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On Friday I was at my mother’s house. She needs full time care now, as she has dementia and no mobility and my younger brother who cares for her like a saint is away on holiday.

In the October November issue of the St Martin’s Review 1996 there is an article about Sibyl. The title of the article is “If in doubt ask Sibyl” That I think would be a very fitting epitaph for a woman who became a St Martin’s legend. Sibyl’s family connections with St Martin-in-the-Fields go back to 1910 when her mother Rose Saxby first began attending services here.

I live my life at something of a rush, and often more in the future than the present.  Even as I’m doing one thing at least half my mind is occupied with the next thing, or the one after that. But, occasionally, I get interrupted.

It’s going to be hard talking about weakness just after England won their World Cup match against Sweden yesterday. But then for those who know, in our home we also support Croatia, so as someone’s got to lose in the semi final they play on Wednesday, I think I can safely stay with the theme. Although with two horses in the race I also can’t lose!

Goodbyes can be hard.  As a young man, I recall having to leave Australia after a seven-month sojourn which had changed my life.  The family which had hosted me, came to see me off from the airport.  They’d loved me deeply, and I’d returned their love.

“For we walk by faith” says St Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians. But how easy is it to do that, to walk by faith? Is it even desirable? In the age of risk assessment and the increasing need for constant vigilance and accountability can we really afford to walk by faith?

There’s a great tradition in the Church of England. Perhaps most of the clergy, about all of the retired clergy, and a disturbingly large number of the laity, at some stage toward the end of the week or over the weekend, fumble their way towards the letters page of the Church Times.

Yesterday I returned to London after sharing the first two days of the pilgrimage to Canterbury. I am part of what is known as “the Steady Group.”