Lift Up Your Hearts

I have spent some time over the last week attending at the death-bed of one whom I have known all the time I have been in this parish - nearly half my life. He was ill for almost all that time one way or another, and the news when I got in from the Haileybury pick up that he had died at last is both sad, but also brings a sense of relief. "Lord lettest thou thy servant depart in peace."

The following is from a meditation on the Nunc Dimmittis (Luke 2: 21-40) in a little book called Beside Readings by FW Bourdillion (E 1865).

Sometimes it pleases God to keep the dying Christian in life, long beyond what seemed to be likely. Day after day he lingers on, while those around think that each day must surely be his last. Loving friends, grieved to see him suffer, are surprised that he is not released. They cannot see for what he is kept. Ah! Let them not wonder; let them only wait. God knows best. He will do all things well; in the best way and at the best moment. They know not what work of grace may yet be done in his heart, or what lessons of patience and faith they themselves may yet learn from him. a love greater than theirs is over him, a wisdom beyond all their wisdom is dealing with him. All will be well. When HE sees best (and that will be best) God will let His servant depart in peace, according to His word.

Re-vamped Website

The Haileybury Society has overhauled its website. It looks splendid.

I have spent a bit of time putting my profile up. I am not one who uses social networking sites otherwise, but I will have a look at this.

The advent of Facebook and the like has led to a whole new area of complexity for anyone who has professional contact with children. We are all faced with the need for CRB checks and we must act within child protection guidelines. That has included simple things like not sharing your mobile number with a child or private e-mails. It is normally felt wrong for an adult with responsibility over someone else's child to be friends with him or her on a social network, and it might be inappropriate anyway: a teacher might not want pupils to see holiday snaps or join in with the discussion on the site. the But once you are on the web of links means that everyone is connected. My feeling is that this can no longer be prevented, but we do need to learn how to manage it.

Even a couple of years ago the Haileybury server would not let computers other than those managed by the school online. Mobile internet is now so available that such restrictions are beside the point. At the Attlee lecture the other night the moment the young were dismissed hundreds of mobiles came out and facebook pages were being updated even as they filed out of Big School.

Parents at Haileybury were offered some advice last week at a meeting on internet safety. It is a fast changing world and we all need help keeping up. Even the young.

PS I am sorry for the lack of posts over the last few days. We won some concessions from the planning meeting last night on the Spurs ground (the meeting lasted till gone 11pm!) and preparation was intense.

A Day For…

Do you remember the photo book One Day for Haileybury? It recorded 16th September 2003 in photographs taken by people associated with Haileybury all round the world. I remember that we had a skip for some reason and my wife took a picture of me jumping up and down on it to squash the stuff up so we could get more in. It was before we had a digital camera and we never got the film developed in time to send the picture in.

Anyway here - by way of excuse for not posting anything for days - is the day I have just had. Not untypical over the last fortnight or so which has been a pretty busy patch and illustrative of the wonderful variety of the Vicar's life.

One of our deanery churches is under the south stand. Huge impact

0700 Revallie
0720 Checked e-mails and sent a reply to someone in the archdeacon of London's office who had responded to a note to him I had sent the previous evening. All to do with the church's response to the development of the Spurs stadium which goes to the Planning Committee on Thursday.
0725 He rang to chat about it.
0800 Start sorting smallest son for school
0815 Breakfast and read a chapter of Biggles and the Rescue Flight to small son.

0840 Walk small son to school, check pigeon hole (I am Chair of Governors)
0855 Arrive back at church move pews back which were cleared to make a space for the Bishop on sunday when he unveiled our new stained glass window.
0905 Morning Prayer
0930 Mass (BCP on a Monday)
1015 Check answering machine and e-mails
1030 Go with curate to church hall to take tables chairs and crockery to the church plant we opened three weeks ago in the old Mission Building unused by us since 1939 for an event tomorrow.
1105 Show curate how new heating system works in Mission building and puzzle with him over storage heaters in his house.

Drains

1130 Home and change clear and rod rainwater gullies outside church and discover that Vicarage main drains are blocked.
1225 Wash and change phone diocese and then contractor to arrange for drains to be cleared
1240 Penitent arrives, hear confession and offer spiritual direction over lunch
1400 Back to school for "Stage Three" meeting about the new build class rooms we still hope will replace the stinking collapsing porta-cabins housing two of the three year two classes under the Primary Capital Programme. Write official response of Governing Body for this stage. Encourage Head Teacher that we are right not to go for a design and build but need a traditional contract.
1540 Meet with Head over school personnel matters
1600 Home and deal with phone messages and e-mails about hall bookings, Spurs and the Winter Night Shelter.
1640 Leave to visit in the hospital and then on to see someone at home.
1815 Home again, greet family back from school and after checking e-mails finish cooking tea which had been started off by my wife.
1840 Eat & wash up
1930 have a stab at some of the paper on the desk including getting a parson's Pocket Book and Diary bagged up to send to a priest in Ghana who asked for one.
2000 Read more Biggles to small son before bed.
2045 Back to desk to deal with post and bits
2200 Another Spurs e-mail: draft e-mails to Members of the Council ready to send tomorrow
2100 Start this post.