Now I don't say that about most services. In fact pretty much the opposite. For me they are often as dull as ditch water, although I'm never sure how dull ditch water is.
But back to the service. We ensured we were back from holiday in good time and drove down to the church in what we thought would also be good time. It's a mile from where we live. Hethersett for those of you who don't know the area is quite a vast strung out village. We often walk to the church but on Wednesday just didn't have the time to do that. We live in what I now call the semi old bit of the village. It's not the original village but it was built well over half a century ago. Now vast new building projects are taking place in what is the same village but which is well over a mile away from where we live.
But I digress. One of the things I have against church services is their lack of spontaneity and here I'm rather baring my soul as I don't think I've ever written on this subject.
All too often words spoken are from a set text and for me that means they have little or no meaning. I know this isn't a view shared by others but it's how I feel. Time after time I find myself looking through the printed order of service to work out how long it's going to be before the service ends. And there's always the dreaded word "sermon".
Now I'm not going to say what I think of many sermons but the phrase I used earlier sums up my feelings about many which just drone on and on and say very little and you just want them to end. I know I might alienate and upset some with these comments but they are a genuine expression about how I feel. All too often I view churches from an historic rather than a religious point of view.
But none of this applied to Wednesday's service which I found relevant and moving. It was primarily a nuts and bolts service to welcome the new rector The Rev Lynn Chapman. Lynn is only the second female Rector after the Rev Di Lammas. Break off here for a couple of pantomime memories. One year Di Lammas appeared as the Vicar of Dibley, having a remarkable resemblance to Dawn French. The musical director and local GP Tony Press appeared as Pavarotti, having a remarkable resemblance to that opera singer.
Strange things statistics. They can say whatever you want them to say. Lynn Chapman is only the second lady Rector in the church's 900 plus years but you could also say that 66% of rectors over the past 20 years have been female. Two out of three ain't bad as Meatloaf once sang.
I had a good working relationship with Di Lammas and then her successor Derek McClean. Di talked candidly with me about her depression and I believe we turned that into an article for the local newspaper or maybe it was my website.
Derek featured in the first ever edition of my Hethersett Herald. I'm now working on edition 103, how time flies. I shared a love of music and literature with Derek and we often chatted about those.
I have already done some work with Lynn and I'm sure she has some good ideas about the content of the church based Good News magazine which I edit.
But back to the service itself. Much of the wording was printed out but for once it felt like an aid for the congregation rather than what I have implied before. It was the genuinely warm and spontaneous comments from the Bishop of Thetford who just happens to be Bishop Bishop, his name being Ian Bishop. I used to work with a police officer whose name was Major Tinder. He was a sergeant and that made him Sergeant Major Tinder which was always confusing as there isn't a sergeant major rank in the police.
Bishop Bishop who I'm sure is known as Bishop Ian just as the Bishop of Norwich is known as Bishop Graham, talked about poverty and homelessness and brought everything down to a social conscience level. His sermon verged on political comment and I have always advocated leading churchmen playing a vital role in commenting on the ills of our society. Bishop Ian has obviously worked amongst the poor and homeless and underlined this with comments about a homeless woman he had shared lunch with recently in Great Yarmouth.
I got the idea that Bishop Ian was a very compassionate man who on Wednesday evening managed to touch our hearts. This was underlined by a sub story to the evening.
Bishop Ian realised before the service that he went to the same school over 40 years ago as Hethersett's Methodist Minister the Rev Steve Cullis. They also attended the same youth organisation. This was in Devizes in Devon. So before the evening they met for the first time in decades.
Steve Cullis sent a photo of them together and I will feature this in the future. For now I have one of the Bishop with the new rector.
There were so many people at the end of the service milling around and enjoying the excellent wine, tea, coffee and nibbles provided by Ivan Fisher, the local funeral director, that it was difficult to grab a photo but I did manage one which for some reason came out in the words of a Coldplay song "Yellow." I have toned it down to the best of my ability and it's just about passable.
As I visit churches around the country I always look at what promotional literature they have available. Most usually have quite a lot. St Lawrence Church in Bridgwater had many books on the history of the town by Clive Gwilt. We don't seem to have a lot of similar literature in Hethersett. There is "The Book of Hethersett" which was produced many years ago and for which I wrote a chapter on education in the village. The old Hethersett Society produced a number of leaflets years ago but I think I'm right in saying very little has been produced in recent times
As Supertramp once sang It's raining again. Woke up yesterday morning to the rain hammering down yet again and wiping out any chance of playing tennis. Somebody needs to have a sharp word with the rain gods and tell them that it's time to have a holiday.
Hoping to play this afternoon instead.
I have written a bit recently about vandalism in the village but it seems to have taken a more sinister turn. Kids wearing balaclavas have been threatening other youngsters and possibly some adults. This is something that needs to be nipped in the bud before something serious happens.