These are some church newsletter articles written by Clare, a URC ordinand 

Diary of a URC Ordinand (aged 43 and a bit!)

Just over two years ago I was faced with a pile of papers and forms to complete in order to follow the path of being accepted for training within the United Reformed Church. During the next eighteen months I underwent a process of assessment which included interviews, meetings, assessed sermons, psychological profiling, a weekend assessment board in Cambridge and a final interview by Wessex Synod. All this from Germany, too – I guess God really was keen! Finally at Christmas last year I was accepted for non-stipendiary (subject to change at any time) training in the Ministry of Word and Sacrament, and I began my course at Salisbury.

 In my current year group there are twenty-three Anglican students, three Methodist and three URC students so what I shall emerge as in four years’ time is anybody’s guess! Overall, STETS seeks to further the renewal and mission of the church by equipping God’s people with a deeper understanding of the Christian faith and greater competence for their varied roles in the ministry of the church.

The course is mainly structured around eighteen modules of study to be completed over three years. Each module is introduced at a residential weekend at Salisbury and contains five units. A unit is designed to be one week’s study of fifteen hours plus an hour and a half tutorial with my study tutor who is an Army chaplain based at the college at Shrivenham. At the end of each module there is a written assignment of 2500 words to complete. Throughout my study I am also expected to keep a reflective journal. There are also three study days at the college to complete plus an eight day residential day at Easter. At this stage of my course I am only expected to undertake two hours work a week within the church and to only preach once a quarter.

I have completed the first module which was an Introduction to the Study of Scripture, Theology and Ministry in the Church’s Mission. This involved some study skills work as well as the theological input required, reading books by Alister McGrath (a theologian at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford), Eugene Peterson and Barbara Brown Taylor (both ministers in the USA) and Vincent Donovan (a missionary sent to the Masai who was forced to re-evaluate his training in the light of the context and culture he was in). The assignment involved discussing the benefits of Scriptural and Christian theological study for the ministry and mission of the church today. I have not yet received my mark for that but if it is good enough then you are welcome to read it!!

The current module is Prophecy to the Nation, Mission to the Nations and in particular I am looking at Amos, Hosea and First Isaiah. So far I am finding this quite hard and the core reading is heavy going. Overall the prime aim of the module is to think more creatively, methodically and rigorously about the Old Testament. As part of the study we are also considering the role of ‘modern day prophets’ such as Martin Luther King and Oscar Romero. I have found this challenging and thought provoking e.g. who are the prophets of today? What or who validates a prophet’s ministry? How may the church need to change if it is to contain the fires of prophecy within it? Answers on a postcard, please…..

Alongside this study I have a house to run, children to look after, and a husband who is away so much that he is almost like a lodger! I could retire into some sort of shell and emerge every few weeks to let you know that I’m still around but you know that is not me. I will attempt to keep this article as a regular column in Focus to keep you all informed of my progress (?). Of course your support in prayer and fellowship is much appreciated.

Still aged 43 and a bit!

I went into some detail in my previous article about the structure and aims of my course and training. This time I’d like to tell you a little more about the actual college and my weekends there.

Sarum College is situated in The Close in Salisbury and looks out over the cathedral. It is certainly the most wonderful setting and a place that evokes a variety of emotions and responses. As a child and teenager living in Ringwood many years ago, I have fond memories of travelling up to Salisbury on the bus in the summer with my mother and two younger brothers. We would wander round Salisbury and then sit in the shadow of the cathedral and have a picnic before returning home. Those were the days when the sun always shone and a 99 ice cream only cost a few pennies! I can recall being overawed by the grandeur and calmness of the cathedral and the silence of the cloisters. Today the feelings are very similar. The soaring spire and arched interior fill the soul with a sense of God’s presence and the immensity of his creation. Inside the cathedral is a wonderful model of the building as the spire was being constructed and there are tiny figures all busy at work. Please spend some time there if you are ever near the city.

