I can't believe we have been here for six months! Our life was upturned and redirected in February, when we moved to this small rural village and my husband began his first incumbancy as the rector of six rural churches. I can't believe how different one English county can be from another. Here we are surrounded by thatched cottages and vast fields of crops. Despite living in the countryside before, never has the onset of harvest been so obvious to me. We are surrounded by acres of wheat and barley that stretch as far as the eyes can see. Now, after a short, intense sunny spell, the tractors seem to be working continuously to bring the crops in. The thundering tractors race through the village from dawn until midnight (- when they are actually obliged to stop). As you look over towards the farms, it looks like there is a dust storm rising out of the fields - centred on a huge harvester monster that continuously crawls up and down the field. And so the crops will be brought in and the circle of ploughing and planting will start again.The Rector has now had six months to listen and watch the six churches in action. When he came here, he promised to make no changes and to get to know the people and parishes in his first six months. This has required patience from those folk who wanted things to change or move on, or were worried that the new rector was going to shake up the familiar. It has been a great time for us as we have tried to attend most village events and the Rector@6 has tried to attend most parish meetings. It has also been a very busy and tiring time!
Often in August, being the school holidays, many church groups take a break so the Rector@6 decided that this was a good time to run a short course to get to know people on a different level. He advertised the York course 'Faith, Hope and Love' - to run in the Rectory garden with a bring and share supper. It has been a great opportunity to listen to people and where they are in their churchmanship, their faith journey and their relationship with the parish church. The Rector@6 would thoroughly recommend this course to other ministers starting out somewhere new. It has proved to be very popular - so much so - that we have had to run it in two sessions, either with lunch or supper. It has made for a very busy August hence the lack of blogging on my part!
I am settling down into a routine of helping with and riding the big horses over in the next village. This is my escape from parish life, as they are outside the Rector@6's parishes. And I need it! We seem to eat, sleep and talk church in the Rectory. This settling-in period seems such an intense time but then that is the same with any new job - but I am not employed in this job - I just live in it!
