End of Term

Dear friends, 

At the first school assembly in September (or “Michaelmas Term” as it was mysteriously called at LRGS), and the last assembly of the Summer term, we sang the same soulful tune to meaningfully different words; 

Lord, behold us with thy blessing, once again assembled here...

Lord, dismiss us with thy blessing, thanks for mercies past receive... 

As a younger minister, I used to get into trouble with an elderly church member who had a “thing” about teachers. He didn’t like my teacherly way of dividing the church year into terms. “We’re not at school!” he barked. Yet unrepentant to the last, September has always felt like the beginning of term. Not with a new teacher, sharpened pencils, new exercise books. But all fresh back from holiday, we begin an intensive new “term” highlighted by Harvest, Remembrance, Advent and Christmas. 

This September is very different, at least for this minister. This September is both beginning and end of term. So what do we sing? Lord behold us, or Lord dismiss us? 

This September then feels intensely nostalgic. One vivid memory of our very first day together -  the Induction Service on 9 November 2002 – was June’s super little anthem written (and sung) specially for us: 

New beginning! New beginning! No looking back for the way is forward... 

That line sang out both as a joy and a hope – and  also as a challenge of expectation. It is not for me, nor is this the place, to judge how far that hope and expectation have been fulfilled. But I believe that God’s lively Spirit has worked, played, sung and danced among us these past seven years. We came to Garstang and Forton and found immediate and warmly supportive friendships and a keen and loyal team of co workers. We have shared times of celebration and sadness, seen through the last phase of Garstang’s millennium project, proudly marked Forton 300 and our own Ruby Wedding. And in the last year or so, we have begun to look to future ministry in fellowship with our new friends at Bethel, Preesall. 

No looking back for the way is forward... 

There are three great  valedictories in the New Testament. Old Simeon’s “Let thy servant depart in peace,” Paul’s farewell to the elders of Ephesus, and - supremely - Jesus’ last words  to his disciples in John 14:  

I have much more to tell you...but when the Spirit comes, he will lead you into all the truth... 

It’s a lovely and reassuring thought in a month which is both beginning and end of term. A fond farewell which is also a beginning: three days before resurrection, seven weeks before Pentecost and the ever newly promised  gift of God’s Spirit to his faithful church.  

And of course, when we sang Lord dismiss us to that soulful tune all those years ago, it was also a beginning: college, university, work, the rest of our lives....retirement. In all our ends are our beginnings.

 With many, many thanks for all we have shared  over the past seven years, and, as ever, every blessing, 

David and Pauline