18th June Not quite at full capacity

This retreat, that has not been a retreat, has been a little bit of a rollercoaster to be honest with a lot of mutterings amongst the attendees about what it has been, compared to what they thought it might be, expected it to be or even wanted it to be. 

From where I sat, there have been brief moments of inspiration, long periods of thumb twiddling waiting for the next group activity to start, an underlying feeling that too much of it has been focussed on supervision, which is something all Methodist ministers are receiving and in many cases offering, and just a lack of intentional focus as to what people in their second decade of ministrymight have benefitted from post pandemic .

I like to come away from things like this and synod with 'an idea', something that someone else is doing in their context or a new idea that I think might work well in mine. Hands up if you remember 'Giving up Church for Lent'. From here I have come away with a book to read and virtually no idea what anyone else is doing in the their ministry apart from the fact that we all appear grumpy and irritable....lol.

Throw into the mix the sense of inadequacy and disconnect that creeps in when listening to how adept, involved and trained others can sometimes appear to be and / or listening to folks who like the sound of their own voice drone on about things that are of little interest, meant it was perhaps not the best it could have been meaning that I was not the best I could have been either. has been a bit of a ride. Not particularly one I would want to get back on anytime soon. It will be interesting to see what the feedback is.