As Easter approaches Karen and I are starting the process of packing up our home ready for our move to Dereham during the summer. I always find packing the most difficult of tasks, chiefly because no two houses are exactly the same size and shape, and apart from simply packing our entire life into boxes, there is a process of deciding what comes with us, what can go to charity shops, or be sold, or be disposed of by trips to the recycling centre, an activity, that I always find stressful because I never know which of the labelled skips to throw my unwanted items into.
We have lived in our current house in Ipswich for almost eleven years and apart from the practical tasks of packing up, I am also drawing the work to a close and am currently doing an endless round of the “lasts” and that can be a relief or a sadness, because it means breaking relationships with people I have come to consider friends during my time here.
I am conscious that as Jesus approached Jerusalem, this triggered the “lasts” for him, he had come here to do a job for a season, and his time had come to move on. He must have built up a close bond with his core group of disciples and we can tell from the gospel story that apart from the inner circle of twelve, he had built up relationships with other people, like Zacchaeus, Mary Magdalene, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus and possibly many, many more who we know nothing about.
In a weeks’ time we will celebrate the triumphal entry in Jerusalem that triggers the events of Holy Week and once again we will experience the anguish and pain of all that happens until we stand at the foot of the cross.
This whole business of closing one chapter and opening a new one is something I have come to accept in my role as a minister, it is never easy, but the Words of Jeremiah 31:33 in the title of this thought are important. I often hear colleagues talk about “my Churches” or “my people” and it makes me cringe. We live in a world in the west where it is important for us to possess, to take ownership, to rule, to be in charge, and as we face Easter this year, let us remember that we are merely stewards in the world for a season, when we are gone, life will continue, and if we have been good stewards, we leave a footprint of our term of office behind.