Scams, Phishing, phone calls and Facebook.. and SAFEGUARDING

In a nutshell – safeguarding is about good discipleship and loving one another as Jesus commanded. Please do read on…. and join the party helping to protect the vulnerable.

The Covid Pandemic seems to have fuelled the intensity of effort of those people who want to part us from our money without any thought as to the long term consequences of their thefts. Those people with dementia but still independent or the very lonely are particularly vulnerable.

In the last week I have again encountered

the belligerent and demanding woman with an Indian accent claiming to be from BT. whose main aim is to convince people to allow them to put an app on their computer to ‘help’ where actually it s there to steal banking details.
The cheery greeting who needs a favour from a Facebook ‘friend’ who is actually someone who has copied the name of an account and used some of the photographs from it. (advice on protection from that below)
A phone call from a friend worried about a threat that came up on her computer urging the recipient to press a certain link to sort it out – of course that would have led to stealing the details but she very wisely deleted it immediately. Those can be really scary!
A fake email from an account pretending to be our rector! That I reported to <report@phishing.gov.uk>; but presumably would have been a request for money eventually had I replied.
an email from ‘Royal Mail’ for a parcel they could not deliver wanting me to log on to a fake site in which to pay my re-delivery fee.
One from Lloyds bank, (I do not have an account there) telling e to press a link to check a security issue.
three social media friendship requests purporting to be from scantily clad young women offering ….. er all sorts. (deleted and blocked!) Learning how to block is an important part of online safety.
and a dozen more……..

And if they don’t want to scam online their are the false vaccine hoaxes, the demands for money for a Covid test and the good old fashioned call at the door to sell you a substandard service that you don’t really need

These are real safeguarding concerns for all those people who are new to technology or who are vulnerable and all of us Safeguarding savvy folk should be promoting ways of keeping safe and keeping an eye on our vulnerable folk. I know safeguarding sounds like a box-ticking exercise but please think about doing the online courses which are all free to do: https://trurodiocese.org.uk/resources/safeguarding/training-safeguarding/

Safety online – Using Facebook- for all of you who do. This is potentially quite a serious safeguarding issue if people are fooled.

A useful tip: It is a good idea to go to the settings tab little down arrow just along from your picture top right… select privacy and then set your friends so that only you can see them. There are folk making clones of accounts to pretend to be folks they are not …. if you hide your friends list it makes it harder for them to message people you know, Just occasionally put your name in search and you can see whether someone has copied your account and used some of your pictures

On The Way….

Working with Schools at a Distance CMD Tuesday morning. Faith at Home

Celebrating 25 years of Reader Ministry in the Church of England 04.02.1996 – 04.02.2021.

All Saints Highgate, London Diocese 1996 to 1999; St. Georges

Badshot Lea, Guildford Diocese 1999 to 2006, All Saints Tuckingmill, Truro Diocese 2006 – ongoing.

Into the valley of Tesco Click and Collect rode the Vauxhall Meriva……. but it nearly did not happen this week.

The day before the collection time I turned the key in the ignition, the engine gave a half-hearted chug and not so much died as just did not even think about living! The battery was dead even though it had been on the charger for a couple of days. So the RAC was called.

Our own batteries get very heavy use at this time of year through January and February – the darkest part of the winter and little chance to re-charge. There is still so much uncertainty in this time of pandemic and we can’t even plan holidays and things to look forward to to provide the light at the end of the winter tunnel. I for one am not booking bed & breakfasts and leaving deposits or purchasing tickets for the RSC in Stratford.

My own batteries last week felt decidedly depleted although I managed more than the ‘Meriva’s ‘chug’ and refusal to do anything. My recharging prayer walks have been curtailed by the lack of light and by the weather and I have been aware of ongoing lack of physical hugs from children and grandchildren- the screen is not quite the same as a pile of kids on the sofa for a story.

Then there is the draining business of the news which seems to delight in as much doom and gloom as it can dredge up from the depths. Racism in football, violence in homes, blind prejudice in the church, Covid…. always Covid and its consequences. The mad the bad and the ugly or the anti-vaxxers, the conspiracy theorists who blame 5G wireless, or that Covid is a hoax, or those who dont care and party on without a care for others.

