Mike's musings

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

Going up the 23 candles

I slept for somewhere around 24 hours last night, and felt _considerably_ refreshed. Really very well indeed. I was up and breakfasted in time for the 9am service at Christ Church Saint Laurence. It's about 1 and half kilometres from the hotel, so was a pleasant walk. I'd put my clerical shirt and collar on, as Fr Adrian (with whom I'd been in touch via email) had said to make myself known once I arrived. I did, was made welcome, and was introduced to a member of congregation who chatted while we waited for the service to begin. I'd got confused, and had thought that the 0900 service was a Sung Eucharist, but, instead, it was "Low Mass". This, the fact that everyone called me "Father", and the lady altar dedicated to Our Lady of Walsingham, should have been enough to clue me in that I was in for something higher than I'm used to, but bar the birettas on all the clergy (red pom-pom for the rector, black for the others), it was fairly standard fare from my point of view. During coffee afterwards, I discovered that the next service was with the choir, and as they were singing some rather nice music (a mass setting by Victoria), I thought I'd stay for the 1030, as well.

This was High Mass, and really quite high. Birettas again, of course, lashings of incense, copious genuflection and the gospel canted, which I'd not experienced before. I'd been informed before my arrival that vestments are banned in the Sydney diocese, but apparently it's _chasubles_ that are banned. This means that stoles, dalmatics, birettas and copes are just fine. It was jolly nice, and I went for drinks and lunch with the choir in the pub afterwards. They also invited me to evensong at 1830, which I decided I'd get to if I was still vertical (in danger owing to jetlag, not alcohol consumption, you'll understand), as they were to sing Leighton's Mag. & Nunc Coll. Mag., which I've not heard for ages.

So, back to the hotel via a yarn shop (possum:merino mix is _very_ soft), and then footled and called Moo and the girls. Footled some more, then headed off to Paddy's market. Despite the name, this is a very strongly Chinese market, just opposite Sydney's Chinatown. In fact, the whole area reminded me strongly of Singapore: lots of Chinese people, lots of Chinese being spoken, but signs in English and Chinese, and just a Chinese feel to how shops are laid out. And then to evensong.

I also enjoyed evensong very much (the choir did a good job of the Leighton), and discovered what the clergy and altar party are _supposed_ to do during the singing of the Magnificat. They're supposed to cense things. The altar. The Paschal Candle. Each other (individually), the choir, the people, the lot. Marvellous (if a little distracting from the main event: the music). But I realised, as I looked at the order of service, that it was going to be followed by a Service of Benediction.

It was my first experience of a Service of Benediction, and is likely to be my last. There was too much Marian devotion for me, but worse was the whole reverencing the Host. In a monstrance. And the presiding priest put on a lovely little shawl to do the monstrance bit. Apparently it's called a "Humeral Veil". I didn't even know these things existed. There were 16 candles on the altar, 6 behind it, and the Paschal candle all lit. What an education. Anyway, not my cup of tea, but fair enough if you like heresy, I guess.

However, I did discover a useful piece of information: why you need both a deacon and a sub-deacon. It's so that they can waft around the celebrant holding his cope out like a pair of wings.

I've had a lovely day, met some great people, listened to some fantastic music, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I even bought a book called "Rescuing Sex from the Christians" at the church bookshop. You can't lose with a title like that, can you?

Labels: catholicism, church, communion

Elections are unimportant

(backposting) Well, compared to going away and leaving your family, anyway. We voted, of course, took the girls along and gave them the standard spiel about sufragettes, and how important it is to cast your vote. We also had croissants and Golden Syrup for breakfast, a _huge_ treat on a school day, but only because today's the day I fly to Australia. I took the girls to school, had a bath, and then had to rush my packing in order to be ready for the taxi's arrival at 1045. Although my flight wasn't due to leave before 2130, I decided that saying goodbye to the girls at the beginning of their day, when Jo was going into school, and Miri to her pre-school, would make it easier on all of us, and it worked quite well. Moo was working from home in the morning, so I got to say goodbye to her when the taxi arrived.