So it was with a certain amount of awe and thankfulness that my first weekend back in September was spent in a room that overlooked the cathedral…what a view! However, on the following weekends in November and January I was assigned rooms that were a little more basic and without the view. I also think the water pipes for the whole college went through my rooms, judging by the noises during the night!

The weekends follow a similar pattern each time. On arrival at about 4pm on a Friday you check in to your room and catch up with others as they arrive. Then after supper there is a working session followed by notices for the weekend and a ‘common room’ time during which issues about the course, tutors, training and the weekend can be aired and addressed through the year group rep…yours truly! Anyone surprised?!  At 9pm there is an opportunity for you to meet with your &Co group which is a group of 4/5 people that are your support group throughout the course. This usually involves someone providing a little light refreshment and some nibbles to help the evening along, and then at some stage you collapse into bed.

Before breakfast on Saturday morning there is a chance to attend morning communion in the cathedral and then Saturday morning is busy with seminars and teaching. After lunch there are usually interviews with personal tutors, voice skill workshops and some free time if you are lucky. After dinner, there are more seminars and these finish at about 8.30pm. By this time of the weekend I am usually so brain dead and exhausted that I just want to go to bed but so far I have been talked in to a walk around the local hostelries of Salisbury…for a change of scene, you understand! After breakfast on Sunday there is some teaching and then worship in either the URC, C of E, or Methodist tradition. After lunch we are free to come home….a drive of about an hour and a half for me. You may have noticed that mealtimes feature quite regularly. Please watch the corresponding increase in my waistline after each weekend since the kitchen staff seem to feel that we are all half starved, I think. On second thoughts, don’t watch my waistline.

My current module is called “Seeking God” and aims to consider the fundamental characteristics of the Christian understanding of God’s ways with the world. In so doing we have sought to describe God’s abundant love in our creation, redemption and to grasp the significance of God’s purposes for the world. This has involved looking at the character of God’s love and we have been reading about feminist theologians, especially Elizabeth Johnson. Most recently we have studied the love of God in the face of the contradictions from the world and this has been a unit with plenty to think about. Unaccountable suffering and sin and evil are not the easiest of areas to study or to find answers to. In his book “The Puzzle of Evil” Peter Vardy says that he cannot find a rationally acceptable justification for the presence of evil in the world. However he concludes that, as a Christian theologian, he will seek to hold on to belief in a good, loving and powerful God in the face of all that would contradict that belief. Strong stuff…and the essay is due soon!

My next weekend is in mid February when it is Dominie’s birthday. Then I spend a whole week at college prior to Easter, when it is Vincent’s birthday, finishing on Easter Sunday. That will be a difficult time…I have never been away from the children for that long. So please continue to pray for me, my family and my studies.

Feeling aged!

A compulsory component of my training course is to attend Easter School which is held for the whole week prior to Easter. This is quite a major undertaking, not least because I have never been away from my children for that long! So it was with rather mixes feelings of excitement, anticipation and anxiety that I set off to Salisbury on Palm Sunday this year.

The first and second year students were housed at a local boarding school, where we were able to make use of their boarding facilities for sleeping and eating…. not to mention midnight feasts of toast and butter. Now that’s when the real theology was done! We used their relatively new purpose built theatre for teaching sessions and some worship. We also had use of the swimming pool in the early morning which I used every day. I would recommend it as a wonderful way to start a day of study…. or rather recover after late night theologising and toast!

The emphasis for the week was seeing God and theology through different lenses and to experience God in new places. We had teaching sessions from Susan Durber, a URC minister in Oxford who challenged us to examine autobiography and fiction as a medium through which we could respond to others’ life stories and our own. Robert Beckford, a lecturer in Black theology in Birmingham, spoke of the racism which is still evident in some of our churches and his message was thought provoking and even uncomfortable. Ian Paul gave his perspective of theology as an evangelical minister. Another lens that we encountered was that of feminist theology and were challenged by a sculpture of a female Christ on the cross.

