Vicar's Letter - June

Dear friends,

Last month on the 18th we held our Annual Parochial Church meeting and received the various reports from Church and the groups associated with us. What a busy church and community we are! Thank you to all who give so much time to our church and village.

We will have also re-elected our Church Warden, Judith Welch and elected and welcomed our second Church Warden in Jane Copeland, which is truly wonderful. We are most grateful to Jane to responding to God’s call to serve our parish in this way. We have a great team of officers and a very supportive PCC. God is good!

A real encouragement for me, over these last two years, has been the growth of our different congregations. Sunday morning, our All-Age Eucharist, Wednesday morning, Toddler Church and Sanctuary at Seven congregations have all seen growth, some of it small, but that’s okay. Our Sunday evening BCP congregation has remained fairly static with regards to numbers, although we do welcome visitors from time to time. Together, we share in so many ways.

Relationships and sharing together are important and one way we do this is with our ‘after service fellowship’. We have a good number of folks who stay for a cuppa and a chat after Sunday and Wednesday morning services. Our monthly coffee mornings also provide that space to gather and share together. It’s good to meet and share together.

In June, we celebrate several important feasts in the Church….

Pentecost: when we give thanks for the sharing of the Holy Spirit on the disciples… a rushing mighty wind filled the place where they were meeting. Tongues of fire appeared and rested over them and the Spirit enabled them to speak in different tongues so sharing the message of Jesus.

Trinity Sunday: where we celebrate the doctrine of the Trinity, the three persons of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, a blessing to us all.

Corpus Christi: Thursday 19th, sixty days after Easter, the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, we give thanks for the Eucharist, for Holy Communion. We will hold a special service at church on this evening. The Latin words ‘Corpus Christi’ translate to the ’Body of Christ’. At every Eucharist, we share the Body and Blood of Christ, as Jesus instructed, ‘Do this in remembrance of me’.

On the 25th of this month I will have been with you for two years! Where has that time gone?? I am grateful to God for calling me to serve here in Hightown. Sharing together, we have achieved much in that time…. But there is still much more that we would like to do!! Do come and join us at any of our services; come and share with us. You will be most welcome.

God Bless,
Keith