Inclusive CofE priest, Precentor at Southwark Cathedral. Always learning. Love family, books, music, cats, dogs. & God. Obvs! All views my own. She/her. Bsky 2
🧵This is Richard. He lives in
@Southwarkcathed
churchyard & enjoys rich pickings from Borough Market. He also enjoys chewing leather so when the Dean left his glasses in their case on the churchyard wall as we listened to our architect dreaming dreams, R. Foxe seized the day...
My beautiful best beloved Bramble cat died very suddenly, in mid purr on my lap this evening.
I am shocked, sad, bereft.
He was such a very special friend & got me through the past 12 months.
I loved him so much.
Oh, our beloved
@Digitalnun
has gone home to God. She has been such a blessing to so many.
Thank you, Lord for her life.
Let light perpetual shine upon her.
Please, praying friends, join me in prayer for a young mum fighting for her life after catastrophic placental bleeding after the caesarian delivery of her son. He & her daughters need their mummy
OK God. You win! Sitting in the empty nave when father & son come in & start taking lots of photos. Think ruefully that it's impossible to police "open for prayer, not tourism" when dad says "Could you pray for me. I see you every day at online Communion" & tells his God story 😀
Of your charity please pray for the repose of the soul of Ian Keatley, our gifted Director of Music, who died suddenly while on holiday yesterday, for all who love him and for we
@Southwarkcathed
who will miss him dearly.
I am privileged to have worked with him for a year
Because you are all so very kind, I feel I need to tell you the test was positive, as predicted
I don't feel too awful, and a conversation with a wonderful friend who is a senior nurse AND a priest has talked me down from undue catastrophising.
But your prayers are much valued
That was an Ash Wednesday like no other. Tonight several hundred of our Ukrainian friends joined us for the Eucharist
@CovCathedral
, coming to be ashed &, in many cases, taking Communion too...then we kept Vigil together & prayed & wept & sang & lit SO many candles. Holy ground
"Oh death, where is your sting? Oh grave, where is your victory?" Thank you Lady Scotland.
I've never heard that read so beautifully, with a weight of pity for those who thought they had the last word, til the Resurrection showed them otherwise for all time.
#queensfuneral
Morning update: T stable but critical, may need kidney dialysis. Husband B very conscious of being held in love & prayer. Baby C doing well in SCBU.
Please do continue in prayer if you would I'm so grateful for all the support for this little family in such great need. Bless you
Fab news from T's OH: she is now on a normal ward & pushing to be sent to the regular post-natal ward, while baby C is making great strides too.
At this rate she will be home before I'm out of quarantine!
So thankful to God, and to all of you for your prayers.
Twitter at its best
Extraordinary privilege to helphost a Service of Songs tonight
@Southwarkcathed
as part of a community's farewell to a much loved brother & bishop, +Karowei Dorgu. African praise, heartfelt tributes & so much resurrection hope.
@HodgeTheCat
settled on the bishop's hassock
Really hopeful update arrived last night. T conscious and talking. Suspect it will be a long road yet, so please don't stop praying, but we can add gratitude for so much to the mix now.
Death sucks.
Even though I absolutely believe in the Communion of Saints, the resurrection of the body & the life everlasting, I really miss my friend. Whenever I pick up my phone I know there's no point looking for another instalment of our every-day conversation.
It's so sad.
"With all God's people priests are to tell the story of God's love"
Thankful to be joined by new priests in this wonderful calling.
#ThisIsWhatAPriestLooksLike
It remains unclear whether Richard had simply planned to hold the glasses hostage or is in need of help in reading the small print on menus in Borough Market. Either way, he's becoming as much part of life outside
@Southwarkcathed
as
@HodgeTheCat
within. 🧵
Ends
Of your charity please pray for T & B as today we commit their tiny daughter E to God. She died in utero at just 20 weeks but is known & loved by God & so deeply mourned by her family.
Praying twitter, please join me in praying for T, a young mum whose life is at risk with a complicated pregnancy. This little family have had so many struggles, so much grief already. No more, please God.
