Well, that's it, then. First ordained Christmas done and dusted. You imagine all sorts of things beforehand, though I have to confess that losing my voice completely half way through Midnight Mass was one contingency that I'd not forseen. Mercifully, said voice recovered sufficiently to get me through the remaining 3 services; indeed, it was a positive advantage during the Family Service, where a husky whisper lent - well, to be honest I'm not sure what- to the Legend of the Glow worm...but the congregation definitely had to listen intently, even with the mic.
I'd been told that Midnight was "huge" and indeed it was....between the Crib Service at 3.00 on Christmas Eve and the final service on Christmas Day well over 500 people must have come through the doors of the church, a high proportion of whom were totally unknown to me.
Spent much of Boxing Day asleep (having failed to wind down enough after Midnight to achieve much the night before, what with the advent of children for stockings at 6.45 am) so woke rather later than the rest of the world to the appalling news from the Indian ocean. Everything else seems incredibly trivial now, doesn't it. Glad I'm on holiday...I'm having enough problems of my own along the lines of "how does a loving God allow this?" without having to come up with coherent answers for other people. I just know he is weeping too.
Thanks for your concern on the 'other' site. To be honest with you, the Church of England precipitated my move away from God. In three years I spent working in a parish the (female) curate was very understanding, but powerless to help - the (male) vicar had too much power and caused many of my problems.
ReplyDeleteSo, nothing personal, but I didn't want hidden agendas to make me block out anything you're saying.
Anyway, you really ought to have a rest now. The Methodist Church insists that ministers in their first appointment have the Sunday after Christmas off.
Congrats on the successful completion of your first ordained Christmas :-)
ReplyDeleteYou said:
I'm having enough problems of my own along the lines of "how does a loving God allow this?" without having to come up with coherent answers for other people.Since seeing a worldwide survey of religious attitudes last year, I still remember one question, which was about just this. Asked "Does the suffering in the world make it harder to believe in God?", the rich and comfortable answered "Yes", but the poor and suffering answered "No". Interesting, I thought.
More at my blog (now up and running again!)
pax et bonum
Impressesed.
ReplyDelete