One evening we had an opportunity to watch a choice of films to discuss “where was God in this film?” This was the same question we were to consider on our field trips on one of the days. We had a choice of four venues: Southampton shopping mall and football ground, Wantage priory, Avebury stone circle and the Tate Modern. No prizes for guessing which one I opted for…I have written an article elsewhere about my response to the Tate Modern!

From Thursday to Sunday the pace slowed rather as we were invited to attend worship at different churches in Salisbury, culminating in the 6.00am service at the cathedral on Easter Morning. As we gathered outside the west doors of the cathedral, shivering slightly in the damp darkness just before dawn, I watched with a strong sense of expectation and awe as a bonfire was kindled and the enormous candle lit. As the massive doors were flung open the candle was processed in and the cavernous ‘tomb’ of the cathedral enveloped us. As we lit our personal candles from each other, the light spread and flickered into all the spaces. It was truly a significant moment. The service followed with baptisms, confirmations and communion. The celebration finished in fine style with champagne in the cloisters and a wonderful breakfast in the college before driving home.

It was certainly a roller coaster of a week with so many new and varied experiences, people, emotions and challenges. I spent a few quiet days with my parents and children before hurtling off to Easter People at Torquay! I just pray that the Lord grants me enough energy to sustain such a pace!

Congregational Analysis

Some of you may be aware that my most recent studies have involved studying the congregation and our church and its worship. This has involved some of you in helping construct a timeline, answering questionnaires, being interviewed and generally putting up with me asking awkward questions! I would like to use this opportunity to thank all of you have been my ‘guinea pigs’ and have responded to my requests for help and co-operation. It has been much appreciated and valued. I couldn’t have done it without you! THANK YOU!

Easter School field trip

Tate Modem or…………………..?

A massive structure with a solid facade and tower reaching to the sky. A huge ceiling inside that spanned the rooms, stairways and meeting places. The chatter of people in groups. Strange symbols, colours and shapes. Some of these spoke powerfully to me, overwhelming me at times. I experienced a mixture of feelings; some were uplifting, some were affirming in my understanding of God, and some left me sad at the thought of the anger and sorrows of the human condition reflected in these signs and symbols. Occasionally I was left bewildered and confused.  Efficient looking people bustling around. Others sitting quietly, lost in contemplation. Others huddled inwards, animated and oblivious to me. I began to feel anxious, hesitant and reluctant. I had come to this place with such feelings of excitement and expectancy, searching for an encounter with God. I had experienced something that moved me in this place but I did not know what to do about it. I was not one of the ‘crowd’ and I felt a failure because I did not really understand what was going on in this place or how to reflect on my responses to some of these symbols.

I felt uncomfortable, wondering whether I should make a big effort and try to ‘break in’ on these huddled groups but I was not confident enough. I could have tried to find out what things meant by reading or by taking part and getting involved but that required energy and concentration and I was too overwhelmed for that.

What I would have really appreciated would have been someone greeting me with a smile and showing me around. Perhaps taking time to explain how they felt about things or to explain what was meant by these symbols would have been helpful, maybe leaving again for a short while to gather my thoughts. I would have been grateful to someone contacting me a few days later to ask how I was, what I now felt about my visit and experience, to help me with any questions I had and to listen to my reactions to the symbols and encounters I experienced….

For a while at the Tate Modem I had been in the role of an outsider. I learnt that symbols and signs can be very powerful and moving but that not everyone responds in the same way and this needs to be acknowledged. People need time to explore their responses and to share them if they wish to. Some symbols can be helpful and some can be unhelpful. Therefore it is important to allow them time to process their response and not to force anyone interpretation on them. I learnt that such places can be daunting and frightening and that the welcome at the door and follow up contact is important to help people feel they are special and worthy in your eyes and in God’s eyes. I learnt that my ministry must be sensitive to where people are, not to where I think they should be. And I learnt that God can be found in the paint, in the sculpture, in the woman feeding her child by the door, and in the beggar on the bridge. I pray that He can also be found in our churches.

