Yearly Archives: 2025

Of the Arrival of Bishop David, Reader day and a poser about Communion....

Chaplain’s blog Stardate 17- 05-2025

I write this while watching the installation of Bishop David, and feeling rather glad it is being live steamed so that I can sit in my study in relative comfort and protect my dodgy hips and knees!

Watching online has a few downsides, like getting distracted by writing a blog, interruptions by Mr Dog wanting attention or he possibility of the phone ringing on the other hand the different camera angles allow seeing much more of the wondrous goings-on!  The Anglican church really does do a wonderful ceremonial service on these occasions- the good folk of the cathedral staff will be exhausted afterwards!

Of course, as Readers we got a privileged preview of Bishop David’s ministry last week in St Petroc’s in Bodmin for Reader Day when those of us listened to his views on Lay Ministry and took part in a question and answer session.  For those of you who missed it.. Reader Tim Symons said it was, “an interesting and encouraging day last Saturday. It was great to hear from such a range of speakers from such a wide variety of ministries, especially the bishop, and the refreshments were excellent too!” Which just about sums up the mood of the room I think!   Claire Salzmann- deserves a huge vote of thanks for all the work she put in to organising the event.

But back to the cathedral…

A full cathedral and 206 people online listened to  Bishop David’s first sermon in the Cathedral beginning with thanks to Bishop Hugh, our warden to Readers which received well deserved warm applause from the congregation. It looks like Truro, for the moment, has a wonderful team at the top! We will indeed pray for Bishop David, and indeed Bishop Hugh as they pray for us.

My prayer is that as Readers we will be inspired, motivated and warmed by the fire of their faith.

Readers and Communion…. Or one sort and another.

In various conversations with Readers I have gleaned a variety of opinions and practices from across the diocese.

Reader involvement in the Eucharist falls into three categories

  • The service of the word part of the communion service up to the ‘Peace’
  • Taking communion to those who are unable to leave home or to groups in Care Homes.
  • Communion by Extension.

Personally I am reluctant to do communion by extension

Going to a service early on a Sunday to collect the blessed sacraments and then going on to take a service of extension makes for a very long morning which, as I plough on into my 70s is more than I want to do.

I was going to quote some bits of these two documents but instead I will put them at the bottom of this article as well as the links. Local practice in may places struggles follow the spirit of these documents. Some folk are not specifically trained, some, (I hear), are worship leaders, and far from being a practice that the bishop licenses for a year and restricted to Sundays, it is used widely to cover weekdays from the reserved sacrament.   I even heard of a reader being offered a box of wafers for use in home communions etc by another church member. My own training was that if one was taking sick communion, one only took the right number of wafers from the reserve and one had left over would be consumed!

I have to confess that I like to follow the rules!  

A valid question is…. How often do people need to have communion? If the answer is weekly, daily or often then there needs to be more priests to preside. This is not the time to discuss the possible ordination of readers so they can preside at communion – but at my age, and after 37 years as a Reader – I really could not face 2 years of essays and trips to Plymouth – let alone examining my calling once more!

I suspect that there will be a mixed response to this blog piece :

  • “On the way” consequences making C by E ‘the only’ option for folks to receive communion .
  • Readers have been told to do it by their incumbents
  • Some won’t see what the fuss is about and have a very relaxed attitude to the ‘Lord’s Supper’
  • …… and so on….

What do you think? What is your position? How would you change the rules if it were in your power to do so?

THE DIOCESE OF TRURO 

Public Worship with Communion by Extension

What it is: 

  • ‘Communion by Extension’ is a provision that allows a congregation to be

nourished with the consecrated bread and wine of Holy Communion by taking

part in a prior celebration of the Eucharist, joining together in sprit both with

the members of that congregation, and as part of the One, Holy, Catholic and

Apostolic Church. 

  • It is a provision for which the Diocesan Bishop’s explicit permission is

required. The permission will be granted on the assumption that when

additional priestly ministry is available it will be so used.

