God is gone up

but the rest of us are plodding along here as best we can.

This has been a good day, but utterly relentless.
It began at 0.dark. thirty when I woke to finish material for the magazines and write a talk for the school service. At7.20 it was down to church to set up for the 8.00 Eucharist...a good congregation blending both hill and vale, which is always a treat.
School service followed, featuring a rocket carried in in procession. We talked about whether anyone would know we even had a rocket if we left it safely on the altar and agreed that would be a foolish plan. Then we decided that if the good news of Jesus needed sharing in the same way, it would make sense for us to light the rocket using the flame from the Paschal candle - except that it proved totally impossible to transport said flame from church to playing field without disaster. We did our best to cheat ("trust me, I'm a vicar...I would never lie to little children")...to convince the children that the flame had survived but when it came to the 8th or 9th match, we had to admit defeat. The rocket, once persuaded to light, was most spectacular.
Home Communions, Action Learning Set, Funeral, Sermon prep, then back for rather depleted choir practice & the Eucharist. This was lovely. 30 people whom we persuaded to sit together rather then in the traditional Anglican diaspora, great hymns, good singing, and for the first time since the arm, I was could manage the elevation at the end of the Eucharistic prayer. My homily was well organised, thanks to kind and helpful friends online (no idea how it was received of course - the day there is actually some feedback I'll be too speechless to blog) and when the service was over, servers and sidespeople came back to the vicarage for drinks and nibbles.
All went well, but I don't think this group had ever been feted before, so that it was hard for them to believe I was (and am) genuinely appreciative.

Now it's late, I'm wiped out...but the day has been good.
Happy Ascension all of you. I need to descend into sleep now.