And, amidst all that there are life’s standard woes of folks getting older, needing operations and specialist treatment and sometimes not able to get it. Is it any wonder we become alarmingly aware of our own mortality?

So how do we recharge? What is the equivalent to the RAC for replacing or recharging our worn batteries?

In the depths of last week, just an email from my spiritual director asking if I needed a chat put me on an upward trajectory…. just knowing I could off-load and praying about what I should talk about to them .

When we are really low the constant trickle charge of the solar powered office prayers are often not enough and a defibrillator charge of the heartfelt arrow prayers are needed, the ones where words are hard to find and are not really needed! You need to give yourself space… somehow! The temptation to stay on the treadmill of busy task-driven lives of service because we are needed is great – but as I was always taught doing St John’s Emergency Aid courses, “look after yourself first because if you become the emergency you will make the problem worse.”

So what we need is a positive charge – and an escape from the negative, the things that wear us down, the things that make us cross, the things even, that might make us feel a bit guilty for judging too harshly.

Do you remember the old dynamos they had on bicycle wheels for powering the lights? No real extra effort to the pedaling cyclist! In looking for the positive ourselves maybe with no extra effort we are also helping others to do the same.

so this lent my challenge is to take up being more positive, more thankful and ore praising; to look forward to longer days, better weather and brighter news. I am not aiming to give up anything….. but I might try to moan less or to rehearse my woes!

It is worth reminder about the Richard Rohr Blog /Newsletter which comes daily of you sign up.

This week is all about Unknowing: Here is Friday’s letter…..

Descriptions of the “dark night of the soul” from the Spanish mystic John of the Cross (1542–1591) have become the marker by which many Christians measure their own experience of unknowing. He fits an entire life spent exploring God’s mystery into memorable poetry, and even dares to call unknowing “an ecstasy”! Here are several stanzas from his poem “Stanzas Concerning an Ecstasy Experienced in High Contemplation”:

1. I entered into unknowing

Yet when I saw myself there

Without knowing where I was

I understood great things;

I shall not say what I felt

For I remained in unknowing

Transcending all knowledge.

. . . .

4. He who truly arrives there

Cuts free from himself;

All that he knew before

Now seems worthless,

And his knowledge so soars

That he is left in unknowing

Transcending all knowledge.

. . . .

6. The knowledge in unknowing

Is so overwhelming

That wise men disputing

Can never overthrow it,

For their knowledge does not reach

To the understanding of not-

understanding,

Transcending all knowledge. [1]

John’s poetry is exquisite in its humility—knowing that he does not know, can never know, and doesn’t even need to know! He goes so far as to call this dark night “a work of His mercy, / To leave one without understanding.” [2] John’s teaching contains paradoxes that are difficult to absorb, but modern readers have the good fortune of many good translations, including that of Mirabai Starr. Like the other friends whose work I have shared this week, Mirabai knows the via negativa, the way of unknowing, personally and intimately, and describes what happens between the soul and God in the “dark night:”

The soul in the dark night cannot, by definition, understand what is happening to her. Accustomed to feeling and conceiving of the Beloved in her own way, she does not realize that the darkness is a blessing. She perceives God’s gentle touch as an unbearable burden. She feels miserable and unworthy, convinced that God has abandoned her, afraid she may herself be turning against him. In her despair, the soul does not recognize that God is teaching her in a secret way now, a way with which the faculties of sense and reason cannot interfere.

At the same time that the soul in the night of spirit becomes paralyzed in spiritual practice, her love-longing for God begins to intensify. In the stillness left behind by its broken-open senses and intellect, a quality of abundance starts to grow inside the emptied soul. It turns out that the Beloved is longing for union with the lover as fervently as she has been yearning for him. . . . God will whisper to the soul in the depth of darkness and guide it through the wilderness of the Unknown until it is annihilated in the flames of perfect love. [3]

It’s amazing what we have collected in our “much watch this” – or “much watch this again” so we’ll record it on the box list….. Awaiting us …. sometime are Singing in the Rain, Swallows and Amazons, Paddington, and some old cop shows that got a bit violent and dark and we did not watch the end of the series. Oh and Montelbano- the wonderful Italian detective with subtitles that you have to be in the mood for or one falls asleep and misses out chunks of the plot.

It all promises that one day there will be time, one day the grandchildren will return to be looked after and ask, “May we have a snack?” and “Can we watch something?”

