Tuesday

Today was one of those days with multiple appointments and seconds to spare as I moved from one event to the next - but they were all good!

I started the day with a bit of a rush as I rushed around photocopying things while Izzy practised her cello at home for the first time! I was then delayed at school where a new teacher was trying to work out which door to open...

After a final stop at home to finish the photocopying I finally got the Well by 9:15 - fifteen minutes late. I wasn't the last to arrive however, since Colin had helpfully guided Steven Mosedale off to a completely different room. This was eventually discovered and the WVEP team come together for some very interesting discussions. Fresh expressions were on the agenda and some story telling and reflection took place...

After team space, I had a supervision session with Liz, who is doing really well as curate in the Watling Valley. Her next challange is to make a more definite link with St Mary's as a home church. I look forward to seeing how she tackles this.

At 12 I had to woosh off to Fishermead to join the Woughton Team for their weekly team lunch. They're a great bunch of people and it was good to see them getting on well and working together. We discussed weddings and the interviews for the new team vicar on Wednesday.

Unfortunatley I only had an hour for this aswell and had to rush home to pick up Paul and head off to Aylesbury for the Archdeaconry Pastoral Committee. This committee is one of those neccessary mechanisms through which significant decisions need to be passed, but there were some exciting plans in the pipeline so it felt worthwhile. It also provided me with an opportunity to ask some questions of my own after the meeting - giving me two very interesting answers concerning two very different MK issues... I was also asked to kick off the discussions about a Team Rector in Watling Valley - since the suspension is due to be lifted in February.

Finally back home with jobs to do. I finally collapsed into the bath - only to get up again for a late night readings and themes session - January to March 2010 would you bnelieve!

Sandown again

This was the second and final day of my sojourn with Scripture Union at Christian Resources - another two and a half hour drive to Sandown Park to talk about SU resources in the Royal Box. 

I met Dave Walker from the Church Times (who does those funny cartoons) and tried to introduce him to Light for the Lectionary - in the hope that a few more anglicans might find out about it...

It was a good day, filled with interesting encounters. I'm already looking forward to next year...

Christian Resources

As part of my sabbatical I was invited to join the Scripture Union team at the Christian Resources Exhibition at Sandown Park. We spent the day in the air-conditioned Royal Box talking to people about their work with children and young people. We were also trying to promote the new online resource LightLive which makes all of their regular youth and children's work material available for free online. To help us with this we had a computer set up with a (very slow) mobile connection.

It was great to meet all sorts of interesting people who are trying to develop their work. I met one older couple who were hoping to put on an all-age service in their village church. I also spoke to a pentecostal pastors wife about their hope to move their congregation on from 1950s pentecostal worship - isn't it interesting that these themes are repeated across denominations? All in all a useful day - I hope...

CRE is an interesting event. I only had a short opportunity to roam but it's always astonishing to take in the massive variety of resources and projects that Christians are involved in. You can come away feeling overwhelmed by the range of things that you are not doing (or failing to do) or you can be inspired to try something you've never thought of before. I came away with a bit of both - and a pile of bargain  books...