Yesterday was another 'last' - the last time I was 'second adult' for our monthly children's group.  It's always fun to spend time with young children, to work with gifted and creative volunteers, and to explore the Bible, faith and spirituality in ways that are experimental and experiential.  Yesterday we were thinking about 'Jesus the Good Shepherd' through story, craft, colouring, puzzles and movement.  Eight children, including one first timer, boys and girls, enjoyed their time together.

I have enjoyed my time with this group of children, and will miss them, but I am already looking forward to getting to know a new group of children and young people in the new church I will be part of in just a few week.

The photo has nothing to do with the post except it represents a brief lull in the busyness of the last ten days or so.

There are two definite truisms about ministry... one if that it is privilege, the other that it is the interruptions... and perhaps it is when the two coincide that it is as most most profound.

In the last two weeks ministry has seen life in all its fullness, and as the funeral prayer puts it, finding God in the whole of life - it's beginning, its living and its ending.  For good reason I cannot go into details in a public forum, but I've had the privilege of conducting a wedding for a couple who had just days earlier welcomed their first child... I've had the privilege of singing from memory, behind the blue curtains, the favourite hymn of someone at the every end of life... I've had conversations about membership... I've arranged to visit someone unexpectedly admitted to hospital...

I also have to start planning my last two services before I leave Railway Town, and on Thursday Deacons present and past will be taking me out for a meal to mark the end of our time together.

Very privileged to be allowed to share these precious and significant moments in people's lives.