furtherandfaster

Birthday saga

And a full morning in church. I had to make my vows publicly in front of the congregation in 2 services. Tony my vicar decided I might as well get into harness so I led both services. Robed for the first but for the second only long enough to take my vows. Which pleased the more traditional congregation and freaked out the more progressive one. Robes are double edged sword – it is very odd wearing them – it gives me strange impulses to perform strange and peculiar quasi ecclesiastic gestures. An impulse I resist. Now I understand why there is so much play acting in church – supply the costume….

The best part of the second service comes when I help the children to lead the singing songs which they know and which they have to help the adults with. Normally the children go out and sing by themselves, Our music in recent month has been dance led – involving vigorous actions which leave me gasping for breath. We have been making such a lot of noise in the hall out side of the church that adults have been sneaking out since Christmas to join in. Today Palm Sunday when the children scandalised the priests in the temple in the Bible story by racing around waving palm branches and yelling and shouting it is a great time to have them lead the church. The effect is pretty much instantaneous – and the grownups ‘get it’. Pandemonium ensues. My favourite service for a long time.

My family took me out for a pub lunch. And then for a muddy walk by our local river, This turned out to be a subterfuge to get me out of the way to set up a surprise party in the church. There were over 100 people there friends locally and family from all over the country. My brother who DJs acid jazz and latin in Newquay and Plymouth had set up his decks in the church.  Then came the high point – a mass Salsa lesson with over 100 participants, boys down one side and girls down the other. A wonderful picture of heaven where the music is also dansable and divine!  My family had prepared a Powerpoint presentation of images, 6 presenters – my 3 siblings on the one side and my 3 children on the other – these were dressed as teachers and gave a presentation of my life drawing heavily on school reports. I survived the embarrassment.  The scariest moment was a faked wellwisher’s call from a former French assistante who let us say had expressed more than a passing interest in me at the time when I left school. An unforgettable day for which I was so grateful to everyone. 

March 15th – or how I expected to celebrate my birthday

I had grand plans for the big birthday this year but I’m broke – the big party idea will have to wait. The substitute wasn’t bad though. Three and a half years ago I began to train as a lay reader (the Church of England’s obscure term for lay minister). Today I finish now I have got 14 credits for 14 assignments covering a whole range of topics. From today I will be permitted to preach, teach and hold funeral services in any church in the St Albans diocese. Why you may ask? Because the decline of the church in the UK is serious enough that within a few years the shortage of clergy will be chronic. Already the ordination of women has made a huge difference – 50% of new priests are women now. But it won’t be enough. So why not train as one of those who is available to help fill the gap. The ceremony took place in Bedford – 90 minutes drive away. The ceremony involved the licensing of 9 readers in all though 4 had transferred from other parts of the country.  For this event I had to wear robes for the first time – a very strange experience. My vicar was present to put the reader’s blue scarf on my shoulder at the right moment in the service.  The 12^th century church was full. I was overwhelmed to have 30-40 supporters as well as my parents and family come from my church to support with an age range of about 70 years. It was easily the largest contingent of supporters there – I took huge satisfaction from the Bishop’s double take when he saw so many.  But here came the surprise. This was a 2 way street – they weren’t just here to support me – they had chosen me  - which made me feel a level of accountability to them which I had not anticipated.  That for me was the most moving part of the ceremony.