The Vicarage
27 Little Tongues Lane
April Letter 2024
My very dear friends
In the middle of March we had opportunity to join together from across the Benefice as the family God in this place. We came together in joy to celebrate the start of my ministry as Parish Priest. We came together at Hambleton and I wanted to speak to as many of you as possible, as soon as possible after the Induction.
I wanted to have opportunity to strengthen your faith, inspire your vision and give hope for the future.
My letter this month is simply some bullet points from the sermon.
As most of you are aware, unless I have something very academic to say, or something rather tricky, I like to preach without notes. I do not like to be constrained by a text, but rather let the spirit lead the sermon. However, in the back of my mind I do have a message I would try and get across. So here is very much a summary of what I was trying to say.
INTRODUCTION:
- The date on The Induction was determined by the Bishop’s diary.
- I wanted to draw us together as soon as possible after the Induction to be able to speak to you all.
It turns out that Lent 5 (Passion Sunday) could not be better.
- In the Gospel, some Greeks come to Phillip with a simple request:
We wish to see Jesus. (John 12:21)
- I want those five words to be our watchwords in our life and ministry together in the coming years.
TEACHING
I want to see Jesus in our teaching:
- I believe in the bodily physical resurrection of Christ.
- I believe in the virgin birth.
- I believe in the miracles.
- I believe in the historical reality of the Gospel.
- Therefore I believe Jesus is with us now ~ we can meet him here and now!
- I want to share that faith with you and encourage you to explore the truth of that faith. I want to give you confidence in the truth of the faith.
- Our Faith is worth sharing so our church is worth joining.
- Churches grow when faith is proclaimed!
LITURGY
I want to see Jesus in our worship.
- I believe good liturgy, good worship, well prepared and prayerfully offered has the power to convert.
- I do not mind what style of liturgy that is.
- I just believe that worship touches people’s hearts and they are converted to faith.
- There is no excuse for poor or ill prepared liturgy.
- This service is the most important thing you will do this week.
- We are here to meet Jesus. We are here to see Jesus.
- No particular churchmanship. I am not here to push a particular style of liturgy or churchmanship.
- I want you to discover your own individual style in each Church. Not some bland mediocre worship.
- Be confident in the truth of the faith. Then be confident in your worship.
- I want to see a variety of styles of worship across the benefice.
- Like choosing a supermarket, people should have a choice of worship styles.
- The most important thing is that it is done well. To the absolute best of our ability. Then people will see Jesus in worship.
HOSPITALITY
I want to see Jesus in our welcome
- Bendict wrote a rule for people to live together in community.
The longest chapter of that rule is about hospitality and welcome.
- Welcome is front line missionary work!
- In our welcome, I want people to see Jesus
- The warmth of welcome will determine if people come to our church or not.
- Welcomers, you are our front-line missionaries.
- But actually, hospitality begins with neat and tidy grounds, good fresh noticeboards.
- Then when people come through the door they must feel welcome.
PASTORAL CARE
I want to see Jesus in our love for each other.
- We want to be building a community of love.
- We want people to feel valued.
- We want people to feel loved.
- We need to combat the epidemic of loneliness.
- People must feel loved and valued regardless of age, or class, or education, or wealth, or gender, or sexuality.
- All are welcome.
- The church is worth joining because of the love we have for each other.
- I want to see Jesus in the love we give to each other.
COMMUNITY
I want to see Jesus as we reach out to those on the fringe of church, or those who do not know Jesus.
- Reaching out into the community.
- Seeking every way possible to meet people and engage them.
- Church is not Rotary or Round table or WI or Soroptimists. It is not a club.
- We are the living body of Christ engaging with people drawing them into the love of Jesus.
- We are truly blessed to have Rev Naomi to lead us as a Pioneer Minister.
- We must do everything we can to work with her, help her, support her, and encourage her; so that as the whole people of God, we can be missionaries drawing people to Jesus.
- That may mean new and different ways of being Church.
RETIRED
Adele and I were happily retired.
Two years ago tomorrow, the Bishop, and then the Archdeacon rang, to ask if we could help in Over Wyre.
We absolutely love it.
We are deeply committed to you all.
Sadly, in retirement you lose some faculties: I am going a bit deaf.
I can’t hear We don’t want that.
I can’t hear We’ve never done that before.
I can’t hear We don’t do it like that.
I can’t hear We did that in 1952 and it didn’t work.
So don’t bother trying those phrases on me!
- We need to try every way possible to win people for Jesus.
- No one here today is more traditional than me
- No one more conservative than me
- But I know we have to change.
TRUST ME
- Now do not worry because Adele and I deeply care about you.
- We are deeply committed to you.
- We gave up retirement to come and live amongst you.
- We love you.
- I will not be doing anything weird or wacky, but we do need to move forward in new and diverse ways:
- Different ways of being church, different styles of worship.
- Different days and times for church.
- Church on a Saturday, church in the evening, church
mid-week. - New ways to draw new people to faith.
- Some ways may be making the traditional good, some ways may be new.
- I am here to build up and flourish, not to stand still or manage decline.
I want to see Jesus. - I want to create a community of love where we can see Jesus.
- So trust me, run with me into the future on this great adventure so that in all that we do and say :
We want to see Jesus.
This is just a summary of what I tried to say at our United Benefice Service. We will tease these things out in the coming years. It will be a great adventure and great fun together. Be assured of the love and commitment Adele and I have for you all. So, with Rev Naomi, with Ben, with our PTOs and LLMs, with our amazing army of lay leaders, together we will see Jesus.
Fr Peter