Mike's musings

What a day

Worked till 1030. Partly because things are very busy, partly because I had to take breaks during the day to: 1) let the electrician turn off all the power in order to finish off fitting the new radiators 2) deal with the fact that my main server died, loudly (*phzzzzzzzzzt* + ozone smell) when I turned it on, necessitating emergency DHCP procedures 3) pick up Jo from school, where she'd come down with severe stomach pains (fine by bedtime) 4) fail to have a haircut (see 3 above) 5) meet other members of the clergy and reader team for prayers, discussion and lunch (though I ended up using Sally's office for 45 minutes for a work call) 6) the realisation that I had a computer that I might be able to cannibalise for a new PSU, which just _might_ be all that had broken on my main server (and was). So, a busy day, and I'm not quite sure why I'm still awake. Time, in fact, for bed.

Labels: clergy, geekery, illness, jojo, work

Necking

(backposting) Had a bit of a run-in with my mother-in-law when I lost my temper today. Silly on my part, and mainly because I'm a bit stressed about the new job starting so soon, etc., but it wasn't good.

On the other hand, Moo and I went out for a lovely meal, just the two of us. This is an all-too-rare occurrence, but as the new job is definite, and we have (for a chance) got some money in the bank, we decided to take up the offer of some childcare, and headed out. By the time we got back at 2200, everyone was asleep!

One thing that's been fantastic is how supportive my clergy colleagues have been throughout the job process. They've prayed for me while I've been without a job, and they've been very, very accommodating about my needing to change services around as I'm going to be away for 2 Sundays (I'll be leaving home early this Sunday to catch a flight at noon). Many thanks to them for everything.

Ah, yes, and the necking thing? I sent a Twitter and Facebook update saying that I was going to take Moo for a really good neck. My phone decided that this was more likely than "meal" (what sort of guy does it take me for?), so I had to send a second one to retract...

Labels: clergy, food, Moo

Opportunities

Miri was up during the night, and joined me in bed, so I didn't sleep so well. But then again, without a job, I didn't feel even slightly upset about going back to bed for an hour and a half after the girls headed off in the morning.

I met some of the deanery clergy team for an informal chapter meeting over lunch in a pub (The Lion in Earls Colne, as it happens), and after a quick bit of searching for new jobs, I headed off to see and old friend, Chris, in Cambridge. So, as the quick bit of searching yielded a possible prospect, and Chris also had another one, it was rather a productive day in the end. Maybe I should get in the habit of a good sleep in the morning...

Moo got back, and all seems to have gone OK at her folks'.

Labels: clergy, family, job

Clergy lunch

(backposting) Tomorrow, the retreat begins, so today is a day to get things sorted. I worked on a CD for my first Eucharist, and took it into church to listen to, but it didn't work so well, so I'll have to find an alternative way of doing it - hopefully I can find the original CDs and use those. After that, we had a team clergy lunch, most of which was not actually lunch, but the team walking through the choreography of the ordination service for Sunday.

Just as we were sitting down to lunch, the plumber called, so I had to eat quickly and head off home. We now have 3 working loos, rather than one and a half (no, really). This is an improvement.

Labels: clergy, music

Celebratory service

(backposting) Today was the 40th anniversary of my father's ordination to the diaconate, and he officiated at a Eucharist at Cheddar, where he's a been a curate for the past 18 years. I deaconed for him for the first time, which was lovely, and all of the family came apart from Jo (who'd thrown up in before the service) and Moo (who stayed back to look after her). Miri came up and slept in my arms before I handed her back to Jim when I went up to serve Dad at the altar. It was just brilliant, and she was very well behaved. Some of my happiest earliest memories are of going up to be with Dad when he was assisting at services, so I'm glad that the girls are getting the chance to do it as well.

Labels: clergy, diaconate

Old work colleagues

Popped round to Citrix today as I had a meeting in Cambourne. Put a clerical collar on (had one in the glove compartment). Fun and good to see some of the folks from years ago.

Moo's back home, we're both knackered.

