We're going to Africa!

Another fully packed day today.  Up early to take Thom to Nether Wallop to catch his bus to Winchester and then back home for breakfast.  However, before breakfast Sara and I worked together to get a hotel booked and flights arranged to go out to Marrakech for a few days so we could use up some time-limited points we had earned when we bought our time share apartment in the Bahamas.  I have wanted to go to Marrakech for decades when I discovered it was a favourite haunt of Winston Churchill where he painted many pictures.  Recently Sara and the children saw a Jamie Oliver programme from there and fell in love with the idea of eating some of the Moroccan dishes displayed.  Nuria at Sheaton Hotel Group was fantastic in helping us get two rooms in a Five-Star hotel in a smart part of the city.  We probably won't find the time to visit the Atlas Mountains but we will certainly see them.  Really excited about going.  We've also managed to get cheap flights from Bristol Airport too so this is a real bonus after a really busy year.  Later this morning I did my 3-hour stint at Alabare Drop-In centre and was busy the whole time talking to quite a few of the homeless who use the centre.  They are now used to me being there and want to chat.  In particular I was able to chat with a newcomer who just wanted to chat about his problems and when I left was using Alabare's facilities to sort out some of the problems he faces as I had suggested.  He gave me a lovely smile and a wave as I left - that was such a rewarding moment. From the Drop-In Centre I went to the blessing and dedication of a new Veteran's Home for ex-servicemen in Salisbury and was asked, as the Alabare's Volunteer Chaplain, to say the Alabare prayer during the service.  I had tea and biscuits afterwards  and spoke to some prospective candidates for chaplaincy who wanted to know a bit more about the service.  I left before the fuller presentation and wine and nibbles as I had to get back to Winterslow to attend a special Parish Council meeting to discuss the formation of a Neighbourhood Plan with Firsdown.   The meeting finished at 9 p.m. and I spent the rest of the evening watching TV with Sara and a bottle of Doombar.  A full and satisfying day - not to mention exciting with the thought of visiting the African continent again soon.

A day of preparations

A day pretty much spent at home although I did get up early and attend Morning Office at All Saints at 8 a.m. with Nils, Elizabeth and Maggie.  This was an earlier start than normal as there was to be a harvest festival service at 9 a.m. for the school.  After the Office I returned home, picked up Thom and took him to Nether Wallop to catch his bus to Winchester.  Sara spent the morning with our niece, Tasha, at the gym at Five Rivers Leisure Centre. I did some Complex work today in readiness for a meeting with new clients in Amesbury on Monday.  This afternoon I worked on putting together the Harvest Festival service for Farley on Sunday - this involved writing up the service, choosing readings and emailing the readers and warden.  I am using a similar formula to the service in Alderbury last Sunday but within the context of harvest thanksgiving.  Again, no sermon needs to be written as Morning Star will be giving the talk with testimonies.  This evening we held our house group - there being six of us this evening.  We finished our study of 1 John with a discussion on ethics and the biblical origins.

Date Night (but not for us!)

I was up early this morning and took Thom to Nether Wallop to catch his bus to Winchester.  Sara did not do her normal stint at Morning Star as they are having their kitchen upgraded.  Instead, she made the sandwiches for the Banquet Run in our own kitchen.  I attended Mid-Week Eucharist at St. John's Church and then was given a lift by Nils to the Rectory for our Staff Team Meeting and luncheon.  After any essential business was dealt with we had an interesting session following up on our reflections at Brayford a few weeks ago.  This afternoon I mowed the front lawn and the bank and dealt with essential paperwork - still more to do tomorrow.  I picked up Thom again this evening (a late bus this time) anjd tonight Sara, Mary and I watched a movie on TV (Date Night) with Steve Carrell and Tina Fey - a charming comedy in which critics have described the two stars as having a good chemistry like the vintage comedy/romantic duo of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. An entertaining little film and a pleasant interlude in today's busy life. 

