Distant Mountain

The roller coaster of Holy Week took some time to recover from this year. We worked through the whole range of emotion and it was quite intense at times. For lent this year I commited to saying the daily office of morning prayer every day and managed evening prayer or compline several times a week as well. In Holy Week I attended many services of many types and loved them all. From compline on Wednesday with a small quiet group to the blessing of oils and ordination renewal service in the Cathedral on Maundy Thursday where I sat at the back just taking in the pomp, ceremony and spriritually. Good Friday was bleak. All my family friends followed the cross to the top our local hill. I tried, but my injured knee made it too painful and all I could was watch from the bottom. A crowd of perhaps 200 gathered on Cam Peak to watch the crucification. Then on the breeze, I heard them singing When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.  It was heartbreaking, beautiful, joyful an...

The path is winding on; Last year on Palm Sunday, I ran the London marathon (Easter was later last year and I've not been running for seven weeks now due to a knee injury, but instead have been praying and reflecting on vocation). So this year on Palm Sunday, I sent my ordination registration form to the DDO. There will now be a few weeks before we can meet, which follow the few weeks while the form was checked by two very important, and busy, people. In many ways, there is a direct comparison to running the marathon. Most of all because patience and perserverence are important in both and perhaps they are also part of God's discernment process. At times I feel doubt, sometimes because the time these things take mean that I have more time to think and reflect not just on the calling but also, perhaps because I am a natural worrier, I become concerned that I'm mis-interpreting the call. I don't pray about that specifically though, simply that in the knowledge that...