Reepham Benefice

One of the things I miss living in Norfolk is our regular trips back to Oxford where we lived for a time. And I was reminded of this the other day when I was looking for something in an old jacket and I came across an old white silk pocket handkerchief that I hadn’t seen for ages. And it took me right back to those dreaming spires and in particular a Gentleman’s fitters in Turl Street just off the High, where I bought this small piece of white square silk for the handsome sum of 50 pence.

Now I always make a point of visiting this shop whenever we go back, often only to browse as it’s the sort of shop that sells those items of quality where the price doesn’t always match what a clergyman receives for his stipend, or certainly what’s left of a stipend after all the bills have been paid. But nevertheless, just occasionally, when the sales are on a real bargain can be found. Just like my 50p silk pocket handkerchief.

Now you might think that entering such an establishment and passing with only with a 50 pence piece might cause some consternation with the staff there. After all, when the man in front of me in the queue spent over £700 on a tweed suite and a new pair of brown shoes which were carefully wrapped with the words “Thank you sir”, you might think the shop assistant would be rather fed up with a scruffy clergyman standing there holding a single silk handkerchief with a 50 pence price tag on and might want to screw it up, throw it in a bag and get rid of this individual and let the person behind be served, who had again a large armful of clothes. Not so. I too was called “Sir”, my handkerchief was wrapped up a tissue paper and placed with the utmost dignity into a bag. I realised that what I had spent in financial terms had no bearing on this last bastion of traditional English customer service. I was made to feel that I’d spent £500 and that I was the one who the shop assistant had got out of bed that morning to serve. And all I had done was bought a 50p pocket handkerchief.

In our New Testament reading this morning we were given a dire warning. On this Sunday, the Sunday before Advent, we celebrate the fact that Christ is King and we come to the end of the church’s year.