Farewell to Sheffield

The Methodist ministry is, by its very nature, an itinerant one. Mr Wesley's ordained preachers were never meant to stay in one place for long, and, however settled one may be in a place, one knows that there will come a time to move on. For me that time has now come, and after 11 years in Sheffield the stressful process of uprooting is here.

All such moves are hard - on the minister, their family, and on the churches - as relationships, attachments and familiarities change and dissolve. All of my moves have been so, for a number of reasons, particularly the one that brought us here, as my leaving was not the most pleasant, and the experience left me with numerous 'issues' that took many years to resolve themselves. But this parting seems to be hitting me hardest of all of them.

One reason is the relationships that we as a family have built up - or re-established -  here over the past 11 years. Jude, my wife, was born here: in fact the house she was born into is only about 400 yards from where we currently live. Her brothers still live here, as well as members of the wider family, and old friends from school and church. This is 'home' to her. It was in this city that mine and Jude's relationship began, developed and, 27 years ago, was celebrated in marriage. Our two sons - boys of 13 & 11 when we came here - are now men of 24 & 22. This is the place, above all the places we have lived, that they now call 'home', and leaving children to forge their own lives is never easy for a parent, but that we must do.

The churches to whom, and with whom, I have ministered, are another reason for this parting being hard. As I have mentioned, I was not in a 'good place' when we arrived in 2004, but the love, care, support and prayers of God's people have pulled me through and, I believe, have made me a better minister as a result. It's not always been an easy ride over those years, either for me or them, but the good people of Stanwood, Rivelin Glen (latterly Hall Park Head), Stannington, Dungworth, Walkley and (principally, as they are the only congregation that I've been associated with for the entirety of my time here) Wesley Hall have shown me such love and support that I will always cherish and remember with great affection.

One thing that has amazed and appalled me in equal measure is the amount of junk that we have accumulated in our time here: junk that has now been recycled, charity-shopped or shredded. I hope that, having de-cluttered quite savagely, we can keep the amount to a minimum in future.

And so we move on:. a move that, for my sake as much as for the churches, is needed. We are both ready for and in need of fresh challenges and stimulations to bring out and develop the gifts that God had given us. I  leave one beautiful part of God's world for another, and as a Yorkshireman move back into 'exile' after 17 years back in 'God's own county', as we depart for Kendal and the Lake District. There there will be new geography to get to know; new people and situations to familiarise myself with; and new responsibilities as I take on the role of Superintendent Minister for the first time - a job, if I'm honest, I have coveted for a number of years, and one for which I am, perhaps, only just ready. I trust that, as always, God's timing is perfect. We'll see!

So, goodbye Sheffield, the City of Steel, a city on the move.

A month of Transitions

I'm conscious that things have been quiet on here in recent weeks. This is probably because they've been far from quiet elsewhere!

July 2015 will be one of those months that we remember as a family for a number of reasons. Here's just a snapshot.

Mike & Nadine's Wedding

Mike & Nadine

On 4th July our eldest son, Mike, married Nadine at St Thomas Philadelphia Church in Sheffield. It was a wonderful day, full of love and faith, and was a beautiful way to begin their life together.

The service was a perfect expression of their own personalities, with hymns, songs and readings chosen with care, and a particularly moving time when friends from church stood and prayed with and for them both.

After the service drinks and cake were available for everyone there, before the photos were taken. Then we all departed for the reception.

The menu was themed around the honeymoon destinations: so we had paella from Spain, crépes from France, and wine and lemonade from Italy, with much dancing and conversation to follow. A truly wonderful day!

Don't we scrub up well!

A Slight Scare!

The Birthday Girl!

About a week after the wedding, when I should have been preaching at one of my churches, I spent the morning sat with Jude, my wife, in A&E as she recovered from a 'minor cardiac incident'. The scariest part of it was that, in order to get her 'ticker' working properly, they had to stop it and start it again! Not something either of us wants to go through again in a hurry!

The Big 5-0
Thankfully by last Friday Jude was back (almost) to normal, and was able to celebrate a landmark birthday. She had wanted to have a party - who doesn't? - and wanted a theme, which she'd narrowed down to a choice of two. Thankfully '50 Shades...' lost out to 'Hawaii 5-0', and loud shirts, grass skirts and fruit punch (with or without rum) was the order of the day. The weather was a bit of a let-down for the BBQ, but we went ahead anyway, and a great time was had by all.


Farewells

Formal Farewells

The last couple of weekends have been spent in the sometimes painful task of saying farewell, as Jude & I prepare to leave the city that has been our home for the past 11 years and move to Kendal in Cumbria.

On Sunday 19th we gathered in the evening at Stephen Hill church for the formal farewell to four of us who are leaving the Sheffield Circuit (2 retiring, 2 to other appointments). It was lovely to see people from right across the city come together to worship God and give thanks for the varied ministries of the four of us, and it was a wonderful service, put together by our 2 least experienced Presbyters - a great job, Katie & Will!

Mike leading

Then yesterday, 26th, came my final service, at Wesley Hall. These are always the hardest ones to plan, lead and get through. There was a wonderful turn-out from both the congregations that I minister with, as well as one or two from other churches in the area. Mike (as above) led us in sung worship for about 20 minutes in a very powerful and wonderful way - it was something I'd always wanted him to do at Wesley Hall. I preached from Ephesians 6 - "Finally", and then we shared in a liturgy (which I 'borrowed' from a Lutheran Church in Minnesota, and adapted) where both I and the congregation gave thanks, asked for forgiveness, and let go of each other, assuring each of our prayers.

