St Mary's Notices

The letter is written by our Church Wardens Ian and Katherine this week whilst Adele takes a well deserved rest. The story of Ruth encourages us to make kindness our super power and to see how we are blessed by God in return.
The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge! Ruth 2 v12

As God's people we are all blessed with some superpowers but how will we use them? God can use the ordinary situations and people in extraordinary ways as we have seen throughout the pandemic.

My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness.
Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
(2 Corinthians 12 v9 The Message and ESV mixed)

So more people can be included Matt Lax has kindly offered to update and extend the video for St Marys and full details can found in Adele's letter of 26th July.
He has set up a dropbox https://www.dropbox.com/request/rUlEKYtQbCne1QNmn2pd
which you can add to at any time and by 25 August at the latest.

We are looking at how we are connected as Church across time and place with the saints who went before and those that are yet to come.
"And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith." Hebrews 12 vv 1-2

As the Body of Christ we are called to look outwards to share the good news of Jesus even though that is challenging in current times.

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. There is no law against such things.”
Galatians 5 vv 22-23

Bishop Guli talks about the increased levels of anxiety and tiredness she is seeing as the pandemic is continuing for much longer than we may have thought at the outset. This short video outlines three main points - be gentle with yourself; remain faithful in prayer; and embrace uncertainty.

Adele's letter reiterates being still and goes on to consider our 'inward' relationship with God, one another and the world.

“Dear brothers and sisters, I close my letter with these last words: Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you.”
2 Corinthians 13 v11

Sadly, Ann will be resigning as Parish Administrator by the end of December. I want to say a big thank you to Ann for all that she does and for the wonderful support she offers me. Please pray for Ann and Andy and for the new opportunities that lie ahead, and for wise decisions for us at St Mary’s as we begin to consider options for the future. Adele.

Church is open for private prayer on Sunday afternoons between 3 and 4pm for the foreseeable future. The sessions will be carefully managed based on Church of England and Government guidelines. Face coverings are required now please.

Adele encourages us to ‘stay still’ – enjoy some rest and the opportunity to ‘waste time with God’ and rest in Jesus. Such time is never really wasted, it strengthens our faith and gives room for God so that we are better ready to follow when the time comes to move on.

“O rest in the Lord, wait patiently for him, and he will give you your heart’s desire.” from Psalm 37

As we continue to navigate the strange times, I wanted to give you another update on how St Mary’s finances are going. Firstly, thanks to all who continue to support us with your generous giving, and a special thanks to those who have recently started to give online or by bank standing order. This makes it so much easier for our hard-working administrators. If you normally give cash via envelope or plate, would you please prayerfully consider changing to use one of these means.

As I have said before, we continue to experience a reduced income, from plate collections, envelopes, Chapter House lettings and wedding income. A survey from the diocese shows that we are not alone in this. We are fortunate in having sufficient reserves to fill the gap for this year. Assuming that these unusual conditions will continue for some time, we will need to consider how we balance the books going forward. Let us all pray that God will supply all our needs, as He has promised to do.

Adele considers the unknown's of our current plans, as a society can we build back better with the deeper changes we have been discussing over recent weeks and what does church look like in the future?