I'm back!

Forgive me for very much sounding my age but, where has the time gone?! One minute I was hot footing it to Florence for Easter celebrations and the next I am in my garden basking in a gorgeous English summer. It seems like the last few months have been swallowed up into some time bending parallel universe of books and essays and trying to write an awful lot of words in a very short space of time.

But now exam season is over and a whole new season is beginning. This week, perhaps at this very moment, the powers that be are meeting to decide my fate with regards to my first Vicar-ing job which I will start in a years time (assuming they don't kick me out before then!!). They are actually quite a good bunch and I'm pretty sure they have the measure of me so I'm confident if they offer me a job in this area then it will be one that fits. But at the same time we are still looking out into the big wide world beyond Oxfordshire and wondering if that is where we are heading.

In the short term that is definitely where I'm going as in just nine days I'll be arriving in Barcelona to spend three weeks at the Anglican church there and, like all good self respecting students, spending ten days after travelling around Catalunia. I can't wait to see church in action is such a different context to my own and in a place where so many nationalities and traditions are represented. It seems deeply right that church should be a place where you have to get over yourself and get along with those who are on a different page from you and even better where it is a necessary part of being a diverse bunch. How interesting is that for starters? And what a great lesson for making community work in each and every setting.

As I've been sending last minute emails to my hosts I feel a bit like one of the apostles of biblical times (ok, except for the email bit....!) eagerly anticipating to meet the 'saints in Barcelona'! Ready to spread my wings, get a bit lost and learn something brand new. So who knows what is in store over the next few months. I know I'm going to be giving A LOT of sermons. I know I'm going to meet some great people. I know I'm going to get an insight into areas of church life that I've only ever imagined before. I know I'm going to turn the big three zero! And I know I'm going to be taking you along for the ride. Ahhh it feels good to be back!