Shortly after my meeting with the DDO I received an email from his team member arranging to meet with me in 2 weeks time. It would just be an informal chat so I didn't need to prepare anything in advance.
2 weeks passed by and I managed to get to the meeting after copious twists and turns to get to the rural parish she is based at, only getting lost once!
The conversation was indeed an informal one, more to get to know one another than delve into my vocation at this point. Initially she was concerned that I had only recently started attending church regularly again after quite a long hiatus but as the conversation developed and I explained more about myself she became more confident in me being able to go forward for selection next year, provided I had the drive to do so.
Obviously the speed of selection shall all depend upon how our meetings go. If all goes well I shall have my meetings with her till Christmas then move to meeting Bishop Phillip after that.
We also found that we had a mutual love of all things geeky, and my level of nerdiness did seem to impress her!
For our next meeting she wants me to have another look at my time line I created before and see if I can expand on it spiritually some more. She also wants me to look at the vocations criteria and start gathering an evidence portfolio for each of the points it makes. Finally she wants me to experience a different type of churchmanship than the high church I am used to so I am to find a local 'low church' to attend mass at in a semi regular basis so I can see what all aspects of the Church of England encompasses. She said it needn't be Sunday mass as she is aware I am a key member of my own parish but to definitely find some weekday masses to attend.
Our next meeting isn't until September. As a fellow ex-teacher her summer holiday period is sacrosanct.
So with this in mind my next Delving into Discernment post won't be for a couple of months. But this is the nature of vocation. It is a slow process to ensure it definitely is the right thing!
2 weeks passed by and I managed to get to the meeting after copious twists and turns to get to the rural parish she is based at, only getting lost once!
The conversation was indeed an informal one, more to get to know one another than delve into my vocation at this point. Initially she was concerned that I had only recently started attending church regularly again after quite a long hiatus but as the conversation developed and I explained more about myself she became more confident in me being able to go forward for selection next year, provided I had the drive to do so.
Obviously the speed of selection shall all depend upon how our meetings go. If all goes well I shall have my meetings with her till Christmas then move to meeting Bishop Phillip after that.
We also found that we had a mutual love of all things geeky, and my level of nerdiness did seem to impress her!
For our next meeting she wants me to have another look at my time line I created before and see if I can expand on it spiritually some more. She also wants me to look at the vocations criteria and start gathering an evidence portfolio for each of the points it makes. Finally she wants me to experience a different type of churchmanship than the high church I am used to so I am to find a local 'low church' to attend mass at in a semi regular basis so I can see what all aspects of the Church of England encompasses. She said it needn't be Sunday mass as she is aware I am a key member of my own parish but to definitely find some weekday masses to attend.
Our next meeting isn't until September. As a fellow ex-teacher her summer holiday period is sacrosanct.
So with this in mind my next Delving into Discernment post won't be for a couple of months. But this is the nature of vocation. It is a slow process to ensure it definitely is the right thing!
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