St. Mary's October 2016 Magazine

From the Vicarage October 2016.
I love this time of year, as the summer turns to autumn, and the
first cool mornings arrive, and leaves go from green to gold; but
what I really like about it is the back-to-school feeling. I was one
of those annoying children who skipped back to the classroom
when the summer holidays were over. I still love the smell of a
new satchel, and the rattle of a tin case of Oxford
Mathematical Instruments, and the smell of new football boots,
not that I, incompetent at all sport, ever made much use of
them.
I feel more than a normal sense of nostalgia this year, returning
from my sabbatical, a three-month vacation from church
duties, which is the nearest thing to the summer holidays of
childhood an adult can have. It took some getting used to, not
having the rhythm of the church’s week and festivals to mark
out the time and it was weird going to other people’s church
services and thinking “I wonder why they do it THAT way” over
and over again, before it strikes you that it may be worth
thinking why we do things our way too.
I wondered if I would return full of ideas for change and
revision, but actually it’s been more like getting back on the
bus. I step on, having stepped off three months ago, and we
just resume the route, doing what we always do. I like that
about the life of the church, not lapsing into the error of thinking
the wheel needs reinventing every six months but settling into
the pattern which was there before we were and will be there
after we’re gone. By this I don’t mean nothing should ever
change, but I would argue we should have confidence in the
deep and regular pulse and pattern the church lives by and
invites us to share.
Yours in Christ,
Fr Richard.
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