Dear friends, I cannot believe it is September already. One minute I had broken up with the long summer holiday ahead of me and the next I am sharpening pencils and packing my school bag. Slowly we have seen changes in church, we are now singing hymns albeit with masks and sitting down, we are greeted on Sunday morning with the glorious sounds of the bells, we can have coffee together, we have restarted our monthly Celtic Evening prayer on the 1<sup>st</sup> Thursday of the month and Evensong in the beautiful surroundings of Arley Chapel. We have celebrated baptisms and weddings which have been such unbelievably joyous occasions especially as so many have been postponed at least once. September for children and all those working in schools and colleges is always a time of fresh starts and new adventures. We pray for all those starting at school, college or universities and for each member of staff. We especially pray for Lucy Wainwright who is joining our family as the new Head at Great Budworth and Antrobus and we hope to be able to welcome her properly soon. On 5<sup>th</sup> September Jenny is leading our All Age Climate Sunday Service. Andrew Needham from Chester Diocesan Environmental Forum will be speaking. As you may be aware in November, in Glasgow, we are hosting the UN Climate Change conference. In 2015 the Paris Agreement was signed which committed world governments to limit the global temperature rise. The world is not doing well in achieving this goal. At the very beginning of Genesis, God spoke and the world was created. However the world came about; we believe God was the originator, the creator- a mighty God, but also a God who is loving and intimately involved in his creation. When God created the world, he looked at it and said it was good - the intricacies of nature, the sheer vastness of the mountains and the seas, down to the star shaped Mole of North America with the 22 little tentacles at the end of its nose are all incredible.. The world is amazingly beautiful but it is also wounded, it suffers due <span style="font-size: 1rem;">to our sin and wrong doing, the incredibly selfish ways we have lived for so long with little regard for the world around us,</span> We need to add our voices to those who are suffering the most but have done the least to cause the problem. It is said that the climate crisis has reached an unprecedented level. We are at a pivotal moment and something needs to be done – the climate is out of kilter. 690 million people go to bed hungry. 2 billion people have no access to waste management. There is a real climate emergency and there needs to be climate justice in the world. God`s heart is for the poor and this situation is heartbreaking There are however signs of Hope – Christians are joining with other organisations to not only change habits but to speak out. We cannot ignore those whose food security is affected by climate change and our unseen neighbours, people living in areas of the globe where habitats are disappearing, crops are failing and sea levels are rising The Church of England has 5 marks of mission – the 5<sup>th</sup> Mark is to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth. Safeguard, sustain and renew. Worship, Commit and speak up. We need to listen, learn, pray and act There is so much that we can do to change our habits – walking or cycling rather than using the car, looking at our carbon footprint, shopping ethically, up cycling, planting more trees, using less plastic, harnessing renewable energy, going on creation walks. Also we need to hold Governments to account. Christian Aid and many aid agencies have so many ideas on their websites – writing to our MP, joining prayer chains, protesting and demanding action not just words. As a church community what can we do together? Are there ways we can make our church and its surroundings more environmentally friendly? We are called to love God and love others. Being a Christian is all about relationships –relationship with God, relationship with others and relationship with our planet. God commissioned us to be good stewards of his creation. <span style="font-size: 1rem;">There is no planet B.</span> To end with words of Archbishop Justin Welby, “As people of faith, we don`t just state our beliefs- we live them out. One belief is that we find purpose and joy in loving our neighbours. Another is that we are charged by our creator with taking good care of his creation.” Love Christina
On 5th September, our All Age Service will be part of the Nations' Climate Sunday Service Event where we pray and worship ahead of the COP26 Climate Talks in Glasgow. Led by Curate, Jenny, our guest speaker is Andrew Needham, of the Chester Diocese Environmental Forum and we will learn about ways the church is adapting to change and how we can get involved and commit to "zero carbon" in our church community by 2030.
