Peer support!

Good to meet on Thursday with two of those who were ordained at the same time as me for lunch and a discussion. One we had discussed and debated the sadness of a church that seems to be tearing itself apart and my liberal tendencies (they think I am a heretic!) we turned to the business of thinking about adult nurture in the faith. I could help but reflect on this and seem to see that wherever the church is growing no matter of what tradition it is because the teaching is clear, firm and grounded with clear boundaries and expectations of the parishoners. Part of the problem of liberalism (apart from the fact that the title has been hijacked and misconstrued) is that in liberal parishes there has been little constructive teaching and the words liberal and sloppy have become mixed up in people's thinking.
The value that we put on things was further highlighted for me on Friday when I met with others from the Spiritual Direction network with which I am involved when we entered the debate about whether you charge for direction. Amongst the Roman Catholics it was taken as a given that you do. Amongst the Anglicans it was taken that you did not especially if you were a stipendary priest yet in our discussion we reflected on how differently people treat things if they value them. There was a predominant feeling amongst those who charged some people and not others that those who paid took more ownership of the process. This goes back to the same point about teaching and nurture if we have high expectation of people we see them develop and work in cooperation with God and grow in love for him, if we model a way of life that treats what we believe as if it has no worth then others will view it in that way as well!

Modern Art and the Gospel

Just a very brief thought there is a connection between what some people think about modern art and what they think about the Gospel. If you do not search for the deeper meaning in either they can both appear to be absolute rubbish! Any thoughts?

Picture

I really don't know about the picture with the beard and glasses any more. I am now clean shaven the first time for a long time and now wear contact lenses so here is a new camera breaking image above!

Back to it!

I am not quite sure why I have not posted for a while. I had two weeks away during which it was announced I was leaving. Preparations for leaving as well as having to keep the day by day going on have meant that there has not been much time. The last four years have certainly been interesting ones weaved as much with pain and sorrow as joy and blessing. I leave a very different kind of priest than I thought I would. Maybe to put it correctly I leave a different priest to how others thought I should be.
It was a great blessing yesterday to preside at the Eucharist in St Timothy's and then St David's Ely. I have done many funerals and weekday masses there but not a Sunday until yesterday. I will forever have a vision of the congregations joining in "Sing it in the Valleys" with gusto. They were delighted with news of a new Vicar Fr Jesse Smith who will I am sure lead them forward and consoldate much of the good work already done. I wonder how different my curacy would have been if it had been somewhere like Ely. But perhaps on reflection much of it has been!