Last night I dreamt that I was attending a Russian Orthodox service, and ++Rowan was censing the altar.

I’ve been thinking a lot about church identity recently, and read an interesting blog here by a priest who converted to orthodoxy. So the issues are circulating in my mind – what is it that I hold fast to as an Anglican? From where does my certainty or trust in the continuity of Anglican identity derive? Could I move to Rome or to the Orthodox?

The most important thing for me is the community. Over a thousand years of continuous worship in the place I serve. Whatever happens in the stratosphere, the sheep need a shepherd to feed them (for better or for worse). And Christ was always with the sheep, not the shepherds.

I also came across this recently: “If the Church of England were to fail, it would be found in my parish” (John Keble)

Now there is a man to emulate.