One of my earliest childhood recollections is standing on the front doorstep with mother as we waited for the bus to take my brother off to school. As I stood there a young Jean Sargeant shouted across the road to me saying that I had dropped my handkerchief and, as I looked on the ground for it, she gleefully added ‘April Fool!’ Yes, it’s April and the month begins with light-hearted jest – and some slight embarrassment for those caught out. With humour being in short supply at the moment, maybe a little laughter wouldn’t hurt.Looking at the lectionary for the month, I was mindful that the Sunday after Easter was traditionally referred to as Low Sunday; possibly because of the contrast with the high celebration of Easter Day, or even because congregation numbers were typically lower. Another theory is that ‘Low’ was simply a corruption of the word ‘Laudes’ meaning praise. Whatever the reason, the name seems to have disappeared from common use. In fact, a couple of years ago I discovered a new name for this particular Sunday… Holy Humour Sunday or Laughter Sunday.With much going on in the world that is very unsettling, it’s no wonder that people are becoming disillusioned. Disillusioned with world powers and leaders, disillusioned with politics, even disillusioned with the weather! During that first Easter week the disciples were afraid, and locked themselves in the room where they stayed. Not only were they fearful, but they would also have been disillusioned, and probably hurting from all that they had lost. We cannot fully imagine the immense joy they experienced when the risen Christ burst into their places of darkness. For them this was the start of something wonderfully new which gained momentum through this feeling of joy.Most of us would agree that joy and laughter are important things, yet many people experience worship in churches where laughter and even the sound of children is still frowned upon. For some reason, many have equated devout religion with solemnity, which is rather sad. Joy and laughter can lead us to healing. Sometimes God’s grace comes to us in the form of humour that helps us make it through another day. Recognising that humour is a characteristic of the divine nature helps us deepen our understanding of the nature of God; remembering that God laughs at us and with us – and that laughter is an expression of God’s love and acceptance.May we all be so infected with the joy of this Eastertide, that both our fellowship and our secular lives will reflect that love and acceptance that God desires, and that we can overcome disillusionment with laughter – even if we just laugh at ourselves. So, I leave you with this…A vicar requested quotes from local painters to redecorate the exterior of the parish hall. All the quotes were within a few pounds of one another, except for one by a parishioner who had been in business for years and had an excellent reputation in the community. His quote was about half of his competitors, so naturally the vicar gave him the job. On the day he was to begin, the painter realised that he had miscalculated badly. Not wanting to lose face and the job, he decided to add water to the paint to make it go further. A week later he received a phone call from the vicar, complaining that after recent rain half the paint had washed off. Feeling a sense of guilt, the painter went inside the church to pray about his dilemma, knowing that his business reputation was on the line. “What can I possibly do, Lord?” prayed the disheartened painter. In a loud voice God replied, “Repaint! Repaint and thin no more!”With Blessings and Big Smiles,JohnRevd John Lander, Self-Supporting Minister within the Area, especially for Bramshall.
Dear friends,As I write, my Alexa has just informed me that we have a severe weather warning for snow in Marchington in the next few days. Really, I say! Only yesterday I was marvelling at the snow-drops blooming, and the daffodil bulbs peeking through, so really – more grey and dismal weather! But then I reminded myself that creation is telling me that once again we are entering into the season of new life. After the deadness of Winter, we are witnessing trees and plants coming back to life and perhaps that’s the same for us too - there is much to celebrate in the shoots of growth in our lives, and parishes, and Area. It’s amazing what Spring can do for our spirits, isn’t it? We may feel fed-up with the way life is during Winter – all the cold and damp and dull weather – but when Spring arrives it lifts our spirits. It gives us hope!The Church’s liturgical year mirrors that transformation from death to life with the season of Lent as we move towards our Easter Day Celebrations on March 31st. The season of Lent continues through-out March, a time of personal reflection paused only for the celebration of Mother Church on March 10th. For Christians this season is meant to get us ready to receive new life, and in particular the new life that we experience in the resurrection of Jesus. It’s an important time to journey and reflect on Jesus’ place in our lives – let’s not rush to the chocolate eggs and bunnies too quickly!As we near the end of Lent, the journey of Holy Week draws us deeper into the story of God and God’s profound love for the world. We will journey through the events of Palm Sunday and Maundy Thursday when our emotions will range from gleeful joy, to humble wonder, to dark sadness. Good Friday will bring us to the broken, pain-filled sorrow of death. On Easter Day, the resurrection of Jesus Christ reveals God’s gift to us in the truth of the new life: the truth that God is a God of love who walks with us and longs to brings us to a place of wholeness, a place of possibility, a place of new life. New life that is grounded in hope and compassion. New life that is deeply connected to God’s love and is passionate about sharing that love with the world. New life that reveals God’s justice in ways that transform not only our lives, but the whole world. So, as we continue our journey remember the word “Lent” comes from the old English word from which we get “lengthen”, it means to grow. Lent is the Springtime of the soul; a time when, this year, we need to be kind to ourselves and prune away, through prayer, all that has caused us to be anxious and afraid, so that we anticipate the new life and growth of the Easter season.Can you feel the tingling anticipation of new life and hope growing?Have a blessed Easter!Yours as ever,JulesRev’d Jules WalkerInterim Team Vicar, Uttoxeter Area of Parishes.
