17th -24th June 2009

A Chaplain’s Diary

 

Thursday, 18^th June

 

This morning I was in Cala d’Or for our monthly service which we hold in the Roman Catholic Church. Afterwards two couples came for a Renewal of Marriage Vows Ceremony and as I was packing my gear away some friends asked if I would like to join them for a drink. I would have loved to but I had to apologise and say I couldn’t because I had to get back to my office to work out what I wanted to say at a Graduation Ceremony at which I had been asked to speak and was the guest of honour. “Oh,” he said “it’s dead easy. Just stick to ABC and XYZ.”  I couldn’t understand what he was saying and asked him to explain. He laughed, “ABC – always be concise, XYZ – examine your zip.” That was just what I needed to start me off. And I then remembered some other advice about public speaking – a speech should be like a girl’s skirt – long enough to cover the subject but short enough to be interesting. At a top notch school like the Baleares International College that was obviously an observation that I couldn’t make, but I did and I actually think I saw a few nods of agreement.

 

At their annual graduation ceremony the pupils parade in to the music of Verdi’s Aida wearing crimson academic gowns and mortar boards. The music is always stirring stuff but to watch each of them walk up for the presentation was similarly moving and on behalf of parents, staff and myself I congratulated each and every one of them. I suspect that a lot of hard work and real discipline had gone into those academic awards and my job was to salute each of them and congratulate them on their achievements. But I had to keep going to fill my allotted time whilst avoiding breaking in to sermon mode.

 

I related to them how, at one o’clock in the morning on Thursday 21^st May, at the age of 65, Sir Ranulph Fiennes reached the top of the highest mountain in the world – Mount Everest – in 2008 he had failed in his attempt. This time the climb was in aid of the Marie Curie Cancer Care and he was doing it because in the last few years he had lost his mother, his wife and two sisters to cancer. At the age of 65 he is the oldest man ever to climb Everest. A few days later he was interviewed on television. The interviewer asked him however he kept going, day after day, in the cold, and with ever thinning air as the oxygen decreased. ‘Well’ he said ‘I just kept trudging along’. I found that reply quite helpful and like their academic work, life has both its highs and lows. Some days it’s all a doddle, highly enjoyable and one just can’t go wrong. On other days, well, you just have to keep trudging along. That’s life and that’s part of being human. When it’s not easy we’ve got to keep trudging along knowing that we’ll probably get there in the end.

 

At the sign of the first yawn I finished by saying this, “Remember that life is not a trial run. This is the real thing and none of us will ever come this way again. So, grab life with both hands, grab every opportunity offered, and try to leave this wonderful and mysterious world on which we walk a better place than when we found it. “

 

Saturday, 20^th June

 

Peter Burness is a regular visitor to Majorca and when he’s on holiday here we usually rope him in to play the organ at our Sunday morning service. This morning he came in for a rehearsal and to practise his organ voluntary. I switched the air conditioning on for him and as I left asked if he’d like a cup of coffee as I was making one for myself. It was too hot for coffee he said but he would like a glass of water. Using a bottle of water from the fridge I popped it on the top of the organ for him as he was mid-practise – pulling out stops and working his feet on the organ peddles, and so I left him to it. An hour later he tapped on my office door to return the glass which somewhat to my surprise was still full of water. Peter is very correct and politely suggested that the water I had provided was, in reality, undiluted gin. Fortunately he saw the funny side of it but I’m certainly not going to explain to you dear reader why we occasionally keep our gin in a plastic water bottle. That would blow my cover completely though I rather suspected that Peter felt that either the chaplain or his wife had a drink problem. Those of you who know me well will know that I have just been on a choir cruise around the Med where every evening I simply ordered a large tonic water which because of the quinine content had to be watered down to make it palatable. My drinks bill on the cruise was the lowest of the whole group – you should try it. Watered down tonic water is a lovely refreshing drink particularly if you use holy water!

 

 

Tuesday, 23^rd June

 

The Coleman Hall which is underneath the Anglican Church in Son Armadans in Palma has not been decorated for fourteen years. It was beginning to look very tired and dirty indeed. So 2009 is the year of the revamp – new wall fans, new lighting, new tiling and a lick or two of paint are the order of the day. As a result the hall is partially out of use and the Mums and Toddlers Group which meet on a Tuesday morning decamped up to Church where the pews were arranged to corral the children in safely. The group has expanded enormously over the last two years and it has proved a useful meeting point for mums new to the island or who are usually confined to the home because of family commitments. It’s not a church organisation but we are quite happy to provide facilities free of charge for this weekly get together.

 

Today Church echoed to the sound of children laughing, running around and on occasions, crying and screaming. It cheered me up no end to see the place being used to the full with tomorrow’s future mixing and laughing together.

 

Wednesday, 24^th June

Last night the beach at Camp de Mar was full of young people with their candles and picnics to mark St John the Baptist Day. In the past although the beach has been a mass of flickering candles the whole event was usually quite restrained and quiet. This year the authorities had obviously decided to up the stakes and the promenade was packed with stalls selling sweets, spice, and smelly things. The place was heaving and yet this morning the area is already looking spick and span as though nothing had happened. Until now I’ve not been able to stay awake long enough to watch everyone doing the traditional dash into the sea at midnight. I’m promising myself that next year I shall have a sufficiently long siesta to make sure that I’m still awake for the annual dash into the waves. Who knows I might even join them, after all we won’t come this way again so we’ve got to grab every opportunity offered. I can’t see myself diving into the River Trent on St John the Baptist Day when I’m a retired old clergyman living in Staffordshire.

 

 

 

Fr. Robert Ellis is the Anglican Chaplain of Majorca.

C/ Nunez de Balboa 6, Son Armadans,

Palma 07014.

Tel: 971 737279 

e mail: anglicanpalma@gmail.com

www.anglican-mallorca.org