Welcome to my new world
Greetings from Sheffield, and welcome to my new blog. I can't use 'Close Encounters' any more, as I no longer live on a cathedral Close. After 11 years under the shadow of two very different cathedrals (Lichfield and Liverpool), I am now 'a bishop's spouse' in the leafy suburbs of West Sheffield. Even with a good pair of binoculars I can't see Sheffield cathedral. This is because it's so hilly round here. Sheffield, as approximately two million people have informed me, is built on seven hills. Like Rome. Or any other city with hills. Seven is the magic number. There must have been a memo about that.
I spent quite a long time pondering the title for this blog. I discarded 'As the Actress Said to the Bishop', along with 'Crooks and Gaiters'. Then my eye fell on this.
This 1907 volume of Home Words is the bound edition of the monthly magazine of St James', Lathom. It contains many improving articles: pious fiction ('The Righteous Miss Frisby'), 'How To Make Ends Meet' (by Mrs Orman Cooper), news from the Mission Field, 'Gleanings from the Gospels', and so on. And, thrillingly (from my newly elevated perspective), 'BISHOPS WHO MOTOR'.
I'm not sure the current bishop of Worcester has a special car for conducting visitations. I know the Bishop of Sheffield doesn't. Christmas hints list? Given the recent unhappy history of episcopal visitations, it might need knives sticking out of the wheels, like Boadicea's chariot. But the Edwardian era was a gentler age, perhaps.
Drawing my inspiration from this fine work, my new blog will be a mixture of theological musings and household hints. And BISHOPS WHO MOTOR. (If you are a BISHOP WHO MOTORS, do get in touch, and I will write about you.) Actually, I will blog about anything I feel inclined to blog about. As the cover of Home Words rather enigmatically remarks, 'The heart has many a dwelling place, but only once a home.' I expect the last part refers to the Lord Jesus. This was what most things referred to in the many children's addresses I heard as a child of the chapel.
Home is a big and resonant theme. Home. Homelessness. Heart and home. Homesickness. My home is your home. My home, my rules. An Englishman's home is his castle. Homework. Homemaking. Homemade. Going back home. Make yourself at home. Home is where the heart is. Homeland. Home Page. Homing device. Home lover. Home improvements. Homeward bound. Westering home and a song in the air. There's no place like home. 'I've gotta home in Gloryland that outshines the sun.'
Talking of glory, my latest book is published in a few weeks. Vol 3 of the Lindchester Chronicles, Realms of Glory. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Realms-Glory-Catherine-Fox/dp/1910674214 This is 2016 pressed between the pages of a novel. If it doesn't give you a twinge of homesickness for heaven, I haven't done my job. It's also a love story. With puppies. Honestly, you'll love it. My publishers do, anyway. http://www.marylebonehousebooks.co.uk/single-post/2017/05/19/A-Sneak-Peek-at-Realms-of-Glory
This is the final Lindchester novel, but I don't think I'll ever get to the end of the themes this trilogy explores. Let's wheel out the big theological guns while we're at it: 'He is the hidden abyss,' writes Karl Barth, 'but he is also the hidden home at the beginning and end of all our journeyings.'
I think I've got enough to get my teeth into here in this new blog.
I spent quite a long time pondering the title for this blog. I discarded 'As the Actress Said to the Bishop', along with 'Crooks and Gaiters'. Then my eye fell on this.
This 1907 volume of Home Words is the bound edition of the monthly magazine of St James', Lathom. It contains many improving articles: pious fiction ('The Righteous Miss Frisby'), 'How To Make Ends Meet' (by Mrs Orman Cooper), news from the Mission Field, 'Gleanings from the Gospels', and so on. And, thrillingly (from my newly elevated perspective), 'BISHOPS WHO MOTOR'.
I'm not sure the current bishop of Worcester has a special car for conducting visitations. I know the Bishop of Sheffield doesn't. Christmas hints list? Given the recent unhappy history of episcopal visitations, it might need knives sticking out of the wheels, like Boadicea's chariot. But the Edwardian era was a gentler age, perhaps.
Drawing my inspiration from this fine work, my new blog will be a mixture of theological musings and household hints. And BISHOPS WHO MOTOR. (If you are a BISHOP WHO MOTORS, do get in touch, and I will write about you.) Actually, I will blog about anything I feel inclined to blog about. As the cover of Home Words rather enigmatically remarks, 'The heart has many a dwelling place, but only once a home.' I expect the last part refers to the Lord Jesus. This was what most things referred to in the many children's addresses I heard as a child of the chapel.
Home is a big and resonant theme. Home. Homelessness. Heart and home. Homesickness. My home is your home. My home, my rules. An Englishman's home is his castle. Homework. Homemaking. Homemade. Going back home. Make yourself at home. Home is where the heart is. Homeland. Home Page. Homing device. Home lover. Home improvements. Homeward bound. Westering home and a song in the air. There's no place like home. 'I've gotta home in Gloryland that outshines the sun.'
Talking of glory, my latest book is published in a few weeks. Vol 3 of the Lindchester Chronicles, Realms of Glory. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Realms-Glory-Catherine-Fox/dp/1910674214 This is 2016 pressed between the pages of a novel. If it doesn't give you a twinge of homesickness for heaven, I haven't done my job. It's also a love story. With puppies. Honestly, you'll love it. My publishers do, anyway. http://www.marylebonehousebooks.co.uk/single-post/2017/05/19/A-Sneak-Peek-at-Realms-of-Glory
This is the final Lindchester novel, but I don't think I'll ever get to the end of the themes this trilogy explores. Let's wheel out the big theological guns while we're at it: 'He is the hidden abyss,' writes Karl Barth, 'but he is also the hidden home at the beginning and end of all our journeyings.'
I think I've got enough to get my teeth into here in this new blog.
I might feel inspired to revisit my own blog more assiduously ... meanwhile I shall read yours.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the topic for the late 20th / early 21st century should be "BISHOPS WHO FLY"...?
ReplyDeleteGood to have the new blog :-)
Does the new Bishop of Sheffield get something stylish in which to motor? The days of stately Rover 75s - all wood, leather and chrome - are about 15 years past, but once very fitting, and in their day often chauffeured. Presumably now it's a mid sized Skoda (reliable but humble) or a Japanese hybrid (to be green).
ReplyDelete