Curate Conundrums

Having moved to Sprowston very recently, thanks for hiring me by the way… I’d never been to big Tesco. I’d hear stories of Big Tesco, fables, tales about it. Hev' yeh bin up big Tescoo yet? Someone asked me. You’ll be pleased to hear that I have had the quintessentially Sprowston Experience of Big Tesco. That and getting the 11 bus into town. But I find Big Tesco overwhelming, I hate going in there. It’s just too big. There are too many choices. I can’t prioritise what I want, that’s why I’m a Lidl man. I don’t mean short, I mean there’s fewer choices and I actually prefer it. It’s less overwhelming, the bakery’s good as well, I’ve been known to polish off a goats cheese foccachia every now and then. Anyway my point is this. Priorities, choice we’re surrounded by them. What are our priorities? I ask this question not in a judgemental way but in a spirit of genuineness, what are our priorities? What choices do we face? We’re surrounded by priorities, choices, lives, mess. ...

  I’ve nearly died twice. One time I can remember, the other time I can’t. Our reading today from Hebrews is all about death and what God does with it. And today we celebrate the presentation of Christ in the temple or Candlemas. It’s an important day, and I’ll explain a bit more later, but our readings are linked. Candlemas, That’s about death too, but also about light, life, unexpected joy and promises. When I say I’ve almost died twice, I don’t mean dying as in ‘I had a hangover and I felt like I was going to die’, or ‘I was so embarrassed I felt like I wanted to die.’ Because if that was the case, I would have hundreds of ‘near death’ experiences. No, I mean literal, near death experiences. The one I can’t remember was when I was about five or six years old. Some tree surgeons were cutting down a tree at the house opposite our house, so naturally, I wandered across the road to go and have a look at what they were doing. We lived on a quiet suburban road. And I was an an...

  " There may be trouble ahead, but while there’s moonlight, and music, and romance, let’s face the music and dance!” Or something like that anyway. So we’re here, the first Sunday of Advent, or as I like to call it, clergy meltdown season… In our modern commercial world the season of Advent often gets sucked up into the pre-Christmas excitefest! And yes Advent is about preparing for the coming of the saviour. But Advent is a season in its own right. Here’s what Times and Seasons, the Church of England seasonal liturgical handbook, which I’m sure you’ve all read cover to cover, says about Advent. “Advent is a season of expectation and preparation, as the Church prepares to celebrate the coming (adventus) of Christ in his incarnation, and also looks ahead to his final advent as judge at the end of time. The readings and liturgies not only direct us towards Christ’s birth, they also challenge the modern reluctance to confront the theme of divine judgement.” Or to put it ano...

There are 171 Billionaires in the UK. Just to put that into perspective a billon is a thousand million pounds. That’s only slightly less than a clergy person earns. The average salary in the UK is £23,760 before tax. [1] Rounding that up to £24,000, to earn a billion pounds would take about 41.6,000 years. [2] Now 2021-41,0000 is -38,979. So if someone on an average salary in this country wanted to earn a billion pounds, they would’ve had to start work (spending nothing) in the year 38,979BC. That’s long before the Bible was written, or Jesus spoke to that rich man. The oldest cave paintings in the world date to c.39,000BC. [3] In light of this when the Govt turns round and says we must cut Universal Credit to the poorest and most vulnerable in society by £20 a month, a cut that will make the already desperate even more so, I think that’s rubbish. There is enough money, it’s a case of moral failure. It’s not supposed to be like this. This isn’t the kingdom. There are 1...

  Michaelmas, God’s Protection and Mystery Today is Michaelmas , the day when the church celebrates Michael and all the angels of God. I wonder what your views on angels are? Perhaps that song by Abba is playing in your head right now? I mean I find them a bit confusing, not Abba obvs, but angels; and biblically accurate angels are often absolutely terrifying. This from Ezekiel: 4  As I looked, a stormy wind came out of the north: a great cloud with brightness around it and fire flashing forth continually, and in the middle of the fire, something like gleaming amber.  5  In the middle of it was something like four living creatures. This was their appearance: they were of human form.  6  Each had four faces, and each of them had four wings.  7  Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf’s foot; and they sparkled like burnished bronze.  8  Under their wings on their four sides they had human ha...

  Writing this sermon the term ‘stumbling block’ kept coming into my mind so I’m going to run with it. Can you think of something that’s been a stumbling block to you? Something or someone that’s stood in your way? As someone who is blessed with the hand eye co-ordination of a blind sloth, stumbling blocks are something that I regularly have to deal with. In fact if you chopped off one of my hands when I stumble, I doubt it would make much difference. I have a hand-eye co-ordination disability called ‘Dyspraxia’ or as it was called when my dad was little ‘clumsy child syndrome.’ It affects my hand-eye co-ordination, my speech, and my fine and gross motor skills. I don’t mean the difference between a BMW and a Nissan Micra, I mean small and large movements. So stumbling is something I’m used to. But also other people’s attitudes have been a stumbling block for me too, and I’m sure all of us can think of examples, and here’s one from my experience. A long long time ago, i...