Be ready for an Adventure about to happen! 

*Christopher Robin was sitting outside his door,

putting on his Big Boots. As soon as he saw the

Big Boots, Pooh knew that an Adventure was

going to happen, and he brushed the honey off

his nose with the back of his paw, and spruced

himself up as well as he could, so as to look

Ready for Anything 

That's what I shall do: spruce myself up as

well as I can, so as to look 'ready-for-anything'.

There's nothing like a bit of lippy and a new frock to make a girl feel better – to face the wide, wide world. 

A colleague said recently that his first task in

his retirement would be 'to find himself'. As

clergy we carry a heavy burden of so many

expectations: those of the church, those of

parishioners and those of ourselves; and I am

now wondering if I'll ever find myself again

after being so long in parish ministry. 

Will I find that part of myself who painted and

pastelled and wrote poetry? Will I find the

real wife and the 'mother' in me, who cooked

and cleaned, knitted and sewed, brought up

children – will I now see my seven grand

children when I finally emerge from under all

the false expectations of being a 'vicar'? Will

I ever read a whole novel again, wear clothes

and shoes that aren't quite so practical and

mud-proof! 

The truth is that I simply don't know!  

It's all a bit of a do, an adventure is this retiring thing. And I am feeling rather ambivalent about it.

I shall always be a priest of God and it is a very great privilege to have this vocation: I like the everyday adventure of not knowing what God and his Church will throw at me. But now, as the days fly by, I think I should very much enjoy a bit of 'me time'. What I won't miss are all the times trying to lead forward the Church's mission in seven parishes without any effective means of communication and administration. 

Is 'civvy street' any better? 

I don't know! 

Yes, it's all going to be a bit of an adventure!

But it's all going to be an adventure for the

parishes too. For the foreseeable future the

Churches' ministry and mission will be

carried out by a House for Duty Priest

assisted by the Lay Readers and the Local

Ministers. Soon there will be an explanation

of what this will actually mean for the Digby

Group. It does mean that change continues

apace – not for the worse but to bring about

a transformation; and, hopefully, a new

expression of what the church is, and does,

will emerge. 

You may well have received this issue of this

magazine a bit late as I know it will have

been held back in order to, at least, publish

the service rota for May. 

Unlike the advice given in the book

*'Positively Pooh: A Book of Expotitions

and New Adventures', I won't be creating a

buzz before I go – just a bit of a party at

Ashby Hall after my last 10.30 Eucharist on

April 20th. It only remains for me to say,

thank you to God and to you for the good

times and seasons we have shared. God

bless you and may your God go with you.

*Create a buzz before you go

He trotted along happily, and by-the-by he

crossed the stream and came to the place

where his friends-and-relations lived. There

seemed to be even more of them about than

usual this morning, and having nodded to a

hedgehog or two, with whom he was too

busy to shake hands and having said 'Good

morning, good morning' importantly to some

of the others, and 'Ah, there you are,' kindly,

to the smaller ones, he waved a paw at

them over his shoulder, and was gone;

leaving such an air of excitement and I-don't-

know-what behind him .....

back to news page