tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6861480576960760833.post1178282033008194524..comments2024-03-25T07:25:25.746+00:00Comments on Woolgathering in North East England: Michael Sadgrove's Blog: Called to the Priesthood, Called to be LayAquiloniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15098649175728796819noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6861480576960760833.post-73441904315331703092019-09-21T15:54:15.977+01:002019-09-21T15:54:15.977+01:00Dear Michael
I have recently been reading your blo...Dear Michael<br />I have recently been reading your blog about calling to priesthood, and calling to be lay. I found it very moving, and this must have been a difficult decision for you. Having said that, I was not surprised. From soon after your retirement you were writing about the joy of sitting in a pew with your wife, and taking forward the elements with her. I wondered if this might be a conclusion that you would come to at some point. <br /> <br />You have written (here and elsewhere) about the process of ministerial formation. I am sure that you have considered, though, that this process is not just about the formation of a priest, it is also about the formation of you as an individual. That formation has made you the person you now are, and will continue to be. <br /> <br />For those of us exercising a lay ministry as Local Preachers in the Methodist church the choices are easier. We can simply say that we now feel unable to offer regular dates for the plan, but we retain our status, and can take occasional services when and if we feel able. I think Bishop Christine was wise in suggesting a similar approach for you, at least at the moment. It’s not just about being available to fill in should local illness arise but also about who you are. <br /> <br />I would like to repeat my plea from just before we both retired – please keep on blogging. Your wisdom, depth of scholarship, and understanding are widely appreciated. I recommend “Woolgathering” to my trainee local preachers and worship leaders. I know that they, like me, find them very valuable. There is so much rubbish on the Web that it’s great to point them to something which is readable, yet profound and challenging. <br /> <br />However the way ahead stretches out for you, I am sure that you will continue to guide those, both lay and ordained, who seek to work out their discipleship in the confusing and troubling situation our country finds itself in. Of course, I can (and do) testify to the importance and value of lay ministry. For me too it’s an integral part of my identity.<br /> <br />I hope this doesn’t all sound too presumptuous, but I have so appreciated your ministry here in Durham and later through your blogs, that I wanted to write to tell you so. <br />Wishing you every blessing as you continue to seek the appropriate way ahead.<br /><br /><br />Frances Proudnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6861480576960760833.post-17360166478527578462019-09-20T10:06:39.442+01:002019-09-20T10:06:39.442+01:00Thank you Michael. It's really helpful to know...Thank you Michael. It's really helpful to know that someone else is wrestling with these issues, and to hear how their explorations are going. <br /><br />I too have wondered about letting go of Permission to Officiate. It has been really good to have been able to go on ministering as a priest since leaving full time parish ministry. But like you I have been sensing a call to something else, if that is the right way to put it, although it really is like being in a 'cloud of unknowing'. Nothing is clear, although unreliable energy levels make something clear! So it's not just about what to do, but also about coming to terms with declining health and death. It affects everything, including where to live, and what to do with the time and health that are still available. Do I carry on with the work (outside the formal structures of the church) that I’ve been engaged in for many years now? Do I stop altogether? Am I still a priest? And if so, what does that mean? Always I come up against the fact that my time left is very limited; where once it stretched into the future, the terminus is now being 'announced' and I have to begin to get ready to get off. <br /><br />I have just read a book about all this: Travels with Epicurus: Meditations from a Greek Island on the Pleasures of Old Age by Daniel Klein. 'Our society worships at the fountain of youth...But in the process, are we missing out on a distinct and extraordinarily valuable stage of life?'. <br /><br />I could go on, but that's enough for now. Thank you Michael for sharing of yourself and your explorations so generously and helpfully.Paul Arnesenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02951858926984626545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6861480576960760833.post-67590967920714924532019-09-19T21:08:12.122+01:002019-09-19T21:08:12.122+01:00Michael, thank you for this post.
We each have ...Michael, thank you for this post. <br /><br />We each have our own path to which we're called. I had to retire from legal practice early because of post-polio issues. But early retirement provided time for serving on church and school related boards. Ultimately that had to come to the end. However, a surprise happened when I told my parish rector/cathedral dean that I needed to step down as chair of the finance committee. She asked if I would be willing to take a monthly service at an extended care hospital: distribution of the reserved sacrament/Holy Communion by extension. Our diocese does not formally have licensed lay ministers but an irony is that I have an LL.M. of the legal variety. The dean's decision is not as bizarre as it may sound. I went through ACPO/ACCM 44 years ago and in my fifty's completed half the course work (and the three hour exams) for the University of London's B.D. by extension. So here I am this week, the same age as you, preparing a short homily for this coming Sunday. Retirement led to my being called to do something completely different from my earlier life.<br /><br />I noted in your post that you contemplate having time for further productive writing. I look forward to seeing what results and hope that you will post in this blog news of any publications.Brucehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05450153258494895306noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6861480576960760833.post-75639504683328006952019-09-18T16:24:03.049+01:002019-09-18T16:24:03.049+01:00I am discerning a call your blog makes interestin...I am discerning a call your blog makes interesting readingCoopermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10535907045899040501noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6861480576960760833.post-78327632176260309872019-09-17T06:19:08.203+01:002019-09-17T06:19:08.203+01:00The call to any form of ministry is protracted and...The call to any form of ministry is protracted and full of contradictions. I spent 43 years in the Army, which was my first vocation and in the last two years looked to the future, what would it hold? But God in his way, came back into focus in my life, a focus which I had ignored since I left the Catholic Church in the eighties. Suddenly, the call, ignored for years, became insistent and demanding. Having shared this with my parish priest, we shared together a period of study and growth (I was a newly minted Anglican) before he put my forward to the DDO. Eventually after 3 years in discernment I got to BAP only to be given a Not Recommended for Training. I experienced a form of grief, but also realised that perhaps my discernment of the call might be flawed (or that of the Church) but the call remained, a little blunted and bent, but still clear and insistent.<br /><br />Sadly, there was no way back. The Bishop accepted the BAP decision and I was cast adrift, to fend for myself. I seriously considered not bothering, but that small voice was still prodding. Eventually, after 18 months, I moved diocese and parish to be nearer home. My previous parish and diocese was the one I had served in with the Army. Now retired closer to home seemed to be an obvious solution. After a few months of discussions and discernment, particularly with my SD, I found myself approaching a local parish that I attended casually to be my new home. Welcomed by the parish priest, who understood my disappointment at the ordination decision but offered a different pathway - Reader or LLM ministry. I was unsure as I recall my DDO at the time after BAP telling me not to rush into Reader ministry because I would always feel second best and would resent the incumbent in their role. But somehow the profile offered and the training provided appealed and I believe that I had and have identified how the original discernment should have gone. In the rush to the Altar, I had ignored the fact, that God's purposes are not always clear to us, they are shrouded in guesswork, exploration and assessment, none of which had helped me so far. Now, suddenly the mist cleared and the rest is history.<br /><br />Now after two years of licensed ministry, I have to surrender my licence at 70, but thankfully the journey can continue with PTO, remaining in my parish, but exploring a call towards some form of lay chaplaincy. <br /><br />One life work comes to an end, and another starts. It has taken 12 years to reach this point, so God, obviously wasn't in the hurry that I was at the start of the process.<br /><br />And I regard that whole life in the Army, where I had many pastoral responsibilities as transferable directly into ministry, but with some underpinning of theology and scripture to assist me. And of course, some excellent colleagues and friends and family.<br /><br />I don't believe that I am the finished product, there may be more to come, but I can wait more patiently in hope and expectation for whatever is revealed.UKViewerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18114944341930758335noreply@blogger.com