The Vicar Writes.... April 2007

You will have gathered by now that I am to retire later this year. My last Sunday will be 5 August and we are inviting everyone to come to a final Prayer Book Evensong at 6pm at St George’s to be followed by a reception at the Riverside Hotel, ending at 8pm. Book the date! I am beginning to tidy up thirteen years of my life here in Kendal. That is the longest I have ever stayed in a parish and means that I have accumulated a great deal of ‘stuff’ that I must start to shed. The flat I am moving into is quite small in comparison to a vicarage. It is not easy to jettison things – especially books, which must be culled by about two thirds. And you also begin to turn up pieces of your past. Inevitably you approach the task with a mixture of nostalgia, sadness and sense of loss. At the same time there is a certain thrill thinking about the unknown future that awaits – a future that you know you must make something of since there won’t be the props of a job and a role and a congregation waiting. But sooner or later we must all face up to one or other of life’s milestones. Which is why this season of Lent is a good precursor. Because in Lent the church invites us to take stock of our lives, as Jesus took stock of his in the wilderness. We ask some searching questions about what we are doing in our jobs, our families, our relationships, our interests. Are we making the best of the time God gives us? Are we learning to receive as well as give? If we can face some of these hard but necessary questions we shall be better people for it and we shall know how joy comes after struggle, resurrection only after the cross.

Managing the interregnum

When I go the benefices of St George Kendal and St John Grayrigg are suspended. Ultimate responsibility for the parishes then passes to the Rural Dean, Canon Nigel Davies, and proximate responsibility to The Revd Beverley Lock until a new appointment is made. No other clergy can take decisions affecting the two parishes. All services – the times at which they are held, the type of service – must remain as they are until such time as the new vicar arrives. By the autumn it is hoped that the new scheme for the Beacon Team will be legally in place and the rural Dean becomes the Team Rector and the vicar of St George Kendal and St John Grayrigg the Team Vicar. There has been no change here since I last reported though Canon Davies is minded to operate the new team in two groupings: (a) Burneside, Longsleddale and Selside; (b) St George, Skelsmergh and Grayrigg.

The mechanics of change

Anytime now, the archdeacon will contact the churchwardens for a preliminary chat. The church councils will be asked to draw up ‘parish profiles’. The post will be advertised in the church press and applicants sent a copy of the profile. The post will be attractive: good congregations (best in the CoE, though they won’t know that until they get here), good location, lots of help, plenty to do. Each of the benefices in the Beacon Team will be entitled to put forward one person for the Patronage Board – the group that appoints the vicar. The panel has representatives from Burneside (1), St George (1), Grayrigg (1), Skelsmergh, Longsleddle and Selside (1) plus Rural Dean, Archdeacon and Bishop. In addition, each parish can put forward another representative, without positive voting rights – though they can veto any candidate not considered suitable. The new vicar should be in place by Easter 2008 at the latest but could be here by, say, Christmas, if the parish wanted to speed the process. Unless you are pro-active the wheels will grind slowly!!

The Towers

Each month I have reported that St George’s needs to raise £90,000 to do essential repairs to the towers and to create a community office in the base of one of them. Work has nearly finished and we have raised all but about £14,000 at the time of writing. In fact, by the time you read this, the scaffolding may be down. We hope to have a little ‘opening’ ceremony on April 15.

Overheard at a clergy conference

I keep trying to lose weight – but it keeps finding me again.

Alan Billings