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News, Updates, Thoughts

Dear friends

I was rather late to the party at being confirmed (when, in the church of England, you take the promises that others made on our behalf when we were baptised as infants)  and needed to be ‘done’ before I could be ordained. The only service available in the time frame was a Pentecost service at the cathedral, and after lining up to be confirmed there was this surprising moment when the Bishop strode along the huge nave dipping an enormous sprig of Rosemary into a bowl  and spraying the congregation with water whilst calling out ‘Remember your baptism’. It felt a bit embarrassing at the time but remembering our baptism is a good thing to do.

This Sunday, we will be thinking about the baptism of Christ.  Coincidentally I was talking with a group of people about having a ‘celebration of baptism’ service later in the year so that we could invite all of the people who have had their children baptised recently back to church. Somebody pointed out that it isn’t just the newly baptised that should celebrate their baptism but that it is something that most of us in church can and should revel in.

Our baptism marks the beginning of  our commitment to  follow Christ and making him Lord in our lives. This week, as we think about the significance of Jesus’s baptism, let’s not just remember our own baptisms as a past event but spend some time considering how our commitment to turn to Christ has shaped our lives  and how we can more fully follow and love him, which is, after all,  what  we promised to do when we were baptised.

Faith

The lectionary and all the Bible Reading apps that I draw on regularly all share the same reading for new years day. It comes from Numbers 6 and it is the blessing that God asks Moses to share with the Israelites.

I love the words of that blessing and I often use it when people have come for  prayer rather than bread and wine at the communion table.

'The Lord bless and keep you: the Lord make his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you: the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.'

At the beginning of the year, there is space and opportunity to reflect on the past and to consider the future, this is my prayer for each of us. That as individuals, as churches  and as a benefice, we, and all whom we love and are called to serve, will know to an ever increasing extent, God's blessing, God's protection, God's grace, God's peace, God's presence and pleasure over the next twelve months.

Faith

Stuart and I would like to wish you a very Happy Christmas. I do hope that you all have a really blessed time over the festive period.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what our invitation cards at St Mary’s say ‘unpack Christmas and discover Christ’. The image in my head is of a pass the parcel, taking off layer after layer, each one needing to be got through before we get to the big present at the centre.

I have been thinking particularly about the things that we place in the way of that, the festivities and the busyness, the cleaning and getting all the last minute jobs done.

But today, it occurred to me that there are other layers which need unwrapping before we recognise God’s  great gift to us. Things like sickness, disappointment, loneliness and loss.

The danger is, that we stop unwrapping the present, so to speak, and don’t actually get to Christ, who is the reason we celebrate and the one who promises to meet with us whatever our circumstances.

The Bishop  of Winchester wrote to ministers today saying:

‘I am convinced that our calling as a Church above all else is to incarnate (show) in who we are, by God’s Spirit, the presence of Jesus in our midst, in all his humility, service, and compassion: humility, service and compassion that led him both to the manger and to the cross. There is no better way we can love the world to which the Lord sends us than that.’

And so as Christmas approaches, let us remember our calling and be glad in it, and pray that we will all know something anew of the love God showed  that first Christmas and that He continues to show us today.

God Bless,

Faith

Dear Friends.

We had our first carol service in the benefice last Sunday when people crammed into Bramshill Mission Chapel. Built over a 100 years ago the small wooden building sits within woodland just off Bramshill Road. There is no direct road or paved walkway access and  you have to walk through woodland to get to the building. Bur the walk was really worth it. The chapel is the only public meeting place in Bramshill and over 30 people filled the building to sing carols, be reminded of the Christmas story and to pray. As one person put it “Amazing service thankyou - Christmas for me started in that tiny place”

Our next carol service is at St Barnabas this Sunday at 6pm.For the first time for a few years we have our own scratch choir who will be leading us in the singing.

Our Christmas celebrations are not all happening in church. This Friday at St Mary’s  we are hosting the very popular Fireside Carols and next Tuesday we have been invited by the White Hart pub to lead carols for their customers.

Our advent teaching series continues this Sunday morning when we will focus on the subject of humility. A number of people have asked if its possible to get a copy of the book that we have based our sermon series in advent on. Its called ”Advent for Everyone: A journey with the Apostles". 

Gold bless

Stuart

Dear friends

The Christmas busyness has well and truly started. If you read all the events listed in this newsletter you may be impressed at how much the churches are doing or you may feel daunted that there is so much to do. The important thing to remember though is that this season is meant to be a time of preparation for Christmas.

