Viewing all items in Resource Category: St James The Least of All

The Rectory St James the Least My dear Nephew Darren So, you have just attended a course on ‘Diary Management’, to get you prepared for another year. If you had visited me, I could have told you all you need to know in half the time. Allow me to provide you with useful information which...

The Rectory St James the Least of All My dear Nephew Darren Carol singing is not what it used to be. My fond memories of a group of choristers, muffled in scarves and overcoats, carrying lanterns, and walking from door to door in the snow, as they sang ‘While shepherds watched …’ had to be...

The Rectory St James the Least of All My dear Nephew Darren I hear you have joined the committee which wants to convert the waste land between the abandoned soap factory and canal in your parish into allotments – although I would have thought there were holier sorts of conversions you could have concentrated on....

The Rectory St James the Least My dear Nephew Darren In the unlikely event of ever being put in charge of designing the course for those being trained for ordination, I would make a few significant changes. Modules on doctrine, Church history and Greek would all be dropped as unnecessary. In their place, I would...

The Rectory St James the Least My dear Nephew Darren Beware of being invited by bishops to drop round for a chat. My first mistake was to answer the phone when he rang; what are answerphones for, but to avoid having to talk to anyone – ever. My second mistake was not to be able...

The Rectory St James the Least My dear Nephew Darren Your suggestion that every month at clergy meetings, someone should review a book of theology they have been reading, was bound to be greeted with uneasy resistance. It would mean that the majority would have to start opening books, rather than just occasionally dusting them....

The Rectory St James the Least My dear Nephew Darren Since I happened to be in your area last week, I tried to call in at your church, and was sorry to find it was locked and bolted, with surveillance cameras watching me. We tend to be a little more relaxed about matters of security....

The Rectory St James the Least My dear Nephew Darren Despite my assurances that it was unnecessary, it was kind of you to loan us your sound equipment, so we could experience the advantages of using radio microphones in church. Your assurance that everyone would then be able to hear with absolute clarity seemed to...

The Rectory St James the Least My dear Nephew Darren I am afraid we shall have to agree to disagree on yet another topic – although I suspect the list of items that we agree to agree on would be considerably shorter. I like to think my appreciation of hymns resembles a connoisseur of fine...

The Rectory St James the Least My dear Nephew Darren You agonised recently over your ecumenical service:  who should be invited?  Who should preach?  What about the order of service? If you had attended our recent combined churches’ choir festival, your own dilemmas would have seemed a little less acute. At the pre-meeting, there was...

The Rectory St James the Least My dear Nephew Darren Those parishioners of yours who won millions on the Lottery and moved into this parish have created quite a stir. It was perhaps a little unwise of them to tell everyone the reason why they had become so wealthy. While most of our parishioners also...

The Rectory St James the Least My dear Nephew Darren Winter certainly exposes the difference between those of you who live in cities and us rural folk. While you bask in your centrally heated flat, with every modern convenience that could be imagined and complain about the half an inch of slush that makes your...