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

The Rectory St James the Least My dear Nephew Darren Your New Year resolution of getting up at 4am and devoting the first four hours every day to prayer and meditation does you credit – although I am not entirely certain you will get past the first week. I, too, make an annual resolution; this...

From The Rectory, St James the Least My dear Nephew Darren It really is time to get some new figures for the crib. After a series of accidents over the years, we are now down to two wise men, two shepherds, and one three-legged sheep that only remains upright if it is leaning against a...

The Rectory St James the Least My dear Nephew Darren I am truly furious. I know that God has given clergy church councils, so they can have a better understanding of hell, but last night’s meeting really was too much. The traps are always sprung under “any other business”. Several hundred thousand pounds can be...

The Rectory, St James the Least of All My dear Nephew Darren Plans for our Harvest Supper always start several months in advance, with the annual argument about whether we dare increase the price of tickets by 20p to £1.50. After endless wrangling we compromise on 15p, with several warning that this will sound the...

The Rectory, St James the Least My dear Nephew Darren Your enthusiasm for attending training courses has, until now, baffled me. Why should you want to become a better preacher, when congregations only use the sermon for catching up on lost sleep? What more do you need to learn about time management than being able...

The Rectory St. James the Least of All My dear Nephew Darren A few weeks ago, some visitors to our church congratulated me on the decision they thought we had taken to let our churchyard run wild, so it could provide a natural habitat for the local flora and fauna. While assuring them that thoughts...

On the perils of the Ladies’ Guild annual outing… The Rectory St James the Least of All My dear Nephew Darren And so once again we start the annual round of parish treats. While the bell-ringers prefer public houses, and the choirboys want fast food outlets, the Ladies’ Guild are centred on lavatories. The itinerary...

On church tourists and outrageous lies The Rectory St. James the Least My dear Nephew Darren I was sorry to hear of the dawn call by the police because your church had been broken into, although the theft of tambourines, books of choruses and banners proclaiming “Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam” are likely to...

My dear Nephew Darren We are finally about to start repairing our medieval church tower. Would that we still paid medieval prices for having it done; there would be a degree of satisfaction in giving the builders a hogshead of ale and 10 sheep once the work was completed. I would even be prepared to...

The Rectory St James the Least My dear Nephew Darren It was kind of you to send your music group to us last Sunday morning while our choir had a Sunday off for its celebratory lunch. Miss Timmins’ ninety-fourth birthday brought the combined choir’s age to 1,000; which is quite a distinction for twelve people....

Letter from St James the Least of All Happily, the Church of England still retains some singular parish clergy.  Take the parish of St James-the-Least in the county of C- for example.  Here the elderly Anglo-Catholic vicar, Eustace, continues his correspondence to Darren, his nephew, a low-church curate recently ordained…  ** On the perils of...

Letter from St James the Least of All   Happily, the Church of England still retains some singular parish clergy.  Take the parish of St James-the-Least-of-All in the county of C- for example.  Here the elderly Anglo-Catholic vicar, Eustace, continues his correspondence to Darren, his nephew, a low-church curate recently ordained…    On the perils of...