50th Anniversary of Holy Trinity Church, Belfast

I often think about the distinction made [was it Robert Runcie] between the degrees of busyness.  To be ‘obviously not busy’ seems undesirable.  So does ‘obviously busy’.  Best is ‘not obviously busy’ – because it suggests some element of control and also of space to deal with the unexpected.  I’ve been reading Abbot Christopher Jamison’s [of ‘The Monastery] book ‘Finding Sanctuary’  He, of course, hits the busyness thing where it hurts by suggesting that it is an option which we choose.  And of course it has the effect of closing off the option of exploring stillness and silence.  Guilty as charged, I think.  Part of me fights back and says, ‘Well, it’s all very well for him in his monastery …. ‘   I have a feeling that part of the answer lies in attempting to work in bursts of very intense activity.  Clergy tend not to have clearly-defined work/not work boundaries.  So the danger is that we sort of pick at it all the time.  So sometimes it may feel like busyness but it is actually a lack of discipline about when and how we work

I’m just taking a little ‘time out’ from the meeting of our General Synod – the post-lunch ‘grave-yard slot’ proved a bit much.  So I have slipped upstairs, plugged into one of the power sockets for the heaters on the wall and [Yes!] I’ve hitched a free ride on somebody’s WiFi nearby.  I do hope they don’t mind a bit of episcopal blog-hiking.

Synods are funny things.  Very friendly – we are a small church spread over huge distances.  Because we are small, we find it quite difficult to disagree.  So we sometimes find substitute or surrogate issues – commas in the liturgy, for example – which allow us to fall out without falling out. Because of the make-up of this church, we have many very capable and articulate people – so there are some very impressive things going on.

But the main reason why clergy have problems with meetings like this is that we are used to moving around all the time – to stay in the same place for more than an hour or two is nearly intolerable!

In my [not sufficiently] mis-spent youth, good weather was always a sign that it was exam time.  Nowadays it signals the onset of General Synod.  All church gatherings of this kind are, of course, impenetrable to the novice or the outsider because they function by something akin to parliamentary procedure.  In Ireland there was always a sort of ‘up from the country’ and ‘across the border’ feel to the Synod – with a pinch of ‘checking up on what those ones in Dublin are up to’.  Scotland feels rather different.  Last year I was too new to have much sense of belonging – this year I’m looking forward to being blamed for something as a sign that I have now arrived.  At least there is a Starbucks across the road – and a very sociable dinner on Friday night.  So there is hope.  But I’m still taking my laptop and some work to be getting on with just in case there might be a moment or two which is less than enthralling.

Glad to see that the latest edition of Inspires offers a caption competition for a photo of me in Tornado at RAF Leuchars. I suspect entries may well major on the ejector seat aspects of the situation – or the difficulty of getting the canopy shut over my mitre. The moment brought back all my reading of Biggles – although the Tornado was some distance removed from the Camel.

Readers of this blog will gradually [?] realise that, while I may say a bit about issues and problems that I face, I seldom say much about what I actually do.  But I think the second major meeting of our Diocesan Review Group which happened today is worth a mention.  Sometimes people see this kind of process as being, ‘What shall we put on this blank sheet of paper?’  I tend to see it the other way round.  No problem filling the sheet of paper with all sorts of ideas, plans, visions, strategies.  What I enjoy most is the refining and whittling away process out of which emerges gradually the architecture of the strategic plan.  Rather like seeing sculpture as the process by which the work of art is slowly revealed from the solid block of marble.  We’re some distance – and a lot of consultation – off that yet.  But it’s great to see the enthusiasm and the growing belief that it is possible to make decisions and see change happen.

Action for Churches Together in St Andrews – Pentecost Sunday

Pentecost with Confirmation – St Ninian’s Cathedral, Perth

Thought for the Day – BBC Radio Scotland

Off to Balquhidder [where?] for a spot of chamber music – part of my gradual reawakening in that department. Another sign too of my vastly improved work/life balance since moving to Scotland.  It was great – Elgar’s Serenade for Strings, a Bach Brandenburg Concerto and some other bits and pieces.  I’m so out of practice these days – Mrs Vanacek would speak to me most sternly in her middle-European tones.  But I allow myself to be tugged along in the slipstream.  She used to say to me, ‘You are like person who plays violin in phone box’  Interesting then as I drove the 37 miles back towards Perth to find the two cars in front of me stopped at a fairly dangerous corner.  What was happening? Just a spot of road rage as the driver of the front one got out, stood in the road and berated the one behind.  I could understand how people get shot in such moments.  He needed some Scott Joplin on the MP3 player.

It turned into something of an SEC bloggers’ night out.  It’s interesting to meet people whom you think you know because you read what they choose to blog about in the night hours ..  The service was, of course, extraordinary.  Wonderful music – a real treat – and many signs of Kelvin’s flair for liturgy and the big occasion.  Well – there was one completely OTT moment.  To sing Parry’s ‘I was glad’ as Bishop Idris led Kelvin to his stall?  It’s fine in Westminster Abbey when you are wearing a crown and stuff.  So what would have been better?  Not ‘Sheep may safely graze’, I think.  As always, I ponder my belonging and not belonging.  It was liturgically a long long way from Portadown!  But a great gathering of the SEC family and I feel increasingly part of that.