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Busy week

Phew! Penultimate busy week (I hope). Some things in the pipeline for the next few days for which I have been having to try to get ahead on the planning, and some good stuff in the diary for the last few weeks which I haven't wanted to miss.

It was great to be starting thinking about worship, our theme for this Sunday and next. This morning's talk is here. Needing to get going working on next week too.

I attended my first meeting as trustee of a local charity this week. I am not a huge fan of discussing finance, but there is clearly good work being done there discerning situations of quite clear need and trying to respond.

Our Clergy Day Conference on Thursday was really stimulating. I had heard Rt Revd Gordon Mursell before, and so was looking forward to what he had to say. He drew some really helpful themes out of John's farewell discourse. It was also a good opportunity to meet some Bristol Diocese folk - one or two of whom I have bumped into on the way. I hadn't been to a conference in a hotel in Swindon before. I feel I have now really achieved something.

We rushed back so that we could get to the Worship Central tour at The Edge on Aztec West. I was trying to worship, as opposed to watching a gig, so I didn't make a big effort to take many photos. I did take one thinking I could use it as a visual this morning, but as you can see somebody stuck a hand up obscuring Jimmy Nail, er I mean Luke Hellenbroth. Never mind.

 

 

Friday was finally day off, although had to do some writing before we got away, but we did manage to get some much needed space.

We were really delighted to be part of the local welcome event put on by Sovereign Housing. We had been planning this for a while, but the magician was great and the Jerk Chicken from the BBQ was spot on. The weather was a bit ropey, and we got a bit cold and wet but the neighbours did turn out and we did chat. The staff from Sovereign were tremendous - I was really inspired by their care for their tenants.

There was a lot of other stuff going on in Church too, with the young people washing cars again and a Beetle Drive in the evening. A good way to round off the week - with a bit of laughter.

Next week will be good, and I am nearly prepared. The major element is our Experience Easter event which I have found a bit stressful - co-ordinating three schools and in a new venue with all the props to organise afresh. I also have two speaking "gigs" booked, so have tried to write one thing which will work for both. Not sure if I have quite hit the mark.

 

This week I have been mostly...

Quite a lot going on this last few dats - getting ready for next few weeks and making space to get to the New Wine CSW Leaders Conference.

I missed recording Roger Allen, our speaker last Sunday from Tearfund, but he was excellent. He gave us a real challenge, something to get our teeth into (and not just fairly traded chocolate). I really enjoyed the service as we had some great encouragements shared.

I was able to make progress planning for our Experience Easter event in two weeks time, and that seems to be coming together as a partnership of three Churches. Just need to go and find some props. I was also able to squeeze in a productive meeting planning for engaging with the Pre-Schools - this is really exciting stuff, even if it is almost impossible to predict quite where it will go.

Lunch with an old friend on Tuesday, and then up the motorway to stay at even older friends who leant us a spare room for the Conference.

There were some really great speakers; I valued the gentle wisdom of Guy Chevreau, the full-on infectious enthusiasm of Robby Dawkins and others. Loved Dave Mitchell's seminar (even we ran out of time too quickly). Plus, of course, meeting some familiar faces around the place. Fantastic to see a team from Wareham, folks from Trinity College days and quite a few from around Bristol.

So much food for thought, as we look to tackle the very specific issues of a building site, plus the established part of Patchway too.

As usual with time out it can feel a bit rushed with everything on return, but looking forward to Sunday...

Brain update

Have been posting recently with an update from each week. Things have been pretty busy (in a manageable kind of way) and so this has been about as much as I have been able to manage. I have also been updating on the three books I downloaded at Christmas, as recommended by The Week. The third and final book was finished this week…

"Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-56" (Anne Applebaum)

…which was (as the others were) a real gem. The effectiveness of the campaign by the Soviet backed regimes' to instil total unquestioning support (with the significant threat of repression, prison or worse) is quite frightening, bearing in mind the speed with which the Eastern Bloc unravelled in the 90s. Some really interesting discussion of the degrees of conflict or compromise between the Churches and the State which is much more challenging than simply sitting back and criticising from outside the immediate context.

Last night was a big party in Church, and a bit of a late night by the time we had finished, cleared up, locked up and got home, so I was hugely relieved that we had Roger Allen from Tearfund speaking this morning. He was really challenging. I enjoyed worship this morning too, we had more musicians playing simultaneously and a mix of instruments.

By the way, this was meant to be Asterix the Gaul and a Hippy Chick - not Sonny and Cher and, no, I wasn't Hulk Hogan either.

Another thought dawned on us this week. Wow! Have we really been here four months already? Seems to have been very quick, but with all the busyness it is sometimes difficult to remember what went on before.

