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Creating Space is my Birthday Wish |
Do you have days which are rather chaotic? As a priest I do
not like to over fill my diary in case there is an urgent
call. But this Wednesday
was chaotic.
Wednesday is usually Parish Office work in the morning,
Rotary Club for lunch, an afternoon visit or two, and then
preparing the church for Market Day on a Thursday when we
usually welcome over 200 people for refreshments. My task is
helping put our stalls, buy the milk and help with the
making of soup. From an early age I have adored cooking and
so making gallons of homemade soup is not a problem.
However this Wednesday I had an urgent call from the wife of
a man who was dying, visited a smashing young couple with a
new born baby who are preparing for his baptism this Sunday,
prepared a couple for a wedding, and I completed the evening
by investing two Air Training Corps Cadets as I am their
padre. Added to this were various callers at the Rectory and
I still had to make soup etc.
I realized at the end of the day that I had really no break
at all. I did not even get to Rotary lunch. I actually felt
quite ill at the end of the day.
Generally I would avoid making any comments on my work load
because as a young priest I was told off by an elderly
churchwarden who had been a General in the First World War
- he did not want to hear any complaints about my work load
because at my age he was in the trenches and did not eat or
sleep days. So I have always kept quiet.
But there is no doubt that there are problems in the Church
of England and especially with clergy burnt out. Having been
ordained for 39 years in June I have seen so many clergy
burning themselves out, retiring early or simply dying. Last
month I lost a great college friend of mine who was a vicar
in Truro. He had suffered for some time with cancer and my
prayers are that he is now at peace.
Clergy are not alone in this burnt out. Talk to any
executive and life is very tough out there. In many ways the
clergy through their pay and pension structure are immune to
these problems. But they have other problems.
My belief is that the clergy are trained to be pastors but
that the church expects them to be administrators. With
computers going into overdrive, emails coming in large
numbers, and the mobile telephone driving you mad, few
clergy can ever relax.
My late great uncle was a Vicar. He spent the morning saying
Morning Prayer, walked his garden and dead headed the roses
and spoke to his gardener. Had a light lunch followed a
sleep and then visited someone in the parish, he came back
for Evening Prayer and supper, listened to the ‘Archers’ on
the radio, did the Telegraph crossword, had a glass of
whiskey and then went to bed. He lived on to the age of 92
taking services until he was 90.
Will I make that age? Probably not. Clergy are supposed to
be the longest living people of any profession. From my
vantage point I can see clergy taking early retirement
through illness, and an increasing number of clergy with
serious illnesses. At a recent clergy Chapter meeting (a
Chapter is a group of clergy), I looked about me and out
of 9 clergy, 4 were seriously ill, and 2 had had bouts of
depression, 2 had not turned up and rarely comes to these
meetings.
What can you do about it? I believe that we need to create
space. Ignore the post, ignore the computer, ignore the
doorbell and at times ignore the Rural Dean’s and Bishop’s
Offices. Traditionally clergy had large gardens or a small
holding – we miss having time just to be and potter about.
Surely we were not created just to rush about.
Adrian Bell
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