Countdown...

1st July - end of Andy's academic year and the beginning of my busiest months; July through to December. In the midst of youth events, essay writing, kids and school busyness and summer plans we are also waiting for some indication of where we might be going for a curacy from June 2014. The Petertide ordinations this weekend marked the beginning of a countdown towards Andy's ordination this time next year. Scary thought...

Some things we know: we'll have a 7 year old and a 2 year old. Our car will be almost dead. I'll be 36 and Andy will be 33. He will probably be a lot thinner as his triathlon and long distance cycling training continues. I will probably be fatter cos I will have baked too much!! We will have 2 more nephews or nieces (or one of each!) We know we'll be sad to leave but excited for the future. We hope to be permanent members of TOM. We know that God is with us. 

Other than that: it's all feeling very unknown. In a meeting the other week, my comment that we get to choose anything about this next stage was laughed at. It's hard not to feel as though we're a bit of a pawn in a big chess game. 

So we watch the post, check emails, try not to speculate, attempt to be open and gracious and expectant. Not feeling very convinced at present! 

DYO Conference

Spent part of this week at the National DYO Conference, with colleagues from other Dioceses doing similar jobs to me. Having said that, sometimes the only similarity is the word 'youth' in the job title but so great to hear about the ways churches, communities, projects and workers are drawing alongside young people and impacting school particularly. Some excellent, thought provoking presentations from Graeme Codrington from Tomorrow Today around generational theory and predicting future trends in technology, demographics, environments, culture and relationships which will massively effect the way we understand young people and the way we do youth work. Great stuff.

Late last week, one of our friends from the Friday Mums group had given birth to her third baby, a boy, at home, 9lb 1oz. On Sunday night, before I went away I heard that he had been admitted to hospital with suspected meningitis and was very poorly. Thank God he is now out of hospital, on the mend, having had millions of tests, lumbar punctures, drips of antibiotics and glucose and much trauma. 

Since I've been back, I've been thinking a lot about community...what that means for us as a family in the here and now. Its different to what we have experienced before. Being back with a bunch of DYO's again was lovely, made me realise that I am properly back at work, 11 months in. But really, aside from a few of the people who I see most often from my region and some others who I have spent time with in previous years, it's a community of acquaintances, brought together because of a similar role. I enjoy my time with them, respect hugely the influence and experience they bring but it's not a community.

Contrasting that with a sense of being very much 'away' from my community here at home while there was a crisis going on. Personally, I discovered the huge comfort and power of prayer when words just don't make sense or cover the need. I also had a realisation of primacy of Gods call to make disciples and live alongside people. My calling is much wider than just youth ministry although that is where my passion lies. But I think I'm gaining a greater understanding of the Temple and Home continuum that Mike Breen and others have taught on. For me at the moment, my Temple base is our church worshiping venue, the place where we do youth work and those we are working with while Andy is training. And wonderful they are too. Home is where we have ended up living, where the kids are building community with friends and families and we're seeing people asking questions about our faith, people who don't care what our role is and who we can eat, talk, cry and pray with vulnerability. 

With Pentecost being celebrated this week, the scriptures in Acts 2 seem to hold this continuum in focus - the disciples gathering together, under the apostles teaching, sharing everything, praying and supporting. It's been amazing to see that happening, amongst mature Christian, new believers, those on the fringes this week. In a situation where there was pain, panic, uncertainty, fear, people rallied round and prayer became a dynamic conversation.The chapel nights we have started doing recently had a massive attendance on Tuesday. The light of the Kingdom, right there...

the passing of time...

Since I last blogged, a lot has happened.
Andy has been to Tanzania and returned safely - having had a life changing, challenging and amazing experience of how a community can be mobilised to make a difference to it's own people. Some of his photographs are absolutely amazing and I'm still hearing new stories and reflections as he chats to others and responds to questions. If you'd like to know more, check out this link to Tearfund Transform's info page

Sadly, while Andy was away in Africa his grandfather died on 20th February after suffering a massive stroke on 2nd February. The funeral was this Thursday just gone, up in Newcastle so we've both been doing a lot of travelling. It was a wonderful day of celebration and remembering, obviously tinged with sadness but so many slivers of joy and hope breaking through into the grief. I know Andy is in the process of writing some of his own thoughts about Grandad Jack (or Gramps as our kids called him) and he will post them on here in due course.

