In the Home Group that meets at Saxon Road, we have started looking at the Ten Commandments this week.  One of the questions that we were asked to think about was, ‘What kind of legacy in life would you like to be remembered for?’  There was a variety of answers, but our reading from Acts today offers one of the best legacies, attributed to St Barnabas; he was ‘a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith’. Not bad!

As we prepare, Anthony and I, to move on to pastures new, there is an inevitable moment when we both pause and think about what we will leave behind.  One of my mentors wisely said these words to me as I began ministry – ‘Steve, show me a middle-aged vicar and I will show you a building project’. For we all want to leave a legacy behind and when the middle-aged vicar has stopped hoping to change the people by bringing them closer to God, he reverts to wanting to alter the building – much easier to control and change!

So as I sit in my study at St Barnabas’ and think of Worth Parish, I think about the Vision Day and the writing of a plan – and I believe that we are in a position to develop and grow, while loving each other.  The Church is much more than a building, but all of you. Yes, we are sad on one hand, that as the Burstons’, we won’t be hands-on in the mix with you, but at the same time we are excited about what God has been doing, is doing and will do in Worth Parish – we have all been given gifts and how we use them will determine our legacy.

Steve