You may be wondering why we are celebrating St Luke’s Day today, four days early? Well as you might have guessed, Geoffrey and I thought it would be a good way to celebrate my last Sunday in the team, before joining my new church, whose Patron Saint is Luke.

‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few …..’ It was ever thus.

Indeed, anyone observing the gradually diminishing Epping District Team Ministry might be forgiven for thinking this. With Chris Bard’s sudden death; this being my last Sunday and with three ordinands about to go off on placements, the ministry team will be much smaller.

But! And this is a very exciting and BIG but! This morning (during our Team Eucharist which follows at 10.30 am) we will be commissioning 19 people who have been trained as Pastoral Visitors and 13 people who have been trained to lead All Age Worship (Upfront, as we called it). Each of the four team churches is represented and served by these 32 lay ministers.

In sharing the ministry in this way, the Epping Team churches are doing exactly what the Christian church has been doing – or should be doing – since it first began – that is, being church, each disciple of Christ using his or her God-given gifts for the common good of all, enabling Christian witness, worship, and care for all people. In our prayers for both of these training initiatives, we have effectively asked the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers. And our prayers have been answered!

The popular understanding of the role of ordained ministers such as myself, in our Church of England context, is that we are resource people. We are trained to inspire, enthuse and to encourage others to explore their own vocations – everyone has one, whether it’s ‘upfront’ or behind the scenes – to advise, to teach and to resource. And this certainly is very exciting. God, by his grace, has certainly equipped me for a multitude of situations, which I had no idea I would be involved in. He does this by putting us with and alongside just the right teachers at just the right time. Consequently, I just love seeing others blossom and flourish, growing more confident in the knowledge and love of God, and having the courage to step out in faith.

Geoffrey is very good at this: discerning vocations and enabling others. And I for one shall be eternally grateful to God for putting us together as Training Incumbent and Curate. The ministry entrusted to me over the last three and a half years has been exceptionally varied – and this is partly because Geoffrey has allowed me the freedom to explore my calling, and given me a steer when necessary. For example, when I was first ordained, I thought that I was heading for Full Time Hospital Chaplaincy. But my engagement with the local community – mission and outreach being my true orientation – through market day coffee, then workplace chaplaincy – revealed the wider nature of my calling – and before too long, both Geoffrey and my Diocesan Training Officer were telling me I’m really a parish priest! The visit to Kenya last year, the Deanery Mission the year before, hospital and ambulance station chaplaincy have all brought many blessings, as have all of you – and the other team church congregations.

Then there are the Christmas Tree Festivals, the Crib Services, schools’ work, weddings, funerals and baptisms; there are just so many people whose lives have touched mine, bringing moments when I really felt “the kingdom of God has come near.” (Luke 10.9).

In his Gospel, Luke the Physician has healing uppermost in his mind. “Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you …… cure the sick who are there, and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you”. The developing Healing ministry in this team has also been a blessing and I hope and pray it will go from strength to strength, moving to the forefront of the church’s psyche and becoming integral to the Sunday morning Eucharist, where it belongs. (My first Sunday in St Luke’s, Moulsham, will include healing, which is part of the attraction for me.)

Moving on is not easy but looking back I have so much to be thankful for. In my previous career as a PA, I could be fairly systematic when I moved from one job to another. Often, I was involved in the recruitment of a successor. I could complete my work, tidy up the filing system, prepare handover notes, etc. Maybe spend a few days with the new person and then go, all loose ends neatly tied. But ministry is not like that ….. even though I did type up some handover notes for Geoffrey and put things in order as much as I could, things are by no means finished!

God’s work is always work in progress …..

In one sense our ministry is never finished. And increasingly I realise we are simply stewards of that which is entrusted to us, for a little while. Curates have come and gone. Incumbents have come and gone. But the life of St John’s still goes on ….. being church as it has in the past and will do in the future. We are travellers on the way, endeavouring to look after that part of the kingdom which God entrusts to us, loving the people he’s given us and put us alongside. Learning and growing together, discerning how he is calling us to serve the community.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus says to the Father, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.”

“It is finished”, we hear Jesus cry from the cross. It is a cry of trust and not of control. Jesus offers his work to the Father trusting that in His hands it is complete.

So today, I have to ask myself, “Can I hear the cry, ‘it is finished’, echoed in my ear, amid all the busyness that goes with moving?” To call our work finished has to be also an act of trust – in ourselves, in others and in God. In that trust, and especially today, I must make space to celebrate a finished chapter of ministry and discover the strength to leave it, and the people I’ve served, behind ….. and then….. we’ll only be 17 miles away!