I've been really snowed under with work and it's pretty full on right up until the end of term when I'm off for a week and we go away as a family. It's been a privilege (and a very daunting one at that!) to be teaching on the St Mellitus Youth Ministry degree course last Monday and this Monday coming. A really great group of engaged and interesting youth workers with a multitude of experience behind them. Couple of other exciting projects include starting the Innovate training for youth leaders and volunteers after Easter and the Growing Young Leaders programme for young people aged 14+ in April. I'm away quite a lot in the next few weeks - National Youth Advisers conference, Diocesan conference and Pilgrimage in Sheffield - all great opportunities in their different ways.

We've just filled in a preference form in connection with Andy's curacy starting in summer 2014 - requesting our ideas on where we might like to be, what kind of context, churchmanship and community and any other thoughts about where God might be calling us at that stage. This is probably not the place to discuss things too openly apart from to say we're up for anything really and have chosen a wide range of options and now need to sit back and let the process work. Which is another daunting prospect!

Lent disciplines are going well on some days and not so on others. I have managed, on most days, to keep to my limit of £1 extra spending - usually involving a chocolate injection! It's been important to plan what we eat and also challenging to still be hospitable within reasonable limits on spending. After a number of months of quite tricky times with Andy being under considerable pressure and then his grandfather being poorly, it now feels as though we can cement things at home a bit more, beginning with two families coming for lunch tomorrow after church. The stuff going on amongst school mums and local community events is also exciting.

I've been prayerfully considering some options for how my work might pan out over the next few months and years. Again, not able yet to say anything concrete but much of the supervision, coaching and huddling work that I do in my 'day job' has some possibilities for ongoing work, depending on where we might end up in 2014. Within all these wonderings, God is clearly at work and reminding me that I need to be patient and trust His timing. He has been faithful up until now and that will not change!

So, March begins with a renewed sense of focus and drawing near to Easter, that seems very hopeful.

December Daily - Day Three and Day Four

This weekend was our Christmas with the Hodson side of the family...my sister goes to New York on 22nd December for 10 days so it's a bit different to normal when we all congregate in Surrey at some point in the festive season.
My sister Ellie, husband Ollie and Freddie arrived here mid morning on Saturday. I had been up and out at Tesco's by 6.30am which was a good move - well stocked shelves and tills were open which they aren't always when you shop at night. We weren't going for a big Christmas dinner - just a Mexican spread on Saturday night and Jamie Oliver's beef stew (from Jamie's Dinners) on Sunday lunchtime. So the shopping was minimal.
Chelsea were playing Newcastle - couldn't have planned it better if we'd tried! So the boys went off to the pub and a few pints and Ellie and I took the kids to Barleylands for a wander. They had a baby market running with cakes, Santa and face painting so that went down well!
Heading back home in time for another feed for Isaac and the arrival of my mum who got here just in time for Matilda's tea and all the kids being bathed and sorted for bed. Once that was done we could get on with the serious business of the evening - food, Secret Santa pressies and Lee Evans on DVD!

It was a great night, relaxed and fun, and a great start to the festive season! In fact, I thought we should pretend that one of us was going away for Christmas every year as an excuse to get the party started!!

Sunday was a busy one for Andy especially, after a week of late nights with essay writing, labyrinth prep and festivities last night. He headed off to church around 8.30am and the rest of us relaxed at home, walking into Shenfield later on for a coffee before returning home to have lunch by which time Andy was back too. We exchanged gifts for the kids - Matilda was very pleased with a Sylvanian families car and Meerkat family as well as a new dressing gown. Freddie was all kitted out for his trip to NYC with a snow suit and an etch a sketch to keep him occupied on the plane!

