Mike's musings

Priesthood in the Church of England

Just a quick post that I thought might be of interest to some. A friend, currently considering a vocation to the priesthood, recently asked me "what's distinctive about priesthood in the Church of England"? I put together a quick answer:

For me, there are a few threads, but the two most important are:

1. inclusivity: we've got it wrong so many times, and will continue to get it wrong (as we are now), but deep, deep in the genetic make up of the Church of England is a commitment to inclusivity. A commitment to allowing the more catholic side to get on with the more protestant side started it, and that's in many ways still key, though the "protestant" side is more often referred to as "evangelical" now. I think there's something very broken about the Church of England which is also very divine: to borrow from Gerard Manley Hopkins, "the centre cannot hold": but it always does.
2. inclusivity: but of a different kind. As an incumbent - or a supporter to an incumbent, whether lay or ordained - there is a requirement, and a legal one at that, to minister to every single person in the parish. There is no choice: you have to minister to them, whether you like it or not. You have the cure of _all_ souls. This is an enormous responsibility, and an enormous privilege. Somehow, every single person - every single soul - in our country has the right to approach the Church, through its ministers (again, whether ordained or lay), and to expect succour. That's amazing to me.

Labels: CofE, priest

Going rather well

Well, my last trip to Australia was rather stressful, as things didn't go that well technically. Things are proceeding much, much better this time, which means less stress, and earlier nights. I'm extremely relieved, and feel pretty prepared for our big day on Saturday when we upgrade the Production system.

Tomorrow I get to see my great friend Catherine for the first time in 5 or so years. We've been in touch over the phone, and have lots to talk about. Great fun, I suspect.

Now, if only the weather in Sydney would improve...

Labels: friends, travel

Back in Oz

Well, rather a shorter trip than I'd expected. I was due to fly with Air New Zealand from London Heathrow to Hong Kong to Auckland to Sydney, but as we were disembarking at HKK, I was asked to contact the ground staff. They asked me if I'd be happy to be moved to a direct flight to Sydney - to which I said I would - and so they put me and one other passenger onto a Virgin Airlines flight. Odd, as they're not code-share partners, but as Air New Zealand said that they'd ensure I still get my Star Alliance points, I'm happy.

Flights OK, and I got a bit of sleep. Arrived in Sydney around 0615 this morning, got to the hotel, had breakfast, had a bath, got changed, and then went to church at Christ Church St Laurence again. Enjoyed the service, and had a good chat with a number of people over lunch afterwards at the local pub.

Now desperately trying to stay awake: it's really too early to be heading to bed (only 1600 local). Beer and wine over the meal didn't help!

Labels: church, travel

Blogging (and marriage)

It's come time to admit to myself that I can't manage to blog on a daily basis. I think I'm more likely to manage to blog from time to time if I admit this to myself. Life has changed recently, and I'm very busy, and hopefully I can find excuses to blog on interesting stuff when (and mainly if) it occurs.

Speaking of which, it was our 15th wedding anniversary yesterday. We'd both forgotten about it, didn't feel like spending ages (or lots of money) on crystal stuff. So we decided to spend as little time, and as little money, as possible on crystal stuff.

The two on the left are from Moo to me. The one on the right is from me. I was going to buy two as symbols of our two-foldness over the past decade and a half, and had them in my trolley, but managed to drop a bottle on one of them at the check-out. Which was just perfect.

Labels: blogging, marriage