In the meantime we continue to be as careful as we can and try and stay healthy! Look after yourselves!

Permission to Officiate..

My Tesco click and collect is now booked up to the week before my birthday reminding me that I will be one year way from my three score and ten when in the eyes of the church all ministers lay and ordained suddenly have to have a different licensing system presumably because of our encroaching decrepitude.

As we have readers who are doing a wonderful job in their 90s it does seem something of an anachronism to draw this line.

Now that all Readers have to be relicensed every five years (personally I think it should be three yearly to go along with Safeguarding requirements) it would appear to make PTO an unnecessary piece of bureaucracy.

And Something About Relicensing......

The re-licensing process is vital to healthy ministry when approached with an open mind and heart and not merely a ‘tick-box’ irritation that must be endured.

the elements being:
Safeguarding
A Work Agreement

and the full support of the congregations in the cluster or benefice in which a Minister is serving as well as the approval of the incumbent and / or the Rural Dean.

The Work Agreement is really important and the best way of going about this is to download a sample and prayfully edit it to suit your capacity and the needs of the local situation. Once that is done it is time to speak to your incumbent or the Rural Dean in time time of transition. That discussion will include a review of your work, matching the needs of the local situation, training that you might need and where to find it and how you see your ministry progressing over the next three years.

Support of the local people is not just about the PCC passing a resolution, it is about whether your ministry among them is appropriate and valued although the PCC will have to give the formal nod as well. If you serve more than one PCC, they should really all give their approval.

AstraZeneca trial week 3:

So I did not have to have the Covid test but I did need to provide blood and the usual small plastic bottle of yellowish liquid as well as having my blood pressure and oxygen levels monitored. Apparently my BP is a bit on the high side (it always is whenever a practitioner gets anywhere near me) but my oxygen levels could not be better!

Well no symptoms or side effects thus far so I have either been injected with the placebo. or the antibody injections have not caused any problems…. I guess I will never know. I have to let the research team know when I have my appointment for a vaccination…. which I can still have, thank fully.

I wonder how many of us have tried to fix computer problems talking on the telephone in the past 40 weeks?

Yesterday – I actually went to an elderly parishioner’s home to fix her email issue. To ensure safety… she went for a walk with her dog which meant we could be suitably socially distanced and she has had both her vaccination shots so it seemed reasonable.

The fix involved finding a little Office 2007 program called scanpst.exe that lurks deep in the bowels of the hard drive. It worked thankfully and she was able to send emails to her daughter and the family once more. It underlined just how much of a life-line the computer has become to many folk. Age is not the barrier- just motivation to use the stuff and having the physical resources.

ZOOM has a function for remote help which works for some things…. but if the person has an old machine, or one that is being pushed to its limits its a dead loss.

Maybe we need some courses on helping folk get started, or keep using their technology!

Changing anything in church is tough.

moving a pew
a new setting for the Gloria
leaving the church open
Joining two or more PCCs into into one streamlined unit.
starting a youth group
etc

Some responses you might hear….

But you cant get rid of that pew, it was given in memory of…..
Leave it open? We tried that once and someone stole the flowers….
sing something different? but we only learned this one in 1972.
Join PCCs? but then St Selfish’s will have all the power- it’s not fair!

There are lots of tools to help with gentle change management but it all begins with changing the culture, and that begins with prayer. The SWOT analysis is an example….. many of you who work in change management in other organizations will have other resources…… I wonder if we need to make more use f this sort of stuff rather than suggesting change, getting the negative, defensive response and then trying to work our how to get round it.

The Morning Prayer Congregation Meeting each Day at 9a.m. on ZOOM!

Blogs, sermons and tricky letters are often composed whilst walking – recently the soggy nature of the footpaths has blocked a lot of routes….. but at least the county is not actually underwater as some folks are who have been evacuated from their homes. It must be especially woryying in a time of pandemic.

The 2nd appointment for the trial anti-body treatment for Covid was on Tuesday when I spent an hour in the Doctor’s consulting room. The first 5 minutes were handing in my sample and having another armful of blood taken in four different tubes. The next ten minutes were taken up with another covid swab, measurements for oxygen, pulse weight, height and BP and then a shot in each buttock…. 2 antibodies – 2 shots. The rest of the hour I read a book, chatted to the Doc about the value of medical trials and of being a Practice that trains and researches. Occasionally the site of the injections were inspected and I was offered a cup of tea while I waited. Friday as I write this and thus far no side effects that I can distinguish from all my normal ailments! But then there is a 1 in 3 chance I might have had a placebo….. I guess i will never know. Back next week for Day 8 tests.