  • Communion by Extension allows for bread and wine, consecrated at a service

in one church to be taken to another church (usually in the same or a

neighbouring benefice, and on the same day) where an authorised service

called ‘Public Worship with Communion by Extension’ is celebrated. This service is

led by a lay minister authorised by the Diocesan Bishop, and during which the

consecrated elements are shared, as an ‘extension’ of that prior celebration. 

  • It is intended that this provision be used only on Sundays and Principal Holy

Days. It is an alternative to a celebration of the service of Holy Communion,

rather that a substitute for it. For this reason, the circumstances in which it

should be used are limited (for example a limited number of churches within a

benefice on any given Sunday, and a limited number of Sundays per month).

  • Where Communion by Extension is used in the Diocese of Truro, it should

always be advertised as ‘Public Worship with Communion by Extension.’

What it is not:

  • It is not a provision for taking communion to the sick or housebound in their

homes using reserved sacrament (which any Reader may do without further

licensing, and for which other lay people may be authorised by the parish

priest). 

  • It is not a means of introducing a sacramental element into the life of home

groups, or other parish groups, whether on an occasional or regular basis.

  • The House of Bishops recognises the value of an occasional celebration of

Holy Communion in such circumstances, when a priest must preside. 

  • It is not ‘Holy Communion’: whilst it is sharing ‘by extension’ in a celebration

of the Eucharist, that term is deliberately not used so as to make clear that

this service should not be confused with a ‘regular’ celebration of Holy

Communion.

CofE Policy:

  • It is not a convenient way of ‘covering’ mid-week services of Holy

Communion. The guidelines envisage its use only on Sundays and Principal

Holy Days, as a sharing in the wider worship of the people of God. 

  • It is not intended as a means to avoid some hard thinking about service

provision in a particular locality, nor to avoid the need to develop new

patterns which may provide a better match between parish needs and

available resources.

Guidelines 

The guidelines for this provision, together with the forms of service to be used, are

clearly set out in ‘Public Worship with Communion by Extension’, Church House

Publishing, 2001. Any parishes wishing to make use of the provision needs to have

studied this booklet.

https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2017-11/Public%20Worship%20with%20Communion%20by%20Extension.pdf

Authorisation for the use of Communion by Extension is dependent on prior

teaching, training and preparation in the parish. It is not therefore designed to meet a

short term emergency. 

It is important that Communion by Extension never becomes the normal setting in

which people receive the consecrated elements. In a multi parish benefice or cluster,

the use of Communion by Extension must be fairly rotated so that no single

congregation is deprived of a regular service of Holy Communion. 

Procedure 

The procedure to be followed in introducing Communion by Extension in this

particular case, is as follows: 

  1. The PCC discusses ‘Public Worship with Communion by Extension’, and

consider whether to agree to its use, in the broader context of a discussion

about the nature of worship. Any PCC resolutions should be recorded,

including the name(s) of any lay ministers agreed to be trained and authorised

to lead such services. 

  1. Training will be given to those who will minister at such services. It will

include study of the House of Bishops’ Notes and Guidelines, and the texts for

Orders of Service, and a session from the Pilgrim course on ‘The Eucharist’.

  1. All those ministering in this way will be expected to have an appropriate level

of safeguarding training.

CbE Policy:

  1. Teaching about Communion by Extension is to be given in the parishes, in

sermons, articles and any other feasible methods. 

  1. Sufficient copies of the authorised forms of service will be produced locally for

the congregations, having been tailored to the context as appropriate. 

  1. The Diocesan Bishop to receive confirmation that all the necessary

preparation has been completed, and be asked to approve the names of those

to exercise this ministry. The Archdeacon will approve the pattern of services

within which Communion by Extension is to be a part. 

  1. The Diocesan Bishop issues the necessary authorisation whereby Communion

by Extension becomes part of the worship provision in the parishes/benefice. 

