House of Love

I’m pleased that I never chose the Church as a career. I have no doubt that I could render a fiery sermon, get muddled over the choice of hymns and generally do all or most of the things that vicars do. But I would have found “change” hard to deal with.

My birth sign is Cancer, you see, and that means that I (tenaciously) cling on to old stuff. I’m very fond of the old communion service, traditional hymns, slightly mystical prayers and all that. So Friday nights rather long (1hr, 35mins) service to “license” the new vicar unsettled me a bit.

The bishop (wonderful hat) made no bones about it: the appointment should be “confrontational” when it comes to sleepy Sussex parishes which might prefer to wallow in tradition. Now I like the new vicar. He is young, pleasant and had obviously made a success of his previous parish (in Littlehampton if that means anything). But I didn’t recognise the hymns and I got all agitated when the vow to HM Queen was omitted - we got the vow to the Bishop of Chichester, no problem, but why was the one to HMQ rather obviously omitted when it was printed on the prayer sheet? Have we a Republican in our midst? Isn’t HM Missus Kwin (as Kwaage called her) meant to be boss of the C of E, Defender of Faith, etc?

I also wondered what my Mum would say if she knew that we lived next door to the “House of Love”, as the bishop described the parish church? Ho, hum. At any rate in an odd sort of way I rather enjoyed the occasion. It seemed to typify everything about the New Britain. In the pew ahead of us was a Littlehampton family with a small (maybe six or seven) child who was given freedom of the church by her parents. She wandered up and down the aisles, interrupting her obviously devout parents every couple of minutes, and never ever being told to quieten down, sit still, etc. By the third hymn it was too much for the wife who gave the child a mild (by her standards) rebuke. This was apparently a new experience for the child, and we later recalled the young Zoe (daughter of American friends) who had similarly been reared as a free spirit. Ugh, spank ‘em every time!