Tea with the Archbishop

Well the CIH is certainly moving up the social ladder!

On Friday 28th July he attended a garden party at Lambeth Palace hosted by the Archbishop of Canterbury and Mrs Williams to which all of this year's ordinands had been invited. The staff of the various training institutions had also been invited so there was quite a large crowd due.
The CIH made his way to London by train travelling on the Chiltern line train that goes to Marylebone. A leisurely journey which gave him time to read the paper and read some of his book: The Fisherman by Larry Huntsperger. Already, the CIH is picking up village ways. Let me explain. In Highley, people are friendly, the sense of community is very real and people offer one another a friendly greeting as they pass in the street whether they know eachother or not. The surprised look on the faces of Londoners reminded the CIH that this is not the normal practice in the city. And being a Londoner himself, he really should know this.

Anyway a great day with plenty of opportunity to catch up with old friends. The CIH arrived home quite late and glad to be back in the countryside but feeling happy.

Last Week

This last week has seen the CIH caught up with a fair few meetings. I know that in time to come, he will have many more to face but for the time being he has had to settle with these:
1. Review with the RIH (Rector in Highley for those who may have forgotten such things)
2. Lunch appointment with the RIH and their wives.
3. Children's Ministry Leaders planning meeting
4. Staff meeting
5. Home group social
6. Diocesan Synod

These are just some of the things that the CIH has been getting up to this last week. Some of the meetings were fun, some were hard work and some were simply awful. I would not want to embarass the CIH by telling you which meetings come under which categories so I am leaving it for you to have a good guess.

Sunday saw the CIH at three church services. He was spotted at the 9:30 morning prayer service which was changed to a Holy Communion service at short notice; the 11:00 informal worship at the Severn Centre; and an Informal Communion service in St. Mary's at 6:30pm.

He is being seen around the village a bit more now and people are beginning to recognise him even when he is not in uniform.

All is not lost and neither is the CIH.

Catch Up

Today, I feel as though I am playing catch up because I haven't kept you informed about the antics of the CIH. Apparently, the CIH is working out whether it is good to be called 'The New Curate' or just 'The Curate'. Of course, at one time, all new curates were referred to as 'The Young Curate'. Sadly, the CIH does not quite fit into that category but he certainly does not want to be known as 'The Old Curate' as that title is only befitting of his predecessor. Anyway, that's besides the point. You really want to know what the CIH has been up to over the last few days. And there is a lot to tell...

Thursday morning saw him attend his first Highley Staff Meeting. This was a fairly practical meeting with dates for the diary taking precedent. This was followed by taking communion to one of the congregation who has been unable to come to church recently. Then he enjoyed the peace and quiet of his garden whilst reading a report from www.churchsurvey.co.uk which the RIH had given him to read. This short report (45 pages in total) looks at some of the reasons given by people to explain why they no longer attend church. There are a few truths to be learnt from the report but sadly, many of the respondents to the survey questionnaire were church attenders and this made the survey seem a little pointless. However, as I said, many of the truths are there for us to learn from and by putting them into practice, we might be able to stem some of the haemorrhaging experienced by our churches.

Friday was an easier day for the CIH consisting of morning prayer and a lunchtime meeting with his Spiritual Director. This was a good opportunity for him to try out a pub that he hadn't visited before and a chance to talk about work so far. The CIH scored the pub 7/10. It offered a good range of beer alongside the usual ones and a wide range of soft drinks. The food was excellent and portioned generously and there was a small but lovely outdoor garden to enjoy it in. The only downfall was the lack of variety in the menu. Most of the options were heavy on the meat side and, with the weather being so hot, he really wanted something slightly lighter but hey ho, 7/10 is not bad. During the evening, the CIH went to the 'Friday Event' youth group. Sadly he embarrassed himself by having a go on the trampoline and kept on falling over. Maybe he should take private lessons before trying this again.

Saturday and Sunday were busy days. After the Saturday morning volleyball, the CIH only just had time to get home, showered and changed before going to the church for a funeral. I know Saturday funerals are rare and yet he has been to two in a fortnight but when you have an open church yard and do not have to rely on crematoria being open, you can fit them in whenever is convenient. This time, the CIH was taking part by reading the Bible passage. This was followed by a visit to the family at the working men's club. The CIH went straight from the funeral to the Severn Centre where Puppet Power were leading the church in a puppet workshop. Later that evening, there was a presentation of the story of Joseph using the Andrew Lloyd Webber Music and the Puppet Power team from Grimsby Baptist Church with all their puppets. Over a hundred people attended the performance.

