And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. Matt 27:51

Ok, it's official; I'm either passionate about what I do or I have finally lost the plot. As the latter has always been true and I never had the plot, it is safe to say I am passionate about what I do. for those of you who are unaware i am currently training to be a vicar in the Crch of England.

I have reached the end of Term two: Year One already, ya what?! I hear you say, I know I can hardly believe they are still allowing me to train after that period of time too.....oh and yes, it has passed rather quickly. Though intensely, might I add....

So what makes me passionate, well I have decided, in my wisdom, that it might be interesting to try wearing the liturgical colours which the church has at the right times for the correct season as a form of discipline. 

'What are liturgical colours?' I hear you ask. What an excellent question! I reply. They are the different colours which the church uses to symbolise significant events which the church celebrates throughout the year. For example, red is used to celebrate the shedding of blood, thus saints days and Holy Week (this week) are red, purple however signifies kingship and a period of waiting so this is the colour used during advent and lent, green symbolises ordinary life and thus when nothing is being celebrated green is the colour, white is for celebrations so used at Christmas and Easter, as well as weddings, baptisms and confirmations. Normally these colours appear on the vestments (the clothes clergy wear) and church hangings at the appropriate time. 

A few weeks ago, just before lent actually, an idea sprang to my mind; why not symbolise these colours in other ways. The colours have been specifically chosen to symbolise different events, therefore why not have a daily reminder?

Yes, we decorate the building which the church meets in but as the people who meet to worship God together we are the actual church, therefore why not dress ourselves in these symbolic colours to share with all we meet this symbolism, even subtly, and daily remind ourselves of their significance.

Therefore, for the last eight weeks my nails have been painted the correct liturgical colour. That's right, I LOVE having my nails painted and I wondered how it might be rather than them be painted any random colour I fancied, what if they had a theme? What if they symbolised something? Could I go a whole year wearing the correct liturgical colours on my nails? 

The short answer is; I'll have a try. So I started with green, in ordinary time. The downside to this plan is there is a LOT of green over the summer and thus before I committed I had to find a green I would be comfortable with wearing for long periods of time and not get weary. The joy was that as I started just before lent I have been wearing purple for six weeks, then red this week. Now I have reached Good Friday I have 'stripped' them, as it were, for the new few days. You see in church buildings we strip away all the cloths and hangings and make the church bare to symbolises the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross. Then on Easter Sunday people arrive into church to find it decorated in white and gold coverings for the celebration of His having risen. It is a brightening and exciting experience, which is profoundly powerful!

So this evening my nails are stripped with no colour added and do you know what? It's serving it's purpose, it is reminding me, in a hugely visual way what we are celebrating.

I am desperate to just put some clear on but I won't even let myself do that. 

I am pretty sure most people at theological college have no clue this is happening at all, partly because if I am not 100% accurate with when I replace colours etc I do not want the pressure to be there if I get it wrong. However, I am taking photos of each season at the different points in which they appear to record the process. 

So far it has been interesting and challenging, let's hope it continues. Let's also wait to see whether my colleagues notice.... There was comment on the beautiful purple my nails were at breakfast one morning, to which I responded they would be like that for a while and stole a glance at one of my housemates, who caught my eye and smiled. At least my housemates are aware of the insanity of my concept. The hilarious thing is, they think it's great and one housemate has informed her placement supervisor, who was also suitably impressed. Not bad coming from a male colleague. 

God Bless, Deborah ><>

Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life... Matt 28:19

I have post-event hang over. Do you know what that's like? 

I'm exhausted physically and therefore I know I have been involved with something major, this is mixed with a faint excitement and buzz of adrenaline which is left over from the event. Thrown in is an undercurrent of deep sadness which threatens to build if one dwells on what has occurred too long. Yet, one has the temptation to bring names, situations and encounters up over and over again, like verbal vomit, to whomever happens to be around. Yes, I have a serious case of post-event fever. 

