The Chaplain’s Blog

Carrie Tucker - Our Secretary is Moving!! Carrie is moving house when Covid restrictions allow the details to be sorted out to be closer to family in Plymouth. So as she is leaving the Diocese we will be saying goodbye to her with huge thanks for her amazing work and support of Reader/LLM ministry - without her the admin would look very different. I am interviewing her on ZOOM in the very near future and hope to post it on here next week. In the meantime... here are a couple of links to Carrie articles.Maundy Money arriving by post not pageantry - Truro Diocese : Truro Diocese  Kathy Lang - Methodist Local Preacher - RIP Many Readers/LLMs will have known Kathy Lang who was a Methodist Local Preacher in Looe who preached occasionally in St Martins Liskeard. She died last night having discovered a few months ago that her cancer had returned.  Even though she knew her time was limited she managed to come to some of our Monday Morning Sessions where she joined in discussions enthusiastically and even came this Monday though she did look poorly. As a serial attendee at any training day many will  miss her presence, her sharp mind and often witty responses.  I met her properly wen she came down to St Andrews in Redruth to hear me preach before booking me for the choir festival in Looe that summer.... she was a woman who knew exactly what she wanted but her love of the Lord never faltered. Rest in Peace Kathy..... and rise in Glory.Malcolm BowersSo sorry to hear this news. I valued her as a friend. Her faith was at the centre of her life. She had a sharp mind and loved music winning cups at competitions. The Lord will certainly say “well done good and faithful servant”. Jane DarlingtonRest dear Kathy xJacqueline HainesA very special person xxJohn James Kendrick-CrawshawOh my gosh, I'm so saddened to hear this, Kathy has touch so many peoples lives, from her preaching to her 'at home' get togethers. Rest in Glory Kathy Lang xxxRoss IsbellSo very sad to hear this news. Rest in peace dear Kathy. xx A Cartoons I found on Social Media..... tis week! DISCUSS :) Maybe a Monday morning theme? Morning Prayer continues on ZOOM with a growing congregation at 9am each day.There always seems to be much hilarity before we begin, on the day of Mary's hat several of us were wiping tears of mirth from our eyes...but if you want the story you'll have to join us .... before 9 when all goes still and we pray together. The link is in the weekly email! So this week, having discovered that the roof of the shed was no longer completely watertight I bought some special sealant from Screwfix and set about painting it on...... that was at the beginning of the week, it took two attempts over two days and I am still aching having discovered pains in muscled I had forgotten I had.  But the sky was blue,…

Reader David Watters found this heartwarming tale on social media Katharine Hepburn, in her own words:“Once when I was a teenager, my father and I were standing in line to buy tickets for the circus.Finally, there was only one other family between us and the ticket counter. This family made a big impression on me.There were eight children, all probably under the age of 12. The way they were dressed, you could tell they didn't have a lot of money, but their clothes were neat and clean.The children were well-behaved, all of them standing in line, two-by-two behind their parents, holding hands. They were excitedly jabbering about the clowns, animals, and all the acts they would be seeing that night. By their excitement you could sense they had never been to the circus before. It would be a highlight of their lives.The father and mother were at the head of the pack standing proud as could be. The mother was holding her husband's hand, looking up at him as if to say, "You're my knight in shining armor." He was smiling and enjoying seeing his family happy.The ticket lady asked the man how many tickets he wanted? He proudly responded, "I'd like to buy eight children's tickets and two adult tickets, so I can take my family to the circus." The ticket lady stated the price.The man's wife let go of his hand, her head dropped, the man's lip began to quiver. Then he leaned a little closer and asked, "How much did you say?" The ticket lady again stated the price.The man didn't have enough money. How was he supposed to turn and tell his eight kids that he didn't have enough money to take them to the circus?Seeing what was going on, my dad reached into his pocket, pulled out a $20 bill, and then dropped it on the ground. (We were not wealthy in any sense of the word!) My father bent down, picked up the $20 bill, tapped the man on the shoulder and said, "Excuse me, sir, this fell out of your pocket."The man understood what was going on. He wasn't begging for a handout but certainly appreciated the help in a desperate, heartbreaking and embarrassing situation.He looked straight into my dad's eyes, took my dad's hand in both of his, squeezed tightly onto the $20 bill, and with his lip quivering and a tear streaming down his cheek, he replied; "Thank you, thank you, sir. This really means a lot to me and my family."My father and I went back to our car and drove home. The $20 that my dad gave away is what we were going to buy our own tickets with.Although we didn't get to see the circus that night, we both felt a joy inside us that was far greater than seeing the circus could ever provide.That day I learned the value to give.The giver is bigger than the receiver. If you want to be large, larger than life, learn…