Dear praying twitter, thank you. T is more stable & her baby is alive in utero, which is so much more than we had dated to hope yesterday. More, she can feel the support of so many prayers and we are having a wonderful conversation about God's love working through other people <3
@ByDonkeys
@sainsburys
Come on Sainsbury's. You surely have more ethics than this? Advertising with GBNnews funds Farage spreading hate. You need to stop, and ideally make a donation to
@RNLI
Or our relationship is over!
During the veneration of the Cross, a small boy, maybe 7, came forward, put his arms round the cross then leaned his cheek against it and I have no words to express how much this moved me.
He SO clearly wanted to support Jesus through a tough day.
#GoodFriday2024
Well that was all rather lovely.
Greatest blessing, T, for whom some of you have prayed, came to Communion with her whole family including tiny baby C.
That they are both alive & getting better is genuinely miraculous. So thankful & highly emotional to see, hug, hold.
Deo Gracias
RIP Tallis. 2004-2020
Apparently he had internal injuries. I'm glad he came home and had such a lovely fireside evening with his dear friend Libby the retriever.
Vet very kind. Canon rather a mess, now she lacks a Tallis
Giving thanks through tears that beloved W has gone gently home to God.
As Thomas More put it: "Pray for me as I do for thee, that we may merrily meet in heaven"
Praying twitter, may I ask your prayers for I., who is having serious surgery today. Diagnosed only 2 weeks ago, when feeling completely well, this whole journey is a shock for her & all who love her.
Flowers from the memorial service for wonderful Hilary Mantel will be there to make
@Southwarkcathed
even more beautiful for my historian sons wedding today. I love this serendipity.
I also love the flowers!
Long ago in end of curacy chat FabBishop asked what my dream job might be.
I said hesitantly I'd love to be somewhere R3 visited for Choral Evensong just once.
Today
@CovCathedral
we welcome Radolfus Summer School plus
@BBCRadio3
to do this.
I get to lead.
Scared/delighted 😍
T now back on ITU. She's really fighting to stay with her family I think. Had a pray with the bishop before Mass, which made a quiet enough space in my soul for the prayers to lodge, after alot of flailing earlier.
It's today!
A long LONG time since
@BishopSouthwark
phoned with happy news, this afternoon I will become Precentor somewhere I've admitted from afar for many years,
@Southwarkcathed
Please applaud, twitter. I managed to leave the office at 5.29, 5.30 being the cut off in my new, post lockdown, world where I don't try and work a 60 hour week.
And I even finished the task in hand before I stopped....
Praying people, R, a young man with alot of tragedy in his life just phoned me but would only say his name before hanging up. I feared the worst but he just texted to say he has had so many sleepless nights and has no friends to turn to. I'm feeling so sad and helpless
Tfw the hymn chosen weeks to open this morning is exactly the reminder you need in a painful week.
Look! Specially at verses 3 & 4.
So thankful that this remains TRUE regardless of the knots I to which the Church ties itself
Almost exactly 44 years ago, newly orphaned, very sheltered, very overwhelmed, I landed in Cambridge & went bravely off to my 1st supervision as an English undergrad. My supervisor was kinder than kind, which I badly needed.
D-Day! Diamond Day! Our beloved
@CovCathedral
is 60.
Would be lying if I said I wasn't anxious about the details of the service (my job!) but I'm trying so hard to pray that in everything God is glorified & God's beauty, truth & love made clear.
Do pray with me, if you would
Once upon a time Kathryn, aged 8, wept buckets that she couldn't go to choir school.
Now I am blessed, as Canon for Worship & Community (that's what you get when you add a Canon Precentor to a Canon Pastor), to work with an awesome cathedral choir and they are MINE.
Happy happy K
Heartbreaking burial, the rain and the tears flowing freeky. L was 51, fit & strong & so very much loved. Of your charity pray for all who mourn today .
@Dienekes_
So thankful for all these kind, compassionate, careful rule breakers who recognise that preserving life at the cost of losing humanity is no way to survive.
Human contact brings moments of light into dark desolate landscapes.
