I have had a blog running for some time now, but, as far as I am aware, a cousin in Los Angeles is the only person who has every visited it. This is just as well because it is very boring and full of worthy stuff. So re-inspired by Bill Thompson’s address to the diocesan clergy conference about the value and fun of blogging and encouraged by my good friend Alan Wilson, Bishop of Buckingham, who has a really good and interesting site, I am back and full of good intentions to keep this blog a) running and b) interesting (I hope).
So I am sat here on holiday in France, very early in the morning, unable to sleep and making a start. My main concern at the moment is that France is in turmoil. The fishermen have blockaded the oil refineries and the ports – I have enough fuel to get me about halfway up the country and a time window of 48 hrs to get back to the UK from when the dog has been treated for ticks, fleas etc. – so sitting around in Calais waiting for the port to open or (worse) sitting in a motorway service station waiting for a delivery – are complicated options. This short break may be longer than I had anticipated!
Anyway, I am reading the novel ‘Deaf Sentence’ by David Lodge. Much to be recommended – it is funny and a good read, but also a moving insight into the world of deafness, ageing and mortality. Having just marked the passing of another year in my own life – it feels apt!
I am also using my time away to get back to my research into the changing nature of incumbency. Last September I decided to take a year off from the formal academic mountain of looking into how the job of a Vicar is changing, but the work still goes on. This week I am trying to get the research back into order so that I can start the next academic year with a sense of focus. The i-vicar project is still in the air, but needs more work and ideas. Any thoughts suggestions etc. would be most welcome.
Bill Thompson commended blogging not only as a good way of sharing ideas and thoughts but also a way of circumventing the press. These days you have to controversial to get any sort of space in the media. As I firmly believe in a reasonable God, I find it difficult to be heard amidst the voices of the extreme. You can sense journalists losing interest as you try to give a balanced and reasonable response to the story they are driving. Reasonableness, balance and compassion are in short supply in our world – so I hope that this blog will be a forum for Godly reasonableness in making a faithful response to the challenges which face us. Please do join in.
