We have kept the desert island, but made the whole shebang super-difficult, by painting a carefully crafted scenario commensurate to the skills of the professionals and leaders to whom we put the question.
How will they respond? Will they be able to stand the pressure of ... David Loughrey's 'A Desert Island Conundrum'?
Dr Trevor James is the 12th Dean of St Paul's Cathedral, a man passionate about theology and literature. He even has a doctorate from King's College, London, on the work of James K. Baxter.
As Dean, he steers the ''mother ship'' of the city's diocese. Trevor's Desert Island Conundrum takes that ship far out to sea, where it drops him off on a desert island, and challenges him to: Name three things you would take to a desert island that has a Cathedral that has fallen into physical and congregational disrepair.
1 Wine. In honour of the first miracle and following the advice of the Apostle Paul, I would take a truly alarming amount of red wine to last the duration. The wine would of course be good for communion, but hopefully also to encourage me and the disrepairful congregation.
2 Barbecue. In honour of the miraculous feeding of the 5000, I would take a large gas barbecue. You can't grow a congregation or a community without food. On a desert island and in the shadow of a ruined cathedral, I can imagine repairing the congregation with generous barbecues (not forgetting a slosh of the aforementioned wine at the same time)!
3 Bible/Prayerbook.Finally, I would take a combined Bible and Prayer Book (you can buy these as one): the former has all the stories to stretch one's heart and mind; the latter has the language for the soul and the power to speak when my own words falter. The same holds true for the congregation: here are the stories and the vocabulary to restore identity and hope to a community.
