The month of September marks an anniversary for me. I was ordained as a minister in September 1985.
I know, I know. It was a very long time ago.
I do wonder what led a wee Highland congregation back then to stick their necks out and choose to elect a very young woman as their minister.
Back in those days there were not too many women in ministry and certainly not in the Highlands. The people of Killearnan were incredibly brave, or perhaps just desperate.
Either way, I am so grateful for the start in ministry they gave me and for the courage the people of Dornoch displayed in being willing to take the same brave step.
We have so many happy memories stretching back over all those years of people and events and all sorts of experiences.
From lost sheep to tattie wars
I remember in the very early days, someone ringing the manse doorbell, looking for the minister. When I answered, aged 26 but looking about 15, I was asked if my dad was in.
I remember, too, when a farmer gave me the proceeds of two sheep for church funds. He had arrived at the Lairg sale with two extra sheep and had no idea how, so he thought the church should have the money.
It was only when visiting the crofter next door a few weeks later that I discovered they had lost two sheep.
Various farmers around us on the Black Isle thought their tatties were the best and would deliver enormous sacks of them to the manse
Then there were the tattie wars.
No fighting was involved, not even the odd skirmish, but various farmers around us on the Black Isle thought their tatties were the best and would deliver enormous sacks of them to the manse.
Getting them to leave the sacks where they couldn’t see the others was always a challenge, although all the tatties went to good homes.
I’ll miss the characters in my congregation
But it’s the people who tend to carry the fondest memories for me.
The characters on the Kirk Sessions and in the congregations and communities. The couples I have married, the young people I have worked with, and the schools I have been involved in. The people who have invited me in to their lives at their very lowest points as well as their highest.
I have conducted the funerals of many amazing people whose family and friends have given me the privilege of listening to their stories of love and fun and dreams fulfilled, as well as hopes dashed.
Through the tears, I have heard about people who lived lives that they themselves probably thought were just ordinary, but who were remarkable in so many ways and who have left a lasting legacy with those who loved them and whom they loved.
It’s hard to put into words the honour of being entrusted with leading a service giving thanks for someone’s life.
We’re a long way from perfect
It is also true that there have been a few trickier moments along the way. Especially in the earlier days, when people like me were dismissed by fellow Christians and even ministerial colleagues because of our sex.
Whatever an individual’s personal opinions, in all our relationships and dealings with one another, we are called upon to treat each other with respect and dignity
To be honest, there are still places and there are still colleagues, even today, who struggle with the idea of women in ministry.
This is perhaps not the place to debate such issues. It is the place, however, to say that whatever an individual’s personal opinions, in all our relationships and dealings with one another, we are called upon to treat each other with respect and dignity and to leave any judging up to God, because none of us is perfect.
A move to help other rural communities
Why am I in such a reflective mood, though?
This September I will be leaving Dornoch to take up a post in the Scottish Borders.
After 36 years in ministry in the Highlands, it is going to be an enormous wrench, but the Borders offers an opportunity to reverse the doom and gloom around the church just now.
By putting forward a vision of working with multiple, wee, rural churches to help them to do their own services in order to keep those churches both open and active. This will be a new way of doing ministry but to me, it is very much in keeping with our Presbyterian tradition where we believe in the gifts of the whole people of God.
Worship can never be about what the minister does and the people listen to. It has to be a whole body, mind and spirit experience that everyone is able to invest in so that the praise offered to God is as full as it can be. As God deserves.
I think this is both a daunting and exciting opportunity – prayers appreciated.
The Very Rev Susan Brown is minister of Dornoch Cathedral and the former moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland