Today I attended the first training day in preparation for my new role as a justice of the peace. Magistrates’ courts in the UK deal with around 94% of the criminal cases and people from all walks of life are selected to be JPs. Following two gruelling interviews and then a swearing-in ceremony before a circuit judge I am to join another seven new entrants for the training programme in Caernarfon. I will have my first sitting as a JP in May but due to the nature of the work it will not be possible for me to blog about it here.

I want to take this opportunity today, though, to explain why I applied for the post. It’s not that I wanted another title before my name or another set of letters after it. No, really!!! So let me list my reasons for you:

Justice is central to the idea of the Kingdom of God. Now while only the final coming of the Kingdom will ensure the whole creation receives the justice it calls for, there is an element of justice being given today. This happens in many ways but the state’s court system is one of those. So this work – though non-religious – does have an aspect of Kingdom to it.

Because I work in full-time ministry as a church leader and teacher the opportunities to be fully integrated into society in a structured way is not often available. For someone doing a non-church job (I’ll refrain from using ‘secular job’) those opportunities are available every time they go to work. For me and many like me this is not possible and so we have to make a particular effort to find such opportunities. This will be mine.

Such a unique position will give me a unique view of society and many of its ills. I will be able to see the island from a totally different perspective. It will probably have many disturbing and depressing episodes but I’m sure that I will learn a lot about the needs of our society.

And finally I will be able to use some of the skills I have gathered along the journey so far, not least during my four years as a halls of residence warden in Bangor University. There’s little point in building a skill set if you can’t use it and God gives us many experiences so that we can use them to help others.

So today begins a new part of my journey and I look forward to seeing what God does to me and through me along the way.