  1. Permission will be given for a specific period, normally one year. This will be

reviewed with the Archdeacon, the lay ministers and parishes after the first

year.   

  1. Following the review, the Bishop can either extend his permission for this

practice, or decide to withdraw it. Part of the review will involve assessing the

extent to which the pattern of worship has blessed the life of the churches of

the benefice, and also the extent to which the guidelines have been followed.

  1. Readers who are authorised to lead ‘Public Worship with Communion by

Extension’ will include a list of the number of such services they have led in

their annual Return to the Warden of Readers. 

Services of Public Worship with Communion by Extension 

‘Public Worship with Communion by Extension’ is published by Church House

Publishing and contains orders of service appropriate to this provision. It is envisaged

that the Eucharistic elements and ministers where possible will be ‘sent out’ from an

earlier service of Holy Communion, so that the service in the ‘receiving church’ is

truly ‘by extension’. 

The services from which ministers could be sent out are:

  • a mid-week service the previous week in the benefice
  • an earlier service the same Sunday in the same or (in the case of benefice in
  • transition) a neighbouring benefice.

+Philip June 2021

Chaplain’s Blog -4th April 2025 – Encouragement, challenge and support.

 

  • Spiritual Direction matters
  • Work agreements and Ministerial Review
  • Readers Hanging up their scarves- or taking a break
  • Safeguarding in the News…. and in the Parishes. 

 

 

I wonder how many Readers have a spiritual director…… and how many have filled in a form asking for one and not been successful?  Spiritual Direction / accompaniment is such an important part of ministry- to have someone walk beside you who can challenge, question and encourage. It makes a time when we can take stock and focus on our own spiritual lives in space apart from all our other ministerial duties.  If you still need a director and have not been able to find one, please do let me know and I will enquire. 


Work agreements, ministerial review and the three-year cycle of relicensing. 

 

Here are the links on the Diocesan website for the documents you need:

 

Application-for-Renewal-of-Reader-LLM-License.docx

 

Reader-LLM-Annual-Ministry-Review-Process-summary.docx  

 

Reader-LLM-Annual-Ministry-Review-template.docx

 

Reader-LLM-Annual-Ministry-Review-Preparation-template.docx

 

  Closely linked to direction is our opportunity for annual ministerial review, although most folk probably make a perfunctory stab at it once every three years before re-licensing. As I need to be relicensed in October and we have a new rector it was very helpful to meet with my Rector yesterday to reflect on my role in the parish, my work load, things to take on and things to give up and what fed me spiritually. 


If you are wondering what I might give up – it is safeguarding administration and the parish dashboard – hopefully someone with a more organised brain will take that on. I will still be co-ordinating and training however!

 

One of the questions asks how often I will meet with my incumbent / ministry team to which I replied “at least weekly.”  The weekly ministry team meetings which were instituted by Caspar, our last Rector are incredibly useful and, in many ways, vital to building a team that can encourage and support. We usually begin with a check-in to ee how everyone is doing followed by looking at the lectionary readings for the coming Sunday. Business includes the rota, but also looks at projects, coming events, strategy, the needs of individuals and individual churches. Once a month we include the administrator who updates us on marriages and so on.  

 

As I write it is still four days to the one year anniversary of the post stroke seizure that curtailed my driving for 12 months. Having filled in forms in February and submitted them, only to be sent another medical form 3  weeks ago which I returned by return of post- I still have not received an envelope with my new driving license from the DVLA. That curtails my activities somewhat! I leave you to imagine my frustration at having to reply on lifts!  I need to remind myself that I am lucky to be here and writing and walking 5 miles a day rather than moaning about the lack of motoring independence. It is too easy to get into a cycle of negativity….

 

 

We have a few readers who have hung up their scarves recently and we thank them for their service and ministry. Andrew Hicks, after long years of service and Julian and Gillian Barritt through Julian’s ill health. Our prayers go with them. With the three year licensing system it does mean there is a way back to Reader Ministry for those who leave for a while which is a good thing as circumstances can, and do, change.  

