It's a great phrase, and probably pretty much what I do when I'm on line typing up my thoughts and adventures!

Liz's induction service was a very happy event, well attended and friendly.  The preacher was entertaining and relevant, taking as his text 1 Corinthians 1:1 - 17.  His sermon was of the three aliterative points variety, with enough humility to admit that the third was contrived.  Three risks in ministry - Factions, Favouritism and Faffing About.  The faffing about seemed to cover two 'crimes' really; the first was displacement activities and the second, sanctified faffing, was doing things that other people could or should do.  He, rightly, said that ministers shouldn't be spending their time on admin, fine tuning Powerpoint or other such tasks.  The problem is, he was speaking from the luxury of a church that employs an administrator, has a children's worker, two ministers and many other available talented folk.  For those of us in small, older churches, the reality is if we didn't faff things wouldn't get done.  There are those who say that ministers should allow that to be the case, but I'm not so sure.

I think the essence of what the preacher was saying about faffing is correct - if there is something you as minister are doing that could be done as well (or maybe better) by someone else in the church, then they should be doing it, not you.  How we make the transition from sanctified faffing to sanctified delegation I'm less sure!

(Btw the way the raspberry trifle was excellent and I am envious of the city centre location...)