Area Letter for February 2024 from the Area Rector - Rev’d Margaret Sherwin.As I write this we are still in the season of Epiphany, but during February our season in the church changes to Lent. Lent is very early this year, starting with Ash Wednesday on 14th February. Early Christians took their faith so seriously that they spent much of Lent fasting. Because they abstained from meat, eggs, and dairy produce, the store cupboards were cleared of such foodstuffs on the day before Ash Wednesday and made pancakes from the ingredients. Shrove Tuesday was a memorable day for another reason. This was the day when all the catechumens, or converts and enquirers, enrolled for the compulsory pre-Baptism classes. Every day during the weeks leading up to Easter, these young Christians would receive instruction in the form of Bible teaching and personal prayer ministry so that by Easter Sunday, the day of their Baptism, they would be ready to take their vows: to promise to turn to Christ and to live their lives for him. It was on Shrove Tuesday, too, that more mature Christians resolved to review their life and commitment to Christ to embark again on the journey from winter to spring, from death to life. While enthusiasm for pancake tossing, pancake parties and pancake races seems never to have died, interest in Lent has waxed and waned with the years. Recently, according to national reports, the number of people expressing a desire to take Lent seriously seems to have increased. Individuals set aside extra time to pray and reflect on certain Bible stories and small groups form for the purpose of reflecting together. This year, I would like to suggest that we embark on a journey. If we start on Pancake Day, Shrove Tuesday and aim to reach our destination on Easter Sunday. I have made this particular journey on several occasions. Each time it has brought a spring-like renewal: new understanding and new love, new strength and new purpose, new sorrow, new repentance and new healing, new life and fresh cleansing, a new song which rises from a ‘new’ heart, a new vision for the future and a fresh awareness of God. I like to make this journey during Lent but I have made it at other times also. Whether we set on our journey in spring, summer, autumn or winter, it is important to be aware, too, that there is no need to make elaborate preparations. We come just as we are, but we do not travel alone. Take the journey slowly – one step at a time. I encourage you to use the weekly reading sheets and choose one for the readings or the Psalm. And • Pray as you can, don’t try to pray as you can’t• Set aside a regular time each day if at all possible to read the bible verses • Take time to personally reflect on something that is new• Pray the following prayer asking God if there is any way in which he would like you to change this Lent Breathe on me, breath of God, fill me with life anew. That I may love what thou dost love, and do what thou wouldst do.Breathe on me, breath of God, till I am wholly thine, until this earthly part of me glows with thy fire divine.I invite you in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy word.BlessingsMargaretRev’d Margaret Sherwin, Area Rector UAP.
Happy New Year! Although I have just had a very happy 2023…… I was 60, and spent some of our weekends through the year visiting friends and wider family to have “proper” time with them, rather than the big party or the special holiday. And it’s been great. But I’m not the only one in our churches across the Area who turned 60 in 2023! We babes of ’63 include a church treasurer, two school governors, two members of a catering team, an ATC rep, a PCC secretary, two Toddler group volunteers, an Occasional Preacher (formally Area Worship Team), three PCC members, oh and an Area Coordinator. Some of us are still in paid work too, maybe full-time, or maybe part-time. Some of us are blessed as grandparents with local grandchildren so are helping with family child-care. Some of us are struggling with ill-health and are not able to do as much as we could when we were 50. But we’re still doing what we can. And we’re only 60. So if you hear people bemoan the aging nature of the churches’ congregations, please don’t include us in that! We may be at the latter end of middle age, but we don’t have a bus pass yet and we’re busy doing and being and serving as committed Christians in our communities, as much as we can. Our faith matters, our service in our churches matters, and we are looking forward to whatever is ahead in our next decade. We are no doubt excited yet fearful, eager yet tired, and ready for changes yet wondering what they might be. I hope that you are excited, and eager and ready for new opportunities in your life too. Let’s pray for each other, and enjoy! Lesley White, In the congregation of St Mary’s Uttoxeter.
