This is a time of year when I feel nostalgic about parish ministry. All right – I know that if I was doing it again my nostalgia would be short-lived. But there was a rhythm to it, particularly in Holy Week. You knew where you were going and how you were going to get there – just so long as you didn’t have anything else planned.
My Good Friday started in the BBC in Edinburgh
First of all there was Thought for the Day for BBC Scotland. Then a Radio 4 Act of Worship – complete with the usual panics about transmission which seem to go with live radio.
Anyway, here is the Thought for the Day. I was aware that Nelson Mandela was far from well at that point. So I wrote a a second Thought for the Day and we adapted and used it as the reflection in the middle of the Act of Worship.