Friday, August 9, 2013

The Vicar's Two Penn'orth for August 2013


It’s the beginning of August and we are full on into the holiday season. Many families are away, especially those with younger children. It is a time for families to catch up with each other, to visit aunts and uncles they have missed throughout the year; to come together and have time to relax and enjoy each other’s company.

Congregations in church have a ten­dency to dip in the summer months as people are away re-charging their batteries. So perhaps this is a good time to reflect on where we stand in our church life and how much time we can give to enrich the Church. We live very busy lives and it is important to get our priorities in order. Family, friends and church can be very de­mand­ing. It is important that we find time to refresh ourselves so that every­one benefits, and we don’t find that as we move into September we are still worn out.

With our energy renewed we can prior­itise our needs in a more efficient way which includes our spiritual well-being. We are told in Galatians 6, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Wonderful attributes to enrich us as a Church family.

The plans are moving forward for the improvements of the Lady chapel, the change to the flooring will give a feeling of more light and, with the gaining of new chairs, we will add to the comfort of the increasing numbers who attend our Wednesday Eucharist service. More than half the chairs for the chapel have been generously fund­ed, and we are still looking for further funding to complete the changeover to 20-plus chairs, which is really exciting.

Our faculty has been submitted for our audiovisual equipment for the main church, and the aim is to try and get it ready for the beginning of the new school term, so that not only our wonderful church benefits, but also our school, Holy Trinity. This again is really exciting and a lot of thanks must go to all the people who have been involved in liaising with all the different bodies to make this happen.

I do feel as a church we are moving along in the right direction and this has been made possible with your full support, and by God’s Grace. The Holy Spirit moves and touches us in extraordinary ways. In 2 Corinthians, we are told, “It is God himself who has set us apart, who has placed his mark of ownership upon us, and who has given us the Holy Spirit in our hearts as a guaranteeing of all that he has in store for us.” What is encouraging to see, is the work done by more and more people. We are beginning to see the fruits of our hard work, which should make our church more attract­ive to exist in the 21st century.

What we should never forget is what St Paul says to the Church in Corinth and it is a good reminder to us: 1 Corinthians 14, “So it is with you. Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts; try and excel gifts that build up the church.” I firmly believe our church is full of people who can build us up and are gifted. So long may we continue to move forward.

 

Your friend,

Rev’d Paul

August 2013

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