The taxi took me to Witham station, whence I journeyed to London, and spent the afternoon at work. In fact, I took 45 minutes out of the day and popped to St Paul's Cathedral, which is just a few minutes from the office. I don't think I'd ever seen Holman Hunt's The Light of the World in the flesh before, and I was moved by a painting which had always struck me as rather twee before. So, I bought a postcard of it to take with me to Australia.

Taxi and train to Heathrow, where I checked in and had a leisurely supper before getting on the Thai Airways flight to Bangkok. Nice cabin crew, and I had a bit of a sleep, though not too much, as I really want to sleep in Australian time, as it were. Kept myself awake by writing some code. Fun.

Labels: church, politics, travel

Shredding. Frogs

Separate activities, you'll be pleased to hear. We bought a garden shredder today, and I managed to clear lots of old garden waste, as well as cutting back - and shredding - the second buddleia. In between these tasks, I sat and watched somewhere between 25 and 35 frogs who are using our pond as a place to lay their eggs. And, of course, fertilise them. I'd never realised how busy - and loud - they'd be during the middle of the day, but they were really rather active. It was really fascinating, and Moo and the girls also spent lots of time watching them.

We have _lots_ of frog-spawn. I mean lots.

This morning, I went to the 0800 service at Great Yeldham. Keith, our rector, has been a very good friend over the years, and he's retiring in May, so I was pleased to have the opportunity to get to a service that he was taking.

Labels: church, friends, garden

Mothering Sunday

(backposting) A mug each from the girls, some flowers from Jo (via her pre-school), some other bits and pieces. And I got my Mum a leather cover for her new netbook. I went with Mum and Dad and the girls to church, and I'd like to say that Moo had a quiet time at home, but she used the new hoover (well, Dyson) we bought at Freeport yesterday, did some cleaning and put the food on.

Lovely lamb shoulder for lunch, but Miri completely lost it, and wouldn't eat a bit. Jo was a star, and lovely big sister, looking after Miri and calming her down while the rest of us finished our food.

In the afternoon, Moo took Jo to her ballet rehearsal, and my parents headed off home. Miri and I went out in the garden, where she played, and I did some cutting down of brambles and buddleia. Then in (when it started raining), some puzzles, books and TV. Got the girls to bed well, and I went upstairs for a bath at 2040: needed an early night.

Labels: church, family

Pentlow church
Originally uploaded by MikeCamel

I took the 1115 Holy Communion service at Pentlow this morning, which I'd not visited before. A good service and welcome. I preached - as I did last week, though in a different church - on how "doing" Lent isn't always easy, and how finding belief can be hard, though we're not the first (look at Mark 9:24).

In the afternoon, I spent some time doing a little gardening. Miri was with me, and played around outside - Moo had taken Jo to her latest ballet show rehearsal.

And there are other pictures, too: have a look at Flickr.

Labels: church, communion

Casting off

Yes, I've completed my first garment! Well, I _say_ garment, but it's a short scarf: there wasn't enough yarn. Oh, and it's got _lots_ of errors in it. But I'm enjoying it.

Wondering whether I should only be knitting in the current liturgical colour, but Moo says that only counts if I'm knitting _during_ a service, so I'm probably OK.

I was planning to take the girls to the 10am service at St Andrew's Halstead, but we set off, and the roads were just too bad: I headed back within half a mile. So, we went to the Great Yeldham lessons and carols service, and the girls did OK (apart from 3 wee trips between them).

They're both so, so tired, and Jojo really needs adult time, but Miri keeps wanting to know where she is, so it requires some careful juggling.

Before lunch, I had an Armagnac (Moo was on her 2nd cherry brandy...), and then we had bacon butties for lunch. A snowball fight finished off the afternoon.

I went to the Halstead lessons and carols in evening, and read the 8th lesson (the Magi). As well as the choir (who did well), we had a group called the Cavendish Consort, who were very comp. I really enjoyed hearing some good music (at Baroque pitch, on proper instruments).

Labels: church, knitting

Carols by torchlight

Tonight was Halstead's town carol service. We started at the top of town, and were marched down the town by the Salvation Army Band. We formed up at the park, and sang carols by torchlight in the park. It was great, and felt really Christmasy, so the the season's really started for me now.

