Before the ending of the day

So last night, I led Compline for the second time since arriving at college. For those wondering, yes I did sing it! This is one of my goals for this year: to become more confident and competent in singing the offices - to that end, I intend to lead Compline at other points during the year, and have signed up to an optional group that will look at singing the liturgy of the Eucharist after Christmas. I have no illusions about becoming an 'expert' singer, but if I can reach the stage where I am at least competent, then I will be happy.

From that point of view, last night went well, I think. Two people who were there commented positively, so that is a good sign! I naturally sing it a little slower than most people - I suspect that is something to do with breath control - but that isn't wrong, simply different.

Compline itself is a lovely service, and one that I sadly don't get to as much as I would like. To quote the Church of England, it is above all a service of quietness and reflection before rest at the end of the day. At Cuddesdon, it marks the beginning of the 'Greater Silence', after which no one speaks until breakfast the following day. As a peaceful way of rounding off the day, it is something which I find immensely valuable.

Update for the last two months

So, the last time I got round to updating this, I was talking about the exams I was sitting. That seems a long time ago! The results came out recently, and I was very pleased to achieve what I hoped for - a pair of 2:1 results. (Actual scores were 66% in OT and 68% in NT).

Since the exams, there have been lots of other things happening, as you'd expect! Rest of term was a mixture of Themed Study Weeks (one on Death, Dying & Bereavement and one on Communication), as well as a number of one-off days on various other topics, including race awareness and healing/the paranormal. Alongside that, I have been working on my long essays, which I want to have done by the end of August.

Not much time for them at the moment, though, as I have been on placement for the last three weeks. I am at Dorchester Abbey, just down the road from Cuddesdon, and I asked to go there to get experience of what it is like in a team ministry. Dorchester is one parish within a benefice of many (mostly village communities), with a team of 3 stipendiary clergy, 2 curates and many other licensed ministers (some clergy, some lay). It has been a fascinating experience of seeing how a multi-parish benefice works - now I just have to write it up!

And one other thing has happened - we've moved! Although we have really enjoyed being in the cottage, it simply wasn't big enough for the imminent arrival of baby Routledge (less than 2 months to go!) So we are now in one of the 2-bedroom flats on-site - which feels very spacious after the cosiness of the cottage!

End of term!

So we've come to the end of Hilary Term - one third of the way through my training already! This has been a ridiculously busy term, with lots of essays, supporting pieces, formational stuff and more! Some of the highlights:

Worship

Working with members of my College Group to put together a Creative Eucharist was an excellent experience. We had some differences of opinion during the process - inevitable when the group is full of leaders - but it was a valuable learning experience and resulted in a service which flowed very smoothly and enabled a lot of people to meet with God.

Another highlight happened two days later, when a member of our group (not me!) performed some highly entertaining tricks with a thurible during the service commemorating Edward King, a principal of Cuddesdon over 100 years ago.

Placements

Both placements this term have been good, especially the opportunity to preach at St. Barnabas. I will also be acolyting there on Easter Sunday, which will be exciting! The Steppin Stone placement is nearly at an end - one Thursday to go - and I will be sorry to finish there. It has been so important in keeping my training grounded in the realities of ministry.

Studies

Best course of the term has been Reformation - a huge gap in my knowledge up until now, but not any more! I have two supporting pieces to do on this over the holiday - have already started the first one, on the reason Erasmus & Luther disagreed over free will. Fascinating stuff!

College Life

I am officially part of the new Kids Church Leadership Team - a colleague and I led the last one of term Wednesday just gone. It is nice to be back involved with this!

I am also continuing as Assistant Social Club Treasurer for the next year - the guy who gets to tell everyone how much they've been spending at the bar!

Easter Holidays

We're going to be back and forth over the holidays, with me having the two essays to write, as well as revision for exams (first week in May). But there is a wedding at St. Mark's to look forward to, as well as experiencing how St. Barnabas 'do Holy Week'. And we will be visiting family at various times as well. Then it will be back for a new term, and getting ready to say goodbye to those who will be leaving college in June - which will signal one year left for us here!

The Eucharist

Interesting experience this week, during Creative Worship (which happens every Monday evening, led by one of the College Groups).

During the worship, the Reserved Sacrament was placed on the altar in church, as a symbol of Christ's presentation at the temple, and some members of the college community knelt before it.

Now, I have no problem with people doing that if it is part of their spirituality - it's not mine, but God has made us to be different, and that includes how we connect with him in worship. It's one of the great things about the Anglican Church - its breadth - and one of the reasons I chose Cuddesdon to train at.

