My sabbatical blog 14 - enduring community

So my sabbatical is over, looking forward to 2022 or probably 2023 already!!! It was overwhelming to come back, the house felt very empty on Thursday evening and the last two days have been overwhelming with the warmth of the welcome back into my own communities. At St Helens yesterday someone said "you are not just our minister, you are our friend." At Calvert this morning I was welcomed at the start of the service like this "welcome home!" I have found it very moving to return to a community that perhaps values me as me more than I know...

I left Shetland on Tuesday evening and got extremely emotional as the ship sailed away. The Shetland community for a while became part of me, and took me to its heart and it was very hard to leave. I have found not just there but in Edinburgh, in Blackpool, in returning to former churches, in meeting new people, in sharing in new and exciting projects, some very small, that community is alive and where it is alive life flourishes. I was glad to end this time with some worship in Peterborough Cathedral which was six weeks ago an important stopping place and was again so on Wednesday. I return from sabbatical not the person who began it three and a bit months ago, professionally, spiritually and personally. The sabbatical was planned meticulously but being open to be surprised in so many ways led it to be even greater than I ever imagined. 

So what is community? Respect, listening, valuing, learning, being open to the other, holding on to what is good from the past but not being frightened to let the past go and embrace new things, spending time voicing our hurt and our pain (as in many evensongs I have loved), and celebrating that life is so much more fulfilling when we share it with others (even introverts like me see that!)

In church terms we used a hymn in Baltasound last Sunday and I used it this morning back in Hastings which really speaks to me about a faith community:

The Church is wherever God's people are praising,

knowing they're wanted and loved by their Lord.

The Church is wherever Christ's followers are trying

to live and to share out the good news of God.

The Church is wherever God's people are loving,

where all are forgiven and start once again,

where all are accepted, whatever their background,

whatever their past and whatever their pain.

The Church is wherever God's people are seeking

to reach out and touch folk wherever they are --

conveying the Gospel, its joy and its comfort,

to challenge, refresh, and excite and inspire.

The Church is wherever God's people are praising,

knowing we're wanted and loved by our Lord.

The Church is where we as Christ's followers are trying

to live and to share the good news of God.    

In a world that while I have been on this journey has gone mad and has broken down, we need to be interconnected far more. And as for me, well, this final picture perhaps says everything. I shared a cabin on the ship from Lerwick to Aberdeen with two loud snorers! I could stand it no more by 3am so got up and stood alone on the deck of the ship to watch the sun rise. God has spoken in this time to me - I feel less worried and less pressured about things even though I have come back to busyness and issues. I am open to see where I am led next. I am open to see what new possibilities might be emerging. Most of all, I thank God for this time and all of the lovely people who have made it so great and have journeyed with me. 

I wrote this prayer towards the end of last week:

God of journeys thank you for all the things you show us if we are brave enough to set out.

Thank you for your presence in sunshine and rain, in blue skies and in thick fog when we can't see the road.

Thank you for conversations on the way, people who share their story, for faithful church communities and retreat houses I have shared with these weeks, from Edinburgh to Holy Island, from Blackpool to Shetland and other expressions of church in my home town I was brave enough to try. And thank you for places I travelled through in the past who welcomed me back and are part of my story, Harpenden, Oakham and Empingham and Mossley and its wonderful Whit Friday fun and excitement!

Thank you for surprises on the way I never expected, new beginnings and new possibilities. For love and trust.

Thank you for the promise of your care on the journey home on boats, in cars, and on trains. Thank you for the promise when things ahead feel a bit scary as I am out of control to accept they will be good and thank you when I reach home over 800 miles away of the promise of a welcome back! Give my churches patience as they cope with my frazzled brain as I adapt over the first few weeks...

God of journeys help me to trust, to believe, to worry less and embrace your invitation to find joy more. I will never forget this time - I am not the same as I set out.

Now I simply rest in your presence and see what you have, not in my script for me next!
Amen.