I've just completed the first draft of my 'Minister's Report' for our upcoming AGM in September.

It's always a bit of a challenge - how to avoid it simply degenerating into a catalogue of "we did this, we did that"; how to make sure I don't miss out the vital contribution of the one group/person who will be upset or offended to be overlooked; how to balance celebration and exhortation (I largely try to skip criticism if I can); how to keep to no more than two sides of A4.

It's always a bit of a treat - time to sit back and enjoy recalling all the wonderful moments of the last year; time to recognise just how many people do so much in our church life; to see how much there is to celebrate and what exciting/challenging/intriguing possibilities lie ahead of us; to find a few photos or images to break up the text (not done that yet!)

It's always a privilege - to know that people will read this, and want to read it, will care what I think and say, so the tone, vocabulary and style matter

It's always a responsibility - people are precious and vulnebrale, easily damaged by a careless word or ill-phrased comment, so there's still some work needed before I can submit it

Five years together - I've commented on it more times than enough already - and its whizzed past.  Challenges and changes, comings and going, highs and lows... and one faithful, dependable God who has been in all of it.

Four years ago I ended my report with these words:

"For what we shared already, thanks be to God. For what God will show us next, yes please…"

I say them again now even if, in the light of experience that 'yes' is a more chastened, more tentative one that it might once have been...