A big day in Salisbury Cathedral today - the ordination of deacons including our own curate Andrew. Sara left home early to run a Calendar Girls stall in Salisbury Market and took Mary into the city with me on the Park & Ride bus dropping her off at the market and then going on to the cathedral where I joined Gill and others from the Clarendon Team in supporting Andrew. What a moving ceremony - the cathedral was full and the clergy were turned out in all their fine vestments with the Bishop of Sherborne bringing up the rear of a very long procession as we sang the wonderful hymn "O for a thousand tongues to sing" by Charles Wesley. This is used at the commencement of most ordination services and I really do hope it will be used at my own licensing service in the cathedral in two year's time. A really lovely and spiritually uplifting ceremony which meant a great deal to me. The sermon was given by Jane Charman who was one of my intense interviewers during my selection conference and is Director of Discipleship for Learning and Ministry. She spoke about the historic and current role of deacons in a most enlightening and at times entertaining way. I will be very interested to see how this service compares to the licensing service tomorrow. Although the cathedral is a vast place, communion was administered to me in the cathedral by Nils and Andrew. A lovely touch fro which I felt blessed. After the service I joined Sara for a short time on her stall. She took about £200 today for the breast cancer fund plus whatever people also put in the collecting boxes. Tonight Tom has a friend, Doug, staying over and we shared an Indian ready meal from Tesco's. Another big day tomorrow with the public signing of my ministry training contract before the congregation at Alderbury at the Team Service and then a lunch at Sarum College for LLMs and trainee LLMs followed by Debbie's licensing ceremony in the cathedral.
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