\n<\/span>
\nLuckily, as you all know, Daphne is pretty well padded and she didn\u2019t do much more than bounce a little. Nevertheless she wasn\u2019t too happy, and yours truly ended up in the doghouse for not being more of a help. When things get like that in the Vicarage I think it\u2019s always wise to retire to my study and work on my sermon a bit if you catch my meaning.<\/p>\nThen later this afternoon Lavinia dropped by the vicarage. She\u2019s organized a petition for the Yanks who are doing some sort of sit in protest in New York City. Apparently she wants to get the whole thing off the ground here in the City. Says the bankers are all evil and greedy. I didn\u2019t like to point out that her own salary comes from the church commissioners being pretty clever operators on the stock market. Daphne always ducks for cover when Lavinia knocks on the door. Not a pretty scene when those two get together I can tell you! \u00a0told Lav that signing petitions for unhappy Americans wasn\u2019t really my thing, but I wished her all the best and sent her off with a jar of Daphne\u2019s blackberry jam.<\/p>\n
Do you know lads, while she was there Lavinia asked me to join a union for clergy? Why I never! She mentioned this fellow who can\u2019t even change a light bulb for fear of falling foul of the planning officer, and that he ought to join the union, and Lavinia said there were many more injustices for the clergy, and that the Bishop was planning cutbacks and redundancies and how did I know if I wasn\u2019t one of the ones for the chop? I mean to say, it is all rather disturbing isn\u2019t it? The troublesome thing is that Lavinia had a knowing look in her eye. She gave me a little wink and said, \u201cIt\u2019s men just your age Humph who are ripe for early retirement.\u201d<\/p>\n
I must say, it put the wind up me. It\u2019s true enough the bishop wouldn\u2019t grant me the freehold of the parish. I\u2019m only priest in charge and I suppose he can let me go if he wants. The bishop wouldn\u2019t turf me out now would he? Mustn\u2019t think about it. I\u2019ve done nothing wrong, and I\u2019m feeling rather annoyed at Lavinia for planting the seed of doubt in my mind. Still\u2013all this talk of consolidating parishes and so forth? It\u2019s a bit worrying I must say.<\/p>\n
So I discussed it with Daphne later over a cup of tea and a slice of Marjorie Huffington-Post\u2019s Victoria Sponge. Daphne gave me that gimlet stare she has over her cup of Earl Grey and said, \u201cWhat do you expect Humph. You\u2019re a Protestant minister, and they\u2019ve always been able to be hired and fired.\u201d<\/p>\n
I think she\u2019s being a bit harsh to tell you the truth. What\u2019s that? Oh yes, she went on at some length about her church. I mustn\u2019t bore you with it lads, just a lot of palaver about how the Catholic bishop would never sack anyone. She said Catholic priests either end up in a nursing home or in jail, but they\u2019re never fired. She told me about Fr. Giles heading off to the ordinariate thingy that the Pope has set up and says he\u2019s about as happy as she\u2019s ever seen a priest.<\/p>\n
Best to put it all out of one\u2019s mind. I must say between Lavinia and Daphne I have got my hands full. All the more refreshing to come down here of an evening and have a half pint of shandy, a packet of crisps and a game of darts.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Guest blogger, The Rev\u2019d Humphrey Blytherington is Vicar of St Hilda\u2019s, Little Snoring with All Saints, Great Snoring. He is a graduate of Plymouth University. He completed his studies for the ministry at Latimer Hall, Durham. He is married to Daphne and enjoys home brewing, model railroading and is an avid member of the Great […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[93],"tags":[4,21,94],"class_list":["post-444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-vicar","tag-alter-egos","tag-anglicans","tag-humor"],"yoast_head":"\n
The Vicar on Power and Glory<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Guest blogger, The Rev'd Humphrey Blytherington is Vicar of St Hilda's, Little Snoring with All Saints, Great Snoring. He is a graduate of Plymouth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2011\/10\/the-vicar-on-power-and-glory.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Vicar on Power and Glory\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Guest blogger, The Rev'd Humphrey Blytherington is Vicar of St Hilda's, Little Snoring with All Saints, Great Snoring. 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