shotleyfieldsforever

What is failure in Ministry? It is a worry. Starting any new job you wonder 'Am I up to this'? Will I meet expectations? Will I do what is expected? Will I succeed? It is not an existential question or even a question of Matriculation. But it is a question! Failure to pay the Parish Share? Failure to visit enough folk? Taking too many days off? Or as happened to my first Vicar, in my training Parish, becoming so engrossed in a book that he forgot a funeral, and when the Undertaker knocked on the door, as he observed later, found him: just reading. I was once described by a former parishioner, after I had left the parish some years before, as their best ever Vicar. I pointed out that my immediate predecessor, tragically, died in office, his successor ran of with the organists wife! So all I had to do was leave in good health with the person I arrived with. A successful ministry? David Sheppard in his book Built as a City in a remarkably open passage...

The Removal men arrived and we made tea and coffee. Uplifting a house of all its 'effects', as they are called consists of a day of little dramas, some misunderstandings and hundreds and thousands of little hopes rolled into the fulfilling of one big dream. So we had wardrobes and drawers full of clothes and things and persona's as in 'Who shall we be today'?. Then there was a kitchen full of cabinets. Just like Dire Straits,  we sang: We got to install microwave ovens custom kitchen deliveries We got to move these refrigerators we gotta move these colour TV's At present we have a reasonably straight Kitchen, a sitting room in which sitting is almost comfortable and my study is looking studious, but shelving a 1000 books doesn't happen overnight! The Dining Room needs some heavy lifting before we can get Gladys's Table installed. Gladys's table we found in a used furniture shop. Apparently it came from a Methodist Chapel that Gladys...

Day minus two to D Day. Moving into a new house requires addressing previous occupant's likes and loves.  We are dog owners but the notice in the back door indicated the existence of cats.  To spare the dog’s blushes we removed the sign only to find behind it the remains of a fish …… a question of catacombs or who got the fish? Last evening I audited my first Parochial Church Council (PCC) meeting in what seems like a thousand years. This morning I left the somewhat inappropriately named Sunniside in a deluge of dark stormy rain at 6 15 a.m. to drive across to the Vicarage to await the delivery of a mattress for our new bed. The delivery team were highly professional, extremely courteous even though the sat nav had done what sat navs do and I had to talk them down from Carterway Heads, like an air traffic controller, by mobile ‘phone. The bed was both an eBay bargain and an eBay error of judgement. King Size is good, especially for the older c...

D Day minus six The Church Christmas fair. My licensing date has not yet been confirmed but most people now think that it will be in early December. But we are moving into the Vicarage next Friday confirmed or not. It is interesting how the only requirement made of me so far is safeguarding and Disclosure and Barring. My memory of my last few moves, in fact all my moves that I had to produce my letters of orders, Deaconing and Priesting and no-one has asked to see a Marriage Certificate. Far more important than such formalities however was the Church Christmas Fair. It was important not only that I put in an appearance but that I spent a little money. Which I did. When I bought my Raffle Tickets I commented that I never win Raffles so this should be viewed as a donation. My purchase of a Biscuit Barrel on the China stall attracted much interest. Would there be Chocolate Biscuits and Builders Tea for visitors to the Vicarage? Reassured on all fronts I was allowed to buy...

This week we begin the business of moving into our new home. The house is welcoming. From the outside it looks austere, almost unwelcoming. But once you are inside all that changes. You feel the house welcoming you. It is obviously a house that has been lived in well, the atmosphere tells you that. There is a strong sense that it has been and will be a great house for parties. The heart of the house will be the Rayburn a warming sense, wonderful cooking smells and a kitchen that will be lived in. Outside the outhouses, the garage, the wood and coal stores enclosed in a sheltered courtyard all speak of a house to be lived in as a home. As Bob Dylan sang in the Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest: What kind of house is this, he said Where I have come to roam It's not a house, said Judas Priest It's not a house ....it's a home. And that's what we will make it. Our plan is for an open door and an open table. A place of welcome. There will be dogs, the...

In 1969 at twenty four, I was the youngest curate in an old Deanery. Now almost fifty years later I imagine, that I will be the oldest licensed member of what is to me a new Deanery. I have to thank the Bishop, the Archdeacon and, of course, your Churchwardens for their trust in inviting and licensing me as your new Priest in Charge. Elizabeth and I are delighted to becoming co-members and fellow worshippers with the parish and congregation of Snods Edge. We felt at home immediately when we attended a Communion service, impressed both by the welcome, the welcome pack and the invitation to become involved. Since then we have enjoyed the world famous teas, attended the Arts Festival, the Beer Festival and enjoyed ‘chicken in a basket’ at the Disco. All of which has made us feel at home here with you. Indeed each time we have visited the Vicarage we have felt the house welcoming us as warmly as the parish and the parishioners. When I moved to Newcastle in 197...