It's Time!

I'm staring at the blank screen wondering what to write...is it too soon to return to my ramblings about adapting to life in the rectory? I have missed the comradery of Bloggers but I needed to focus on settling. I have woken this morning with the urge to write again - so much is changed, so much is changing. The Church of England seems to be changing. Our valley churches are changing. I am changing. Does this mean I am shaping up into a Rector's wife? I don't think so - I still feel like a square peg in a round hole but I need to write to remind myself of how far the Rector@6 and I have come since arriving in the valley for The Interview three years ago. I need to record the changes that have happened so that it might give myself (and others) hope. There have been some difficult times and the Rector@6 has even applied for a couple of jobs and he has got as far as being interviewed for one. We both knew it was too soon (was it the thought of escaping ....running away?). We both knew it was not right for us (the Rector@6 had even said that he would not accept the job at the interview - if offered - which it wasn't!). I'd like to say that we don't wake up on a Friday morning and turn on our iPad search the vacancy list in the Church Times ....but that wouldn't be true. This weekly scanning of the vacancy pages helps to remind us how fortunate we really are!

Pause

Decorations in  the South Aisle were made at crafty coffee mornings.

I have stopped. This a breathing space - a reflective time before the next round of carol and crib services and the Christmas eucharist and worship services that will preoccupy the Rector@6. Blogging has had to be put to one side as I paddled hard to keep afloat.
The frantic run up to Christmas is whirling around me and I need to stop. We have a target time - 12.30 on Christmas Day - so think of us then. Then, The Rector@6 should have finished, the front door will be shut, fire lit, dogs walked (are you reading this my two lovely sons?),Christmas lunch will not be cooked but we can prepare it together - for a late afternoon meal. We will turn inwards for a short time and celebrate as a family.
This first Christmas for The Rector@6, has been a huge learning curve for both of us. The amount of  tasks that have had to be remembered - or followed up on  - or needed reminders, - seems endless. Thank God for our good health.  I have run a star making session in one church which was challenging but enjoyable. We are still struggling to keep our musicians as no one has stepped forward to lead our music group. I am struggling to keep up with producing the pew sheets that go out each week with notices, reading and service times on them - for 6 churches. I make mistakes, which bothers me but I must learn that: - 1) I will improve with practise and 2) I am only human!
What I have realised is that this is probably the hardest Christmas period that we will experience (hopefully). We have had to cope with accepting  "This is the way it is always done"  - which might not be explained to us until a little too late. Despite this, one village is trialling a worship style service with no holy communion at it (this is available half a mile down the road at two churches and all the other churches in the Benefice). People have dropped away from attending the church over the years, many were of other denominations (such as Methodist ) and they had wondered if the Christmas day Celebration could be done differently. The Rector@6 has risen to the challenge and put together a service specifically for this. We will see if they come on Christmas morning.
The contrasts in this benefice are huge. Yesterday I attended Sunday morning worship in the form of  'coffee with carols' with chequered table clothes and informal seating, in our small ancient village church and in the evening I was listening to carols in the Abbey - complete with well rehearsed choir. I sat where the monks had sat hundred of years ago and soared with the music, up to the vaulted ceilings . The Abbey is in our benefice but not part of the benifice - it is a Church of England 'perculiar' (google that - I'm not even going to attempt to explain it!). Suffice to say, next year the carol service should fall into the Rector@6's lap.
I am grateful for this time to pause. The New Year is already lining up fresh challenges but I'm not thinking about these yet. Now is the time to reflect on what Christmas really is all about.

 

Oh, Come, Oh, Come Emmanuel

Fully collated, Inducted and Installed!

What is a collation? I had to look it up when I read the order of service 'for the Collation, Induction and Installation' of The Rector2B.  It sounds rather like something to do with boiler services and I am still uncertain as to why it was a 'collation' but despite that, it was a very happy evening. After the beautiful weather we have been having, Dorset chose to blanket us in fog for the evening. The fog did not stop the church being full of friends from North, South and Mid Devon who had chosen to travel some distance to share the evening with The Rector2B. Our house was full of family and this made it a very memorable and special occasion. Now the rectory is beginning to hold our memories and this helps to make it feel like our home.

