15/08/2026
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=122134809501233091&id=61586992739617
FROM THE VICAR’S DESK
Later than intended. Email count now theoretical.
Some years ago, in a moment of either courage or temporary insanity, I wrote a Masters dissertation entitled 'Priest and Incumbent – The Impossible Dream'. This was not, as some hoped, a musical. Though it does feature singing, tears, denial, and the slow realisation that nobody read the instructions.
The argument was simple. Brutally simple: the Church asks its vicars to do two full-time jobs simultaneously — and then expresses mild surprise when one of them is found staring blankly at a spreadsheet, whispering Psalm 23.
Job One: Priest.
Pray. Study theology. Preach something coherent. Visit the sick. Sit quietly while people tell you the worst thing that’s ever happened to them. Stand at the altar and pretend you’re not thinking about the boiler.
Job Two: Incumbent.
Chief Executive of a small but legally complex charity. HR department. Safeguarding officer. Health & Safety consultant. Property manager. Fundraiser. Website editor. Social media presence. Chair of meetings that could have been emails, except the emails would also have been meetings.
Somewhere along the line, the Church decided these two roles could be combined, provided the vicar was “resilient”, “flexible”, and “good with people”. Also available 24/7, omniscient, emotionally indestructible, and oddly cheerful about damp.
I interviewed other clergy. They were writing sermons at 11pm on Saturday. Feeling guilty about parishioners they hadn’t visited - most of whom had not even asked for a visit, but expected their vicar to know that they wanted one. Googling “how to chair a PCC meeting without losing the will to live”. Several were on antidepressants. All were tired. None were surprised.
Here’s the punchline. When clergy stop doing some of the frantic admin… almost nobody notices. The Church does not implode. God does not resign. The biscuits still arrive.
Which suggests that much of what exhausts clergy is not mission-critical, but anxiety-critical. It makes us feel in control. And control is very comforting when faith feels risky.
This is not a sob story. It’s a farce. With theology.
Priests are not ordained to be ecclesiastical Swiss Army knives. We are not the spiritual equivalent of “have you tried turning it off and on again?”. We are called to pray, to think, to listen, to preach, to preside — and to help everyone else discover that *they* have ministries too.
The Church does not need busier vicars. It needs braver churches. And fewer emails marked “just one more thing”.
Right. Enough reflection. I have a meeting about reducing meetings.
Pray for me.
Or cancel something.
Both are sacraments.
Tim
Rev Dr Tim Keen
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This is an archive story, re-presented (and slightly updated) for newer members of The Faithful.
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Enjoyed your visit to Havnot?
St Faithful’s is fictional. The affection is real. The meetings, regrettably, are plausible.
If you would like more parish life, more Horse, more Dobbs, more theology smuggled in under nonsense, more books, more chaos, or a mug that quietly suggests you have survived a PCC meeting, everything begins here:
https://www.tomkennar.com
That link will take you to Canon Tom’s books, e-books, audiobook, merchandise and Substack, all gathered together in one alarming but useful place. This includes Volume 7 of The Parish Life, which has recently been released on an unsuspecting world.
Print books are also available — in person only — from St Faith’s Charity Shop, 4 North Street, Havant.
A note on AI: ChatGPT — known in Havnot as Artie Fischal — is often deployed to help shape, sharpen and illustrate these posts. The drafting, judgement, occasionally smuggled theology, bad parish memories, and publishing responsibility remain entirely human.
