From the Vicar

“A very warm welcome to you all” has, I’m sure everyone would agree, taken on quite a different meaning over most of July and August as we, and countless others across the country and the world, have basked” in unprecedented temperatures. More recently it has been a real pleasure to welcome people “on this lovely cool and wet morning/evening”!

Later this month we will be celebrating our annual Harvest Festival, and we will be thinking about and praying for our farming community and everything they’ve had to go through over these last few months. We will give thanks for their resilience and determination, and will be praying for all those who, across our world, are being affected by climate change in its many and different manifestations. We are also thinking in this Parish, and across the whole Church of England, about the ways in which we can play our part in reducing the effects of climate change. To this end, and as part of Eco-Church, some members of the congregation attended a workshop in August about sustainability and Church flowers – a small thing per-haps but, in the words of a well known supermarket “every little helps”.

God’s world is in our hands – we are the stewards of God’s creation, and this stewardship involves responsibilities and decision making which we are all only just beginning to grapple with seriously. “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow………..look at the birds of the air, who neither reap nor sow and yet are fed……….” asked Jesus of the crowds who came to listen to him on the mountain-side beside the Sea of Galilee, and he asks the same of us today, 20 centuries later, as we consider our place and role and responsibilities within the natural world.

And so as we gather across the country to give thanks this month, and next, for the work of the farming community we need also to reflect on our part in God’s creation, and to exercise wise and careful stewardship in all our dealings with the natural world – for our good but especially for the good of all those who will follow us.

May God’s blessing be upon each and every one of us in this coming month.

The Revd Alec Brown.

From the Curate

Dear friends,

October can be a beautiful month. The leaves begin to turn, the evenings draw in, and there is a sense of the seasons changing around us. But this year, I suspect that many of us come to October carrying rather a lot in our hearts.

We look at the world and see so much uncertainty. There are wars and conflicts, people displaced from their homes, political tensions and divisions, and worries about what the future might hold. “Doom scrolling” can lead to deep anxiety. It can sometimes feel as though there is very little that we can do about any of it.

And closer to home, we have also known sadness within our own parish community. In recent weeks and months we have said farewell to people who have been part of our lives and our community. Each death leaves an empty place, and each person is remembered in their own particular way.

At such times it is perfectly natural to ask where God is.

The Christian answer is not that God promises us a life without sadness, uncertainty or loss. The Bible is far too honest about life for that. Instead, again and again, it tells us that God is with us in the midst of it.
We see it in the Psalms, where people cry out to God in fear and grief. We see it in the life of Jesus, who himself knew friendship, sorrow, suffering and death. And we see it in the resurrection, which tells us that death and darkness do not have the final word.

Recently, I went to see the poet Lemn Sissay at the Storyhouse in Chester. He has written a book of 4 line poems called “Let the Light pour in” If you know anything of Lemn`s story, he has experienced great periods of darkness in his life. This is one of the poems:

“How do you do it?” said the night,

“How do you wake up and shine?”

“I keep it simple,” said the light,

“One day at a time.”

I love the simplicity of those words. One day at a time. Perhaps that is sometimes all we are asked to do. We don’t have to solve all the problems of the world to-day. We don’t have to know exactly what the future will bring. We don’t even have to feel hopeful all the time. Sometimes we simply need to get through today — trusting that God is there with us. And then tomorrow, we take another step.

There is something deeply Christian about that.

Jesus tells us not to worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will have enough trouble of its own. That isn’t a denial of the difficulties of life. It is an invitation to trust God with the day that is in front of us.
As we enter October, therefore, perhaps we can hold on to that simple thought: God is with us.
We may not know what the next few months will bring. But we don’t face them alone.

The God who has been faithful to generations before us is faithful still.

So perhaps, when we feel overwhelmed by everything that is happening in the world and closer to home, we can come back to something simple. One day at a time. One prayer at a time. One act of kindness at a time. One step at a time.

And, in all of it, trusting the words of Jesus: “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

It is also worth remembering, especially when life feels demanding, that looking after ourselves is not selfish. Sometimes we are so concerned about family, friends, neighbours and the wider world that we forget that we too need rest and care. Jesus himself took time away from the crowds to pray and be still. We needn’t feel guilty about doing the same. A walk, a quiet cup of tea, time with a friend, a good night’s sleep, prayer, music, laughter, or simply doing nothing for a while can all be ways of receiving God’s gift of rest. We cannot carry everything, and we were never meant to. Sometimes the most faithful thing we can do is to pause, breathe, and allow God to hold what we cannot.

With love, prayers and blessings

Christina