July 2009

Dear Friends

'The time has come', the walrus said, 'to speak of many things', and indeed the time has come, for me to write my last magazine article for the group and to say 'goodbye'. By the time you read this article I will only have a very few short weeks left before the removal vans arrive and start loading up. The time has also come though for me to say some very big 'thank you's', to Bob for his patience, understanding and training over the last three years, to all of you for your welcome, acceptance and, most of all, for the privilege of being able to minister amongst you. I will leave here at the end of July, grateful for all that I have received and learnt, sad at leaving all of you behind and yet very excited and thrilled (and terrified at the same time), to be called by God to serve him in the Bredenbury Benefice. And that is where my final thank you has to lie, a thank you to God that he knows and has called me by name and loves me with an everlasting and unconditional love, just as he does each and every one of us. God's calling for each of us will be different but he invites each of us into a journey of relationship with him, and as I take the next step in my journey, I want to offer the chorus of one of my favourite hymns, One more step along the world I go, as a prayer for all of us;

And it's from the old
I travel to the new;
keep me travelling
along with you

With my love and prayers,