Very odd knowing that after this week I will not cross the threshold of the Gathering Place (barring a planned wedding and any major pastoral crises) for three months after this week.  Even during my sick leave two years ago I came to church more Sundays than not, so the thought of not being here is incredibly odd.

So, with one week to go, it is the final tidying up exercises, administratively, pastorally and practically.  Today is 'blitz the vestry day' - much needed as the remnants of Christmas and Easter, and assorted other events from Student Welcome to Flower arranging evening, are scattered around the place, having been abandoned in here for convenience (so, for example, I have the Sunday School nativity costumes!).

De-cluttering a vestry is, of itself, an act of reflection - the spare copies of litrugies and Bible studies, discarded drafts of sermons or prayers, left over 'cut-outs' from some interactive act of worship, notes from random phone calls. outdated prayer guides and directories...

So 'Seven' is not just a practical clearing out exercise, it is a reflection on the two and a half years since the last major de-clutter.  

I had better get on with it then - the vestry won't declutter itself!!!