Now then friends,

I want to thank you for the years of being your minister, team player, acquaintance, pastor. I have been looking back at our years together and find that while there have been difficulties, there have been times of real joy. Times that have built fond memories that I will take with me and I hope that I will leave fond memories with you too.

Together we have shared stories, and have broken bread together—there have been times of real meaning and purpose. We have learned and taught together and shared real life experiences, and so I’ve come to appreciate that having fruitcake with cheese, is a good reminder that there are times when the experience is made better when the sweet comes with the savoury.

I have baptised beautiful children and a couple of adults, performed weddings and renewal of vows for couples that I’ve come to love, and performed some difficult funerals for those who over the years I’d come to cherish.  I have visited hospitals, and together we have sung hymns and proclaimed the gospel at care-homes and schools. We have visited those who were too ill to leave home and looked at new ways to build upon, and to make clear the vision for the pastorate for the future. There have been prayers and vigils and seeking to do the will of God, and deep internal reflecting on how to be the person that God has called me to be among you. But most of all, I have had real support from so many of you. Support that has been so invaluable that even now, even today, the importance of it is becoming more or more visible to me. For this, I thank you and I thank God.

While ministers come and go, Jesus Christ remains constant. This is what he said to his disciples about what they should do and what they should remember : “Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20). Jesus’ advice is clear—continue to build, continue to listen, and act on what you have learned. Continue to build upon and make clear the vision for the future of God’s church in SPACE, holding firmly to Jesus Christ and the unfailing, unchanging, constant Word of God. Continue to work with your minister to build up and to hear what God is saying to you and be assured that Jesus Christ is with you all.

I wish thee ivvery happiness an’ joy wherivver fortun taks thee, near or far.

Tha’rt sure to hev thi reg’lar ups-an’-dahns, an’ sometimes shed a tear, an’ hev a deal o’ happy times, so ho’d each other closer an’ more dear.

Soa, ‘ere’s a blessing on thi today, a blessing on thi hooam an’on thi kin; may God be wi’ thee always, enrich thee by His grace an’ love. Amen.

Love,

Mark