Aged into her second year of training

I have just returned from one of my residential weekends this evening to discover that the deadline for FOCUS is today. So, here I go, hot off the press, as it were! This was my eighth weekend away and as usual it was tiring, challenging and enjoyable. It mixed theological reflection with academic study, and a large amount of fellowship and good food!

I was privileged recently to receive prayer ministry at a service I attended at Harnhill. During that time of prayer I was struck with the words of thanks that were prayed for my obedience to God’s calling. To be reminded of those days when I was struggling with my initial sense of calling is always humbling and I recalled those words again as I travelled down to Salisbury on Friday morning. It seemed easy to be obedient as I drove through the glistening trees and leaves through Savernake Forest. There was no thought of rebellion as I turned the corners through the historic streets of Salisbury and saw that wonderful sight of the Cathedral. There was no difficulty in being obedient as I was welcomed by staff and students, found my way to my room that overlooked a beautiful house next door and sat down to a wonderful cooked meal surrounded by friends and fellowship. It seemed easy to be obedient.

It was different the next day as we travelled by coach to the city of Bristol to visit the church of St. Agnes in the heart of St. Paul’s. This was an interesting trip for me in many ways. I was a student doing teacher training in Bristol many, many years ago. Some of this was my old stamping ground, as the expression goes. That time felt like a lifetime away. It was hard to remember obedience as we saw and heard evidence of open drug dealing, prostitution and street violence. Bristol has the cheapest heroin and cocaine in the country and St Paul’s is the centre of open dealing. It was difficult to be obedient as we became increasingly aware of Bristol’s heritage of the slave trade and it’s repercussions today. This was a church in a community that carries many burdens – of violence, drugs and high unemployment. This was a church in a community that has suffered at the hands of media stereotyping – after all, what do you think of as soon as St. Paul’s is mentioned? The riots, I expect. This was a church with an average congregation of 100 people, 75% of which are of Afro-Caribbean origin and with approximately 15-20 children under 10 years.

This visit was part of a weekend that was looking at the urban church and community. We were aiming to develop an understanding of the ministry of the people of God in urban areas. We were also investigating some of the key challenges facing urban communities and their churches. With such aims in mind we spent a very busy day walking around the area, speaking to the minister and members of the congregation, listening to the City Centre Chaplain for Broadmead shopping centre, visiting Bristol Methodist Centre for the homeless and studying the Bristol and Transatlantic Slavery Exhibition at the museum. Not all at the same time, I hasten to add! There were other opportunities to learn about other projects but it was impossible to do them all – we chose what we wanted to do and then talked together about our experiences.

I was challenged by the image of this community bearing the burdens of drugs, prostitution and violence; yet I had a picture of people holding each other up and sharing these burdens. And the church opened its doors and welcomed all. I was challenged by the homeless and socially excluded, as I sat in a tiny room with tatty copies of Bibles and a prayer book in a narrow terraced building where a man is building a Christian community of welcome and safety. Yet that place was church. I was challenged again and again to be obedient to God’s call – yet this call was not just for me as an ordinand. It was for all of us, you and me ‘For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in – whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ (Matthew 25:35-40)

Please remember St Agnes church and the minister David Self in your prayers. This church and community is just one example of the life of cities. Just because we live in Faringdon, a small market town, we should not fail to inform ourselves of how others live and work, and to pray for them.

Aged less than her retiring husband!

I was supposed to have what the college calls a ‘breather’ after my last assignment in January but somehow I also had to fit in a 1500 word Vocational Development Profile and a 1500 word Personal Development Profile before my other module began in mid February. These profiles are assessed at the college and are added to our overall mark. These Profiles are to show our understanding of our personal progress and development since the start of the course and were also to draw on our extensive spiritual reading and personal journals. Well, I was on a loser straight away – my spiritual reading is fairly sporadic, as is my journal writing!

