‘Seasons will pass
you by
I get up, I get down
From ‘Close to the
Edge’ by Yes (from the Album ‘Close to the Edge’)
There is little about my blogging
that will surprise anyone who reads these posts.
- I blog only very occasionally and haphazardly
- Notwithstanding that, I do tend to blog regularly in Advent
- I love this season of Advent and wish that the church was better at allowing Advent to be Advent and not simply an excuse to prematurely celebrate Christmas
- I use a lot of quotes from music (especially but not exclusively, rock music and particularly from that genre that is known as ‘progressive rock’)
- I reflect a lot on the different changes and challenges of life as the years pass
So, you can expect all of these
and more in this Season of Advent that began on Sunday past and which gives me
the opportunity, challenge, incentive to post some musings on my blog.
On Sunday evening, Jane and I
went to Glasgow Cathedral for the ‘Advent Procession’ led by the excellent Cathedral
Choir. I like the idea of this service which seeks to reflect something of the
journeying that is part of this season; the journey towards Christmas, the
journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem and so on.
That, in turn, caused me to
reflect a little on the journey of life (not a very original thought, I know!).
When I looked at what I had written
in my first Advent blog post of last year, I noted that in that post I was also
reflecting on the journey of life and speaking about my imminent retiral, and
musing on the opening of a new chapter in my life.
I am actually surprised that I wrote
that, for I have been saying to folks for over a year now that I do not consider
retirement to be a new chapter so much as a new season in life. Each
season brings something different with new opportunities and new experiences
and new things to give. So it is with this new season of my life both as a
grandparent and as a Minister (although not now in full-time parish ministry).
Those of us who are Ministers are
notorious for finding it difficult to give up work once we retire! That, it
seems to me, is no real surprise. While we may have retired from full-time work,
we have not retired from being ordained.
To begin with I felt a little ‘dislocated’
in retirement; as if I was not quite sure what this new season was for. Then I
got caught up into so much ‘church’ work I began to feel that I was doing retirement
wrong! But things are now clarifying, and I realise that in this new season I
can offer (and have been increasingly being given opportunities to give)
support to others in ministry. I suppose some of it is something like mentoring,
some of it is piratical support when folks in the parish are struggling in one
way or another and need someone to step int to do some things, and again some
of it is just being a supportive presence for those who may have been unwell or
who may be wrestling with some specific problem in Ministry. It is not quite
counselling, not quite coaching, not quite supervision… but it feel right and
it feels fulfilling.
And so it feels that this season of
my life may be a very fruitful season.
I am hoping that this Advent
Season will be fruitful too!
