Lent Readings & Prayers Throughout the season I hope to visit each church a number of times. In that hour (USUALLY 12- 1PM) there will be readings from the Gospel of John and The Psalms. There will also be time to pray for our communities. Please join me if you can. Be aware that due to unforeseen circumstances some of these may need to be moved or cancelled. If you are able to join me for some or all of these times that would be wonderful. Also, if you are unable to join in, if you could, it would be a blessing for you if you could spend some time reading the sections each day (or at least some of them)Mark
Dear all It is probably too late to wish you a happy new year but, on the off chance that it has been a while since we last saw one another … HNY! I had been hoping to share these thoughts with you earlier, but, making time sometimes proves to be a challenge so please bear with me as I try to learn the best ways of being the vicar/pastor of several churches, each with their distinct identity. I suspect this will be a life’s work! As we launch in to a new year and as we draw close to the anniversary of my licensing (Feb 1) it feels like a time to reflect on 2021, where we might be as church congregations, as a group of churches who share a priest in charge When I started last February the churches were closed to Sunday worship. Some from the different congregations joined together every week for a Zoom service. Alongside that I also endeavoured to mail out a little service for those who do not access computers. Services began to resume from Easter. I visit each church once a month for Holy Communion and leaders in most churches are able to offer extra services for their community. We hosted weddings, baptisms and funerals across many of the churches. There was joy and there were tears as we gathered in groups of 15 / 30 and eventually as many as we dared or felt safe. It is always a privilege to be part of these key life events and it must be our prayer that we are able to bring comfort to those who mourn and we cheer those who celebrate. I am hugely in debt to the church wardens, treasurers, organists, bell ringers & side’s persons who enable all this to happen (not forgetting those who decorate the church & keep the buildings lovely and clean). This is something that we as church community do well and it just shows how important it is that we all play a vital part. My diary is already filling up with weddings for this year and I have taken a christening every Sunday in January so it doesn’t look like things are slowing down. As we do look forward can I ask this of you at least? Can I ask that you pray? Please pray for your church community and also the other churches in the group. If you have not yet got a copy of the monthly 1 Minute Prayer Guide please collect one the next time you are in church. Prayer is a key part of connecting to God and as the Church is God’s people on Earth it is strongly encouraged that we try and connect with Him often. The annual church meetings (APCM) will soon be upon us. I would strongly urge anyone reading this to attend for their parish, especially if you are on the electoral roll. You have an important say in what goes on and we need to know how best to serve our community. There aren’t many of us these days, church attendance is low. I long for the problem of needing to find houses for extra vicars because the demand on my time becomes so great! My hope is that our churches thrive long into the future. I imagine we would all like our children, grandchildren and future generations to be able to have their weddings and christenings in these buildings we love. I firmly believe that the Church has a future in this area. Christians will continue to meet for worship wherever they can but it might not be in our current buildings unless we begin making changes. Please do not take that as a given. In our immediate future I have the joy to announce that there will be a confirmation service in the next few months. Hopefully we will be able to gather in church and celebrate as some young people confirm for themselves the vows made by their Godparents. It would be wonderful if we could support those youngsters. Please watch out for the news of the time and venue. Rev Martin Walker was licenced as Priest in Charge of the Greystone benefice this week. He & I will be working closely together with Methodist colleagues as we begin to see what shape the Blencathra Mission Community might take. Lent will soon be upon us. I have ordered copies of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent book for 2022 – Embracing Justice by Isabelle Hamley Please get in touch if you would like to borrow one in preparation for Lent. During Lent we will meet to discuss the themes that are touched on in the book. I plan to hold a study group on Zoom each Wednesday evening during Lent but, if there is interest I would also like to hold weekly sessions, probably in one of the churches. Please declare any interest to me if you would like to be involved. ‘Something New’ is a monthly worship event I am seeking to start this year. It will be different to our normal Sunday morning worship. I hope it might appeal to people who are not regular visitors to church and my intention is to bring in visiting speakers to tell their stories of faith & to let us know about what the wider church is doing across the world. We were supposed to have our Deanery network Youth Minister speak to us this month but he sadly passed away a couple of weeks ago. So I am replacing ‘Something New’ this month with an afternoon gathering when we will pray and chat. It will be on zoom this time but I am interested to hear from people who would wish to hold different worship & prayer events in the churches. There are other possible ventures being prayed over. In your prayers, if you feel God nudging you to become more involved it might be the help needed to get these Good News ventures up and running. Please do give me a call. I feel I have thrown a lot at you this time, sorry about that. If you have read this far then why not pause now and say the Lord’s Prayer: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done; in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory for ever and ever. Amen If anyone would like a visit from the vicar, a chance to meet over a coffee then please take the guess work out of my head and get in touch. Until next time Mark Mark HOUSTON is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. 10.50 Sunday Morning for worship at 11am and later in the day at 2.30 for prayer and chat. Please get in touch with Mark for the joining codes. Tel: 01768 885669
May I take this opportunity to wish you all a very merry Christmas? I pray that it is a special time for you and your family as we celebrate the birth of Jesus. As Christians we believe that God is always with us anyway, but, the arrival of Jesus signifies an important piece in the big story. From the evidence written in the Gospels we witness Jesus loving both his Father and his neighbour (you & I). We also witness the grace of God. We do not have to be perfect, we simply have to love God & our neighbour…. which is not always easy, I know! And this is where God’s grace kicks in. The love of Jesus in his willingness to go to the cross is the grace we need to live in assurance that we will be with God. We are in this eternal story now. The story of God does not run from Christmas to Easter but goes on. Despite the complications we are currently living through with Covid -19, God’s church thrives. We have tried to maintain some kind of festive programme of services and gatherings this year. Some, in the light of recent changes, have been cancelled and others have been shortened (5 lessons rather than 9!) but this is to try and protect one another, reduce the risks of becoming a Covid statistic. I remember this time last year when we were all saying ….”Don’t worry; it’ll be alright in 2021”! We may not be back to where we were but, thanks to the vaccine we are in a better place. Sadly, the new omicron strain has again raised the level of concern. So I urge you to consider your actions in the coming days and weeks. If your priority, this Christmas, is to spend time with family (something denied to many of us last year) please make that your priority and perhaps decide to reduce other contacts – even if that means missing church. Church will still be here after this. The story of Jesus and our part in his story goes on. My prayer is that we all keep safe and well in God’s care. However you spend the coming days may I offer warm thanks for the love and support Ruth & I have received from you this year AND, one last time, may I wish you all a very merry Christmas. 18 December, 2021 Mark
