Inactivity rules!
Actually, the only place I have been inactive is in the blogsphere, things have been busy for the past few weeks. I have had lots to do, have caught up on LOADS of admin stuff, done a number of visits, prayed a fair amount, read stuff, gone to meetings, tried to help some folks out with some wedding applications, dealt with some outstanding issues to do with marriage registers, married some people, been to a wedding in York and spent time with family and friends. In lots of ways its been a good few weeks, though I have spent much of those weeks tired and lacking inspiration to blog or to read too many blogs.
I particularly enjoyed my weekend, not only was it a chance to be with the family for a couple of days, but I went (as previously mentioned) to the beautiful city of York to attend the wedding of my closest friend Jem to the lovely Louise. I got to be a bit Vicar-ly on Friday evening when I was invited to take a part in the communion service put together by Visions, in York - a group that was once described as an 'alt.worship' group, but is now known as 'fresh expressions' or 'pioneer ministry' group (or 'emergent' in the US, I guess). Whatever the current nomenclature, they are a creative, innovative group of Christians who offer worship which is multimedia, inclusive, relaxed and profound (all at once, pretty good, eh?) If you ever get to go to York and you happen to be able to get to St Cuthbert's Church, Peasholme Green on a Sunday Evening I can highly recommend it.
The Wedding was great, a great service, with more clergy than you could shake a Mitre at and an opportunity to catch up with some 'old friends' whose friendship stretches back nearly twenty years. I also discovered that some of these folk read my blog - and weren't too rude about it! It was a great couple of days, though Jo, Katherine, Jack and I spent much of it shattered due to lack of sleep, especially the kids.
It was also an opportunity to reflect on how easy it is to lose touch with people, and realise just how special and important these friendships are. I have to say I felt somewhat sad that I had let a few of these aquaintances 'slide' and hadn't attended to these relationships over the past few years. One of the problems of ministry in the Church is that one gets caught up in the places and people one ministers to - no bad thing, but shouldn't be done at the expense of good friends. I hope that I will keep up contact with these folk now we've met up again. The non-contact thing is compounded, though, by the fact that so many of us are in some form of ministry in the Church and so find ourselves suffering from the 'caught up where we are' syndrome.
It's good to be back, though I've 'hit the ground running' and have done lots today. Tomorrow is another day and there's plenty to do then too!
Oh, and in case anyone is interested, I've finally managed to get myself sorted and join facebook, so search for my name and be my friend if you want, or at least poke me ;-)
I particularly enjoyed my weekend, not only was it a chance to be with the family for a couple of days, but I went (as previously mentioned) to the beautiful city of York to attend the wedding of my closest friend Jem to the lovely Louise. I got to be a bit Vicar-ly on Friday evening when I was invited to take a part in the communion service put together by Visions, in York - a group that was once described as an 'alt.worship' group, but is now known as 'fresh expressions' or 'pioneer ministry' group (or 'emergent' in the US, I guess). Whatever the current nomenclature, they are a creative, innovative group of Christians who offer worship which is multimedia, inclusive, relaxed and profound (all at once, pretty good, eh?) If you ever get to go to York and you happen to be able to get to St Cuthbert's Church, Peasholme Green on a Sunday Evening I can highly recommend it.
The Wedding was great, a great service, with more clergy than you could shake a Mitre at and an opportunity to catch up with some 'old friends' whose friendship stretches back nearly twenty years. I also discovered that some of these folk read my blog - and weren't too rude about it! It was a great couple of days, though Jo, Katherine, Jack and I spent much of it shattered due to lack of sleep, especially the kids.
It was also an opportunity to reflect on how easy it is to lose touch with people, and realise just how special and important these friendships are. I have to say I felt somewhat sad that I had let a few of these aquaintances 'slide' and hadn't attended to these relationships over the past few years. One of the problems of ministry in the Church is that one gets caught up in the places and people one ministers to - no bad thing, but shouldn't be done at the expense of good friends. I hope that I will keep up contact with these folk now we've met up again. The non-contact thing is compounded, though, by the fact that so many of us are in some form of ministry in the Church and so find ourselves suffering from the 'caught up where we are' syndrome.
It's good to be back, though I've 'hit the ground running' and have done lots today. Tomorrow is another day and there's plenty to do then too!
Oh, and in case anyone is interested, I've finally managed to get myself sorted and join facebook, so search for my name and be my friend if you want, or at least poke me ;-)
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