Cordoba steps

Much happened this year, lots of good things, mostly below the surface – and in contrast to some previous years (like last year!) I think it would make most sense to tell a single story which rather governed everything. For at the end of last year I got engaged…

Getting engaged means getting married, and that means finding somewhere suitable for living, and as my fiancée had deep roots in the Bristol area – and as I was happy to be close to Bristol for PhD purposes – at the beginning of 2024 I started to look at the job pages of the Church Times with a more specific interest. I have looked at a lot of parish profiles – most of which were, frankly, quite awful, because so much of the CofE doesn’t know what a priest is for (!) – but that was fine because we were not in a hurry, and I was quite happy in the Forest.

In the early part of the year – February I think – the parish of Backwell with Chelvey and Brockley advertised for a new Rector. This was certainly in the ideal location so we went to have a look. However, after a quick look at the Rectory we decided that it wouldn’t work for us (we have eight children between us, and a four bedroom house presented problems in that respect). So I didn’t apply. However, a few weeks later, Backwell came up in a conversation – ‘a pity that one didn’t work out’ – which lodged in my mind. So when it was re-advertised around May time, as no appointment was made, I thought I’d better take the possibility more seriously. So I studied the parish profile in more depth, and the more I looked at it the more I thought ‘I really like the look of this job’, and I got in touch with the Diocese to register interest. However, when push came to shove, I couldn’t see a way to make it work as a family home, and I again didn’t apply.

Enter God, stage right.

My eldest has been attending the Latin Mass in Bristol, with a view to being received in the Roman Catholic church, and shortly after deciding not to apply for the post I went with him to his Sunday worship, to get a sense of what he was getting involved with. The sermon made mention of the rich young man who asks Jesus what he must do to gain eternal life, and the story is about giving up attachments in order to follow Jesus. I felt rather convicted after hearing this, and wondered if my attachment to a large house was getting in the way of hearing God’s call, so I said to God – as a bit of a ‘Gideon’s fleece’ – ‘if they don’t appoint, I’ll stick my head up above the parapet’.

They didn’t appoint.

So I sent a message to the Bishop, describing what had happened, and asking if he thought it would be worth my applying – I enclosed a truncated application. This was not replied to, which made me assume that I had breached ecclesiastical etiquette, and that the non-answer was the substantive answer. Come September and the post is advertised again, for the third time. After a few days of pondering I thought – let me just make sure that they got the email… It turns out that the Bishop had been away through much of the summer and I was encouraged to apply.

Which I did. As part of the interview process, candidates need to give a short homily on a bible passage, and you can guess which one was chosen as the text… I felt that God was giving me a big ‘cosmic wink’, which I found reassuring. So I told this story in the interviews, and I have been appointed to the post, which means that I am moving to Backwell in February to take up the post of Rector. It is reasonable to think that this will be my last job before retirement, and there is a freedom that comes from that – I shall write more on that freedom in due course.

I still don’t know how we are going to make the house work, but we – fiancée especially – are in a very strong ‘can-do’ frame of mind, and we are determined to make a success of it. It is, of course, a very nice house! It helps that timings can be flexible, and that soon the majority of children will be at university or completely independent. They are all also mostly reconciled to the prospect of sharing rooms when needed.

So that has really been the story of 2024 for me. There have been some particularly hard moments through the year, but a strong sense through all the testing times that God was leading me and that, despite regular ego-trips making me stumble, I have really learned to trust the Lord.

Alleluia. God is good. I am very much looking forward to 2025, which will end with a wedding 🙂

Previous years: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023.