stand up sit down

I do not like thee Dr Fell
I think you're rather weird
One day you fell into a pond
And everybody cheered

That came from one of my students last week. For US readers who may not know it, a 'pasty' is a kind of semi-circular pie, hence

I do not like thee Dr Fell
I think you're rather nasty
I think you want to chop me up
And put me in a pasty

Some of the children wanted him to eat a poison pasty. For more Dr Fells, please see the awesome blog comments.

The Methodist Churh has a quaint terminology. Ministers about to retire are required to ask the permission of Synod (ie big churchy meeting) to 'sit down', hence the question always asked at Synod at this time of year - 'will all those seeking to sit down please stand up'. (As far as I know, nobody has ever been refused permission to sit down, but there may be a poor old Reverend somewhere with very tired feet.) Tony stood up with the rest, and they all got the chance to say their piece.

Tony talked about what he'll miss about ministry, and what he really won't. There are aspects of ministry - caring, teaching - that he will be glad to continue. On the other hand, if anyone asked him to fill in another form he'd climb on the roof and try to hide head first down the chimney. (This would be a very silly idea because the standard sized Methodist minister is wider than the standard sized British chimney and most of him would be sticking out at the top.) After he'd finished his speech his colleagues all said nice things about him, which is lovely, but it will make it so hard to leave our friends in this valley.

However, he will continue to challenge injustice, lazy thinking, greed, and all destructive attitudes. Come August, he'll sit down. But he'll still be rocking the boat.