For the first time since I celebrated the 40th anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood, we walked into town for the Parish Eucharist at St John's this morning. 'Becca, one of the students in my tutor group was preaching her first sermon, so it was my job to listen to her, and she did very well indeed.
It was lovely to see all our friends in the congregation. There were over fifty people present, some new children in the Sunday school - all very pleasing. Two of the children, brought by their dad, a local licensee, I baptized in my first year in the Parish. Now they are nine and ten. It's the first time I've seen them since, partly because at that stage the family lived away from the job, but now they live just around the corner from the church.
It was good to meet Liz my successor for the first time, as well. She has a different kind of challenge to the one I faced as the Archbishop has involved her in working on ministry vocations in addition to her city centre role.
After the service we walked over to Riverside market to get our organic veg for the week and then walked home for lunch. Then, it was back to St German's for Evensong and Benediction, now in a darkened church no longer filled with the rays of the setting sun - it's quite a change of atmosphere, even if the temperature is still fairly mild for a November Sunday.
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