Labels: Christmas, church, music

CME time

(backposting) We had a CME evening tonight, on diversity. It's very easy to make these sort of sessions very white, middle-class, and that's always a danger. I think we avoided that - it was helpful to have at least one non-white face in the room (!) - but also the person talking to us was very aware of their position. She talked about her parish - East Ham - which has an extremely diverse nature, and also about what it means to be Christian, Anglican and CofE in such a context.

It was interesting, and thought-provoking, and also great to see a few friends who I've not seen for a while.

The other major news? Server died. For real, this time, I think. Big hard disk issue, and I had real problems rebuilding it. We'll see what tomorrow looks like.

Labels: church, geekery

Will it get done?

Woke up at 0555. Told my body not to be silly. Went back to sleep. Woke up at 0825. Too late for the 0800, obviously. So, I got up, and was at work by 0905. Did some work, and then, after some deliberation, decided to go to church. I ended up at St Gregory's, Sudbury. They'd advertised a 1000 service, which was changed to 1030, natch. Given that I'd said that I wouldn't be around this week, I'd chosen this church as somewhere out-of-area, where I could go incognito, and noone would know me. And, of course, there were two people from Halstead there: Val and her husband. This is just typical, and quite amusing. They'd come here because they're looking at houses in the area.

There was a lovely welcome, and the church was pretty full. I liked the service, and they have two curates, too. I think we should arrange a social: the two churches/towns have lots in common, and Helen, the curate on placement who will later join the team, is at ERMC, as I was. Good folks, and it would be fun to compare notes.

Back home, and work, work, work. And around 1700, I managed to get the work finished, which means that the answer to the question in the header is "yes, it will."

Went round to Sam and John-Mark's for a drink, ended up staying for supper. And the girls just got back.

Labels: church, friends, girls, work

Good things, bad things

Good things, lots: church with the girls; moving the girls' beds around so that they're both in the same room, ready for decorating and the arrival of the bunkbed; taking the girls swimming; spending time with Moo; a lovely autumn day; cooking and eating pancakes.

Bad things, few: the main obvious one being tidying my office. I hate tidying.

Labels: church

An old friend

(backposting) Today I was taking two services in Earls Colne: a quiet 0800 Holy Communion, and a quite energetic Family Service at 1000 (note to self - I must check the words of a song before encouraging people to clap along when it says "I will clap, clap, clap", because the next verse might say "dance", which means that I have to dance..., and yes, I did, in the aisles, fully robed). At the end of the latter, Pamela, who was a chaplain (then a deaconess, since priested) at Bryanston when I was there, came up and introduced herself. We'd not seen each other for about 22 years, so it was a bit of a blast from the past, but great to see her. She had a strong impact on my faith at that time, and although we've recently got back in touch over email, she lives in New Zealand, so it was a real bonus to be able to catch up with her in person.

In order to give Moo a bit of a break in the afternoon, I took the girls swimming. Jo was back in the big pool, and Miri consented to spend a bit of time in there, too. Miri is now quite a strong swimmer, underwater at least, and we must look at getting her some swimming lessons.

Labels: church, friends, swimming

Words - and computer that talks

(backposting) There really was a party today, and after taking the girls to the 1000, Jo got to go to it. It was a family service, and there was lots of standing at the front, singing and doing actions. Much fun, particularly for the girls, but I enjoyed it, too.

Miri and I had fun, listening to music, watching a DVD, cuddling, having lunch, while Moo and Jo went to the party. Afterwards, I introduced Jo to festival, an application for Linux/Unix that talks - well, which can be made to speak. Jo had said, a few days before, that of course computers can't talk, and I enjoyed getting it to say things to her. She's also played with lots of words and letters, and I got the my machine to say the words that she was reading. This was very amusing, apparently, and kept people amused for quite a while.

I cooked a lovely roast shoulder of lamb, which we had as a family supper. Well, I say _we_, but the girls had very little of the roast potato or carrot or gravy - or even lamb, in Miri's case. Oh well, we tried.

Labels: church, food, school

Church (and work)

(backposting) Well, it's Sunday. I went back to the lovely St Anne's, Reston, for their fantastic 1000 service. Great welcome, fun music, lots of people, and a baptism to boot. One thing that I really enjoyed was that once Jim (who was presiding) had baptised the baby, he walked around the church, telling him how this was his new family, and showing him all the people. It felt like an excellent introduction, and I think I'll emulate the practice. A few of the congregation invited me out to brunch in a restaurant nearby, which was really kind and, well, Christian. What a lovely church.