So I was walking along the mineral tramway the other day chatting to God as one does and the conversation went something like this: (I understand that God might talk to other people completely differently! Please don't take this too literally!) “Good morning God, here I am again…..”“Good morning Jim what’s on your mind?”“I thought you would know what is on my mind already…”“Well of course I do but it will help you if you articulate it”“I thought you may say something like that. Er…… So God…….”“Yes?..”“About healing…. ““You’re going to ask about why some seem to be healed and others not……”“Well…… sort of but more what do I say about it to folks who ask why they have had such bad fortune when others do not.”“Perhaps you have answered your own question,” remarks God.“eh? “ I pause, “what? Bad fortune?”“Bad fortune happens, 'stuff' happens… “says God philosophically.“But what about….”“Miracles?”  God cuts across my thought, “I knew you were going to ask that.”“Well, what’s the answer?” I ask.“Giving you the answer would be too easy,” says God (I can almost hear God chuckling), “what is a miracle?”“Well…… “I begin promisingly, ”a miracle is something unusual that does not happen often, something that is unexpected, rare ……."“And…… “says God“– well miraculous!”“So if they happened all the time they would not be miracles. I know what you are going to ask next….”“What?”“Ask me and I will tell you if I was right.”“I know you are always right, because you are God and I am just me trying to work it out…  but who decided who is going to get a miracle? I mean it’s a bit of a lottery…… ““yes I knew you were go to ask that one, let’s come back to it,” says God changing the subject….. “what were you going to ask about earthquakes and famine”“oh that… well yes, what do I say to people who ask how ‘You’ as God could let it happen…. ?”“So tell me what I have given you, and by you I mean all humankind….. and then I will answer…”“well , brains, natural resources, a beautiful planet, the ability to evolve…. And solve problems, create vaccines, grow food efficiently and much more….”“Now we are getting somewhere….. “Prompts God….“oh so if we used our talents and resources better, if we shared more and built less missiles, we could find more cures and find ways to help avoid natural disasters.”“I will let you ponder on that one….. “Comments God, “what about miracles?”“well I wondered about the amount of faith, and mustard size faith moving mountains and all that….  But that does not help.”“why?”“well, there are lots of faithful people who have prayed for miracles and not got them!”“you mean the answer to their prayer was not what was expected?”“Well there is some of that, but sometimes really awful stuff happens to people…. And maybe they get blamed for not having enough faith or it’s retribution for past behaviour…”“It doesn’t work like that,” says God sagely, “besides that…

How life changes! I remember as a boy sitting in our lounge at home in Birmingham watching Andy Pandy and the Wooden tops on a TV set build by my uncle Aub. It had a screen the size of an iPad in the box the size of a  dark plywood refrigerator! This week we found a couple of series of programmes we had watched some time ago on Britbox and we pondered between that and the offerings on Netflix and Amazon Prime..... and BBC1. and then we found The West Wing on More 4....... the choice was endless. Choices are endless not just of TV but also of food to the extent that we really are spoilt for choice. Gone are the days when you chose what you wanted from the local cooperative store with sugar and rice  in plain blue bags. We got quite irritated doing out 'Click and Collect' the other week from Tesco because they had not got any Aubergine, I mean fancy that no aubergine!! Then we took a step back and realised how silly that is when much of the world  has only the choice of a bowl of some cereal or not eating. Choice is something we treasure... there always being a choice, even if that choice is to do nothing. Sadly there are folks who have little choice in these times of pandemic and lockdown, with loneliness being high on the list of problems. One could argue there is a choice about whether to break the law or not and group with others  or choose whether to get connected electronically but in reality people feel trapped and choiceless. Lent is a time of choices:we can choose whether we are grateful or whether we just take things for granted, or worse still, moan when we can't get the aubergine of our choice. We can choose, on out shopping walks, or during exercise to greet people and with a smile and say hello or we can shut out the world and stare at the groundWe can choose whether we look up and breathe in the air and the wonders God has given us or we can choose to feel miserable or guilty because we have failed to give up chocolate for alcohol for lent. So this week, as I switch from Britbox to Netflix or order an aubergine, or an alternative by 'Click and Collect that someone else will take off the shelf for me it will remind me that in all I do I have choices and that I can choose to love God love my neighbour generously and gratefully. 

