During the summer months it’s quite common to find in the newspapers little footnotes at the end of many of the usual features, with words like, ‘Robert McCrum is away.’ Journalists have holidays too! and some other writer has been found to write the piece, instead of the regular columnist.
I did hope to be able to see words like that at the bottom of this piece. As it is, I am having to write it myself, a fortnight early, because I shall be on holiday when the deadline for the Marston Times arrives. I’m writing it with my mind full of a daughter’s imminent wedding, and with no idea what may be topical or important for people to read about at the beginning of September. And although there are some aspects of the Vicar’s job that other people are able to deputize for - taking Sunday services, for example - there are other things that don’t get done if you’re not there. I’m sure there are people in the congregation who could be invited to contribute a piece for the front page of the Marston Times, but I didn’t think it was fair to spring it on them at short notice. So here I am.
The work of a vicar falls into an unusual, possibly unique, category. Most professionals nowadays live some distance away from where they work. Doctors, teachers, and others prefer not to be seen shopping or out in the streets, by their patients, students and so on; and there are many understandable reasons for this. The vicar still usually lives “over the shop”, often next door to the church or very near by, and his office is usually inside the home. This can have huge advantages. I used to hate commuting, so I’m very glad to be in a line of work where it takes me only two minutes to walk from home to the church, and only a couple of seconds to get into the office. On the negative side, there is no escape from feeling that the job is with you all the time, and there is always more that you could be doing.
Many other jobs make similar demands, and can equally never be finished. I can clearly remember, when I started work, how it was widely believed that by the year 2000 automation would make it possible for no one to have to work more than a 3-day week. Instead of which we have found that many people have no work at all, and those who are in work seem to be required to work insanely long hours. Far from freeing people, technology has made work even more demanding and time-consuming. People in Britain work longer hours on average than anywhere else in Europe, and productivity is lower. It seems incredible that no one has drawn the conclusion from this, that in order to increase efficiency we need to work fewer, not longer hours. One encouraging sign is that there is a greater emphasis nowadays on achieving a more healthy work-life balance; but all too often the demands of employers, and our preferred lifestyles, make that balance difficult to achieve.
In some ways, the work of a vicar, because it preserves older ways of working and thinking, provides a helpful model for improving other people’s way of working. First, it is often still called a vocation or calling, and there is no doubt that your working life can be vastly improved if you are fortunate enough to be doing something that you feel “called” to do, in the sense that it matches your skills and highest aims and values. Then, the money a vicar earns is called not a salary but a ‘stipend’. It does not really reflect the ‘market value’ of the work done, or the hours worked. It is meant to be enough to live on, so that a vicar is freed from having to be anxious about money. Without commenting on whether this works or not (!) it is a reminder that it can be helpful to concentrate on the nature or value of your work, rather than just on the amount of the financial reward.
Lastly, the integration of life and work that comes from living where you work and working where you live can be a healthy model. It is kinder to the environment, consuming fewer resources of time and energy. It may not be possible for everyone to make this choice at present, but surely it is one that future planners will have to take into consideration, with soaring environmental and energy costs. There are many ways in which one can learn the discipline of keeping some separation, as well as integration, between work and life. The answering machine, and a carefully preserved Day Off (and thank you, everyone who helps make this possible!) preserve the vicar’s and his family’s sanity.
So, the Vicar is not away. By the time you read this, he should be fully rested and back in action. And I hope you have all had a good holiday season too.
Published in the Marston Times, September 2006