From the Ministry TeamJust recently I have been reminded of personal and experienced the sadness and joy in the deaths of loved ones; loved by me as well as family and friends, all mourning our loss. But there has been joy and laughter as we shared precious memories and planned and prepared for what was once the funeral, now often called a Celebration of Life, both in Christian and secular celebrations. But there is an enormous difference between the secular and Christian which is worth exploring. After all we as humans will someday have someone plan and prepare our funeral or celebration of life. The end of our life on this earth is certain. Probably, the awareness of the number of people killed through war, terrorism, mindless shootings and knife crime as well as seeing the aftermath of the plane crash in India, as I write, has fed my mind with the need of a time and place to express love and compassion and comfort the bereaved when there is need, and to explain the difference between the Christian and secular thinking in planning and preparing the funeral or celebration of life.Times have changed, the parish church is no longer the familiar place where families gather regularly for praise and prayer, the setting for all Christian celebrations and rights of passage, a place which was once more associated with life than death, and they would have been led by a minister whom they knew and to whom they relate. The whole community would share in the joy of weddings and baptisms, if only to see the dresses at the wedding or listen if the baby would cry at the baptism!Times have changed but the Christian funeral, a celebration of life, faith and hope hasn’t. The life of our loved one is honoured and commended to God and the Christian faith is paramount. The promise of eternal life is in the Gospel message of Christ’s death and resurrection. That is the difference between Christian and secular. We, the team, have contentment, faith and joy in the hope of eternal life after our ending on earth.I am sure that any of our team would be willing to listen and chat through the understanding of the faith and hope in Christian funeral planning and preparation even if there is no immediate need! In the knowledge of God’s love for us all and the words of the scouts and guides, Be Prepared!Judy Hailes Reader
FROM THE MINISTRY TEAM Across the Benefice in our beautiful churches we have had the joy of celebrating Easter followed by the more worldly celebrations of commemorating the end of the fighting during World War 2. I feel sure that God has a hand in that too, for only can He look after the fallen and help us to find the courage to preserve the fragile peace that we have known since 1945. Now the season of Pentecost approaches. Whitsunday, as it always used to be known, is a time of opening up of the new light as it shown by the message the Disciples carried to all corners of the world, is the message both of love and forgiveness. At the same time the year moves on and the trees are green again, and the grass grows so quickly we can scarcely cut it. Spring is truly with us turning into Summer. This year we have had warm sunshine which seems to just go on and on. Some people see this as a threat. I can look back in history before any records were kept and see that our planet has always suffered extremes of weather and I find it no threat for as always we are in the hands of God. Therefore as we take in the multilingual message of Pentecost, let us give thanks for the peace we have known together with the English countryside that we must preserve for all time. The Rev Bill Rootes Deacon
