Dear friends,
Welcome to this week’s update. I hope this way of sending our news out works for you? Please do drop me an email and let me know what you think: [email protected].
We welcomed David Ferguson, one of our ministers from the Moorlands Parishes, to preach for us at St Matthew’s in Grosmont this morning. Today is ‘Lay Ministries Sunday’ and David was telling us all about the different forms of ministry you can train to do in our diocese, in addition to training to be a Priest like me. David is a ‘Reader’ or ‘Licenced Lay Minister.’ He can’t preside at Holy Communion, take weddings or baptisms (three of the Holy Sacraments) but he can lead other services, preach, do intercessions and help with pastoral care, along with many other aspects of ministry. If you would like to explore taking on any form of ministry in the church please contact me, and I can put you in contact with David too. Thanks to David for coming to speak to us.
Instead of a sermon from me for this week (thanks to David for a week off!) I’ve included below my submission for the next editions of our parish magazines. So, this is a sneak preview and spoiler alert!
Please also find below a reminder of our services and events coming up across our Middle ESK Moor church communities over the next month. Please note the change to the School Harvest celebration in Egton, which is a week later than I said last week, i.e. 6 October. Also note a couple of new exciting experiments starting next month.
If there’s anyone you think would find this update useful please ask them to subscribe via this link: http://eepurl.com/izDueg.
With prayers and all good wishes,
Anthony
Church Services, Events and Meetings Coming Up
Wednesday 27 September – 10:00 am at The Vicarage, Egton
Glaisdale and Lealholm PCC Meeting.
Thursday 28 September – 2:00 pm at Glaisdale, St Thomas
Harvest Festival in partnership with Glasidale School.
Friday 29 September – 6:00 pm at Goathland, St Mary
Harvest Festival in partnership with Goathland School.
Sunday 1 October – 10:30 am at Goathland, St Mary
Holy Communion and Harvest Thanksgiving.
Friday 6 October – 2:30 pm at Egton, St Hilda
Harvest Festival in partnership with Egton School.
Friday 6 October – 6:00 pm at Grosmont, St Matthew
Mel Supper and Harvest Thanksgiving
With pie and pea supper and entertainment from The Hawsker Village Band. All are invited from across Middle ESK Moor (and beyond)!
Contact Tammy to reserve food on [email protected] or 01947895309.
Saturday 7 October – 12 midday to 5:00 pm, Egton Village Hall
‘Where next? Charting the future’
A time to reflect on where we are and imagine what a sustainable Middle ESK Moor family of church communities might look like in 2030.
Please come to this if you can – it will be an important event in the development of our church communities. There will be a bring-and-share lunch – if you are planning to come, please would you let us know.
Contact Anthony to confirm on [email protected] or 01947899843.
Sunday 8 October – 10:30 am at Lealholm, St James
Holy Communion
Tuesday 10 October – 6:30 pm at The Farmhouse, Alum Garth, Eskdaleside, Sleights. YO22 5ES
Sharing Space
A new informal discussion group open to all - we will be thinking about ‘the language of faith’ - contact Anthony for further information and/or to arrange lifts.
We intend that this group will meet fortnightly.
Wednesday 11 October – 9:00 am at Grosmont, St Matthew
Breathing Space
A new venture for those wanting to slow down for 45 minutes, including space and time for contemplative prayer in silence - again, please contact Anthony for further information.
We intend that this group will meet weekly.
*every Thursday* – 10:30 am to 3:00 pm at Grosmont, St Matthew’s,
Grosmont Community Space
Please support this if you can, there’s a selection of delicious sandwiches, cakes and drinks to buy, and additional volunteers would be most welcome.
*every other Tuesday* (next session on 3 October…) – 10:00 am to 12:00 pm at The Village Hall, Goathland
Goathland Community Space
With special guest speakers and more delicious treats and refreshments to enjoy – again, please support this if you can.
Magazine Article - Thoughts from Egton Vicarage
I’m writing this from a slightly less completely disorganised and untidy vicarage, having now fully moved in. It’s mid-September and I’ve spent the last three and a half months getting to know people since I started this new job. But there are so many of you in our villages – it’s going to take a good few more months to get to speak to everyone I need to. Thanks for the responses I’ve had to my previous articles and newsletters.
All my discussions with folk have been fascinating. There’s a tremendous amount of hard work being done in our parishes by members of our church councils, congregations and village communities, to keep our church buildings in a good state of repair, to keep our current Sunday programme of services in place, and to support our church and local communities. I would like to acknowledge all that effort, which is very much appreciated. A tremendous amount of goodwill goes alongside that effort, with a significant number of people putting in much more time and effort than can reasonably be expected from a team of unpaid volunteers. Let's be honest here. We face significant challenges in the church as a whole, and the Church of England in this place in particular. But there are lots of new approaches we could try to help grow the church. Just by talking to people about their hopes and dreams for the future, I’ve identified several new initiatives we can try over the next year. This is a source of great hope and a cause to be optimistic.
I wonder, if anything is possible, and your dreams became a reality, what would a sustainable, vibrant and growing church look like across Middle ESK Moor in 2030? I’d be really interested to hear what you think. Now is the time to dream dreams. We need new ideas. We need new innovations and new approaches. We need a new vision for the Church of England across our rural area.
Have you got any time on the afternoon of Saturday 7 October?
I’m planning session in Egton Village Hall from Midday to 5 pm, where we can think through all this together. We’ll start with a bring and share lunch, and the gathering will be open to anyone connected to any of our churches. You’re invited! There’ll be time to think about where we are and what problems we face in the church. I’ll then speak a little about what I’ve discovered here so far. But the majority of our time will be taken up dreaming dreams together, and then working out where we can start to make those dreams a reality. Why not come along? It would be wonderful to hear your thoughts.
If you can’t make it on 7 October, I would still love to find out what you think. Please do get in touch via 01947 899843 or [email protected] .
You might, quite reasonably, think that dreaming these kind of dreams is all a little ‘pie in the sky.’
Jesus looked at some people that dreamed of a better world and said, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible!” (Matthew 19:26)
Let’s dream the impossible!
Amen.
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The Reverend Anthony Bennett
Interim Minister – the Benefice of Middle ESK Moor
middleESKmoor.org
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these two books, edited by Jane Williams, are continuing to be very helpful with planning my sermon writing:
Williams, J (2009), Ed., ‘Lost for Words, A Sermon Resource for the Anglican Three Year Cycle,’ Redemptorist Publications, Chawton, UK.
Williams, J (2011), Ed., ‘Lectionary Reflections, Years, B and C.’ Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London, UK.