Irish Rarebit/Mary at A & E

An early start today - up at 6.30 a.m.  I think it better for me to get up early and go to bed earlier as I am definitely a "morning person".  I took Thom to Nether Wallop so that he could catch the 7.25 a.m. bus for Winchester.  The weather is definitely turning autumnal now with heavy dew and a chill in the air.  We are getting to that time of year that I hate - long, cold, damp nights but this year, hopefully, the nights will be graced by the presence of a bright comet from November.  After coming home I had another cup of tea before attending Morning Office with Nils (which I led this morning).  I find that this sets me up well for the day.  A bacon roll for breakfast when I returned and then Sara went off to the gym picking up our niece, Natasha, on the way.  I drove over to Westbury for lunch (Welsh Rarebit or perhaps it was Irish Rarebit as it had lots of eggs in it) and to discuss our assignments and projects for the coming weeks.  I returned to Winterslow via Warminster where I picked up some more cartridges for our printers. Mary came home from school and quickly went out again to her friend's house, Izzy, where she decided to demonstrate some new gymnastic moves and thereby sprained the ligaments in her neck (a form of whiplash).  Sara had to miss her Alpha course this evening at St. Paul's and instead spent three hours up at Salisbury District Hospital with Mary in their A & E Department.  It wasn't serious enough to warrant a Masonic Teddy for Loving Care but I lent her one when she came home.  Thom and I watched a couple of disaster documentaries before I shut myself away in the study for a couple of hours to tackle some of the emails and paperwork on my desk.  I made much progress and so will go to bed tonight reasonably early feeling that I have achieved something today.

Grappling with Natural Law Ethics

I hope to revert to daily blogs again and try to be a bit more organised during my day.  I made a start on clearing the pile of papers on my desk today and also wrote a few thank you notes to people who had so kindly come down to Salisbury from long distances to witness my admission and licensing in the cathedral last week.  I have been overwhelmed with the love and support of so many people who made the effort to give up their Saturday to make it a special day for me - something I will not forget.  However, it is now back to the mundane for a while - a few weeks at least until we go away on holiday. Sara stayed at home with me for most of the day too - ironing and doing other domestic chores.  We spent some time together this morning in the kitchen washing up - a good opportunity to chat and catch up on news.  I drove into Andover this afternoon to take some rubbish to the tip (mainly cardboard from the packaging for the new bed) as well as pay a cheque into the bank.  On the way back I stopped off at Nether Wallop and waited for Thom's bus.  He was really tired when I picked him up - he had had a heavy day of tutorials and lectures and this on top of a late night last night watching the Panthers' defeat in Phoenix. We ate roast chicken and roast potatoes for a snack meal tonight as I had to rush out for my two-hour seminar on Christian Ethics at Sarum College.  Tonight we grappled with ancient classical ethics and in particular the theory of natural law ethics propounded by St. Thomas Aquinas.  Heavy stuff!  Came home to find the hall stripped of paintings and furniture (thank goodness we have got rid of the old heavy piano) as Peter and Steve are here tomorrow to take down the old ceiling (which has been water damaged) and replace it with a new smooth one.  It will mean chaos for a couple of days.  It is my turn to take Thom to Nether Wallop tomorrow early and I will then attend Morning Office with Nils at All Saints.  I have a lunchtime appointment with Ashley in Westbury to help him put together a presentation for one of his modules (one I have already done). It will be good to get him finished with last year's modules before Easter so he can be admitted and licensed ahead

of next October.

A week of Joy, Laughter and some Tears

Monday 30 September – Sunday 6 October 2013

Another very busy week which seems to have precluded me from being able to write up this blog on a daily basis – a bad habit to get into – and so I am, for the second week, writing a “catch-up” seven day blog to complete the record of my life over these last few days.  for once Sara is more disciplined than me as she is now keeping a daily journal herself.

After all the busyness and excitement of the weekend – anniversary, birthday, licensing and Wembley trip, I tried to get back to some normality.   However the heavy colds which had affected Thom and Mary finally got to me and I have not felt 100% at all over this last week.  On Monday evening I attended my course on Christian Ethics at Sarum College and was “picked on” by my tutor Stella in the nicest of ways by being asked all the difficult questions in class because I was now a “Minister”!  All of a sudden I should now know all the answers to life and Faith (not).   It does make me realise the great and wonderful responsibility that now rests on my shoulders and how the wearing of a blue scarf makes so much difference to not only how people perceive me but also as to how I feel myself.  A worry though that I know no more than the moment immediately before the bishop handed me my bible and invested me with the scarf of authority.

