RETIRING FROM RETIREMENT

It was in 2010 that I retired from full time parochial ministry. For the past fifteen years I have exercised a retirement ministry locally here in our three Team Churches, and sometimes further afield. I have enjoyed it enormously and found it very fulfilling. Thank you for allowing me to minister amongst you. As I reach my 80th Birthday, I think it is time now to “retire from retirement”.

During the months of lockdown during Covid, when our churches were closed, I put in place our YouTube Channel and each Sunday our Team’s ministers would contribute to an act of worship which enabled us to share our fellowship together although we were apart. That on-line Ministry continues today with our Team Quarterly Magazine, and this is something I will continue to produce in my “second retirement”.

Names and labels can be important for they remind us of what we are about – or should be – as Christians. Although I will no longer hold the Bishop’s Licence to officiate, my Ordination bestowed on me the title of “Priest” – and this is a lifelong designation. I have never considered myself to be a particularly priestly person – if you know what I mean, but my understanding of what it means to be a priest comes from the Latin derivation of that word – namely “pontifex”…...“bridge builder”.

It is the privilege of the priest (and yes others as well!) to be that link, that bridge between God and the people. Such “bridging” takes various forms, be it in the celebration of Holy Communion, the services of baptisms, weddings and funerals, getting alongside people at their most needy and intimate moments and giving them that assurance of God’s love and presence with them at that time.

Although I will no longer carry on now with these priestly duties, I will always be a minister, and like you, our Christian faith calls all of us to have a ministry of love and care for others. You don’t need to be ordained to be a minister – it is something that should flow naturally from us out of our love for Jesus who came among us as One who serves. I look forward to continue being a minister.

Thank you for allowing me to be a Priest and a Minister amongst you over these past fifteen years.

When leaving previous Parishes, people would often say some appreciative things. There is just one word of appreciation that has stayed with me…... Someone said to me “Thank you for being here, you have made Jesus more real to me”. If I have achieved that in just one person’s life here in our Team Churches, then my retirement ministry has been blessed.

Incidentally, I’m not going anywhere else.

See you around!