four days on

wonderfulexchange4 Comments

Still tired.  Months of uncertainty taking their toll.

But, I’ve moved beyond Mamma Mia and Bridget Jones to take solace in paint chips and poetry.

So, tonight, an offering from Louise Gluck:

Snowdrops

Do you know what I was, how I lived? You know
what despair is; then
winter should have meaning for you.

I did not expect to survive,
earth suppressing me. I didn’t expect
to waken again, to feel
in damp earth my body
able to respond again, remembering
after so long how to open again
in the cold light
of earliest spring–

afraid, yes, but among you again
crying yes risk joy

in the raw wind of the new world.

Louise Gluck
The Wild Iris

changes

wonderfulexchange18 Comments

Well it has been quite a week.

In the past ten days I have:

  • been offered and accepted a new post
  • been granted indefinite leave to remain in Britain
  • told three congregation I’ll be leaving
  • spoken to  almost everyone I care most about at length and sometimes several times over

Perhaps, then, you can see why the blog has been limping along with minimal attention.

I knew that there would be a tumult of emotions this week — real excitement at the opportunities that are opening up, sorrow to be leaving people here, and concern for what will come next for the congregations I have been serving.   Not my problem, you say?  Well, no.  But there is so much good here, and I want to see it continue even if I can’t be a part of it for much longer.

St Mary’s, Dunblane offers me fabulous opportunities.  The people I met in interview were enthusiastic about the church, and learning to be articulate about their hopes and plans for the future.  There are children there.  And people my own age.   And all sorts of people, really.

There is a lovely church building, a hall that surpasses anything one would dare to imagine, and a rectory right there in the centre of town.

It is one church, one place; no ferries required.

There are roads (with 2 or even 4 lanes) and train lines.  I will be be able to give Molly her breakfast, and be with my godchildren for lunch — and back again by midnight if need be.

It feels good to be returning to the St Andrews diocese, and to join in the diocesan vision that +David has been unfolding.

I am only ready for this because of all that my current congregations have taught me.  And I am fast realising how much they have yet to teach, as I engage in this transition which is new to me, but all too familiar for them.

So, now you know.  And all requests ‘not to tell” have been lifted.  Comments are open again, as are possibilities.