Trelawny Was Here! St Sampson’s Church at South Hill was Trelawny’s first parish as a Rector in 1673, nearly 350 years ago.   He must have purposely strode down the same path, entered the same door and stood on the same spot by the altar, where many priests have stood before and since.After South Hill, Trelawny became Bishop of Bristol, then Exeter and finally Winchester.  But his links with South Hill were not forgotten.   After Trelawny, two further family members became Rectors of South Hill, his brother Edward Trelawny and then his son Hele Trelawny.St Sampson’s Church is a small Grade 1 listed medieval gem in the rural parish of South Hill, near Callington in East Cornwall. Churches used to be community meeting places as well as places of worship. The St Sampson’s Unlocked project aims to make the church part of the community again by restoring and improving the building, ensuring its survival and making it fit for purpose for 21st century community use as well as worship.“Restoring St Sampson’s will benefit the whole community by providing an additional community space and keep our history and heritage alive.”“This is a fantastic project, fulfilling a big need in the parish”.It is going to cost about £550,000.  March 5th, St Pirans’s day, is the day when Cornwall traditionally raises a glass to Bishop Trelawny and joins together in singing a heartfelt rendition of our “Cornish anthem” in the Trelawny Shout.   Sadly, that won’t happen this year, with large, exuberant gatherings in our pubs not allowed.  So, in memory of our Cornish hero and in place of buying a beverage or two, please donate to the worthy cause of restoring St Sampson’s Church, so that Trelawny can be remembered there for the next 350 years. A small donation will have a big impact on the need in this community.St Sampson's Church, South Hill, Cornwall, St Sampson's Unlocked project, - JustGivingA small church with a big history How well do you know your local Trelawny connections?March the 5th is St Piran’s Day, and Trelawny Shout day.  South Hill, and in particular St Sampson’s Church, has more connections with Cornish hero Trelawny than you may have thought.Bishop Trelawny’s first parish was St Sampson’s, South Hill.  He was Rector here from 1677 - 1685    It is amazing to think of him at our little church.  He lived at Trelawne in Pelynt and probably had a curate based at St Sampson’s to do most of the work, but he most surely would have visited here and as his prominence and importance grew so did his influence on St Sampson’s at South Hill.  `Even after Trelawny became Bishop of Bristol, the family connection with South Hill continued.  He was succeeded as Rector here first by his brother, Edward Trelawny, and then his son, Hele Trelawny.The Trelawny family was also connected with the Manaton family of South Hill, who had been here for over three hundred years.  Like the Trelawnys, the Manatons were active nationally and had various eminent connections.  Sampson Manaton (1583-1642)…

Thank you Chatting to my Spiritual director the other week, I was asked what I was going to do for Lent - which is always an interesting question! I don’t give things up for lent, apart from attempting to give up moaning, but then I am always attempting to give u that and inevitably failing.  I try  to take something on; this year it is being more positive and therefore less negative and to say thank you and give praise rather more.  I have also got a couple of books to read but currently the reading is a bit laboured to say the least… I won’t say which as me nodding off the fastest. I began the positive thanks on Twitter giving praise and thanking Will, the guy who is usually out in all weathers in Tesco Car Park in Redruth making sure we get our click and collect shopping.  His concern for ‘his’ customers is marked and he commented yesterday that he worries when his regulars miss their usual slots. He’s an example of ‘salt if the earth!’ and definitely deserves recognition for his invariably cheery greeting, care for customers and his empathy for those who find it hard to bend down to pick up their shopping. Thanks too  to the lass in Morrish's fish and Chip Shop whose job it is to ferry the orders from the kitchen to the waiting customers in the car park  We go every other week at the moment and whatever the weather she makes it sounds as if she is smiling and cheery behind her mask. I left a note on the Facebook page. So when I got notification that I was to get the Cross of St Piran award, I was not really sure how to react or what to feel though it is always nice to get some feedback that you are doing something that actually helps people and that you are not getting in the way.   I was not quite prepared for the flood of congratulatory encouraging emails and messages but I a grateful and indeed thankful that I can make a positive difference. It still seems weird getting an award for something that I like doing as well as being called to do a lot of it. So to all the folks who have written – thank you and a special thank you to Caspar, our rector who is quick to encourage and who shows such support for lay ministry.  It is a curious thought that if people were not there to need what I can provide then I would not be getting the cross of St Piran…. So maybe it is really for all of us in these strange pandemic times. News - Truro Diocese : Truro Diocese Click the link to find out about the other 18 recipients this year..... I suspect all 19 really represent teams and communities all of whom are working to capacity to help other.  Now how do I go abut getting…