The last month has seen so many changes including weddings and baptisms on the increase in church (which of course is marvellous experience for a second year curate!), an exciting UEFA EURO Final and relaxation of COVID precautions. I’m not sure if the latter is such a great idea though, and, at the time of writing, I have no idea where we’ll be in a few weeks, but looking around the globe, relaxation has been associated with increased case numbers and hospitalisations, and worryingly also in vaccinated individuals. Our church PCC has therefore decided to proceed along quite a precautionary path, and after a very collaborative PCC Zoom discussion on the 19th July, we were all aligned with this view. More on this in the magazine! Finally, we’ve also been able to bask in long awaited sunny days, and for Cheshire we have been seeing extra-ordinary temperatures for this time of year. The first ever extreme weather warning issued by the UK meteorological office came out as temperatures soared up to 33 degrees Celsius. We have also been shocked by the floods and loss of life and homes in Western Germany which was preceded by record temperatures in North America. As I said to one of my work colleagues, we think we are untouched by these events until they start to come closer to home, and climate change is, of course, very much on the Church of England’s radar. The General Synod has set new targets for all parts of the church to work to become carbon “net zero” by 2030 and in Great Budworth, we will also be thinking of creative solutions in our Deanery. We are all being encouraged to take bold action on climate change in advance of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow on 31 October -12th November. The culmination of this campaign is a national Climate Sunday event on Sunday 5th September 2021, to share church commitments and pray for bold action and courageous leadership at COP26. Here at Great Budworth we will also be holding a special All Age service with a “This Time Tomorrow” interview format and a couple of guests, <span style="font-size: 1rem;">but thinking about where we will be in terms of our environment in 10 years’ time rather than ”tomorrow.”</span> For Christians, environmental concern runs deep. We know that God created the world, and that we are only stewards or trustees of God’s creation. As the Bible says “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (Psalm 24:1). As we enjoy the rest of the summer with friends and family, I pray for good health, many blessings, caring hearts for the people and animals who share our lives, and a recharging of the batteries before we all enter the season of “back to school.” Happy Summer, Rev Dr Jenny
From the VicarAs some of you may know I edit the magazine of the English Clergy Association, “Parson & <span style="font-size: 1rem;">Parish”, and last year was able to get the Bishop of London (and Patron of the Association) </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">The Rt Revd and Rt Hon Dame Sarah Mullally, who chairs the Church of England’s Recovery </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Group, to write a piece for the magazine. It was a short but very interesting piece, entitled </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">“Reflections on the Coronavirus”, and Bp Sarah began with a wonderful verse from the </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Prophet Isaiah: “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">making a way in the wilderness, and streams in the wasteland.”</span>Quite apart from Isaiah, Bp Sarah could easily have had in her mind passages from either <span style="font-size: 1rem;">Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians or Mark’s Gospel – those concerning a new creation </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">and the mustard seed. Paul’s language is quite sublime: “So, if anyone is in Christ there is a </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">new creation: everything old has passed away; everything has become new” and Jesus’ </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">imagery of scattering seed and the almost invisible growth leading to the eventual harvest, </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">as well as the paradox of the mustard seed, is equally evocative and profound.</span>Those images of the seed growing quietly in the ground, and of the smallest seed growing <span style="font-size: 1rem;">eventually into one of the largest shrubs are, I think, very appropriate for us at the moment, </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">as we struggle to make sense of what’s going on around us, not only in the wider world but </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">in the Church of God. How do we recover from Covid-19 and all its effects? How do we carry </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">on? How do we try and grow after such an experience? Can we?</span>These, and many other questions, are of course being addressed by Churches of all <span style="font-size: 1rem;">denominations up and down the country, as we are doing here in Great Budworth, and the </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Bishop of London’s article to which I referred earlier was very positive and encouraging for </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">the future, whatever it may hold in store for us. Bishop Sarah finished with piece with these </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">words: “Above all, I am convinced that we have seen the Spirit moving among us, doing new </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">things. Whatever the future holds, the Lord has been opening up his way in the wilderness </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">and calling forth streams in our wasteland.” Comforting and reassuring words indeed, but </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">also encouraging and challenging.</span>A recent research project by the University of York “Churches, Covid-19 and Communities”, <span style="font-size: 1rem;">of which I have only seen some highlights, seems to indicate a very real degree of interest in </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">and connectivity with the Church and its work, especially among non-church going people, </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">in different ways but all related to spiritual well being in some way. I will be looking at the </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">whole report much more carefully (when I’ve got a spare hour or three!) but the work that </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">is being done in this Parish, for example, by Christina and Jenny in relation to innovative </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">pastoral outreach and of course online worship and ministry is very exciting and really </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">encouraging. And these “new things” that are fast becoming part and parcel of our “mixed </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">economy” of worship and pastoral care and evangelism were on the agenda of the June </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Diocesan Synod (which took place via zoom, with over 100 participants from across the </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Diocese), and will undoubtedly feature in the coming months in PCC and Deanery meetings </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">and as our two new Suffragan Bishops come among us. With Bishop Mark we will all be </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">thinking about and discussing what the future holds for all of us in the Diocese, and in our </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">own Parishes.</span>“See, everything is becoming new.....” to paraphrase St Paul slightly – and it is clear that <span style="font-size: 1rem;">there are exciting times ahead of us all. We want those mustard seeds to put forth their </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">large branches, and the seeds that have been sown in so many new and different ways to be </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">growing and for there to be many nests for the children of God!</span>The Revd Alec Brown.
