Seeker

Am I Little Miss Chatterbox? Probably not. I rather like silence. On the other hand I do like to be heard. Stuck with preparing a sermon on a challenging theme, I took a coffee break and browsed some blogs I follow. A post this morning by Richard Littledale grabbed my attention, Mr Preacher (Which one are you?) Richard writes how "There are occasions when we preach where we feel gifted and equipped for the job. On others, however, we feel acutely aware of our own shortcomings and wonder whether we are up to the task." He then refers to the Mr Men books by Richard Hargreaves and how on different occasions as a preacher he identifies with various Mr Men characters, including Mr Small, "feeling overwhelmed with the task in hand and hoping to hide behind the pulpit, the Bible or something." Richard Littledale asks, "which one are you?" Here's my first thoughts answer. I don't identify with any Mr Men (I'm a woman), but could have...

I've just come back from 4 days away with my husband at St Deiniol's Library  - my first stay in a library with beds and home-made meals! In the shadow of Gladstone we've been thinking about the redundant model of ordained ministry based on romanticised mythology of how George Herbert did it (or thought it should be done) in the 17th century. I fell in love with George Herbert's poetry in my school days. It was only as I tried to avoid offering myself for ordination in the Church of England that I became aware of how much the idyll of George Herbert as parish priest still affects explicit and implicit expectations about priestly ministry in the C. of E. Since then, I've also become aware of how much damage that has done. Last November, thanks to a blog post 'Get Real! Kill George Herbert!' by Alan Wilson, my area Bishop, I discovered a book by Justin Lewis-Anthony, 'If you Meet George Herbert on the Road, Kill Him'. Then the opportunity came...

Have you ever wondered why people say " bless you" when you sneeze? Some say it originated from the time of a terrible plague in Rome in 590 A.D. The Roman plague ended in spasms of sneezing or yawning. Gregory, as the new Bishop of Rome ordered that "God bless you" should be said to all who sneezed and the sign of the cross made on the mouths of those who yawned. It strikes me that the signing could have encouraged the plague's spread! Today the Church of England remembers 'Gregory the Great, Bishop of Rome, Teacher, 604'. 3 September is the anniversary of Gregory's consecration in 590 A.D. as Bishop of Rome and 'Successor of St Peter'. Gregory (540 - 604 A.D.) was the first to refer to the role of 'Pope' as "servant of the servants of God" - a helpful image for any Christian minister. The English church (in all its expressions) has special reason to remember Gregory the Great - not for his instructions on sneezing...