When I was invited to write this article, it was as if the requester knew what was going on inside me, which they didn’t, because at that moment I hadn’t shared ‘my news’ about being invited to preach as Sole Nominee at Glasgow: Netherlee & Stamperland Church.
I have been blessed throughout my training, and since being ordained, to having walked alongside the most amazing congregations, making it harder each time to leave.
Over the past 19 months I have served in Cambusnethan North Parish Church, Wishaw as Assistant Minister. Moving there, after my probation period ended was a time that was full of fear, anxiety and trepidation. Yet, I was also excited at this new chapter that God was opening up before me. And, oh boy, has this move has turned out to be the best decision (along with God of course) that I made!
The congregation and community of Cambusnethan North welcomed me with wide-open arms and have encompassed my family and myself from the get-go. A congregation who gave me free reign, a blank piece of canvas to design, and supporting every one of my suggestions. They have cared and nurtured me, allowing me to grow into me! The me that God called into ministry! Although I have often questioned God if I am good enough, in this place God confirmed exactly what I was called to do. This congregation and community around it have become as friends to me, and left so many memories in my heart which I will hold onto and treasurer forever.
I told the congregation three weeks ago that I had been selected as sole nominee as I wanted them to hear it from me. I decided to wait until the end of the service, which in hindsight wasn’t my best decision, as while leading worship I was like a cat on a hot tin roof, stumbling over my words, as the end of the service approached and knowing what I had to convey after the benediction.
And yes, there were tears, lots of tears! Sad tears as they knew I would be leaving soon, but the congregation were also so happy for me. Nearly two years from being ordained I had found my own charge. A place where I would be inducted as ‘their minister’ with my name on the board outside of the church!
I always find goodbye’s hard, and regardless of what is on the other side of that goodbye, I still find it hard. Like the Script song ‘No good in goodbye’, where’s the good in goodbye?
Less than 24 hours ago, I was confirmed as the minister elect at Netherlee & Stamperland Church in Glasgow. While I am absolutely delighted to have secured this charge, to which I very much feel called, the immediate dread that I now have is to prepare to say goodbye to the folks in Cambusnethan North Church.
This thought of saying goodbye breaks my heart, but my heart is also full of excitement at what God has planned next for me.
To begin, we must leave.
To grow, we must shed.
Every change is a balancing act between grief for the familiar.
And hope for the unknown.
That is precisely how I feel right now.
The Bible acknowledges this rhythm of time and transition:
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens”. As the writer of Ecclesiastes recognised, our lives are patterned in seasons of loss and renewal, of closing doors and opening pathways.
We live in cycles, not straight lines. Leavings and beginnings are not separate events, but parts of one continuous story, the story of becoming.
So how should we live in this season of leavings and new beginnings? With trust.
With surrender.
With eyes fixed not on what we are losing, but on the God who goes before us. He calls us to release what is past and to step forward in faith, confident that His plans are for our good.
As we embrace the changes in our own lives, let us remember, every ending carries God’s promise of something new. And every new beginning is evidence of His faithful love, which never fails and never leaves us behind, and never has to say goodbye.
So, here’s to the next story of change, a season of leaving and exciting new beginnings.
By Rev Jillian Storrie
