This is a catch up and I well aware it is at least six weeks since I wrote. I have had a bad attack of real life and my online activity has therefore been curtailed. Thus I have a couple of big stories.
At the time of last supervision about a month ago, I sat down and realised that I had just not made the progress I needed to on my PhD during the last month. There had been a lot of events at Church that had pulled me in and when I was involved had turned out to be bigger than I expected. Events such as a wedding at the Church and the anniversary service. Often what I had hoped would be a short involvement turned into a full day one. There were several things going on, I was getting over tired with trying to keep my thesis going, work and with church involvement. There also seemed to be a rule that the more I did the more people found for me to do. I was obviously not keeping boundaries well. So last supervision I decided I had to take a sabbactical from church. This was partly aided by the fact that I had a submission date of the end of October so it was time limited.
Still I did not manage to stand back as quick as I think people thought I should. A fortnight after this there was a communion. There are nine serving elders at St Andrews, of them for that communion there were only three available. All the rest had legitimate reasons for being absent including operations, big academic conferences and family weddings. Normally within a URC this would not be a problem but at St Andrews the ritual requires at least six elders at present. That meant that I was recruiting non-serving elders. There are difficulties with this, non-serving by virtue of being non-serving are not as familiar with the ritual as serving and also tend to be older. The result was that I made a decision that on this occasion we would drop the processing of the elements in. I did debate quite late on if the two table elders might process just the chalice and the bread roll but by that point it was really too late to change. It worked but it required input from me.
Having got that over with on the 7th July I was looking forward to the next weekend being a quiet one when I could get on with my thesis.
On the 9th July I went home with a migraine from work. Unusually for me coming on during a consultation. Maybe something to do with the heat as it was a very hot day. Anyway slept until my sister rang to say that Dad had collapsed and been taken into hospital in Macclesfield. Cathy was at my parents waiting for Mum to come. I said I could not make it that evening but that I would try and get over by the day as soon as possible. The rest of the evening was a mix between trying to organise things and going around to visit my friend Margo. I rang my sister to let her know to get me on my mobile but she did not answer. She rang back later to say she had had to pick Mum up from hospital in Macclesfield.
Around 11:00 a.m. the next morning I managed to get over as I needed to do some phoning to cancel things. It turned out that Cathy had had barely three hours sleep as Mum had become disorientated and could not work out why Dad was not there.
We got some lunch and then went to Macclesfield hospital. At the time the doctors there thought that dad had an artery that was colluding and that if he went for an angiogram at Stoke (they did send people to Manchester hospitals but it would mean waiting for a space while at Stoke they would do it immediately). So with that in mind I took over the care of Mum and Cathy went up to her family. For those who do not know Mum has early onset dementia and can get quite confused, however having seen Dad again and with the idea that he might be out by the weekend she seemed to calm down somewhat.
The next day was busy just with ordinary things for Mum. Her minister came around, we went out for a walk had lunch and then Mum’s hairdresser came around to cut her hair. I then ran her a bath. Then a phone call came from Dad. It was unclear and all I really gathered was that something had happened when he had gone into Stoke. So I rang Cathy and asked her to find out what was going on. About two hours later Cathy rang back. It had taken her that much time to track down where Dad was in the Health Service and what was going on. The story was when they did the angiogram they found that far from it being a single artery that it was multiple arteries and his heart valve was in poor shape as well. The doctors advice was that he should have open heart surgery as soon as possible and that they were not happy with him going home. Therefore he was now in Stoke waiting surgery.
Dad refused to give permission to have further surgery until he had talked with the family. Stoke is not the easiest place to get to from Stockport. In the end we managed to organise for Mum, Cathy and I to go down on Saturday. Adrian, Cathy’s husband came up with the brilliant idea of going by train. The big problem with a car is that Mum tends to dose in them and really can be quite cross when she wakes because she does not remember why she is travelling. With the train Cathy and I were able to interact with her the whole time which meant that she did not go through the crisis of sleeping and forgetting. However during the afternoon it became quite clear that I was stressed out having got about six hours sleep the last two nights as mum woke several times during the night and always needed reassurance.
With Dad needing an operation and needing time to recuperate we needed to rethink. The eventual decision was to put Mum in a home for respite care. The minimum time this would be for was four weeks. It would have to be a home near my sister so she could keep an eye on Mum. Until we could set that up I would take care of Mum. Mum broke down and wept when we left the ward but by the time in the train could not remember than she had been to see Dad.
On the Monday Cathy went to look around several homes. On the tuesday I had a doctors appointment myself which I did not want to postpone. So my sister came over, collected Mum and took her to see the home she felt was best while I went over. It gave me a break. I did not drive particularly fast but just having time in the four walls of my flat was good. I saw the doctor and did some sorting out. By Tuesday we had seen the home but Mum desperately wanted to see Dad and could not remember the visit on Saturday so I took her on Wednesday.
Thursday we moved Mum to the home near Cathy. It was hard and made more difficult that I could not focus. We had not yet heard the date of Dad’s operation although they had said end of that week, start of next. We left mum in tears but we both knew that unless we went the tears would not stop. It was hard.
I stayed with Cathy a while not wanting to drive far after the emotion of that event. Sitting in the garden talking with Sam and Hannah was a complete antidote to the intensity of sitting my mother. Mum is perfectly capable if only she remembers what she is doing. Just as I was leaving Cathy got a phone call from Dad to say his heart surgery would be the next day. Cathy rang the home to tell them
Cathy got rung at six to ask whether Dad had died by the home. They had found Mum at 5:00 a.m. sat in her chair cuddling a teddy and weeping her eyes out because she was convinced that Dad had died. Otherwise Friday was a waiting day. Dad only went down for his operation about 4:00 pm and we only knew he had survived after 7:00 pm.
The rest of the weekend has been spent quietly in my flat trying to get the introduction to my thesis almost finalised. Dad seems to be progressing much as the doctors expect, he was slightly confused tonight. Mum is packing and unpacking at the home. As long as that keeps her busy and she is not getting too distressed I am not too worried. We left the suitcase visible so she would know that stay was not permanent. There is some difficulty over contacting her as the mobile phone that she uses keeps loosing the signal.
*Tramlines is a music festival that happens most years in Sheffield; until this year it has been free and largely still is but some events are now charged for. As far as I am concerned it is mainly an inconvenience with music audible when I want to go to sleep and town difficult to get around.
Showing posts with label communion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label communion. Show all posts
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Chatterings after messing up at communion
I am trying to remember back to the week before last, not that much
exciting has happened but there are a number of plates spinning in the
air that need my attention to keep them spinning and so I need to stay
largely in the present.
There was a Starter Pack make up the week before last. This had not happened for a while due to the wholesaler we were using stopping delivery to groups like us. I am not sure whether this was stopping delivering for everyone or just for occasional users. Judith ended up going into Wilkinsons for things and spotted that there was a major overlap between their stock and our requirements list. However they would not deliver, but the manager changed and suddenly not only would they deliver but would not charge for delivering. We also ended up with the extra stuff being supplied being left for the next makeup. I think that at one stage when it looked as if we were short of one or two items, Jean D went to the cupboard and pulled out extras must have surprised them, but these were the left over bits from others. If they are going to deliver as they did this time, we need to talk to them in future about the order in which they deliver because they used a managers 4X4 and had to do several runs. If they are doing that, they need to split the packing so we can pack whole packs at this end.
Over the weekend I went down with a cold. Not sure where from, though someone must have brought it into the computer centre as when I got into work again on Tuesday both the receptionists in the building were off sick with a cold. It just happened that I had a four day weekend due to my department wanting me on Friday this week. However I remained well enough to write although not well enough to cope with going out and by staying in a dealing with it I find the cold symptoms remain mild and clear more easily. Admittedly I treat with echinacea, tree tea oil and eucalyptus with drinks of whisky, lime and honey to put me to sleep.
On that Tuesday and the following one I was giving a course on SPSS again, well different ones each day. There clearly is a demand, but the training room closed last Friday and the new one will not be available to sometime in January. We are not sure when in January but I suspect early rather than late January as the pressure for courses is mounting. I am realising that there is quite a lot of learnt helplessness in the department and I find it frustrating that quite a lot of the time I do not know who to talk to. When I deal with the people who think like me, things happen and happen very very quickly but most of the time it is like being in a fog in a maze with a number of rooms I need to get to and quite often when I get to the right room the person feels so disempowered that what they do is pass the job onto someone else. A very different department to the small one I joined almost twenty years ago. Most of the time this does not matter as I am a one person team, but that also means people do not really heed me when I speak from knowledge that I am employed to have. I am supposed to know for the packages I support, how they are used in the University. Most of them are research packages and that is easy to deal with. One is purely taught and people understand that but two are part research and part taught. One of them is moving from pure research to research and teaching. When I said this was a taught package, the department seemed to think that I was pretending perhaps to promote it. When I actually said to a department this will not be available on managed machines because we cannot get it to work and the department got in touch with work, suddenly things were different.
