A Pettiness of Politicians

Usually when doing intercessions in Church, I will make a point of praying for all those in positions of power, whatever political party they may represent. Every now and again, you get the feeling that it would be far more appropriate to pray instead for the rest of us who end up looking on in disbelief as the politicians set forth on their latest round of metaphorical face pulling in a way that any respectable playground would find beneath them.

The latest thing is a discussion on the artist Titian. Gordon Brown comments on feeling like Titian, age 90, realising that he might just be getting the hang of painting; David Cameron decides to effectively go "ner-ner-ne-ner-ner" at Prime Minister's Question Time and says Titian died age 86. He said other things too, but when it turns out that the Wikipedia page on Titian doesn't quite back up his claims, someone (we are told some over-enthusiastic staff member) at Tory HQ alters the page to make it look like Titian died four years earlier than he did. When this is uncovered, it suddenly becomes the hot political story of the day.

In other words, rather than getting on with some serious analysis of what's going on here and across the world, a significant amount of time is being devoted to how old a Renaissance Painter was. The irony being that no-one really knows in any case.

Somewhere I once read a quote which went something like this: "At the start of every day's business in the House of Commons, a Priest comes in, looks around at the Members of Parliament, and prays for the people."

Extended Communion

Today I've been visiting people who, for one reason or another, are unable to receive Communion at Church. As I don't have dispensation to "do" Communion myself, I was doing an "Extended Communion" - taking some of the bread and wine that had been blessed on Sunday, and using it to allow the people I visited to share in the Lord's Supper (as the words in the Order of Service put it.)

I won't get into the way different traditions might see this, but while preparing sheets with the service on and thinking about what is likely to happen when I am able to preside over Communion both in the home and in the Church, I was struck by the fact that in some ways there are some fantastic things about this way of doing a Home Communion.

The main thing in some ways is that Church Members who are in a way detached from the main congregation can receive the same bread and wine, blessed at the same time, as the rest of the congregation. When we talk about sharing in the one loaf, or the one cup, knowing that you are sharing with the people who were there strikes me as being quite a powerful image of how they are part of the congregation even if they find it a struggle to get beyond their own front door.

At the same time there is something of a practicality issue. Bread can only be kept so long before it becomes unsuitable for human consumption, so I am limited to trying to fit all the visits in within two or three days of a given Communion Service. This may not always be practical - there are some people who I am currently unable to visit, and they will have to now wait for the next time there is a Communion - and in the Methodist Church, that's usually something that takes place once a month.... Once I am able to preside, that will cease to be an issue.

Part of me wants to find an alternative solution for after September - one that might allow me to retain the feeling of sharing not just with the one or two people present at a home visit, but with the whole congregation. One possibility might be to actually bake the bread myself (or at least use our Breadmaker), slice and freeze it, and then use this both in Church and in Home Communions. Literally then we would all be sharing in one loaf - even if the blessing of it takes place days or even weeks apart!

I went for a walk on a Winter's day....

With Manchester, in common with the rest of the UK, covered in the white stuff, I thought I'd share a few photos with you all of my trip out to do some Pastoral Visiting this morning.


Now, if you are thinking "aren't you in Manchester" the answer is yes - in fact, where I live is not far away from Sportcity, where Manchester City play.


And so is all of this! This is Clayton Vale, a small stretch of what is actually part of the Medlock Valley. I walked through it on my way to do my visiting.


This is pretty much on my doorstep, and we take advantage of it - who knows what green spaces there are where you are!




Hat tip to Sally Coleman, who frequently does a bit of photo-blogging of where she has been walking, together with plenty of other stuff that's well worth checking out. Sally is someone I met at Connexional Candidates Committee, when we were both accepted for Presbyteral Ministry, just under two years ago and her blog contains reflections on where she is at, poetry, sermon thoughts and much more.