A walk along the Tay at Dunkeld yesterday in the beautiful Autumn colours prepared me for the Development Programme at St Mary’s and for Confirmation/Affirmation of Baptismal Vows at St Mary’s, Strathtay.
Like most clergy, I view Stewardship or Development Programmes with some trepidation. In my Rector days, we did these things on a fairly huge scale – I remember organising a team of 75 visitors. And there were always those who responded to the challenge of sacrificial giving by getting their retaliation in first. The one that sticks in my mind was, ‘Quare time since the Rector stood in my house.’ The visitors tended to report these comments with the urgency of Dispatches from the Front and would be astonished when I was able to pinpoint exactly the source.
Anyway I got my retaliation in first this morning and this is something like what I said.