Empty Coffee Mugs.

It seems only a few weeks ago that I was standing in Hunslet Methodist Church in South Leeds conducting my final Service. I had decided to finish as I meant to go on and set up a café-style meeting with tea, coffee and cakes.

I remember being prompted to talk about how we still cling onto our empty coffee mugs, even after they have long grown cold - maybe just to cling onto a memory of what they once contained; how it was 'back then' - yes this is a metaphor.

I always say that 'people do people things', and one of the hardest things we have to do in life is to let go. It's easy to cling onto our memories - the mountain-top experiences; but also the hurts and grievances. We are grand masters at picking at our own wounds. But as Rob Bell from Nooma Ministries says: "When we're still holding on to how things were, our arms aren't free to embrace today".

Who am I today? My name is Michael Fisher; I am 34 years old and originate from Stockport. I am married to Katherine and we have a fifteen-month-old son called Thomas. Katherine has been a youth worker but has in recent years returned to her first love of accounting. I am a graduate of the Nazarene Theological College and have been Lay Worker for the South Leeds Circuit for the two years since. I was Christened Methodist, and I have been a member for several years now, and am a local preacher; before that I was Pentecostal, and before that, Anglican!

The past can have a telling effect on who we are today. I was holding the coffee mug which represented two years of ministry and three decades of comfortable life-experience; and part of me didn't want to let go - but I did. What am I today? The manager of The Welcome. A community project right on the forefront of Christian mission; a light in a dark place. Some have said that continuing on from Debbie will be a 'hard act to follow', but, as my predecessor reminded me, my job is to be myself. I am who I am where God has led me, and my mission here is to be Jesus to a people in need - now That is a hard act to follow!

In our Fresh Expressions meeting we have been exploring what it means to move on and to put the past behind us; using material from Nooma ministries, we've been looking at the importance of embracing today, and also what it really means to forgive; what it means to 'let go, and let God'; what it really means to move on.

May you let go of mugs that, though once warm and full, have since grown cold and empty: "May you accept the past for what it is. May you celebrate what needs to be celebrated and grieve what needs to be grieved…" May the spirit of God walk beside you in light and shadow. May God bless you in all you do in His service.

Mike