The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
Gang aft a-gley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promised joy.

Alison and I experienced our first Burns Night Supper this evening in Blairgowrie with the congregations of the ABC Group – and a great night it was, thoroughly enjoyed by everyone.  We tucked ourselves into a corner – a bit like those who come to church for the first time must feel – and tried to come to terms with a solid wall of culture and friendliness!  There was haggis and dancers and Robbie Burns and songs and what they would call in Northern Ireland ‘a wee ballot’.  Which reminded me of a former Rector with whom I worked who dealt with the [in Northern Ireland] complex issue of raffles at church events by saying that ‘it was all right so long as the prizes weren’t anything which anybody would actually want.’

And then, just as I was feeling it was time for a verse of the Londonderry Air or Sweet Rose of Portadown, we sang, ‘My love is like a red, red rose’ – Sir William said the ‘thank-you’s’ to the big team of helpers – and it was Andy Pandy time.

Having read the comments on my last effort, I’m pondering the points at which I think I can act authoritatively. I certainly do so to try and create a competently-ordered diocese and one in which people can have a chance of knowing [in the best sense] their place and how they can contribute. I act to protect, to make safe, to set boundaries and to make room for [possibly divergent] views. I act in prophetic challenge ..

On the reconfiguring, I assume that we are heading into a very mixed economy indeed and that one of the major bits of that mixture is that some situations will have a stipendiary priest ‘in the mix’ and others will not. If I have myself experienced reconfiguring, it was mainly at the hands of George Lovell and Catherine Widdicombe of the Avec Movement. They did a huge amount of work – partly about the role of the churches in partnership with others in community development. They also developed understandings of the concept of non-directive leadership. As I understood it, this placed the priest [or other community leader] in the position of ‘worker’ with the group – placing faith, spirituality, intellect, skills, knowledge and experience at the disposal of the group to enable the group to arrive at the ‘best’ outcomes and decisions. It seems to me that they discovered one of the ways of describing the balance which we are searching for here – recognising the authority of the group/community but seeing the authority of the priest as being at the service of the group and making a distinct contribution to its life.

Or have I missed the point?

To Inverness by train today for the first meeting of the Preparatory Committee which is part of the process by which a new bishop will elected for the Diocese of Moray, Ross and Caithness.  The scenery, of course, was amazing – up through Pitlochry, Blair Atholl and Aviemore – with plenty of snow along the way.

The distances which the new bishop will have to travel are fairly daunting.  The AA says that it is three and a half hours from Inverness to Thurso.  Maybe a helicopter might be useful.

And, of course, it makes one think about patterns of ministry – and about shared/collaborative ministry in particular.  Appropriately enough, once I ran out of Sudoku on the return journey, I immersed myself in ‘Local Ministry – story, process and meaning.’  Shared ministry is obviously a ‘good thing’ in itself – and in small and widely-spaced communities there is probably no other way to go.  The challenges seem to be all about getting the balances right.  For example, this is not about clericalising the laity.  Nor is it about removing priestly authority.  Indeed I have a feeling that at its heart is the task of helping clergy to re-negotiate their role – so that they can work authoritatively in the collaborative context.

Goldilocks is much in my mind these days.  In her search for the porridge that was ‘just right’ and her rejection of the extremes, she reveals that she was almost certainly an Anglican – although she falls foul of Revelation 3:15.  So as we work to get our Diocesan Strategy into the right form for consultation and discussion, I have a feeling of having been here so many times before …  Too prescriptive and you risk people dismissing the suggestions and not looking at the underlying issues.  Not prescriptive enough and you risk being too ‘airy/fairy’.  Too managerial and it becomes a ‘Godless document’.  Too Godly and it needs to be earthed.  Time, I think, for the bed which is neither too hard nor too soft.  And Poppy who is neither too affectionate nor too remote is looking for some attention.

I suppose it’s the Father Ted script that never got written – the Whiskey Galore shipwreck which washes up onto the beach unimaginable quantities of drink for Father Jack or … At least it would present a cheerier picture than the people who are descending on the beach in Dorset to remove BMW motorbikes and other stuff. Which reminds me of one of my most unpleasant experiences in all ministry – the time we got involved in giving out free butter from the EU butter mountain to pensioners. Sadly there is something about the possibility of having something for nothing which stirs the nastier side in otherwise sensible people.