As always with Christmas, it was over too soon - but looking forward to hearing all about Ellie and Ollie and Freddie's travels in NYC and hoping they get some snow and get to ice skate at Rockerfeller!

person of peace

For an introduction to the Person of Peace concept - try this helpful blog intro http://passionfruitblog.wordpress.com/2009/10/21/lifeshapes-the-octagon/

I had a profound experience of connecting with a Person of Peace (in fact 2) today at M's dancing class. For 6 months I have been taking her every week in term time for her half hour ballet class. While the kids are in their lesson, parents have to stay in a nearby room to wait, especially for this group as they still need help with the toilet and the teachers won't do that! 

In all that time, I have sat while other mums around me have talked across me and ignored me, carrying on their own conversations because they know each other from the school gates or nursery schools. They are usually in these conversations before they enter the room and it's been difficult to interrupt or even know what on earth they are talking about! It has been a lonely experience and one which has made me question myself, as a normally extroverted and friendly and chatty person. Something about the environment and everyone knowing someone else made me feel incredibly excluded. I have tried a couple of times to chat - and twice had a great conversation and was able to share about my job and about M's eyes and how we have seen God's hand at work in their improvement. But BOTH times, the week after, that mum was nowhere to be seen and hasn't been back since...was it something I said??!!

Since we moved church in January, we have been conscious of how much M has missed her friends at 'red church' as she calls it. We've tried to keep connected with 'red church' friends but it's hard when lives often change course because of different circles. We were worried that too much too-ing and fro-ing would make her unsettled as she asked 'when are we going back to red church' a few times. So we have concentrated on her friends and connections at nursery and 'yellow church' (it's all to do with brick colour!!)

But during this week, while I was away at Pilgrimage in Sheffield, I really felt God prompt me to not be so embarrassed or precious or irritated about not being included in the dancing mum's conversation and not to be scarred by previous experiences. In the context of missional communities and extending God's kingdom in our community, I was made aware that the attitude problem came from me and that I should pray for a person of peace in that arena and see what happened. So I did. 

And today, the room we would normally gather in while the class was going on was being used by another group. It meant we had to stand in the foyer bit for 10 minutes....and conversation started because I mentioned out loud that the group in the room had a lot of technology with them (speakers, projector etc) which might take a while to pack up.... The mum out there with me at that point agreed and said she noticed I always had my laptop with me and was it for my work? It opened the conversation...not for long, but it was a start!

And then, another mum came in whose little girl was starting the class today, She had a baby with her who was feeding from a bottle and while baby was busy she started asking me some questions about how the class worked and whether M enjoyed it. She was so engaging and said that her daughter was nervous about starting but was pleased there were other girls there. M had helped things along by taking this little girl's hand and saying 'you can follow me' when she first arrived. 

So, I'm thanking God tonight for his opening of these opportunities and for using M in it with me!

Mothering Sunday

I have a special appreciation for Mothering Sunday. I spent a good number of years being the one planning and being involved in Mothering Sunday all age worship or such like, arranging little posies of daffs and making sure we all bigged up the Mums...as we should of course...
But all the while, Andy and I were being told we were unlikely to have children naturally, we were continuing trying with no luck and facing the possibility that we would be 'just the two of us'. It felt pretty hopeless.
Throughout that time, it always struck me as a bit brutal, the way that Mothering Sunday is played out in our churches especially. Mothering Sunday is actually not about biological or birth mothers, let alone those who mother us in other ways. It's actually about the community of the church, the mother church, where all our roots begin.

