Rector's Letter

Rector’s Letter May 2024

There is something special about getting old (well, older).  I had my 66th birthday in April.  I already have my bus pass and the state pension will begin soon; the children have grown up, although still need their mum and dad; grand daughters have come along and give us great delight.  I have seen 27th years in this parish – 27 Easters and Christmases; the babies I baptised now have their own children; the young people in the youth clubs who could be little horrors are now old enough to complain about ‘the young people these days’.  And still new things come along. 

I am looking forward to the ordination of Karen Sharland as a distinctive deacon on 29th June and start as a curate in this parish (this means I have NO intension of retiring anytime soon, despite what many people has said to me).  Karen will look like a ‘vicar’ but is a trainee and also has a fulltime job.  Her role as a Deacon is to be a bridge between the church and the community.  She has qualifications in drama and is looking forward to working with different groups around the special services of the year (Harvest, Christmas, Easter).  We are very fortunate that she is able to serve her curacy here.

Another part of my job is to work with those who are starting out on the journey towards ordination, which can take several years before you even start training.  No one knows how things will work out when we start the journey together.  It keeps me young and it is a privilege to be involved in their lives.

But the one main special thing that older age brings is this, I am happy to sit with the questions with no need to have the answers all sewn up.  Certainty is no longer the bottom line, the outcome becomes less important (unless it is the leaking roof on the youth Hut).  To quote someone, it is not the destination but the journey.  It is rather a broad thing to say, but I have noticed this change in me.

Within the faith setting of my youth I wanted to know the ‘right answers’, to have certainty, to say categorically ‘this is right’, but now that seems less pressing.  I am now old enough to know that I don’t know and this side of heaven, never will know.  It doesn’t mean I’ve gone all theologically liberal and nothing matters any more, it is simply I don’t need to be right all the time (well, only some of the time).   The bottom line is the assurance that God loves me, and not for anything I have done or will do, but because of the very nature of God’s self.  It is daft that it has taken this long.  I knew it unconditionally as a child and now as I approach my second childhood, it is creeping back again.

The assurance that God loves you is liberating and focuses your attention on things of this world in a different way.

May the love of God dwell richly in your hearts.

Nick Law

Rector