This last week has been an extremely
hectic, and in some respects, an emotional one with endless meetings and
appointments, as a result of which I have only had chance to complete this blog
at the end of the week – hence this is a weekly entry rather than the usual daily
one. Many of the things happening this
week have been the subject of writings in my spiritual journal and not for
public proclamation as quite a few meetings and experiences have been difficult
for me. Suffice it to say, at the end of
this week I am now only two weeks away from my 60th birthday and my
licensing as a Lay Minister in the Church of England and each event has, in its
own way, prompted me to be extremely reflective on my life – both past and future. To live in the present has much to commend itself
as often looking back to the past leads to rather subjective views of events –
both good and bad – and looking to the future is towards hopes which might not
be fulfilled or which might become frustrated.
Looking at the present helps us to deal with the person we are now and
at the time that really matters.
Thom began at college in
Winchester on Monday. He was feeling
very apprehensive but had to admit, at the end of the day, to feeling quite
grown up and realised that sixth form college is very different to school. He seems to be as worried about his clothing
as his academic ability but did admit that history seems very enjoyable and
interesting. The week started slowly with a visit to the hospital for my knee
class. I felt that the exercise session
was not long enough to do much good but I suppose it is really up to me to put
in the extra effort to and extra exercise at home.
Tuesday saw the first of four separate Church meetings – a Deanery
Synod Standing Committee meeting at the Rural Dean’s rectory in Porton. I ferried Nils our own rector to this meeting
which largely dealt with issues surrounding the mission project and finances of
the various parish churches.
Wednesday
saw me attending a Team Staff Meeting at Cynthia’s following Mid-Week Eucharist
at St. John’s (which I did not attend this week due to other pressing matters). I didn’t find it the most progressive of
meetings but some of that might be due to feeling quite tired – I was certainly
feeling tired by the time we had a Team Council Meeting at 7.30 pm where I
attend as an observer until after my licensing.
I did go for a drink in the Lion’s Head with a couple of parishioners
from outside of Winterslow to whom I had preached only a few weeks before and found
this a very interesting and stimulating discussion.
On Thursday I had yet another meeting with the clergy/ministry team at
an “away day” session in Whiteparish.
The events of that meeting are entirely confidential, as you would
expect – but left me feeling quite drained – for the rest of the week. The evening did pick up when I was the guest
speaker at a meeting of Elias de Derham Freemasons’ Lodge in Salisbury when I
delivered my lecture on the Book of Ruth.
There were several Grand Officers present including a delightful cleric
from a church in Bournemouth who complimented me on such a good exegesis of
this particular scripture and has promised to let me have some academic
theological books for my continuing studies into Christian Ethics. The meeting
was followed by an excellent dinner and I was given some flowers to take home
to Sara. Lovely people and a lovely
evening after quite a hard and emotional day.
On Friday
I was back working at Alabare’s Drop-In Centre where it was relatively quiet. One usual disruptive individual was on his
best behaviour because of a court appearance.
I managed to chat to quite a number of service users and to a new student
intern who is studying for a carer’s qualification. However, I was still feeling somewhat under
the weather and not “firing on all cylinders” today.
Saturday was a day when I was feeling most like doing nothing. The weather has been unsettled for most of this
week and so with a brighter day today I decided to mow both of the internal
lawns and wash my car. I think that the
physical energy needed to do these things helped me mentally. Sara and Mary went into Salisbury and then on
to Southampton shopping; Thom was (ostensibly) doing some college work in his
room (not as the case later proved) and I spent the afternoon watching the
England v Australia One-day International cricket match from Cardiff. A really wonderful game, with Carberry
scoring 63 and England winning by 3 wickets.
Sara came home exhausted after a heavy day shopping amongst the crowds
in Southampton and announced that she needed to go back tomorrow to complete
her purchases.
I had a free Sunday again today – no services to conduct, participate in or
preach at. Sara, Mary and I went to St.
Paul’s this morning and Mary has now joined their “Impact” Youth Group where
she seems really happy and is looking forward to their Big Saturday Out when
the youth go out into Salisbury and do good works – cleaning, tidying, gardening/weeding
people’s gardens and the like. Really good mission work. Sara and I enjoyed a great talk from Jon
Langford, the young minister there, and heard a wonderful testimony from a member
of the congregation who had been to New Wine and had tried her hand at some successful
healing ministry with her plumber/heating engineer. I came away from St. Paul’s
feeling uplifted – something I needed after feeling rather lethargic and in the
doldrums for a good half of the week. I
am also looking forward to starting my studies again tomorrow. This afternoon we all went into Southampton –
Sara and Mary to resume their shopping and Thom and me to watch Southampton
take on West Ham in the Premier League.
Not a brilliant game at all – a 0-0 draw which, at least, means another
point and staying in mid-table. I never
really look forward to games when Sam Allardyce is the opposing teams manager –
games against Bolton were equally dire. The day, and week, ended up in the Lion’s Head
with Richard who seems a little more positive now that Linda is almost settled
in where she is going to go to do her curacy (still a big secret).
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