Apart from starting the day with a parcel from the postman (why do I always feel guilty answering in dressing gown when they have been at work since...?) it began with Radio 4, and as it drifted beyond 9 o'clock my ears pricked up at the programme about pubs. They were wandering around nearby to my patch, Shropshire/Herefordshire so I stopped to listen.
Tonight as I drove home from a meeting (in a village pub as it happens, the unofficial venue for many a community meeting) I heard the evening repeat of the same programme. It set off a range of thoughts that also relate to church life.
There are plenty of others who have commented on the confidente role of the publican and their team, as others have referred to hairdressers. They are exposed to people's raw emotions at time, the mood of the community etc. But what got my attention was one of the publicans who referred to challenge of a job with long hours, creating and maintaining a space for the community to gather, holding of confidences.
Is being a publican a community vocation? I heard issues similar to that of the churches, the importance of a place, of needing a love for the role that isn't about personal gain. Of the need to diversify yet without losing the essence of what the pub is. Of people protesting against closure of the local that they never attended when it was open.
Who are the ones who hear the heartbeat of the community, who picks up on the confessions, the pastoral tensions in the village? Who is the priest?
Or has the pub atmosphere got to me too much tonight? (Quote of the day: 'I like you, you don't take religion all serious')
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