The weekend was not just cold but also thesis writing, I needed to get papers to my supervisor for a supervision tomorrow. I had around 3,500 words still to write and had been making slow progress. I am pretty sure that a lot of that was nerves as the section I was writing was pulling the whole thesis together and drawing in a lot of the tangents that I had let run. The thing was that my way of doing that was to apparently take another tangent and then use it to draw in the whole thing. Actually by the time I finished it on the Sunday the writing had been exhilarating. I had a feeling somewhat like that you have when you come off a big dipper ride at a funfair. This despite the cold. Of course I find out on Monday whether I have actually done it! However I am hopeful. Unfortunately my hands started becoming sore again (I suspect a repetitive strain but not a standard one) so it is back to the mouse pads but this time I am more familiar with them and therefore I am happier using them. The pain has largely cleared during the week.<
Thursday my parents rang as they usually do. However the phone played up as they were dialling although they got through. The phone seemed to get confused over extensions. The next day Dad was having to use an extension to get out but I managed to get that sorted but as soon as he started trying to connect the other lounge phone it cut out. The thing was he could not get control back to his handset and therefore he could not put the phone down. I could not phone in and as I could imagine Dad getting worked up I did not know what to do and was due in work. In the end contacted Age UK and they carried on checking until the line was clear. They also rang BT to check the line. It eventually sorted itself but if it had not they would have gone around. However Dad had a migraine on the afternoon. He is now using his central phone and going to extensions so as to not set that off again but I will have to try and get it sorted.
Friday evening I had a meal with the Dicksons and as it was St Andrew’s day we had Haggis for dinner with neeps and tatties. Yes it was good, Jean is a good cook and I would not expect anything else from her. Talking of haggis the Haggis Hunt is on again. The Haggis population in Scotland seems to be having a resurgence and this year all but one of the cameras (the exception being Oxford St) are in Scotland. Well there seem to be plenty of haggis around at present, normally are around the start of the season. However the main advantage is that you get to watch webcams situated in places such as Loch Ness and Inverurie. I leave you to find out where the other seven are situated but there isn’t one from the Mull of Galloway. In the run up they did have one at St Andrew’s so that might appear again later on in the season. Haggis’ have strange powers, given their size on the photographs it is amazing how rarely they are seen in life, but watch out for their ability to turn night into day as well!
Today was communion at St Andrew’s, well we did it. It started off not great when I left my keys in my flat door and exited the block of flats without them. The entrance to the block of flats locks automatically after you so when I was halfway up the drive I realised I did not have them. Came back but there was no sign that any of my neightbours were awake so I went on to church. Actually the setting up was straight forward and we for the first time managed to do it without staining the tables. Everything went well until we were halfway through serving the bread and I suddenly noticed we did not have the children back in. Too late then to do anything about it! However it upset me and I automatically reverted to Congregational praxis, NOT GOOD. I kept forgetting to serve the elders and Sarah got caught up in this too! Elizabeth kept saying “elders” during the wine stage and Sarah and I initially thought she meant to use the chalice not to serve the elders. Mea Culpa. I just got the giggles. We were very short on numbers as well, due to people away and sickness. I wonder if we are not soon going to have to stop processing in with the elements as it is becoming more and more difficult to find elders who do.When I got home I pressed the Tradesman’s entrance as I believe that rings all bells when it does not open and it buzzed so I realised it was open.
There was a Starter Pack make up the week before last. This had not happened for a while due to the wholesaler we were using stopping delivery to groups like us. I am not sure whether this was stopping delivering for everyone or just for occasional users. Judith ended up going into Wilkinsons for things and spotted that there was a major overlap between their stock and our requirements list. However they would not deliver, but the manager changed and suddenly not only would they deliver but would not charge for delivering. We also ended up with the extra stuff being supplied being left for the next makeup. I think that at one stage when it looked as if we were short of one or two items, Jean D went to the cupboard and pulled out extras must have surprised them, but these were the left over bits from others. If they are going to deliver as they did this time, we need to talk to them in future about the order in which they deliver because they used a managers 4X4 and had to do several runs. If they are doing that, they need to split the packing so we can pack whole packs at this end.
Over the weekend I went down with a cold. Not sure where from, though someone must have brought it into the computer centre as when I got into work again on Tuesday both the receptionists in the building were off sick with a cold. It just happened that I had a four day weekend due to my department wanting me on Friday this week. However I remained well enough to write although not well enough to cope with going out and by staying in a dealing with it I find the cold symptoms remain mild and clear more easily. Admittedly I treat with echinacea, tree tea oil and eucalyptus with drinks of whisky, lime and honey to put me to sleep.
On that Tuesday and the following one I was giving a course on SPSS again, well different ones each day. There clearly is a demand, but the training room closed last Friday and the new one will not be available to sometime in January. We are not sure when in January but I suspect early rather than late January as the pressure for courses is mounting. I am realising that there is quite a lot of learnt helplessness in the department and I find it frustrating that quite a lot of the time I do not know who to talk to. When I deal with the people who think like me, things happen and happen very very quickly but most of the time it is like being in a fog in a maze with a number of rooms I need to get to and quite often when I get to the right room the person feels so disempowered that what they do is pass the job onto someone else. A very different department to the small one I joined almost twenty years ago. Most of the time this does not matter as I am a one person team, but that also means people do not really heed me when I speak from knowledge that I am employed to have. I am supposed to know for the packages I support, how they are used in the University. Most of them are research packages and that is easy to deal with. One is purely taught and people understand that but two are part research and part taught. One of them is moving from pure research to research and teaching. When I said this was a taught package, the department seemed to think that I was pretending perhaps to promote it. When I actually said to a department this will not be available on managed machines because we cannot get it to work and the department got in touch with work, suddenly things were different.
The weekend was not just cold but also thesis writing, I needed to get papers to my supervisor for a supervision tomorrow. I had around 3,500 words still to write and had been making slow progress. I am pretty sure that a lot of that was nerves as the section I was writing was pulling the whole thesis together and drawing in a lot of the tangents that I had let run. The thing was that my way of doing that was to apparently take another tangent and then use it to draw in the whole thing. Actually by the time I finished it on the Sunday the writing had been exhilarating. I had a feeling somewhat like that you have when you come off a big dipper ride at a funfair. This despite the cold. Of course I find out on Monday whether I have actually done it! However I am hopeful. Unfortunately my hands started becoming sore again (I suspect a repetitive strain but not a standard one) so it is back to the mouse pads but this time I am more familiar with them and therefore I am happier using them. The pain has largely cleared during the week.<
Thursday my parents rang as they usually do. However the phone played up as they were dialling although they got through. The phone seemed to get confused over extensions. The next day Dad was having to use an extension to get out but I managed to get that sorted but as soon as he started trying to connect the other lounge phone it cut out. The thing was he could not get control back to his handset and therefore he could not put the phone down. I could not phone in and as I could imagine Dad getting worked up I did not know what to do and was due in work. In the end contacted Age UK and they carried on checking until the line was clear. They also rang BT to check the line. It eventually sorted itself but if it had not they would have gone around. However Dad had a migraine on the afternoon. He is now using his central phone and going to extensions so as to not set that off again but I will have to try and get it sorted.
Friday evening I had a meal with the Dicksons and as it was St Andrew’s day we had Haggis for dinner with neeps and tatties. Yes it was good, Jean is a good cook and I would not expect anything else from her. Talking of haggis the Haggis Hunt is on again. The Haggis population in Scotland seems to be having a resurgence and this year all but one of the cameras (the exception being Oxford St) are in Scotland. Well there seem to be plenty of haggis around at present, normally are around the start of the season. However the main advantage is that you get to watch webcams situated in places such as Loch Ness and Inverurie. I leave you to find out where the other seven are situated but there isn’t one from the Mull of Galloway. In the run up they did have one at St Andrew’s so that might appear again later on in the season. Haggis’ have strange powers, given their size on the photographs it is amazing how rarely they are seen in life, but watch out for their ability to turn night into day as well!
Today was communion at St Andrew’s, well we did it. It started off not great when I left my keys in my flat door and exited the block of flats without them. The entrance to the block of flats locks automatically after you so when I was halfway up the drive I realised I did not have them. Came back but there was no sign that any of my neightbours were awake so I went on to church. Actually the setting up was straight forward and we for the first time managed to do it without staining the tables. Everything went well until we were halfway through serving the bread and I suddenly noticed we did not have the children back in. Too late then to do anything about it! However it upset me and I automatically reverted to Congregational praxis, NOT GOOD. I kept forgetting to serve the elders and Sarah got caught up in this too! Elizabeth kept saying “elders” during the wine stage and Sarah and I initially thought she meant to use the chalice not to serve the elders. Mea Culpa. I just got the giggles. We were very short on numbers as well, due to people away and sickness. I wonder if we are not soon going to have to stop processing in with the elements as it is becoming more and more difficult to find elders who do.When I got home I pressed the Tradesman’s entrance as I believe that rings all bells when it does not open and it buzzed so I realised it was open.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Back from Holiday
Three
weeks to report on. I have changed teams at work, this is not a big
change really (or at least I hope not because I am aware that there
might be other agendas afoot that might make me and some other people
very uncomfortable). However I have sought assurances that it will let
me get on with the work I am doing at present and will not be a
diversion into big machine computing. I want to stick to helping
individual researchers and small teams who are using their desktop
computers as a major tool in their research. That is what I do, that is
what I am good at and that is was at least three quarters of the
researchers in the university do. It gives me a very different
perspective from the big computer guys. Otherwise I have more than
enough stuff to keep going on with. A video course to finish preparing, a
number of other courses to set up which I will teach, some on going
relationships and so forth.
