Contribution from a list of clergy I subscribe to…

Years ago I was on a “settlements committee” and we were in the last stages, and were interviewing the candidate we were about to recommend. Other members of the committee asked some rather strange questions which were in hindsight helpful but at the time I bristled.

One was “will the manse be available for church meetings?”

The manse in question is next door to the church with no fence between them, and previous ministers had used its large lounge/dining room extensively for committee meetings. But there is no separate dining room, nor any door to close between the lounge, front door and main corridor, and the small family room is really part of the kitchen, so the whole house is dominated by this usage.

The candidate’s wife was also present. She replied, “Of course. The manse is our home. It is just as available as the home of any other member of the congregation.”

Well put, I thought.

[Name withheld].