Yesterday I had the sad news that Lesley Margetts who became a Reader in 1983 and served in the Saltash Team had died following her long struggle with illness in Derriford Hospital with her husband Richard and two sons at her bedside. Lesley was a wonderful example to us all, managing throughout the last few years to continue teaching Yoga, preaching and leading worship and even joining us for some Monday Morning Readers Chats online. She was Carrie’s predecessor as secretary to the Readers and so has an important place in the history of the Readers in the Diocese of Truro. Her wisdom, kindness and insight will be sadly missed. My prayers are very much with Richard and the boys as they prepare for times ahead.

So sorry to receive your email saying Lesley had died. I was last in touch with her in October when she was having more chemotherapy, always tough. She was an example to us, all I admired her fortitude and positive attitude – and she did such a good job as secretary to the Readers. Please convey our thanks for her life, well-lived and our sympathy to her family. Thank you.

Love Joy

Some Illustrations for Christian Unity

Dogs

There is an interesting article in the Church times this week about grieving for our pets Grieving our beloved pets (churchtimes.co.uk) (thanks Simon for getting me to look) …. Facebook has a feature of bringing back posts from past years which serve to rekindle the loss we felt, and also remind us of the joys they brought. Beneath in Simon Cade’s Meneauge and our Arlo in the background at the beach from 5 years ago when they were both still fit and full of giving.

Lez suffers from Restless legs…. and I suffer from….. well. Lez’s restless legs. She gets a bit fed up with having to get up and stretch her legs at night. My asthma is a bit irritating…. and we both have some arthritis….. It makes one prone to moan and creak and grumble and sigh.

The problem is that when you hear about people with problems that are far worse the temptation is to feel guilty about moaning. But guilt is a wasted emotion….. and a bit of moaning when your body won’t work the way it’s supposed to is fair enough as long as we don’t wallow in it ….. or set ourselves up as martyrs.

Grant yourself leave to have a moan occasionally, wallow a little but try and make a space for others who are in desperate need of our prayers and pleadings.

“A phase III Randomized, Double Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Multi-centre Study in adults to determine the safety and efficacy of AZD7442, a combination product of two Monoclonal Antibodies for pre-exposure Prophylaxis of Covid-19!”

On Tuesday I had the first of 7 appointments to take part in the AstraZeneca Covid antibody trial.

It has the wonderful title: “A phase III Randomized, Double Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Multi-centre Study in adults to determine the safety and efficacy of AZD7442, a combination product of two Monoclonal Antibodies for pre-exposure Prophylaxis of Covid-19!”

Appointment one was to take an armful of blood for analysis, a covid swab, a covid antigen test (which, with a prick of the finger and a drop of blood, showed within 15 minutes that I had not been exposed to Covid) and measures for height, weight, blood pressure and an electrocardiogram! So hopefully this Tuesday, I will be told I am fit enough to take part, give more blood samples, have more tests and be injected in the behind with either the medication or a placebo. There’s a two thirds chance of getting the actual stuff and instant immunity….. but I will never know so I won’t be taking any risks!

But it does seem very important to take part in a study which will ultimately help others and may well save lives. As a by product I may well get some immunity (though I have to wait 30 days before I can have a vaccine….. AND I get a medical MOT into the bargain.

Thank Goodness for Click and Collect

I hate shopping which means that lockdown and instructions to stay at home in the pandemic are something of a blessing for me. Tesco Click and Collect, however, has been something of a revelation! Once one gets the notion of booking a slot three weeks in advance and having a preliminary guess at what one might need then it becomes routine.

Wednesday morning at 7:55 we climb into the car, drive less than a mile to the Tesco Car Park where Will and his truck await. We pull into the bay and a cheery voice asks, “How the devil are we today?” Crates are piled to make a rough table for our shopping which we unload into our own crates or baskets.. “oh you’ve got a leak in that one!” comments Will…. “Where?” Asks Lez looking slightly alarmed. I lift out the pack of leaks and Lez groans and Will laughs.

