ME19four: life, faith and role-playing games
Thursday, May 03, 2007
A (not so) flying visit...
And I complain about cars and lorries stopping outside my house for just a few minutes to look at the map...
Labels: Life, Recommendations
¶ 8:09 pm 0 comments
Democracy in action?
3 candidates,
2 parties.
2 votes,
1 pencil.
No point,
no relevance?
Local democracy in action. Don't hog the pencil.
Honestly, I really find it hard to say very much good about the whole proceedings. All I can say is that because I know one of the candidates a little that I know his intentions are good and honourable....
and that's enough to quash the cynicism, if not to raise the excitement.
2 parties.
2 votes,
1 pencil.
No point,
no relevance?
Local democracy in action. Don't hog the pencil.
Honestly, I really find it hard to say very much good about the whole proceedings. All I can say is that because I know one of the candidates a little that I know his intentions are good and honourable....
and that's enough to quash the cynicism, if not to raise the excitement.
Labels: Grumbles, Life, Ponderings
¶ 1:07 pm 0 comments
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
As I see it...
We dog-collared types have all seen the ads in the Church Times and the Church of England Newspaper, and similar publications.
So as a bit of therapy, how do you think those looking for clergy to fill their posts would respond to this?
EDIT: Apologies for the 2 minor spelling/grammar/vocab errors - I was in a hurry! :)
So as a bit of therapy, how do you think those looking for clergy to fill their posts would respond to this?
EDIT: Apologies for the 2 minor spelling/grammar/vocab errors - I was in a hurry! :)
Labels: Life, Ponderings
¶ 9:24 am 0 comments
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Road to Nowhere?
I'm sure some of my readers will remember the 1980s song, even if, like me they'd be strecthed to remember who performed it. You will, also, I suspect have divined the nature of this post!
So, not only did I withdraw from Small Midlands City (and feel a little bad for doing so when there is nothing that the folks could have done about it), but neither am I going to Nice Team Vicar Job Just Down The Road. Then again, nobody is , they decided not to appoint. I am disappointed, all the more so for two reasons, revealed after discussion with Neighbouring Archdeacon.
One is the answer to the question I posed a while back - can you be too honest? The answer seems to be yes. In a situation where unanimity cannot be found saying anything which might bring doubts is not a good idea, especially if you volunteer that information. I don't think I talked myself out of the post, but I could have stayed stumm and aided it. Still, I am me.
The second thought is at present nothing more than a suspicion. A doubt. A possibility of an ironic twist. I remember a conversation with my training incumbent some years ago. The gist of it was to always be looking towards the post after the one you're applying for. The original context was a particularly pleasant, and from the paperwork at least, rather comfortable University Chaplaincy (from a newish Oxbridge College, IIRC). There were no doubts about whether I could do it, more about how it would be perceived by potential new posts when the time came to move on.
And herein lies the rub. By having been doing a highly-unusual, mission-based job over the past few years I do not have much in the way of experience when it comes to running a regular parish. Worse than that any experience I did have a curate is now rather dated.
It would be the cruellest irony of all to find that in exploring "new forms" of mission (or whatever you wish to call it), going to the edges in the way that we are being encouraged to do and has to be done, that I should find myself hindered in returning to something a little more mainstream.
It's only a suspicion, not a guaranteed fact. But it does make you wonder...
Has anyone else come up with any similar experiences?
So, not only did I withdraw from Small Midlands City (and feel a little bad for doing so when there is nothing that the folks could have done about it), but neither am I going to Nice Team Vicar Job Just Down The Road. Then again, nobody is , they decided not to appoint. I am disappointed, all the more so for two reasons, revealed after discussion with Neighbouring Archdeacon.
One is the answer to the question I posed a while back - can you be too honest? The answer seems to be yes. In a situation where unanimity cannot be found saying anything which might bring doubts is not a good idea, especially if you volunteer that information. I don't think I talked myself out of the post, but I could have stayed stumm and aided it. Still, I am me.
The second thought is at present nothing more than a suspicion. A doubt. A possibility of an ironic twist. I remember a conversation with my training incumbent some years ago. The gist of it was to always be looking towards the post after the one you're applying for. The original context was a particularly pleasant, and from the paperwork at least, rather comfortable University Chaplaincy (from a newish Oxbridge College, IIRC). There were no doubts about whether I could do it, more about how it would be perceived by potential new posts when the time came to move on.
And herein lies the rub. By having been doing a highly-unusual, mission-based job over the past few years I do not have much in the way of experience when it comes to running a regular parish. Worse than that any experience I did have a curate is now rather dated.
It would be the cruellest irony of all to find that in exploring "new forms" of mission (or whatever you wish to call it), going to the edges in the way that we are being encouraged to do and has to be done, that I should find myself hindered in returning to something a little more mainstream.
It's only a suspicion, not a guaranteed fact. But it does make you wonder...
Has anyone else come up with any similar experiences?
Labels: Faith, Life, Ponderings
¶ 6:52 am 1 comments
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Through the wringer...
I have never owned a wringer or a mangle, but in distant student days I did, for a while, regularly hand-wash my clothes. Why I can't quite fathom, possibly just the novelty value, combined with the time to do it. The phase didn't last long, but I do remember the experience of wringing out the towels, twisting them into contorted knots in an effort to extract as much as possible from them before putting them on the line.
This week I think I've learned how the towel must have felt!