The interesting thing for me is that it has challenged me to think about what happens at the Eucharist, when the bread and wine is consecrated. I don't believe that the bread and wine literally become Christ's Body & Blood, but I find it difficult to articulate what I do actually believe happens. I believe that I am meeting with God in some way, taking part in an 'active memorial' of the Last Supper, but I struggle to say any more than that, really.

In a way, it doesn't matter too much, except that it is likely that future parishioners will want to talk about this with me, so it is something that I do need to reflect on over my time here. The good thing is that there will be plenty of opportunity to do so, what with learning about the Reformation this term (in which the nature of the Eucharist is a significant feature), and a whole week on the Sacraments in December of this year.

God continues to challenge!

Faith and Work

Despite the relentless snowy weather - which is making it very difficult to get in and out of Cuddesdon - the new term is underway with a Themed Study Week. Unlike the week which ended last term, this week has a variety of options for us to choose from; I am doing a week on Faith & Work.

I asked to do this because there are so many aspects to this course which are relevant to future parish ministry. Surveys are regularly conducted which show that many Christians struggle to make connections between their faith and daily life, and received little help from their local church in this area. And yet, for those in our congregations who do work, they will on the whole be spending more waking time at work than at home in a typical week. And so I believe that this has to be a key area in which the parish priest supports the congregation in his or her care. There are also, of course, issues around unemployment, retirement, etc.

So far this week, we have had some introductory thoughts, followed by a trip to one of the big Investment Banks in Canary Wharf yesterday. We met a number of key personnel - some of whom are Christians and some of whom are not - along with the Chaplain to Canary Wharf. It was a very interesting day, particularly in understanding more about the banking industry, the pressures that people who work in that atmosphere have to deal with, and in visiting the homogeneous, impersonal trading floor.

Then today we have been doing some theological reflection on our time there. Still to come, we will be looking at how Christian Theology of Work has developed over the years, and then thinking about specific ways in which pastors can support Christians at work.

It would have been nice to visit somewhere very different as well - banking, of course, is very different to healthcare, which is different to education, which is different to manufacturing, etc - but this week has been excellent so far. And it has been a great way to kick off the new term, before going back into the normal timetable next week.

Cuddesdon School of Theology and Ministry

Some of you who know us may well be asking where Clare is in all of the busy-ness of induction week. Well, she's getting herself well involved in the life of the college community (the weekly Partners' Bible Study is tomorrow morning), and she's still looking for work (with no success yet - the remoteness of Cuddesdon and her non-driving severely narrows her options).

But we have been delighted to discover a fringe benefit of my training at Cuddesdon is that all partners are invited to join the new Cuddesdon School of Ministry & Theology. I won't go into the details here, as you can read more about it by following the link - but this is a fantastic opportunity for Clare to do some theological study of her own, and, as the course info says, to perhaps discover more about her own vocation - it's not just to be a vicar's wife!

The induction day for Clare is this Saturday, so do please keep her in your prayers as she joins with several other partners, and other external students, in this exciting new venture for her.

Induction underway!

Today has seen the first full day of induction week, after term officially began last night with tea, followed by a Eucharist. The Eucharist was very moving; there was a real sense of the Holy Spirit's presence, bringing a sense of peace amongst us, as we felt the awesomeness of just what God has called us to!

We've had a chance to meet the staff, where I discovered yet another family connection - one of the staff members was at the same Oxford college as my sister, Sam, at the same time. There are a lot of these connections popping up in Cuddesdon!

We've also heard a bit about the history of the college, and been introduced to the way of the Common Room - including how the bar system operates! (Very important!) And then, this evening, we had an introduction to the liturgical settings used for Evening Prayer. Whoever leads Evening Prayer has to sing the opening line of each canticle solo - something I'm not looking forward to doing when it's my turn!

The weekend will be comparatively quiet - the College Principal (Martyn Percy) is hosting a drinks reception at his house for newcomers tomorrow, and then Sunday will see the first Eucharist of term at the Parish Church, All Saints. Then induction week continues with a vengeance on Monday...

Settling in at Cuddesdon

It's just over a week since we moved in, and we finally have Internet access again! It took a little longer than expected to get back online, and it's made me realise how dependent we can become on it if we're not careful...

