Tea with the Queen

No, I didn’t have tea with the Queen; Her Majesty has more important things to do than sip Assam with me. However there is the odd remarkable thing to report about my incarceration at Windsor Castle for 11 days.

Firstly, do you realise how amazing Malmesbury Abbey is? Hand on heart, if I had to choose between St George’s Chapel, Windsor or our 12^th century beauty at the heart of North Wiltshire there is simply no contest. I’m excited to be back in the richness of our worshipping and community life, what a blessing.

Secondly, I did see the most extraordinary kitchen table at Windsor Castle. In the Deanery study (the deanery is where the Dean lives) is the very old kitchen table which was which used to lay the body of King Charles I on while they sewed his head back on after his execution. He was then, rather oddly, interred in the vault of King Henry VIII – unlikely companions really.

Thirdly, I observed that it must be pretty hard to build a congregation if you have two or three police armed with machine guns at the gate and an admission price of over £15 just to get on the site.

But one real benefit was disconnection. I resisted the temptation to make phone calls and e-mails and took the opportunity to step back from parish ministry. Psalm 127 says this:

Unless the Lord builds the house,
    the builders labour in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
    the guards stand watch in vain.
In vain you rise early
    and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat –
    for he grants sleep to those he loves.

We build our houses and we guard our cities (sometimes with very large walls) but unless we have a divine partner it’s all vanity. So this summer we step back, rest and sleep in the shade and ask of the Lord, what next?