This week GLW, LMP and myself made the journey to Small Midlands City for the familiarisation visit for the first Boojum. GLW and I got very excited on the way, planning and plotting about all the possibilities the post provided. It was a busy six hours: an awful lot to absorb, but an interesting challenge, a fantastic house, a garden of gargantuan proportions (which would have meant buying one of those tractor lawnmowers and made the chore enjoyable) and lots to think about. And that was before an evening of "speed-dating" various officers and members of the PCC to try to get a feel for the place!
We left feeling positive about it. If I'd been offered the post that evening I think we would have taken it. Only when Friday dawned did we begin to balance the picture, but not too much because I had to prepare for Boojum number 2: Nice Team Vicar Job Just Down The Road, as well as being seriously tired from arriving back in MLPK at 1230am!
So yesterday we had the interview for NTVJJDTR. And what is it about these posts? In both cases there are only two candidates, myself and an older lady... I felt that the interview went pretty well, aware of my weaknesses, but we're all human. The tour was good, although I was glad I'd had a preview visit with the Team Rector a few weeks back. The house was bigger than I remembered and GLW, LMP and LM (for she came too) all liked it. I had a chance to chat to pleny of folks over a buffet lunch with Real Sherry Trifle for afters (GLW does not approve of alcohol, so it was a rare treat!) and found myself chatting with cadidate number 2 - the pressure was off so it didn't matter. The whole experience was just, well it's a cliche, but lovely.
It was sitting in the car park that the pieces all came together. The people at NTVJJDTR were just great. The house was fine, and anyway SMC vicarage and garden were just too big to be manageable. The team at NTVJJDTR was established, the worship and churchmanship just my size, SMC was always going to be at the limits of what I could cope with. The only real drawback was that Nice Team Vicar Job Just Down The Road was just down the road and not in Small Midlands City, if only for getting to see our parents.
So decisions have been made, and where my head said one post and my heart the other (interestingly GLW had the same feelings but for the opposite places!) now heads and hearts agree. Not that I slept last night.
This morning I sent a letter (Sunday Collection 1245pm..) to Small Midlands City to withdraw from the application process. In ten years or so, SMC could well be the right post, but not now - for either of us. Too much is at stake and we have to get this right. I hope the folks there understand, but they wanted to get it right, and I wouldn't be, the worship would not sustain me and the job was just too big.
And Nice Team Vicar Job Just Down The Road? I don't know. We're hoping and praying that we are offered it, and there's no hiding the fact that we'll be disappointed if we aren't, but the past few days have clarified the way ahead: If not NTVJJDTR, them something like it. Not SMC. We will not lose sleep agonising over "what ifs."
Although it really might be time to fill in the application form for North Midlands Team Vicar... anything to avoid mowing the lawn (shame about not getting a tractor lawnmower though!)
So Neighbouring Archdeacon, if you're reading this, give me a call. Please. ¶ 10:54 am 2 comments
This week I think I've learned how the towel must have felt!
This week GLW, LMP and myself made the journey to Small Midlands City for the familiarisation visit for the first Boojum. GLW and I got very excited on the way, planning and plotting about all the possibilities the post provided. It was a busy six hours: an awful lot to absorb, but an interesting challenge, a fantastic house, a garden of gargantuan proportions (which would have meant buying one of those tractor lawnmowers and made the chore enjoyable) and lots to think about. And that was before an evening of "speed-dating" various officers and members of the PCC to try to get a feel for the place!
We left feeling positive about it. If I'd been offered the post that evening I think we would have taken it. Only when Friday dawned did we begin to balance the picture, but not too much because I had to prepare for Boojum number 2: Nice Team Vicar Job Just Down The Road, as well as being seriously tired from arriving back in MLPK at 1230am!
So yesterday we had the interview for NTVJJDTR. And what is it about these posts? In both cases there are only two candidates, myself and an older lady... I felt that the interview went pretty well, aware of my weaknesses, but we're all human. The tour was good, although I was glad I'd had a preview visit with the Team Rector a few weeks back. The house was bigger than I remembered and GLW, LMP and LM (for she came too) all liked it. I had a chance to chat to pleny of folks over a buffet lunch with Real Sherry Trifle for afters (GLW does not approve of alcohol, so it was a rare treat!) and found myself chatting with cadidate number 2 - the pressure was off so it didn't matter. The whole experience was just, well it's a cliche, but lovely.
It was sitting in the car park that the pieces all came together. The people at NTVJJDTR were just great. The house was fine, and anyway SMC vicarage and garden were just too big to be manageable. The team at NTVJJDTR was established, the worship and churchmanship just my size, SMC was always going to be at the limits of what I could cope with. The only real drawback was that Nice Team Vicar Job Just Down The Road was just down the road and not in Small Midlands City, if only for getting to see our parents.
So decisions have been made, and where my head said one post and my heart the other (interestingly GLW had the same feelings but for the opposite places!) now heads and hearts agree. Not that I slept last night.
This morning I sent a letter (Sunday Collection 1245pm..) to Small Midlands City to withdraw from the application process. In ten years or so, SMC could well be the right post, but not now - for either of us. Too much is at stake and we have to get this right. I hope the folks there understand, but they wanted to get it right, and I wouldn't be, the worship would not sustain me and the job was just too big.
And Nice Team Vicar Job Just Down The Road? I don't know. We're hoping and praying that we are offered it, and there's no hiding the fact that we'll be disappointed if we aren't, but the past few days have clarified the way ahead: If not NTVJJDTR, them something like it. Not SMC. We will not lose sleep agonising over "what ifs."
Although it really might be time to fill in the application form for North Midlands Team Vicar... anything to avoid mowing the lawn (shame about not getting a tractor lawnmower though!)
So Neighbouring Archdeacon, if you're reading this, give me a call. Please. ¶ 10:54 am 2 comments