We had a great opportunity to do that last Saturday with our superb Advent Quiet Day where we were guided to think of Advent as a time of Waiting in Hope. What struck me most was that Advent is a time of joyful anticipation. It prompted me to realign my thoughts away from counting and listing what needs doing to remembering that Christmas, the birth of Christ, is the ultimate cause for celebration. If we lose sight of that then how can we share the true meaning of Christmas with others?

I was reminded of ‘joyful anticipation’ again this week. We have had four school visits in the last 5 days at St Barnabas and it seems to me that the children really have got it right. The teachers are desperately trying to keep their excitement within acceptable limits but for the youngsters, waiting for Christmas is almost painful as it seems to take so long to arrive.

Our advent teaching series this year considers advent as a time for thanksgiving, a time for patience, a time for humility and a time for blessing. One of the quotations I came across last week from theologian N.T. Wright was that ‘when we thank God we grow into our proper selves.’ Giving thanks turns us towards Christ and all he has done, and continues to do, for us.

My challenge to Charles Kingsley School, who had joined us last Sunday at St Marys, was to make time for thanksgiving each day, when we go to bed, when we eat and when we open our advent calendar. It's not just the school who need to remember to thank God but all of us. As we wait with joyful expectation for Christmas day, let's practice being thankful to God, so that we can all begin to grow into our proper selves.

God bless

Faith

Dear friends

After the news this week, this is a really hard letter to write. As somebody asked me, how can we keep banging on about God’s love and then ignoring abuse? The answer is we can’t.

What has happened is awful.

Our thoughts and prayers must be with the survivors of abuse who will have all painful feelings and memories triggered by this weeks news. Their needs and their voices must be our overriding concern.

I have been thinking about what to do and say if I am challenged about what has happened, and I think the only thing is to be honest and say it is unacceptable, the institution of the church is culpable. I don’t think that we have seen the last of the fallout from this, and in a way I hope not. The Makin report names many people who are still high up in the church who should have done more and maybe, if we see them resigning as well, we will know that the national church is beginning to lament its lack of action and beginning to take its responsibilities to protect and listen to survivors of abuse seriously.

We want our two churches to be safe, friendly, loving and welcoming. The scriptures reveal God's heart for the hurting, the vulnerable, and the abused. We are called as followers of Jesus to stand alongside anyone who has suffered. For that reason, safeguarding is something we all need to take seriously.

I am personally so grateful to Amanda for all that she has done and is doing to put the safeguarding processes in place so that our churches are as safe an environment as possible. If I’m honest, sometimes the paperwork is burdensome and seems over the top, but what churches are being asked to do now would have stopped the abuse of John Smyth from continuing for as long as it did and prevented enormous suffering.

Remember though, that the good news of Jesus is still good news for a broken world. That doesn’t stop just because some people distort it and misrepresent it for their own ends. When I was training, I was told, if it isn’t good news, then it isn’t the gospel. Abuse is never good news, and we, as followers of Jesus, should have no truck with it.

God Bless

Faith 

Today is Ascension Day, when we remember the day Jesus ascended to heaven. You can read about it in Acts 1:1-11. After Jesus had been killed, defeated death, came back to life, spent time with his friends again, and appeared to over 500 people, he was finally taken back up to heaven in a cloud. His friends must have been so full of emotion. Joy at knowing that Jesus was alive, confusion about all the incredible things that were happening, sadness at Jesus leaving them again, excitement and anxiety about the future.

One of the last things Jesus said to his friends before he went back to heaven was that he would always be with them:

“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:20

This is a promise that is repeated throughout the Bible. We know that God will never leave us or forsake us, he will not fail us or forget us, he will not reject us or abandon us. God is with us, he is for us, and he will help us.

But, having met Jesus, God in the flesh, the first disciples must have been very confused about how exactly he was going to continue to help them, as they watched him disappear into the sky.

He had promised to send a helper, even before his death:

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever – the Spirit of truth.” John 14:16-17

And yet how could they understand what this would mean to them, until they had experienced it?

In some of his last conversations with his friends before he went back to heaven, Jesus had told them what their mission was. They were to love one another. They were to tell people the amazing story about how God had raised Jesus to life! To tell them the good news that if they were sorry, God would forgive them. And that everyone, regardless of nationality or religion or background, was welcome in the Kingdom of God.

So Jesus had told them what they must do, and he had promised them he would be with them and he would help them. They may not have understood exactly how this would all work. But one thing we do know: we know that they prayed:

“They all joined together constantly in prayer.” Acts 1:14

In the week and a half from the day Jesus ascended into heaven until the day of Pentecost, the only thing we know about Jesus’ friends (apart from the fact that they added a new apostle to replace Judas) is that they prayed.

