I’ve laughed about my last post in recent weeks.   Every so often I’ve thought I should go on and remove it because I sound so pathetic, but I’ve chosen to leave it there.   It serves as a reminder of how the darker days and being under the weather colour your perspective of life and of people around you.

It has not been the easiest beginning of a year that I have faced, but it has not been the worst.  Although I was not off completely for five weeks, it feels like that is the amount of preparation time that I have lost.   A fortnight before Holy Week begins and I have done very little preparation, and I have not asked anyone else to help me with the services.   It looks like I will be doing all the talking and collapsing on Easter Monday, trying to catch a breath before the summer begins.

Despite my unpreparedness, the life of the church and congregation has kept going.   A clear reminder that a minister is an add on bonus, rather than the significant driver for changing community life.   During Easter the development plans for the building will continue on with a very clear indication that change is happening unfolding in June and July.   There is also a changing pattern of involvement, as some have invested their time in a community survey project so we might have a better understanding of our place and role within the community.

I’d love to say that the profile age of the congregation was changing, instead I am worried that my age group seems to be lost to us.   The difficult problem of ministry continues that you are told people want you to change worship to encourage more people to come.   So you make changes and then there are complaints because you changed things and it isn’t their kind of thing.   Thank goodness worship is for God and not people, or else you would spend your time fretting over which group was more important.    Oh wait…