Dear friendsI have found myself saying many times over the last few weeks "I love church". This has been at times of worship, prayer or conversation, where there has been a profound sense of God's presence as we've been in community, or where there has been vulnerability in the way we have been able to share our lives with each other, or where I have been privileged to pray for someone, or known that I have been prayed for. It has also been during times of hilarity, where it is only in a church community that we will find diverse personalities, or life experiences, or those "Vicar of Dibley" moments that are the quirks and joys of what it is to be church! I know I have said before that I love what it is to be church - where all ages, all personalities, all experiences, can find a common, shared place to belong. And I love our church, here at St Martin's. So many people have commented on the journey of Holy Week through to Easter Day, how wonderful it was to have such variety, and "ways in" for people to engage with the story and Easter experience, as well as the High Altar experience of Easter Day with so many different ages present.Over the last week there was a tangible sense of the Spirit, and the extremes of the journey from lament to light, which for me meant that Holy Week truly felt Holy, and Easter Day was truly full of the joy of the resurrection (as well as plenty of chocolate for those present at the 10.30am service who witnessed me smashing Easter Eggs with a mallet!). God is moving in this place, in the world that He loves, and in the place where we are called to worship Him and witness to our lives lived through a relationship with Him.We are now in the season of Eastertide, where we encounter those resurrection moments for Jesus' followers who each needed to move from their Good Friday to Easter Day over the coming weeks where Jesus appeared to them.I pray that you will be able to experience that encounter yourself - I hope that will be in a form of gathering as church, however I also believe that those revelations happen in the ordinary and every day experiences of our lives.May you know the presence of the Risen Lord, who breaks into our Good Fridays with that promise of love, hope, joy and peace.With every blessing as everBecky
Dear friendsI write this in the midst of the Triduum - the three day service that begins on Maundy Thursday and ends on Easter Day.Holy Week has been remarkable, with a beautiful Eucharist on Holy Monday in the Lady Chapel, a disturbing and disquieting evening on Holy Tuesday with the showing of the Passion of Christ, a meaningful journey around the Stations of the Cross on Holy Wednesday, and then remembering the last meal that Jesus had with his friends, with a wonderful sharing supper - the Agape Meal, before that shared experience of the Eucharist, and watching and waiting in the Lady Chapel, which was transformed so beautifully into a Garden of Repose. And today, the retelling of Holy Week in ways that enabled people of all ages, and all levels of faith, to understand more, leading to the solemn and powerful liturgy of Good Friday.As people of story, following this story in creative ways is so important. To feel the breadth of emotion and experience, to go deeper perhaps in new ways, enables us to connect our story with Jesus' story and God's story of redemption for the whole created order.I pray that whatever you have had going on in your life this week, you have been able to connect with this Holy week. And whether you have been able to come to church or not, that you have been able to pause for your moment at the foot of the cross, knowing how deep and wide God's love is for you.There is more to come, with our journey from Lament to Light on Saturday evening, and then the Easter Day Eucharist on Sunday morning. Again, there is something for all ages particularly on Sunday morning, with our traditional Holy Communion at 8.30am, this week followed by breakfast for anyone who is able to come along. Then at 10.30am we have our Family Eucharist - for the whole family of the church - with an Easter Egg hunt at the end.From Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday we will have held 13 services. None of these can happen without a significant amount of people involved both up front and visible (not including the ministry team), and behind the scenes. I calculate over 60 people have helped this week, either in preparations, reading, singing (and the choir have sounded breathtakingly beautiful, and have worked so hard to lead and enhance the worship we have shared), in praying, or serving. I am so grateful to everyone who has supported or taken part in these wonderful acts of worship. We are blessed indeed.With every blessing, as everBecky
Dear friends Holy Week is upon us, and over the next week we have the drama, stillness, wonderand awe of the story of the Passion to the empty tomb of the Resurrection.I really hope you will take the opportunity to pilgrim together through the events ofthe week. There is something every day from Palm Sunday through to Easter Day, and each opportunity to gather will take us, I pray, deeper into an encounter with Jesus, his story, his journey, his gift of love.Throughout the week we will be using different spaces in our building, times of singing and silence, opportunity to watch as well as take part.It’s difficult to go from Palm Sunday morning to Easter Day morning, without experiencing the Passion, so if you’re able to, please come along to something in between - I will be at all of it, and you are invited and welcome to come everyday if you would like to!The point of the journey is not to be a passive observer, but to feel as though you are participating as well, so that when we get to Saturday evening, with the opportunity to renew our baptism vows, we have had space to reconsider again and afresh who we are and who we want to be, in the light of the love of Jesus. Some of you may already feel ready, in whatever shape or form your Lenten discipline has taken. I confess that my journey didn’t go quite according to plan! The promise of the new life that is offered in Jesus each day, and perhaps even more sharply in focus in an empty grave, enables me to remember again that how things have been does not have to define how things are going to be! I look forward to seeing you in the coming daysWith every blessing Becky
Dear friendsIt has been a strange week as I have experienced Covid for the first time and isolated for the recommended 10 days. The virus is so prevalent now it is almost unusual to not know anyone with it. I'm so thankful for the messages of care and wishes for well being that you sent me - it really wasn't a pleasant experience, and I can only imagine how much worse the previous variants were, if these symptoms were considered mild by comparison!I missed coming to church terribly - even though it was only just over a week! I felt it particularly on Mothering Sunday - it must be over 20 years since I've not been in church on that day, and hearing the beautiful sound of the organ and choir from the vicarage was both a blessing and an affliction! I realise how much I value being part of the body of Christ, how much I love our church community, and how difficult it must be for those who are isolated for the majority of their time.At Morning Prayer this morning (held every Friday at 9.30am in the Lady Chapel) we all commented on how life giving it is to be able to spend time together, to grapple with scripture, to share how we're doing, and to pray together ... the coffee, croissants and crumpets afterwards are good too! We aren't meant to try to journey along our faith path alone, or to try to make sense of the world alone, or wrestle with our doubts and uncertainties alone. Perhaps now more than ever we need to find those spaces to talk, share, pray - when the world and it's needs feels as heavy as it does, and the reality of the pressures facing the most vulnerable even in our own parish are so severe, when we might feel at our most helpless: I think now more than ever our identity as the body of Christ is key.I love that Church is the place where this can happen. Church is the place where we exist as family in it's truest form: different ages, points of view, life experiences, stages of faith ... all within an understanding of God's love for the whole world as found in Jesus. I pray that you will continue to find and know your place within the body of Christ. To know that you are needed, valued, loved and accepted. I pray that in these final weeks before Easter we can journey towards that moment where we renew our baptism vows and remember again who we are in Jesus, who we are as the body. Why not plan to come along to the various services in Holy Week, beginning with our gathering on Palm Sunday, to pilgrim together. Why not also consider coming along to Morning Prayer on Friday mornings, if you are able to do so. You are welcome in all of these places.In the meantime we gather this week at 8.30am and 10.30am, this week with Sunday Spirit, our thriving Sunday school for primary school aged children. At 10.30 I will be with another part of our Deanery family at St Barnabas, where I will take our greeting to them.With every blessing Becky
