Friendships Forged: Rev Darren Lynch reflects on Clergy School

The email comes in: ‘Clergy School 2024!’ Trepidation reigns as I read further down. Last one was to Santiago De Compostela. I’d never been abroad before that, so cautiously I read on. ‘We’re going to York’ the announcement continues.

‘York?’ I cant help following that thought up with. ‘Well… it ain’t Spain, but ok’. So next step, I Google where we’re going… ‘oh boy… am I reading this right? 7 hours away?’ I sigh resignedly. Of course we have to be there, then I look at the dates. Ascension Day falls while we’re away. Of course I’m confused by this but I’m expected to be there and be there I shall.

It strikes me that the last time I went on one of these I was just an ordinand. Now I’m here, a priest.

The journey is not lost on me.

….

So the big day comes, away we go. The journey itself is surprisingly comfortable and feels like it goes fairly quickly. I was picked up from Pontypridd- my sending church is there so it’s nice to be back. Then there’s the banter, colleagues I haven’t seen for a while. The journey, dare I say it?… It’s fun!

It’s then we hear that the coach bearing our colleagues has lost its air conditioning- gratefulness washes over our coach, gratefulness and sympathy.

Understandably checking into the hotel is an operation in itself with over 100 of us, but a few well minded souls have set up a kiosk to move us as quick as possible. There we pick up room keys and I make my way to my room.

Now dear reader, I’m still in my NLM phase. So you develop a sixth sense for accommodation being on the road as much as I am. I have a good feeling about the Radisson. Sure enough I find my room 210. It’s spacious, clean, the bed is huge! Then I see it… can it be? Air conditioning! To say I was excited is a slight understatement.

With an effort I tear myself away from my lovely, if not arctic, room. I head down to our opening address. It’s at St Mary’s, a small church not far from the hotel- it’s a little known fact about me that after a cancer battle in 2014, the mobility in my left leg is massively reduced and walking a great distance is frankly, impossible due to pain.

Still, the opening church is not massively far away and after taking my time I’m able to get there ok. I take a seat at the front (punishment for being late, we Anglicans always fill up from the back after all!) The evening prayer is ok but what really strikes me is the singing. We have some very good singers in this diocese of ours. Sadly, I’m not one of them.

Then it’s time for the opening addresses… Clergy School 2024 has begun!

….

My first night passes uneventfully, I can’t say I sleep well because I never do the first night away from home. Still, I rise early and go for breakfast with a dear friend. Then it’s onto our first Mass of the week. I am struck by just how beautiful the churches here in York are. This morning it’s St Olaves. The Mass is wonderful and some of the readings are in Welsh - always a good thing.

Next, the first of our taught sessions. I’m not going to go into them too much here but sufficed to say, they’re informative, educational and they all sit around the theme of Ascension: what it means for modern ministry. There was me worrying about missing Ascension!

The rest of Wednesday passes fairly uneventfully. I try walking into town a few times to get to various events and whatnot that’s laid on. Understandably these little 5 and 6 minute walks… they start to add up. The leg starts to moan at me but I persevere. I don’t want the pain to stop me enjoying Clergy School.

Wednesday night we head to the restaurant Turtle Bay. A small but varied group of us. It’s here I try my first ever goat curry. Tasted like lamb. It’s also here I cement a friendship with one of the colleagues I’ve not met before. I also get chatting with a waiter who looks a lot like Jack Sparrow.

It’s a great night and we head home to our hotel. I check in at home and head to bed. The night's sleep is better- naked man knocking my door at 2am notwithstanding.

I rise early on Thursday and we head out for breakfast again. Now Thursday is a little different. We have lectures in the morning but in the afternoon there are activities to local centres. Some of us take a river cruise, some of us go to the railway experience. Me? I go to the Jorvik Viking Centre. Fully aware that they might not actually let me leave!

It’s an informative, enjoyable afternoon and I find myself engaging with more than one cast member ‘in character’ speaking as a Viking may. Finally, I spend far more than I planned at the gift shop and head back to the hotel. The walk back is hard - by now my leg is screaming at me. Still, I bite down on the gum shield, as it were, and persevere.

Then in the evening there’s the gala meal. The walk there is hard but the evening is fun, after that a few of us head to a Viking bar. Valhalla. Needless to say, I find my people twice in one day. It’s a great evening and we head back to the hotel. I can’t pretend the mead doesn’t help the walk a little.

The night is the best in terms of sleep since I arrived - typical for me really. I awake refreshed and oddly saddened by the fact it’s my final day in this lovely city. We head for breakfast and our final session.

It’s in this session that I have my major epiphany and the teaching of the week falls into place for me. After this we have our final Eucharist. I’m naughty though, I skip it and push myself one final time. I walk to the Warhammer store in town. I have a lovely chat with the girl who works there, about miniatures, faith and what makes a priest in 2024.

Finally, having waited to fulfil this ambition, I push myself on the walk back… I am limping heavily by the time I arrive back at the hotel but I’m happy. It’s a good hurt (if such a thing is possible).

I’ve done a lot and seen a lot in a week I would never have experienced without the diocese.

After this we have lunch and then head to the coaches, it’s a long trip home but the new friendships I’ve forged are in full flow on the coach. We laugh and exchange war stories. Finally, arriving back in Pontypridd late, tired, but happy.

Over the next few days I found myself reflecting. Ascension is a gift. The Ascension of Christ was not just a gift for humanity then, but for now, and for always too. Ascension… it struck me that we only really understood it, we only really missed it when we were away. For so many it’s just when we stop using the Paschal candle.

This year though, it took on a whole new meaning, not just us as a diocese, but us as followers of Christ.

We understood it, we realise we need it just that little bit more in 2024.