Back to school this morning for an pre-Christmas Eucharist with staff and pupils for Fr Roy Doxsey and I. There's so much going on in the last fortnight of term with several Nativity presentations for the audience of parents, plus carol singing in the community by children for the school's neighbours, that it's not easy to ensure the end of term Eucharist is really special. What's wonderful is the effort staff put into ensuring it is the way it's meant to be. It's their expression of value for something that's at the core of the lives of many of them at home, but which they are also glad to take into their professional world with them.
I just wish that we, as clergy could do their faith better justice, perhaps by spending more time with them, drawing out from them what they'd like to be receiving from us clergy, rather than the formulaic 'business as usual' we deliver.
After the lunchtime Eucharist in St John's, a return to school for me, for the first of the school's two presentations of the Infant nativity play, attended by a huge host of parents, eagerly taking pictures or videoing the event on their cameras or phones, proud of their offspring's contribution, as I know I am when I get to see my grand daughter Rhiannon perform, although not this year, because she was poorly and unable to take part.
After school I went over to Shand House to the Novas-Scarman Trust offices, to meet a team of three people with whom I hope to be working as a volunteer after my retirement. Eventually I hope that my fascination with technology will be turned into something at least as socially useful as creating church websites. Novas-Scarman is hosting a Digital Inclusion project whose aim is to teach and train people in using information technology, who've been left behind by education, age ability or social deprivation, and enable a generation of people lost to technology to find their confidence, tell their stories, pursue their enthusiasms, link up with their peers, in whatever way they feel able to cope with.
I really enjoyed this particular meeting of minds, and look forward to working with them in times to come. Not the usual kind of pastoral work assumed to be the métier of a retired priest maybe, but something that will be both a challenge and pleasure for me.
I just wish that we, as clergy could do their faith better justice, perhaps by spending more time with them, drawing out from them what they'd like to be receiving from us clergy, rather than the formulaic 'business as usual' we deliver.
After the lunchtime Eucharist in St John's, a return to school for me, for the first of the school's two presentations of the Infant nativity play, attended by a huge host of parents, eagerly taking pictures or videoing the event on their cameras or phones, proud of their offspring's contribution, as I know I am when I get to see my grand daughter Rhiannon perform, although not this year, because she was poorly and unable to take part.
After school I went over to Shand House to the Novas-Scarman Trust offices, to meet a team of three people with whom I hope to be working as a volunteer after my retirement. Eventually I hope that my fascination with technology will be turned into something at least as socially useful as creating church websites. Novas-Scarman is hosting a Digital Inclusion project whose aim is to teach and train people in using information technology, who've been left behind by education, age ability or social deprivation, and enable a generation of people lost to technology to find their confidence, tell their stories, pursue their enthusiasms, link up with their peers, in whatever way they feel able to cope with.
I really enjoyed this particular meeting of minds, and look forward to working with them in times to come. Not the usual kind of pastoral work assumed to be the métier of a retired priest maybe, but something that will be both a challenge and pleasure for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment