Category: Blog Entry

Some quite impressive TV last night, I thought – showing Rowan Williams doing all sorts of things and talking about the growing crisis in Anglicanism. They certainly managed to create an encouraging impression of vitality in the church. When asked how he felt about his task as archbishop, I think he said something like, ‘This is a job in which it is hard to tell yourself that you are doing well.’

And sometimes hard even to know what you are doing.  I’d had a weekend where I came into church – for an Institution and a Confirmation – when other people had done all the hard work of preparation. I’m still trying to work out how to contribute the very best I can when I’m not actually in control of what happens – as a parish priest I could be quite a control freak in my efforts to get things just so. And I’ve spent part of my day writing bits of a strategy document as part of our Diocesan Review process – and I can’t really control how that works out either. It’s very good for me because I have to learn to do my bit and trust other people. And I did try to tell somebody that today was Tuesday when it was, sadly, still Monday. Welcome to the church that doesn’t even know what day of the week it is.

Hilary Clinton says, ‘Hair matters in politics.’

It’s as well the church is a politics-free zone – otherwise I would be in difficulties.

What an exciting day! Tayside Police have now located the Diocesan Office and hope to return it to us shortly. Alicia hopes to be present for an Identity Parade. It’s real Enid Blyton stuff. Tim’s zeal in creating an on-line photographic record has been a real help – maybe he should photograph all of our members as well in case they are stolen by other churches and we need to identify them.
Meanwhile, the real business of today was the Institution of David as Rector of the Central Fife Team. This is a group of congregations in Glenrothes, Lochgelly and Leven – some of it is in the old industrial areas of Fife – Lochgelly has the lowest cost housing in Scotland. But as we drove through the housing estates towards the church, I felt quite nostalgic about working in this kind of community – these are wonderful places in which to minister. There is warmth and friendship – the lack of long tradition means that you can try out new things – and the core of faithful and committed members is second to none. Good things to come

It was a bright clear day in Perthshire today – and you could see extra length in the daylight for the first time.  So there is hope.

Meantime, I ploughed into the post-Christmas backlog – not helped by the theft of the office computers over the holiday.  So we’re playing out the wise and foolish virgins scenario in respect of the effectiveness of our back-up procedures.  I’ve become a devotee of on-line back-up with Mozy.com and BT Digital Vault – anything which means I don’t have to think about it has to be good news.  So I’m a sort of wise but ‘hands free’ virgin.
And it was a great break visiting friends and family – although Donegal, Leicester, Cambridge and home turned into a 1200 mile marathon in the faithful Passat.  It’s done 137000 miles now but no problems apart from the odd waft of curry smell from cooking anti-freeze in the leaking heater matrix.  Come to think of it, it seems to have more energy than I do – but tomorrow is another day.

Oh – and by the way my Unionist friends in Northern Ireland would not have enjoyed the patient explanation which I received from a nice lady in the DVLA in Dundee today when I tried to tax the Passat and discovered that I had forgotten to register my change of address.  It went roughly, ‘Yes Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom but the system operated by DVLNI is not connected at all with DVLA.  So you have to re-register your car when you move from Northern Ireland.’   That must be what Drumcree was about and I never knew.

A little late – but not too late for the New Year Resolutions.  Boris Johnson in the Independent said that his were: Rise Early. Work Late.  Eat Less.  To say that I am not sure about mine suggests a fundamental lack of resolution.  But here goes:  Rise earlier; go to bed earlier; cycle more; eat less; pray more; drink less; remember to be kind; be braver when the frites are down; don’t take myself too seriously; take myself more seriously than I do.  So if I have difficulty with the concept of New Year resolutions, do I really have problems with the idea that change is possible?

Both places where the culture comes in bite-sized chunks – so an overnight sea crossing between the two was always going to be an interesting experience.  In the end, it was a bit like the church at both its best and its worst – lovely people doing their very best but they hadn’t quite worked out how to do it. 

