What a joyous evening as Bishop Ruth and Archdeacon Luke 'collated' and 'inducted' Rev'd Caroline to become the Incumbent of St George's.

In her sermon Bishop Ruth remarked on the beauty of our church, a place of continual christian worship for over a millennium. In the long list of Incumbents Rev'd Caroline is the first woman, and how interesting that the service fell on 30th September - the feastday of St Jerome whose attitudes to women were very different to the contemporary teachings of the 5th century (even if somewhat short of today's accepted standards!)

The Gospel reading was from Luke 9:45 (similar to Mark 9:30-37 from 2 weeks ago) and carries a warning or, as St Jerome would have it, 'Everything in it must have a sharp seasoning of truth'

Bishop Ruth explained that here Jesus is frustrated at the disciples bickering yet again both over who amongst them was highest up the pecking order and their attitude to those outside their inner circle.

It is a sharp seasoning of truth because we are all hard wired to position ourselves on a ladder built of comparisons with others; hard wired too to look at those outside our own circle with suspicion. Ladders and circles - things that undermine Christ's hopes for the world

The opportunities and challenges we all face (see 'where next for St George's?') won't have changed because of last night's beautiful and timeless service, but it reminds us that whether a Bishop, Archdeacon, Incumbent or parishioner we all in this together.