In the lead up to Pentecost, let us follow the example of those first apostles, and pray. This year’s Prayer Journals are full of ideas about different ways to pray.

Like the first disciples, we don’t understand how exactly God is going to work in our lives and in our communities. But we can hold fast to his promises that he will be with us and he will help us. We are not in this on our own! Let’s dedicate the next 11 days to seeking God, to listening to him more, to getting closer to him. And then let’s be brave and trust God’s Spirit to help us do the work he’s asked us to do.  

Thy Kingdom Come is an international prayer movement which encourages Christians around the world to pray for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Although we may pray for this all-year round, this global wave of prayer particularly focuses on the days between Ascension Day (Thursday 9th May) and Pentecost (Sunday 19th May). These dates are significant because at Pentecost we remember how the early Christian community received the Holy Spirit. In the lead up to Pentecost, we are praying for God’s Spirit to transform and renew our lives and our communities. We are specifically invited to pray for God's Kingdom to come on Earth, and, more personally, for five of our friends to know the transforming love of Jesus in their lives.

Praying for God’s Kingdom

Praying for God’s Kingdom to come on Earth is a pretty big prayer! It’s what Jesus encourages us to pray, as part of the prayer he teaches his disciples (Matthew 6):

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven… 

But what does ‘praying for God’s Kingdom to come’ mean for this world that we live in ? , What does it mean for our communities, our families, our own lives?

This is something that I am thinking about this week as I prepare for Thy Kingdom Come, which starts next Thursday. I am thinking about what God’s Kingdom would look like as I listen to the news, when I am at work, when I go out for a walk or when I am meeting friends,  I am thinking about the ways in which I long to see the Spirit of God transform and renew those places. I really want to see God’s Kingdom because it will be a place of love and comfort and peace: 

“God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”  Revelation 21:3-4

I am asking God how I can be a part of that, and how and what to pray.

Praying for our friends

During Thy Kingdom Come, we are also encouraged to pray for five of our friends to know the transforming love of Jesus in their lives. Before thinking about which friends, I wanted to pray for, I did an interesting exercise that you might find helpful too. I wrote down on a piece of paper some of the ways in which knowing Jesus has helped me. For example, I wrote, “I know that God loves me. This helps me to learn to value myself and be kind to myself.” I wrote lots of other things down too, I won’t bore you with all of them! It’s true that I sometimes think I still have so far to go before I fully understand the love and peace that Jesus wants to give me. But knowing that God loves us and forgives us and is always with us makes our lives immeasurably better. Not always easier, but better, more whole, more real. As Jesus said:

“I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.” John 10:10

Writing down some of the many reasons why I’m grateful to have Jesus in my life helped me to see why, how and who I might want to pray for. Which of our friends would be most grateful to experience Jesus’ unconditional love and his promised fullness of life?  

So, what is planned for Thy Kingdom Come at St Mary’s and St Barnabas?

This year we are inviting everyone to pray using the Thy Kingdom Come prayer diaries, which will be available (free!) from the churches. The prayer diaries will help us to explore different ways to pray each day and will link with prayer videos which we will be sharing on the church social media pages. So please look out for them.

We have a Quiet Day planned for Saturday 11th May at St Mary's, it will be a really special way to spend time thinking and praying in such a beautiful setting, and also enjoying lunch with friends. If you are free that day, I would really recommend it.

On Saturday 18th May from 9am-12 noon, we are going to be holding a Prayer  Morning at St Barnabas. This is open to all ages, and you can drop in when you like and stay as long as you like. We will have a quiet space for reflection in the church, with a few prayer activities, and there will be coffee and tea and pastries available in the cafe. Please do come along to that and encourage your friends to come too. If you want to pray about anything, even if it's just to light a candle and remember a loved one, this is a great opportunity to do that. If you just want to come along and enjoy a free breakfast and a chat, we’d love to see you! 

We’re really excited about all the prayer that’s going to be happening, both individually and collectively, leading up to Pentecost. We know that God answers our prayers! We know this from our own experiences, and even when we find it hard to see God working in our lives, we can remember the promises in the Bible:

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Luke 11:9

“The Lord is near to all who call on him.” Psalm 145:18

Thank you for praying. Whether your prayers during Thy Kingdom Come are building on years of prayer and devotion, or whether you are new and hesitant in your prayers, thank you. 

I for one can’t wait to see what God’s going to do next!

