News

You will have gathered by now that I am to retire later this year. My last Sunday will be 5 August and we are inviting everyone to come to a final Prayer Book Evensong at 6pm at St George’s to be followed by a reception at the Riverside Hotel, ending at 8pm. Book the date! I am beginning to tidy up thirteen years of my life here in Kendal. That is the longest I have ever stayed in a parish and means that I have accumulated a great deal of ‘stuff’ that I must start to shed. The flat I am moving into is quite small in comparison to a vicarage. It is not easy to jettison things – especially books, which must be culled by about two thirds. And you also begin to turn up pieces of your past. Inevitably you approach the task with a mixture of nostalgia, sadness and sense of loss. At the same time there is a certain thrill thinking about the unknown future that awaits – a future that you know you must make something of since there won’t be the props of a job and a role and a congregation waiting. But sooner or later we must all face up to one or other of life’s milestones. Which is why this season of Lent is a good precursor. Because in Lent the church invites us to take stock of our lives, as Jesus took stock of his in the wilderness. We ask some searching questions about what we are doing in our jobs, our families, our relationships, our interests. Are we making the best of the time God gives us? Are we learning to receive as well as give? If we can face some of these hard but necessary questions we shall be better people for it and we shall know how joy comes after struggle, resurrection only after the cross.