Friday Festival

There are changes afoot. Here within RevGals over the next half year things will change, people will change. Life moves on… some things will remain constant of course, but things are moving.

There are changes afoot. Here in Earlston, in the Scottish Borders, on Sunday I will tell my congregation that after more than eight years it is time for me to move on to pastures new; a new call; a new adventure; a new town. Some things will remain constant of course, but things are moving.

So I have been reading things concerning change and transitions, moving on and changing places this week.

Renaissance – new birth and new hope; if you have followed the journey of Stacey Duke over the past couple of years you will know she has been fighting a particularly vicious cancer… and over the past six weeks has been enjoying an adventure of a lifetime on her sabbatical journey round Europe; her final blog post for her sabbatical reflects on the journeys and her return to home.

Healthy Relationships – in Beyond Spinach in our Teeth – Jan Edmiston explores what church would be like if we were to be honest (not mean) about what we think of each other and our church family. She says, “Imagine having such trusting relationships that we could share uncomfortable things with our colleagues and friends, and that they would appreciate the heads up.  Imagine having relationships in which we hold each other accountable for the sake of community.” When thinking about moving and transitioning, my thought was – yes, this would be a great thing to take away.

The flip side: the other side of taking leave is being left behind; in When Church Friends Move, Kristen Berkley-Abbot expresses her sadness that church friends who are relocating will soon no longer be the regular partners in church and at church events; we who are part of church community, who live and work within the church family have a very distinct dilemma, because when people, pastors, friends move on, they do indeed end up losing touch and staring over.

As the wise teacher told us, what goes around, comes around, there is nothing new under the sun.  Just three blogs for you to read today, but I hope you’ll find blessings in those reflections.

Julie Rennick currently serves a rural congregation in south east Scotland. Her current distraction is the beautiful litter of puppies born two weeks ago; you can read about their arrival on her blog Country Girl.