New Kid on the Blog

Said i would say something about holidays, so just a few rambling style meanderings as i reflect on recent relaxatory revelations - this means nothing, but i like the sound of it. I don't have the profound insights of Jem Clines about our travels but it gives me a chance to waffle a bit... The start of a thunderstorm as i type here in South Cambridgeshire certainly reminds me of our time away in Bergerac - it was very very hot - the heatwave in the UK feels almost cool in comparison - and prone to thunderstorms, which could be incredibly exciting, particularly the nighttime ones, but once they went we again were greeted by clear skies and fantastic weather. It was the heat that shaped our holiday - keeping kids out of too much sunlight, choosing what we would eat, making sure we stocked up on water, driving at certain times of the day (no air con in the car, our clunky old volvo), deciding which places to visit that might be shady, looking for cool places to park, not wanting to m...

Having been back at work for about five hours i seem to have spent the last four and a half on the telephone catching up. Nothing went drastically wrong whilst i was away and in fact there have been some good things going on, so apart from a mountain of mail that is causing me to turn ashen every time i think about it i don't have a huge amount to make up for now i am back. It's summertime (in case anyone had missed this) so meetings are all off until September, as are the various school events that conspire to fill up my weeks. My hope is that this will allow me some time to get back to visiting and getting my study and everything else administrative in to tip top order whilst things are quieter. So, about the last few weeks, i know you're dying to know! Its been a great time, just busy. Before i went away we all geared up for a variety of events, it being summer there was a whole load of fetes and summer 'do's that were enjoyable and time consuming. I misse...

Thanks to all of you who've not completely given up on me (my site stats show that there are a few folk popping back every now and then to see if i am still alive). After a few ridiculously hectic and fatigued weeks we went off on holiday for THREE WHOLE WEEKS to the house in which we have a tiny share in Bergerac, France. It was a wonderful break and very refreshing. The kids were delightful, wife and I got to have real conversations, and apart from the handbrake of the car snapping and me breaking the lawnmower there were no major mishaps! I read a lot too, not as much as usual as there were real people to talk to (my wife, parents in law and mum at various times) - the brain cells also got a bit of a work out as i thought about life in general, theology in unguarded moments, and the possibility of writing a novel (ideas are formulating in a way they've not before). I did find myself hankering after the laptop that i had chosen to leave behind as i really did rather like ...

A random thought to end the day Was thinking - thanks to a line in 'Shites unoriginal miscellany' 'How deep would the ocean be if there were no sponges?'

Another sermon - this time preached yesterday in a couple of my own local churches. No great theological thoughts, just a few reflections of my own... Strange for me to say that noise is not always a good thing!!! dum de dum de dum de dum The Spirit of Subtlety John 15.26-27, 16.4b-15 Romans 8.22-27 Acts 2.1-21 Every year we celebrate Pentecost, and every year we make a big noise about it! I mean that literally, we have the reading from Acts talking of the Holy Spirit coming like a rushing wind, with tongues of fire – as if the divine special effects budget was blown on this one event, the birthday of the Church… Then there’s the babbling, the different languages, all the noise of people speaking before one voice shouts above them all to proclaim the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the saviour, the one who was prophesied, and pouring out of God’s Spirit on all flesh. In the letter to the Romans, Chapter 8 v 22-27 one of the alternative readings set for this morning we hear of ...

I found myself stranded a few miles from home yesterday as my car was in for a service and i couldn't get a lift back. It was a beautiful summery day so i thought i would walk home... As i left the village i was passed by a huge 4x4 (or SUV as they say in the U.S) which pulled into the local recycling centre and dropped off some bottles in the glass bank. So as i wandered i muttered (only in my head) 'huge petrol guzzling monstrosity, imagine having that to get around these villages and i bet there's only one person in there travelling half a mile to drop bottles in the recycling bank' etc etc.... the usual self-righteous stuff. About half a mile later the same car stopped next to me and said 'Oh, hi Alastair, where are you going and can i give you a lift...' It turned out to be one of my parishoners who was on her way to pick up her horse box, with a load of kids in the car and had decided to combine the journey with a trip to the recycling bank. As it tu...

Not really down and out, but have had a couple of 'downer' days, overshadowed by going to see someone very sick indeed in our local 'mega-hospital' - Addenbrookes in Cambridge. This person is such a fighter, so defiant of any attempt to control her life that to see her helpless and wired up to umpteen machines and any number of tubes was a bit of a shock to the system. It really put the kybosh on my visiting for a couple of days so i have cracked on with getting my act together administratively and generally catching up with emails, phone calls and diary schedules. It did make me reflect on the dangers of ministry in that we get to know and, indeed, to love these folk and sometimes have to see them go through hell and still be expected to keep going - often without support - and take the flack for all the difficulties the Church is going through, and the criticism for not doing things the way people want (normally in a style redolent of the archetypal 1950s/Carry on E...