Busy day

I never sleep well when I have to be out of the house early enough to celebrate an eight o'clock Eucharist somewhere, and today was no exception - a night punctuated with odd dreams reflecting uncertainty. I was up and about as soon as the alarm went off, as ever, and punctual arriving at the Parish Church of the Resurrection in Ely for a small congregation somewhat depleted by the fact of the Bank Holiday Weekend.

I had the church to myself for an hour between services, and made use of its huge space and my free time to practice some Chi Gung and Tai Chi moves before the main Eucharist of the day. After the Eucharist I celebrated the baptism of two children. The families and friends of the two children christened amounted to more than double those attending the Eucharist.

After this, before returning for lunch, I drove over to St German's for another baptism service, a much smaller affair, with about three dozen present, only two of whom were men. I've never done two baptism services en suite like that in my entire ministry. It was just necessary because of the problems of clergy deployment during one of the weekend in the year when it seems like more clergy want time off than any other time in the year.

St German's didn't know until Tuesday that there'd be a priest for its one Sunday Mass. Shortages are a reality, but it seems to me that the greatest shortage is in recognising and dealing with the problem that exists, as if those at the top responsible for ensuring pastoral cover are still in denial that a radical solution is needed to ensure that people at grass roots get the support they need to continue their witness through worship.

Anyway, I was happy to find that I could cope with four services before lunch - just like in the old days of the Central Cardiff Rectorial benefice, depleted of clergy - I was home eating lunch by two, back at St German's after a snooze in front of the TV for Evensong and Benediction at five. When I got home, Katherine was there on Skype, standing in a wifi hotspot with her iPhone outside the hotel where she, Rhiannon and Anto are weekending down in Valencia, so I could sing her Happy Birthday. Half an hour later, Rachel was there on Skype from Fairmont B.C., having just talked to her sister. This made my day complete.