Labels: clergy, Moo

New stole

Last week, a stole arrived from Jacquie Binns. I'd commissioned her to make me one, which my old benefice had very, very kindly sponsored, and I'm really, really pleased with it. It's a white stole (for use on occasions such as baptisms and weddings) and I had it made so that it's very personal to me.

On the right side, there's a Jerusalem Cross. I went to the Holy Land when I was just 8 years old, and the Jerusalem Cross has been special to me ever since.

On the left side, there the letters "IHS" (from the first three letters of "Jesus" in Greek) are spelled in binary ASCII. I know this is geeky, but it reflects who I am, and I'm really happy with it.

Both sides are embroidered through in rainbow colours, to reflect the importance for me of inclusivity in the church: high and low, rich and poor, male and female, gay or straight, disabled or able-bodied...

Unluckily, the lighting doesn't do the stole justice, as it's really beautiful and has a lovely glossed finish. Thanks to the benefice, and thanks to Jacquie Binns.

Labels: clergy, clothing

Team barbecue

No - we didn't roast the clergy members or their families: we got together and had a good meal together. Good to meet everyone together with spouses and family, and good to be able to have clergy chat, discussing baptisms, funerals and marriages we've known, share jokes, etc.. And just to have time together.

I blogged yesterday about someone to whom I was speaking about spirits and other concerns. I'm pleased that she got back in touch with me, told me she was a Christian, and taking the issue seriously. I'm really relieved.

Labels: clergy

Paris!

(backposting) Jo was up at 0345, and I didn't get back to sleep before 0430, when I got up to drive to Gosfield for a cooked breakfast with Geoff, after which we picked up John and drove to Ebbsfleet International. There we met Viv, James, Ruth (his wife), Clifford and Anne (his wife). We got to Paris, and did the OpenTour bus ride around the city. We ate and drank (twice, with less drinking the second time), and got to know each other better than we had before. I spent lots of time talking to people, particularly Ruth and Geoff, and on the way back in the car, Geoff, John and I had some very interesting discussions on some major theological and pastoral issues, including:

• reception of the Eucharist by children;
• baptism policies;
• marriage policies;
• marriage preparation.

I had a very interesting time, but the highlights of the day for me were trips to Notre Dame de Paris and the Memorial de la Déportation. I rather dragooned people into going to this, as none of them had been there before. People don't seem to know it: for me, it's a must-see when visiting Paris. It's very affecting, and I cried, as I think I have on each occasion I've been there. Notre Dame, which we did immediately afterwards, was hardly less emotional for me. Although it was very busy, there's an oasis of calm in the middle, and I also joined a little service in the Lady Chapel at the East end. I've never said the Ave Maria that many times before, even if it was in French. Does that count?

Slept a little on the train back, and got home around 0020.

Labels: clergy

Toyboys - or Tomboys?

I went to my first deanery chapter meeting today. I should probably explain. The deanery chapter is where all the priests and the deacons from the deanery get together to chat, discuss issues, and generally bring up whatever they want. There are 13 clergy in our deanery (Hinckford), though only 6 of us made it. We went to a pub (The Lion) in Earls Colne, and ate outside. I met Margaret and Janet, who'd I'd not met before, and although we spent some important time discussing some pastoral issues - personal and parish - it was the downtime together that was just as important.

Lots of laughter and joking, teasing and fun. There was the discussion about whether Viv would like a tomboy. I meant toyboy - but it was particularly funny in light of the earlier chat about homosexuality in the Church of England.

It was a good, light-hearted lunch - I don't know how it would have been with more people (and different people) - and I must make sure I make it to these meetings as often as possible.

Miri's at the "no!" stage, but it's mainly aimed at the dog. Oh, and "shh!", with her index finger right up the side of her nose: again, mainly to the dog.

She's a lovely thing, and I wish she'd not taken about an hour and a half to go to sleep when she came into my bed in the middle of last night.

But Moo's home today.

