Second Sunday of Epiphany - Hearing the Call

This morning didn't get off to the best of starts. We woke to find light snow had fallen and then frozen. For Church Bank and its 1 in 5 approach downhill to St. Cuthbert's this is problematic. Fortunately things were not as bad as a couple of weeks ago when three cars had to be towed away after a driver lost control on the bank. And after our 8a.m. start, we dared to think that there might be a thaw by the time of the 10a.m. Eucharist.

But there wasn't! In fact by then conditions had become still more treacherous underfoot. So while sturdier members of the congregation waited by the gate to offer an arm to those less confident on their feet, my own priestly preparation involved carting shovel-loads of salt up and down the road. Thankfully everyone got into church safely (though at least one person went down between his own front door and his car). And even after we got off to a late start, people kept coming in - rather a larger congregation than anticipated!

A problem the congregation has at the moment is where to park. The good news is that our Hall's Car Park, across the road from the church, is in the final stages of preparation for the laying of the new tarmac surface - hopefully on Wednesday. There's much anticipation - most of the kerbs seem to be in place and the mud of the picture is now covered in a thick layer of yellow "hard core."

Actually everyone seemed to be in good spirits this morning. Baptism and marriage bookings are off to a good start considering it's only January. And I've just found that a member of the congregation has posted a re-telling of one of the jokes from this morning's homily on Facebook. It wasn't original, so I can't complain. And if you want, you can read it here.