Giving consideration to the kind of stairs you may have to climb when you are accessing the pulpit has never been high on the list of priorities when considering a charge. To be fair I’ve only been faced with three sets of stairs.

My first set were a wide solid stair, that entered a former free church pulpit. The pulpit was attached to the centre of the wall at the front of the church. There were no worries about climbing up and down as the stairs formed a straight line from the ground with a decent depth for length of stride. Side on to the congregation, even if you did stumble a little it was not in full view of everyone.

My second set have been a narrow wooden set of “Arts and Crafts” style stairs. Beautifully carved, with a bannister on one side only. Placed in front of the choir stalls, there was always the fear that you might fall into the sopranos on entry or exit. Other ministers covering often mentioned their feeling that there was a health and safety issue.

Today was my first Sunday as the minister, and only the second time of climbing these stairs. I think I need practice. I felt conscious of my clumsy descent, as I tried to work out whether to lift the cassock to allow safe passage. It was a bumpy manoeuvre around the corner with two feet on each step, before finally being able to take the straight at a normal stride.

It’s the strangest things that make you stop to think. I wouldn’t want my tumble down some stairs to distract from what it was we were supposed to be doing.