 

Safeguarding:

There has been much in the National News from the decisions of Synod about independent scrutiny to Justin Welby’s interview on television. It looks from the outside, rather depressing. However in Redruth and Camborne over the last couple of months I have done some face-to-face training for Basic awareness and Foundation level and was very pleased with the enthusiasm, the attitude and the turn out for the courses. It really does seem that there is a major culture change at grass-roots level.

 

Having said that, the Diocesan Safeguarding Advisory Panel,  a.k.a. the diocesan safeguarding scrutiny panel paints a different picture cross diocese. The team are dealing with a huge work load and prioritising work is a task and a half as is providing data about issues, especially the more minor ones that don’t reach the threshold for a full investigation.  The national Team understandably are focussed on victims / survivors and trying to do something about past wrongs- and this also translate to diocesan level and the various courses reflect this.

 

At parish level, however, maters are much more prosaic, even mundane in comparison, but I would argue of equal importance. E.g. the risks and problems caused by dementia,  attempting to follow safer recruitment guidelines with a tiny congregation and an even smaller number of willing workers and so on.

 

But- I am encouraged by the full church hall for the courses in Redruth and very grateful that folk are taking the time to treat safeguarding seriously and look after each other, our visitors and those on the fringes.

Chaplain’s Blog for Christian Unity

 

As I led Zoom morning prayer this morning which marked the first day of the week for Christian Unity I was rather struck by the 1 Corinthians 5 reading set by the lectionary for the day that called for Christians not to associate with the greedy, the idolaters, the sexually immoral, the drunkards or the robbers and to drive out the wicked.

My first thought was that that requires a lot of judgement of just who those folk might be and how we might actually think about ourselves.

How can we hope for Christian Unity if we can’t actually get on with our neighbours who might be struggling with addiction, poverty or some other difficult situation that labels them for being ‘driven out?’

As for the greedy, we look at the richest in society who have far more than they could ever need, who can afford day trips to space, huge yachts, vast mansions and own social media platforms that perpetrate their views or stir up the sort of unrest that keeps them in power… should we stop talking to them in the hope that they might actually turn to altruism and do some work for God? Perhaps building hospitals, battling the effects of climate change, researching cures for cancer… the list is endless!

So Christian Unity. We have a simple common purpose I think…. I wonder what creed would have to be constructed to that could be agreed upon by all Christians? Now there is a challenge.

Here are a few of my favourite illustrations….

I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off.  So I ran over and said “Stop, don’t do it!”

 “Why shouldn’t I?” he said.

 I said, “Well, there’s so much to live for!” 

He said “Like what?” 

I said “Well…are you religious or atheist?” 

He said “Religious.” 

 said “Me too! Are you Christian or Bhuddist?” 

He said “Christian.” I said “Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?” 

He said “Protestant.” I said “Me too! Are you Episcopalian or baptist?” 

He said “Baptist!” I said “Wow! Me too! Are you baptist church of God or baptist church of the lord?”  

He said “Baptist church of God!” I said “Me too! Are you original baptist church of God or reformed bapist church of God?” 

He said “Reformed baptist church of God!” 

I said “Me too! Are you reformed baptist church of God, reformation of 1879, or reformed baptist church of God, reformation of 1915?”  

He said, “Reformed baptist church of God, reformation of 1915!” 

I said “Die heretic scum,” and pushed him off.

Emo Philips

All Purpose Late 20th Century Creed – Simon Rae

I believe in my beliefs.

it’s my belief that my beliefs

Are truer far than your beliefs,

And I believe that your beliefs

Are threatening to my beliefs,

So I’m defending my beliefs

And all who hold the same beliefs

Against your dangerous beliefs

And who share your false beliefs

Or what I think are your beliefs.