It’s been 5 months since Stuart arrived and we have felt so welcome and we have been so blessed in getting to know you, you are a constant source of encouragement to us.

Before I started as vicar here, I was given two bits of advice. One by the vicar at my last church who said: “‘don’t change anything in the first year Faith’ and the other by the bishop who said: “‘just go in and get everything changed straight away.’

I must say, one felt very boring, and one felt, well, shall I just say…’not quite right’. But I thought the best way forward would be to start to get to know you and find what is important to you, and all I can say, is that I have at times, been literally speechless...

Because things have happened and I have a deep sense that God has been here, preparing the ground for a new chapter, and it feels as if that is built on your prayers, so thank you so much.

Things have been happening at quite a pace, haven’t they? For example,

• We applied and were successful in a grant to use our building as a Community Hub.
• The way that all age service has grown and developed.
• We have our new evening “Revive” service.
• The congregation is gradually growing in number.
• There are people exploring doing extra training so that they can serve the church better.
• How so many participated in our week of prayer.
• Our Men’s Breakfast attracting 38 people.
• The new creche which is so well used.

And I am so amazed at how you have just embraced all those changes – St Barnabas, you are incredible.

Alongside the excitement, has been almost a feeling of treading on holy ground – that we don’t want to run a head of what God is doing for us, or lag behind, but that we will be vigilant in listening to him and going at his pace.

I want to share some of my (prayerful) hopes and dreams for us as a church. We’ve spent time over the last month looking at how and why we “Love God, love each other and love our community”, and to me they are measuring sticks – what we can judge our ideas and plans against.

When we have new ideas or when we are planning anything, we need to ask four questions.

• Does this help us love God more?
• Does this help us love each other more?
• Does this help us love our community more?
• And finally – looking at everything we do, have we got the right balance between those three?

In my interview, I was asked about how I would go about making the church a flourishing community of faith? After a lot of prayer, thought , study and discussion with wiser than me, I came up with 8 things.

And I think that the things that I prayerfully came up with for the interview were right – because they fit with this church’s values, there is nothing that I said or thought then that I have felt ‘Oh no, that doesn’t fit’

1. A flourishing community of faith is will always be rooted in prayer.

   Without Prayer there is no flourishing, it is the bedrock of all a church does, why? Because prayer changes things.

2. A flourishing community of faith will be a place where we can grow in our faith.

   Each week we look after my grandson on a Friday, and each week, I take a whole heap of photographs. I was saying to my son and daughter in law yesterday that when I have time, I will be able to put together a series of photographs of every week of his life. The changes between each photo will be minimal – but we will see him gradually change and grow. If he didn’t, we would be very concerned – he wouldn’t be flourishing. In the same way, if we took a photograph of our faith each week, we should, over time see how our love for God has increased, how our knowledge of him has increased and our desire to serve him and spend time with him has increased.

3. A flourishing community of faith will be where more people become followers of Jesus –

   We believe as Christians, that life is always better with Jesus than without Jesus. The Bible teaches us that Jesus brings forgiveness for past, abundant life in the Present and hope for the future. The gospel is good news, as we flourish, people will be drawn to us, and through us be drawn to Jesus.

4. A flourishing community of faith will be where Worship is vibrant, life giving

   Stuart and I went to the theatre recently to see a show in London. It was a rush to get there, I lost my train ticket and the pizza we had beforehand was the worst I have ever eaten. We concluded that it really was a big mistake to have tried to do London on a midweek evening. Then the show started, and within 5 minutes we were engrossed in it and we left the theatre tingling, having had a great time and our mood utterly transformed, wondering what the next show would be and if we could get tickets. That’s really a picture of what our worship on a Sunday morning should be – whatever state we are in, it changes us, gives us life and makes us want more of God.

5. A flourishing community of faith is where lives are changed.
6. A flourishing community of faith is where all ages are represented.
7. A flourishing community of faith will be where all people know they are valued by the church and by God (pastoral care)

   Is a place where people can’t stop talking about the way they are looked after, how they are supported by the church. Wouldn’t it be great to overhear conversations in the local schools , pubs and playgrounds which go like this… · ‘They were so good to my mum when…’ · ‘They really supported my family when we were going through a tough time…’ · ‘I don’t know how I would have got through that without my church family’.

8. A flourishing community of faith will be one which impacts the whole of the parish

   Do you remember that passage from Micah? “What is it the lord has required of you? To act justly, love mercy and walk humbly before your Lord”. Our worship is not just what we do in church but also what we do outside of church. If we aren’t impacting our communities, we aren’t truly worshipping.

