I had a tin drum as a toddler It gave me real delight. It gave my parents …exasperation. It disappeared. In better hands a tin drum inspired a modern German classic.
Other people have suffered exasperation We find it in the New Testament. Paul had an exasperating experience. It went on. Day after day a slave- girl followed Paul and did her best to draw people’s attention to this team with their new religion. She told fortunes and made a lot of money for her owners by it.
Paul was exasperated. He commanded the spirit of divination to leave the girl and it did. That upset donors, investors and owners. It caused a sensation. It also caused a beating for Paul and Silas. This led to an incident of political know-how. Paul, a Roman citizen, knew his rights and insisted on them. He received an apology and left the town shortly afterwards.
Several centuries later a reforming leader of the Church in Florence, Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498) made an unforgettable appearance in the city. He might well be called a Catholic Puritan. Exasperation came his way. He set his face against extravagance in dress, diet and furnishings. There were two bonfires of the vanities and a good deal of similarity between Savonarola’s Catholicism and the Protestant movement. Florence and Geneva both found puritanism hard to take. It ended with the excommunication of Savonarola and later his being hanged and burned. One unpredictable outcome of the incident was the title of a 20th century best-seller.
We sometimes forget that Paul, Silas, Barnabas and the rest were human beings. The same is true of those after them who had positions of responsibility in the Church. Elation and exasperation came their way as it does ours. Whether there was ever any literal nail-biting we cannot say but emotional upsets were not uncommon.
STAFFING CHANGES
If you want to know what’s going on in the world around you, read the advertisement columns. In last week’s issue of the Church Times you’ll find eight parishes looking for directors of music—at £12,000 for a part-time appointment, maybe. There continue to be vacancies in parish churches for operations managers, children’s workers and a two days a week finance officer. Recovering from the pandemic, which may have accelerated recent trends, some parish churches find themselves in a position where they are moving from a Jack-of-all-trades staffing formula with a vicar to a team formula with a variety of specialists heading named departments.
If we ask what kind of vicar is needed in this new-style church, we might look at Howell Hill church in Surrey. A flourishing church, it lists a candidate’s desirable characteristics including the capability to lead sand empower a large team of staff and volunteers.
St Luke’s, Holbeck, Leeds is extending its church to provide more space, a kitchen, an IT suite and office-space. Leading a strong ministry team is the Vicar, Alistair Kaye.
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