It’s been a mixed week really.  I am still on a high (as much as having a heavy cold can let me) and I felt a new found confidence when attending the Staff Team meeting in Alderbury on Wednesday.  I now feel that I am indeed a full member of the Team whereas before I was simply a trainee and felt reticent in saying too much.  Wednesday also saw the Installation Meeting of Sarum Lodge with the Provincial Grand Master, Francis Wakem, presiding.  A lovely meeting with many visitors, The following day at the Annual Meeting of Provincial Grand Lodge Francis announced his retirement following the Sarum meeting next year.  I felt very sad at this news and had a tear in my eye and a lump in my throat – I don’t think that I was in any way alone.  He is an outstanding Provincial Grand Master and Mason and I felt extremely privileged that he attended my admission and licensing at the cathedral last weekend.  He also found that a very emotional experience.  So much emotion in such few days.  He shall be sorely missed.  We had our usual house group meeting on Thursday evening when we watched the final session of Gerard Kelly’s bible study talks from Spring Harvest (the First Epistle of John).

On Friday, after attending Ambassadors’ Breakfast Club I was on duty as chaplain at the homeless drop-in centre where I am now getting reasonably well known and finding the role extremely rewarding.  Tonight Mary attended a youth service at St. Paul’s.  She loves this church and the people she is now meeting.  I am so pleased for her.

On Saturday morning  I went with James to St. Francis’s Church to hear our MP, John Glen, speak at a men’s breakfast meeting organised by St. Francis’s, St. Paul’s and CityChurch.  He gave a very powerful speech making it quite clear that he would never sacrifice his Christian principles for the sake of the political “greasy pole”.   A real inspiration.  I spent a good deal of Saturday afternoon preparing the service I was officiating at Alderbury the following day with Morning Star.  The other part of the afternoon was assisting Sara in building our new low bed.  Between us we managed to work out the complicated instructions and we survived Saturday night without a collapse.

I was up early on Sunday and drove over to St. Mary’s Church, Alderbury where I led my first service as fully qualified church minister.  I wasn’t preaching and so I only had to concern myself with the liturgy and the rubric.  Morning Star (Bev) gave a wonderful presentation with Jake assisting by reading the gospel from Luke and giving a short testimony.  Another occasion when there wasn’t a dry eye in the house!  A really lovely service and I was so pleased that it went well.  Morning Star and I received a really warm reception and I will look forward to going back there again sometime.  Next week I will be repeating the service at Farley.

After the service, Thom and I drove to Southampton for the Saints’ game against Swansea.  A 2-0 victory has left them in fourth position in the Premier League.  I rang Mum this evening.  She had had a visit from my sister but was not feeling very well.  We only spoke briefly and I let her get an early night.  Richard came over at 8.30 p.m. and instead of our habitual Sunday evening at the pub, we had an “American Evening” in with Thom watching the Carolina Panthers lose 6-22 to the Arizona Cardinals.  Thom had been hoping for a perfect day – lovely church service, a Saints’ win and a Panthers’ win.  It wasn’t to be.  Richard left at half-time (around 10.30 p.m.) and Thom  went to bed before the end of the game (in frustration for his team). It was a lovely evening though, with hot dogs, nachos, peanuts and beer.  A real American evening at home.  My desk is littered with papers and unanswered letters and emails so it looks like a long day in the office tomorrow – and a further tutorial in the evening.

 

Apologies - Big Occasion

Big apologies to all my regular readers of this blog.  Since the last post on Sunday 22nd September I've had an amazing and emotional week with so much happening in my life - a significant wedding anniversary, a significant birthday and my admission and licensing as a Lay Minister in the Church of England by the Bishop of Salisbury on Saturday 28th September not to mention my first ever attendance at an American Football game at Wembley Stadium on Sunday 29th September when Minnesota Vikings took on the Pittsburgh Steelers.  I still don't understand the game but it was a great fun day out and something very special for Thom. 

A really special thank you for all those who attended the Cathedral on the 28th.  Photographs of the occasion can be found on the Salisbury Diocesan website at : http://www.salisbury.anglican.org/news/lay-ministers-2013
with a link to more photographs including some of Sara, Thom and Mary.  The service was spectacular with many of my favourite hymns and very emotional indeed. I felt the strong presence of the Holy Spirit as I went forward to take my oath and be admitted by the Bishop.  what an amazing privilege it is to serve God as one of his ministers and what an awesome responsibility.  I have had much time to reflect on all this and will write at greater length when time permits.

God Bless you all

Michael