Pastoral Letter
MARCH 2010
Pastoral Letter from Revd. Anne Stratton
Stepping out of the boat
At the end of this month I will be leaving the Bradgate team to become Vicar at Belper in Derbyshire. It feels no time at all since I started and first began to meet the people here, but it will be coming up for 4 years. During that time I have seen a number of changes – Richard has gone and Peter has arrived – being one of the more obvious ones, but also individual lives have changed as people have encountered God in a new way, or been challenged to reflect on how and why they do things and to step out in faith.
All of us need challenges and changes to help us to encounter God afresh. He encourages us to step outside our comfort zone and to explore our faith in a new way. Without challenges and changes we grow stale and become less aware of how much God has got in store for us and less able to share the good news with others.
My step of faith will be setting out to a totally new church and congregation, taking on a task that I never dreamt was for me, but God challenged me each step of the way and has stood by me at each decision point, even though some have been extremely difficult. For you the challenge will be different but often no less significant in your life, even small things can change us, our relationship with each other and with God in a really significant way.
Like Peter stepping out of the boat, it is vital to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus; to know that he is in control and will stop us from sinking and drowning. As long as we keep our eyes firmly fixed on him, then new challenges will not be too big to deal with and learn from.
Peter learned so much by stepping out of the boat and trusting in Jesus and we need to find out how much we can trust God for many different areas of our lives.
So as I leave you and move elsewhere can I encourage you to step out in faith in new areas of your lives. Trust that God is in control and push the boundaries so that your encounter with him is refreshed and renewed. Don’t accept things the way they’ve always been, but see what God has in store for you as an individual, as a Church and as a Parish. Step out in faith and know that our God will catch you and hold you as you discover more about his love for you, you just have to let him.
Anne Stratton, Curate Bradgate Team.
FEBRUARY 2010
Pastoral Letter from Peter Hooper
I wonder if you ever feel that you've had too much of a good thing? Perhaps we can apply this to the Christmas period with all the various presents to wrap and then unwrap, the excitement of opening up strange shaped packages wondering what's going to be contained within. Perhaps feeling or smelling each one before we open it, trying to guess what could be inside. Having started our house moving process just before Christmas, I can tell you that I certainly feel that I've had enough of things being wrapped up and trying to guess what's in each box!
The idea of moving house before Christmas certainly worked out very well for us as a family, to move over three days was very easy to accomplish, and we were all about 80% unpacked and happily settled into our new house just before the Christmas festivities started. And yes we did enjoy Christmas Day, opening our various presents as well as the beautiful hamper that you as a Parish had left for us here in our home, a very thoughtful touch, thank you.
Having too much of a good thing is often synonymous with Christmas. We can eat too much, we can drink too much, and of course we can feel a little bit overawed by all the presents that we might receive. Indeed, the Christmas period can be so rich and can pass so quickly by us that we may end up feeling a little bit blasé about the whole thing. We may start to wonder, has it actually happened, has Christmas come and gone? Perhaps we are left with a feeling of having had too much of a good thing, but with a regret that we didn’t have enough of the really good thing, at Christmas, Jesus. It is so easy that with so many other things going on and vying for our attention over the Christmas period that Jesus is actually left to one side. He is the best thing of all and one which we simply can't have too much of.
However, throughout the Church’s annual calendar we are constantly offered reminders of Jesus' presence with us. Christmas is not the only time that we should be willing to offer some focus to him, and indeed our next big celebration will be Easter, which is closer than perhaps we realise. We are not many weeks away now from the beginning of Lent, hard to imagine with snow on the ground and freezing cold weather, but Ash Wednesday is the 17th February.
We may feel Christmas has come and gone, and if we are left with regrets as to our level of personal witness and devotion over the festive period, we of course have time through Lent to really prepare ourselves well for Easter. It maybe a little late to make a New Years resolution, but perhaps we could all do with aiming to have as much as possible of Jesus in the coming season and in 2010 as a whole.
Best wishes for the coming year,
Revd Peter
Team Parish News
v As a Team we have finally welcomed Peter, Sue, William and Catherine to the Parish. Over the next couple of months, we hope that Peter will meet many of you by staying on after the main services without needing to dash on.
v Ash Wednesday: 17th Feb
There will be a Bradgate Team service (at 7.30pm at Groby) which will include the imposition of ashes and Holy Communion.
“When the 46 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday are over, how will I know if I have had a 'good' Lent? What would make it a 'success'? If I keep the resolution to pray faithfully every day, that would be good. If I choose to give up something that I like as a sacrifice and don't slip up even once, that would be very good. But would it necessarily be a 'successful' Lent?
Lent will be a success if, by the end of it, I recognise a little more deeply that I am utterly dependent on God. That realisation can be born out of my 'failures' just as much as my 'successes'. “ Sacred Space website
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