Storyteller's World

For a couple of years now, I've been plotting how to discontinue having our traditional Christmas Bazaar, which sometimes feels as if it's got into the 'As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be' mode. The trouble is, this has never been a popular idea. People actually like the Bazaar; and it raises money that we give away to good causes. But it has sometimes felt like a burden falling on the same faithful souls year after year. And how do you discern, anyway, when it's time to stop doing what has been done in the past, and turn your efforts to something new?

Well, this year's Bazaar took place this morning, to raise money for Divya Shanthi (the Christian association in Bangalore that we support) and the Oxfordshire Association for the Blind. And it was a really happy, friendly event. Everyone had fun. There was none of the grumbling sense of being put upon that has sometimes been hanging around. So now I haven't got the heart to suggest scrapping it next year. And I still don't know how to discern about endings and new beginnings: surely one of the hardest things in church life.