Hello faithful reader(s) - sorry I haven't posted anything this week, it's been pretty full-on one way or another.

Last Sunday we had the absolute delight of an infant blessing, during which we made our promises to support a child and their family 'come what may'. Part of what I love about such services is that they say, in effect, 'we are here, and we will still be here long into the future.'

Sometimes we can get so bogged down in the necessary practical stuff that we may just lose sight of what really matters - that we are still here.

This week, among other things I've been to meetings about buildings and meetings about ecumenism, I've led prayers in the university chapel and I've prayed a rosary in a care home, I've written up notes and I've read books, I've bumped into people I know and I've had planned meetings with people... and I'm still here, and, more to the point, we are still here!  Many of these meetings relate to 'being here' physically and maybe even missionally, others are about being present with others, which is also a form of being here.

When the child we blessed is the age I am now, I will be long gone and forgotten, but I hope - and I trust - the church community is still here, passing on the stories and living out its faith to another generation.