Friday was a significant day, though I had had limited time to think of that during the lead up. In 3 weeks I will be ordained, I among others will make my vows as a minister and the church, through the voice of that congregation, will shout out 'They are worthy' as we gather for that moment.
The Methodist tradition is to ordain us after a couple of years on the job, the final testing and confirmation of our call to this, and we are gathered from across the country to one area - where the Conference meets that year. Before we go it has become the norm for each district to hold a Testimony Service - where the about to be ordained speak of the journey to this moment among supporters and friends from the local churches.
As I said, I had been busy - and between Jubilee events and a double bank holiday trouble just remembering what day I was on! Friday's service was neither a hoop to be jumped (past assessment now) nor was it the main event, so I had approached it lightly.
On the night though it turned out to be quite emotional, and as for my testimony it wouldn't be honest if it wasn't about the wobbles and the time when I thought I would never get to be a minister because I could hardly hold it together as a person. Somehow God had other plans, and even the church believed in me, paying to keep me in college and fund counseling for that year of major reassembly.
Today one of the set readings for church was the end of a chapter* in the part of the Bible where early leaders wrote to the first churches. It follows on from the description of Christians as clay jars, God's treasure is within, but on the outside we can be fragile, chipped and more than a little mottled.
Rather than a clay jar, I'll settle for being a clay weeble, thankful that we don't have the responsibilty for trying to shine like the treasure, just hold it, and the more cracks we have the more the light can shine out.
* 2 Corinthians 3
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