I had an idea about how to sort a sort out a problem that we'd been having at work, so went round to try to sort it out quickly. Unluckily, there were emails from a senior person that I ended up responding to, and so he came out to the office and I spent rather more time their than I'd intended: 5 hours...

Labels: baptism, church, work

Swimming

(backposting) Went with Kate to a lovely simple BCP (Book of Common Prayer) service at 0800 in Overstrand Church, which was a good start to the day.

And we all went to the beach. I think there's going to be a lot of going to be the beach, even if it's 140 steps down (and then back up again, more relevantly). I went swimming, as did Jen and Turtle (with some support), and we saw a seal! It came to within about 7 metres of me, and surfaced a couple of times. A lovely start to the holiday.

Labels: church, family, holiday, swimming

A churchy day

Not entirely, but I had a 3+ hour team ministry meeting in the morning, a spiritual direction meeting in the afternoon, and a Mother's Union Communion service in the evening (with a very enjoyable performance by the gospel group afterwards). I've also done some good job bits and pieces as well, which is always cheering.

The other thing I did was listen several times to "Bleed to love her" by Fleetwood Mac. And found a different way to listen to it. Now, I'm sure that this wasn't the intention when it was written, but what if you hear it as being sung by our Lord, and the "her" is Mary Magdalene? It's a very powerful song anyway, and provides an interesting way of thinking about Christ, the man, and desire and sexuality. Please listen to the song (it's also available on the live album "The Dance"), but here are the lyrics:

Once again she steals away
Then she reaches out to kiss me
And how she takes my breath away
Pretending that she don't miss me

Ooh, I would bleed to love her
Ooh, bleed to love her
Ooh, I would bleed to love her

And once again she calls to me
Then she vanishes in thin air
And how she takes my breath away (breath away)
Pretending that she's not there

Ooh, I would bleed to love her
Ooh, bleed to love her
Ooh, I would bleed to love her

Somebody's got to see this through
All the world is laughing at you
And somebody's got to sacrifice
If this whole thing's gonna turn out right

Ooh, I would bleed to love her
Ooh, bleed to love her
Ooh, I would bleed to love her
Bleed to love her
Bleed to love her

Labels: church, job

Ordination and first Eucharist

(backposting) So much to blog about. So much. But I'm still processing it, so I'll put down what I can.

Ordination

We arrived at the church early, and it was lovely to greet people as they arrived. I had problems letting go, and not being the curate: there were other people to sort things out, and in the end, I just had to be an ordinand, get ready, and go with it. I robed up in cassock, surplice and white alb - a beautiful 18th century white alb that Dad had been given for his priesting, and which he passed on to me. We formed up in the St Andrew's Centre car park, and then walked over to the church. Moo was my lay sponsor, and I held her hand as we processed up the aisle together. There's a fair amount of preamble - all of it important - before the actual act of ordination, and I was the third of the 3 to be ordained, but in the end my time came. I knelt in front of the bishop, and the clergy clustered round and laid their hands on me. There were 10, I think: the bishop, the bishop's chaplain (Tim), the preacher (Chris), my father, my incumbent (John), Geoff (from the team), Viv (from the team), Mark and Ian's incumbents and James (a good friend, and previously from the team). Moo says it was a big of a scrum, but I couldn't tell. As the bishop said the words, it felt heavy, and I felt surrounded, and it was good. And then, I was a priest. The bishop anointed Ian's hands, then Mark's, and then mine, and we were done.

The service moved into a Eucharist, and we stood to either side of the bishop as he presided. After we'd taken communion from him, we got to sit down and just relax a bit. The service finished, the bishop took us three, new priests, down the aisle, and it was over, and time for some pictures.

First Eucharist

The parish put together a fabulous bring and share lunch: what lovely people. I had a chance to catch up with a few of them, but also friends and family. Leo, Rosie and Andy, Mark and Jenny, Mum and Dad, of course, Aunty Les and others, too. Si and D arrived in time for the 1500 Eucharist, as did Gary with his family, which I'd not expected. I walked the main players - Dad (serving for me), Sally (reading the Gospel) and Ian (preaching) - through the choreography first, and then it was time to start.