When we had our PCC awayday, we worked to put together some broad headlines of how we would begin to achieve that. We came up with three priorities to help us to do those things.

1. Prayer, has to be the main priority

   We have already praying together. We have our Lent Groups, had a week of prayer and had two amazing Quiet days. We pray together on a Thursday afternoon and meet virtually twice a week. In the coming weeks and months, we will look to build on this looking for a way that we can meet as a church to pray daily. In a few weeks we are holding a prayer ministry training event and want to encourage more to be involved in this and grow our team on people who lead our intercessions on a Sunday,

2. Discipleship - helping us to grow in our understanding of what it means to follow Jesus

   In the coming weeks and months, we are looking at how we can reinvigorate our home groups. We are planning on running courses like the Alpha Course, Marriage Course and Bereavement Journey.

3. Connecting and building relationships with individuals and other groups using the church

   A major focus over the coming weeks will be making the building fit to serve our community. We are already in the amazing position that so many people are coming into the church building – we aren’t even having to leave the building, but we do need to develop this. We will want to engage, partner, and support all those who are part of the Community Hub. The building project will take a lot of time and energy, but it is not the main thing, we need to keep our eyes on Jesus, making sure we become that thriving community of faith.

In Summary

My prayer is that we are a church which we can’t wait to get too on a Sunday. Where we will feel as if we are missing out if we can’t get along a church, which we can’t help talking about to our friends. A church that mirrors what we read in Acts 2, a place where we praise God and enjoy the favour of all the people and where the Lord will be adding to our number daily those who are being saved.

Isaiah 40:1-11

The beginning of February brings longer and warmer days. With it, we celebrate St Valentine’s Day. With four teenagers in the house, we wonder will any secret admirers be brave and send a card? A gesture of admiration is thoughtful and sweet but how do you determine if someone really loves you? Does someone love you because they send you a card, or a box of chocolates? Or do you determine they love you because they’ve listened to you, taken notice and remembered what you have said; maybe they’ve worked out your favourite colour for example, and let you know they know! Is it in the giving, or in the detail of their knowledge of you? And how do you show your loved one that you love them? Do you send a card, a gift, or do you listen carefully and know details about them?

I recall reading about love languages a few years ago. It emphasized that individuals express and appreciate love through various means. It suggested that the most effective way to demonstrate love is by acknowledging how someone expresses their love to you and reciprocating in kind, as it aligns with their preferred way of receiving affection. This could be by spending quality time together, giving gifts, giving compliments, offering hugs, or assisting with tasks.

God loves us! With God, it’s in the details- he knows us by name but more than that, he knows the number of hairs on our head! But he also gives; he gives again and again, showing his grace and mercy to us, when we really don’t deserve it.

But what if you’re not in a season of love? What if right now, Valentine’s Day seems like a day of misery lurking around the corner, been there, done that, worn the t-shirt and got burnt fingers? Or perhaps you feel that you erred in the wrong direction a bit too far and although you’ve heard that God is a God of second chances, and third and fourth and so on, that you have run out of chances. Here’s the surprise: there are no limits to the number of chances. No matter what you have done, how far you have gone, God is still and will always be calling you back into relationship with him and each other. He loves you, he forgives you, he will protect you and never forsake you.

Does he correct? Yes, as a good father would. Just the other day, I saw a father grab his young child as she was about to step out onto the road in front of a car. His first reaction was to shout at his daughter never to cross the road without checking for cars, which was then immediately followed by a hug of overflowing love and relief that she was okay. God’s correction is there to keep us safe because he loves us and doesn’t want us to get hurt or hurt others.

But will God really forgive me? A couple of nights ago, I lit a lavender scented candle. Not having spotted it, my youngest son walked in the room, smelled the air and stated, “mmm, I can small lavender!” Moments later my middle son walked in and said, “why can I smell that bush?” (close but not so accurate). And then, my eldest son walked in and said, “what’s that smell?” I’m not sure if this says more about the ages of my sons than it does their memories, but it appeared they had remembered the smell at different levels of recognition. In the same way we may

have different levels of understanding or recognition of God’s forgiveness. Does God really forgive me, will he really show mercy? Yes, we need to remember the God who delivered the Israelites out of Egypt. It’s the same God of our ancestors! He’s done it before, he’ll do it again!

Regardless of how you communicate your affections this Valentine’s Day, keep in mind the love of God- the God who knows you by name, the God who corrects to protect, the God of the second and third and fourth chances. The God who welcomes you back with open arms. The God whose love language is that of a contrite heart.

God loves you so much! He’s calling you back!