This SEITE weekend was one of the best – a close second to Death, Dying and Bereavment. There was certainly a lot more laughter as our opening task was to write down on large sheets of paper all the words we could think of for sexual organs and practices. I’m not sure how it has formed me for the future – but it was a great laugh!

As ever though the real highlights of these weekends for me are spending times with friends laughing, moaning, crying, apologising, eating, drinking …. all those kinds of things that friends do. Particular highlights again involve a wheelchair but I won’t go there! A boat trip along the river to Maidstone with ‘Jezza’, ‘Mouldy’ and ‘NicNic’was a spur of the moment thing which was a cool way to spend some of the afternoon. Grabbing a pint in the Little Gem before the next lecture was also great.

Looking back on the weekend it seems we are fairly open and honest with each other and again I find myself hoping that this will continue beyond ordination. It always strikes me as sad that in clergy circles people seem to be in competiton with each other, or at least suspicious of each other. We have a year group at SEITE that enjoy and trust each other and like being together – maybe we can start to change the church! I wonder …. how many other ordinands have had that thought over the years!

There are a number of other thoughts and questions that this weekend has broght to the surface which I think I amy write about over the next few days when I have had the space to reflect more.