The Henson Journals

[225]

22nd Sunday after Trinity, October 31st, 1926.

A bright but very cold day. The winter has made an early start, and a severe one. It must mean much distress among the very poor in the great towns, who have no opportunity of stealing coal or wood, and cannot possibly pay the monstrous price at which coal is being offered by the merchants.

I celebrated the Holy Communion in the Chapel at 8 a.m. There were seven communicants including James. The morning sun made the Chapel look glorious.

All the morning I laboured at a sermon for the night, but with woeful poor result. "A heart like a walnut, & a mind like a rag–bag" is an almost photographically accurate description of my state. Prayer–book revision is an ill preparation for preaching.

I motored to Shildon for the Evensong at 6 a.m. [sic] There was a crowded church, and a hearty service with abundance of rather noisy singing. But my sermon was a total & abject failure. Most of it was over the heads of the congregation. The little they could understand was odious to them! I had to leave out some of it, and even so it was vastly too long. Had I taken no pains at all, but merely "gassed" conventionally, with some "sob–stuff" thrown in, the people would have been delighted! Of course, they are very ignorant & simple in spite of the Council Schools. I doubt if there were even half a dozen people in the congregation who could have followed an argument. What a fool I am to bother about preparing sermons at all!

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