The holiday went fine by my plans. Then my plans were not to do a lot of touring or doing other activities. I took the luxury of having a late start 10:00 a.m. breakfast, then a couple of hours studying (except at the weekend) and then spent the day doing whatever was on the books. Apart from the weekend there were three options:
The next day Jenny wanted to walk to Mull of Galloway along the trail. The dog had not really been walked the day before so we needed to take her with us. This meant complications as we had to get the dog over a ladder style and also we could not just walk to the Mull cafe and get a lift back as Mo and Tony were not prepared to have Dora in a car. Well we got as far as East Tarbet. Dora would only tackle the style if I went first but then would make it. Me standing almost on her tail behind did not work even if the girls were over. The big problem was actually the walk was slightly too far for Cait, she’d have made it too the cafe easily but the journey back was longer and on rougher terrain. She did very well indeed walking back and we got in safely just as it was getting dark and there was a splendid moon over the bay. Jenny being older and actually keen to walk did it easily and made a good pace. If Cait had been slower I might have sent Jenny on ahead to say we were coming.
Drove home via my parents, they thought I was coming back on the Wednesday yet all I can recall and the evidence at their home suggests I had always said Thursday. The only reference I can think of to Wednesday was that I had suggested they could extend their stay in the Brecon Beackons to Tuesday but had to back for Wednesday. That was so that they would visit Cathy and Co. Another change of plan was due to Fleur being robbed while on holiday, she and Walter needed Friday for sorting insurance and other business out, so I drove straight home which meant I could get the car back to the hirers on Friday which eased things on Saturday somewhat and gave me chance to do some editing on my thesis.
More photos from my holiday can be found on flickr
Today was communion. I was second table elder with Ian Cooke as first. There were 46 for communion but we were a bit short of elders. We were fine in the end but there does need to be some sorting doing. I also took the initiative and rearranged the elements on the table for serving. This meant that both for the serving and for the procession out things were right where the elders who were serving came to get them and there was no fussing about. There is time to do this within the current arrangements. Ian seems to enjoy working with me indeed he was offering to be first table elder again for me during my apprenticeship. Anne Cathels is right the role of Communion Sunday duty elder is significantly different from that on any other Sunday, the really crisis will happen in February when I am down both as duty elder and second communion elder a combination that is tricky. The other thing is I think the system at present works with the old style duty elder (whose main job was to make sure the minister was in the right places at the right time). The current one is far more managing the front house welcome. I think some jobs may be better shared by the communion elders.
The holiday went fine by my plans. Then my plans were not to do a lot of touring or doing other activities. I took the luxury of having a late start 10:00 a.m. breakfast, then a couple of hours studying (except at the weekend) and then spent the day doing whatever was on the books. Apart from the weekend there were three options:
- Walk Dora the dog, the longer and more strenuous the walk the better but I really should have checked my walking shoes ability to rub blisters. I did three separate walks with her on her own. The first we walked from Maryport to the headland before Drummore along the beach. I had beach shoes on and though they gave me bad blisters (barefoot in new shoes is not a good idea) they did allow me to go more where the dog wanted to go. The second was from Maryport to Portlennie along the Mull of Galloway Trail. Dora now knows it is not a good idea to bite electric fences, but otherwise enjoyed it but would not go through kissing gates unless I did as well. At Port Lennie we saw both a rainbow and a passing seal. The final walk was up the hill to Creechan and beyond. This is really not as good as the other two as Dora has to be on the lead a fair bit. So I took her down to the beach for a run but she decided not to come back to me when I called (chasing seagulls was far more fun) and as a result I marched her up to the house on a lead. There were I think Barnacle Geese amongst the gulls as well.
- Time out with the girls. Two of these days, one which we spent in PortPatrick Geocaching and then a meal at a pub, which was enjoyed by the girls and Tony. We stopped being geocache version and found two caches that day, one in PortPatrick and one at Ardwell Dam. The second was the day before I came home and we went to Kirroughtree Forrest (see ) much to the girls and everyones delight I did not get the pronunciation at all right. I said something like Ker-rough-tree and it is pronounced more like Kir-Rock-tri. Cait was not feeling too good so left her in the car while I and Jenny went for a short walk (it was longer than I intended though we went at a good pace) so I was not surprised Cait thought we had taken too long. Then we went onto Newtown Stewart for an Indian meal. They have an Indian Restaurant there, not sure where in India the cuisine comes from but they really only do chicken dishes although you can get lamb and fish on request. The vegetable dishes are all side dishes.
- Finally I had two days for myself, the first of these I went exploring the Crook of Baldoon which is a very minor RSPB reserve. The facilities consist of a parking area (which looks like the general area back of a farm buildings and a picnic area. It has a farm causeway that takes you out onto the bay salt marshes but no hides. There are hides attached to Wigtown but you have to go back into the town to get to those. I suspect long term there could be an attempt to develop this to attract in Birdwatching tourism as the hot season starts in November and continues to March or so, with birds wintering on the salt marshes. On the second I went to Logan Gardens for a visit and then onto photograph Killantrigan Lighthouse in the evening light. The land is much wilder around there in the North Rhins than it is around Maryport.
The next day Jenny wanted to walk to Mull of Galloway along the trail. The dog had not really been walked the day before so we needed to take her with us. This meant complications as we had to get the dog over a ladder style and also we could not just walk to the Mull cafe and get a lift back as Mo and Tony were not prepared to have Dora in a car. Well we got as far as East Tarbet. Dora would only tackle the style if I went first but then would make it. Me standing almost on her tail behind did not work even if the girls were over. The big problem was actually the walk was slightly too far for Cait, she’d have made it too the cafe easily but the journey back was longer and on rougher terrain. She did very well indeed walking back and we got in safely just as it was getting dark and there was a splendid moon over the bay. Jenny being older and actually keen to walk did it easily and made a good pace. If Cait had been slower I might have sent Jenny on ahead to say we were coming.
Drove home via my parents, they thought I was coming back on the Wednesday yet all I can recall and the evidence at their home suggests I had always said Thursday. The only reference I can think of to Wednesday was that I had suggested they could extend their stay in the Brecon Beackons to Tuesday but had to back for Wednesday. That was so that they would visit Cathy and Co. Another change of plan was due to Fleur being robbed while on holiday, she and Walter needed Friday for sorting insurance and other business out, so I drove straight home which meant I could get the car back to the hirers on Friday which eased things on Saturday somewhat and gave me chance to do some editing on my thesis.
More photos from my holiday can be found on flickr
Today was communion. I was second table elder with Ian Cooke as first. There were 46 for communion but we were a bit short of elders. We were fine in the end but there does need to be some sorting doing. I also took the initiative and rearranged the elements on the table for serving. This meant that both for the serving and for the procession out things were right where the elders who were serving came to get them and there was no fussing about. There is time to do this within the current arrangements. Ian seems to enjoy working with me indeed he was offering to be first table elder again for me during my apprenticeship. Anne Cathels is right the role of Communion Sunday duty elder is significantly different from that on any other Sunday, the really crisis will happen in February when I am down both as duty elder and second communion elder a combination that is tricky. The other thing is I think the system at present works with the old style duty elder (whose main job was to make sure the minister was in the right places at the right time). The current one is far more managing the front house welcome. I think some jobs may be better shared by the communion elders.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
After a larger than expected communion
Lets see if I can recall what has been happening. The first thing must be the Reformed Spirituality Conference at Cambridge. The room at Westminster was fine, the gathering select but I expected that when it had both “Spirituality” and “Reformed” on the flyer. You have to be both sympathetic towards spirituality and towards Reformed Christianity to go. That is a small subset of christians who are both interested in the Reformed tradition and in spirituality. There are different ways of constructing the subset and I come with one that I suspect has its roots in Iona that is one that alters the meaning of spirituality to fit in with the meaning Reformed, then look for how that works rather than those who try to create a “Reformed flavoured” spirituality. That said I don’t think I realised how “at home” I am with many of the things other see as distinctive of a spirituality, but that is down to my character, I am an introvert and I have a strong tendency to enjoy regular practices and low stimulus situations. I do not like entire regularity but routine is the basis on which I build the resources to respond to the chaos of life.
The conference was held at the same time as the last couple of the May balls. The result of which was that at about 10:00 a.m. at night for the first two nights magnificent firework displays happened. Fine, if as I was the second night, coming back from the pub, but I had fallen asleep fairly exhausted the night before only to be woken by what sounded like a symphony orchestra backing a firework display and if I was more of a musician I would be able to tell you what the orchestra were playing. After the second night you could actually see the students returning home as I got up for breakfast.
Yes that was me going to the pub, it seemed the natural thing to do with this group and normally it isn’t. I almost went the first night but was too tired/withdrawn to cope with it so went to bed. There were three students from Westminster at the conference so we ended up at a rather better class of pub than is usual for escape committees from Westminster. It also happened during a brief interlude in the wet weather so one evening we spent the evening sitting out in the pub garden. There were plenty of other people there but it was nice to be sitting outside for a change this summer.
One slight thing was I was surprised at my irritation at people who keep creating the same two or three labyrinths. The most common one tends to be Classical Labyrinth because there is a set way to draw it. The second type because it is famous is the Chartres, but the Labyrinth society has many more labyrinths, however even that is limited. There are technically an infinite number of labyrinths based on the Classical pattern that you can draw quite easily, there is a spiral pattern which is also quite easy and actually the simplest of the Chartres style but also infinite, then there is the Chartres style which rely on transit lines and divides, there are again technically an infinity of them. This leaves us with the question why do we just stick to two of them. My response was to draw one that as far as I know has never been drawn before. It belongs to the classical family as they are the simplest to draw when you have only basic tools i.e. a pencil and a piece of paper. Sometimes I am going to have to write up how to create a classical style labyrinth as it comes to me at least with a nice set of images. I do spiral ones but rarely do Chartres style or others as I need a good clear space to do those time wise.