Meanwhile two of the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland are locked in conflict about which is to profit from the tourism legacy of Father Ted. One has stolen a march on the other with a Friends of Ted Festival – attractions include Hide a Nun and Seek, a Father Jack Hunt and, in honour of Dougal, a Buckaroo Speed Dating Event. No mention of the Kicking Bishop Brennan up the arse Competition?  What I always liked about Father Ted was that it was so true to life.

22nd January – the worst day of the year, calculates Dr Cliff Arnall.  It’s apparently a combination of six factors – weather, debt, time since Christmas, time until pay day, low motivation and failure to keep New Year resolutions.  I’m tempted to say that I can’t even summon up the energy to comment on that.  Weather-wise, today was wonderful – bright, clear and bitingly cold.  In kingdom-building terms, it had some things that were really encouraging and others that made me want to bang my head on the wall.  We’re putting the replacement computers into the office tomorrow evening – tried to buy WiFi dongles from PC World this afternoon but they had run out of them.  Rather as if the church ran out of hymns.  And our broadband is being intermittent – as it has been for the last week.  Now that really deserves a place on Dr Arnall’s index.  How do I cope when the little green lights flash together rather than separately?

I was in Blairgowrie this morning.  Like Portnoo in Donegal, the clear glass allows one to gaze through the windows while preaching.  Delightful people who can cope with us inviting ourselves to their Burns Night Supper on Saturday!  And if you want to learn how to build a small and attractive church hall and integrate it with the church – this is the place.
This [and Coupar Angus] are about as close as we get to having a ‘local’ – church that is.  I think that the Meiklour Arms meets the other need.  We took the opportunity of travelling from Blogstead Episcopi in separate carriages – so that Alison could arrive at the same time as the rest of the congregation.  So we missed sharing a magic moment in the local scenery.  End of our lane and turn left – a simply magnificent panorama of the Tay Valley with a circle of snow-capped mountains all around.  In ‘appropriate music’ terms, it would definitely rate final movement of Beethoven’s Choral Symphony.

Just coming to 24 years since I ceased to be Church of Ireland Youth Officer and headed back into the certainties, peace and order of parochial ministry. I attended my second meeting of the Provincial Youth Network in Edinburgh today – alas no copies of Cosmo or Closer to keep me going during the less exciting bits of the meeting. I must say that they manage to do a lot with very limited resources – but there is still that familiar feeling of having rowed across to an offshore island while the real business of the church is done on the mainland. And yet … most of the reading which I have been doing en route to our Diocesan Strategy which hits the table at the meeting of our Review Group on Monday says that age factors are critical for church growth. Age profile of clergy is critical and so is the presence of at least some people under 45 in the congregation. Meanwhile I spend my Saturday afternoon with people most of whom were not born when I left full time church youth work.

End of an interesting week – three nights away.  The insulation levels at Blogstead are so high that I am starting to feel cold almost everywhere else.  Or is it just the thinning of the blood.

I coined the phrase, ‘spiritual well-being in good order’ – about the theme of the Clergy Conference.  One of my correspondents inconveniently but reasonably wants to know what I meant.  I think that what we were exploring was not just the disciplines of the interior devotional life – although that is foundational.  Where we were heading was towards exploration of the nature of ministry and the personal and spiritual demands which it makes – that for the most part we don’t have professional skills or cut-outs to work with – rather it’s ‘nothing in my hand I bring …’  How do we deal with our fear?  How do we deal with other people’s anger – and our own?  How do we connect at the deepest level with people but, at the same time, maintain the space which makes ministry possible?  The answer to all of those question is, for me, inextricably linked to our spiritual and emotional well-being.

I’ll await the results of the evaluation – but it seemed pretty good to me.  The turn-out of clergy was very good.  We were looking at aspects of spirituality – some personal and reflective material with David Lunan of the Glasgow Presbytery of the C of S; some applied spirituality with Cecelia Clegg of the Dept of Theology and Public Issues at New College in the Univ of Edinburgh.  And they were both excellent.  The Green Hotel in Kinross turned out to be a first class venue and the extra-curricular activities were ..

We also took a look at our ‘issues of the moment’ – the proposed Year of Stewardship and the working out of our Diocesan Review process.  We seem now to have the confidence to talk about doing things which we know are going to be difficult – but not to talk ourselves out of doing them!  Can’t ask better than that.

And why spirituality?  Well, it’s what you would expect clergy to talk about.  But more than that.  Ministry today is very demanding in personal terms  –  we have to reshape it as we do it and the days when clergy lived in a conflict-free zone are long gone.  To be open and collaborative in your working and to offer authoritative leadership without being authoritarian, you need to have your spiritual well-being in good order.