The last time I attended an event in a church I was mysteriously smited as I crossed the threshold, finding myself bleeding suddenly and copiously from a flesh wound on my finger.
So it was with a certain amount of trepidation that I entered St Stephen's last Saturday morning. Even so, I was still surprised that my demeanour was so uncomfortable and my appearance so out of place that I was challenged on the doorway and asked if I had a ticket.
Did a cold wind blow and a strange pool of silence follow me in? Do I have a 666 tattooed on my forehead? Will I ever succeed in entering a church without incident?
What made it even more strange was there wasn't, in fact, anyone actually on door duty and , so far as I could tell there were no tickets.
Perhaps I was intercepted by an angel.
"I'm meeting a friend" I muttered, and it was with some relief that spotted my host at the far end of the room and hurried off, where I was made heartily welcome with bacon rolls, warm handshakes and no fewer than three croissants.
I was there to hear Ken Costa, successful investment banker and pillar of the church to talk about his new book and it was two hours well spent.
For me Costa was best on 'how to behave at work'. In this area he was authoritative - it was interesting how often he returned to the theme of picking your fights - working out which issues are really important and worth fighting for, or even resigning over, and which are issues where you just have to just accept that you are living in a less than perfect world. That was good advice. He was also very sound on the importance on profit, and the need to comfortable with it.
But then.... but then.... there was also a lot of strange ideas about God....
Perhaps I need to read the book.
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