Monday 20 December 2010

HapHappity Birthday: Honk Honk Beep Beep*

Beat upon the timbrels, toot your kazoos, for today is a significant day for The Vernacular Curate. Let joy be unconfined, bring forth your effervescent gaity, for today is the Birthday of This Blog. Yes, my dear wearied Reader, you have tolerated this gubbins for a whole year.

This is where it all began, without imagery, and frankly - with a really dreary title. Still, it is best to set the standard high for such odd ventures as this.

I am not going to launch forth with reader numbers - I did that a while ago, and also because the support I have recieved for this little expression of my inner mentalist has far exceeded anything that I dared hope or pray for. This pile of slugpellets has been read in over 600 cities around the world and I have begun to discover that some of my own thoughts have been quoted elsewhere. I am bowled away by that, more especially because I have tried to be myself and with that be fairly raw.

I have learned a considerable amount about a lot of things while doing this. I know I look at the world differently - not in the sense that I seek material, but more that I reflect about the world around me more. I question things to a greater level, and I question myself in a similar way. The questions still exist about this being a meaningful medium for a priest (or anyone else for that matter) to communicate - but until they are clarified, I will persist (or until I get a 'nil' day of readers). I still don't really know if this is helpful of grossly narcissistic, and I still write this as a man who really rather dislikes talking about himself. Perhaps the humour is the disguise. This thing has bought me into contact with some stunning people whose presence is a great joy to me.

Anyway, the bottom line is that this is still enjoyable. Were it not, I'd be long gone because life is too short and I am no Prophet whose message must be heard. A lot of you read this, not sporadically, but very regularly and again, I thank you for walking this little journey with me. What you have learned about me I have learned about myself at the same pace. I find your support incredibly humbling - something that I think priests need at times (even to the extent of knowing that our spelling is apalling).

So, the next year: I will carry this on, and all the while thinking about the transition from curacy to (I hope, at the moment) an incumbency. My children will start school, we may move house, town and maybe even end of the country. So many changes ahead - and then this thing. Will I blog after curacy? That question remains unanswered, partly because I recognise the secure womb of protection that being a curate enjoys. Would I be able to blog this way as an incumbent? I am not sure. I hope so, but the jury will remain out for some months yet. So many questions, so few answers - so much to hope for. 

Thank you, all of you. May God (or whatever Guiding Light calls you on) bless you and those you love.



*title courtesy of Ren & Stimpy - my ffffffffffffffffavourite

7 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your blogging anniversary. I am still a relatively new reader and enjoy your thought-provoking posts. Since I retired I have more freedom to blog about anything and everything, but when I was a Parish Minister there was always the thought of what my readers might think. I hope you keep up the standards when you move into an incumbency.

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  2. Thank you Freda - your comment has caused me to correct something, and that was to add your blog to my roll. I read it from your comments, so have amended my ways lol!

    Thanks for stopping by!

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  3. Happy birthday blogmeister. may your well of inspiration never run dry - even if it's only to stop me spending my life in the library!

    Fan, critic (not to mention Padwan)

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  4. Congratulations on your blog's birthday! It's a good time to take stock, I expect (my blog's birthday isn't for another month or so but I have in my mind that the event will engender stock-taking). Parish life will always give you things to think and write about, wherever you are. You'll find ways to continue the process, I'm sure, even if you feel the need to change names to protect the innocent!

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  5. Happy Blog Birthday - well done. Judyx

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  6. Happy blog birthday.

    Blogging time in incumbency will depend a bit on what type of parish you go to, how much help (pastoral and administrative) you have available, whether you can persuade others that blogging really IS part of your overall ministry etc. It will certainly get a bit more erratic as the work ebbs and flows. You will also find you can generally "get away with" more in a curacy. The incumbent position comes with a whole lot of expectations, you are expected to know more and you are more directly in the firing line (not that I am trying to put you off or anything). All the best with your search for your next post.

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