A big thank you to Becky, Ruth and Leah for covering this magazine slot so admirably these past three months of my sabbatical. You’re stuck back with the Vicar now.
In having the privilege of taking such time out, I’ve observed other things that take time. Making whisky, for example! Whilst you’re reading this, rainwater is slowly filtering through peat and rock in far-flung places en route to becoming whisky, or resting for years in oak barrels. (Surprisingly, perhaps, the photo isn’t from my Scottish travels but from Brighton!)
I’ve travelled through time itself it feels. Armed with an Ordnance Survey Map of Ancient Britain –
and sparked by our very own Payhembury parish having had a neolithic settlement at Hembury Fort – I’ve visited an amazing range of ancient sites, from the Gower peninsular to northern Scotland. The photo is of an extraordinary neolithic burial stone called Dwarfie Stane on the Orkney island of Hoy. Dumped by a glacier on a remote hillside, people 5,000 years ago hollowed out a burial chamber inside it, using just stone or bone tools. Mind-boggling patience as well as skill! You can crawl gymnastically inside the 1m-high chamber.
Back home, and last month we marked the end of a local epoch. David Lanning has been churchwarden since what feels almost neolithic times. Huge thanks go to David, and 
Sheila alongside him, for 20 years’ wise, dedicated and caring service as warden, and more before that in other capacities. He isn’t unlike a well matured malt whisky himself.
Through all these things God flows – carving, shaping, permeating life. As we head towards this autumn, with the joys and challenges the world throws at us, may we be blessed with patience to take the long view, our endeavours endure like an Orkney stone, and the Spirit of Life mature us all like a best malt.
