Curate Conundrums

  I’ve always been a bit of a sensitive soul. I love spending time with people. I love seeing my friends, one of the things that drew me most into ordained ministry was the community side of it. Being with people in their time of need, in their joys and their sorrows. The worst part of any relationship for me is saying goodbye. I’ve always hated saying goodbye. Often when I leave my friends or family, I have to go quickly, shoot off, and not say too much, because if I do I find myself starting to sob. When someone visits me from far away, I just can’t do the thing when you stand on the doorstep and wave them off, it upsets me too much.   When I was a boy, we used to go and visit my grandparents who lived near Whitby, and when it came to saying goodbye it was awful. I tell you it made the wailing and gnashing of teeth scenes from revelation look like a holiday picnic. I would get into the car and start crying because I didn’t want to go. Grandma would start because she didn...

There is sometimes a strange wisdom in children and young people. I’m bot saying they’re always right, or wise. Often they do things that make no sense, and those of us with a bit more experience know aren’t going to work, but often they come out with things that are so wise it can take your breath away, and you pause and say. Wow, yes you’re right. There was a thread on Twitter recently about young children naming everyday things with alternative names, and there’s a strange wisdom in what they call things, some of them are hilarious. Here’s some genuine examples. Crow becomes a ‘Halloween Eagle.’   A Rhino is a “Battle Unicorn.” Gloves are “Hand socks.” Earmuffs are “snow headphones.” A Harmonica is a “cowboy trumpet.” I think there’s a genuine wisdom in these names, a practically   based wisdom, I think we should let five year olds name more things. These names aren’t wrong really are they? They’re just looking at things from a different perspective to the r...