From the Rector…

Clergy

We extend a warm welcome to Archdeacon Fiona as she visits the parish and preaches at St Nicholas’ Patronal Festival this morning.  This afternoon she will take her place in Chichester Cathedral, our mother church, as Bishop Martin blesses a specially designated door to herald the Year of Mercy he has declared for the Diocese.  Pope Francis, whose call Bishop Martin is supporting, describes such a door as “a Door of Mercy through which anyone who enters will experience the love of God who consoles, pardons and instils hope”.  It is a welcoming door through which all in need may enter, but also a door from which the Church must go out to proclaim mercy to all.

As our Alpha Course concluded this week I was struck by how much it had anticipated (and modelled) some of the key principles both of the Year of Mercy and how we can be “church”:  the open welcome, the fellowship (and thanks again to Higgidy Pies for another wonderful meal on Tuesday!), the learning through clear teaching and free discussion, the building of a common purpose respectful of individual needs and journeys and the going out challenged yet resourced.   The final evening spoke powerfully as in the talk and discussion we considered what the church could be and, quite naturally, put it into practice in the support of two of our members – one who received (during the talk) news of the death of a family member and one who was then in hospital and died shortly afterwards.  It is that bond, within the church family and with all God’s children, that was modelled by St Nicholas.  His is an example of a life infused with pastoral care, teaching and worship that continues to proclaim the gospel in our own day and challenges us to do likewise.

Anthony

Pewsheet for 29th November 2015

Pewsheets

Click here to see this week’s pewsheet.

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From the Curate…

Clergy

“Right!”

Liz fears this word in our house.  It comes out of lips at the meal table in our kitchen or we are just about to go out as a family or in mid conversation in a coffee shop.  I do it sub-consciously (but occasionally consciously).  It signifies to Liz and the girls that I have had enough of waiting and this is the time for action.  Right!  Time to leave a meal table and get on. Right! Time for us to actually try to leave the house somewhere near to the time we actually agreed we would (I live in a house of girls!) or Right! I have just done my mental to-do-list in my head and unless the day has 36hrs I need to get going.

That is how it feels to me as I enter the season of Advent. Right! Here we go – time for action – if I thought I was busy before Advent then just wait for the next few weeks. There will be lots of ‘Rights!’ My very summarised to-do-list looks like this

  • lots of services
  • six School Nativities
  • advertise this and that
  • last Alpha meal/talk

Oh and Christmas, buy presents, work out what we are eating and write cards! The pew sheet just isn’t big enough. I think if Jesus returned, as described in Luke this week, I might, if He was lucky, find a slot in my list (but way down the bottom).  All these things are important but are they the most important and what should I be saying “right” to?

In Advent, we should be giving ourselves space and time to prepare for the birth of Jesus.  The Advent Quiet afternoon on 5th December is much needed time and space in order to re-evaluate my to-do-list, so I can focus on the most important aspect of life in Advent or any other season – my relationship with God through his Son with the power of his Holy Spirit.

Steve

From the Rector…

Clergy

I’d like to start on this, the last Sunday of the Church’s year, with a huge thank you to all those who were involved in offering hospitality and otherwise supporting our guests on the Pilgrimage2Paris last weekend.  The comments posted on social media gave a very positive image of the parish.  And that, perhaps, is a link into some reflections from my own ‘pilgrimage’ last week in Egypt where time and again I was struck by the way in which the Christian community (about 10-15% of the Egyptian population) lives out its faith through service to “neighbour”.  Projects to provide education, medical services, micro-loans, relief of poverty, refugee assistance abound and are offered to all, irrespective of faith tradition, in the midst of challenging (and often discriminatory) circumstances .  One of my colleagues on the pilgrimage said that he had come expecting to find a church “needing us” and instead came away challenged and encouraged by what we saw.  The phrase from the Alpha talk I had given just before leaving that– “we are not saved by good works, we are saved by grace, but we are saved for good works” kept coming to mind.   And the Coptic Church’s service (“good works”) seems to be borne out of, or has itself produced, a remarkable blessing.  The church next to where we were staying regularly had over 100 coming for daily Morning Prayer followed by Eucharist (1.5 hours!); one church dug out of the rock in the “garbage city” on Cairo’s outskirts has 6,000 (really!) for their Thursday evening bible study; 40 years ago monastic life was dying out with only a few hundred monks – now there are over 15,000 … and all in context where “mission” is amongst those who are already Christian.  You can imagine my prayer for the impact of yesterday’s Holy Spirit Day on our parish life !

Anthony

Pewsheet for 15th November 2015

Pewsheets

Click here to see this week’s pewsheet.

Tip: If this, or any other, PDF document opens at too large a size, here’s what you do:

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From the Associate Vicar…

Clergy

During a four month exchange to the U.S. I came across a hymn which has pretty much become my favourite. The hymn “If you but trust in God to guide you” was written in 1641 by Georg Neumark and comes to us in English by the prolific translator of German hymns Catherine Winkworth. The hymn was written during the 30 year war which ravaged Central Europe during the first half of the 17th century. Georg a young musician and administrator was robbed and lost nearly everything when travelling from Gotha to Kiel on the Baltic coast. The only piece of his possessions he was left with was a collection of recommendations from his former position in Gotha. He had lost nearly everything but due to these letters he was finally able to secure a position as a teacher in Kiel. And so he is able to write,

Sing, pray, and keep His ways unswerving,

Offer your service faithfully,

And trust His word; though undeserving,

You’ll find His promise true to be;

God never will forsake in need

The soul that trusts in Him indeed.

 

Today’s readings have a similar tone to them. They speak of the broken and hurting world we see around us today – but they hold onto the assurance of God’s faithfulness.

Today as we part ways it is my prayer that you will continue to “approach the house of God with a true heart in full assurance of faith” as the letter to the Hebrews puts it: You here in Pound Hill, Worth and Maidenbower, and I in Shoreham. Let’s continue to sing, pray and offer our service faithfully.   Amen.

James