What a weekend
The reason I've been AWOL over the past few days is because so much has been going on! On Friday we celebrated my baby sister's graduation, as she received her degree from Cambridge University, followed by a nice lunchy thing with my mum and my other two younger siblings. Its the first time the five of us have been together for years, so it was fun, and tiring! Then the evening was spent at the Bishop of Ely's garden party, which was a very pleasant way to pass an evening, and a chance to be with lovely wife for a few hours, and my fantastic colleague and acting Team Rector, Fiona. A woman with the ability to spot a pastoral issue at 100 paces, and the best sense of humour in the clerical world.
On Saturday I got to go back to Ely again for a great celebration in the Cathedral as two new priests were ordained who are part of our Team. They are both voluntary (also known as Non-Stipendiary Ministers, but that's a post of its own) and have given a huge amount to our team over the past year as Deacons, but now are able to perform all of the tasks which are a part of Priestly ministry (also a post for another time). The cathedral was packed and I had the great privilege of being one of those who 'laid hands' on our new Priestly colleagues as they were ordained.
Today, we continued the celebrations of their new ministries with them Presiding at Holy Communion for the first time. I had the joy of assisting at one of the services in the morning whilst Fiona did the other. Then a number of us got together for a lunch and the official welcome before taking a few hours off and swapping around for evening services. I preached at the service of the one who Fiona had been with in the morning and vice-versa. In between that I managed to cut the grass (one of those jobs which seems to need doing more and more each year, darn global warming) and re-wrote the sermon I was planning to preach as I wanted to say something different to originally planned. When I am slightly less tired tomorrow I may well post it, it has been a couple of weeks since I put a sermon up, or posted anything on my 'Deep Stuff' blog.
So now you have some idea as to the reason for my silence for the past few days, bet you're glad you stopped by...
On Saturday I got to go back to Ely again for a great celebration in the Cathedral as two new priests were ordained who are part of our Team. They are both voluntary (also known as Non-Stipendiary Ministers, but that's a post of its own) and have given a huge amount to our team over the past year as Deacons, but now are able to perform all of the tasks which are a part of Priestly ministry (also a post for another time). The cathedral was packed and I had the great privilege of being one of those who 'laid hands' on our new Priestly colleagues as they were ordained.
Today, we continued the celebrations of their new ministries with them Presiding at Holy Communion for the first time. I had the joy of assisting at one of the services in the morning whilst Fiona did the other. Then a number of us got together for a lunch and the official welcome before taking a few hours off and swapping around for evening services. I preached at the service of the one who Fiona had been with in the morning and vice-versa. In between that I managed to cut the grass (one of those jobs which seems to need doing more and more each year, darn global warming) and re-wrote the sermon I was planning to preach as I wanted to say something different to originally planned. When I am slightly less tired tomorrow I may well post it, it has been a couple of weeks since I put a sermon up, or posted anything on my 'Deep Stuff' blog.
So now you have some idea as to the reason for my silence for the past few days, bet you're glad you stopped by...
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