Three in Three

As my Sabbatical comes towards its close, I'm managing to squeeze a few gigs in before returning to work. Last week I managed to attend concerts on three consecutive nights, a first for me (outside of festivals).

Thursday evening saw me make my first visit to a local venue here in Kendal, Bootleggers Bar, which is tucked away in one of the many 'yards' that are a feature of Kendal. It is a cosy, intimate venue, with a good selection of ales to slake ones thirst before, during and after the show, and a good ambiance. The entertainment for the evening was provided by blues guitarist Ben Poole, ably supported by bandmates Ben Matthews (drums), Tom Swann (bass) and Steve Watts (keys). This was great guitar-driven blues rock of the highest order, and it is easy to see why Ben is one of the most highly respected and talked-about guitarists of the moment, attracting plaudits from Jeff Beck and the late Gary Moore.

On Friday I drove about 20 miles down the M6 to Lancaster, for the latest in a series of gigs called 'Prog in the Priory'. Previous acts have included Rick Wakeman & Gordon Giltrap; Thijs van Leer & Menno Gootjes; and Marco Lo Muscio & John Hackett, with John Young in support. This time we were royally entertained by Steve Howe, who gave us an acoustic evening of his own material and selections from Yes, including excerpts from The Remembering & The Ancient, a version of To Be Over, a tribute to the late Chris Squire, and an encore of Roundabout and Clap. It was a good evening, the only down side of which was Steve's singing: I wish he'd just stuck to what he does best. Sadly he didn't allow photos during the show or afterwards, but I did manage to snap his guitar set-up before the gig.

Finally on Saturday I had a longer journey, as I travelled to Maltby for the Classic Rock Society gathering with Jump, supported by Jeff Green. Jeff played a brilliant short set of songs from his albums Jessica and Elder Creek to an appreciative crowd, before Jump entertained us with their brand of powerful rock music with a great narrative lyrical style, and the great repartee of front-man John Dexter Jones. This band tell great tales, in word and song, and display great technical skill. A thoroughly enjoyable night, shared with folk from across the country who had made the trip 'up North'.

After some soul-searching, I decided not to make it 4 in four and attend The Room in Bilston. But all in all a great weekend. I'm not sure I'll be doing anything like that again for a while.

Overwhelmed

Last weekend, Storm Desmond hit the North West of Britain, bringing a months-worth of rain in 24 hours, and flooding and devastation to a number of communities around Cumbria. One of those communities affected by the deluge was Kendal, where I am currently based.

The first I knew that something big was happening was when I received a phone call around lunchtime on Saturday 5th December, asking if I could come to one of our churches, Sandylands Methodist Church, to help with evacuating some of the local houses. Fearing that driving there might be problematic, my wife Jude & I set off to walk. It was evident very early on in our journey that the River Kent was very high, and by the time we reached the bridge over the river it was almost high enough to breach the bridge! In fact, shortly after we had crossed, the police decided to close the bridge in fear for its stability.

The evacuation effort was under way when we arrived, and hot drinks, towels and soup were provided for those who needed them, as was childcare and muscle-power to take furniture upstairs in some of the affected houses. But the rain kept coming, and by 5:30pm we were told to evacuate the evacuation centre, as the water was threatening to get in. So we made our way home, at times through water above knee-high. Showered and changed, another call came to get to another evacuation centre, in the Town Hall. By this stage all of the main roads in and out of Kendal were impassible, and among the folk holed-up at the Town Hall was a bus-load of day trippers from the Wirral who couldn't get home.

The rain finally stopped in the small hours of Sunday 6th, when the enormity of the damage began to become evident. The church on Sandylands had flooded to a depth of about 2 feet in places, and was technically unusable. Such technicalities didn't stop them, however, and it quickly became a hub for help, advise and practical support to the hundreds of homes on that estate alone which had been swamped by the rising waters. Local charities and supermarket chains provided cleaning materials, food and other essentials, and people from the community and beyond rallied round to help in the clean-up. Sadly, many of the people were uninsured, or under-insured, and local businesses lost plant and premises.

The leaders of the church met on Tuesday evening to take stock, and as part of our meeting we were asked how were feeling. The best way to sum up my feelings then, and now, is the word Overwhelmed.

Overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of the damage caused by the water, and by the volume of it.
Overwhelmed too by the burden of responsibility on me in my new role as a Circuit Superintendent, which if I'm honest left me feeling lost, confused, out of my depth and wanting to run away (I didn't).
Overwhelmed by the energy, stamina, dedication and organisation of my colleagues at Sandylands, Wendy & Jonny, who have both spent the last week going above and beyond, doing all in their power (and beyond it) to hold that community together; to be the heart and soul and strength of an estate reeling from what hit it last Saturday. What they have achieved has been phenomenal, and has been rightly praised by the secular authorities as setting the standard for this kind of relief work.
Overwhelmed by the willingness of people who have volunteered to help with practical problems such as house-clearance, advice on where to find help with housing, insurance issues.
Overwhelmed by the generosity of the Kendal people, and those outside our town, who have given clothing, bedding, food, transport, money and even houses, to help those in need.
Overwhelmed by a community coming together for each other, truly saying 'We're all in this together'.
I hope in one sense that I never have to face something like this again in my ministry. But in another sense, I hope that all churches, and all communities, could demonstrate the same spirit, the same support, the same 'koinonia' (fellowship), the same 'agape' (unconditional love) that I have seen over the past week.