Thank you all for this loving rule-breaking
Long hot drive but a complete delight to be with
@MollyBoot1
&
@HannahBarraclo8
in glorious Gloucestershire on Molly's birthday...Right now the joy of friendship far outweighs the angst about tomorrow's preach
Launched as Precentor cantoring Evensong tonight. Not perfect, of course, but I avoided serious disaster and in this first week in a new setting I'll take that with gratitude.
Everyone continues to be impressively and consistently kind. Such a blessing!
Breaking news! I'm going to see ALL my children over an extended birthday ..in stages because of households etc but still. ALL of them. I am so stupidly excited I feel like a 10 year old...3 weeks to go...
I may be about to cry. Neighbour has just turned up and offered to cut the crazy jungle that, a month ago, was my lawn.
Dog poo and all.
I had been utterly defeated by how to deal with it and am overwhelmingly grateful.
"Say the black.
Do the red."
A perfect mug for the Precentor, and a kind gift from a server/guide/general lynchpin of life here. It feels good to have a mug of my own for work once more 😃
Add in a passing bishop, a retired Dean & an ordinand on placement (who hotfoots it to join in pursuit of R. Fox & the specs) & even by my standards the levels of farce is extraordinary. Donut (iced:raspberry)secured, we return outside, where peace & specs are already restored.
Twitter family near and far, may I present Bramble (behind, white face) & Sorrel, who are balm to my cat deprived soul. Their mum was sleeping rough in Wolverhampton...& my clever daughter
@parenthesised
found the tiny rescue charity who had retrieved them.
I'm utterly smitten 😻
Prayers welcome as the next 36 hours are very big in the life of
@SouthwarkCofE
@Southwarkcathed
as together we say goodbye to +Karowei & commit him to God's care, (& also big in the life of a very new Precentor who wants her efforts to help, not hinder, that journey )
A privilege and joy to be at lovely Kempley with
@MollyBoot1
as she stepped into the role for which she was born, as a priest at the altar. So happy that I have been part of the journey, so excited to see what God plans next.
I'm a very happy Canon indeed. Apparently the city hasn't forgotten the way to
@CovCathedral
after all. The place was full of light, hope and JOY. Could not be prouder of our choirs and musicians. Thank you all.
19 years ago I presided at the Eucharist for the 1st time, with a wonderful sermon on faith, doubt & the solidity of bread & wine from my TI Canon Michael Garland.
To preside remains my greatest joy & privilege & I'm so very thankful.
Oh the roller coaster of grief! I've just been able to sit at my kitchen table writing without interruption. This is ALL WRONG! There should be a Bramble cat sitting on the notebook or insisting on kissing my nose. I know I'll feel better again soon but right now I hate this
😭
Yet again I'm overwhelmed by online kindness from so many in response to my news. I'm very excited to be heading towards what is honestly my dream job
@Southwarkcathed
though I shall be very sad indeed to leave so many fab colleagues
@CovCathedral
. I have had such a happy time 😍
Tutu was a special friend of our Reconciliation team
@CovCathedral
, so my office building has many references to him & to his words.
A great man, for whose life we are so thankful
May he rest in peace & rise in glory.
I have cancelled/postponed A Thing which could have been a Good Thing, but which neither I nor anyone else had the energy or time to do well. The sense of relief is quite overwhelming.
Ignoring our cries of "No" & " Oy" he grabbed the case & loped off into a flower bed. Would he stay out or vanish into the mean streets of Borough? Architect & Precentor dash into vestry "Give us a donut. We need to bribe a fox to release the Dean's glasses"...
This morning I was a guest at Rugby Methodist Church for a beautiful, Spirit filled wedding which I could not have hosted in a C of E church, for all the love & faith of the couple. I'm both full of joy to have been with them, & sad for all the faithful Anglican couples waiting
Well that was quite something.
The Thames duly blessed, together with all those who work on "the said noble river"
My great grandfather was a Freeman of the River or similar, so it felt rather special to be part of it on a crisp winter day.
Just heard from Ts OH. T still sedated and dialysed but they're going to try and wean her off today ...
