Last week there was a notice on my seat at the Nativity service. It said ‘reserved’. Not a very good description of me.
Yesterday I was ‘retiring’. Also not a good description, but I did it anyway and now it’s done.
It was amazing and also the right decision. I was surprised by how calm I felt. It was mostly the children who disarmed me when I stood on the path saying goodbye to them as they walked to the school gate.
After that there were photos and speeches from my friends and colleagues on the staff. I didn’t remember half the stories that were told. What I did realise, seeing the whole thing through other people’s eyes, was just how bonkers it all was! The dressing up, the whirlwind makes, the badly spelt messages, the songs, poems and stories, the bouncing and bowling down corridors and into classrooms, the words and the silences. And just how important to the children and young people.
It’s been amazing, both in sorrow and in joy.
I’m glad I was Chaplain of Silcoates. It truly was an honour and a privilege.
In the story of the Not Last Supper at Emmaus, it says ‘Jesus went to go on’. I’m following him: Road Walker, bread sharer, life giver.
In our life and our believing
The love of God

From the chapel door (above) and a gift from the school (below)