Newsletter - 08-02
Dear Parishioners,
I hope you have all had a good week. It has, at last, felt like summer for some of the time. I have, between working, very much enjoyed being an armchair athlete and impressed by the talents shown by Olympic competitors. In the book of Hebrews our journey of faith is described as “running with perseverance the race marked out for us.” I can only imagine how hard individuals and teams have toiled over years to be at their peak performance in Paris. The Olympics, of course, exist to promote values as well as skills. The IOC website summarises Olympian values as:
Striving for excellence and encouraging people to be the best they can be
Demonstrating respect in many different manners: respect towards yourself, the rules, your opponents, the environment, the public, etc
Celebrating friendship, which is quite unique to the Olympic Games – an event that brings people together every few years.
I am not sure we need to don sports clothing to live these values in our everyday life. Our New Testament Epistle on Sunday concludes with a command for believers to build up the body of Christ in love. I can think of no better values to promote in our church family and beyond.
What a busy week I have had. I have baptised one of the youngest in our church family, Charlotte, and laid to rest one of the oldest, Shirley. In between I have had very upbeat conversations with wedding couples for this year and next, been on pastoral visits and completed the first half of my safeguarding leadership training. With lots of study and paperwork behind the scenes too, I can never say that The Rector’s role is dull.
On Saturday I will be away from the parish working as volunteer Duty Priest in St Paul’s Cathedral; a role I carry out 3 or 4 times a year. It is such an honour to lead prayers and The Eucharist under the dome of the cathedral and always so interesting to meet with the rich variety of people who come into the cathedral’s care across the day.
On Sunday I look forward to leading Holy Communion at St John the Baptist in Penshurst and we welcome Rev’d Penny Stephen’s to lead at St Mary’s. Both services are at 1000. In the afternoon I shall be at Poundsbridge with the family of Pamela Hazeldine, laying her ashes to rest. Next Saturday I shall be officiating at Seb and Lara’s wedding in Poundsbridge Chapel. My first in this setting since my appointment three years ago and my first ever wedding by special license in my six years of ordained ministry.
Please keep Sunday 18th August at 6pm in your diaries for Rev’d Lindsay’s final service of Sung Evensong.
I look forward to seeing many of you in church and around the villages in the week ahead.
In this edition
Ø Services
Services:
Sunday 4 August: Trinity 10
1000 Holy Communion at St John the Baptist, Penshurst
1000 Matins at St Mary the Virgin, Chiddingstone
Sunday 11 August: Trinity 11
1000 Holy Communion at St Peter’s, Fordcombe
Sunday 18 August: Trinity 12
1000 Holy Communion at St John the Baptist, Penshurst
1000 Holy Communion at St Mary the Virgin, Chiddingstone
To download a full overview of August services please Click Here.
Life Events:
In our prayers we hold those coming through our doors this month to mark their life events:
Upcoming weddings: in August we will marry Lara and Sebastian, James and Alice, James and Emily; and Rachel and Todd. We hold them in our prayers.
Christenings: We wish Isabelle, Emily and Charlotte and their families well on their pilgrimage of faith, as they approach their upcoming baptisms.
Funerals: We continue to hold the late Jean Lorimer in our prayers. A much-loved minister in Chiddingstone, who will be missed by many. Her funeral is on 13th September and we will update the details when they have been signed off.
And we remember those whose anniversary falls at this time of year, they shall be prayed for in church on Sunday.
Learning and growing:
Updates:
Ø Don’t forget the new National Safeguarding Standards. There is a link to the new leaflet on our website, and you’ll see posters going up in our churches soon. And following the appointment of our new benefice Safeguarding Officer, Wendy Ellis, we now have a contact email established – please direct any safeguarding queries or issues to safeguarding@highwealdchurches.org.uk
Mailing:
If you know anyone who would like to be added to our weekly mailing, do let us know (and similarly let us know if you’d like to come off, though we’d be sad to see you go). If you’d like to contribute to the work of the benefice, you can go to our parish giving page via the www.parishgiving.org.uk website (we’d be very grateful). Alternatively, you can always find it on our benefice website: https://www.highwealdchurches.org.uk/news
With every blessing,
Lisa
