Sunday, December 10th @ 4pm at St. Peters, Hutton - Christingle

Jo said she'd be interested to see how it was done somewhere else. There are differences everywhere. Here the Christingles are already made. When we arrive with five minutes to go the church is almost full. The hall is opened up, and there's very little seating available even in the overflow. It is not a widely advertised service, but people find out that its on and come anyway. The service is designed with small children in mind. We start with Colours of day - appropriate but one of my pet hates. There is some basic liturgy, and a song that explains the Christingles. The youth group (SPY - St Peters Youth) do their part. They are clearly not well rehearsed, by nevertheless do a very creditable job under the circumstances. This is the first time I have seen SPY - and its one of the things I was looking forward to. Youngsters with long hair are instructed to tie it back. There are instructions given, and children appear from everywhere - no adults take Christingles here. The SPY youth have tapers and are lighting the Christingles. One little girl is overheard saying "its a death trap" as she watches all the lit candles and tries to walk past. The lights are switched off. Any church looks wonderful full of happy children holding lit candles I'm sure. St. Peters certainly does.

As always at St Peters the timetable works like a dream. The service is scheduled to be 45 minutes. 45 Minutes after the start of the service the church is almost empty. That is one of the things we discussed as we left, Jo agrees it leads to the service feeling rushed. Its also fair to point out that we are rushed. On to the next blog entry to find out why.

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, December 10th @ 9:30am at St Peters – Family Communion

The church felt quite empty today. There were a number of late arrivals, but not as many as the week before last. The hymns were largely unknown, by me and the congregation. The congregation appeared smaller than usual, though I sat near the front and therefore couldn't do an accurate count.

Brenda did the 10 minute talk, which was about guides through the wilderness, and the Christian life as a journey. It was an interesting sermon, but did not appear to have anything very special for the children. Apart from one, there were only the very small children today, and only 4 families represented.

One good thing they have – leaflets inviting everyone in the parishes of Shenfield & Hutton to a service over Christmas. All the churches are covered, and there are requests for people to take and distribute the leaflets.

Wednesday, November 29 @ 8pm at St Peters - Advent Lecture

The last of the three advent lectures about priest poets. Today's was about R.S. Thomas. A welsh poet and priest who died in 2000. His poems incorporate technology and the things of everyday life. He struggles to understand where God is and what he is doing, and WHY?. I missed the second one, the first was hard to relate to, as we needed to get to grips with the pre-scientific culture of his age. To say R. S. Thomas was prolific sounds like and understatement, he averages one poem a fortnight (two weeks, for the non-English readers) for thirty years. His work is available here.

Once again it was a superb lecture. The hour was over and the interest was held. The 30-40 people who attended seemed reluctant to move, but they did leave eventually.

Monday, November 27 at St Peters school Governors Meeting

I was invited to observe the governors meeting. This meeting structure is the same as that of the PCC, with sub-committees doing the real work, and the main meeting overseeing the results, and agreeing the important decisions. Apart from the Rector, and a teacher the governing board is made up entirely of women. The vast majority of these attend church, not necessarily St. Peters, but a church somewhere.
The meeting was largely uneventful, but there was a lot to do, and in some cases the people doing it are also busy doing lots of other things.
If you're a school governor you won't need me to tell you just how much paper work there is to be done. The whole system relies on pieces of paper.

Sunday November 26, 7pm @ Hutton Rectory

Bob had kindly invited Jo and I to Supper with the family on sunday evening. We had a lovely meal, and a really good chat about the church (and things in general). It was supposed to be work for the course, which in one sense it was. It was also an enjoyable evening.

thanks to Bob and Brenda.

9:30 @ St. Peters Hutton

It's All Saints' Day, the firework party happened on Friday. I'm greeted by a friendly church warden, and we have a brief chat. The fireworks display went well and was sold out. Numbers have to be limited because of the size of the field. There are a number of fathers and small children in church this morning, and I will have brief conversations with a couple of them later. The small children are well-behaved and make little noise during the service. The church warden delivers small bags of things for the children to play with. Brenda has returned from her travels, and is at the front with Bob throughout the service. Bob leads and Brenda preaches. 10 minutes on the reading from Revelation, and our understanding of Heaven. A much reduced Sunday School arrives towards the end of communion, and take their places at the front of church. For communion in St. Peters, we stand in front of a raised area, two steps high. It's curved, and protrudes into the church slightly. The servers go forward to receive first, and the distribution continues from there. Blessings are said for the children. There are four in the choir this morning. One I had definitely not seen before. The sung parts of the worship don't work terrible well, but they are trying their best.

9:30 @ St. Peters Hutton

This time Jo came with me as she had no activities to fulfil at Christ Church. The sideswoman greets us with the apology that its a bit nippy, and the heating is not switched on yet. It is cooler than last week, but not uncomfortable. Jo was struck by the introduction to the service. The music starts, and Bob's voice booms out "Good morning to those who are not on half term holiday", or something like that. The numbers are down this week, I didn't count, but maybe 70% of last weeks attendance. Despite the service being quite formal, with very a fixed format, it is also relaxed. Today John (one of the readers) is preaching, and for there is noise from a small child and a baby. I'm sure there's no connection, but its noticeable because John has a much quieter, slower style than Bob, and he uses notes (what a relief!). The usual format, as I already said, and Jo comments that it feels rushed. Perhaps that's because of the pressure of getting away to the 11:15 at All Saints, or perhaps its just the way it runs, and we're not used to it.

After the service Bob tells me a bit about St Deiniol's. Looks like it may be an interesting place to visit.

Placement

My placement is at All Saints with St Peter's Hutton. The placement starts officially this weekend. Its the first task that's part of the 'practical' training that we have to undertake. There's also the parish project, for which the planning is underway, and the three sermons. Just to keep us busy our first sermons are before Christmas. Mine is on Dec 10. The readings for the day are Isaiah 40:1-11 and Luke 1:1-25, and the sermon will be preached in St Mary the Virgin, Prittlewell, at an evening service. Its very different from what I'm used to.
Back to the placement, I have already met with the vicar, and had a long chat about the church and how it works. This church is also very unlike Christ Church. That is the point of the placement, so you can get an impression of a different style of worship and a different context to the parish. All sounds very interesting, if slightly daunting. I have to work out the dates, when I'm where, to get enough of an exposure to the new setting, and enough time to research, reflect, and record. Sounds like the makings of a sermon!