“Take care, stay safe, see you next week!” calls Will as we set off back home. By 8:!) the bags are in the kitchen for Lez to do with as she will while I make the coffee.

The shops and supermarkets who have walked the extra mile to make life safer for us and especially individuals like Will who have a real notion that some of us don’t like bending down too far to get our shopping and need a cheery chat deserve a lot of praise and thanks. I suspect they get more abuse than praise- so I am going on a bit of a quest to see where one can leave good comments!

Thank you Lord for Click and Collect

For those who try to keep us safe in this time of pandemic

For those whose smiles are possibly te only ones that some lone souls might see in a day.

Amen

Transforming Ministry Magazine Digital Edition

FAQs

What do I need to tell our Readers/LLMs?

The digital edition of Transforming Ministry was announced in the Winter 2020 edition of the magazine (p.36) so many of your Readers/LLMs will already know about this. Now would be a good time to share some encouraging good news and inform them that, for 2021, subscribers through the diocesan scheme will have free access to the digital edition and all the added value material on the website.

Page-turning pdfs of each new edition
Option to read online or download to read offline
Fully indexed and searchable archive of Transforming Ministry (and its predecessor The Reader)
Over 500 book reviews plus extended reviews not available in the printed magazine
Online-only material such as seasonal resources and Advent and Lent features.

You will need to explain that to access this material they will need to register on the www.transformingministry.co.uk website using the voucher code in the Chaplain’s email.

You might want to mention that an individual Print + Digital subscription to Transforming Ministry for 2021 is £15, i.e. the diocese is giving them a gift worth £15 towards their continuing ministerial development.

When should I contact my Readers / LLMs

You could do it now. It might also be helpful to remind them about the free access to the online material at the beginning of January when the Spring 2021 edition of the printed Transforming Ministry magazine arrives through their letterboxes.

What exactly will Readers/LLMs have to do to subscribe and gain access?

Please include this information in your letter/email to Readers and LLMs.

Go to the transformingministry.co.uk website
Click on the MAGAZINE tab in the Navigation Bar at the top of the page
Hover over SHOP NOW in the Navigation bar
Select DIGITAL from the SUBSCRIPTIONS drop down list
Click on the green box ADD SUBSCRIPTION TO BASKET (at this stage it will show a charge because the discount code has not yet been applied)
Enter the code sent in the email in the grey COUPON CODE box then click the green APPLY COUPON box which will reduce the price to zero for the year
Click PROCEED TO CHECKOUT
Enter your personal details including your diocese
You will need to enter your debit or credit card details in order to proceed but you will not be charged. The subscription will auto-renew in a year’s time but you will receive an email in advance of the renewal date so you have the opportunity to cancel or change your subscription should you wish
You will then receive an email confirming the order and detailing how to download the digital magazine or view online. You will also be sent your login details and password (which you can change through your account on the website)
If you use social media, please follow us using the website links to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to keep up to date with news and information.

What will happen for digital magazine subscriptions in 2022?

It is too early to predict whether we will be able to continue this offer into future years. It may be necessary to ask individual Readers to pay an upgrade fee if they wish to retain access to the digital options.

Are you a Chaplain in a school, prison or other institution? Do you have experience of conducting home communion? Any other experience with ministry outside the church building?

As part of the post-licensing training programme for Readers who received their licenses last year, we are hoping to benefit from the wisdom of Readers who have experience of ministry outside the church building. This might be especially in administering Holy Communion or in conducting other services with those who, for whatever reason, are unable to attend services in a church building — but it is not necessarily confined to those things.

On Saturday January 30^th we will be holding a Zoom conference as part of the programme, and we hope to include this subject from around 2.00 to 3.00pm. Anyone participating may stay online for just ten minutes or so, or for the whole afternoon — which will end around 3.30 with Evening Prayer or some other suitable service. It is likely to shape up as a fairly informal sharing session, where Readers experienced in this area speak about sound practice, and answer questions from those on the training programme.

There is a wealth of experience and wisdom among Readers in our diocese; so Jim and I hope we will have several volunteers.

Please respond by contacting me at madams@tcd.ie

Martin Adams

(Reader in the Parish of St Illogan. Director of Post-Licensing Reader Training)