Cleric or Pub Landlord?

There's not a great deal between them really!

So said someone I was chatting to today and you know what - As the conversation progressed the 'I think they might be onto something' light came on and I began to think and this has turned into the quick checklist (feel free to add and/or suggest other categories and areas) which I include for you consideration here:

Now I have been careful not to enter text into the boxes above (in case you'd like to use it yourself) but here are a few of the comments I've had with it thus far make me think that we're not perhaps as good as many of the pub landlords) as they include:

'Quick to serve drink and nibbles' - takes our Vicar 45 minutes!'

'Nobody knows where to find him/her - why do you think they're known as 'the Pimpernel' or 'Lord Lucan'?'

'Never leaves the vicarage - easy to find them - harder to get to spend time with them!'

'Wouldn't know - not one of their inner circle.'

'Never has an opinion - a permanent 'fence sitter.'

I came to realise that we (clergy) do need to have the skills that make for a good pub Landlord and if we don't, perhaps we need to look at our customer facing skills. Pubs that struggle do so because of the 'look and feel' of the pub and the ethos that the Landlord creates.

Community pubs thrive whilst those that fail to attract, welcome and keep clientele are destined to follow the trend which sees them become McDonalds, Indian restaurants and the like (although with churches it's carpet warehouses, heritage centres and the like). There is, at many levels, no difference with churches and those who act as 'mine host' in them.

Now, as with all parallels, there are sure to be inconsistencies and errors and yet I think there might be some value in comparing the two roles and the way their premises operate. Who knows, it might just shed some light and help us to modify the way we do business.

let's hope so :-)

Twitter as a barometer

One of the funny things about my posts over the past few of days is that, using Twitter, you can see the opinions register in much the same way as the 'clapometer' used to on some of the old TV talent shows!

Recently I wrote something and saw the 'followers' rise quite markedly. Then I wrote something which some didn't like (a few pm'd me to tell me before they left) and the numbers of 'followers' sank a bit.

I rather like this immediate response device, a bit like the stall warning flap on the leading edge of a wing it tells you when you are running out of air or perhaps about to enter into a bit of excitement (mind you letting the wing drop and kicking in loads of opposite rudder realllly makes it exciting - especially in a Harvard!!).

I know that when I rush in a splurge that it doesn't always make sense and that at other times (especially when remotely on an iPhone) the words are sometimes jumbled and the path through the wilderness of my mind is a long and winding road that leads to . . . . But thanks you to those who do keep up and mail me comments or post them on the blog, it's a real blessing and an aid (or perhaps a panacea) to my particular form of madness (something I need to address regarding others when I get back from inducting Chaplains).

Pax

Wowan the Barbarian

Seems that the image on the right  (posted as Christmas Cards - 1)
has touched just a few nerves if the comments I have received thus far are anything to go by:

i. That is a DISTURBING photo

ii. DO NOT post this picture again. It's Christmas. I shall post the antidote in my news feed for any disturbed ladies

iii. Yuk! :(

iv. The same lady returned later to add: In fact, double double double YUK!

v. The worst thing about this photo is on the preview on my phone all you could see was the chest, so you think "oh hello there" and click and then... No, just.... No, NO, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

vi. The worst pic of the year, not a good thing to see, should come with a warning x

vii. This picture has made me suffer. I laughed so much I spilled my coffee in my lap!

ix. Somehow it rings true as the altar ego of this intelligent and humble man. Bet he would love this.

x. If only - I love his brain and with a body like that I'd be camping outside Lambeth Palace!

So it seems that whilst you can't please everyone, you can at least please some (hallelujah?)

As for comment the second. She followed it up with:

For any ladies disturbed by Vic's photo manipulation of the Arnie Conan the Barbarian, I give you the scrummy Jason Momoa (Conan 2011).

But what's he like theologically I ask myself?