This past weekend saw the end of an era. Gary Lineker’s reign as the face of Match of the Day – the BBC’s flagship football highlights programmes – has now come to an end. You can read the Guardian summary of the final show here.

I don’t intend to get into any of the controversial stuff in this post. You can have your views on why he was asked to resign. You can have your opinions on whether it was necessary or unfair. I have no intention of getting into any of that here.

The Guardian report on the final show this way:

“It wasn’t meant to end this way,” was how Lineker opened his final show, but there was to be no confessional. Of course it was a set up for a joke. “With the title race over, the Champions League was all we had left to talk about,” said Lineker as Richards grimaced keenly, but the camera didn’t linger.

As ever with a show that is edited with military precision, the match action had to be cued up. “We’ll take it in table order,” Lineker said. The show rolled on.

There were little chuckles at the prospect of free pints at Shearer’s Bar at St James’ Park and a recital of law 12 relating to the control of the ball in a goalkeeper’s hand. The Chelsea defender Levi Colwill was compared to a “prime Lineker in the box” by Richards and giggles were had over unrevealed remarks relating to Sunderland made by Shearer in the green room.

There was a graphic that got the West Ham manager wrong and Lineker momentarily confused Brighton and Bournemouth. It was all as familiar and as comforting as a warm bath. Then, finally, the plug was pulled.

I was struck by that closing line: ‘it was all as familiar and as comforting as a warm bath. Then, finally, the plug was pulled.’ As I was thinking about it, I was also reflecting on church change. Particularly when one pastor ends and another begins. What does that line communicate about the end of an era?

I think we can read it in two broad ways. On the one hand, it looks like a damp squib. It is, in effect, the TS Eliot summation: this is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper. Apparently it is the way Lineker-era Match of the Day ends too. It is all familiar and comforting and then, finally, the plug is pulled. The end.

I suppose much pastoral ministries end the same way. I don’t mean the ministry-ending failures. I mean the solid, 40-year ministries that end happily, well and the pastor retires. And when he retires, finally, the plug is pulled. His pastoral ministry is over. It essentially looks like 40-years of doing largely the same thing and then it is over. Usually, just like that. One day a pastor, the next day not.

This is in the nature of ministry. You serve, you minister, you faithfully do what you are given to do and then, finally, it is over. Often handed on to someone else while you pass the mantle to someone else and (probably) move into obscurity. That may have the ring of ‘damp squib’ about it too. You get to be a pastor until the Lord pulls the plug. It is all familiar and comforting and ordinary, until you just stop. In one sense, it should feel unexceptional and quite ordinary.

At the same time, although it may feel less bang and more whimper, we acknowledge this is ministry. It is not intended to end with bangs, but nor is what has been done a waste of time or pointless. A long, servant-hearted faithful ministry that comes to an end may not feel banging at the end, but you can look back at the work the Lord has given you to do and feel a sense of his pleasure as you have served as he called you to do.

The second thing that struck me about Gary Lineker’s final show is the question of ending well. Leaving aside the reasons for his term coming to an end (which may have something to say about ending well themselves), once the decisions to leave has been taken, how do you then end well? Regardless of what led to the decision, how to you finish helpfully?

It seems to me a reasonable offer was provided by Lineker. There was a gentle nod to the elephant in the room at the start. We all know I’m going, let’s just acknowledge it, briefly, without dwelling on it too much. There was acknowledgement of the years of service and a show of thanks, Then, thereafter, it was largely business as usual. A final show of the kind you you would have expected on any other Sunday night. The thing wasn’t blown up, the show was what it was, and then it was left in a fit state for someone else to come and take it on.

I think there is some credit in that as pastors step down from the church. The aim is not to pull the church down as we step out of ministry. Rather, ending well would suggest we want to acknowledge we’re going, receive whatever thanks from the church might be offered and then – for the final time – operate with business as usual, leaving the place in a fit state for whoever will come in next.