However, late night currently catching up with me fast - should be able to manage the visit I have shortly, then hopefully some time together before Top Gear.

A week of catching up

A great week for catching up. Andy and Sonia from way back, and others from 10 years ago. Lovely to spend time talking and remembering, and catching up on what our respective children are doing.

Day off was a lovely walk up onto Rodborough Common, and then down alongside the Thames and Severn Canal - or what is left of it. Badly silted up on the stretch we followed, with reed beds and weirs. Totally unnavigatable, but good to see some hard work going on restoring a section of lock.

We also got to see Oliver! at the Hippodrome. I guess this is one of those shows where everyone knows all the songs, so you can't tinker too much, but it was well done and the children were fantastic. I thought Neil Morrissey did a good turn as Fagin as well.

The girl playing Nancy (who, I was later told, was in the film of Les Mis was really good).

Interesting meeting on Thursday morning with the local Councils and community stakeholders discussing the infrastructure provision for the development which will go onto the airfield site to the south of us. 5,500 new homes is a new town in effect, but being hemmed in by existing housing and industry all the way round will be an interesting challenge. It was good that there was the recognition of the need to invest in the existing infrastructure up too. Hoping and praying that doesn't get ditched in some deal with the developers.

On Saturday I took part in my first park run and really enjoyed it. The course was four laps of the park, and for the second lap onwards fell in chatting with a guy also on his first time. I felt I did quite well, and I will certainly go again. Did quite a few miles on the bike as well and so, other than the cold, am enjoying being out and about.

Now have some work to do pullng various strands of through together for our Growth Strategy and meetings in the week ahead.

The calm before the storm...

It has been quite a becalmed 36 hours. On Sunday we finished a slab of thinking about Churches growing. This project had been in gestation since late December and whilst I don't want to think in any way that I have "finished" with this, the fact that we are away next Sunday meant my brain could just freewheel for a while. I have been making good progress through Artemis Cooper's biography of Patrick Leigh Fermor. I had loved his travel books, based on his journey down the Danube before the Second World War, and so filling in some of his War years and then the post-War years where he began to actually write up his earlier travels has been fascinating.

This afternoon is Pancakes in Church, something I always really enjoy. I have just blitzed up several pints of batter so I have a head start, and am getting the fillings together. Now, have I forgotten anything?

This evening (should I still be capable of standing and stringing a sentence together) is Deanery Synod, my first in these parts, so it will be interesting to see how that goes.

But for now a little more p and q with the book and some Toasted Maple Nut Coffee from the Algerian Coffee stores to get body and soul together...

Another good week

Well, despite the snow, another good week.

Church Council on Monday was quite long and intense, so I was tired on Tuesday - and a little put out that our plan of getting right away on my day off didn't come to fruition, but instead we went for a beach walk which was lovely. However we were able to talk through my 'Planning for the future at St Chad's' document to try to keep people up to date with all the clutter in my head.

Wednesday lunch at Southern Brooks cafe with two others talking over some plans for ventures new, and Thursday a good meeting with the new Community Development Officer for the estate topped off with our inaugural Church Curry Night. Met some new folk, and good to get to know one or two a bit better.

Some meetings with Ministerial colleagues on Friday, and then over to Swindon for supper with other colleagues.

A snowy walk on the fields on Saturday morning, before helping E with some photography. I love just being the camera operator - he knows what he wants and how to achieve it. Looking forward to seeing his completed experiments.

And then this morning Yemi spoke on the call of Levi at the Covenant Service.

Yes, another good week.

Almost at Christmas...

We are almost there! Although it feels a very different kind of Christmas this year compared to the last seven. After having three and then four Churches to run we had got used to a frantic Christmas season, topped off with six or sometimes seven services in the last 24 hours before finishing for Christmas lunch.

I have to be clear, again, and repeat that we didn't move away because of the number of Churches or services, but the change is most welcome. The thing I find myself reflecting on is the busyness of ministry (whether that is four or one) and the judgements needed in order to maintain a focus on the Kingdom. I read some things written by fellow Ministers and, to be honest, feel exhausted by their descriptions of the things they have to get done. One thing I do really savour at the moment is some space to spend time with people - whilst a lot of that has been the builders, it is a point of principle I think I need to keep re-stressing.

