Getting up at seven am to get to church in time for the early communion gave me time to consider my future options...
It was dark and dreary outside with little traffic on the road...was I balmy?
Why at my age was I going off to do an early service when most other people were still in bed?
I drew the conclusion that I was too old for all of this.
That thought stayed with me .
There were five people in the congregation...obviously insomniacs.
They were people I knew well and liked a lot...the Cunard cough only surfaced once and I got home feeling much better....
Now after a sleep I realise that age has little to do with this...later today is the Harvest festival , the time for giving thanks for the blessing of a good harvest and all that that involves...
The lovely man in charge of the church had taken the tinned stuff out of the arrangement next to the altar . When I left he was busy covering up the harvest loaf to keep the mice away..
It all added to the joy of ministry in this glorious place.
I am now old....I don't need to get through several services every Sunday but I will go on, health permitting for a little while longer...
It is a joy and a privilege to be able to do what I do and I feel much better about it..
Whilst I'm needed I go on...it's in Gods hands now not mine....
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1 comment:
I share your thoughts about going on. My privilege is to serve my parish in whatever way God sends me.And it is wildly varied. The times that I wear robes are rare, mainly when I preach twice a month onIye main service and one mid-week and leading evensong.
I am a year older now, and official retirement is only two years away, than PTO for 3 years at a time.
I know a Reader, Margaret who remains in active ministry aged 90. She mentored me when I first started and has been the mainstay in a two year vacancy in a five parish benefice. Being involved and leading 3 services each Sunday. She has an Ordained Daughter in ministry in London and an Ordained Son, in ministry in the midlands. Her husband a Vicar, died young and she brought up her children after retraining as a teacher and teaching until retiring at age 60, and trained as a Reader than. 30 years of active ministry - she has given much to the Church in service and looks strong and hale enough to continue for some years to come. She is my inspiration in so many ways. Yes, she can be forthright, and want to do things properly, but she is also resourceful with wide experience and can cope with anything. It is a pity that she wasn't ordained herself- she'd have been a blessed associate priest.
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