From the Rectory

Dear Friends,

 

The boxes are unpacked and we’re settling in very happily, so thankful to be here in this beautiful place surrounded by such lovely people. May the honeymoon be a long one!

I’m looking forward to meeting you all – and also to meeting some of your friends and neighbours who wouldn’t usually think of coming to church. That’s why you may have picked up a slip of paper inviting you to suggest a date and time when you can gather a few of your ‘non-church’ friends together and ask me along, too. One of the good things about the Church of England parish system is that the parish includes everyone – not just the faithful few.

William Temple.  A former Archbishop of Canterbury, wrote that the Church is the only institution which exists for the benefit of those outside itself. That’s an insight which can be easily forgotten, as we rejoice – quite rightly – in the fellowship of like-minded people, with whom we feel so much at ease. But belonging to the Church is not an end in itself; we’re here for other people, and in the caring, serving and loving we give them, our faith is made real.

At the beginning of May the turf-cutting for the new Children’s Hospice took place – within our parish. We are so privileged to have this wonderful example of ‘care in the community’ here among us; may they always be able to count on our active and generous support. And as we think about the plans for our parish room, to be housed in our Library in the church-yard, may we consider not just our own needs, but the ways in which we can serve the local community.

This month we celebrate the coming of a wonderful gift to the early followers of Jesus – the coming of the Holy Spirit. Let’s not forget that the first thing they did was not to stay huddled together in their upper room, bathed in a warm spiritual glow, but to rush out into the street to tell everyone else about it!

 

Happy Pentecost – and looking forward to meeting you in your home, or in Tesco or the Post Office, the Failand Inn, or the Barn (any other suggestions?) – as well as in church!

 

Love to all,

 

Rosey