New Horizon

Another picture of the sun rising over the East Sea near Sokcho.

I have just returned home from a "reunion."
To be honest I wasn't really looking forward to it... though as things turned out I am very glad that I went.
I think my apprehension was related to another reunion that I had attended in 1988 to mark the 400th anniversary of my secondary school (Hamilton Academy.) That event had taken place in the old school building itself and I found the whole experience a little bit disorientating - not because everything had changed, but on the contrary because most things seemed to be still the same as they had been more than 20 years previously.
Of course, many of the people had changed... outwardly at least.
The trouble is - I found the whole school reunion thing so superficial and even artificial- and I kept asking myself why I was there? What did I really have in common with all these other people?
A few years ago I also attended a reunion of my Final Year group from University (Divinity Faculty) and I found it equally strange. Just another poignant reminder of how quickly time passes.
But tonight's reunion somehow was quite different.
The purpose of the evening was to mark the 35th anniversary of a Christian singing group that I used to be in and of which, for a while, I was one of the leaders. The group was called "New Horizon" and it was formed in 1973. I had to leave the group in 1978 when I began work as an assistant minister in Castlehill Church in Ayr.
After I left, the group continued for another 17 years, performing and recording under the excellent musical leadership of Ian Watson. Since New Horizon continued long after my departure many of the newer members of the group were people I did not know, and had never known, and I think part of my apprehension (apart from my previous 'reunion' experiences) arose out of the feeling that since I had only been in the group at the very start of its life, I wasn't really a very significant part of its whole story. In the event that feeling quickly disappeared on entering the hall.
It was just a big family reunion.
But what made tonight special was that I met some people I hadn't expected to meet (and, to be honest, had always thought I might never meet again) and found that in spite of all the intervening years we could easily talk with each other as if we'd last met on Tuesday!
It's as if things that really matter to you never change and yet are always new.