Always Hope

Don't forget, May 21st this year is the deadline for repentance, as explained by the careful and very certain Harold Camping here and here . If there are many things of this world that you yet hope to experience, you need to organise your diary quite carefully. On the plus side, those of you not expecting to be raptured can make a few quid by signing up for pet-sitting duties . Although, as Mr Camping would tell you if only you would listen, you won't have much time to spend it. To understand why this isn't just an excuse to laugh at the deluded, and why "Biblical" Christians ought to be careful what they say, read my original post on the subject .

Get a group of vicars together, and left to their own devices they always end up talking about funerals. This proves a) that the clergy don't have much conversation, and b) that the business of dealing with the departed and the bereaved is one of their biggest concerns. Different priests have wildly differing funeral "workloads", depending on the type of parishes they minister in. Where I served my curacy, it was rare for a week to go by without 3 or 4 (fortunately for our sanity these were shared amongst a team). Here I tend to do just 8 - 12 a year, but each funeral is an emotionally and physically draining experience, however experienced a minister is. Overall, the Church of England still conducts a huge portion of funerals in this country, but recent statistics reveal that this dominance is gradually waning. Clayboy had some interesting reflections on this last week, here and here . I'm not sure I really "get" his idea of Christian-humanist funerals,

Well, what is a vicar going to write about when time for creative thinking is short? There's some good stuff around the blogs and elsewhere about the three "occasional offices" that occupy so much of the parish clergy's time. (Not least a creative use for the by-products of cremation ). The question that seems to be surfacing is one of whether the C of E's Baptisms, Weddings, and Funerals, popular though they still are, really offer any meaningful engagement with the Christian faith, or are they hopelessly churchy and out of touch with the language and thinking of the man and woman in the street? (And, I suppose, does it matter if they are?). Posts will follow on each of the three. 

Well, hey, if it works for the Church Times, maybe it'll work for this blog, too? Some serious posts will follow soon, I promise.