A lack of time to enter a post on the blog since Tuesday, but then pastoral care of the flock and parish life takes precedence. Of course, there were meetings as well - but mercifully few of them this week.

During Tuesday I visited one of our flock in the CCU at Walsgrave Hospital in Coventry. As I reported before he was knocked down in a road traffic accident. Please keep praying for him and his family. The rest of Tuesday was spent chained to the desk and I managed to get ahead of myself and produce the Mass Sheet for tomorrow.

Wednesday saw me at Bishop Andrew's Standing Committee at Dry Sandford, as well as delivering the Ordo to him having printed it on our Risograph. In the afternoon I was at a local Charity and we were able to give substantial grants to young people at College, University or on Training Courses and to the poor. I arrived home to find an email informing me that we had gained our final plannning consent for the change of use on the former Parish Hall - much rejoicing. In the evening I saw a couple about the Baptism of their child and then attended James' 60th birthday party. James is known to many, many people in the Church of England. He is quite mad about bishops and bloggers will wonder why! I was deputed to present a gift from the Parish Family and couldn't resist starting off by saying "Well, James, tonight I am not going to talk about Bishops" - not that I do very often.

Thursday morning and afternoon was spent taking the Sacrament to the sick and over lunch I managed to make arrangements to see the agents we will be using to sell our former hall on Friday morning. In the evening we had our Partners in Mission Group Meeting at which we planned more fully that which needed to be done to support our Advent Appeal which this year is for the Fistula Hospital through Ethiopiaid. Each year we give boxes out just before Advent and then we ask that our folk bring them back on the Feast of the Epiphany (6th January folks - not transferred to a Sunday through secular pressure!). After the Gospel we sing "We three kings" while the Images of the Magi are brought forward and placed in the Crib during the appropriate verses, then during the final verse the Faithful bring their Advent Boxes and lay them at the foot of the crib. All of our Carol Singing collections from around the streets of the parish and the collection from our Children's Liturgy on Christmas Eve afternoon are added to the total and we usually manage to send off over a £1000 each year.

Friday morning saw our agent arrive and a long conversation followed about the current financial climate and the problems of selling property at this time. Not a good time to sell, but it is an interesting building architecturally and we are hopeful that a good price can be achieved. He was quite scathing about the role of the press and media in fueling the current crisis. Then it was another day of important Pastoral Visits, which makes one realise that a greater perspective is needed by some of our so-called political commentators and opinion formers.

Tomorrow will be a day dealing with desk work and writing important missives to those who should be seeking our best interests over the sale of property. I shall also be writing Sunday's Homily before going to church to prepare for Sunday. Over the next three weeks I want to preach on the nature of The Church. My aim in doing this is not to preach Churchianity, but to explain what we mean by The Church and its place in the Lord’s plan for our salvation. In recent years certain misrepresentations have been allowed to grow and even been fostered by some misguided souls with our own part of The Church (as well as in others) and so it is important that we all understand a little more of what we mean by “The Church.” This coming Sunday I am considering our bodies as Temples of the Holy Spirit and the nature of the local Church and the issue of "the Eucharist makes the Church". Next week I want to look at what we mean when we say in the Nicene Creed each Sunday “We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church” and then in the final of the series on the Feast of Christ the King I want to consider the Church in relation to its Lord and Master and the issue of the Church’s obedience to God’s revelation in Christ.

Sunday will bring our Parish Masses at All Saints and St Mary and St Giles, and in the afternoon the Act of Remembrance at the Parish War Memorial in Horsefair Green. Each year this seems to attract more people especially the young to whom we give pride of place so that they can see everything.