I wonder if I’m the only one finding it difficult to think back over the last year and remember what actually happened. My sense of linear time got disrupted during ‘Covid’ and it hasn’t quite recovered. I couldn’t remember if we did start the New Year in 2022 with our usual lunch at Edgeworth - nor could Roger and Sue Eldridge who kindly organise this. Eventually, I unearthed emails that assured me we did in fact cancel at the last minute. So whereas we’d hoped that 2022 would be the year we ‘got back to normal’ this was still a ‘work in progress.’ In fact, it was the year that many of us caught Covid – and were very thankful to God for our vaccinations!

So, we were glad that we’d decided to continue to Zoom a service each week whenever practical. This continues to be appreciated by a small regular congregation – plus those ‘isolating’. Rev Julie Nelson hosts this most weeks for which I am very grateful. This ‘on-line community’ is a precious line of support and Christian fellowship for those involved.

It was with great joy that I received a visit from someone in 2022 who wanted to be part of a ‘supportive Christian community’. The question was ‘How might we recreate this?’ A ‘low key’ Bible Study was chosen as the way forward (although a better description might be a ‘conversation around a Bible passage’). Initially we met in the Carpenters Arms in Miserden but this excluded people who were anxious about Covid and the background noise made it difficult for those ‘hard of hearing’. So we moved into Miserden Church – again not ideal as it was hard to develop a sense of community when the pews all face one way! Now we meet in Miserden village hall. This has become a lovely place to explore issues of faith alongside our everyday lives and for a wonderful mix of women to get to know one another and offer each other loving support.

Providing opportunities to build supportive relationships is needed in all our communities. This might be achieved through a group of some sort: perhaps a ‘Christian Book Club’; or another Bible study; or ‘Café Church;’ or simply ensuring that there’s plenty of time for conversation before or after a service over a good cup of coffee.

Sadly, I’m spread so thinly that I’m unable to offer the kind of pastoral care that would have been possible in the past. Therefore, it’s crucial that we find ways of getting to know one another well enough to be able to offer mutual support. (Having said this, I want to be available to anyone who would like to see me. So please ask and don’t hold back because you feel I’m too busy!)

2022 was indeed a busy year with: twelve weddings; one wedding blessing; nine baptisms; one service of thanksgiving for the gift of a child; five confirmations and our involvement in twenty-four funerals. Plus the wide variety of worship services offered in our nine buildings. This included special services (and a concert and flower show!) to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, then services to mark her death. This is only possible because of the growing team of lay worship leaders and the support of the retired clergy. Special thanks go to: Philip Ling our Licensed Reader - especially for all he does at Duntisbourne Abbots; Canon Andrew Bowden - especially for all he does at Syde; Rev Julie Nelson for her ministry at Whiteway and on Zoom; Rev Nigel Scotland for his faithful service especially at Brimpsfield; and Rev John Birchall and Reader Alan Aspray who’ve both been prepared to travel round three Churches with me on a Sunday morning enabling me to take a much-needed break from preaching. Thank you too for covering my holidays. I could not do this without your support!

The Flourish team continued to meet and grow in 2022. Members of this team held a three-week introduction to the Christian faith at Winstone Village Hall in the spring. Team members also partnered up with one another to work through the Diocesan Resource ‘Personal Shapes for Living’. This process has equipped them to offer support to others. (If you would like to partner with someone to explore how you might better ‘balance’ your life, please let me know.)

As you are aware I became part of a team of four clergy taking on the role of ‘Area Dean’ at the beginning of 2022. This has involved developing a strategic plan for the Deanery as we embrace the reality of falling numbers of ordained clergy and the financial constraints on the Diocese. (If we carry on drawing on Diocesan Financial Reserves at the current rate we will have run out of reserves within ten years.) In our Deanery many clergy are approaching retirement (including myself) so it is inevitable that in the future we may need to adapt how clergy are distributed around the Deanery to ensure that every Parish continues to have a Priest.

I am extremely grateful for every Parish in our Benefice for meeting the Parish Share requested of them once again this year. This is no small feat in the current economic climate. So, a huge thank you to everyone who contributes to our Church finances and to the PCC Treasurers who’ve kept us on track to make this possible.

For our Parish Churches to survive and thrive we all need to pull together and that is exactly what we are doing. It’s hard to think of members of our congregations who are not contributing to the life of the Church in one way or another: whether as Church Warden; a member of a PCC; a foundation governor at Miserden School or being on refreshments, flower or cleaning rota. We are together the body of Christ.

Thank you one and all – it is a pleasure to do God’s ministry amongst you.

Rev Val Thorne