I'm grateful to Jenny Baker on the Sophia Network blog for linking to this previous Maggi Dawn post on this very subject.
Maggi offers this useful insight which resonated with me:

When did Mothering Sunday become Mother’s Day? Only very recently – in the last 40 years. I have no problem with celebrating mothers – being one myself, I’m entirely receptive to celebrating motherhood any old time! I do remember, though, before I was a Mother, how profoundly excluded one could feel when Church celebrations of Mother’s Day tended to give out subliminal messages that one wasn’t a "real" woman if you weren’t a mother. I think Church should endeavour to celebrate motherhood in a wider sense – focusing on, perhaps, the Community of church, the mothering of God, the support of mothers by the whole church. We also need to take care, in celebrating motherhood, to wave a pastoral antenna for those who long to be mothers but can’t, those who have suffered miscarriages and stillbirths, those whose mothers have died recently, or who for any other reason struggle with "Mother’s day".

The very heart of the Father is that we should all feel part of the community of His children and the church is and should be the place where that is worked out most perfectly. Whilst we know it often isn't that way in reality, I do want to be aware of those for whom this day is most difficult and who perhaps stay away because of the memories, the pain or the disappointment.

Also, this Sunday I want to be grateful, in even greater measure for the blessings God has given me in my daughter and to be aware and thankful to those who have in their own way mothered, parented, mentored and made me into who I am and the mother I am, today.

Mon, I love you. Thank you for being there for me and for being so selfless and for loving me in everything I do and am.

quiet on the blog front....

it's been quiet in funky towers in recent weeks....it's been a difficult time for various reasons.
This weekend has been welcomly (sp?) busy and so I feel in the mood to just pen a few words on it all...
My friend Alison (from my Brentwood TFG year, and now in Sheffield) was down for the weekend to attend the CGi Be Conference for Women in Chelmsford. I have been for the last 5 years but was only able to do the Friday night and latter part of Saturday afternoon this time. Reason being, we were helping out with a session of the Marriage Preparation day at All Saints for 4 couples getting married in August and November, so we flew around a bit yesterday dropping the Bean off at childcare then doing the session and then I dropped Boy and Bean at home before heading off to Chelmsford again in the afternoon...

Today I was preaching in Billericay and we had dinner with the Team Rector there and his family which was really lovely.
And tonight, we're looking forward to watching our favourite theologian of the popular media - Dr Robert Beckford - present the last episode of The Bible A History on Channel 4.

Can't really get much reflection going on it all at this point, but hopefully this week will herald more positive news and challenges and I can take some time to be a bit more reflective rather than factual - hope you's are all good anyway?!!

the most wonderful time of the year....

It's been a weekend of fabulous highs and lows...
a brief list:

• we saw Wicked on stage yesterday - amazing! We had a great day out in London with our friends Karen and Shaun. I loved the end of Act One and the fantastic staging with the dragon and wowza costumes...and enjoyed my fillet steak at Browns! mmmhmmmm!
• we've had a great afternoon and evening today singing carols at Maldon Deli and at various church member's homes, encouraging them to invite their neighbours and friends in for us to 'serenade'!
• This morning's service at CGC Maldon was fantastic fun - the little ones doing a Nativity, both live and on film and the older teenagers performing their own 12 Days of Christmas, with audience participation.
• We were also 'sent out' from CGC this morning, prayed for and released to take the next step on our unknown journey into (hopefully) ordination and a life in church leadership within the Church of England...

It's been a sad and painful thing to move from a church which has put so much into us and where we have had so much fun and significant memories. But today has been so fun - to hang out with some of our favourite people, to celebrate the joy and hope of this Christmas season and to know that God is in control - whatever happens next.
So, 3rd January, we start at All Saints as our new home church - and while there is pain in the offering and at the moment it feels like we're giving a lot up - we know that in God, each and every experience is and can be used for his glory, if we just let Him do His thing. So we shall!


A couple of great blog links that I've come across today:
Here from Rachel Marszalek on the whole Santa dilemma that we have faced this year!
Marko has a brilliant post including a Christmas playlist which I shall be downloading later...He also references an organisation called Kiva which is an innovative system to allow loans to be made to alleviate poverty. They have a giftcard system which seems a brilliant alternative Christmas gift, if you still need inspiration?!


Officially, it's now the Christmas holidays - so Andy is off and he and the Bean will be undertaking various food and fun related projects over the next few days. I am working Monday and Tuesday and we've got some people for lunch and dinner through the week, catching up and celebrating.


