Diaconal ordination anniversary

I didn't want to preside and preach as usual today, but to perform the diaconal role as I did in my first year of public ministry. I still have the ordination stole which Clare made from some of the material used in her wedding dress, and she ironed the wrinkles out of it, ready for today.

Rhys came and presided, and Emma came too, dressed up and walked with us in procession, the sat in choir for the Eucharist. The challenge wasn't preaching, but the choreography of being a Deacon in the Liturgy, with no time to rehearse! I'm not sure if I have done this since priestly ordination. When I was new in ministry, the traditional ceremonial custom of a priest playing the part of the Deacon was falling into disfavour. New priests were generally keen to con-celebrate as the Vatican II Constitution on the Liturgy recommend. This was our idea of being progressive in those days.

Being Deacon for the day kept me on my toes throughout, and thankfully, it worked out OK. In the end, I was happy preaching what I'd prepared, although I suspect it was a bit longer than usual. After the service, I was presented with a huge decorated cake to cut and share.

The Sunday School children made a congratulatory banner for the hall wall as well. What a surprise!

There was lots of cake to take home after everyone present had a piece. I was much moved by the occasion, and the warmth of the greetings I received. I still find it hard to believe it's me. I don't feel I'm this old. There's still such a lot I feel I can do, and want to offer. I must settle for those opportunities that come to me as a gracious gift. I don't think I will ever feel that I've done enough.

We enjoyed a splendid lunch, and time together in garden sunshine after. Kath, Anto and Rhiannon  set out for Kenilworth at tea time, completing their journey home in the usual two hours. It was late when I set out for my daily walk, and nearly dark when I returned. The time from midsummer to the autumn equinox seems to slip by so quickly.

After supper I watched last night's double episode of Danish crimmie 'Darkness - those who kill' on BBC iPlayer, and then finished the final brief chapters of Pablo Poveda's novel 'El Maestro'. It's been a challenging experience reading a trilogy of contemporary novels in Spanish. A struggle on times, as the author uses a wide range of vocabulary, within the relatively simple narrative structure, calling for lots of dictionary look ups or guesswork. Easy enough to follow the story, but difficult to get all the detail, particularly in conversations which carry the inner plot complexities forward.

Although concerned with a dystopic future created by criminal minds harnessing modern technology and surveillance systems, the main character is an archetypal outsider who lives in the moment and becomes an accidental adversary to grass roots champions of democracy. Like many of those who see him as an unique legendary heroic role model and symbol of the freedom cause, his end is violent and bloody. In some ways the stories are as violent and bloody and fast paced as an old fashioned wild west tale. An intriguing set of books, but I might not have read them if I'd seen a review indicating how dark they would turn out to be. Having said that, I can they'd render nicely as a movie trilogy. I wonder if anyone is thinking of this?
   

Closing the books

While out shopping this morning, I went to Riverside Clinic for some supplies, and had a brief chat about the trouble I've been experiencing over the past few days with one of the nurses who knows me well. Thankfully, I've been in somewhat better form today, and needed to be, as I had an appointment with a HSBC bank business adviser in town after lunch.

This was to sort out the problem caused by the bank's unilateral closure of Cardiff Crime Limited account before CBS could produce the 2018 Annual Financial Statement to submit to Companies' House. This is the final reckoning for the not-for-profit body set up to manage funds for the work of Cardiff Business Crime Reduction Partnership which ceased to function after the resignation of the Business Crime Manager it employed at the end of 2017. It will be a relief to me as the sole account signatory to obtain formal closure of this ill-fated undertaking. Everything is accounted for. No money is owed to anyone or owing to this account. It was set up as a not-for-profit undertaking, and has fulfilled its purpose, albeit causing a lot of grief, due to administrative errors on the part of the bank from the outset. Never again, I say to myself. Never again!

I finished the second Pablo Poveda novel 'El Aprendiz', which morphs from political thriller into an odd kind of sci-fi extrapolation of a world in which lies spun by the powers that be through virtual reality and fake news have entirely taken over and control society. The romantic intellectual hero of the first novel becomes the figurehead of a militant resistance movement at war against Big Brother state. He's not a particularly appealing character, and the characterisation of people portrayed isn't well developed. The story seems to be what matters. It's complex and full of surprises. I could see it being made into a TV movie series. The books have used a wide range of Spanish vocabulary which I have had to look up to get the full flavour of the narrative, but It's been pleasing to find how much I have been able to grasp the narrative thread, at my present intermediate language level.

Now I must hunt for the third part of the trilogy. First, a visit to Waterstone's, and if unsuccessful, I'll have to buy on-line. I'm reluctant to do this unless I have to. Bookshops are important cultural places, and like libraries, we're losing them at a lamentable rate.