We enjoyed Carol singing last week, and made a joyful noise around some of the old and new streets in the area. As a child I can remember Carol singers coming round as an exciting thing, whereas now the response is often to be ignored (you might get a twitch of a curtain), but some do come to the door and join in and chat, some even offer moeny but we weren't collecting. I suspect that people are so used now to being mugged at the door for cash for somebody coming round with carols blaring from a PA system that they don't want to respond. Sad. I wondered if next year Carol singing might not be the perfect cover for nicking peoples' cars - they hide but the sound of the singing would cover any noise being made hot wiring their vehicles. We could leave a note saying we will give them back after Church on Christmas morning. That is a joke, by the way. That would be totally the wrong impression to give after starting the #lovePatchway hashtag on twitter.

We now have some neighbours, which is great, and hopefully they are coming round for drinks and nibbles tomorrow evening.

 

News from the Front

 

Wow. How time flies. Five or six weeks in (lost count) and getting to know a new place in its lots of different contexts.

It is great to be at St Chad's, although it is taking longer than I had hoped to put faces to names (and vice versa) and find my way round (although historic I'm-not-sure-we've-made-that-road-junction-quite-as-complicated-as-we-could type decisions not helping).

We are still the only residents of this chunk of the development, and enjoying good relations with the builders. The executive decsion not to let anything stress us was the right thing to do, although there have been times when we started to get frustrated.

Patchway itself is a good place, although seems to have more than its fair share of hurt. It is quite sad to be up and about early and see one or two folk who look as if they have already been defeated by the day ahead.

I loved the Emotionally Healthy Leadership day taken by Pete Scazzero, and have been looking at some of the implications. I haven't finished a rule of life, as he recommended, but going for a run three or four times a week is important for my sanity, so good to have his suggestion that something like that would be a valid inclusion.

Not sure we will ever get our Christmas shopping done, despite living about 10 minutes walk from the Mall at Cribbs Causeway, but really looking forward to the boys returning home over the next few days.

Study Leave week #8

A busy week, getting to grip with the last minute things that need to be done prior to a move. We had the formal handover of the house on Wednesday, which is really exciting although it feels a bit strange as I think we went for interview 5 months ago. Also, as it is a new build, the post code didn't exist until Friday morning which causes all sorts of hiccups. We did a quick 360 from outside the house, so you can see it is a bit of a bombsite around it. How are we going to keep mud off the new carpets?

 

 

We have spent some time this week pondering our really stimulating visit to Furze Platt last Sunday, and a wonderful lunch afterwards talking with old friends, plus the trip to St John's Kenilworth the week before. I have really vlaued being able to visit other Churches, especially those where I know the Vicar and have them as a frame of reference, as it were, and I was really impressed with what I saw Mark and Andrew doing. As well as ensuring I have enough time in the future for reading and thinking, I also need to have a bit of time to visit and be able to discuss.

In between all the decluttering and organising I have caught up with three films on the 'to watch' list. I rented two from iTunes and watched the third from a DVD I had bought ages ago in the sales. A week's worth of entertainment for £7.98 - awesome value!

The first was another Kubrick, Full Metal Jacket. This is one of a batch of Vietnam films from the late 80s which didn't go down the Rambo route, but rather sought to depict the horror and dehumanisation. Full Metal Jacket follows Private Joker, as he is christened by the monstrous Drill Sergeant, through his training and then into Vietnam.

The Drill Sergeant brutalises the men into shape by shouting, PT and rifle drill, but picks mercilessly on the clumsy and overweight Lawrence - here for sneaking a jam doughnut into his kit box because he was hungry. Joker is made into the platoon leader and he tries to get Lawrence into shape, but is nevertheless drawn into a night-time beating of Lawrence by all the men in the platoon as revenge because they are 

Eventually Lawrence snaps and shoots the Instructore and himslef in front of Joker.

The second half of the film moves to Vietnam where Joker is now a journalist writing for the Marines in-house morale booster, but he is desparate to go into the field to see some action, so he is sent to the front where he meets his old training companion 'Cowboy'.

On a patrol sent to clear the wrecked town down to the river they get lost, and in chagning course get caught by a sniper. In flushing the sniper out Joker eventually has to kill and gains his thousand yard stare.

As is often the case with Kubrick none of the characters seem to make you want to be sympathetic toward them and there is the struggle between liberal values and the brutality of combat, hence his wearing a peace symbol and yet having 'Born to Kill' painted on his helmet.

The second film was Hitchcock's Rear Window. I love the way Hitchcock seems to deliberately chose ways of limiting his options, but then working with those limitations as a way of allowing his imagination the maximum opportunities - like most artists, I guess.

James Stewart has broken his leg and is restricted to a wheelchair, cared for by his girlfriend (Grace Kelly) and his insurance nurse. Bored, he spends his time watching his neighbours around the courtyard - even having nicknames for them such as Miss Torso and Miss Lonely-Heart.

As usual Hitchcock makes a little cameo appearance, here as the clock mender for the song writer in the penthouse rooms.

