John 15:10-12
Jesus said  If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

My Dear Friends,

I am not very good at saying goodbye – I easily get emotional, and tend to cry a lot, so to save my embarrassment I shall say these things now rather than at me leaving do.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you – all so much for all that you have shared with us, and put up with during our wonderful time together. Sandra and I have felt so completely at home here, and have grown to love you, and this part of the world so much that we feel very much at one with our surroundings.

My leaving, for me at least, is not just a moving on from a job that I love, but the conclusion of a ministry that has lasted over 42 years. The end of a personal era, and a complete change of life.

It is such a blessing that I come to the end of my working life still loving what I do, still enthusiastic about sharing the message of the Gospel, still looking forward to that sense of awe and wonder every time that I celebrate the Eucharist, and still hopeful for the future.

I am not sure that I am very good at being a priest, and I certainly will not have lived up to all the expectations or hopes of the people I have served in all those places since I was made deacon in 1980, ( St Mary’s Eastbourne, St Mary Magdalen Coldean, All Saints Findon Valley, The Good Shepherd Shoreham Beach, St Mary Magdalene and St Denys Midhurst, All Hallows Woolbeding, and here, the Chaplaincy of the Holy Spirit Costa Blanca,) but I have tried. Where I have fallen short, please forgive me.

Having said that, there has been a constant theme running through my ministry, and that is to try and bring JOY into the lives the of people I serve and amongst whom I live. I have done that because I think it is the heart of the Gospel. So I have sought to look for the best in everyone, to be inclusive, to listen, and try and discover something positive in every situation, and I have tried to never lose my sense of hope, fun, and that general feeling that ‘it will be fine.’

Some of the highlights of my ministry include being inspired by a talk given in my first parish by a representative of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity, and taking a huge van load of supplies overland to Calcutta and working in an orphanage – ‘Boys Town’ for three months. The inspiration was a quote to ‘Do something beautiful for God’. That was in 1983

In Coldean, part of the Parish was in Moulsecoomb, and I set up a Community Café in St George’s Hall which became the hub of the neighbourhood. We also did vast amounts of Youth Work, and I was very involved in the Diocesan Youth Camps, organising worship and activities for Young people from across the diocese of Chichester. 
We had several Youth Clubs and our own minibus which I am sad to say got squashed by a tree in the hurricane of 1987!
During my time in Eastbourne and Coldean I had numerous homeless individuals and families come to live in the Vicarages. When I got married, there were 11 people living in my house!

During my time in Findon Valley we raised funds to employ a Youth Worker, and we continued that practice in to my next parish as well. 
We had a Parish Mission which was such a brilliant experience and turned the place upside down with Joy, Fun and Laughter. The preparation lasted a couple of years, with regular newsletters going to every household letting people know what was going to happen. ( I am sorry to say that I called it Valleluia!)( Findon Valley – get it!)
There would be a Children’s Holiday club in a huge marquee, Big drama presentations, concerts, Big Dramatic services, guest preachers and speakers, and key to it all was the idea of members of the Mission team (which we brought in from outside, and it was Led by Lindsay Urwin who was the Diocesan Missioner and later became the Bishop of Horsham) going in pairs for lunch at separate houses each day for two weeks. So, The team of 12, was 6 pairs, going to14 lunches each meant  84 lunch appointments where the host invited the Missioners plus some non church friends, and the Missioners told their story. It was remarkable and lives were changed. On the last night we managed to drink the pub dry!!!!

On Shoreham Beach I started the Beach Dreams Festival. Bringing together the ideas that the community wanted to embrace – Music, Food, the Arts and celebrating what it meant to live in such a strong Beachside Community.
The Beach Dreams Festival grew to span two weeks every June, and attracted thousands of people to the Carnival Parades, Enactments, Concerts, Fun Days, Making Workshops (prior to the actual carnival) After School Clubs, and what became the famous Beach Dreams Café, run by members of our Church.

The Worship on the Final Sunday in the Marquee was such an absolute blast. Something I shall never forget.

Some of these ideas made their way up to Midhurst when I went there. We started our own Carnival Samba Band like we had done in Shoreham, and created our own Festival MADHURST. (Music Arts and Drama Hurst)
Both the events Beach Dreams and Madhurst are still going strong.

Then my time here – with the Best Bible Studies that I have ever been to which included the opportunity of awarding points to people on the odd occasion. The ‘Tricky Questions’ group that used to meet after the Wednesday Service at Javea, Cycling from Gandia to El Campellowith my son Tom, running Discos and watching all you guys swing your pants, 12 hour Marathon Radio shows, and 4 years and 9 months as a presenter of Pure Gold, the Preachathon, taking the Bishop up Calpe Rock and walking 100km in memory of the first 100,000 people who died with Covid. And so much more.

But it is what I have received from you that has brought me such Joy. I shan’t mention names because there are too many, but both Sandra and I have been shown so much love. We have been constantly welcomed, included, embraced and cared for, and most importantly you as a chaplaincy have allowed us to be ourselves, and for that we give you thanks.

This is a very special place, and I have met God here, and that has changed me.
I met God in the face of the people who came to worship and felt the presence of God in the Eucharist. I met God in the hearts of those who opened themselves afresh to the message of the Gospels. I met God in the presence of those who sat quietly and said nothing. I met God in the lives of those who I know prayed for me, and for you. I met God in the laughter and fellowship of those who gathered together to do whatever they could so that this place could continue to thrive. I met God in the sound of the singing, the depth of the praying, the devotion and celebration of so much ministry. I met God in the mountains and on pilgrimage, and when I opened my eyes to the wonder and beauty of all that surrounds us. I met God in you. And finally, I met my soul.

There are too many Thanks to share, and too many tears to shed as we say goodbye, so let me finish by saying just 3 things.

It will be fine.

Bless you, Bless you, Bless you.

There are two things that a great preacher always leaves behind. The first is that his hearers want more…

Now, off we jolly well go, over the hill and far away.

As ever,

Fr Marcus and Sandra