My tutor, Graham, and my training minister, Martin,  have also had to write a report on me and this report, combined with my comments and reports from the staff at college will be sent to the URC and is an important document with regard to my future ordination. Hopefully Martin will have done it by the time you read this! My tutor has written that I “absorb each new topic — though not uncritically. She seems to lead by example – she will need to build on the ability to handle the conflicting demands on her and her time.” Well, this all sounds very true and I’m impressed at his understanding after only six months or so of working with me. My tutorials are every week for one and a half hours though Graham and I frequently run over time. I still occasionally feel that it is difficult with only me in the group because at times it is more useful to help you sort out your own standpoint by having someone arguing against you. So, please do not hesitate to argue with me… it should help me to formulate my ideas (I hope my children are not reading this article!)

Now that I have entered the second phase of my three year course, things have really shifted up a gear — both academically and practically. Expectations are higher in all areas of the course and I am actually finding it really quite hard going at the moment. At my last residential weekend we looked at Questions of Truth from a philosophical and scientific point of view. The mental gymnastics required to take on board some of the concepts left us all exhausted by the end of the Friday and Saturday evenings. Then it was the turn of my &Co group to be on duty in the college and run the bar, so I could not even escape to bed very early! I should receive details of Easter School very soon, when I shall be at college from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday and I am really looking forward to that. Last year’s experience was wonderful and now I shall be one of the ‘grown-up’ second years!

The module I am studying at the moment is looking at questions of truth, meaning and integrity in Christian theology. We have looked at historical issues in theological talk and the issue of authority in particular. People have sought to justify their thinking and speaking about God in different ways. What distinguishes them is often their different understanding of where authority lies. Is it traditional theology where the church itself and its tradition is seen as the source? Is it apophatic theology which arises from a deep perception of the mystery and transcendence of God? Rational theology believes that the truth about God can be discovered through the exercise of human reason.  Biblical theology is when the bible is treated as the only or definitive source of revelation about God. Or does authority lie in experiential theology which locates the origin and source of truth about God in human experience? These are not the only ways of distinguishing types of theology but you may find it interesting to think about where your thoughts of God lie. Do they fit into any of those categories above? Or maybe none? Or maybe a mixture?

I am also reading two books by Keith Ward who attempts to show that modern scientific knowledge does not undermine belief in God, but actually points to the existence of God as the best explanation of how things are the way they are. His writing is extremely detailed and well constructed but a crash course in quantum theory, the genomes of DNA and the finer points of Darwin’s natural selection would have been useful! My O level standard physics and chemistry and Higher biology are really being put to the test…. Oh, the joys of studying theology?  Anyone wish to join me?  Life gets a bit lonely out here in the cosmos at times!

Nearly middle aged – getting closer every edition!

Easter seems a long time ago now but from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday I spent a week at college. After assurances that my family would be OK without me (I wasn’t convinced! ) I set off for Salisbury to meet up with my fellow students in both the first and the third years. The theme was ‘Engaging with Scripture’ and the first three mornings were lectures from Revd Professor Frances Young, Professor of Theology at Birmingham University, and a Methodist minister as well! Her talks were excellent but very challenging academically. The workshops were very intense and by the end of each day we were all exhausted.

On Thursday we had a field trip and I chose to go to London to the National Gallery to look at paintings with a Christian theme – are you surprised I chose this one?! Different interpretations of biblical stories in art are as numerous as commentaries. A painting can offer particular insights as an illustration and also as a means of providing interpretation. We saw a great variety of paintings and I also visited the Titian exhibition that was on at the same time so I had a wonderful day.

As we passed through various rooms in the gallery on our way to specific paintings, I found my head spinning as out of the corner of my eye I spotted a room full of Canalettos…or Constables…or Gainsboroughs. It made me realise that we are so easily exposed to reproductions of paintings in books, on greetings cards, in the media that we forget the fact that here is a building full of the real thing… the genuine article. It causes us to perhaps take these wonderful gifts of creativity and genius for granted…oops, beginning to sound like sermon material!

