Pros and cons
In his book, Rules for Reverends, Jeremy Fletcher suggests that before retiring, priests should consider their future by looking carefully at retired clergy around them.
“Find a happy one, and ask them how they did it. Start planning the same, for you could be retired a long time!”
Those retirees I met who were happy had been permitted to assist the local incumbent in the parish they moved to.
Others effectively served a parish during the interregnum, practiced pastoral visitation or officiated at the occasional offices.
Many more had chosen to worship as a member of a congregation and sit back and enjoy the worship without the responsibility of officiating.
I saw the pros and cons of all of these lifestyles but in the end, I decided to do my own thing.
Retirement plan
A priest about to retire and concerned about his finances climbs to the top of Mount Sinai to get close enough to talk to God.
Looking up, he asks the Lord. “God, what does a million years mean to you?” The Lord replies, “just a minute.”
The priest then asks, “And what does a million pounds mean to you?” The Lord replies, “Just one penny.”
So the priest asks, “Can I have one penny then?’ ‘To which the Lord replies, ‘In a minute my blessed son!”
As I approached retirement and whilst I may not have had a million pounds, I hoped I may have more than a minute to come, so I thought, what would make me happy?
I quickly came to the conclusion that I should take advantage of some free weekends and spend more time with Christine and the family.
Then, during the week, when most of our family was tied up with work and other commitments, I would officiate the occasional offices.