trip home to cook tea for girls. Back out to All Saints for the Hugh Park Charity at 6:30pm... Had to leave before they finished so I could get to Derek's house for Team Meeting at 7:30pm... Didn't get home until 11:00pm - partly because the meeting over ran - partly because Mike's car wouldn't start... As I type this I'm struggling to connect properly to the internet so I can sort out Sunday's service at All Saints...

Long day...