Labels: clergy, miri

Being lay

The girls slept in till past 0700. But as Jo was awake for around 2 hours during the night, this isn't so good. But we got up and went for a walk with the dog before church at 1100. Moo looked after Miri (got her to sleep) while I took Jo to Great Yeldham for what may be my last service as a member of the laity. Certainly in a parish church - I think there will be some services on the ordination retreat this coming week. Had to look after Jo for quite a lot of it, but read the Epistle, which I enjoyed very much.

Lunch, then a bit of gardening: why does garden machinery hate me so much? The mower all but died, and the strimmer lost an important part as I was using it.

After this debacle, Moo and I took the girls swimming at the Braintree Swimming Centre. We all had a great time, particularly as Miri has decided that she can go down the water slide. She can, but around 20% of the time she bangs her head on the way down...

A little recap: over the past week, the girls have really come on. Jo's coordination has developed significantly, and she now runs beautifully. She also enjoys forward rolls and similar, and we're thinking about finding her gymnastics lessons. Where she gets all this from is beyond us!

Miri, also, has come on astonishingly. On the movement side, she now can both walk and run, and is happy to carry things around all over the place (preferably bags), and to go downstairs forward, on her (well-padded) bottom. But the biggest change has been in her language. Not only are we getting more and more words from her ("Buster", "dog", "shoes", "oh dear", "good girl", "cat", "there" (well, "dere") and "sorry" spring to mind), but she understands enormous amounts of what we say to her. "Would you take the bag to Mummy?" "Would you like some more yoghurt?" "Let's go to your bedroom." All well within her grasp. And she's getting good at letting us know what she wants: her favourite is to point at things, or to pat a chair that she wants to sit on. The most confusing thing is when she's very certain about something: a strongly shaken head means either "definitely no" or "very much yes". I think that Mel's going to notice some big changes.

Labels: clergy, Jo, miri, Moo

Meeting with James

(backposting) James, the current curate for my title post, came round for supper tonight. Moo was still out, so it was just me and him (I'd got the girls to bed in time, despite it being a hairwash night), and we had a great chat. Talked about the team, the parishes, the people, our views, our backgrounds, our theologies, our families, and the rest. I'm really glad that he's going to be around for at least a time overlapping with my title post.

Labels: clergy, title

Patent disclosure

One of the great things about working in a tech company who take innovation seriously is that they encourage you to write up ideas. Today I wrote up a patent disclosure that I'd come up with at the ECC conference last year. I'm quite pleased with it, to be honest. Obviously can't say anything more than that.

In the evening we went to a private viewing of some work by a friend of ours who really isn't very well. Prayers, please: can't really say more than that.

Oh, and a friend of mine, David, has been appointed Rector of St Anne's, Soho. I believe it's OK to say so, now. Well done him! It's a great position, from what I can tell, and I think it'll suit him well.

Labels: clergy, illness, work

Happy Easter

You must remember that the clergy have a lot to do in the lead up to Christmas, and it can all get too much. That didn't stop me laughing, however, when Keith, our rector, left me a message this morning to wish us a happy Easter. He said "Christmas" later in the message, and didn't seem to have noticed the switch, but I told Dorothy, his wife, who has agreed to rib him about it.

Jo is at a stage where she really, really wants to tell you things, and, when she tries hard, she can get there, but it takes her a lot of thought and hard work. She's coming out with some fantastic and surprising things. "What are the balloons doing?" "Floating in the sky." Wow. She was sick a few times last night, and ended up with Moo in our bed (so I wnet off to the spare room again). We think it was because I took her swimming and she drank too much water.

We did a secret Santa with the other kids after swimming, and Jo got a "Mr Potato Head". To my surprise, she loves it, and calls it "Monster Egg". When it doesn't have any of its accoutrements (eyes, ears, nose, etc.) attached, it does look like an egg. And it _is_ kind of monstrous.

Moo's still not well - but I took Jo out card-delivering this afternoon, and Moo got a little more sleep.

Labels: Christmas, clergy, Easter, Jo