Way back in the autumn, I was foolish enough to accept an invitation from the "Open Group" (a derivative of the Mother's Union here, for those who are working and thus miss out on MU afternoon meetings) to talk to them...about being a curate! How stupid can I get???
They want 45 minutes filled this Friday, and it really might be a struggle, as I 'm confronted with the awful realisation that in the 9 months I've been here, of the events worth recounting, 50% will be things they already know all about, and the other 50% will be things they mustn't know about.
I guess all I can do is talk about the journey so far, pray for lots of (answerable) questions..maybe give them a chance to tell me 1o things they wish their clergy knew...and if all else fails, go for community singing.
Of course, if any of you have particularly entertaining anecdotes which you wouldn't mind lending me, it might improve the mix a little.
The talk's title? Yup, you've guessed it....Good in Parts.
3 comments:
I think you might be suprised about how little they know of what clergy do apart from the obvious liturgical stuff. I discovered at a similar stage that over 50% of MU in Mirfield where I did my curacy understood about daily offices or what the difference between being a deacon or priest were - or that a curacy is still part of formal training. So remember to state the obvious - and good luck!
We have a new curate arriving in a few months - our first for about 6 years - and I was thinking of asking a general question about what, with the benefit of hindsight, any recently arrived curates would have liked their congregations to know or do to help them settle in.... would that be a way in for your talk? I'm sure Tom's right: actually most people don't know what vicars do, never mind curates (and of course it can be such fun to tease the said vicars by pretending to think they only work on Sundays..... shame!)
I have to agree with what Tom said on this one - you will probably be surprised!
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