Dear Friends,

                            This will be my last letter as Bill returns from his Sabbatical on April 14th. I have enjoyed my time taking on extra responsibilities while Bill has been away and want to pay tribute to all the other people who have also done that little bit more. It has been a privilege to work with them.

                            All that said I shall also be relieved I think to relinquish the responsibility. It has given me a greater awareness of the District, which will hopefully enable me to be a better Deputy, but I am also aware I have not been a good example to others where days off are concerned.

                            In my Christian pilgrimage I am aware that it is when I tackle the new and the challenging that I feel closer to God. Perhaps when I have done things more than once and find I can do them I take for granted the help I get day by day from God. But when faced with a new situation I feel totally reliant upon God and in my experience God is always faithful.

                            That of course is not to say that I don’t make mistakes – I do and I have done during these last three months – however it is when we make mistakes, if we are honest enough to confront them, that we can learn from them. I always think that the difference between Judas and Peter was that Peter was able to confront his sin and Judas was not.

                            I love the story in John’s Gospel where Jesus asks Peter if he loves him and then commissions him to “Feed my Sheep” and concludes with “Follow me.” It is one of the stories that have helped me to continue in ministry when I know I have failed. Soon it will be Ministerial Synod, that occasion when, in the context of Holy Communion, we examine our ministerial vocation. This is a significant time when we affirm our calling to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. It is deeply moving and humbling as we confront again our ordination to the sole occupation of being “Christ’s ministers in the church” who are “stewards in the household of God and shepherds of his flock.”

                            However each one of us has a ministry given to us by God. As we minister together may God grant us the grace to fulfil that ministry to God’s glory.

God bless and keep you always,