Revd Rachel's Farewell Service

Last month the Stockton Circuit had the opportunity to send the Rev Rachel Williams out to a new season of ministry and to give thanks for her service among us in the Stockton Circuit since 2021. Here is her stirring sermon to the congregation gathered at Greens Lane Methodist Church on 20 July 2025.

I wonder if you have ever been travelling abroad. At the end of May, we went on a journey around Germany as a family. We visited the city that we lived in when Dad was in the Army and two cities that I had never been to before: Berlin and Hamburg. We travelled by train and I discovered that what makes a journey is the company that you travel with. Aside from the joy of being with family, I made two travelling companions through a mixture of my dodgy German and their near-perfect English. My companions and I talked about our families and, in one case, worked together to locate a lost teddy.

There are three points that I would like to consider in this reading. Firstly, sometimes to discover something new you have to go on a journey. Secondly, the most important part of the journey is that we invite Jesus to be with us always. Finally, although sometimes we cannot recognise Jesus, we discover the presence of Jesus in the ordinary activities of life.

Richard Andrew is using some words from TS Eliot’s poem Little Gidding, as part of his introduction to the President’s theme this year:

With the drawing of this Love and the voice of this Calling

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.

This is also about going on a journey, a journey of discovery where the pilgrim discovers themselves a new and sees the world around completely differently than when they set out. Luke 24 is about journeys. The resurrection story starts the chapter and then in the passage we heard two followers make a journey to Emmaus.

Firstly, sometimes to discover something new you have to go on a journey. Luke tells us: “On that same day two of Jesus' followers were going to a village named Emmaus, about eleven kilometres from Jerusalem, and they were talking to each other about all the things that had happened.” The disciples, one named Cleopas, and another disciple leave the other disciples to travel away from Jerusalem. Perhaps they were going home or travelling to see family. Some suggest that Cleopas’ companion is his wife, Mary - interesting that she is described as a disciple then.

Using the picture of journey to understand the things we learn and the changes that happen in our lives seems on one level a cliche. Yet, as we reflect on the past, it often unravels to us through the places that we have been and the people we have met. Although you might not move physically over the summer, a major change in the life of the Stockton circuit with a new staff member will inevitably mark the start of a new journey. What will you discover about each other, about the churches and about the new person who is coming?

It feels like the opposite of going on a journey is staying. Unless rather than remaining where you are, you are inviting someone to journey with you. On our journey through Germany, I discovered that having the right people alongside you is really important -  being able to speak German as well is handy! I wished that the person who spoke the most English could have stayed with us the whole time.

Secondly, the most important is who your companions are. It is important that we invite Jesus to be with us always. Luke writes, “As they came near the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther; but they held him back, saying, “Stay with us; the day is almost over and it is getting dark.” The phrase used by other versions might help us to understand the urgency more. In the KJV, the disciples say “Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” This verse is the inspiration for the hymn Abide with Me. I haven’t chosen it for this evening because as the writer intended it is a funeral hymn. Yet the demand from those disciples was urgent enough to make the stranger stay with them.

On our journey, have we thought about who is journeying with us? We need to have the right people alongside us. Sometimes we don’t have a choice - like strangers on a train. Yet God can use even the most unlikely of our companions to help us to make new discoveries. Jesus will always be our companion when we invite him to journey with us.

We have all been there. We have seen someone across a room and been certain that they are familiar. Yet no matter how hard we try, we cannot place the person. It has happened to me with an actor in a busy railway station and in churches when people recognise me.

Finally, although sometimes we cannot recognise Jesus, we discover the presence of Jesus in the ordinary activities of life. Luke records “So he went in to stay with them. He sat down to eat with them, took the bread, and said the blessing; then he broke the bread and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he disappeared from their sight.” In the ordinariness of sitting and eating, the two disciples recognise that Jesus has been with them all the time. Literally, it is as Jesus says grace and shares the bread with them that Cleopas and Mary realise that it is Jesus. Perhaps, this is what it means to ‘know the place for the first time’ as TS Eliot puts it or to know Jesus in the breaking of the bread.

My prayer for each person in this room is that they might discover the presence of Jesus in their ordinary lives, in the mundane and in the exciting, and in the daunting new adventures. As a new journey begins, may we meet Jesus in those who attend community larders, morning prayer services, bible studies, supermarket checkouts, and hospital lounges. May we know the presence of Jesus abiding with us always.