Spring is arriving, with the early flowers blooming, as we begin to see signs of the world coming back to life. We have seen the clocks move once more so we can also begin to enjoy those extra hours of daylight, the face covering are largely off and it is as thought we are emerging from hibernation.It is also a time of change in the Church. We are moving from the preparation and reflection of Lent to the celebration of Easter on 17th April. You may notice the changes taking place in church, reflecting the ones you have seen out of your windows. During Lent we take down many of the decorations. There are often no flowers and the church seems very plain. We use a deep purple cloth to remind us that it is a time for preparation of ourselves. As we come into Holy Week (the week running up Easter) you may have noticed that even the colours disappear from the communion table, leaving it as bare wood.We do this to remind ourselves that all is stripped back, back to the core of our Christian faith, founded on the immense love of God expressed through a wooden cross.Over the past few weeks, we have witnessed on our news the violent struggles in Ukraine. As I am writing, the fighting has increased once again and there has been a huge outpouring of compassion towards those fleeing. We long for the situation to change.On Easter day we witness a marvellous transformation, the flowers and colours reappear in church. The place is filled with the colour and scent of a variety of blooms. The deep purple is replaced by vivid white or gold. The colours remind us of the hope and peace we find in the Easter message, that the death of Jesus on the cross is not the end of the story, but God continues to show his love through Jesus’ resurrection and rising to new life. All change inside the church, just like we see in the countryside as the bulbs push through and nesting birds begin to gather for their young. A new life and a new start.All change is what we are praying for where conflict is taking place, for hostility to be replaced by peace. All change, is an opportunity for us to consider what this new season of life may offer us, whatever that may be. Why not ask God to walk alongside side you and show you his peace, to help you pray for change and hope for what is to come.Rev Katie Cross
Further to the interview process which we conducted in February we are pleased to announce, subject to the normal formalities, that the Reverend Dan Corlett, currently Curate with the Arden Marches benefice has been appointed to take up the role of Associate Minister for the Mission Hub based in the Alcester Minster benefice.Dan is currently in his final year of curacy and this appointment is subject to the completion of the usual end of curacy assessment processes which take place in May. Dates for both finishing within the Arden Marches and starting at the Alcester Minister benefice are still to be finalised but are likely to be in the early summer of this year. Please pray for Dan, Angela and their family at this time of transition.
What is justice? It's a question we encounter everywhere in life and over the last few years has increasingly demanded an answer. Most human beings have a natural sense of justice. We don’t think it right that people can commit offenses and get away with them. We look at our wonderful world, recognising the imperfections, caused by prejudice on both a large and small scale. We acknowledge that we too have participated, sometimes unconsciously. March 2nd marks the beginning of Lent, which for Christians is a time of fasting, of choosing to go without, where we seek to reflect on our own responsibility and accountability before God. This year we are using the Archbishop of Canterbury's Lent Book as inspiration for the season. The material invites us on a journey through the Bible to discover how we, as churches, communities, and individual Christians, can seek to practice justice even in such a fractured world. We will reflect on the injustices of the world, asking what God is calling us to do about them, recognising we are called to be speakers and seekers of justice. The six weeks will take us from climate and economic justice to gender and racial equality, helping us understand justice from a biblical perspective, and inspire us to seek it in every aspect of our lives. We will step into God’s work in the here and now. In doing so we can begin to move from brokenness towards wholeness.We will be using a variety of opportunities to engage with the topic that are listed below, and there are some resources you might like to obtain. The ever popular ‘Live Lent’ series gives a short reflection, Bible passage, prayer and practical challenge, with the kids’ edition also providing a fun daily activity to help families take the theme further. The #LiveLent app will be available with all the material to hand. We will join with the other churches in Alcester to study the sessions and our worship on Sundays will also pick up the themes. Our prayer is that this may be a time for us, in community, or personally – to see afresh God's mission of transformation and to embrace his justice in the world. Monday 9.15am St Nicholas Alcester Lenten Prayer Tuesday 12.00pm prayer using Zoom (online)Wednesday 12.00pm Soup and Reflection – Alcester Baptist Church 7.00pm Lent Study – Our Lady and St Joseph Church HallThursday 9.15am St Peter’s Coughton PrayerFor details of the material: https://www.churchofengland.org/resources/livelent-2022-church-resources-embracing-justice
It is never easy writing an article in a parish where you have limited contact, especially because of this time of Coronavirus. There is almost the temptation to close eyes and hit the keyboard (at least an excuse for typing errors inserted into the first paragraph). So, what does one write?A little like the opening to this article there is always a tendency for folk, when thinking about how they use their money in the service of God, to produce at least a couple of reasons to justify why it is not quite as they think that others expect that it should be. You are expecting a wonderful article – but we don’t know you so it might not be what you want – translates into ‘it is probably all right but I don’t really know and I don’t really want to discover’. The ‘close eyes and hit the keyboard’ translates into ‘I am giving in many different ways even if some of them are not right for me, or the Church, now’. The challenge is what to do about it and that is why, during February, we are encouraging all who have a link with the Church to review their giving of money. The review will encourage people to think about what they give. We have found the last two years as difficult as you have and our usual fundraising events have not been able to take place. It would be very easy to give a figure that represents how much it costs to keep our churches open, or to divide the sum of money we need between those who attend and leave it at that. However, for those who have been made redundant or are retired or unemployed, there is the reassurance of Biblical teaching which explains that the wealthy should give more than the less wealthy. This can provide an opportunity for further realisation of how generous God is and what our response should be to that generosity. How about yours? If we all responded to a generous God, our Treasurer would have no problems in resourcing mission and ministry in the church at all. It is always helpful to review why we give. As part of our Christian journey, we can give out of thanksgiving – thanking God for all that He has done and given us. But people give for different reasons and these change. Perhaps you started giving because someone passed a plate in front of you; perhaps you enjoyed the sermon; appreciated the architecture or even were welcomed by people when you were lonely and low. All are good reasons and almost all can be a basis on which to start. Giving to God is easier than giving to the Church. The third element of review is that of how we give. If we give by bank standing order. It enables us to put God first in our personal budget, as we can set up the standing order for the day we get paid. Gift Aid is easier to administer and we do not need to find cash. It does not matter if you pass the plate by. Even better, if we all did this, we could offer true hospitality to visitors and pilgrims by expecting nothing from them. I hope to see you in February where we can encourage one another as we think about our giving, and ready to respond to God’s generosity to us.Rev Katie CrossFebruary 2022