The service was full of symbolism as The Rector was led round the church after accepting the 'cure of souls'. He poured water into the font, was presented with a bible, a Chalice and Paten, rang the bell and on being Inducted and Installed, his hand was placed on the church door before being given a large church key by the Churchwarden. The Churchwarden said " Receive the key of the church in token of the responsibilities which we share." - On Friday afternoon, this churchwarden was knocking on our front door because the key had gone missing and they couldn't unlock the the church that it belonged too!! (You will be pleased to know that it has since be found.)

The Rector@6 and his sister outside the church where the service took place.

It was such a happy evening - I felt so much better than I did at his Ordination as Deacon - then I fought back tears, wondering what the future held for us and thinking that I was losing my husband to the church and losing our future together. This time, I felt a completeness - and I was in no doubt that we were in the right place (however scary that seems at times). I am learning to live 'in the now' and to expore the opportunities as they open up. The battle to get the rectory updated has been fought and, while we still feel bruised from this, it is time to settle and put down roots. I am planting out the garden that came with us in pots. I am adding the new plants from The Rector's sister and my sister so that I can look out at the garden and know this is where we truely belong (for now).

The Rector is no longer 'The Rector2B' but has become 'The Rector@6' as he is now the rector to six rural Dorset churches. We are looking forward to getting to know them all.

Looking further, delving deeper.

Tomorrow evening The Rector 2B will become The Rector of this Dorset benefice. That's it then - I will officially be a Rector's Wife. I didn't think that I would end up as a rector's wife (very Joanna Trollope). Vicars and rectors do basically the same job today and the different names stem from how they were paid many years ago - I think. To our son's Australian friend, 'rector' was an unfamiliar title and so the title has been the butt of many jokes!
I'm learning about living in a rectory - people drop in "just for a few minutes" or "a quick word" - which are usually neither a few minutes or quick! As The Rector 2B is frantically trying to put up coat hooks, fix draughts, move cupboards and....tidy study before he starts officially, these visitors can be quite time consuming. The visits have also brought a couple of other problems to our attention -

1. The dogs do not like the new door bell. Chaos reigns as we try to get to the door while the dogs (led by the Collie) race to the door, sounding like the Hounds of the Baskervilles. Some visitors have been heading down the drive by the time we get to open the door.

2. The Rectory Front Door is extremely temperamental - making it a battle to shut. The property people have put a very expensive new lock on it but I came down in the middle of the night to find the door wide open. I made several attempts to slam the door shut (which must have sounded like gun shots echoing up the pitch black road) and tried some gentle persuasive shoves - to no avail. The door has a mind of its own and swells and shrinks at will. This means that the lock can be in the right position one day and not the next. The door also is very good on hot days as it well vented along the top and the bottom, through the joints and the hole in the bottom panel. I'm sure we will appreciate it when the weather turns warmer .

The walking and the weather have been fantastic - we are discovering new paths all the time. We are so pleased to find that we can reach high points very quickly, and on clear days, we are rewarded with magnificent views over the countryside towards the south coast. It seems lighter and brighter even on grey days and we feel that we are treading ancient routes - long ago used by travellers between the villages. Now we see very few people - the occasional walker or rider but mostly we have the countryside to oursleves. We pass thatched cottages and pretty churches - six of the churches being The Rector2B's responsibility. After the one in our village, the next nearest church, is this pretty Victorian church which was built at the expense of the estate owner. It is not situated in a village and only has a service once a month. It has a wonderful plaque on the tower with shields and a helmet and sword that is reminiscent of 'when a knight won his spurs in the stories of old....'

We are beginning to appreciate what a beautiful place we have landed in  - again! England really is a spectacular country to explore.

It's all very exciting!