Sunday, December 10th @ 11:15am at All Saints – Matins

Having returned home after the short (45 min) service at St Peters, and started to write up my thoughts about it. I arrive just in time to get seated and organised before the service started. There are about 20 in the congregation. The service is as difficult to follow as ever, but the lady in front of me makes sure I know where things are. Without people like her in the congregation the church would feel a lot less welcoming. There are only about 20 people in the congregation. The choir does its best but even that isn't quite up to its normal standard (its one person down) today.

This is my last official Sunday at Hutton, I will be sad to leave in many ways, and would love to be able to keep in touch with the people there. I have started to make friends, and that is a testament to the church.

Sunday 19 November, 8:00 am at All Saints

About 15 people got up early to frighten the foxes and squirrels off the road and attend Worship (BCP Holy communion by extension) at All Saints this morning. The service was led by a Reader, and communion distributed by the Reader and the Senior / Chief server (I don't know the correct title). The outside was cold, there was frost on the fields, so the temperature was probably 4 or 5 degrees centigrade. I only just made it, arriving about 1 minute before the start of the service. The church was beginning to warm up, I managed to sit over a heater, which meant I didn't get colder. The service was relatively short, and the Sermon was clear and concise. Afterwards, I was given the notes from the lecture that I was unable to attend on Wednesday. Then I stood outside, loosing warmth, talking to one of the members of the congregation. I learnt more about the roles in the church, and the Bell ringers. The Bell ringers do not come to the 8:00am.

The service was a spoken communion, and retained the feel of All Saints, but the BCP was very hard to follow, and I struggled to stay in the right place in the book. It is difficult to tell what should be included and what should be left out - what is said together and what is said only by the leader. Most of the others are regulars, of course.

At last the weekend ...

Well almost, as I write (@21:51) I'm still on a conference call with the Americans, trying to get the daily status meeting for our project sorted out. My mind is more on tomorrow than today. If you don't know what's happening, you'll have to wait until tomorrow's entry.

Today is the last weekday of 'summer time', the last time until late March that I can travel home in the sun-light - what little is left. The benefit is an extra hours sleep on Saturday night, perhaps I'll go to the 8am Sunday morning. It's a service I will need to get to at some stage. The parish project outline is due this weekend as well, so it is going to have to be sunday, nothing is going to happen for Reader training after this call.

11:15 @ All Saints, Hutton

So we get back in the car and drive off - round a different part of the estate, and out onto a road that we recognise, but can't place. We go the wrong way, and soon realise we are headed out of the area. We arrived at All Saints and park on the muddy verge. All Saints is 'in the middle of nowhere' down a country road, and some parking is available in the woods opposite. We are more than 15 minutes early. The church is warm, I expect the heating has been on since the 8:00 service. The bells are ringing, there are 5 bells (and so five ringers). It is a lovely sound, and I wonder how far it reaches. They do not look typical of the congregation (that I'd been expecting), and it is disappointing to see them leave towards the start of the service. The church is also very dark, and I start to wonder how I'm going to read the service book. Today is Matins. Its the sort of service I haven't experienced since childhood. The lights go on, the church is floodlit. It is now fascinating to look around, but there's only minutes before the service starts. The service is lead by Derek (a reader), and John is preaching the same sermon he preached in 9:30 service at St. Peters. The 'song' or 'chant' that makes up a large proportion of the service is hard work, and even though we have been given help its still an effort to follow, and sing. Other than that it is a nice service, and I imagine I would get used to it over time. There are no facilities - water or toilets - at All Saints, so no coffee after the service. People stand around and chat. When we leave it is raining heavily, by the time we get home I'm really hungry.