Mike's musings

Link and Malokai

So, it's been some time since my last post, but today we had Malokai playing and worshipping at St Andrew's, Halstead. They were great, and I really enjoyed the music and their witness, too. There were very genuine, played well, and did a great set. Alex, the front man, talked about joy a lot, and that really worked for me. We had a few walk-ins, too, which was exciting, and we hope to have them back. Well done to Victoria for getting them in.

Labels: music, worship

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

My first ordination - and a first Eucharist

(backposting) Yesterday I attended my first ordination as a priest. I've gone to lots before, including my own, but this was the first time that I was attending and involved in the laying on of hands. Sally, my fellow- (if you will) curate and two other people who I know a little were ordained priest in Stansted Mountfitchet Church. It was a fantastic service, and the choir sang the Hallelujah chorus after the act of ordination. I brilliant day (apart from the football afterwards, obviously.

And then, this evening, was Sally's first Eucharist. We had incense, I sang in the choir (alto, actually), read the Gospel and the whole service was amazing. I had an amazing realisation whilst I watched her during the Prayer of Consecration, she looked so human, and so priestly. She was the Everyman/EveryWoman that each priest should be, and the truth and reality of Christ as human was made so obvious to me. I felt really sad for those who can't accept women's ministry.

I've always been a proponent of women's ministry - don't get me wrong - but this was one of those flashes of realisation that make things appear so right.

When Sally and I processed out to the side-door, we had a bit of a cry on each other. Tears of absolute joy.

Labels: joy, ordination

Good work, bad work

So, a fab day in terms of the work for Australia: all the problems seem to be fixed. This means that subject to some testing by the customer on Monday, I'm likely to be heading off to Australia around the 22/23rd July for a couple of weeks. I'm so relieved - it's been really hard work getting this sorted, with lots of dead ends, so thanks to everyone who's helped me.

On the embarrassing side, it looks like I've managed to destroy a Windows 7 installation on my new laptop. I've never managed to destroy a partition by putting Linux on the same machine before. Well, I've told our main IT guy, and we'll see what he says.

Labels: geekery, work