Sabbatical scribblings: about my context and a potato recipe

There is a thunder storm rattling around my home as I write this. If feels like something is about to happen and maybe it is! I am fortunate to have 12 weeks of Sabbatical or down time from my usual role as priest or pastor (take your pick) of five churches in middle England. (If that sounds a bit Tolkien-like, then fair enough, he did live in this part of the world and at times it is a bit like "the shire"!).

A tax dispute is resolved at Avoncroft in 15thC fashion.

I have lived in the same vicarage or manse for almost 20 years now. I did not plan to stay in the same place that long, but the Almighty seems quite positive so far that I do so remain. When I have stuck my head above the fence and thought of leaving for a new post the answer has been a big "no!" Not such a problem though, I live in a great part of the world as you can see from the pictures included in this post and the people are down to earth folk. We have had some fun and been through some tough times together. My role has changed so that I have had in effect four different jobs while based in the same place. This is quite unusual, but it does give me a fairly unique perspective on the changes that are facing the church in "the West" - what ever "the West"  means in this context.

Although small, total pop. is about 6000 across five areas of community focus/parishes we have become a melting pot for ministry and the training clergy in the 21st century. Full time, part time, volunteer, paid, lay or ordained (comissioned) we have all varieties of service working together for the common good of the Christian mission of the Church of England in our local context. I am the Rector, or as some of my trainees put it, "the boss"!

Life was not always like this though. When I started out in my public ministry I was not in charge of anything much, but trained in the traditional craft of parish ministry base on leading worship, pastoral visiting, working in local schools and with ecumenical colleagues for the good of the wider community.

From there I moved on to my first posting where I still live. I was the only minister and life was simple, the rota for doing anything ministerial was easy, it went "me, me, me or me"! That is not to say I did not have a lot of support an help from the church community, who were great in many ways, supportive and sacrificial in their walk of faith, but in terms of my relationship with the church community and the community at large it all worked in a classic time honoured way. That was all to change though when I found myself first juggling two roles in ministry and then serving five active churches striving to adapt to life with few traditional ministers. More recently I have ended up with three trainees ministers or curates all at the same time. (The other ordained ministers, both volunteers - now Anglican priests were also home grown). So we have  team of six ministering priests and a host of other volunteer leaders as well

What could be difficult about that? All that "man/woman power", sounds like a holiday! Surely one place is just like another?

Sun breaking through the mist across Blithfield reservoir

True, but being in charge of that number of places and people is very different from one or two centres. Thinking about it reminds me of the children counting song about potatoes; "one potato, two potatoes...." A ministers version might be;

"One  church, two churches, three churches four, five churches, six churches, seven churches more!"

or "One minister, two ministers......"

Anyway, to get down to what I meant to start with, a little while ago our local Bishop asked me to put something down on paper..... or on the web... my thoughts on the difference I have experienced through being in the same place and undergoing the changes in my ministry that most people only experience by moving from one posting to another.

Now I am on Sabbatical I have the time to write about things that I have been mulling about in the "haybox" way for sometime. Over the next few weeks I will try and distill my thoughts for you into a useful point of view for reflection and as a thought provoking anecdote that can inform thinking about how we understand ourselves and our church leaders in their context.

Thinking about potatoes, a cooking tip for you; have you heard about "Bircher potatoes"? Not a type of potato, but a great way to cook them in the oven. Legend has it that the same man invented modern muesli as well. Amazing. Here is our take on a fairly well known recipe. I am not sure of the original, but here is how I do cook them. Our family loves them as an alternative to roast potatoes. Here is how to do it;

Grease a baking tray with butter and oil (mix of your choice) and warm it up to 220 degrees in the oven. While the warming is going on select enough medium potatoes for your meal, wash and scrub then cut them longways so you have flat potatoes with maximum inside exposed through the cut.

Place cut sides on the greased baking tray (nice sizzle at this point) and wriggle them about a bit to make sure they don't stick to the tray. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, black pepper, salt, (again your choice for added crunch and flavour). Bake for 50mins to an hour. Result, lovely buttery potatoes with a hint of chewy crunch!

Next posting will be about perspectives on the depths of intimacy and engagement within a church and its community and how these change are challenged when the role of leadership is extended to cover several diverse centres of community life.

Bluebell woods near Chatsworth House