This has been a weekend to remember, significant in many ways and the launch pad for new things while also enjoying looking back on what we (God!) has achieved in and through us and how far we've come.

The Con of Christmas - hear me out!!

This post also appears on the my work blog here


This has been a post in formation for weeks and I was never sure I felt brave enough to write it in a real way for people to see...but Bishop Nick Baines has got in before and dealt with the stick over the weekend...so I feel a bit like I'm jumping on the bandwagon - but hey, we all do that in the world of blogging!



So, check out Nick's post here Grumpy Bishop. He's recently published a book which I'll say now, just like all the media who have entered the scrum of interviewing him, I haven't read yet. But based on this post, he is from the same stable as me - if you'll excuse the pun! (Cos it was probably a cave!!)

 My problem with Christmas (I love it really, don't get too worried!!) came with the arrival of M 3 years ago - her first Christmas didn't really matter as she was only 10 days old. But come her first birthday, followed rapidly by Christmas Day, it was very difficult not to get caught up in the assumption that Father Christmas would be visiting our house in the dead of night and delivering presents.

I love the idea and the legends of Father Christmas and the root of it's story in St Nicholas who was a 3rd century miracle worker, renowned for secret gift giving and whose feast day is this Sunday. But I have a problem with the commonly held assumption that Santa (who is a character developed by cartoonist Thomas Nash in 19th century America and then taken on by mighty Coca Cola), who in contrast to St Nicholas is a jolly, red faced, red suited old man living in the North Pole, are one and the same.

The titles Father Christmas and Santa Claus seem to be interchangeable - indeed in the North East where we used to live, Santa is often Santee (try it with a Geordie accent!!)

But the roots of these characters - fictional, historical, the stuff of legend, whatever - are very different and portray different aspects of the Gospel and the Christmas story. Whilst I am not going to go down the extreme line of saying the whole thing is a lie and Father Christmas can't possibly visit every house in the world in one night etc., I am going to make sure that the traditions we have and the story we tell is faithful whilst also being magical and not ultimately confusing to a 6/7/8 year old in years to come.


Ultimately - I want M to understand that she receives gifts, not because she has been a good girl, but because we love her and because we want to celebrate the wondrous story of Jesus' birth and his life given out for her and for us. It always has everything to do with GRACE - and giving gifts is not because we are good, but in fact the opposite - but we are LOVED, by God and by one another and so we can bless one another...that is our call as disciples.


I HATE it when people ask small children whether they have been good this year and if Santa is going to come - of course they haven't been good...they are small children!! But in our house, M will get a small stocking of presents, outside her door, from us to open in bed and Father Christmas will have visited the house overnight - drinking a bit of something, scoffing a mince pie and maybe leaving some gold coins as the original St Nicholas is said to have done. All her other presents will come from us - real people who love her and know her and want to be part of the pleasure of giving gifts as she is in the giving of gifts to others.

 Ok, so that's the Santa bit done...


Now a quote from Nick Baine's blog, referenced above: Now, some commentators say that Christmas is about sentiment (feeling), nostalgia and ‘magic’. They say that simple carols are great for children to begin to learn the story. Absolutely right. But the people arguing this are not children, but adults who want to stay as children when it comes to matters of God and faith and so on. Think like a child when you are a child, but, for goodness’ sake, grow up when you are an adult.



I find it ironic that for the rest of the year, a majority of our population want nothing to do with Christian tradition in any way but suddenly at Christmas they become hugely defensive of anything being different or changing or being criticised. The depth of understanding of what Christmas and this huge celebration are really all about is missing - and I see 2 reactions as I go about my work and experience life.


Some churches and Christians do nothing to celebrate Christmas...no carols or Christmas services or trees or anything which is vaguely pagan or rooted in tradition - everything just carries on as normal until the BIG DAY. Missing out Advent, in my opinion is the real shame here...but that's another issue!


