Simon Says ...

The only Church of England secondary school in the diocese is right next door to our church, and they make good use of the connection. In the last two days I've led or spoken at two school services. Yesterday was the full school Ascension Day eucharist. The church was packed to the rafters with over 1000 students and teachers. We had a wonderful brass group playing a fanfare to start. Five students led the service up to the peace, the choir sang beautifully and we had a student organist (who also plays for the church). Hats off to KT who preached to 1000 young people! Today was a smaller affair, but probably more fun. The Year 13 (Upper VI in old money) leaving service was this morning. The songs were primary school ones (played in the style of Frank Sinatra). We had short speeches from the Senior Students, the Head of Sixth Form and the Head Teacher (as well as me); videos made specially for the service and the band played Queen. Bohemian Rhapsody in the 13th Century chur

This is probably the best view through a spyhole that I've come across. Can anyone top it?

One of the difficult things about a new job is learning the new skills and acquiring the new knowledge that you need. More difficult than that is re-learning to do things that I thought I did well. I did, it's just that I can't do them the same way here. Preaching is probably the best example. I was really happy with my preaching style, but it simply doesn't work in a church this size. So it's back to the drawing board, and the painful process of changing the way I do things by getting rid of things that I liked about my style. It's good for me, I suppose, in that it gets rid of some of my pride. Doesn't mean I have to like it though. As the man(?) said: " You must unlearn what you have learned "

Bank holiday Monday, and what better way to spend it than ignoring the various chores that need doing and going for a pub lunch and a walk in the sunshine! The good folk of Foundation were there in good numbers, and we wandered in the foothills of the Cotswolds. Stopping only to fly kites, retrace our steps (only once) and wait for one another. Blissful.