As the SEI community begins to prepare for its Orientation Week (Monday 28 August to Sunday 3 September), Tosh Lynch, a first-year ordinand from the Diocese of Glasgow and Galloway writes,
‘In the penultimate episode of Star Trek Voyager, Lieutenant Barclay and the crew of Voyager, come together for the 10th year anniversary of Voyager’s return to the Alpha Quadrant. At the end of his speech, Barclay invites the guests to raise their glasses, “to the journey” (Endgame, series 7, episode 24, part 1 & 2). This stuck in my mind, and there are times I am reminded of his words.
“Journey” reminds me of formation, “the process of being formed” (Oxford Dictionary of English), throughout my life to bring me to this here and now, as a first-year ordinand, who is about to embark on the first year of formation.
A significant part of my career, service if you like, has been in the NHS. As we celebrate 75 years of the NHS, I am thankful of the formation that has taken place that helped to articulate who I am as a professional, carer and reflective practitioner. And yet, none of that formation would have been possible without my Christian faith to help me make sense of the ebb and flow of life at a personal and professional level. “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13, NRSV).
With this lived experience, my journey of formation has reached this point: to be formed as an ordinand and with the grace of God and help of others, to offer ministry and service in the Scottish Episcopal Church. Orientation Week 2023 is a start of this journey of formation, and I am looking forward to it, to be a part of the SEI community. To the journey.’
Edited picture, courtesy of the Comms Department, NHS Golden Jubilee. 75th years celebration at the hospital.