On the other extreme, there are many churches and Christians who do everything traditionally and don't question 'why' or whether it's helpful. I remember one of my first parish posts and the whole of December being taken up with either visiting or hosting Carol Sevices or nativity plays - by schools, Townswomen's Guild (yes seriously!), nurseries etc. You did want to tear your hair out by the end and it had slightly lost it's magic in the repetition.

My reaction is to try and do something in the middle - I love Christmas carols but hate Away in a Manger and the 'How silently' verse of O Little Town of Bethlehem. Mary was NOT silent in labour, OK!

We'll be having a tree even though it stems from pagan tradition...(!)because it forms a focal point in our home for Christmas celebrations and it is a precious family occasion to buy the tree and decorate it. We will feed people, host people, visit with people - mainly those we know or are related to, although when M is older we endeavour to be spending time with those who don't have the advantages of Christmas traditions and family that we are blessed with.
 

The difficulty of taking an extreme reaction to Christmas traditions and popular culture is that you get bah humbuged by everyone else...which is difficult to take, in what is supposed to be a season of goodwill after all!! But if we Christians can't communicate seriously the true meaning of Christmas, then how can we expect those who only take part in the traditions once a year to really know what we're all about??


+Nick continues: The ‘magic’ of Christmas is fine – up to a point. But ask any clergy and they will tell you about the ways in which Christmas is hard for many people and how the ‘magic’ makes it harder. It is for them that the reality of Christmas hits home: that God has not remained a million miles above contradiction, but opted in to the muck and messiness of the world and meets us where we are – in the vulnerability of the baby in Bethlehem. To tell that story is not to be miserable – but the opposite.

I am just not prepared to encourage people to live in a fantasy world, but doing my job as a Christian bishop in calling people back to the original story. Grasp it – and then celebrate hard and fully. I’ll be belting out the carols and watching the nativity plays along with the rest of them. But I will also be living in the real world and engaging my brain.



+Nick - I'm with you. I'll be doing mobile carolling on 20th December, going into London and experiencing the Christmas lights and soaking up the excitement. I'll be making mince pies and sausage rolls and wrapping presents and sneaking about on Christmas Eve, stopping Andy from squeezing presents and we'll probably be eating and drinking too much. But I hope in the midst of all that, I'll be reminded of why we get to celebrate this amazing event - because it changed the world, it changed my world and I want it to change the world of my daughter and her friends and our families and our community because we tell it how it really is - check out the Gospels - if you take the 'text' out of 'context' - what are you left with??



Comments awaited!!

a sunday night catch up!

November is half way through and 4 weeks tomorrow our Baby Bean will turn 3!! Who could believe that, least of all us! Plans are in place for her small scale birthday party here at home with a fancy dress theme...and the usual party games and kids food. We'll also be making some Christmas decorations, watch this space!! The weekend before her actual birthday will be a bit quieter, just the three of us, getting our tree and going out for lunch at her favourite pasta place with her favourite friend...! Bless...three years ago today I was HUGE!!


Last week went in a whirl - I was working a lot of evenings and also working very hard on a presentation movie for our Youth Strategy presentation at Synod yesterday - it took me hours!! But I'm really pleased with it and post it here for your perusal! 



We had Lacey Theatre Company performing at the Town Hall last night which was excellent - their one woman show called The Story so Far. It was great - thought provoking, funny, full of variety and really engaging, all focusing on the great storyteller, Jesus. The amazing thing about Lacey is that they do some much work in schools and they don't charge a fortune...£300 for a day in school with a performance and workshops...bargain I think and totally geared to the Key Stage 3 RE curriculum. Go on, book em!!


Today has been the usual busy Sunday - church this morning (CGC) with the dedication of our friends Tim and Kath's son Caleb. Followed by lunch with the lovely Stone kids and then GIraffe here...on God's protection which was fun and random in equal measure!