The weather broke on the last day and started raining which made the journey back harder to cope with especially as the last train was packed with commuters all the way. I also think I was pretty exhausted but I had a departmental meeting at work the next day so I basically just headed to bed. That evening was the Broomhill Festival dinner. I was asked I think to make up numbers as several people who were thought to be coming could not make it. I was happy to go, and they coped admirably with the fact that I was lactose intolerant despite the fact they had not been forewarned. I had told Derek who was doing the booking but I do not think he understood what I was saying, Jean Dickson also meant to remind him and I also managed to leave my lactase tablets at home. However I was very tired and I think that largely wiped out Saturday with the result I was having to write on Sunday Afternoon last week despite doing the sound at St Andrews in the morning. Sheila had found that she could not do the table elders bit so James at the last minute had to stand in.
Monday it was back to writers group and taking a piece of writing from the spirituality event. I have a second and I need to sort them both. I can’t recall anything else dramatic happening this week, work was busy and such but nothing major going on.
The weekend has had two themes running through it, thesis writing and communion service. I needed to submit my latest chapter to my supervisor this weekend and I also was table elder 2 at St Andrews. This means I officially am supporting table elder 1. I had dinner with the Dicksons on Friday and we arranged to meet at 5 p.m. on Saturday as contact centre was on. I need to get my head around the process of preparing because it and tidying up afterwards takes a considerable amount of work by two people and I am quite sure it should not. I made one simplification today partly because Lesley Green was taking it and that was to move the elders meeting to the committee room rather than going upstairs to the Elders room (Elders do not meet normally in the Elders room these days anyway and more and more elders are finding the stairs tricky, Lesley is older than most of them and I suspect would do also). The only problem was, because it was Lesley, James did a thorough run through so the choir had difficulty getting hold of their books. Next change is to buy new pins for the table cloth. I know what I want and I know they will be easier to handle. We were worried over the size as Margaret had organised a trip over this weekend and therefore there were likely to be fewer members but we ended up with 43 taking communion which is the usual number.
The conference was held at the same time as the last couple of the May balls. The result of which was that at about 10:00 a.m. at night for the first two nights magnificent firework displays happened. Fine, if as I was the second night, coming back from the pub, but I had fallen asleep fairly exhausted the night before only to be woken by what sounded like a symphony orchestra backing a firework display and if I was more of a musician I would be able to tell you what the orchestra were playing. After the second night you could actually see the students returning home as I got up for breakfast.
Yes that was me going to the pub, it seemed the natural thing to do with this group and normally it isn’t. I almost went the first night but was too tired/withdrawn to cope with it so went to bed. There were three students from Westminster at the conference so we ended up at a rather better class of pub than is usual for escape committees from Westminster. It also happened during a brief interlude in the wet weather so one evening we spent the evening sitting out in the pub garden. There were plenty of other people there but it was nice to be sitting outside for a change this summer.
One slight thing was I was surprised at my irritation at people who keep creating the same two or three labyrinths. The most common one tends to be Classical Labyrinth because there is a set way to draw it. The second type because it is famous is the Chartres, but the Labyrinth society has many more labyrinths, however even that is limited. There are technically an infinite number of labyrinths based on the Classical pattern that you can draw quite easily, there is a spiral pattern which is also quite easy and actually the simplest of the Chartres style but also infinite, then there is the Chartres style which rely on transit lines and divides, there are again technically an infinity of them. This leaves us with the question why do we just stick to two of them. My response was to draw one that as far as I know has never been drawn before. It belongs to the classical family as they are the simplest to draw when you have only basic tools i.e. a pencil and a piece of paper. Sometimes I am going to have to write up how to create a classical style labyrinth as it comes to me at least with a nice set of images. I do spiral ones but rarely do Chartres style or others as I need a good clear space to do those time wise.
The weather broke on the last day and started raining which made the journey back harder to cope with especially as the last train was packed with commuters all the way. I also think I was pretty exhausted but I had a departmental meeting at work the next day so I basically just headed to bed. That evening was the Broomhill Festival dinner. I was asked I think to make up numbers as several people who were thought to be coming could not make it. I was happy to go, and they coped admirably with the fact that I was lactose intolerant despite the fact they had not been forewarned. I had told Derek who was doing the booking but I do not think he understood what I was saying, Jean Dickson also meant to remind him and I also managed to leave my lactase tablets at home. However I was very tired and I think that largely wiped out Saturday with the result I was having to write on Sunday Afternoon last week despite doing the sound at St Andrews in the morning. Sheila had found that she could not do the table elders bit so James at the last minute had to stand in.
Monday it was back to writers group and taking a piece of writing from the spirituality event. I have a second and I need to sort them both. I can’t recall anything else dramatic happening this week, work was busy and such but nothing major going on.
The weekend has had two themes running through it, thesis writing and communion service. I needed to submit my latest chapter to my supervisor this weekend and I also was table elder 2 at St Andrews. This means I officially am supporting table elder 1. I had dinner with the Dicksons on Friday and we arranged to meet at 5 p.m. on Saturday as contact centre was on. I need to get my head around the process of preparing because it and tidying up afterwards takes a considerable amount of work by two people and I am quite sure it should not. I made one simplification today partly because Lesley Green was taking it and that was to move the elders meeting to the committee room rather than going upstairs to the Elders room (Elders do not meet normally in the Elders room these days anyway and more and more elders are finding the stairs tricky, Lesley is older than most of them and I suspect would do also). The only problem was, because it was Lesley, James did a thorough run through so the choir had difficulty getting hold of their books. Next change is to buy new pins for the table cloth. I know what I want and I know they will be easier to handle. We were worried over the size as Margaret had organised a trip over this weekend and therefore there were likely to be fewer members but we ended up with 43 taking communion which is the usual number.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
After a busy Easter
No writers group this week, I am going to have to write a paper for them on epublishing, I am not sure that they are aware of the options and how to go about them. The problem is that I suspect many of them think that web-publishing, epublishing and publishing on demand are one and the same thing. What I think they actually want is website that show cases their writing and allows the group to interact. It could either be joint blog or a fairly simple content management system which allows interaction. The thing is that setting up such a website is beyond me at present with a thesis to write. Anyway part of the problem of running a website is that it needs to be publicised so others would need to be willing to do this.
The week was busy in work. with working on a paper and also preparing on-line course material well editing it at least. Plus I took Thursday off as I was aware that Holy week services, and other Easter commitments were going to dig deep into my time.
Wednesday I awoke to find it snowing. It was just settling so before I went into work I nabbed some pictures of cherry blossom and snow. Unfortunately only one of the really came out, I will attach it to the blog posting of this when I get home. The weather cleared by lunch time although still miserable and wet. Given the warmth of last week it was a real change around.
Thursday evening St Andrews had a short Maundy Thursday Service, this takes place before the choir rehearsal. This year it was a drama from Iona Community “Eh .. Jesus?” “Yes Peter” set in the last supper and based around the last supper. At the end I realised that the next people in were the Broomhall Breakfast and started moving the chairs and tables; as it became clear that there was a purpose to what I was doing, first Sarah and then others joined in. That resulted in the room being set up by ten minutes the tables were in the right place. If the disciples were as efficient maybe they did the washing up before going to the mount of Olves. It looks as if James and Jean did the setting up, I was on standby for helping.
Friday was the Breakfast, I had been booked by Sarah weeks ago. Although like many ministers she seems to think that there is more time between events than there actually is. St Andrew’s tends to turn up early and this week the Breakfast decided they wanted to sit and talk. Last week at Breakfast Phil (who I call silver due to the amount of jewelery he often wears and to distinguish him from Phil with the ponytail) had been in hospital for several weeks, we need to think about ways of getting news through because we would like to take some sort of care for those who come and who is ill.
We then set up for the Friday meditation service that Sarah. Sarah also wanted to look for a diary date during the time but we had only vaguely got the projection stuff up, when people started arriving. For a first Sarah even had the hymn words on the projector, but most of it was pictures and words to think about. The whole service was about broken covenants. I struggle with the theme as the covenants are normally on God’s initiative and it seems always as if he dictates terms. Is this really what we mean by covenant. It was hard hitting as we faced human failure. Anyway I setup the projector and the sound system and as I did so realised that what we really needed was to be able to get the projector away from the computer so that the computer could be placed where Sarah felt happy with it. Rather than try anything fancy it occurred to me a single long cable would do as well. I might need to configure the electrical extension leads differently as well but it was all doable fairly easily. Anyway I have ordered the cable and we shall see.
Friday evening I went around to a friend/colleague called Margo for a meal. We have a close research relationship which has developed over the last eighteen or nineteen years since I came to Sheffield. Times have not always been easy, nothing to do with our relationship just various life events but the last year or so she and I have worked very closely indeed. At Christmas time she held a very enjoyable party to which I was invited and on Friday I was invited around for a meal. She is also has a student project looking at how people at breakfast manage their eating and she went to check out what URC stood for. Well her background is Presbyterian Church of Ireland although she has not been to church for decades. So an interesting conversation ensued around St Andrews.
