This morning I preached at Hexham Trinity on Life & Faith: Rest and shared with the congregation some of what we will be doing on sabbatical. You can read my sermon here (the audio will be there soon). This evening along with my colleague Paul we led a healing service, it was a very beautiful service where God was very present amongst us. It was wonderful to preside at Holy Communion, which is something I will miss very much whilst on sabbatical, as it is so central to who I am as a presbyter.
Today was my last Sunday of active ministry before my sabbatical starts tomorrow. It felt odd in many ways, I wasn’t saying goodbye to folk forever – I will be back on July, I love and am excited about my ministry in Hexham! Yet to begin the sabbatical I needed to set down my responsibilities here, to entrust them to others (which I do willingly and happily) and it was good to do that today. One of things that made setting things down easy is knowing that I will be coming back.
Now I have changed my voicemails, put on my email autoresponse and just about finished my packing to go to Holy Island.
It’s so good to have got to sabbatical, I am really grateful I have finished well this week and today and can’t wait for all that God has in store for us during these coming three months.