So, now I'm catching up on some ebay bids for playclothes to get M through the next month or so...she keeps growing. And watching Strictly...so don't tell me the result!
I have some reflections to post which are only brewing in my mind at the mo about our church move and the next season for us...so watch this space.
Happy Sunday!!

an unexpected weekend of time

This weekend we were supposed to be running a Youth away day at Asheldham Centre, down on the Dengie. However, it was cancelled due to lack of numbers which has given us an unexpected Saturday to do nothing.
However, Saturdays doing nothing are not really possible with a toddler, so we have done some lovely things and had a splendid day! Let me tell you how it panned out - and it's not done yet!




Andy was Street Pastoring in Chelmsford last night and despite a not too busy night, didn't get in til 4.40am - so M and I kept quiet this morning, having a leisurely breakfast and watching Angelina while also ploughing through a few new library books and doing some drawing.


Andy stirred around 10.30am - just as M and I were about to go off out.  I had found a new Garden Centre advertised in a local freebie magazine which had a farm shop and animals and a shabby chic style Christmas shop! It seemed like a nice cheap and lazy option for a beautiful autumn day and when Andy heard what we were doing, he decided to join us! We were delighted to make a great find, just 8miles away from us!
Growing Together doesn't seem to have a website but it is in Smythe's Green near Layer Marney, just west of Colchester. They have a great selection of plants and bulbs, a fabulous farm shop with local meat, fish and groceries as well as scrummy cakes which you can eat on site with a cuppa - always a winner! They also house a variety of animals - ducks, hens, pigs and all in all, it was a fab 2 hours! We love Barleylands, but it is expensive for how long it keeps M's attention and while M isn't even 3 yet, she is perfectly happy with viewing animals and getting her hands dirty here, rather than a purpose built entertainment venue for kids! Long may it last!
On the way back, we popped in to Oasis Christian bookshop in Tiptree, got a couple more Christmas pressies (I did well yesterday and am pretty confident I'll be shopped out by end November!) and then bought some chips from the chippy to bring home for lunch. Yummy - M declared 'this is my best lunch ever' - her father's daughter indeed! She didn't like the mushy peas tho!
I've chilled out with some chores at home this afternoon while M napped - including wrapping some parcels to send to friends with new babies and some gifts to go to the States in time for Christmas. I've also got ahead with the roast dinner for this evening, while Andy has headed out for a small but significant event in Maldon this afternoon.


Stephen Carter is licensed/installed as the new Rector of All Saints Maldon this afternoon and his arrival is the beginning of the transition for us into our new church and season. From tomorrow, Andy will be dividing his time between All Saints and CGC Maldon, getting to know Stephen and preparing for us to move fully as a family in January. In order for Andy to progress on the journey of discernment and selection for ordination, we need to be in an Anglican Church and we need to have a 'recommend' from the priest there! So welcome Stephen and family, and we look forward to getting to know you and pray God's blessing on you as you begin your time in Maldon. It is good to see, from his newsletter linked to above that young people and children are a priority for him...reassuring as parents and with our other hats on!


I'm grateful today for extra time - just to be and to think at what is a time of much change in our lives. M has been great company the last couple of days, her insightfulness into things we forget to or no longer notice is often a real awakening. It's crazy to think that in just over a month she will be 3, we have nearly been in Maldon for 4 years and I am now in the 4th academic year of my job. God has really been doing so much - settling us at the right time, enabling us to deal with many aspects of uncertainty that have been present, drawing amazing people into our lives and at the right time is now moving us into a new 'place' with a new worshipping community, but still in a place that we love and surrounded by people who love us. That is the crux of the church - it is the kingdom of God and it doesn't matter what building you are in, or who leads you or preaches to you or who you affiliate yourself with, it is the seeking of God and of his loving community that will make a difference to those around us.
I leave you with this quote from the brilliant and irrevent Archbishop Cranmer blog:
Being Anglican can be one of the most difficult Christian paths to follow: one often feels that one is neither one thing nor another; as was once observed, that one is somehow 'crucified between the two thieves’ of the Puritans and the Papists; suspended between doctrinal fanaticism and superstitious ritualism.