Saturday I ended up with the end of a mild migraine. So I shopped and then realising that I was not getting better went back to bed for a couple of hours but that cleared it, completely and utterly. This was just as well because as well as two case studies for my thesis to finish typing up I was also meeting James down at St Andrew’s to set up communion. I have agreed to be second table elder this year with a view to being first next year. I also understood I was have a varied first table elder as James’ had not had a deputy this last year but people had taken turns. I should have been suspicious when James started being very thorough about making sure I knew how things were done. However with three to four elders checking on me the first Sunday I was on pulpit duty I just thought it was a resurgence of that gene. Anyway we got it basically setup, with Jean checking up on us at times.
Anyway it was communion today, things went well on the whole although perhaps going straight from congregational member to table elder (rather than a serving elder) was a bit of a leap. There have been changes while I was away and the service is a lot less fussy than it used to be, but still not the simplest of URC services. I reverted to the old form and put a tray of glasses close by the minister. It also made sense when James gave me the communion case. It was not until Sheila, and said she was table elder two to my table one, I queried this as I want a slightly longer apprenticeship and she agreed that she would at least do the chasing of elders for serving communion (we need six, four main ones, one for the choir and one for special diets although we do not at present do gluten free so it is only the non-alcoholic wine).
It was therefore about 1:00 p.m. when I got home, then it was pack and get out to come to my parents. Dad has forgotten that I have travelled across most Easters and decided that I was going to struggle to get a train. I had to keep reassuring him. When I said I had seen the rising sun he said “from the train?”. I am not sure where else I was likely to say that from! Maybe next year I had better hire a car so as to stop him worrying.
The week was busy in work. with working on a paper and also preparing on-line course material well editing it at least. Plus I took Thursday off as I was aware that Holy week services, and other Easter commitments were going to dig deep into my time.
Thursday evening St Andrews had a short Maundy Thursday Service, this takes place before the choir rehearsal. This year it was a drama from Iona Community “Eh .. Jesus?” “Yes Peter” set in the last supper and based around the last supper. At the end I realised that the next people in were the Broomhall Breakfast and started moving the chairs and tables; as it became clear that there was a purpose to what I was doing, first Sarah and then others joined in. That resulted in the room being set up by ten minutes the tables were in the right place. If the disciples were as efficient maybe they did the washing up before going to the mount of Olves. It looks as if James and Jean did the setting up, I was on standby for helping.
Friday was the Breakfast, I had been booked by Sarah weeks ago. Although like many ministers she seems to think that there is more time between events than there actually is. St Andrew’s tends to turn up early and this week the Breakfast decided they wanted to sit and talk. Last week at Breakfast Phil (who I call silver due to the amount of jewelery he often wears and to distinguish him from Phil with the ponytail) had been in hospital for several weeks, we need to think about ways of getting news through because we would like to take some sort of care for those who come and who is ill.
We then set up for the Friday meditation service that Sarah. Sarah also wanted to look for a diary date during the time but we had only vaguely got the projection stuff up, when people started arriving. For a first Sarah even had the hymn words on the projector, but most of it was pictures and words to think about. The whole service was about broken covenants. I struggle with the theme as the covenants are normally on God’s initiative and it seems always as if he dictates terms. Is this really what we mean by covenant. It was hard hitting as we faced human failure. Anyway I setup the projector and the sound system and as I did so realised that what we really needed was to be able to get the projector away from the computer so that the computer could be placed where Sarah felt happy with it. Rather than try anything fancy it occurred to me a single long cable would do as well. I might need to configure the electrical extension leads differently as well but it was all doable fairly easily. Anyway I have ordered the cable and we shall see.
Friday evening I went around to a friend/colleague called Margo for a meal. We have a close research relationship which has developed over the last eighteen or nineteen years since I came to Sheffield. Times have not always been easy, nothing to do with our relationship just various life events but the last year or so she and I have worked very closely indeed. At Christmas time she held a very enjoyable party to which I was invited and on Friday I was invited around for a meal. She is also has a student project looking at how people at breakfast manage their eating and she went to check out what URC stood for. Well her background is Presbyterian Church of Ireland although she has not been to church for decades. So an interesting conversation ensued around St Andrews.
Saturday I ended up with the end of a mild migraine. So I shopped and then realising that I was not getting better went back to bed for a couple of hours but that cleared it, completely and utterly. This was just as well because as well as two case studies for my thesis to finish typing up I was also meeting James down at St Andrew’s to set up communion. I have agreed to be second table elder this year with a view to being first next year. I also understood I was have a varied first table elder as James’ had not had a deputy this last year but people had taken turns. I should have been suspicious when James started being very thorough about making sure I knew how things were done. However with three to four elders checking on me the first Sunday I was on pulpit duty I just thought it was a resurgence of that gene. Anyway we got it basically setup, with Jean checking up on us at times.
Anyway it was communion today, things went well on the whole although perhaps going straight from congregational member to table elder (rather than a serving elder) was a bit of a leap. There have been changes while I was away and the service is a lot less fussy than it used to be, but still not the simplest of URC services. I reverted to the old form and put a tray of glasses close by the minister. It also made sense when James gave me the communion case. It was not until Sheila, and said she was table elder two to my table one, I queried this as I want a slightly longer apprenticeship and she agreed that she would at least do the chasing of elders for serving communion (we need six, four main ones, one for the choir and one for special diets although we do not at present do gluten free so it is only the non-alcoholic wine).
It was therefore about 1:00 p.m. when I got home, then it was pack and get out to come to my parents. Dad has forgotten that I have travelled across most Easters and decided that I was going to struggle to get a train. I had to keep reassuring him. When I said I had seen the rising sun he said “from the train?”. I am not sure where else I was likely to say that from! Maybe next year I had better hire a car so as to stop him worrying.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
From a Snowy Sheffield
This
week has been cold. That may have been a good thing as it has
encouraged me to spend time indoors doing research type things. The
temptation to go out for extra shopping or such just did not exist. That
said I still made writers on Monday. The room was struggling to get to
18°C during writers group. This is NOT due to the thermostat but to the
power of the radiator and the outside walls. I suspect it would do
better if there was someone in the church or there was someone other
than Jugglers in the hall. The jugglers require minimal heat and often
will even then leave outside doors open. The poem I took this week was
well accepted, I even got thanked for bringing it. I wonder if I should
put it on my good list. The one for this coming week is just fun, I took
the class exercise and wrote a piece that is quite a bit outside my
normal style. I was surprised at how easy it was once I got the voice.
Maybe I should try for the rest of term writing pieces in other voices.
Tuesday my body through a wobbler in the morning. I will probably register it as a migraine which is close enough. Basically not wanting to cope with things like light and sound or any other stimulus. All I need is time keeping quiet and my body will normalise and I can cope. I come out of such episodes far quicker than a migraine although they can cause quandaries for those watching. I thought I was going to have the afternoon to prepare for the course I was doing the next day and also to pick up other things only to find I was suddenly in demand at all directions at once. This included a useful contact and also another research proposal. On the evening Mum and Dad rang to say Aunty Jean (or Granny Jean for Sam and Hannah) is coming over this summer during July
Wednesday I had a session working through a paper in the morning and then went onto teach the final course of this set. I had a turn out of 125% i.e. four said they were coming and five turned up. I told the group that they were responsible for their learning and that if they wanted something repeated, or me to go slower or such, just to ask. It proved one of the most engaged and demanding groups I have had for a long time. I finished at 4:30 but had to turn them out at 5:00 p.m. (I am pretty sure the Hicks building starts closing then). I suspect given the opportunity they would have happily stayed until 6:00 p.m.
Thursday I was in to present a review of an analysis and then to recreate a data set into Nvivo 8 which we already had in NVivo 9 and see what it brought up. This was because the people who were supposed to do it were finding that NVivo 9 was not stable on their machine. This is typical of the medical school which has a lot of under spec machines around and is not helped by QSR saying NVivo runs on machines where it clearly does not with any reliability. Anyway I hope the girls have been able to do the little bit that I left them to do.
Friday I went to breakfast, first time in a few weeks for various reasons. The numbers were down we suspect due to the cold. If you are somewhere warm, coming out even for a fried breakfast is not necessarily going to be your top priority in temperatures like those on Friday. There was a girl from Ghana asking whether England ever got warm. It is such a difficult question to answer. Yes it does but it might well not be the sort of warm you are expecting, really does not cut much ice. Anyway afterwards I went down town to basically food shop. I must admit I have a weakness at present and that is for cheap scarves that a market vendor has started selling outside Boots. Two of the stalls are staffed by girls of oriental extraction who seem to have very limited English. Anyway they sell large very fine (as in thin) scarves and always seem to have a different selection. As they are relatively cheap I normally end up buying one or two. Part of this is that after years of earache I like having a warm neck (hence to polo-neck jumpers) but the other thing is that the scarves soften what can be a rather harsh look. So at present I am playing with using them. The only problem is wine and chocolate are not the in colours at present. The rest of the day was spent on bits and pieces including doing some writing up for thesis.
Saturday was a thesis day, the morning was spent finishing the writing up from the week. There were bits of analysis to do and other things to track down. I am beginning to wonder if former Presbyterian churches are more dispersed than former Congregational ones or whether that is just a mark of how they relate to the area around the church. They feel more disconnected so they must be more dispersed. There is no evidence of an actual difference in the distance members travel to either of my placement churches. The thing was I think that St Andrews Chesterfield would be surprised at how far people were travelling to come to Herringthorpe. Feeling as if the congregation belongs to a locality does not mean that the majority of the congregation live within a mile of the church. Actually though I removed them from the analysis, some people were travelling from Retford to Herringthorpe! On the afternoon I started to put together my dataset. This thing is both boring and addictive. I thought I would stop at seven in the evening so as to do chores only to find I had continued doing it to eight! The snow started coming down early evening and continued well into the night. It was funny as it was fine snow and a lot of the time it did not look like it was snowing but it the snow on the ground kept getting deeper and deeper.