It seems strangely ageist that at the age of three score years and ten Licensed Lay Ministers suddenly stop being licensed and are given permission instead.  Personally I find this somewhat baffling. Someone said it was to be in line with ordained clergy but that seems no good reason to have a line drawn in the sand when many readers have a  good 2 years of ministry after their 70th birthdays!If it is a matter of assessing competence, then that should, and indeed does, apply to all licensed lay ministers (readers), currently once every 5 years, probably to go along with DBS checks. Again from a personal perspective of dealing with a myriad of LLM/Reader problems over the last 5 years I think the relicensing should be every three years and continue until the person is no longer capable / motivated / healthy enough to carry on. Why? The greatest woes inflicting LLM/Readers seem to stem from lack of communication and the relicensing has performance management built in to the requirements. Effectively this means talking through a work agreement with a focus on the needs of the parish / benefice, the training and support needed by the LLM to carry out their ministry, and  a review of performance as applied to all aspects of ministry from leading services to relationships with the church people as a body. Alongside that, safeguarding training updates must be completed on time, there are no good excuses for this and DBS checks should be up to date.  It would be helpful if Reader/LLM records were held by the safeguarding team and reminders sent out from there which would eliminate  those problems of lost certificates or not having completed the final task of the training.as LLMs/ Readers we are not paid, but neither are we amateurs. Considerable resources are need to train us and we must provide good value. That needs some sort of measure.I shall submit this article of my ideas to the Warden's Committee working group- but I am equally happy to add or change ides in response to thoughts form other LLMs/Readers!  Do book a chat, or write! 

Scams, Phishing, phone calls and Facebook.. and SAFEGUARDINGIn a nutshell - safeguarding is about good discipleship and loving one another as Jesus commanded.  Please do read on.... and join the party helping to protect the vulnerable. The Covid Pandemic seems to have fuelled the intensity of effort of those people who want to part us from our money without any thought as to the long term consequences of their thefts. Those people with dementia but still independent or the very lonely are particularly vulnerable. In the last week I have again encounteredthe belligerent and demanding woman with an Indian accent claiming to be from BT. whose main aim is to convince people to allow them to put an app on their computer to 'help' where actually it s there to steal banking details. The cheery greeting who needs a favour from a Facebook 'friend' who is actually someone who has copied the name of an account and used some of the photographs from it. (advice on protection from that below)A phone call from a friend worried about a threat that came up on her computer urging the recipient to press a certain link to sort it out - of course that would have led to stealing the details but she very wisely deleted it immediately. Those can be really scary! A fake email from an account pretending to be our rector! That I reported to <report@phishing.gov.uk>; but presumably would have been a request for money eventually had I replied. an email from 'Royal Mail' for a parcel they could not deliver wanting me to log on to a fake site in which to pay my re-delivery fee. One from Lloyds bank, (I do not have an account there) telling e to press a link to check a security issue. three social media friendship requests purporting to be  from scantily clad young women offering ..... er all sorts.  (deleted and blocked!) Learning how to block is an important part of online safety.and a dozen more........ And if they don't want to scam online their are the false vaccine hoaxes, the demands for money for a Covid test and the good old fashioned call at the door to sell you a substandard service that you don't really need These are real safeguarding concerns for all those people who are new to technology or who are vulnerable and all of us Safeguarding savvy folk should be promoting ways of keeping safe and keeping an eye on our vulnerable folk.  I know safeguarding sounds like a box-ticking exercise but please think about doing the online courses which are all free to do: https://trurodiocese.org.uk/resources/safeguarding/training-safeguarding/Safety online – Using Facebook- for all of you who do.  This is potentially quite a serious safeguarding issue if people are fooled.A useful tip: It is a good idea to go to the settings tab little down arrow just along from your picture top right... select privacy and then set your friends so that only you can see them. There are folk making clones of accounts to pretend to be folks…

Celebrating 25 years of Reader Ministry in the Church of England 04.02.1996 - 04.02.2021.All Saints Highgate, London Diocese 1996 to 1999; St. GeorgesBadshot Lea, Guildford Diocese 1999 to 2006, All Saints Tuckingmill, Truro Diocese 2006 - ongoing.