The team were back for church at 11:00am and the CIH had a great time worshipping God and watching some excellent presentations of Biblical material. There was nearly double the usual Sunday congregation present on this occasion. Sadly, the CIH is still unable to identify church members from newcomers so most of the time he was chatting to church folk and not the new people. Must try harder! Lunch at Church followed. A great occasion and lots of fun. Just a couple of hours at home with Mrs CIH before they headed off to the evening service which was being led by the youth group. An excellent service and some very good talent worth harnessing. God, I hope you are listening to this - EXCELLENT TALENT WORTH HARNESSING!

Week One, Day Three

Wednesday this week saw the CIH attending a service of Holy Communion in the morning. Later that same morning he went to visit some parishioners and came away bearing a bag of the largest courgettes he had ever seen. Decided to try freezing them. He will cook some of them up to make a vegetarian lasagne to serve to the RIH for lunch next Monday.

That afternoon, he gave himself a migraine by playing Welly Wanging at the Junior School's sports day. Ninety minutes in the full sun with clerical shirt and collar with no hat and nothing to drink is asking for trouble. Tried to shake off the migraine before going to home group that evening. Took usual pills but still couldn't shake it. Topped up the tablets and left. A simple prayer by one of the group members asking for God's healing was all that was needed. Two and a half hours later, a discussion on the 'Armour of God' (see Ephesians 6) over, prayer time finished and the CIH made his way home.

The First Full Day

The CIH has done his first full day. His exploits on Monday included attending Morning Prayer, a meeting with the RIH, the Infant School Sports and a Church Council Meeting.

Readings included one from Judges 13 with an ad-lib by the RIH that went something like this: (verse 10ff) The woman hurried to tell her husband, "He's here! The man who appeared to me the other day!" Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he said, "Are you the one who talked to my wife?" "I am," he said. So Manoah smacked him in the mouth. So Manoah asked him, "When your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule for the boy's life and work?"

Church Council meeting later was mainly focussed on successful fundraising, and churchyard maintenance. Business over, meeting ended. Very efficient.

I will continue to keep you informed on the CIH. When I know more, I will let you know.

Spotted at Last

I'm pleased to report that, at last, the CIH has been spotted in the village.

Amid whispers of "Who is that?" and "Is that him?", the CIH was seen observing the RIH (Rector in Highley) conducting a funeral. This could well be the beginning of his parish training. We shall have to wait and see.

It turns out that he was also spotted attempting to play volleyball with other residents of the village at the Severn Centre yesterday morning.

Then this morning, he was spotted yet again in St Mary's Church, Highley at the 9:30am service and then turning up (late due to too much talking after the 9:30) at the Severn Centre for the 11:00am informal worship.

So he has arrived and is beginning to make himself known around the village. What will he do next. Bookmark this page to keep in touch with the antics of the CIH. I will do my best to keep you informed.

Ordination

The Curate in Highley (CIH) was ordained on Sunday 2nd July in Hereford Cathedral by the Bishop of Hereford, Anthony Priddis. The service was a joyous occasion with hundreds of folks gathered to support the seven people who were being ordained.

Before his ordination, the prospective CIH was away on retreat with the other six ordinands. The retreat took place in the Bishop's Palace and was led by Revd Canon Dr Maureen Palmer. The prospective CIH was able to spend three days in quiet preparing himself for his future ministry. It was not a silent retreat (unlike some ordination retreats) and he was able to get some messages out to his family. Each day the retreatees gathered for morning worship in the Bishop's chapel, Evensong in the cathedral and Compline in the outdoor chapel that forms part of the palace gardens. Through a series of talks, Maureen Palmer encouraged the ordinands to remember that they were formed by God and made in his image; and that, in the same way as a potter moulds clay into different shapes, they were being formed and reformed by God into what he wants them to be; and that, plain as they may be, they carry within them the treasure of the gospel; and that they were shortly to be saying 'YES' to God's call on their lives. "Deacons," she said,"are called to be lovers of God, lovers of God's Church and lovers of God's World - especially of those at the margins of society."

Since his ordination service on Sunday (after which he was rescued by his family and taken to a nearby pub for lunch with his friends and supporters) the CIH has done absolutely no work for five days due to his vicar going away. When he does start work, I shall report some of it here. Until then. Every blessing to you.