This morning I was watching to see if church was on, well waiting to see a car in the carpark. People were estimating about 6 inches for this area of Sheffield. The communion service was done on reduced numbers but the Dickson’s did two runs to get people to church bringing David, Derek, Sarah, Aileen and John as well as being duty elders. The service went well. Fortunately the Cookes offered to take Sarah and David home which meant only a single trip home. Maybe the church should buy them a four wheel drive minibus. However Mary came to St Andrews as she could walk to us but was not sure whether she could get up the hill to St Marks. the snow has been slowly thawing and is due to continue doing so until tomorrow night (see XCWeather although I have also checked the Met Office and the BBC weather forecast)
Tuesday my body through a wobbler in the morning. I will probably register it as a migraine which is close enough. Basically not wanting to cope with things like light and sound or any other stimulus. All I need is time keeping quiet and my body will normalise and I can cope. I come out of such episodes far quicker than a migraine although they can cause quandaries for those watching. I thought I was going to have the afternoon to prepare for the course I was doing the next day and also to pick up other things only to find I was suddenly in demand at all directions at once. This included a useful contact and also another research proposal. On the evening Mum and Dad rang to say Aunty Jean (or Granny Jean for Sam and Hannah) is coming over this summer during July
Wednesday I had a session working through a paper in the morning and then went onto teach the final course of this set. I had a turn out of 125% i.e. four said they were coming and five turned up. I told the group that they were responsible for their learning and that if they wanted something repeated, or me to go slower or such, just to ask. It proved one of the most engaged and demanding groups I have had for a long time. I finished at 4:30 but had to turn them out at 5:00 p.m. (I am pretty sure the Hicks building starts closing then). I suspect given the opportunity they would have happily stayed until 6:00 p.m.
Thursday I was in to present a review of an analysis and then to recreate a data set into Nvivo 8 which we already had in NVivo 9 and see what it brought up. This was because the people who were supposed to do it were finding that NVivo 9 was not stable on their machine. This is typical of the medical school which has a lot of under spec machines around and is not helped by QSR saying NVivo runs on machines where it clearly does not with any reliability. Anyway I hope the girls have been able to do the little bit that I left them to do.
Friday I went to breakfast, first time in a few weeks for various reasons. The numbers were down we suspect due to the cold. If you are somewhere warm, coming out even for a fried breakfast is not necessarily going to be your top priority in temperatures like those on Friday. There was a girl from Ghana asking whether England ever got warm. It is such a difficult question to answer. Yes it does but it might well not be the sort of warm you are expecting, really does not cut much ice. Anyway afterwards I went down town to basically food shop. I must admit I have a weakness at present and that is for cheap scarves that a market vendor has started selling outside Boots. Two of the stalls are staffed by girls of oriental extraction who seem to have very limited English. Anyway they sell large very fine (as in thin) scarves and always seem to have a different selection. As they are relatively cheap I normally end up buying one or two. Part of this is that after years of earache I like having a warm neck (hence to polo-neck jumpers) but the other thing is that the scarves soften what can be a rather harsh look. So at present I am playing with using them. The only problem is wine and chocolate are not the in colours at present. The rest of the day was spent on bits and pieces including doing some writing up for thesis.
Saturday was a thesis day, the morning was spent finishing the writing up from the week. There were bits of analysis to do and other things to track down. I am beginning to wonder if former Presbyterian churches are more dispersed than former Congregational ones or whether that is just a mark of how they relate to the area around the church. They feel more disconnected so they must be more dispersed. There is no evidence of an actual difference in the distance members travel to either of my placement churches. The thing was I think that St Andrews Chesterfield would be surprised at how far people were travelling to come to Herringthorpe. Feeling as if the congregation belongs to a locality does not mean that the majority of the congregation live within a mile of the church. Actually though I removed them from the analysis, some people were travelling from Retford to Herringthorpe! On the afternoon I started to put together my dataset. This thing is both boring and addictive. I thought I would stop at seven in the evening so as to do chores only to find I had continued doing it to eight! The snow started coming down early evening and continued well into the night. It was funny as it was fine snow and a lot of the time it did not look like it was snowing but it the snow on the ground kept getting deeper and deeper.
This morning I was watching to see if church was on, well waiting to see a car in the carpark. People were estimating about 6 inches for this area of Sheffield. The communion service was done on reduced numbers but the Dickson’s did two runs to get people to church bringing David, Derek, Sarah, Aileen and John as well as being duty elders. The service went well. Fortunately the Cookes offered to take Sarah and David home which meant only a single trip home. Maybe the church should buy them a four wheel drive minibus. However Mary came to St Andrews as she could walk to us but was not sure whether she could get up the hill to St Marks. the snow has been slowly thawing and is due to continue doing so until tomorrow night (see XCWeather although I have also checked the Met Office and the BBC weather forecast)
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Two Quieter Weeks
Right lets see what I can recall from the last fortnight. I think I will stick to main events rather than a day by day spiel. Monday 6th July I was down to Birmingham for a supervision. Main article was to review my report to St Andrew's Chesterfield. The report was in depth but is going to need some revision before I give it to them to take into consideration last Sunday's interview. There are still problems with dealing with details. I was puzzled by my supervisors response that the report was for the minister only. Two reasons, I expect elders to be interested in detailed reports and I also know with this minister that he won't read it if it was just for him. In the end it turned out that my supervisor had little idea what role the Elders play in an congregation and the depth of their involvement with the running and decision making on a day to day basis. He eventually grasped that elders were closer to ministry team than to PCC in the Anglican setting! It seems so simply that the minister does not run the Church but the elders meeting did and the minister plays a leading role within that setting. So it looks as if I am going to have to produce a chapter on the Reformed Character of the URC in my thesis otherwise I will find blank questions from my examiners. Travel was smooth except for the journey back when the train was delayed between Birmingham and Derby.
The Tuesday I had a migraine. I think if I hadn't I could have claimed I was cured of migraines as I had just done so much over the weekend and Monday. It was the first for quite some weeks. Yes the absence has really been due to an absense of migraines. Its actually quite tricky balancing things at the moment. I know I am better but I also know that if I go back to previous ways I will get more migraines. Humm.
Nothing much to report on Wednesday but Thursday was the day that St Andrews Chesterfield debated about whether children could take communion. Although many there see it as a continuation of whether confirmed(children who have gone through church membership) children could take communion I think this in many ways both was more recent and much deeper. Up until Easter time this did not arise as the children were in Junior Church during communion. The problem was that this Easter they came in and then the congregation did not know what should happen. Technically they held an open table and were proud of their open table but was it open to children. The deeper thing is to do with the acceptance of certain families into the congregation. These are families who are second generation and the mother was brought up in the church, but went away to college and came back. There are two such families. The mothers are being expected to go through membership classes again. One has done so and one has refused to. The mothers up until recently have not been asked to be elders. It was these families whose children were excluded from communion.
was until Friday then, I had a meeting in my diary which means I am back processing data, rather a lot of data some of it totally new to me. I am going to see what can be done with what we have got but I think at least one lot of data will need to be not produced as simply I do not have the where with all to deal with it.
Friday evening was completely different. I ended up organising a trip to evensong and then on for a curry at Naawab's. This was for Codepoet (as he is known on Ship of Fools) who is training for the Anglican ministry and had a placement at Parsons Cross in Sheffield. Balaam and LRP also from Ship of Fools made it as well. Cathy they live in Huddersfield. The rest of the West Riding shipmates did not make it. I was expecting Nawaab's to be close to full but it was at best half empty. The food was good, price about what you'd normally pay in Sheffield for a meal. Apparently the menu is not as extensive as it is in Bradford but they still went beyond the normal. For a good quality curry Division Street is becoming a place to go. As Aagrah's and Nawaab's have now joined Nirmals. I wonder if any of our out of town curry houses which are often also good will move into town. The choristers at evensong were definitely at the tired point for end of term. There were according to Codepoet glares from the choirmaster to various choristers during the service. One managed I think twice to drop his music. I imagine he at least stood a good chance at missing the end of term party on Sunday!
Saturday was quiet. Sunday I went to the communion service at St Andrews Chesterfield. The children should have taken for the first time. I think it was coincidence. Another family came that week, which meant that there was a third little one who as far as I know had not been to Junior Church at all during the last two years. This was the cousin of one of the little girls who is normally there. The mother who had been one of the leading protagonists in favour of children at communion stepped in and took the two younger girls while there was a communion service. I give her full credit for handling tactfully the situation. Then it was onto the pub for lunch with two members mother and daughter as indicated earlier.
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were busy working days. On Wednesday I went around to Stuart's new room as he wanted to show it off. He rents his room from Monica Hanna. It really was only a visit to see his room which is now on the first floor and much better looking than his previous one.
Thursday I took the morning off to do some transcription and then into work on the afternoon hoping I'd have chance to play with the data but Dr Hussein had booked in that morning but otherwise a very ordinary day.
Friday was at Breakfast and then had a Greek class. Then a study day, Saturday a Study day and I took this morning off but am going to the barbecue this evening at St Andrew's Chesterfield that replaces the normal just desserts.
The Tuesday I had a migraine. I think if I hadn't I could have claimed I was cured of migraines as I had just done so much over the weekend and Monday. It was the first for quite some weeks. Yes the absence has really been due to an absense of migraines. Its actually quite tricky balancing things at the moment. I know I am better but I also know that if I go back to previous ways I will get more migraines. Humm.
