Returning to Glasgow has been an
interesting, if somewhat strange, experience.
Not only have I returned to
Glasgow where I was born and raised and where my Ministry began, to (probably) end my Ministry, or at least the full-time
paid part of it.
But I have also returned to the
very place, congregation and building where I was nurtured in faith.
So much to reflect upon, process
and come to terms with in all of this.
One thing I have been thinking a
lot about is the seasons of life.
When I was first called to
Ministry, trained for Ministry and ordained to Ministry all these years ago, I
was full of hope and expectation. I was always looking forward to what might
yet be, to the Minister I may yet become, to what the Church might become.
Now not so much.
I suspect that this may be in part
because I fear and expect that the Church in Scotland has yet to travel a still
more difficult road in the years to come.
But it is also because, whatever
path the Church may take, while I will remain part of it, in a couple of years
or so I will no longer be so involved in shaping it. That task will be for
others.
Which is in itself a sobering
thought. But the baton must be passed on; the torch handed over.
For a while this disturbed and
disconcerted me. But not so much now.
In this more mature part of my
life there are different gifts I can offer. And I will.
Experience and wisdom do not give
me the right to interfere or keep an inappropriate hand on the levers of power
(if there are such, and if there are, was it ever appropriate to think we had control??)
But they remain gifts to offer by
way of encouragement, counsel and prayer when such things may be sought.
After a period of confusion as I
sought to come to terms with all of this, I now find myself at peace, and looking
forward to the next chapter which (after the couple of years of final activity)
will be less active, involved or hectic, but may yet be more fruitful in ways I
cannot yet see.
After all, the spring and summer
of my Ministry may now have passed. But autumn is the season of fruitfulness,
is it not?