And I will die for my beliefs;

And you will die for my beliefs.

And what, In fact, are my beliefs

Beyond the complicating reefs

Of tedious theology

And acid Ideology?

The usual: a divine Creator

Whose love rings earth like the Equator,

Justice and the Rule of Law

(And giving hand-outs to the poor);

Respect, of course, for Mother Nature’s Care for every living creature;

And that in the pursuit of Peace

All wars (excepting mine) should cease.

The Tablet and the Church Times call for Catholics and Anglicans to do everything together except those things that must still be done separately.

A New Year Blog for 2025

On New Year’s Eve we drank tea and were in bed by 10:30 waking briefly for the nearby fireworks at midnight. Mr. Dog the collie was mildly interested but not enough to get out of bed and he soon went back to munching through his night-time biscuits.

Facebook reminded me of a decade earlier when the family gathered and at midnight and after toasting the New Year with a wee dram of single malt, we sang Aul Lang syne and then set about the annual tradition of egg hurling. This involved those who could throw going out to the front of the house armed with a raw egg with their name written on it and taking it in turns to launch them over the house with the aim of getting them to land without breaking on the back lawn.

We never had a year when at least one egg was successful but there were many casualties from wayward throwers who hit the front of the house, the car on the front drive, the pond (we found one in the pond late one summer….. still whole but very very soft and squidgy) and various stones or paths in the back garden. These eggs were not wated as the dogs charged around gleefully licking up the wounded eggs.

Back another two decades and that gathered family as children acted as spotters racing from one side of the house, indoors, to the other to announce when an egg was coming over. In the back-garden, those who did not want to throw donned hard hats and carried torches scanning the night sky for the next missile.  Often new year was in fancy dress with a theme. The year of children’s literature saw Jasmine and Aladin accompanied by a very tall methodist lay preacher dressed in a tutu as Tinkerbell trying to reach any whole eggs before the dogs could get them.

Another year the police stopped in a patrol car outside the house to see the strange gathering standing in the road, eggs in hand, dressed in kilts waiting to hear the news of the latest landing. It gave them a laugh in their long shift…. We offered an egg but they thought they had better not join in.

I do not regret my early night this year, although I would love the throwing arm of my prime,  the memories of those past events are enough and that we could give people those joyful occasions playing silly games.  ( I will save tales of “Are you there Moriaty?” and “bottle Walking” for another occasion.

As every year for the last four decades we had a house guest for a couple of weeks who has somewhat different tastes to us in watching TV so we avoid the uplifting Rom-com and try any find a compromise. This proved to be Jumanji, University Challenge and The Big Bang Theory.  If you have not come across the latter on Netflix, there are countless clips on YouTube so I won’t explain the ongoing plot- just to say that it is a quirky situation comedy. In one episode the main characters are clearing the office of a deceased colleague and disposing of all his out of date texts and research when they come across an unopened bottle of champagne. The label showed it was a present from his mother to be opened when he had a significant achievement. The characters mused on the sadness of that but it made me wonder what might count as a significant achievement.

Nobody gets a Nobel prize for bringing up a wonderful family, spending decades as a church warden or a lifetime of managing a household and yet I would mark all these as worth celebrating as significant. When the family gathers at Christmas, which we can do before us elderly folk need our sleep, it feels a very significant moment. Contrastingly there are things we do or say which affect other people in the most significant way without our ever being made aware of it. And then there is prayer……

 

Happy New Year reader / Reader – may 2025 be kind to you, and if it is not may you find comfort and hope and a friend to help you through. 

Cornish Language Carol Service.

The other service I managed over the Christmas period was the Cornish LAnguage service at St Euny that I used ZOOM to help enthusiasts to join from further away!  So if you are interested… here is the service booklet.

Servis-Karolow-bilingual- 2024-V3

My knowledge of Cornish is restricted to a dozen words of random meaning…. so I used the service for personal meditational prayer…. so a success. 🙂