The Escape Committee – Based in the Virtual Staffroom
Well, why do we do it? Why do we persist in a job that has changed beyond all recognition? A job where our daily efforts are never good enough, where we are all the time asked for ‘just that little bit more’. A job where we are blamed for most of societies ills, where we are constantly ridiculed as whingers who have short days and long holidays, when the reality is quite different. The reason is, of course, that we care. As do the vast majority of those who work in the caring professions or other areas of public service. I bet there are very few who enter the teaching profession with anything other than a desire and commitment to improve the lives of young people through engaging them and inspiring them to learn. However, there are many of us who have reached that point where ‘enough is enough’. This…
A journey……. the road to recovery
I write this update in January 2018, much later than I was hoping to have finished the whole ‘Faith and Worship’ course and on a dull, overcast, slightly foggy early January day. I have managed only rare updates to this site and to the twitter account linked to it. This is and has been testimony to an overly busy life. Something that seems to have now caught up with me. Having struggled to juggle stress and change at work, a young and sizeable family, the rigours of the Faith and Worship course, continuing to undertake preaching engagements and some work related study, I finally succumbed to the pressure in early December and have been signed off from work by my doctor due to ‘Reactive Depression’. As I think back, the depression had been there for at least 18 months, having an ever increasing impact on my work and the way…
Some results
Really difficult finding time to keep this updated but finally some results as proof of progress. Section B, comprising units 7,8,9 and 10 has been marked and come back as a pass. Hopefully section A marks will be similar and not too far behind in arriving! I will really make an effort to post when I hear…. Famous last words!
Progress
Two days of tidying, sorting and some work. I am making progress – a tidier workspace, several lost documents found and some work completed for Unit 6…. An evening out at the Halifax Amateur Radio Club but more work to be done on my return home 🏡
Now is the time!
Having tried to fit the Faith and Worship course around a busy family and professional life and having submitted SOME work to my mentor and tutor, this summer is the time when the work will be done. I have a plan, and this blog forms part of it, to work through the whole of the course by the end of September. It is ambitious. It is scary. Yet, in faith, I must have a go as finishing the course will, I suspect, lead to other questions that need to be answered. Today and tomorrow are days when outstanding parts of units from A and B will be finished and uploaded. From Wednesday, my younger children have finished school for the summer so work will be done in the evenings……….. there will be a bulletin at the end of each day. This way I will document my successes or otherwise during…
Daily Prayers
I have long followed the pattern and rule of the Northumbria Community. Here are some links to the daily prayers they offer.
Now ‘On trial’
Well, after the Local Preachers meeting last night, and following the report from my trial service on November 30, it was approved to move me on from ‘On Note’ to ‘On Trial’. Shortly to start work on the Exegesis passages for entry in March, along with the ‘Faith & Worship’ Units 1-3 (finished but writing up some notes). The first 6-9 months have been quite intense and challenging – fewer preaching commitments now (2 on the next plan) but more time to be spent on coursework.
All in a name………..
Well, trial service approaching and potentially I may become a ‘Preacher on Trial’ (sounds dodgy?) as opposed to a ‘Preacher on Note’. Dilemma – should I change my Twitter name or not?
Exhausting but rewarding
The last few months have been really busy. Due to a variety of reasons I ended up involved in 8 services in about 10 weeks. Most of these were traditional/standard services but there were also parade services, a service where the sermon was more of a discussion. Yesterday I took my first evening service in about 20 years – it was far from traditional…..
Under way…..
June was an interesting month. My day job meant I was really busy preparing for assessments and yet I was juggling time for my first tentative steps into Local Preaching whilst trying to ‘polish off’ the first elements of Unit 1 of ‘Faith & Worship’. All in all, pretty busy. However, it was an intensely rewarding month in which I preached my first full sermon for many years (to my ‘home’ congregation) and led the service at another Church whilst my mentor preached. This experience was challenging, quite daunting at times yet immensely rewarding. More to follow…………