She isn’t actually biting Rudolph’s head off. This is the answer I had already prepared should this publicity shot have fallen into the hands of the less sympathetic parts of the media.
The picture is of our Curate. She is possibly the first one the parish has had who is a Heavy Metal fan. She also did some writing while training for ordination about the unexpectedly large number of similarities between Christian community and Heavy Metal festival communities. This means she was in her element when a different sort of Carol Service was suggested for Grimsby.
A new active leader of the local YMCA has been gathering an ecumenical group to plan engagement activities with young people in the town for a little while. It was from a member of this group that the suggestion of the Carol service emerged. Something like three hundred people were in the Minster at the weekend for A Very Heavy Christmas, with traditional carols rendered loudly by a live band, along with video clips, and George’s sermon, so they are clearly onto something. There should be some of it up on You Tube soon.
We are seconding George one day a week to provide some chaplaincy at the local College of FE and HE, so I’d hoped the service and the chaplaincy would be to able to feed off each other fruitfully. I’ve also been encouraging her to take time out of the parish to work alongside those further away who are pioneering Heavy Metal ‘alternative worship’ and those who have been providing chaplaincy at some festivals.
3 comments:
I'm afraid George was rather 'egged on' to pose for the Ozzy Osbourne style shot - apologies. She is clearly gifted as a communicator and passionate about her people, and it seems to me she is in a good place with you.
Thanks, Simon, and I hope you don't mind being called simply 'a mmeber of the group' in the post itself - it was a good idea of yours!
In fact I much prefer to be a member of the group - while the original germ of the idea may have originated with me, the whole group shaped it and turned it into something much better, and which I would never have been able to deliver. Thanks for your encouragement in the first place!
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