Last Sunday was my last one as the Priest in Charge of the Parish of Patchway. It was both moving and humbling to have people speak about how my ministry here had impacted them. I was fortunate to be able to have Extended Ministerial Development Leave earlier in the year to try to wrestle with a sense of call on to somewhere new. I realise that in all my thinking and reading I only really scratched the surface of trying to process and understand all I had learnt here.
For the first time in almost twenty years I did not have that urgent sense of call to one specific place, usually in response to seeing an advert for a job on a website or in the Church Times. I looked and looked, but nothing jumped out at me. However, I also had the strong sense that it was time to move on.
This reminds me more of the lead up to moving to go to Theological College - a call to be somewhere and do something which was a means to a further end, rather than the end itself. Whilst that feels less certain, it also allows a significant sense of freedom. There is an offset in that in Clergy circles there are only a limited number of categories; full-time, self-supporting, house for duty or retired and I don't really fit into any of those at present. Hence the need to explain myself in a longer post than would normally accompany an announcement of a new post.
I am already enrolled to start an MA in Christian Spirituality at Sarum College, beginning in January. I spent many hours at conferences and teaching days at Sarum back in the day, so that feels like a return to known territory standing, as it does, across the Close from the Cathedral where I was ordained. I am intending to take my time with the MA and make the most of the gift of learning. Plans may change, but my current trajectory would be to focus on issues around well-being and what I learnt on my EMDL around a rule of life; something which touches back into the riches of the monastic traditions but also has a vibrant footing in contemporary ideas as well, not least what I have been learning from the Emotionally Healthy Leaders' podcast.
I will be ministering locally. I have not yet had a proper conversation with my new Bishop to determine if he has any thoughts or whether it is just to work locally to where we live. There is an important strand in Anglican orders about being rooted in a place and being authorised to serve - all wise practices for accountability and having good boundaries.
It is also important for us to be nearer family. Compared to many I know, we have come through lockdown relatively unscathed, but being distant from our closest family has been tough despite regular video calls.
Looking further ahead I am happy to see what comes along. I know that the mentoring work I began here with fellow Clergy, Ordinands and Curates was fruitful (for me and, I gather, from them) and so that is something I would want to develop if the opportunity arises. It also feels right to explore how we might share the gift we have in the farm and woodlands where we will be living with those for whom a couple of days away might be a blessing.
If you have been a part of the journey and learning that has got me where I am today then I can only thank you.
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