I was at the abbey last Wednesday, and had the opportunity to hear David Ford's sermon first-hand. Speaking personally, i found my own vocation renewed and reinforced in the message of cry and response. Throughout the days following it has informed my ministry in a number of ways - especially the part about 'Receive the Spirit - Come Holy Spirit'.

That particular prayer (Come, Holy Spirit) is always risky, precisely because it is not about 'change' or 'no change', but about letting God be sovereign and taking our own hands off the steering wheel. the result, in my experience, is always surprise. Since Wednesday I have been challenged to pray that prayer for one of the Readers at my church as she preached... for the congregation as I shared bread and wine with them... for a tea party of young families daring to share their thoughts about worship with the church leadership and with each other... and at the Deanery Synod. (The Holy Spirit was at a Deanery Synod!! truly we have a God of surprises... )  It has been a surprising week... and i am encouraged to keep on praying.

If David Ford has hidden agendas (and who doesn't); thank God that His Spirit can speak through and past our inadequacies. I believe that Graham and David know each other well enough to sort that out between themselves. Meanwhile, there was plenty in that sermon to read from the lines without trying to prise something out from between them...