Mutton dressed a lamb ..... insults that have amused and saddened me!

Sometimes, like the weather, the week can be somewhat crazy and mixed up.

This last week and the weekend was definitely in that category.

Illness meant that some key people were not able to take forward their roles and responsibilities so I went into 'recovery mode' and hopefully we are on track.

I guess that age and experience count for something. My new Tonka Toy is old and weather beaten, a bit like me, and climbing the 900 feet from the Tyne to Carterway Heads, a sudden loss of power and a discharge black smoke, made me think that the worst was happening.

Fortunately it was simple, a jubilee clip, which responded to a little gentle persuasion and soon we were good to go.

If only everything was that simple?

I know when my back decides to go, a family failing, it can take a few days of R and R to shake of the rigours and to stand again without discomfort.

I once attended a meeting in the very North of the Diocese in or around the year 1980. It was a difficult meeting. There was a degree of aggression and the exercises which had been used elsewhere were not appreciated.

Outward looking with a heart for social engagement were not flags that flew from church towers locally. This was not Thaxted!

To make matters worse, I was inappropriately attired.

I was wearing Jeans, a bright green polo neck sweater and a leather 'bomber' jacket. I was after all the 'Punk Parson' but no, bad move, bad sartorial sense, bad Canon.

I should have worn a black suit and dog collar like everyone else. It just doesn't do to stand out.

Shortly after the meeting the Bishop showed me a a letter from the Rural Dean. It was a letter of complaint about the waste of everybody's time. The letter ended with a sting in the tail.

'and, he observed, he was wearing unsuitable clothes he looked for all the world, like mutton dressed as lamb'

Of course the letter was laughable. The Bishop laughed as did I. Probably because the next time the Bishop was in the House of Lords he could share the letter with his fellow Peers, these social responsibility advisers, what will they think of next?

But, now, after all these years, on Saturday Night we had Mutton for supper. How wrong was that Vicar in his criticism. Well farmed, well butchered, well hung and of course perfectly cooked, Mutton was unbeatable. Delicious. Perfect. Mature.

I'm not sure what my comments my current wardrobe might attract but I would be happy with Mutton dressed as Mutton, there would, there could be nothing better.

This week, in response to the Bishop's Letter I am holding a short, one hour, time of prayer for where we have ended up on our passage to Brexit.

The theme of the prayers will be 'reconciliation' for a nation that has been put at odds by an ill thought out referendum, an ill judged campaign and an ill judged negotiation.

As one thoughtful commentator wrote in the newspaper today, whilst most people were happy to be part of a common market and a customs union they became increasingly uneasy about the developing political union and the general direction that the EU has been heading in recently.

So by Saturday we could be in with a deal, out without a deal or in a prolonged period of further discussion with Brussels?

Who knows?

As to the music I will play in the background as we pray I guess that 'Ode to Joy' will not do, neither will Wagner so maybe I'll let Joe Strummer have the last word:

'Shall I stay or Shall I go'?





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