Sunday 30 July

A big surprise at Church this morning – my old Vicar is back! Apparently it is only temporary. Ken, it seems, has gone quite suddenly to an inner-city parish where his talents can be better exercised, by order of the Bishop, and we are now in what we Church people call an Interregnum, which is Latin (even though we are CofE we don’t mind using Latin from time to time.)

My old Vicar looked at the choirstalls, or rather what is left of them, and shook his head sadly. “Barry, my boy”, he said confidingly, “I fear the old days are gone for ever. It will be guitars and skiffle hymns next and Ladies in dog-collars. I trust that this interregnum will be brief indeed, for I had hoped to spend my remaining days breeding dahlias and pondering, but, as you know, dear boy, when the Call comes it is the Lord Himself speaking and with Him you do not argue the toss.”

It felt good to back among familiar faces this morning. The hymns were easy, and I played two voluntaries afterwards – the Mozart again, and then on a sudden impulse the Trumpet Voluntary that always makes people sit up and take notice. I was feeling so confident that I was on the point of using the pedals in the last chord but I had forgotten to turn the light on for my feet, and I did not want to risk stamping on an E-flat by mistake, even though the Church was completely empty, the congregation having retired to the Parish Hall to gossip with the old Vicar and partake of a variety of similar-tasting murky brown liquids.

I hope Ken will do well taking the Word to his new congregation. And I do hope he uses the little joke I put into the list of Instruments Mentioned in The Bible when he comes to deliver that Sermon. He will be puzzled when he sees Accordion at the top of the list, but how he will laugh when the penny drops at Evensong!