Transformation

The Christian faith is a story with a bright thread of transformation running through it. From Jesus’s transfiguration and resurrection to his conversion of human hearts in the most unexpected of people, there is change everywhere. Christ does not stand still. He comes to change people, like a “refiner’s fire”. It’s not a comfortable image.

So, then, as Christians, and as humans, we have to keep changing. A static faith is never enough: it should grow along with us. Sometimes the growth happens in big, significant moments, but most of the time our faith grows in tiny steps, just as we do: imperceptibly, like a plant, impossible to see in the moment but evident once time has passed.

Although I can look back at big milestones in life and point to certain moments of significant “change”, those are almost always beginnings; they don’t represent the change itself. Being offered the job as Ministerial Assistant is one of my best memories - but the transformation into someone who was ready to go off to theological college actually happened somewhere between that day in 2017 and yesterday, my last day at work here.

I’ve been so lucky to have 19 months at the University Church as Ministerial Assistant. It’s all thanks to the excellent people I worked alongside, and the loving congregation here. You’ve allowed me grow into a role that stretched me creatively; that made me think about faith and leadership and mission in new and different ways; that gave me opportunities to try my own ideas (and sometimes to fail); that helped me transition from the world of music into a committed life of daily prayer, fellowship, and worship. And the project isn’t over, of course: I will have to keep working at my conversion of life as long as I’m alive.

There were thousands of moments that helped nudge me imperceptibly towards transformation, but something that was especially important was that daily commitment to morning prayer, which served as a vital anchor between Sunday services, and set up my day before I began work each morning. The psalms are a key part of morning prayer, so I’ll leave you with an especially beautiful bit from Psalm 27:

One thing have I asked of the Lord and that alone I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

I will miss you all very much.

Esther