I'm coming up to 14 years of ordination and I'm starting to feel like that's a loooong time. Yet, last Sunday, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Rev. George Clifford's ordination. George is my colleage in ministry. He works about six hours as our minister of visitation, which works out to be about two afternoons per week.
George was ordained in 1960 -- what a time to be a minister! The churches across Canada were growing and going gangbusters. What amazes me is that George has lots of energy for ministry and doesn't seem to be too cynical!
He loves to visit and he's very organized about it. He has his "list" and he keeps track of when he has visited. He has a great memory, too. He's always reporting to me about the goings-on of our seniors and where they are moving and what they are doing. I have to admit that I do miss visiting the seniors of our church because I enjoy them so much, but George does such a wonderful job that there's no sense in duplicating another person's great work.
We try hard to work as a team, although I probably fall short on that in many aspects. With all of George's experience, he's a great sounding board. He's also very open to taking services, presiding at communion.
Our celebration was very positive, which I think reflects on George's positive nature. I feel so fortunate to be working with such an experienced minister.
