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.
Dear Everyone,Advent is a very special time of the year, as long as it doesn’t make us panic about Christmas! It is often a time when we feel overwhelmingly busy making preparations and trying to keep all the family happy, or perhaps mourning for a family that is not as complete as we would like. We have an “ideal” that we aspire to but then get despondent when our aspirations of perfection don’t work out according to our plan. God prepares for the birth of Jesus too, he was preparing long before the number of sleeps was countable, and he will also prepare us if we allow him to!God’s plan didn’t appear to be a perfect one and yet all the key things slotted into place, and it had taken a long time with lots of actions, lots of waiting and lots of people. Patriarchs, prophets and writers and then suddenly; Quirinius called a census, Mary said “Yes ok”, Joseph had the guts not to break off the engagement and we arrive at the birth of Jesus the Saviour of the world.I have recently read a book called “The Art of Being Brilliant” recommended through my work in the NHS, the main theme was “Choose to be positive”. There is lots to be positive about but it was not a Christian book, and how much more we as Christians have, to be positive about, knowing that God is involved in the world and interested in us as well. It is so easy to spend more time counting the things that are going wrong and despairing than observing and experiencing the blessings we do have. Perhaps during Advent, we should actively choose to be encouragers and to behave confidently about our Christian faith even when there are setbacks or obstacles. One day God’s massive plan will be completed and fulfilled through Jesus Christ our Lord, let’s join in with the preparations positively! Let’s recognise God’s blessings through Advent and Christmas.With best wishes Lucy Lucy Toyn Reader Uttoxeter Area
Area Letter from one of the Area Staff Team for November 2023.On 9th November 1989 the world woke up to scenes of destruction which caused widespread celebrations rather than emergency responses. The Berlin Wall was being pulled down by citizens of East and West Berlin without opposition from the authorities. The East German government had changed its stance thanks to many complex factors at play including the persistence of communication from diplomats across the western world which had made change a necessity for survival.Today across our world and even within our communities, situations of conflict, deadlock or just historic behaviours see people on opposing sides living with persistent concerns, stress, or even constant dangers. Communication is such a fundamental element of human society but is so often an issue which causes conflict whilst the lack of it causes isolation and loneliness all too easily.There is a starting point this month for all of us to recalibrate our stance on this. Tuesday November 21st is designated as “World Hello Day” (yes, you’ve read that right!). The idea is for everyone to greet 10 people they would not normally speak to. This is to demonstrate the importance of personal communication for preserving peace and opening up conversations to understand each other better. This act would also begin to break down barriers of isolation and loneliness for those struggling in our communities as daylight hours get shorter and the weather gets worse. November has the faith festivals of light (Diwali and Hannukah) whilst Christians begin to turn towards the coming of Advent and Christmas with the image of Jesus “Light of the World”. Festivals of light are festivals of hope - we use “hope” in our language when we are projecting the possibility of a change for the better. How often do we talk about there being a “light at the end of the tunnel”? Conflict resolution is nothing new in history and neither is the coming together of a wide range of factors (political, economic, personal) which allow for negotiations to end wars, rivalries, or arguments. However, the quality of communication and the style of it matters. Just to link on a platform or sit on Zoom chatting does not give all the communication clues that are important for good understanding of others. Neither does communication function at its best without willingness to listen properly and empathise or at least attempt to see things from another’s viewpoint. The Bible is full of ideas about communication between humans and humans to God and God to humans. Prayer as communication links us to God who recognises our human limitations. Praying is open to all as a means to share our hopes, our joys and our concerns for ourselves and others with God who communicates to us through His Word and through the actions of others and is there to listen at any time and in any place. As we head through November let’s make it a month of improved communication with God, with our neighbours, with those who are isolated and housebound and say “hello” as we go about our daily lives. And even better if we follow Paul’s advice in Colossians (4:6) “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.”Stephanie Goodwin – UAP Reader across the Area
Dear Friends, Whilst we were away these last couple of weeks, as we were queuing up on the ferry waiting for the restaurant to open, I commented to Janet on how we British like queuing up, waiting patiently to take our turn, that after a couple barged in front of others, not willing to wait with no regard to those who’d been waiting patiently! How rude I thought!And it’s about waiting and the quality of our waiting that sprung to mind. We are in October already, and, no doubt like me you’ve seen or heard of lots of things to do in preparation for Christmas, In September I saw Christmas parties at pubs being advertised, tickets going on sale for Christmas concerts. We’ve become accustomed to planning and getting things done as quickly as possible, not being prepared to wait and appreciate a time to reflect, before moving on to the next thing to occupy our lives.But we do spend an awful lot of time waiting, in our cars at traffic lights, on train stations, in doctor’s surgeries, waiting for an all-important call for an operation, or treatment, for babies to be born, for the post to arrive, for the kettle to boil. You get the general idea! But it’s in the quality of our waiting that matters. Are you impatient, excited, full of dread, or at peace with yourself and the world. How do you cope with waiting?October, seems to be an in between month, a time of waiting. Summer has all but passed and Autumn is with us, and yes there are those preparations with Christmas on the horizon. All this while I look in my diary noting, things for this month such as some harvests still to take place; Janet waiting patiently for her new hip replacement operation; a couple waiting patiently for their wedding; a number of All Soul’s services taking place right at the end of the month with the opportunity to reflect on loved ones gone to glory. Things waiting to be done or to happen.But there is a quality in this month of October of patiently looking back at the fast-receding year and waiting for the next months of remembrance and the joy and excitement of Christmas. But also waiting for the unravelling of what the future may hold for us in the Uttoxeter Area of churches.As Christians we are to be encouraged in our waiting and we have times in the church’s year to help us to reflect and wait patiently on the Lord, like in Lent and Advent.So, what do you do to cope with the waiting times, do you sit idly waiting for the time to pass or do you plan and occupy your time with activities in preparation, or a mixture of ‘being and doing’.The psalms teach us a lot about ‘being and doing’ in our following God and of how we are all held in his time and keeping and of being patient in times of waiting on him. They help us to cope and to trust that in God all will be well.Psalm 27 ends like this ‘I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord, be strong and let your heart take courage, wait for the Lord.’Blessings, Charles
