30/01/2012 by Alan Swan.

been to busy to post please feel free to post on this site

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05/07/2010 by Alan Swan.

It has been over a year and a challenging one at that but after the 26th July we will no longer be in Interregnum (posh word) or be experiencing a “Year of Opportunity” (silly way of saying it)  and will have a new Priest in Charge or Rector Designate.

Whatever the correct term of way to say it we have all been living in hope that David Widdows will take our church and lead it in the way that we want it to be led.  But of course is the way that I want it to be led the same way that my neighbour wants it to be led and is that the same way that their neighbour wants it to be led?

We are all different and will all want different things not everybody will get exactly what they want so we need to remember that what we get and how the church changes and evolves will be driven by God !

Let us all come together and pray for David as he starts his new mission helping our mission.

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01/04/2010 by Alan Swan.

he is on his way - the new vicar is on his way and it is up to all of us to lay the foundations for us coming but lets not let everything stand still while we wait let us greet him with enthusiasm and momentum

one good analogy to this could be could attacking play in rugby - taking a pass from a runner to a runner at pace allows much better momentum and allows better attacking play and a try - but if the player stops and then passes the ball to another player standing still then momentum is lost and is incredibly hard to start again…..

so lets keep going lets not things go static lets welcome our new leader with enthusiasm and momentum at pace so that together we can press on together better ……

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04/12/2009 by Alan Swan.

Well here it is the advert is finally in the church times advertising for a new priest in charge for Wiveliscombe and the Hills we now of course can do nothing else apart from hoping and praying that the right person will read the advert and apply for the job.  But of course who is the right person what sort of person do we really want? One persons ideal candidate will be another persons disaster.  Hopefully the benefice profile put together by reps from across the benefice will sell the right story about the area, what we do and what we want but the problem is that by its very nature the reps are existing members of the congregation and normally those who have been embedded into the church for many years.  As a consequence they cannnot always include or properly consider the views and desires of those who we need to get into church to keep it going for many years to come.  Hopefully an interested applicant will be interested enough to look a bit further and a bit deeper to explore the other bits which you cannot get into a benefice profile which after all is only a few pages long.  I also had a bit to do with it as I prepared the front cover which encapsulates images of the church life and church people.  But we have to trust that right person for all of us in our own different ways will be found! - We need to pray!

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08/09/2009 by Alan Swan.

It has been 15 years since Sunday Trading was formally allowed. 

Originally blocked by many groups including the churches even Maggie did not manage to do it and John Major managed to sneak it through.  But at what cost? Undoubtedly it has affected all of our lives socially, financially and spiritually.  We are less of a family unit children go off to work on a Sunday and families spend time shopping rather than time as a family.  20 years ago the family unit would have spent Sunday together in their family activities nowadays Sunday is the new Saturday and is no longer a day of reflection and a day of REST!  But we don’t all have to be sheep … we do our very best not to go shopping and always try to have family time on a Sunday.  Judith even feels guilty about ringing people on a Sunday evening so as not to disturb their family time.  We are all so guilty of trying to squeeze far too much into our lives but why we need to do less and enjoy more.  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8224062.stm

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19/08/2009 by Alan Swan.

and how inspiring was it to hear him saying it wasn’t him who won it it was the big man! what an inspiration he is as an athlete and also somebody who clearly has a faith.  He clearly is proud to wear his badge proudly and we should follow his example.  The BBC covered his victory speech very well and it was inspiring to me to hear him speak so well. I am also very guilty of always being judgemental about people who dress in a way that I do not agree with or are a bit different.  Idowu with his piercings and dyed hair would, at first glance, to me look like a bit of a jack the lad a bit like somebody going down the wrong path.  Having heard him talking last night about the strength that brought him through and the reason why he did so well I am glad to be proved wrong.

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19/08/2009 by Alan Swan.

When i offered to help redo the website for Wiveliscombe I probably didn’t realise what I was letting myself in for.  The cynical side of me was saying who is going to look at it anyway but the hopeful side of me says if we make it interesting and attractive and make people want to come to it as it has something to tell them.  People will hopefully then realise that there is more to religion to sitting in what they perceive to be an outdated stuffy building and talking about something that happened 2000 years ago - which there is!  Hopefully then perhaps we will increase its popularity and more people will visit.  After all that is all what we are trying to achieve working on the mission of church and telling more people about that “big fat story”.  So all I have done is all about advertising and marketing and I hope people will appreciate this.  If it is successful and we improve the mission of church fantastic of not it wasn’t meant to be…… enjoy.

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