Moving on ...

This is the moment when the former curate of the Episcopal churches in Rothesay and Dunoon became the Rector of the church of St John the Evangelist in Forfar, as the Bishop of Argyll and The Isles who at the moment is also the acting Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane handed her into her stall in her new charge.

I've deliberately used all these proper titles in an attempt to underline the size, as it were, of the undertaking. It struck me during the service that taking on a new charge must always be a daunting thing, no matter how ready a new priest feels ready for the job - for this priest is new, and it is her first charge after a lifetime working for the NHS. So many hopes rest in each new incumbent, so many as yet unknown people to bring into this place and to a new sense of worship. 

Off to the left and not in the photo is another person whose life is about to change as he goes from being the Rector of Dunoon and Dean of Argyll and The Isles to being Bishop of Brechin. Today he was preaching as the curate he had nurtured took on her new role; next month he too will take up his.

And beside me and around me in the pews as I take this photo are the other people affected by today, and by that day next month: the people of the congregations of Dunoon and Rothesay. For us all this celebration is as daunting in its way as it must be for any new incumbent. For we face the loss of not one but two people who have been a part of our church lives for many years, and turn once more to the task of finding someone new to be the shepherd of our souls.

It has happened before, and will again, but just for now it feels ... a challenge.