Jubilee

by Roy Robinson

That’s not a word that ever rated highly in my vocabulary, so that I was quite surprised to discover that on the 22nd May I had reached my jubilee in Christian ministry. For my ordination took place at Aylesbury Baptist Church on that date in 1954. The preacher was the Revd. Cranston Bell, on leave from China, because, in those days, my intended future was to be with the Baptist Missionary Society in that far-away land. That was not to be. Life has been full of surprises. Effie was there at my side and two months later we married.

So, thank you, every one of you who so kindly signed a card of congratulations. I don’t consider myself as deserving of the latter, since I have always counted myself extraordinarily fortunate and have mostly enjoyed the tasks that have come my way. So it’s with praise and thanksgiving (and a bit of necessary repenting) that I look back over these fifty years.

During them, I have experienced three quite different forms of ministry:

The first, as a missionary in the Congo for nine years, with a few tacked on as we awaited the outcome of the Simba rebellion (which gave me the opportunity of further study in Edinburgh, then in Zurich) which finally put an end to our ministry there.

There followed seventeen years in RE teaching in Secondary Schools, a tough assignment, ending up as Chaplain at Caterham School (a school originally founded for the sons of Congregational Ministers). I used to feel peeved when people would ask me why I wasn’t in the ministry – for I considered the school classroom as the front line of ministry. Over those years, I was in close touch with many hundreds of young people.

Then, at last, I did switch to pastoral ministry, being called by the Church of which Effie and I had been members for years, at Oxted in Surrey; and found it enormously fulfilling over thirteen years. It was always challenging to seek for “a Gospel for the affluent” when all the emphasis was on that for the poor.

Of course, retirement has lead into yet a fourth phase of ministry, in some ways as challenging as the others – so we are grateful for opportunities offered in the Bungay United Circuit of Churches. So, in early July, Effie and I went down to the University of Glamorgan, so as to participate in the URC General Assembly.

As always, Assembly was impressive, with Sheila Maxey getting off to a promising start for her Moderatorship. On the Monday afternoon, all the newly ordained Ministers were presented to her, at least twenty or so, as many women as men, some young and pretty ones too (tut, tut! naughty!) Then came we “golden oldies”, just four of us, tho’ twenty or more names were read out, were presented. It was good to hear from old friends (such as Richard Mortimer) that they would give us “a big hand” and so they did. I had wanted to do this, partly because I had come into the URC ministry with no ceremony whatsoever, just a letter saying “we are pleased to accept you” and that was in 1976. So it wasn’t so much to receive any plaudits that I attended Assembly, but more to express my gratitude to the URC for the privilege and pleasure of serving in its ministry for so many years. And, most importantly, always with Effie at my side.

STOP PRESS September 10th 2004
Coinciding with Roy's jubilee is the publication of his new book, entitled "The Thoughtful Guide to the Bible". Due to be published shortly, further information will be carried on this site later this month.