Another brilliant episode of Rev last night, I thought.
Last week's episode prompted my husband's bold confession.
This week's episode made me realise how possibly completely annoying I am. I have been suspecting for quite a while that this is a possibility and I am trying to do something about it.
I can not play the piano but I do so have those 'let me colour-co-ordinate the vestry' tendencies. It was frightening.
Ministry requires this kind of 'hiding your light under a bushel thing,' which can come as a bit of a shock, pretending to be more stupid than you actually are, sending yourself up frequently and over-asserting an uncertainty about Jesus, the gospel and hearing from God than those more confident, charismatic, evangelical expressions of the faith have taught you.
Adam's vulnerability in the face of Abi's confidence was cleverly demonstrated and we can't help loving Adam. I am not sure how we felt about Abi and I am interested to know what you thought.
Did she fail to reveal vulnerability?
Did she think she knew better than her training incumbent?
She was a little self-unaware, yes?
She was idealistic - certainly, imagining her own competencies would not be a problem but would be encouraged.
The show seems to be very cleverly researched and accurate to life as we know it in the Church of England. It gave me lots to think about.
6 comments:
I was wondering why she needed to do a second curacy? Normally she should have been moving on to independent Parish Ministry. So, the question arises of ministerial appraisal and what glitches were found that needed, new, additional supervision to complete her training?
And the unlikely scenario of leaving straight to be a Canon of St Paul's, was not something I would have expected.
But I found the episode really funny, and from what little I know of the life of a Vicar seem to be pretty near to things that have or might happen in parish ministry.
I love the portrayal of the Arch Deacon, whose whole demeanour screams 'career oriented, rather than God oriented'. Not sure if there are any Arch Deacons about like him, but it would be amusing to meet one.
Actually she did fine she was just being herself. And he was being insecure and his usual loving but incompetent self. Personally i blame the arch deacon he set it up to fail ..... tragic that VMr and Mrs Vicarage were so desperate to have some time together as a couple they had to resort to hiding in their house...
Would be so nice if other christians relised that those in ministry were human too ... Oh and the whole idea of being a curate is to learn from your mistakes....
Thanks for your comments guys - loved that touch, spoken as if it was just a matter of course, of her going off to become Canon theologian - very funny.
Re the Arch-deacon - I couldn't possibly say...actually in my experience - all solid and good on that front. But the portrayal is hilarious, yes, especially the way he treats Adam, dropping him off in the middle of London, like he does.
Second curacies...emmm... now there's a thought. Sometimes I wonder if it might be a good idea... more years to be experimental and not cop all the flack for it. I think if I had an opportunity to go somewhere really, really different, I might be attracted to a second curacy. Having the buck rest with you as an incumbent sounds like pretty heavy stuff, I reckon, but then I am only three months in to a curacy.
Thanks for dropping by. :-)
my experience is that second curacies are not uncommon in London
I found this episode both funny and excruciatingly painful. Anyone who has been in a position where someone senior to them may feel insecure would see that. For me there were just so many "close to the bone" comparisons. Close friends and family were quick to point these out too. I haven't and I won't be colour coding anything but altar frontals, nor applying for cathedral posts, I don't have Abi's confidence and I pray I don't have her arrogance or pastoral insensitivity, but I recognise that very difficult situation when you realise that people are warming to, and responding to you more than to another colleague. It's even harder when that is vocalised.How much do you hold back, or do you just go with it perhaps provoking negative responses from some? Being a woman only exacerbates the dilemma, so many prejudices and expectations come to the fore. Abi is a caricature, but as in so much in Rev, the essence of her situation is frighteningly well researched.
'Ministry requires this kind of 'hiding your light under a bushel thing,' which can come as a bit of a shock, pretending to be more stupid than you actually are'
I'm not sire I agree that ministry does require us to pretend or present ourselves as something other than who we are...God has called us, good points as well as bad. Celebrate the good and use those gifts. Hiding our light is something we are told by Jesus NOT to do.
However, maybe we need to be LESS interested in ourselves and MORE concerned to uncover the lights of those around us. Perhaps it is more that we need to become less concerned about what others think, be ourselves, encourage others, living for God and others daily.
There were a lot of in-jokes that a more general audience wouldn't have seen, like Rachel here should have seen the use made of (fashionable) neo-orthodoxy as a high flying subject for a thesis. There was also the Reader rivalry overturned by her dazzling competence with a visiting curate (people can hide behind bumbling along). The archdeacon uses a taxi to enclose and dropping people off as wishes to disorientate, but he also visits at home to offer things when the wife is involved. Left more ambiguous was use of the bishop in the first episode of this series. So, anyway, the curate wasn't you Rachel, nor quite Lucy Winkett (she who shot upwards to St. Pauls and is waiting bishop material, but is moe liberal-inclusive than so-called neo-orthodox).
Post a Comment