He describes it as a very dynamic situation, which I read as "terrifying" ...
Thank you all who prayed. Please keep them coming. Though one possibility has been excluded the situation remains scary and grim and finding headspace to pray is hard.
Love and thanks to all
An extra special Baptism
@CovCathedral
today. Baby C & his mum are a gift & miracle, & to baptise him with his sisters was a tremendous privilege & joy. What's more, I stood Godmum so can stay connected with this family no matter where we go.
Deo gracias!
@LibraryLydia
Oh for heaven's sake! Librarians wearing fun clothes bring joy.
Libraries bring joy.
They belong together.
Maybe you could pursue joy yourself, and thus remove the need to be snippy towards others.
Signed: a children's librarian's mum
En route from cathedral earlier I passed a slightly scary looking group of youths ...one of whom subverted my feeble expectations by calling "God bless you, miss" as he saw my collar.
So kind.
A lovely blessing
All you lovely prayerful people THANK YOU. On train home after a lovely happy day with my North London family. Not out of the woods yet but so much better. Tonight I'm full of gratitude and hope.
Last day
@CovCathedral
. Tha plan includes
1 more graduation;
A bit of file deletion;
A lot of hurling belongings into bags;
Staff lunch AND
So much gratitude. What a privilege to be given 9 years in this wonderful place, alongside such really splendid people!
Used prayers from NZ Night Prayer at Compline: this one was written for me, I think.
"It is night after a long day
What has been done has been done
What has not been done has not been done.
Let it be..."
Bother. Turns out I have a broken shoulder. That's so annoying...Home with smart nhs sling and a referral to clinic. Sigh. Not part of my plan for May. Anyone know if there's a patron saint of shoulders?? Simon of Cyrene??
Too many beloved people, within my family and beyond, currently having a rubbish time in many and varied ways
Praying as best I can, seems mostly to be a howl of "HELP", but that's fine. Heartfelt prayers don't need fancy words
Comfortably tired after a good day.
I've done enough to feel ok .
Most of supper had recognisable and expected flavours
It's exactly 4 weeks since I started coughing & I am cautiously optimistic that my body now belongs more to me than to the virus! Thank you for your prayers
Dear twitter family, your company has made so much of 2021 better. That gentle friendliness you offer is a great gift for which I'm most thankful. I'm glad we are connected here, no matter what 2022 may bring.
Hugs and blessings all round xxxxx
Today I prayed the Lord's Prayer in German, and stood beside a Lutheran Pastor as we prayed the Coventry Litany quietly in one another's mother tongues.
Today Remembrance & Reconciliation walked hand in hand through
@CovCathedral
& it was such a privilege to be there too
"Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediment..."
Glorious day of blessings as
@jfefleming
married
@RachelCBonn
@Southwarkcathed
Don't think I could possibly be more happy.
So. Much. Love
I got to channel my hitherto unsuspected Penny Mordaunt, as I was allowed a turn with the city's ceremonial mace. It is 350 years old, so I too got to touch a piece of history this weekend. Quite something really!
A year ago today we faced the news that our individual & collective Christmas plans were scuppered & I went for a sad, stompy dogwalk in the park.
With 2 children in London I find myself in a very similar state today & I don't even have the oomph to make it to the park. HATE this
Eucharist for the Longest Night: holy, heartbreaking and hopeful all at once. I think this, for maybe 2 dozen people tonight, may be the most important liturgy of the year.
The light shines in the darkness and the darkness will never overcome it.
I am on holiday for 3 days ...The establishment is so exclusive I seem to be the only guest, the standard of housekeeping is frankly abysmal but the sun is shining, there's a cat in the bedroom, dogs in the kitchen and hens in the garden.
I think it'll be ok!
You see, when people tell me twitter is an angry, loveless waste, I have days like today as evidence that actually it is an incredibly supportive community, swift to offer comfort, love and prayer.
Thank you all 😍
Best bit of this morning's rehearsal
@CovCathedral
....bishop rehearsing the Eucharist prayer has now consecrated a bottle of sanitiser.
We aren't sure if he should consume it or not....