One of the signs of God’s presence that I perceive is a manifestation of his sense of humour. Just when I get most worked up about musical questions in worship, and how far I’m offending people etc etc, we had Evening Prayer on the last day of the month, and so (as we follow the BCP cycle for psalms) we had the ‘praise’ psalms at the end of the psalmody – Sing to the Lord a new song!

That was me thinking God was taking the mickey, and telling me to lighten up a bit.

And now comes an excellent new set of propositions from the perennially wonderful Kim Fabricius, on what it is to be a minister. Remarkably timely – another way in which I see God acting in my life and telling me to breathe a little more easily. This one spoke precisely to me:

“Ministers are shepherds – though many a member would prefer a pet lamb. As they call their flock to new pastures, and to experimental patterns and models of ministry, they are inevitably going to piss off some of the fat sheep. So ministers must expect to be butted.”