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 worldThe 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.
A dog is...........Rev'd Caroline asked how the phrase ended. 'Not just for Christmas' may be current; but how about the more timeless 'man's best friend'.And with that as a benchmark, and fully aware of this being dangerous ground, Rev'd Caroline drew the comparison with Jesus. Someone that loves us unconditionally, that listens to us without judgment, picks us up when we are down, is always glad to see us and walks by our side.A Teacher too. Being a pet owner teaches us about selflessness, doing right by our pets, experiencing love, understanding how much the environment depends on our actions and helping us learn about grief.With a great turn out and appropriate hymns to accompany us (and actions we could join in with - how would you illustrate an octopus!?) we all had a joyous time.Thank you Queen Victoria (aka Vicky), Phineas, Coco, Chester, Robert, Rabbit, Wabbit, and the gorilla Lady Alice (stuffed of course) to name but a few. Thank you Rev'd Caroline for taking the risk. Full newsletter is here