The move went as well as can be expected, although we had a lot of fun trying to get furniture up the very narrow stairs! A number of items had to be taken apart and reassembled...and the bed didn't make it at all! That is now being stored in the college loft (covered with a plastic sheet, as there are a number of resident bats there!) and we are using my brother's spare bed, which comes completely apart, so could make it up the stairs!

We're mostly sorted here now, and it definitely feels like home, even with it being so much smaller than our last home in Biggin Hill. Give it a few more days, and we should be in a fit condition to receive visitors!!

There aren't that many people around the college at the moment. Last year's 1st-year students are mostly on placement or holiday, but we have met a number of them, as well as a few other early arrivals in my year (including one person who was at my old church youth group at the same time I was - what a small world it is!) One nice thing about Cuddesdon is that there are 3 summer socials a week, which has helped us get to know people - there was a BBQ two days after we moved in, for example. We also have morning prayer at 9am during the week, which I've been going to - it's a good discipline to get into before term starts (although it will be a little earlier than 9am then!)

We hope to have a few days away at some point before term starts, but no definite plans yet. Another advantage of having online access back - so much easier to check out what possibilities there are for cheap short breaks!

Finally, thanks to everyone who has sent us a "New Home" card - they are all on display, and are a great reminder of the fact that so many people are thinking about and praying for us.

Why Cuddesdon?

The Church of England has a dozen or so theological colleges around the country, so why have we chosen Cuddesdon to spend the next two years at?

Our decision has certainly surprised some people, who expected us to go to one of the more evangelical ones - maybe because that's what they think my tradition is (I don't tend to put myself in a box like that) or maybe because they've confused being an evangelist (which I am) with being from the evangelical tradition. If the latter, then they may be surprised to know that one of my colleagues at Church Army training is very much from the catholic tradition - but that doesn't make him any less of an evangelist!

Coming back to Cuddesdon, here's some of what is posted on the college website:

Our strength comes from the acceptance of diversity and we have students from across the breadth of church traditions. This gives us a unique role in encouraging open dialogue and producing future church leaders who can work within their own traditions and also mediate between them at all levels – locally, nationally and internationally.

Within that short statement are some of the reasons why Cuddesdon is the college for us:

• Students from across the breadth of church traditions. When looking at colleges, I had absolutely no desire to go somewhere where everyone is from a similar tradition and/or perspective. If we don't open ourselves up to different views and opinions of our own, not only do we miss the chance to be challenged in our beliefs, and grow through the experience, but we also run the very real danger of becoming narrow-minded and lacking in openness to hear the stories of others. Which, for a minister of the Church, cannot possibly be healthy. At Cuddesdon, there will be people from very different backgrounds to myself, and I will enjoy hearing their stories, learning from them, and being challenged in some of my own opinions.
• Encouraging open dialogue. Very much linked with the first point, and hugely important at this time where the Anglican Church is facing various disagreements (to use a mild word) over certain issues. If the current situation is going to be resolved in a way which unites the church - remember, Jesus prayed that we may be one as He and the Father are one - then open dialogue is the way that it will happen.

So there are two reasons why we chose Cuddesdon. Others include:

• Excellent theological teaching that will challenge and stretch me.
• Excellent support for partners, so Clare can be as much a part of the community as she wants to be.
• The ethos of the college - "a place where generosity and hospitality is practiced in the context of prayer and reflection". This was certainly something I experienced when I went on interview, when everyone I met expressed genuine welcome and a hope that I would choose Cuddesdon as the place to train.

Finally, there is what the principal said in his address at an Open Day last year. He said that "Cuddesdon is a place of awe, wonder and exploration, not of conformity". That phrase has stuck with me ever since - what a wonderful vision! Awe, wonder, exploration - does that not describe the Christian journey? It does mine!

Welcome to the Captain's (B)log!

Greetings to all, and welcome to my new Blog!

I'm setting this up to be a record of my journey as an ordinand which starts in 2 months time, at Ripon College, Cuddesdon (near Oxford). Having spent 9 years as a Church Army Officer, I will be moving to Cuddesdon for two years, to train for the ordained ministry within the Church of England.

During my training, I will be posting regular updates on all aspects of life at college, from the theology and lectures, to the fellowship and community, to the practical placements.

From time to time, I will also post my thoughts about various issues at large in the Church and the world.

Don't expect too much in the next few weeks, as I will be very busy finishing my work for Keston Parish Church in the Diocese of Rochester and preparing for the move to Cuddesdon. But once there, I intend to update the Blog at least once a week, and hopefully a lot more often! But we will have to see how much time I have - I expect life to be very busy when term starts!