I have to try and keep ahead of members of the clergy who are filing blog entries by carrier pigeon from the Diocesan Clergy Conference.  Well – a good time is being had by all .. wish you were here … etc.  Certainly my attitude to these events in the past has tended to be, ‘I have to go – so I’ll go’ and I have enjoyed them well enough when I’ve been there.  But I suppose I feel a bit different about it now.  I am very aware that our clergy are separated by very large tracts of moor and mountain – so it is important for us to spend some time together and develop a sense of what it is that we are trying to do together.

Cupar in Fife is one of those charming places.  It nestles in the folds of the hills in the middle of Fife.  It has some lovely buildings and plenty of character.  There are more and more young families because the house prices in St Andrews are so high.  Today marked the start of the new Sunday School – a real commitment to the future.

Cupar 2nd after Epiphany 14.1.07.doc

But of course the real story of today is that somehow or other we went off for the day leaving Poppy out in the wet and cold.  Neither of us is prepared to plead guilty.  Not a happy cat.  She doesn’t do unseasonal outdoors.

Off to Bridge of Allan today for the Institution of Rev Dom Ind – and a real feeling of hope and expectation. This congregation has come a long way under Kelvin’s leadership and it is clear that people are ready to travel further. Our church places a very high value on the sharing together in ministry of clergy and laity. But that lives in harmony with one of the key elements of congregational growth – the offering of leadership in the name of Christ and the accepting of that leadership. At the simplest level, it’s about consent – but it’s more about a peculiar mixture of trust and hope through which the Spirit works.
Institution of Dom Ind Bridge of Allan 13th January.doc

Some time since fans of Poppy had an update.  So here for the benefit of Miss Matilda, Thumper and other on-line felines ….  Poppy has been concerned as to whether her portrait exhibited in the Perth Art Society Exhibition [and on sale at £250 as ‘Poppy the Bishop’s Cat’] did actually sell.  She felt that, while it reflected the sleekness of her coat, it perhaps did less justice to the sleekness of her physique.

Meanwhile, she enjoyed a post-Christmas break in Edinburgh with Simon – indeed the cappuchino-belt of Bruntsfield seemed closer to her natural habitat than the grouse moors of Perthshire.  Simon did mention that, in terms of her emotional demands, she was pretty high-maintenance, but he loyally affirmed that they were glad to have her.

Since her return to Blogstead, the weather has been pretty inclement.  Indeed her tolerance of high winds is about the same at that of the high-sided vehicles on the Forth Bridge. But springtime is coming and the house martens will be returning ..

Heading for Edinburgh this morning on the train – on what they call around here a dreach day. Always interesting to see who gets on and off at Gleneagles Station – this time it was two elderly gents with posh luggage. One sank into his seat and said in those tones which reverberate around a carriage – ‘London by tea time and, if all goes well, Paris by bedtime’ ‘God bless you, sir,’ I thought. ‘And may the light tread of your carbon footprint speed your journey!’ And I continued on my way to the meeting of the Information and Communication Board …

But it set me musing into my laptop about how much more romantic train travel is than just hopping on Easyjet. And then I became nostalgic about the days when travel really was travel in the even older and more faithful Passat.  I thought about the ‘aire’ we stopped in once heading south on the Entre Deux Mers Autoroute where you could actually smell the warm southern wind coming towards you. The children – who were all bred to be stalwart travellers – but who had been asking since the outer suburbs of Stranraer, ‘Are we nearly there yet?’ at last began to believe that some time …

I was wondering why I didn’t seemed to have anything to say to the blog – it may be because we are working hard on the strategy document for our Diocesan Review.  Lots of research and much discussion – but in the end you have to try and write it down.  And of course the people who are writing it down are the people who have going to have to try and carry it out.  I’ve seen more than my share of these things over the years.  Greatest crime?  To raise hope but not deliver.  Second greatest crime?  To add to the burdens of clergy without taking anything away.

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.