Faith in the community: Why I'm the wettest man in Portsmouth

I am the wettest man in Portsmouth. Because if you were in the prestigious PO6 area on Saturday 22 June, you might have visited the fabulous Paulsgrove Carnival, tirelessly organised by David Horne – and the summer fayre at the church where I serve, St Michael and All Angels.

And the summer fayre means that I, as the vicar, am shut in the stocks, wailing like a banshee, so the populace of Paulsgrove can pelt me with three sponges for £2.

If you’re flush, you can even pay £15 to chuck a bucket of water at me. I was still damp at Christmas after last year’s soaking.

But I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I hope it helps people see me as someone who takes God very seriously, takes them very seriously, but doesn’t take himself very seriously. So I might be more approachable, someone you go to in good times and bad.

Paulsgrove people often have hard stuff in their lives – but I’m privileged to hear their stories of resourcefulness, resilience and sheer goodness. It’s an honour to serve a place with such a strong sense of identity and community. Grovers are proud to belong to Paulsgrove.

People also often feel they belong to their church. That might be because they come to sit quietly in peace and light a candle. Or it could be because the building is where they’ve marked big stuff in their lives; births, marriages and deaths. It’s part of their family’s shared story.

But we also talk about St Michael’s as a family. It’s a place where all sorts of different people belong together – and care for and love one another, through thick and thin, whoever we are, whatever we’ve done, just like the best families.

Our church family is trying to echo the perfect love of God has for each one of us, most perfectly shown through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

In Jesus, God walked alongside us, celebrated and grieved with us - and died and came back for us. That means all suffering and death will come to an end and love will triumph.

Our job is to live in that light of that, not least by showing what the love of God looks like in our communities. And for this vicar at least, that means a community coming together at our summer fayre each June – and me soaked to the skin in the stocks.

ST MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS, Hempsted Rd, Paulsgrove, Portsmouth PO6 4ASwww.stmichaelspaulsgrove.org.uk