Nothing much to report on Wednesday but Thursday was the day that St Andrews Chesterfield debated about whether children could take communion. Although many there see it as a continuation of whether confirmed(children who have gone through church membership) children could take communion I think this in many ways both was more recent and much deeper. Up until Easter time this did not arise as the children were in Junior Church during communion. The problem was that this Easter they came in and then the congregation did not know what should happen. Technically they held an open table and were proud of their open table but was it open to children. The deeper thing is to do with the acceptance of certain families into the congregation. These are families who are second generation and the mother was brought up in the church, but went away to college and came back. There are two such families. The mothers are being expected to go through membership classes again. One has done so and one has refused to. The mothers up until recently have not been asked to be elders. It was these families whose children were excluded from communion.
was until Friday then, I had a meeting in my diary which means I am back processing data, rather a lot of data some of it totally new to me. I am going to see what can be done with what we have got but I think at least one lot of data will need to be not produced as simply I do not have the where with all to deal with it.
Friday evening was completely different. I ended up organising a trip to evensong and then on for a curry at Naawab's. This was for Codepoet (as he is known on Ship of Fools) who is training for the Anglican ministry and had a placement at Parsons Cross in Sheffield. Balaam and LRP also from Ship of Fools made it as well. Cathy they live in Huddersfield. The rest of the West Riding shipmates did not make it. I was expecting Nawaab's to be close to full but it was at best half empty. The food was good, price about what you'd normally pay in Sheffield for a meal. Apparently the menu is not as extensive as it is in Bradford but they still went beyond the normal. For a good quality curry Division Street is becoming a place to go. As Aagrah's and Nawaab's have now joined Nirmals. I wonder if any of our out of town curry houses which are often also good will move into town. The choristers at evensong were definitely at the tired point for end of term. There were according to Codepoet glares from the choirmaster to various choristers during the service. One managed I think twice to drop his music. I imagine he at least stood a good chance at missing the end of term party on Sunday!
Saturday was quiet. Sunday I went to the communion service at St Andrews Chesterfield. The children should have taken for the first time. I think it was coincidence. Another family came that week, which meant that there was a third little one who as far as I know had not been to Junior Church at all during the last two years. This was the cousin of one of the little girls who is normally there. The mother who had been one of the leading protagonists in favour of children at communion stepped in and took the two younger girls while there was a communion service. I give her full credit for handling tactfully the situation. Then it was onto the pub for lunch with two members mother and daughter as indicated earlier.
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were busy working days. On Wednesday I went around to Stuart's new room as he wanted to show it off. He rents his room from Monica Hanna. It really was only a visit to see his room which is now on the first floor and much better looking than his previous one.
Thursday I took the morning off to do some transcription and then into work on the afternoon hoping I'd have chance to play with the data but Dr Hussein had booked in that morning but otherwise a very ordinary day.
Friday was at Breakfast and then had a Greek class. Then a study day, Saturday a Study day and I took this morning off but am going to the barbecue this evening at St Andrew's Chesterfield that replaces the normal just desserts.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Herringthorpe, Roberta Rominger and John Calvin
It feels a very full fortnight so you will get highlights only. Some of that is because my brain does not retain the detail. So pardon me if I skimp some things that you want to know. Ask away by all means.
Tuesday 23rd I went over to Herringthorpe to meet Pauline Calderwell. It was easy enough to get there once I got out of Sheffield. We talked for a couple of hours easily. I guess some of the fact that I spent my childhood in Yorkshire meant that I warmed to her approach. By the way Herringthorpe is a very different church from St Andrews Chesterfield. It has about double the number of members in the congregation, having grown from around 70 in the normal congregation upto around 120 during Pauline's time with the congregation. Many of the newer members are from a Pentecostal background. They have BBC Hymn book and Songs of Fellowship in the Pews with Good News Bibles. Their premises are heavily used during the week. That is morning, afternoon and evenings normally have at least a couple of groups in. They are at the very start of a building scheme because they need more space. The church is only fifty years old. The share some similarities with St Andrew's Chesterfield as well. Their minister has been there for much the same sort of time. The manse is very close to the church, technically a separate property but with access. Good News bibles in the pews is another. Oh land bought and developed later as well, this time by Rotherham Congregationalists who felt the area needed a congregational church.
Then over the weekend I wrote the first draft of the report to go to St Andrew's elders. There was no shortage of things to put in the report and I could still add things. It was funny to be writing something where there were more ideas than I could possibly put in. However on Friday I went up to Jean and James Dickson for a meal. It was a pleasant evening although I don't know how pleased James was to know there was a big report in draft coming to him for proof reading! James is looking better, and Jean seems to be moving more easily.
I also went to Just Desserts on Sunday evening. I wonder if the type of service these "cafe churches" put on reflects more the ministers own inclinations. If the person is into praise then it would be praise style, if, as David is, the minister is into bible discussion then that is what you get and so on. Then there was a return of a family to the church which is part of their on going struggle over children and communion. I am still trying to work out precisely what the tension is and there is a tension but I get the feeling the tension runs through people not between people which makes things difficult because there isn't two camps but a sort of tearing and the being of the people themselves. Anyway I got the report which is over 7000 words long, to my proof reader by about 6pm Monday and they both did stirling work on it getting it back to me by Thursday evening. I also sent it to two other people for comment on content.
On Wednesday I did NVivo training for a group from Education and I think Geography. The group was surprisingly easy to teach and for the first time I can recall, I came down from teaching for an afternoon not completely drained. I now need to get on with next years course updates. Oh I also on Wednesday learnt that I was second author on one of the top cited journals in Medical Education. I guess this was publicity from Medical Education who probably were sending a letter saying "Please consider us next time you publish in this area". We will see, it was a methodological paper which does get high citings, then I am methodologist.
Oh before I forget Bill Armstrong started worrying about how the induction loop was affected by the change for radios from analog to digital. I gave the correct answer different technologies, but as James requested it sent it onto Cliff who also answered "different technologies". However every few days someone else repeats the request. I know for a fact it is answered to Bill's and James' satisfaction! Why don't people in St Andrew's trust each other to do the required work.
On Friday at breakfast Jean Dickson and I freaked John out. There is a Jean who comes to the breakfast and she is a bag woman, suffering from some sort of mental illness and has a tendency to nick things, she also goes anywhere there is free food. She has a home and actually some financial reserves as well as her pension. John does not like her. So he had kept saying he did not want Jean on his table. First he said Jean was going to the toilet when it was Jean Dickson, then Jean Dickson came and sat by me. We did our normal exchange "Hello Jean" "Hello Jean" and I could see him doing a double take. I don't think John had realised I was a Jean and he certainly had not realised Jean Dickson was. Also had a Greek class that day and it decided to tipple with rain just as Sarah and Ted were due to arrive. Ted left his umbrella in the bathroom and asked me to remind him to take it. I forgot although he remembered but to make me feel better Sarah left her coat at my house.
On Saturday I went with the Dickson, Derek and Sarah to here Roberta Romminger speak on URC Identity. It was a decent presentation, somethings echoed with me. She sought to outline the process we are going through. The one thing that she would want me to say is "Vision 20/20" is not another programme to be bought into, it is a framework for assessing how well the programmes are working. That is once the local church has given its feed back, the thing is redrafted and brought to assembly, actually there is nothing extra for the local congregation to do. The process the URC is going through is the following:
Catching the vision - Structural reform to remove 1m from central costs
Vision4Life - developing congregational purpose through Bible Study, Prayer and Evangelism
God is still speaking - taking the vision out there.
Both Vision4Life and God is still speaking are optional for congregations and they are both a portfolio of items to be used according to local circumstance.
My main concern with 20/20 is that it presumes a congregation has a local community with which it can link, some congregations don't and it needs to think about them as well. Actually my other concern is that there is a change in society and some in the Church seem to think that the solution is to try and turn the clocks back. I still cannot make any guess of how we need to adapt the "technology" of being a church member for the current age but we do. Do we for instance need to encourage people to draw up personal "rules" for life which have accountability built in? Do we need to think of ways of keeping in relationship with someone even if they are not making public worship and how to encourage them to come to public worship? Is just different times of worship part of the answer or do we need different approaches? What is the minimum that constitutes public worship e.g. does CICS prayer group who meet for prayer for the department constitute an act of public worship or sharing a fellowship meal with other Christians you know well? Finally what space does the church fill, Public or Private? Is it something in the home, the factory, the public square or just within church buildings? I spoke briefly with Roberta well aware that I might want to quote her in my PhD and that she therefore needed to know I was there. I left my PhD card, whether anything will come of this other than that is a matter of circumstance.
We got home before five pm and my parents were due at 6p.m. as Dad was preaching in Chesterfield the next day to mark John Calvin's 500th birthday. In actual fact due to a traffic hold up on the West side of the pennines it was closer to 6:30 p.m. but provided me with a welcome break. I had prepared a meal of pasta with smoked trout and veg all in a pesto sauce. I deliberately cooked only a limited quantity of pasta, partly because Mum and Dad had had their main meal mid day, I had only had sandwiches at Herringthorpe so it was a compromise meal, but with the weather being so warm I was not eating much. The dessert was Chantarais Melon and Raspberries. Then I drove my parents in their car down to the Premier Inn and stood around while they booked in. I then drove the car back to my parking space.