Stewart especially enjoys watching his neighbour opposite with the bed-ridden nagging wife, and this gives him every reason to avoid proposing to Lisa.

All the action and dialogue takes place either in Stewart's room, except for the movements of others as observed by Stewart - right up until the final scene when he leaves the apartment himself.

Mrs Thorswald disappears, but little clues glimpsed by Stewart seem to indicate that Mr Thorswald (Raymond Burr plays a baddy!!??!!) has done her in.

The Police don't believe him, but gradually Lisa and the nurse come to agree with Stewart, and so join in his attempt to find the evidence to prove it.

Slightly theatrically staged, maybe, but a great idea and a good film.

The last film of the week was Blake Edward's 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'. Having seen the stage play a year or two back I didn't expect some of the seamier sides of the story to make it into the film and so some things are only hinted at.

Peppard and Hepburn look very stylish, but Edwards seems to have resorted to one of his stock stereotypes (seen later in the Pink Panther films) of the ridiculous Japanese man - and played by Mickey Rooney! Outrageous!

It was good to watch on a cold night in front of a warm fire, so no real complaints.

This time next week we'll be in. Gulp - so much still to do.

Study Leave week #7

It wasn't so much that I finished my reading and writing, more that I ran out of things to write. Anyway, 17,000 words or so are now with a friend to have a look over to make sure it makes sense. I always said I wouldn't write anything major on study leave, but it was helpful to frame ideas and marshall some arguments. The reading was particularly helpful, as we're the people who were happy to tell me of their experiences.

 

It would seem that the house is now finished, so getting the removals and moving out of here things in order. You always forget how much stuff there is to sort out or change addresses for etc.

 

We had always planned this final week before half term and moving was to go away for a couple of days. We had never been down near Rye, and as F has always loved Rye Pottery the couple of days pretty much planned themselves.

As the weather on Tuesday was nice and sunny we thought we would go via Hastings, and swing by Battle Abbey. Pulling off the M25 and onto the A21 we saw the signs for Chartwell, so took a spur of the moment decision to have a lunch and walk around.

The place was quiet as the house was actually closed, but the gardens were lovely in the autumn sun. You could really get a sense of the relief that Churchill found here, and there was the lovely story of him arriving in his official car with secretaries and aides, and throwing the door open in joy at being home, and important papers flying everywhere.

There was a small exhibition room open, which had quite a few really fascinating bits and pieces of memorabilia, such as the bow tie he wore for his passport photograph.

A sandwich lunch and then on to Battle. We arrived quite near to closing time, so didn't have long, but as the field itself was out of bounds due to the weather (if only had been on that day in 1066 how might history have been different).

The high altar at the Abbey was built on the site where Harold had died, but this wasn't meant as a martyr's tomb, rather the definite pronouncement that God had ensured victory for William, and one in the eye for Harold. Given his rather tenuous claims to the throne perhaps he needed all the validation he could muster. We were actually only a day or so after the actual day itself and so flowers had been left by some of Harold's present day admirers.

Rye is then only a couple of miles along the coast, and as the sun was still strong we decided to head towards the sea at Rye Harbour and have a bracing walk along the shingle.

These tidal marshes are quite exposed, and the light for photos was really good. I particularly enjoyed using my telephoto lens.

Two nights in Rye followed. We spent all day Wednesday walking around the town, looking at the Pottery and tea shops, plus the odd museum or two. Dinner on Wednesday night was at a really fab seafood restaurant.

The town itself is small and picturesque. Such a jumble of ages and styles that it is difficult to pick one photo that captures it all.

Thursday morning we checked out and drove across Kent for a couple of hours in Canterbury. Augustine's Abbey was closed, but we wanted primarily to look round the Cathedral itself (you never know, they might ring...).

The traditional pilgrimage, even in Canterbury Tales, was to the spot where Thomas a Becket had been murdered, and this seemed to be popular with our fellow visitors.

We stayed for Communion, and pondered the style of the very nice plummy voiced retired Priest on duty (emphasising precisely the correct words in the liturgy) with bits we had been watching on Ian Hislop's excellent series on the Stiff Upper Lip. But also down in the undercroft (where we weren't allowed to take photos, sadly) we found the chapel where the French Protestant Church had been worshipping for the last 300 years. With Hugenot links on F's side we found this quite poignant, particularly the notice on the door expressing their gratitude for three centuries of hospitality.

It seemed strange to leave such a beautiful and important building with this sense of there having been costly conflict within its very walls, and yet to be a place of peace.

Worshipping tomorrow at a Church led by old friends from college, and really looking forward to it...and then half-term is packing and moving. Already started on the licensing service.

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