I have been overwhelmed.

A Warm Welcome

So, the Methodist Stationing system reaches its final stage, as decisions made back in November last year and ratified by the Conference in June now come into effect. After living in Kendal for about a month, this weekend brought our official welcome to the area, and to my appointment as Superintendent of the Kendal Circuit.

Welcome from the Chair

People gathered from across the circuit at Stricklandgate Methodist Church, which is to be my main centre of work, for a service of welcome on Saturday evening. Most of the chapels were represented, as were other churches in the town, and the Deputy Mayor was also on hand to offer support. The service was very ably held together by my colleagues, David & Wendy, and the sermon was given by our District Chair, Richard, who challenged us all about the servant nature of Christian ministry. It was wonderful to see old friends from college present, as well as a contingent who had come up from Sheffield (probably to make sure I was really gone!). I actually love it when folk from your previous appointment come to see you into your new one - it gives a wonderful sense of continuity and of that great Methodist concept of Connexion - a bright succession!

The Declaration of Intent is read

One of the things that excites me about this appointment is the strength of ecumenical cooperation across the county, as well as in the town. As part of the service the Ecumenical 'Declaration  of Intent' was read by the Area Dean - a tripartite commitment by the Methodist, Anglican and United Reformed Churches to do all we can to work together in mission and ministry.

The welcome continued this morning, as I led my first service at Stricklandgate. Again, there was a good congregation who laughed in all the right places (which is always a bonus!), and reaction afterwards seemed to affirm that I had 'passed the audition'! I know it's early days yet, but things seem to augur well for a productive time of ministry here.

Ecumenical & Methodist colleagues and the Deputy Mayor

My thanks to my colleague Jonny for the photos!

Methodist Stationing - some reflections (part 2)

In my earlier post on this topic I outlined the journey and the procedures I had followed leading up to the first meeting of the Methodist Church's Stationing Matching Group. That group has now completed its first meeting, over the course of 4 days, and I can say that the results for me and for the churches I currently serve were mixed.

As I stated previously, SMG met from 3rd to 6th November to consider 'matches' for 112 ministers and around 150 appointments. The way they do this is a little complex but is felt to be fair by those involved, and the general feeling is that the whole process is immersed in prayer from start to finish. At around 5:00 p.m. on 6th November I received a phone call from my Chair of District to inform me that a match had been made; that it was with one of the appointments 'on my list' - one that I had identified as being of interest to me; and I was invited to visit the Kendal Circuit with a view to becoming their Superintendent minister.

I have to say that my first response was one of delight, then a certain amount of trepidation. Superintendency is a huge responsibility in the Methodist Church, and although it is something I've considered for a while now, the prospect still makes me a little nervous (maybe that's a good thing). The following morning the Circuit Steward from Kendal phoned to arrange a visit, which was to take place a week later. In the meantime I checked out websites for the churches, the circuit and the District, and was sent details of the itinerary for the visit, and of the manse in which we would be living.

Meanwhile the appointment I will be leaving had discovered that, unfortunately, they had been unsuccessful in the first stationing round - not through any fault of their own, but simply because by the time they were 'called' all the available ministers had been matched. This caused a small amount of despondency in some, but there is still a good chance that a match will be made in the second round at the beginning of December. We continue to pray that the right person for this appointment is found, and hope that SMG will deal equitably with those appointments like ours which remained unmatched after round 1.

So, the day of the visit arrived. We drove up from Sheffield and met the Circiut Stewards in a lay-by just off Junction 36 on the M6 for them to drive us to the manse, where we met with them and the circuit staff for a chat before having a tour of the house. We then drove to the larger of the two churches I would have charge of, Stricklandgate, where we met with members of the local invitation committee over lunch. It was great to see that one of that committee was the local Rural Dean, an indication of the strength of local ecumenical cooperation in Cumbria. After lunch we met with members from the church for a conversation (not an interview) which was wide-ranging and challengeing but which felt in no way intimidating (to me at least). In fact my overwhelming feeling afterwards was one of feeling 'at home' and 'comfortable' with the people there. We then set off to walk through the town to visit the other church in my (potential) charge, a small mission chapel known either as Fellside Methodist Church or The Job Pennington Memorial Chapel. Again, we felt at home here. Finally we drove out to one of the outlying villages in the Circuit, Levens, to meet another member of the Invitation Committee, before heading home after a long, tiring but positive day.

The whole day of the visit was very well organised, and it gave me and Jude space and time to take in just what the appointment would mean for us (albeit in outline). It was a very positive experience, and as we drove home we were very quickly of a mind as to how we would respond should an invitation be issued. We had been told that the Invitation Committee were to meet the following day at 4:00 p.m. At 4:30 my phone rang with an invitation to take up the post of Superintendent of the Kendal Circuit, an invitation I was delighted to accept.

To be honest, I can't wait! (And bookings for B&B are being taken!)