This is my week - Friday

Nearly there (actually I am there already, writing this from the perspective of 'next Monday'!)

Each Friday we do Morning Prayer in our staircase groups, rather than communally in chapel. Still reasonably formal, but with the bonus that we can have a cup of tea in our hands while doing it, and for some of us the opportunity to spend a little bit of social time together.

For the rest of the morning we have 3 hours of 'Life and Service' - which is where we get to talk about all sorts of vicary things, rather than the intellectual academic side which occupies the rest of the week. This term we're spending quite a lot of time on Theological Reflection (or 'how to find God in a situation'), learning techniques for analysing conversations, encounters, and the various things that life in the vicarage throws at you. Often we are given case studies of awkward pastoral situations, and asked to think about how we would approach it. After half-time we changed tack, and looked at the privileges and abuses of power, which took us into some interesting territory. Whether we like it or not, a vicar has a certain authority by virtue of his position, and with that authority comes a responsibility towards our congregations, to care for them, to demonstrate servant leadership, but when necessary providing strong directional leadership without being a bully.

Lunchtime comes around all too soon on Fridays, and with that I was off home for a family weekend away - Tasha's dad recently turned 60 and we're celebrating with him in Elveden Forest.

So that was my week - Saturday would normally be my day off, so you're not getting a report on that!