Into the valley of Tesco Click and Collect rode the Vauxhall Meriva....... but it nearly did not happen this week.The day before the collection time I turned the key in the ignition, the engine gave a half-hearted chug and not so much died as just  did not even think about living!  The battery was dead  even though it had been on the charger for a couple of days. So the RAC was called.Our own batteries get very heavy use at this time of year through January and February - the darkest part of the winter and little chance to re-charge. There is still so much uncertainty in this time of pandemic and we can't even plan holidays and things to look forward to to provide the light at the end of the winter tunnel. I for one am not booking bed & breakfasts and leaving deposits or purchasing tickets for the RSC in Stratford.My own batteries last week felt decidedly depleted although I managed more than the 'Meriva's 'chug' and refusal to do anything.  My recharging prayer walks have been curtailed by the lack of light and by the weather and I have been aware of ongoing lack of physical hugs from children and grandchildren- the screen is not quite the same as a pile of kids on the sofa for a story.Then there is the draining business of the news which seems to delight in as much doom and gloom as it can dredge up from the depths. Racism in football, violence in homes, blind prejudice in the church, Covid.... always Covid and its consequences. The mad the bad and the ugly or the anti-vaxxers, the conspiracy theorists who blame 5G wireless, or that Covid is a hoax,  or those who dont care and party on without a care for others.And, amidst all that there are life's standard woes of folks getting older, needing operations and specialist treatment and sometimes not able to get it.  Is it any wonder we become alarmingly aware of our own mortality?So how do we recharge?  What is the equivalent to the RAC for replacing or recharging our worn batteries?In the depths of last week, just an email from my spiritual director asking if I needed  a chat put me on an upward trajectory.... just knowing I could off-load and praying about what I should talk about to them .When we are really low the constant trickle charge of the solar powered office prayers are often not enough and a defibrillator charge of the heartfelt arrow prayers are needed,  the ones where words are hard to find and are not really needed! You need to give yourself space... somehow!  The temptation to stay on the treadmill of busy task-driven lives of service because we are needed  is great - but as I was always taught doing St John's Emergency Aid courses, "look after yourself first because if you become the emergency you will make the problem worse."So what we need is a positive charge…

It's amazing what we have collected in our "much watch this" - or "much watch this again" so we'll record it on the box list..... Awaiting us .... sometime are Singing in the Rain, Swallows and Amazons, Paddington, and some old cop shows that got a bit violent and dark and we did not watch the end of the series. Oh and Montelbano- the wonderful Italian detective with subtitles that you have to be in the mood for or one falls asleep and misses out chunks of the plot. It all promises that one day there will be time, one day the grandchildren will return to be looked after and ask, "May we have a snack?" and "Can we watch something?" In the meantime we continue to be as careful as we can and try and stay healthy! Look after yourselves!  Permission to Officiate.. My Tesco click and collect is now booked up to the week before my birthday reminding me that I will be one year way from my three score and ten when in the eyes of the church all ministers lay and ordained suddenly have to have a different licensing system presumably because of our encroaching decrepitude.As we have readers who are doing a wonderful job in their 90s it does seem something of an anachronism to draw this line.Now that all Readers have to be relicensed every five years (personally I think it should be three yearly to go along with Safeguarding requirements) it would appear to make PTO an unnecessary piece of bureaucracy.   And Something About Relicensing...... The re-licensing process is vital to healthy ministry when approached with an open mind and heart and not merely a 'tick-box' irritation that must be endured.the elements being:SafeguardingA Work Agreementand the full support of the congregations in the cluster or benefice in which a Minister is serving as well as the approval of the incumbent and / or the Rural Dean. The Work Agreement is really important and the best way of going about this is to download a sample and prayfully edit it to suit your capacity and the needs of the local situation. Once that is done it is time to speak to your incumbent or the Rural Dean in time time of transition. That discussion will include a review of your work, matching the needs of the local situation, training that you might need and where to find it and how you see your ministry progressing over the next three years. Support of the local people is not just about the PCC passing a resolution, it is about whether your ministry among them is appropriate and valued although the PCC will have to give the formal nod as well. If you serve more than one PCC, they should really all give their approval. AstraZeneca  trial week 3:So I did not have to have the Covid test but I did need to provide blood and the usual small plastic bottle of yellowish liquid as well as having my blood pressure…

The Morning Prayer Congregation Meeting each Day at 9a.m. on ZOOM! Blogs, sermons and tricky letters are often composed whilst walking - recently the soggy nature of the footpaths has blocked a lot of routes..... but at least the county is not actually underwater as some folks are who have been evacuated from their homes. It must be especially woryying in a time of pandemic.