Time to embrace new possibilities

At this time of year, as the school year draws to a close, thoughts turn to endings, as students of all ages prepare to move on, perhaps to new schools, and to say goodbye to teachers, friends and school communities.

But it’s also a time of new beginnings – new teachers, new friends, new school communities...

In the church, it’s the time of year when those who have been training for Ordination are ordained Deacon.

In Chichester Diocese, these will take place over three days from July 2-4.

For those to be ordained Deacon, it is both an ending and a new beginning, as they come to the end of perhaps two or three years of training, and begin their ministries as Curates serving in Church of England parishes across the Diocese, often in new locations.

Both endings and new beginnings can be challenging, and there may be a sense of sadness or loss, and even anxiety.

I read recently that ‘Endings are just new beginnings waiting to happen’.

Despite the sadness and loss of an ending, we need to be able to embrace the possibility of a new beginning.

Within the church, we have recently celebrated Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit, a new beginning for Jesus’s disciples following his death, resurrection and ascension into heaven.

The promise of this new beginning, the coming of the Holy Spirit, had filled the disciples with great joy and they were indeed able to embrace the possibility of this new beginning.

Whatever your ending or new beginning, there is a traditional Irish blessing, an ancient Celtic prayer, that reminds us that God wants to be involved in our lives at such times:

"May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back, may the sun shine warm upon your face, the rains fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of his hand.”