This weekend 1st - 3rd March I and my colleagues were sent on mission. Six teams departed college at various times on Friday and re-grouped in different locations across the North East. One group went as far north as Holy Island and another went as far south as Doncaster,  the rest of us were spread in between. One group stayed in Durham and went to the prison, while we went to the Metro Centre in Gateshead. 

We had started planning for this back in October when we had first met the Metro Centre's Chaplin: The Reverend Canon Lyn Jamison over lunch. Lyn was initially hesitant, with good reason, to have a team in the Metro Centre, as she later said 'It had to be the right team' but early into our meeting she sat back and smiled. Sharing her concern, she then added 'but after five minutes of meeting you all I knew this is going to be good.' 

Five months of planning, meetings both within college as a team and at the Metro Centre, e-mails back and forth, designs for posters, t-shirts, labyrinths....the list is endless it seems and it all came together this weekend. The only team who can say they officially had a marketing team on board, we were hugely supported and encouraged by the Metro Centre. 

On Friday we arrived for 2pm and began with a meeting with Lyn in one of the Metro Centre board rooms, drank coffee, ate homemade flapjack and fridge cake (made by one of our wonderful, additional, team members) and talked about the set up for the weekend. Having established enough caffeine in our systems and that we had bought everything we could possibly need, for now at least, we headed onto the floor. There was an area which had been cordoned off. This was our space. 

The first thing was; where would we set up the Labyrinth? Steve set out the marker and we realised just how big it was going to be. That in itself took up a huge portion of our allotted space! But we decided to map it out and then figure where our other stalls would go. Having mapped it out in a place on one side of our square we realised it wouldn't work in that position and therefore we started again. At some point we stopped for a coffee break before pressing on. Before we knew it we had a stage, a labyrinth and four stalls or allocated areas and it was time for dinner.











After a lovely meal and time of fellowship, mostly spent in laughter, we discussed some final logistics and prayed together. Then it was home for a few hours sleep before re-convening again at the Metro Centre at 9am. 

Saturday morning began with coffee or tea, laughter (par for course with our group), prayer and final changes to set up. Posters went up as shoppers began to start their day of events and we took up positions on whatever stall it was we were allocated to. It was a day filled with activities from creation collages, to prayer tree requests, people taking a journey around the Labyrinth or a free sweet and prayer card or Pencil, to having shoes cleaned or hands massaged. Some part took in everything. Meanwhile, on the hour we had dramas, songs, shows etc...everything from would you Adam and Eve it to puppets and even a flash mob! 

It was fantastic!!! We had some incredible conversations and moments. At the end of a wonderfully exhausting day we reflected on what it had held, how God had moved and what had challenged us. Then we put aside mission for a few hours and joined Lyn's husband for dinner, a great way of winding down but continuing to be church and fellowship together. Then we headed home for a few hours of sleep before doing it all again on Sunday. 

Sunday, we had less to set up with a plan of holding two services rather than dramas, stories, or puppets as we had had the day before. So it was a smoother start to the day with the band sorting out the gear, but we simply took our various positions, as we had the day before. Time flew and before we knew it we had held two services, both with great impact at different levels, and had had another day of engaging with people and meeting them where they were at. As the centre announced it's closing we began to close off our section, to as it had been when we had set up on Friday night, we removed posters, equipment and finally the Labyrinth. If this had been a pain to put down it certainly was a nightmare to pull up!! But oh how we laughed!!!



There was a sadness and reluctance to leave our square, looking at it now it was as though we had never been there. As we drank more coffee, tea or hot chocolate and ate flapjack, cake or fruit we chatted about the day and prayed together but all were aware of the loitering cloud which was descending of fatigue and an unwillingness to leave, to say goodbye. Finally poor Lyn managed to bid us fair well and get us out and we each separated off to our different modes of travel. However, not before a team hug!


The conclusion we had come to: it had felt such a natural and normal thing to do. 

Now at the end of a fantastic, fast paced, weekend I am left wondering what do I take from a this and where do I go next? I may never know but as I begin to process all I have encountered and revel in the privilege it has been, I shall ponder and pray, and of course sleep and rest on my well earned (I feel) day off.