It was an immensely emotional experience for me. Mum later said that the first time she'd seen me cry in church was 31 years ago, and she thought she'd see it again, and it was close. Some of the liturgy, a couple of the hymns, and also parts of Byrd 4-part all had me close to tears. But when it came to the two parts which mattered the most to me - the Absolution and the Eucharistic prayer - it all worked. I'd been worried about the Absolution, but it felt right. Even more so for the Eucharistic prayer. I'd spent a lot of time preparing, and in particular thinking about the actions and gestures that I'd be using, before deciding to go with pretty much the bare minimum. I was boiling in a warm chasuble in a very warm church (Catherine had needed to call an ambulance for a member of the congregation at the ordination service - though I'd not noticed! - and the afternoon was hotter), we had a gospel procession, a Latin mass setting, and pretty "high" setting, but the theology is pretty low for me.

When it came to the prayer of institution, it just felt right to be saying it. And I was just aware that I was not the first person to be saying these words and celebrating this feast, but was part of a long tradition, made up of many, many others. It was just right. And Dad hadn't realised that he would be the first person to whom I administered communion, and that was very special indeed.

Our last hymn was "Jerusalem": a mission hymn. And, although not everyone enjoyed it, we had my favourite piece of organ music: "Dieu parmi nous" (God among us) by Olivier Messiaen. We sat, rather than processed, and it was the perfect end to my first communion.

Aftermath

We finished the day with friends coming back for a barbecue - during which it rained very, very hard. Si and D with Morgan and Boo, James and Ruth and Sally all came, and John and Mo arrived later as the others were departing, giving us a good chance for a chat with them. The girls pleaded tiredness around 1900 and we put them to bed without even a bath, and they were down so quickly that we had a good long time to chat. A good end to a long day, and we went to be tired.

Only for Jo to turn up with a temperature (I took her into the spare room with me) and Miri to go in with Moo, having been woken by Jo's perambulations. Such is life.

Labels: church, eucharist, family, friends, music, ordination

Church, swimming and a difficult decision

(backposting) Took the girls to church in Halstead today, which they enjoyed. It was a family service, and therefore pretty child-friendly, and also quite short, which helped them. In the afternoon, we all went swimming at the Freeport pool in Braintree. Jo learnt to tread water, which is a useful skill.

In the evening, I went for a good walk. I'm trying to work out what to do about my first Eucharist on the 28th. I really want to have parts of a Latin setting of the Mass (well, Greek, if you include the Kyrie), and to have a really serene service. But the more I think about it, the more I'm worried about not making the service child-friendly. I'd really like Jo and Miri to be able to be there, but there's a tension there with the style of service. This is something I need to decide pretty soon.

Labels: church, eucharist

Ordination practice

(backposting) I drove home today - Moo and the girls are staying with Kate and Mac for a while - and attended an afternoon-long RIM/Certicom integration webinar and teleconference.

In the evening, I had a meeting with the bishop and his assistant/chaplain, John (my incumbent) and a number of our local team (servers, churchwardens, sacristan) to make some decisions about exactly how the ordination service will go, and have walk-through. Of course, there will two other people who will also be ordained on that day, and everyone was expecting them to be there, too. Except for them, as nobody seemed to have told them... Oh well, we had a very useful session: it's all feeling a bit close now.

Labels: church, ordination

Deacons and gardens

Today, on the advice of curate colleague the other week, I went to a different church for a change, as I had a week off. Tilbury-juxta-Clare is in the benefice I live in, and which I was helping out in before my ordination, and it was good to worship there. Keith, the rector, preached a really enjoyable sermon on the importance of deaconhood - both for laity and clergy - which felt particularly apposite as I'm approaching my ordination to the priesthood. He talked about Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch (which isn't a Famous Five book, whatever it may sound like), and other Christians - ordained deacon and not - who've served God.

After that, we took to the garden. It was a lovely day, and we did lots and lots of clearing. We're beginning to be able to use the bottom half of the garden again, which is quite impressive after about 5 years of lack of attention. The girls helped - on and off - and had a great time. All-in-all, we've had a lovely weekend with the family: the sort you dream of when you start a family.

Labels: church, diaconate, family, garden