Today Mum and Dad came around about 8 a.m.. I gave them breakfast (Premier Inn is a slightly up market travelodge, the reason for choosing it is that is is about a block down the ring road, opposite Waitrose towards St Mary's Gate behind the most recent sky scraper. Then I drove them to Chesterfield. Dad wanted to be early, so we actually managed to turn up before the duty elder arrived. Fortunately the catering committee were there and had opened up the church. The congregation was boosted by some members from the Caledonian Society and some from Rosehill. Dad was good although he found it tiring.The congregation were listening as they laughed at Dad's jokes, which shows they were listening as Dad's humour is deadpan. The sermon took three parts, the first an introduction to the life of John Calvin, the second an overview of his life's work and final a summary of his relevance to today. His conclusions include that seeking to do something about the ways society falls short of the Kingdom of God is firmly routed in Calvin's understanding of role of the Church and that Calvin had no time for a privatised religion. He also spoke of elders standing along side ministers in witnessing to the kingdom.
The congregation was very chatty and in no rush to go home! I think we probably left sometime after 1 p.m. and there were still people there. Alright Helen and Patrick but others as well. Dad's sermon was on the long side, but people just chatted. An interesting thing was while I sat with my parents people did not come up to chat but the second I moved away people started to come.
We then drove onto the Fox House Inn and had a Sunday dinner there. The meal took a long time to come but when it did it was huge. Dad suggested Mum should not have wine, and as he and I were driving we could not. Mum objected but I suggested that she had pudding instead which she would enjoy much more. However the meal was so large mum could not face pudding. I really think the place did itself out of some money by making the meals so large. We then came back here and chatted until about 5 p.m. when Mum and Dad decided to head for home. I spent the next hour curled up in my bedroom
Tuesday 23rd I went over to Herringthorpe to meet Pauline Calderwell. It was easy enough to get there once I got out of Sheffield. We talked for a couple of hours easily. I guess some of the fact that I spent my childhood in Yorkshire meant that I warmed to her approach. By the way Herringthorpe is a very different church from St Andrews Chesterfield. It has about double the number of members in the congregation, having grown from around 70 in the normal congregation upto around 120 during Pauline's time with the congregation. Many of the newer members are from a Pentecostal background. They have BBC Hymn book and Songs of Fellowship in the Pews with Good News Bibles. Their premises are heavily used during the week. That is morning, afternoon and evenings normally have at least a couple of groups in. They are at the very start of a building scheme because they need more space. The church is only fifty years old. The share some similarities with St Andrew's Chesterfield as well. Their minister has been there for much the same sort of time. The manse is very close to the church, technically a separate property but with access. Good News bibles in the pews is another. Oh land bought and developed later as well, this time by Rotherham Congregationalists who felt the area needed a congregational church.
Then over the weekend I wrote the first draft of the report to go to St Andrew's elders. There was no shortage of things to put in the report and I could still add things. It was funny to be writing something where there were more ideas than I could possibly put in. However on Friday I went up to Jean and James Dickson for a meal. It was a pleasant evening although I don't know how pleased James was to know there was a big report in draft coming to him for proof reading! James is looking better, and Jean seems to be moving more easily.
I also went to Just Desserts on Sunday evening. I wonder if the type of service these "cafe churches" put on reflects more the ministers own inclinations. If the person is into praise then it would be praise style, if, as David is, the minister is into bible discussion then that is what you get and so on. Then there was a return of a family to the church which is part of their on going struggle over children and communion. I am still trying to work out precisely what the tension is and there is a tension but I get the feeling the tension runs through people not between people which makes things difficult because there isn't two camps but a sort of tearing and the being of the people themselves. Anyway I got the report which is over 7000 words long, to my proof reader by about 6pm Monday and they both did stirling work on it getting it back to me by Thursday evening. I also sent it to two other people for comment on content.
On Wednesday I did NVivo training for a group from Education and I think Geography. The group was surprisingly easy to teach and for the first time I can recall, I came down from teaching for an afternoon not completely drained. I now need to get on with next years course updates. Oh I also on Wednesday learnt that I was second author on one of the top cited journals in Medical Education. I guess this was publicity from Medical Education who probably were sending a letter saying "Please consider us next time you publish in this area". We will see, it was a methodological paper which does get high citings, then I am methodologist.
Oh before I forget Bill Armstrong started worrying about how the induction loop was affected by the change for radios from analog to digital. I gave the correct answer different technologies, but as James requested it sent it onto Cliff who also answered "different technologies". However every few days someone else repeats the request. I know for a fact it is answered to Bill's and James' satisfaction! Why don't people in St Andrew's trust each other to do the required work.
On Friday at breakfast Jean Dickson and I freaked John out. There is a Jean who comes to the breakfast and she is a bag woman, suffering from some sort of mental illness and has a tendency to nick things, she also goes anywhere there is free food. She has a home and actually some financial reserves as well as her pension. John does not like her. So he had kept saying he did not want Jean on his table. First he said Jean was going to the toilet when it was Jean Dickson, then Jean Dickson came and sat by me. We did our normal exchange "Hello Jean" "Hello Jean" and I could see him doing a double take. I don't think John had realised I was a Jean and he certainly had not realised Jean Dickson was. Also had a Greek class that day and it decided to tipple with rain just as Sarah and Ted were due to arrive. Ted left his umbrella in the bathroom and asked me to remind him to take it. I forgot although he remembered but to make me feel better Sarah left her coat at my house.
On Saturday I went with the Dickson, Derek and Sarah to here Roberta Romminger speak on URC Identity. It was a decent presentation, somethings echoed with me. She sought to outline the process we are going through. The one thing that she would want me to say is "Vision 20/20" is not another programme to be bought into, it is a framework for assessing how well the programmes are working. That is once the local church has given its feed back, the thing is redrafted and brought to assembly, actually there is nothing extra for the local congregation to do. The process the URC is going through is the following:
Catching the vision - Structural reform to remove 1m from central costs
Vision4Life - developing congregational purpose through Bible Study, Prayer and Evangelism
God is still speaking - taking the vision out there.
Both Vision4Life and God is still speaking are optional for congregations and they are both a portfolio of items to be used according to local circumstance.
My main concern with 20/20 is that it presumes a congregation has a local community with which it can link, some congregations don't and it needs to think about them as well. Actually my other concern is that there is a change in society and some in the Church seem to think that the solution is to try and turn the clocks back. I still cannot make any guess of how we need to adapt the "technology" of being a church member for the current age but we do. Do we for instance need to encourage people to draw up personal "rules" for life which have accountability built in? Do we need to think of ways of keeping in relationship with someone even if they are not making public worship and how to encourage them to come to public worship? Is just different times of worship part of the answer or do we need different approaches? What is the minimum that constitutes public worship e.g. does CICS prayer group who meet for prayer for the department constitute an act of public worship or sharing a fellowship meal with other Christians you know well? Finally what space does the church fill, Public or Private? Is it something in the home, the factory, the public square or just within church buildings? I spoke briefly with Roberta well aware that I might want to quote her in my PhD and that she therefore needed to know I was there. I left my PhD card, whether anything will come of this other than that is a matter of circumstance.
We got home before five pm and my parents were due at 6p.m. as Dad was preaching in Chesterfield the next day to mark John Calvin's 500th birthday. In actual fact due to a traffic hold up on the West side of the pennines it was closer to 6:30 p.m. but provided me with a welcome break. I had prepared a meal of pasta with smoked trout and veg all in a pesto sauce. I deliberately cooked only a limited quantity of pasta, partly because Mum and Dad had had their main meal mid day, I had only had sandwiches at Herringthorpe so it was a compromise meal, but with the weather being so warm I was not eating much. The dessert was Chantarais Melon and Raspberries. Then I drove my parents in their car down to the Premier Inn and stood around while they booked in. I then drove the car back to my parking space.
Today Mum and Dad came around about 8 a.m.. I gave them breakfast (Premier Inn is a slightly up market travelodge, the reason for choosing it is that is is about a block down the ring road, opposite Waitrose towards St Mary's Gate behind the most recent sky scraper. Then I drove them to Chesterfield. Dad wanted to be early, so we actually managed to turn up before the duty elder arrived. Fortunately the catering committee were there and had opened up the church. The congregation was boosted by some members from the Caledonian Society and some from Rosehill. Dad was good although he found it tiring.The congregation were listening as they laughed at Dad's jokes, which shows they were listening as Dad's humour is deadpan. The sermon took three parts, the first an introduction to the life of John Calvin, the second an overview of his life's work and final a summary of his relevance to today. His conclusions include that seeking to do something about the ways society falls short of the Kingdom of God is firmly routed in Calvin's understanding of role of the Church and that Calvin had no time for a privatised religion. He also spoke of elders standing along side ministers in witnessing to the kingdom.
The congregation was very chatty and in no rush to go home! I think we probably left sometime after 1 p.m. and there were still people there. Alright Helen and Patrick but others as well. Dad's sermon was on the long side, but people just chatted. An interesting thing was while I sat with my parents people did not come up to chat but the second I moved away people started to come.
We then drove onto the Fox House Inn and had a Sunday dinner there. The meal took a long time to come but when it did it was huge. Dad suggested Mum should not have wine, and as he and I were driving we could not. Mum objected but I suggested that she had pudding instead which she would enjoy much more. However the meal was so large mum could not face pudding. I really think the place did itself out of some money by making the meals so large. We then came back here and chatted until about 5 p.m. when Mum and Dad decided to head for home. I spent the next hour curled up in my bedroom
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