On Good Friday and Saturday we experienced a variety of worship and services throughout the city and finally in the Cathedral at 5.30am on Easter Sunday. As last year I found these services thought-provoking and moving. Once again I realised what a Christian heritage and tradition we have amongst our denominations and yet I wonder if we always appreciate that and share these things appropriately for the glory of God. I travelled to my parents later that morning after champagne in the cloisters of the cathedral (actually not quite sure about the theological context of that particular tradition but I’m more than happy to share it!) to meet my family for a few days before we travelled on down to Torquay for Easter People.

However it was not all work at college…I’m sure you’ll be glad to hear! On Monday evening we watched a theatre group called Rhema Theatre Company and please get to see them if you ever have the chance. They were excellent, giving a wonderful message in a challenging and entertaining way. On Tuesday evening we had a choice of films to watch and I chose ‘Chocolat’ – another excellent choice! I had not seen it before and I was very moved by it and thoroughly entertained from a cinematic point of view. Those of my colleagues who had given up chocolate for Lent (can’t think why!) found it rather hard to sit through but had little sympathy from those of who had chosen to do something much more sensible – like not give up chocolate.

It was also during this week that I began to discuss the possibility of doing my four week placement overseas in the autumn. The URC are very generous with their grants for this purpose and at the moment there is discussion going on about a visit to the Gambia to a church there which is linked with Wessex Synod. I would be there to observe and reflect on what I experienced but I am particularly interested in looking at projects which help women with HIV AIDS or who are setting up work co-operatives or similar schemes to empower themselves. I find the whole prospect daunting but exciting and am looking forward to seeing where God wants to take me in this direction.

Watch this space! Such an undertaking will affect my family and I would ask for prayer in help to see where I am to go with this.

Back from Africa

I have been back from Zambia for several weeks now and at times I wonder whether I ever went away, especially since Frank seems to have forgotten where the Hoover and iron is kept…in a very short time! It has been difficult to settle back into family and community life, even though I was only away for approximately four weeks. I have felt very unsettled, not able to or wanting to make decisions, finding some of the minutiae of everyday life even more irritating than usual. Friends who have done this sort of thing themselves have been nodding sympathetically and telling me it’s to be expected and can be referred to as “re-entry stress”! Hmmm…

My previous article was an extract from a letter written to my family after my first few days. The following week I had the opportunity to visit Livingstone and the Victoria Falls. There was enough water even in that hot time of year (38 C) to appreciate this spectacular example of creation. The spray that hung over the falls as the water thundered into the gorge, bathed our faces with living water that was truly God’s own spray. As we travelled along the Zambezi aboard the ‘African Queen’ (!) to watch the sunset, the elephants came to the water to drink. A wonderful snapshot memory. I realised what an incredible opportunity and privilege I was experiencing and yet God shared so many more privileges with me.

The real privilege was sitting with people in their shacks in the townships and praying with them; holding the hands of the orphans as we walked through the crowded streets and joining with a crowd of hymn singing women as we visited homes of bereaved families. The real privilege was talking with dedicated volunteers at the YWCA who daily counsel women and young girls who live in fear of their husbands and male members of their families; who work alongside people stigmatised at work because they are HIV positive and who support children forced into domestic labour and encourage them and enable them to return to school.

The real privilege was listening to volunteer carers at the Chunga Home-based Care Trust who daily visit families coping and dying from HIV/AIDS in their homes; delivering a few cabbages and bags of maize donated by a women’s farming co-operative to over one hundred HIV/AIDS sufferers in a day centre. The real privilege was listening to the silence of the malnutrition ward of the hospital…not because it was empty but because half of its seventy occupied cots were babies and toddlers too weak to even cry their hunger and pain. For all of these privileges, I thank God.