Quite out of the blue, there then came a presentation, which was generous both in words and in gifts: things which I will treasure as a memento of some of my best years in ministry so far. All there is left for us to do now is shredding and packing, before we embark - without the boys for the first time - on the next stage of our journey.

Final words and parting gifts

An Evening with Andy Tillison

I just love it when a plan comes together!

About a year ago, my wife, Jude, had an idea for an exhibition at Wesley Hall, one of the churches I minister in, based around some mixed media panels produced by Sue Symons around the theme of Creation, and the myths in the first chapters of the book of Genesis. As part of this we explored the possibility of arranging a few concerts and making it more of a mini Festival.

A few months ago I happened to get into a conversation with Andy Tillison at a CRS gig in Maltby (as you do), and suggested the possibility of him maybe doing a gig for us as part of the Festival, and I was delighted when he agreed.

That concert happened last Saturday (20th June), the night before Andy's 56th birthday, and despite some gloomy predictions from a number of us, around 40 people from as far away as Darlington & Basingstoke gathered for the occasion. Andy's set-up was quite small and unimposing: a couple of keyboards on one side and the church's Beckstein on the other, set out on a level with the audience, who sat quite close and gave the whole event an intimate feel that one seldom finds at gigs today.

The set consisted of a melange of material from various stages of Andy's musical journey, as well as a couple of covers and some new, improvised stuff too. We began with a rendition of 'The Music that Died Alone' from The Tangent's debut album, which moved then into a rousing cover of Rory Gallagher's 'Bullfrog Blues'. Next was a piece of improvised electronica, inventively entitled 'It's a Bit Like Pink Floyd', and which did exactly what it said on the tin.

Between the songs, Andy regaled us with anecdotes and some of the stories behind the tunes. One was about the next track, a beautiful piece from Andy's 'Electric Symphonia #2' (my album of the year in 2014) dedicated to his mother, who taught him to play piano - 'Andante for Dorothy'. We then delved back into Andy's past with a couple of songs from his days with Po90: 'Dead on a Car Park Floor' from 'Afterlifecycle' and 'Blues for Lear', but sandwiched between these was another piece of electronica: a tribute to the BBC children's programme 'The Clangers' which somehow managed to incorporate Vangelis' 'Chariots of Fire'!

After a break, we began the second half back in Tangent country with a song that Andy hadn't planned to perform, but did anyway - GPS Culture. There then followed an excellent piece of spontaneity involving extended bass and drum solos (all played on the keyboards, of course), before we returned to the Multiplex album for 'Vivace'.

One item on the set list had been flagged up beforehand, and had been hotly anticipated by many of those present, and it provided a fitting climax to the main set - a solo rendition (with bass and drums pre-recorded) of the epic 'In Earnest', the emotional story of a man with dementia whose only lasting memories were of his time as a wartime pilot. A great song, and beautifully performed: there were people there who were new to Andy's music who were visibly moved by the song.

Persuaded to play one more tune, Andy gave us a kind of lounge jazz instrumental version of 'Three Times a Lady' which made it feel like one of the old standards, and that drew the evening to a close. I was looking for something that would help us to celebrate creation and creativity, and Andy gave us that in spades. He is one of the most creative musicians I know, and has such a down-to-earth, unassuming way of engaging with an audience, and this endeared him to a crowd who, to be fair, were on the whole already 'with him' from the start. But even those new to his music left moved and thoroughly entertained by the occasion. A truly magnificent night: as Emma Roebuck said afterwards as her review of the night: "You should have been there!"

Modern Prog Classics - some analysis

In the week leading up to Monday 25th May 2015 Progzilla Radio broadcast the Top 100 Modern Prog Classics, as voted for by their listeners. The results can be found here.

Since the poll was published, I've been doing some analysis of the results (because I'm on holiday and it's raining):

The 100 songs come from 64 albums (assuming the studio version of the track was chosen)

There are 48 acts represented:
    27 have 1 song in the list;
    5 have 2 songs
    9 have 3 songs
    4 have 4 songs
    1 has 6 songs (Steven Wilson)
    2 have 7 songs (IQ & Big Big Train)

The most songs from one album is 5 (The Raven That Refused To Sing)
The most different albums represented by a single act is 6 (IQ)

Of the 48 acts, 30 are from the UK; 8 from USA (including Transatlantic, who are 50% American); 8 from Scandinavia; and 2 from the rest of Europe (France & Poland)

There are 7 tracks under 5:00; 11 between 5:01 & 7:30; 23 between 7:31 & 10:00; 28 between 10:01 & 15:00; 12 between 15:01 & 20:00; 11 between 20:00 & 30:00; and 8 over 30:00.

The shortest tracks were 3:16 (Spooky Action & Anisina), and the longest was 77:54 (The Whirlwind)

17 of the tracks were originally released in the 1990s; 42 from 2000-2009; and 41 since 2010
The five most popular years were 2013 (16); 2012 (9); 2014 (8); 2000 (7) & 2006 (7)

Which perhaps goes to show that, in terms of modern Progressive music, the best years appear to be now; the UK seems to be a strong force on the prog scene; and we still like an epic!

Wassail

13 weeks from today, Big Big Train play their first live show, and I will be there! For now, here's the title track from their forthcoming EP, due for release on June 1