The Henson Journals
Sun 30 November 1930
Volume 51, Page 183
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Advent Sunday, November 30th, 1930.
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It was on just such a bright morning as this that I was instituted to the Vicarage of Barking on Advent Sunday, (December 2nd 1888) 42 years ago. Everybody who took part in that service, & my friends who attended for love of me, are all (except Eyre) dead now, and I alone remain. "Lord, let me know mine end".
I celebrated Holy Communion in the Chapel at 8 a.m. There were 9 communicants, including William and three Brydens.
I prepared notes for a sermon in Coundon. During the afternoon I walked round the Park, and was rewarded with a noble sun–setting. I was letting my thoughts run back over the 42 years since I received the charge of Barking. It is a story of brave beginnings, and futile endings, & it leaves no permanent achievement whatever. Oxford, Bethnal Green, Barking, Ilford, Westminster, Durham, Hereford and again Durham. Always I make a good start, and arouse high hopes, and always, after an interval, I grow weary, lose interest, & turn away. If I had the task of writing my own obituary notice, I should address myself to analysing this strange persistence in instability. So many opportunities, and as many disappointments. "Unstable as water thou shalt not excel" says the Bible.
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Ella went with me to Coundon, where I preached at Evensong in the parish church, which now presents a "smart" appearance, having been "done up", and "made quite safe" by the mining Company. There was a large congregation which, however, was in great part composed of C.L. Brigade, Boy Scouts, and Girl Guides. The choir, consisting of men, women, and boys, rendered an anthem with zeal, but I took the impression that the Vicar, who grows to be deaf and toothless, counted for little with the choir. I preached an Advent Sermon from the text from the Gospel of the day. "And when He was come into Jerusalem, all the City was moved saying Who is this?" The sermon occupied about 40 minutes in delivery, but certainly I could not discern any sign of weariness in the congregation, though Ella evidently thought it too long, as she talked suggestively about the value of wrist–watches for preachers! The intuitive sympathy of women in general, and wives in particular, is truly wonderful! How subtly they match themselves to specific situations, and carry comfort to the minds of the least meritorious!