Some images continually return to my mind at all times of the day. Some are good ones and some are desperate ones. Some are filled with joy and laughter, some are filled with sadness and tears. Yet I believe that I was there for a reason and I am coming to terms with accepting that I may not know that reason for a long time to come. In the meantime I do know that I still feel awed by the incredible sense of being upheld in prayer throughout my trip. I would like to thank those many friends who thought and prayed for me and my family during that time…I felt very protected and loved. May I ask that you continue in prayer for the people of Zambia as they struggle in many different ways to live their lives either infected or affected with HIV/AIDS?

Aged nearly finished (off!) Academic study

By the time you read this I will have completed my last residential weekend and sent off my final assignment! WOW…who would have thought it, just under three years ago? Since I started I will have now completed:

18 modules of study involving
16 tutor supported modules (1600 hours study)
2 reflective practice modules (300 hours study – including 4 weeks in Zambia) 18 residential weekends (306 hours)
3 residential schools (240 hours)
9 study days

I feel exhausted just trying to add all those up! However, for URC students there is more to come. From September I have a 4th year placement to do. From September to December/January I shall be working with the minister at a pastorate at Thatcham URC, near Newbury. My hours have not been finalised yet but I guess it will include regular Sunday worship, so I shall not be so obvious in the church in that time. At the moment we are planning that my family will continue to worship in Faringdon. From January/February to May, I am hoping to be working at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon with the hospital chaplaincy team. During this placement time I shall continue to be supervised by the Wessex URC director of training and by a member of staff at college. I shall still have reading and presumably some form of written work to be submitted.

My presentation ceremony will be in Salisbury at the beginning of October when I shall formally receive my academic award. I must admit to being tempted to continue a third level of study which would involve another 18 months of study and would result in an Honours degree. Still I guess one of my learning curves has been to wait and see what the Lord has planned! Depending on what I do or where I go after my ordination  may help me to make that decision.

Throughout the course, the modules have moved in a repeating spiral through a balanced attention to Scripture, Theology and the Church in Mission. The programme has been designed to be integrated, combining theological, missiological, contextual, and ecumenical dimensions. I think after three years of study I just about understand what these words mean, but I’d rather you did not put me to the test!

My final module has been ‘Following God: The Ethical Character of Christian Life’. It has been a very hard module, looking at the ethical significance of Christian discipleship at an everyday level. As usual a lot more questions than answers, especially at this time in our country’s political and social situations. My assignment has involved considering whether the primary calling of the church is to be a faithful community or an effective presence in the world. I found that I could not really decide either/or… rather that in order to be an effective presence we must also be a faithful community. What do you think? Answers or thoughts would be appreciated!!

I have thoroughly enjoyed my course so far. I have been challenged academically, spiritually and emotionally by the content of the study. I have loved the residential weekends and weeks away and I am not sure what that says about being away from my family! (still we have survived all that and I am wondering whether I could start regularly booking weekends away in the future, since we are into the habit of it. Seems like a good plan to me!) To study, fellowship, worship and shop in the shadow of Salisbury Cathedral has been a regular highlight for me and I shall miss those times dreadfully. The sense of having journeyed with my fellow students and tutors is very strong. We have all loved, laughed and cried together on each and every occasion together. My time and relationships with my &Co group has been much valued and treasured. We were allocated together as a group of six at the beginning of the course and have shared many things, including leadership of worship at weekends, learning tasks and many occasions of mutual support, love and prayer.

Without doubt it has been the love and support of family and friends that has seen me through some rocky times on this course. My family have put up with me being away, eating some rather uninspired meals at times, managing in a dustier and untidier house than I would normally choose to live in (actually, it’s not all my mess!), and coping with a stressed wife and mother trying to meet assignment deadlines. Friends in all the churches have supported me, shown an interest in my studying and helped enormously to make me feel a worthwhile and valued member of our community. But it is my church family in the United Church who have been with me all through this time of study. You have supported, encouraged, listened and generally put up with me as I have travelled this journey.

This journey is not over yet…just this particular pathway has come to an end. Another one is before me and before all of us. I thank God for all of it and for being there with me in all the study, fellowship, laughter, hugs and tears. May God bless us all.

Amen

Clare Callanan

© Clare Callanan