We sat in the cold waiting to check in for a while – and then another while.  Alison was getting restless but was totally disarmed by the greeting from the staff, ‘I love your Radley handbag.’  And then we moved on to the Security Staff – ‘Are you carrying any dangerous substances – or any substances for which you require a licence – not including the wife?’  As they say in Belfast, ‘Hard to beat.’  But better still – after we had waited another while in the cold – was the wonder of an escalator from the car deck upwards.  But the queue at the top to collect cabin keys was so long that people were having to run briskly backwards on the spot because they couldn’t get off.  But the ship was big and the cabin was great so we survived a rough crossing well.

Seeing Liverpool in the dark and the dawn reminds me that the generation which has grown up with Easyjet and Ryanair knows nothing about the way in which most Irish people’s experience of England began with unslept and unwashed dawn arrivals.  For me, ‘abroad’ began with a childhood crossing from Cork to Fishguard on the Inisfallen and somebody selling the Western Mail on the train to London.  Nothing has ever again seemed as foreign as that.

There are so many reasons why the hurried execution of Saddam Hussein is wrong that it’s hard to know where to begin.  I am opposed to capital punishment – and this kind of flawed process confirms me in that opposition.  It won’t bring closure – just add more fuel to the flames.  It denies justice to the numberless families for the death of whose loved ones he was responsible.  It gives him instant martyrdom – a fast track out of history into mythology.  It undermines the very values which the invasion was supposed to establish.  And beyond that, it removes any possibility of change of heart, remorse, of being part of the ultimate solution …. it freezes things at their very worst.

The Irish papers are full of the progression which Sinn Fein is making towards acceptance/support of the police in both parts of Ireland.  It will be hard for many people who lived through the violent years to see it.  But this is a remarkable piece of political leadership on the part of Gerry Adams.  Brendan Behan once said that the first item on the agenda of any Irish political party is ‘The Split’.  So to bring the Republican Movement – without a split – through decommissioning of weapons to recognition of the authority of the police is a really significant feat of leadership.  But no one should be dewy-eyed about this.  There is still very little warmth around and almost no trust in the political world of Northern Ireland.  But it is ‘jaw, jaw’ and, in the background, the faint sound of swords being beaten ..

…. where the weather is coming straight from Rockall.  But everything is now shipshape after the explosion.  We now have a key to the new boiler house – it is vastly bigger than the old one and has definite bicycle storage, den and possibly retirement potential.  We’re heading home via a birthday party in Leicester and a quick visit to my sister and family in Cambridge.  Poppy decided that Hogmanay in Edinburgh was a safer bet than Donegal.

Meanwhile – a happy New Year to one and all – not forgetting Marc Horne of the Sunday Times who wrongly reported me as being in favour of the legalisation of prostitution – which enabled Gillian Bowditch to take a side-swipe at me as well.  I do have a sort of sympathy for journalists and they have usually treated me well.  It must be difficult to get politicians to tell the truth and probably more difficult to get bishops and clergy to say anything worth reporting.  But that’s no excuse for cutting corners.  So for the record I am not in favour of legalisation – as you’ll find further back on the blog – because it deals with none of the fundamental issues which lead vulnerable young women into this degrading trade.

Strange how affected we are by mood or by …    I think Christmas is a difficult time for the preacher – certainly I found it so this year.  Everybody knows the story and yet you have to rummage about in the hay and find something relevant to say about it.  But if the Incarnation isn’t relevant, I don’t know what is.  Strange too that sometimes, when it doesn’t come all that easily, one actually communicates better!
Cathedral Christmas Midnight 2006.doc

A good Christmas had by all.  Our three children with us – and granny too – so a day to savour.  I’ve been in Alyth, the Cathedral and Auchterarder and it’s been great.  But I still miss the parish at Christmas – when I knew not just the people who were there regularly but those who turned up at Christmas and brought all sorts of complicated reasons with them.

Tesco on Christmas Eve was not an experience to savour but I did enjoy one bit of nebbing as I listened to social change happening ‘right now as we speak’.  Young couple standing by the bread counter.  ‘Why are you buying that?’ he asked as she lifted a baguette.  ‘To make crostini,’ she responded.  ‘What’s that?’  ‘You slice it thinly .. and drizzle it with olive oil .. and put it in the oven.’  ‘Why would you do that?’ he asked.  Sometimes I actually do get at least to the edges of understanding why women give up.